Multiple resorts on one trip

[tom1944]

Have you stayed at multiple resorts during a trip? Is it difficult to move from one resort to another after 2 to 3 days.

A few days at a MK resort
A few days at an Epcot resort
A few days at AK or Disney Springs

It seems that many people have multiple contracts, so I was wondering if you book at each of them on a single trip

 

[CarolynFH]

We don’t like split stays, but many others do, and we’ll do them occasionally If we want to check out a new resort. Disney makes it easy by transferring luggage for you (except that they will not transfer items that need to be kept cold). One drawback is that you’re homeless from 11 AM until you get your room in the new resort, which might be sooner or later depending on how busy it is. A lot of people like to drop off luggage to Bell Services for transfer, go to the parks, and just go to the new resort when their room is ready. But you’re considered a guest of both resorts all day, so you can spend the day at either pool instead!

 

[Sandisw]

We pretty much split stay almost every trip and most of my trips are 3 or 4 nights.

Its pretty easy to move. We pack our bags in such a way so that one bag is set for the first resort, and the other is for the second so very easy.

We typically plan the move day to be a sleep in morning, check out at 11 am, Uber to the second resort with our things,… dont use be.l services to transfer because we always have food to move that needs refrigeration. and then go to DS for shopping and lunch…or book a sit down lunch somewhere…then we hit a part (or the pool) for a few hours if our rooms is not yet ready.

We love it!

 

[ehh]

We did split stays pre-DVC but now try to avoid them unless we have an extremely good reason to do them (e.g., able to grab BCV on NYE but not for the whole stay).

While getting the variety/perks of two+ resorts in a single trip is appealing, it ultimately didn't work with how we travel. Some of the issues for us:

• We like to get really settled and unpack fully. The suitcases disappear. Split stays mean multiple near-full unpack/repacks and packing is among our least favorite things.
  • Devil's advocate: repacking is easier than packing at home, you can even do pre-packing where to pre-split items in different bags (we do this for cruises).
• The roomless day is not great. You can go do something else but if you need to rest you're stuck in some lobby or some place that isn't yours.
• Focusing on the park that's most convenient for your resort didn't really work out for us. We enjoy the variety from shuffling the parks more than the easier access advantage while repeating the same park on consecutive days. Featuring a single park two days in a row feels stale as we can get usually get a whole park done each day. Plus we drive everywhere so access isn't all that much more convenient anyway.
  • Devil's advocate: More than a park access advantage, we think the biggest perk of resort variety is actually restaurant access advantage. Eating where you stay saves a lot of time/hassle and maybe means you can have 2ish drinks with dinner instead of 1ish if you're driving.

Anyway, there's definitely pros/cons and it works for some but not others. Really depends on how you travel.

 

[Her Dotness]

I agree with much of the previous post.

We drive to WDW so use our arrival night to book a resort other than our main home, VGF. Also, often for easy access to a good restaurant. This gives us ample time to enjoy being home and try a new resort, with no go-&-do urges imposed by park tickets. We don’t start using those until the next day when we move to VGF-home for the remainder of our stay.

We no longer use Disney luggage transfer, preferring to transport our things early in the day. With those at bell services rather than in-transit, we merely go to their desk and ask to get into our bags for anything we need. Of course, we pack a tote for the day but enjoy the reassurance that we can get anything we forgot or need unexpectedly.

A 1-2 night other-resort stay is enough for us.

 

[Skywalker3]

I love split stays, my husband does not. Our home is BWV, and we now always like to either just stay there, or include it in a split stay, with the rest of the stay either at AK, or an MK resort. I love trying out other resorts, but I agree that I love the convenience of an Epcot resort more. Walking to our 2 favorite parks can't be beat. We only have 1 contract tho, so have to book 2 separate stays at 11 months, then change one of those to another resort, which can mean limited availability, at 7 months. So far, have not had issues, But also haven't done a split since 2020. Agree that one plans to be 'homeless' on the transfer day, and also moving out the AM and trying to rope drop is rough! I've become the person in the group who stays at resort and gets checkout done. while everyone else is off at a park

 

[iheartglaciers]

I always do the MK/Epcot resort split stay! I love being able to walk to Epcot and HS, and then take a boat or walk to MK. We usually do AK on the day we’re switching resorts since we need to take a bus no matter what resort you stay at.

Disney makes transferring luggage really easy. You can call bell services for them to pick up your luggage, but that can take some time depending on how busy they are, so we just drop off our luggage at bell services on our way to the bus stop.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Have you stayed at multiple resorts during a trip? Is it difficult to move from one resort to another after 2 to 3 days.

A few days at a MK resort
A few days at an Epcot resort
A few days at AK or Disney Springs

It seems that many people have multiple contracts, so I was wondering if you book at each of them on a single trip

We did a split stay between three resorts on our last trip. It’s not “hard”, per se. Actually, the changing between resorts is quite easy. That said, having to pack up multiple times became really annoying. Changing resorts also eats up time, so you have to account for that when planning your days if you want to do parks during the days you change resorts.

The most I would do is a two resort visit going forward. A MK resort and an EPCOT resort, IMO, would be perfect. Three is too much.

 

[PalmettoPath]

We find it to be a nightmare of inconvenience and hours of precious lost time and only do this is we are forced to (doesn't happen often but if we book late and cannot get a full week where we want, we have to split).

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

I could advocate for both sides here, but I will say that if I’m not in the parks the entire moving day it’s shocking how much time ends up feeling just… lost. On top of that, if there are any room issues, then you lose more time at the front desk. Hopefully that won’t happen, but it can… and it’s a real drain when it does.

I do still enjoy split stays (mainly bc I can get bored with just 1 or 2 nearby QS options & like to shake that up a bit), but no more than one move for me. I did 3 resorts once (over just 5 days) bc I piece-mealed a trip together & thought moving around was better than no Disney at all… and it was true! But never again.


ETA: we own at 6 different resorts, but choose which trips to use that home resort advantage… as opposed to which nights of every trip.

 

[tom1944]

I could advocate for both sides here, but I will say that if I’m not in the parks the entire moving day it’s shocking how much time ends up feeling just… lost. On top of that, if there are any room issues, then you lose more time at the front desk. Hopefully that won’t happen, but it can… and it’s a real drain when it does.

I do still enjoy split stays (mainly bc I can get bored with just 1 or 2 nearby QS options & like to shake that up a bit), but no more than one move for me. I did 3 resorts once (over just 5 days) bc I piece-mealed a trip together & thought moving around was better than no Disney at all… and it was true! But never again.


ETA: we own at 6 different resorts, but choose which trips to use that home resort advantage… as opposed to which nights of every trip.

Doing my research I could see buying contracts at 4 resorts

I think we will start with Saratoga (mostly for periods where we do not do much at any of the parks) and Copper Creek.

If we use these points as I believe we will I can see adding Riviera and Animal Kingdom later

I took all of the 2042 resorts out of consideration. Poly was out because they do not have 1 BR. I decided Copper Creek over Bay Lake Tower based on the design of the resort. My wife loves that design.

Riviera, I need to decide if I am willing to buy resale with the restrictions or go direct.

 

[Lisa_lvspplmvr]

We love split stays as long as they are each at least 3 nights . Favorite split stay was Yacht 5 nights and Grand Floridian 3 nights .

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

Doing my research I could see buying contracts at 4 resorts

I think we will start with Saratoga (mostly for periods where we do not do much at any of the parks) and Copper Creek.

If we use these points as I believe we will I can see adding Riviera and Animal Kingdom later

I took all of the 2042 resorts out of consideration. Poly was out because they do not have 1 BR. I decided Copper Creek over Bay Lake Tower based on the design of the resort. My wife loves that design.

Riviera, I need to decide if I am willing to buy resale with the restrictions or go direct.

Sounds like you know what you’re looking for!

We bought: BLT, Poly, AKV, BCV, RIV, & VGF. I’d love to add CCV, but will probably opt for more BLT (I love the extra bathroom in the 1&2 bedrooms!)… we’ll see!! Poly2 is crazy tempting too, but I know I’ll hate the points chart.

Our Riviera was resale. It was a hard decision, and I’m happy with it 95% of the time. I’d occasionally like to use a few of those points to complete a large reservation somewhere else, or I’ve got friends/fam that would prefer to stay somewhere different when those are the points I’m flush with at that moment, etc… and I just can’t. Given the chance to do it all over again- with complete knowledge that I’ve got now- I would’ve waited for the fire-sale pricing in 2020 and bought direct… but without those amazing incentives, I’m happy with resale & would do it again (but only bc I have several hundred points that are unrestricted & I beat that fire-sale price by a long shot!).

Best of luck to you!

 

[Pooh2]

We've done 3 resorts, 3 nights each in a 9 day trip.
We enjoy experiencing the different resorts and restaurants.

 

[ckb_nc]

Planned a trip one Christmas for President's day weekend. Ended up needing to resort hop so we went 3 resorts, 3 days. Got to stay in Kidani, VBW and VGF as part of it. Came away loving VGF. Part of the fun was trying out new resorts, and new experiences. My wife loves the resorts so the trip was fun for her.

 

[NVDISFamily]

As we are new members to the program I see split stays in our future for most trips as we have a goal of trying to stay at all of the resorts at some point over the coming years. For our welcome home trip we are going to check off our two home resorts at WDW (CCV and RVA) plus we are doing a few nights at AKV. 12 nights in total, 3 at AKV, 4 at CCV, and 5 at RVA. Doing 8 days in the parks and a few resort, Disney Springs, and around the area stuff.

This thread made me think of something silly to do when the kids get older and we are closer to retirement. Go for the “Ultimate Grand Split” - spend a few days at VGF, check out early, run to MCO, take a non stop to LAX or John Wayne, and check into VGC for a few days that evening…. Yes very silly but still an adventure

 

[Shellyred8]

I always do the MK/Epcot resort split stay! I love being able to walk to Epcot and HS, and then take a boat or walk to MK. We usually do AK on the day we’re switching resorts since we need to take a bus no matter what resort you stay at.

Disney makes transferring luggage really easy. You can call bell services for them to pick up your luggage, but that can take some time depending on how busy they are, so we just drop off our luggage at bell services on our way to the bus stop.

This is our approach too, and we do this almost every stay. It actually feels odd to NOT do a split stay after having done them for so long. LOL!!!

I will say, though, that I have put a minimum on the number of nights in one place. We did a two night stay once and it was at that time that I decided we needed to stay a minimum of 3 nights at each place. Our trips are usually 7-9 nights, so we usually do 3 or 4 nights at one resort and 4 or 5 nights as the other resort. I just didn't feel like 2 nights was enough time to enjoy the resort in addition to going to the parks.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

This is our approach too, and we do this almost every stay. It actually feels odd to NOT do a split stay after having done them for so long. LOL!!!

I will say, though, that I have put a minimum on the number of nights in one place. We did a two night stay once and it was at that time that I decided we needed to stay a minimum of 3 nights at each place. Our trips are usually 7-9 nights, so we usually do 3 or 4 nights at one resort and 4 or 5 nights as the other resort. I just didn't feel like 2 nights was enough time to enjoy the resort in addition to going to the parks.

Agree with your thinking. We love split stays and do them almost every trip. But the 1 and 2 night stays are no longer on the table! 3-night min, and probably 5-night MAX when we go! The split stays offer different perks and conveniences with regard to parks and restaurants. It's also sorta like starting with a new vacation at the new place. We plan pool time or Disney Springs time on moving days, and it's worked out really well.

 

[LadybugsMum]

If we do a split stay then it's done with a MK resort and an Epcot resort. We've done all of the DVC MK resorts and like them all for different reasons. We have only stayed at BWV for the Epcot resorts and really like it (I should since I own there ).

 

[SleepyDeb]

I hate a split stay bc my least favorite part of vacation is packing and unpacking. With a split stay you have an extra set of that. We did a split stay once and never again.