Don't understand split stays

[summermac]

Heck now I am considering a split stay for our last two days so we can stay at a Deluxe. Which would I pick though? Hmmm.....

 

[summermac]

Also some ppl will book a split stay so they can get the DDP for only part of their trip instead of the entire trip.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

I'm a split stay lover! The first time we tried it, the Grand Floridian was brand new, and my family just wanted to try it out for a night. Once I started planning trips as an adult, I remembered one of my favorite vacations to Europe. In a period of 10 days, we travelled through five different countries. I loved living out of my suitcase and going to a new destination every couple of days.

I agree that if your focus is on the parks, then a split stay may take up too much time. But if your focus is to enjoy the resorts (and to let the parks take a backseat), then a split stay can be a blast.

 

[jujube]

If we only planned to go to WDW once, I'd try to choose a favorite and stay there the entire time. We've gone for years and love changing our resort. This trip we're only changing from Universal to BWV. Usually though, we spend a few days at one WDW resort, switch to another WDW resort AND spend a few days at Uni.
The biggest help when switching, at least for us, is to pack each day's outfit in 2 gallon zip loc bags. Then, we only take out what we're wearing during each "leg" of the stay.

 

[pigletto]

It's gotten to the point for us now that staying at one resort seems a little dull

I don't know that I could do more than 2 or 3.. but kudos to those of you that can! It sounds like an adventure!!
If it was just hubby and I we probably could, but packing up all of our stuff more than once or twice with a family of four isn't fun!

 

[jdb in AZ]

To each their own -- I think I'll just stick with cruising. We wake up in a different city/country each day without having to switch rooms.

And yes, I've tried schlepping a suitcase across europe and thought it was fun at the time.

 

[mrs_noopie]

The first time we did a split stay it was not part of our original plan - we were stuck at WDW for two extra days due to a snowstorm at home, and there was no availability at the resort we'd been staying in.

The second time we did a split stay we started the trip with extended family in a deluxe for the first few days, then when they all left town we switched to a moderate for a couple of "free" nights (using expedia/thankyou points).

I think a vacation is more relaxing if I don't have to relocate. I do very much enjoy sampling the different resorts, but I think one split per trip is all I can take.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

For our trip to WDW in August 2010 we decided to do our very first split stay, starting out at the Contemporary and ending at the Boardwalk Inn. Now prior to that trip the majority of the time we only stayed at the Contemporary which we always enjoyed. However after trying the Boardwalk Inn we thought it was amazing and it's now my new favorite WDW Resort. Although had it not been for us doing that split stay we might have never stayed there and it was one of the best decisions we ever made.

 

[stitch34]

We've always done split stays.. really since our first trip actually.

For us, bulk of trip is at Pop - that is home to us. But ASMovies was our first resort and the kids LOVE the Toy Story section, so yeah, gotta do at least one night there for sentimental reason. For us, it's like how can we go to WDW and NOT stay at both of them? It's like going and skipping your favorite ride the way we see it.

While values are in our budget... we still love the deluxe resorts, and mods, too. POFQ we enjoy, CBR we like a night or two (is our cheapest zero entry pool option) Have tried out most deluxes for a night - each trip we pick a place or two nice to do one night. Is nice to let the kids have a great pool day with a good pool and nice pool slides...
Plus the kids are crazy like I am and enjoy the moving around and experiencing new resorts.
Last summer we did 9 nights - and 6 resorts. We really don't unpack, so it's easy for us... to call bell services for a luggage transfer in the a.m.... and off we go to a park. take a break during the day and check into our new resort and enjoy the pool, etc before heading back out to a park or a late dinner.


So yeah, that was kinda extreme, but honestly it went SOOO smoothly.

Ideally our thought behind it is stay at where is "home" to us and in our value budget... but is nice to have at least one night somewhere really nice. We've tried pretty much all the resorts we have a desire to.

This summer... still unsure. So far 6 nights at Pop - one night at yet-to-be-determined Deluxe... and last 2 at Movies. So we're cutting back on the split stays... mainly due to the expense and really need more value nights.

 

[mskayjay]

We did a split stay for the first time on our last trip. It was hectic and quite annoying to have to move and redo the check in, settle in, unpack, re-key, etc. I would prefer to not have to do it again. We did it only because we were doing a DVC rental from our friends and there wasn't availability all the way through our stay. I can see why folks would want to try multiple resorts and I had often considered it, but I don't know that I would ever do it again unless it was like a week at each resort or something. Our stays were 4 and 2 nights.

 

[elaw]

Love it! Will you do a trip report? We've done split stays in the past and will split again in a couple weeks, but not this many WDW resorts. I'd LOVE to hear your tips!

You bet

 

[goofy4tink]

If I'm there for any length of time, I love doing split stays. Not for stays shorter than 4 nights, but otherwise?? Go for it.
There was one trip that just kept getting longer and longer due to some stuff happening.
My friend and I got to AKL-Jambo on Sunday, stayed there one night and then moved to BWV on Monday. It was a ton cheaper to fly on Sunday...so added that night.
We spent 4 nights at BWV then my friend went home. I joined another friend at Kidani for 2 nights. She then moved to BWV and I moved to POP for free dining!!! Stayed there for 4 nights, then moved to BWV for my last 2 nights.
It was crazy...and I'll admit, it got confusing sometimes!!! I would tend to forget which resort bus I was supposed to be getting on.
I let Disney move my bags for me each time.....I realized it would take a long time each time, but I brought the stuff I needed with me. For the shorter stays, 2 nights or less, I really didn't unpack clothing. I did unpack toiletries though.

 

[PFopma]

We've done split stays on our last two trips for various reasons. Since the kids have gotten older it is much easier. We did a WL/CSR stay - just wanted to try out WL but did not want to spend deluxe room rate for all nights. We love the pool at CSR so did that split. We planned to spend our "moving day" at the CSR pool. We were able to check in early but could not get our key until later in the day. They gave us a phone no to call so we knew when our room was ready. There is a changing area at the CSR pool and we had a car on that trip so it was very convenient.

On the last trip we had Dolphin and Poly booked with great discounts but when Free Dining came out we switched our Dolphin res for CBR with dining but kept our 3 night stay at Poly with discount and without dining. We didn't have a car but we were given a ride with our luggage to Poly. I think the only reason they did that was because we were moving to a Deluxe. They moved our park tickets and dining credits that were still good until midnight to our new keys. We did the Spirit of Aloha show that night using our TS credits we had left.

The next trip I have 8 nights at CBR booked but thinking of splitting 5 nights CBR and 3 at AoA since the LM rooms will be open early for our timeframe and we want to try that resort. On our moving day we will do Keys of Kingdom tour and then head to AoA to check in and then go over to Epcot in evening for Food and Wine Festival.

 

[mericletwins]

It's gotten to the point for us now that staying at one resort seems a little dull

I completely agree!!!

 

[Alice Sr.]

I was really looking forward to OKW but my DD really wanted to stay at BWV so I am going for 5 nights at OKW and a friend is coming with and my DD and her friend are coming down for 5 nights when I transfer to BWV. My only other split stay was due to the fact I got AP prices for AK concierge over the weekend. we had been staying at a 2 bedroom at BCV and moved for a Sat and Sun. It was amazing well worth the move.

 

[KatieKat]

We like to try out different resorts that we haven't stayed in yet. Also, as someone that loves staying at deluxe CL resorts, I really don't have the money to spend a whole 8 day vacation at a CL. So we usually do a value the first half of the vacation, and hit the parks hard and maybe go to the beach. The last half of the vacation we relax in the lap of luxury at a deluxe.

 

[wendywoo]

So how do split stays work if you do the dinning plan and 10 day tickets passes?

 

[Missytara]

So how do split stays work if you do the dinning plan and 10 day tickets passes?

You have to buy a one day ticket to do dining plan. You buy a ten day pass for the first part of your stay and a one day ticket for the next. You do NOT use it and save it for a later stay.

Use it one time and it will register the current cost of that duration ticket. You then upgrade it to whatever ticket you want.

 

[Tltorrez]

We're doing our first split stay in Dec. We love BWV, mostly for the location. But we've always wanted to try AKL. I would never want to stay there the whole trip because of the inconvenience ( and also I'm really sensitive to the low-light). But our Dec trip is 12 nights, plenty of time to settle in at Boardwalk for 8 nights before we jump to Kidani for 4 more. We have APs and don't do the dining plan. And we plan to go to AK for the day and let Disney move our luggage, so I don't expect it to be much hassle at all.

 

[shannonstar]

We are doing a split stay b/c BCV and BWV were not available for the last part of Thanksgiving week even when trying to book back in February. I am excited about AKV for a few days too. It's soooo pretty.

We are also spending one night in a royal room, but that's just b/c we got such a good deal on a flight going down a day early that one night there was still only 1/2 of the savings.