Planning a family trip for 10 people in 2024

[sndral]

I have been thinking about doing a split stay due to my indecisiveness. 4/4, AKL and BWV. But i heard the bussing situation at AKL is a mess. We will be doing AK/MK during the AKL stay and HS/Epcot during the BWV stay.

I’ve never considered the AKV busing to be a ‘mess’ - if you stay all 8 days at BWVs you’ll likely be busing to MK & AK anyway & I’ve read that since they stopped Disney buses for the Swan/Dolphin a lot of those guests just walk over to use the BWV buses making them crowded. Nevertheless, MK is a long bus ride from AKV, & if you’re looking at Kidani those hallways are very long (longer than BWV’s) so you could be pretty far apart & I wouldn’t want to disrupt a group of 10 people w/ a move halfway through your stay.
I took a look at the early October point charts - if you are going for 8 days/7 nights looking at preferred views, a 2 br. (all 2 br.s at BWVs are lock offs - so the 1 br. portion for your family & the studio portion for your mom & sis) & a 1 br. for the other family = 584 points, it’s 457 points if you opt for a 2 br. & a studio.
If you want to do a split stay, why not a split at BWVs w/ 4 nights in a 2 br. + studio (260 points) & then move for the last 3 nights into a Grand villa (316 points.)
The other thing I thought about was booking 5 nights in a grand villa w/ your points (518) & then renting points from a BWV owner @ 11 months for the other 2 nights in the grand villa, but that’s 215 points & would cost $$$.

 

[MMays]

I’ve never considered the AKV busing to be a ‘mess’ - if you stay all 8 days at BWVs you’ll likely be busing to MK & AK anyway & I’ve read that since they stopped Disney buses for the Swan/Dolphin a lot of those guests just walk over to use the BWV buses making them crowded. Nevertheless, MK is a long bus ride from AKV, & if you’re looking at Kidani those hallways are very long (longer than BWV’s) so you could be pretty far apart & I wouldn’t want to disrupt a group of 10 people w/ a move halfway through your stay.
I took a look at the early October point charts - if you are going for 8 days/7 nights looking at preferred views, a 2 br. (all 2 br.s at BWVs are lock offs - so the 1 br. portion for your family & the studio portion for your mom & sis) & a 1 br. for the other family = 584 points, it’s 457 points if you opt for a 2 br. & a studio.
If you want to do a split stay, why not a split at BWVs w/ 4 nights in a 2 br. + studio (260 points) & then move for the last 3 nights into a Grand villa (316 points.)
The other thing I thought about was booking 5 nights in a grand villa w/ your points (518) & then renting points from a BWV owner @ 11 months for the other 2 nights in the grand villa, but that’s 215 points & would cost $$$.

I did not know the busses stopped at Swan/Dolphin. Good to know.
That is a big difference in points, I think a 2BR and a studio would better suite us. What is the probability of the rooms being somewhat close to each other?
A split stay is still up in the air, I have time to decide.

 

[Mle8308]

I did not know the busses stopped at Swan/Dolphin. Good to know.
That is a big difference in points, I think a 2BR and a studio would better suite us. What is the probability of the rooms being somewhat close to each other?
A split stay is still up in the air, I have time to decide.

The Disney busses don’t stop at the Swan/Dolphin, I think the poster meant that Disney stopped providing bus service to those resorts. As a result, a lot of their guests (going to the MK especially) now walk over to the BW to use those busses. And my opinion only, but I think a split stay with a group that large might be difficult, unless everyone is super organized.

 

[MMays]

The Disney busses don’t stop at the Swan/Dolphin, I think the poster meant that Disney stopped providing bus service to those resorts. As a result, a lot of their guests (going to the MK especially) now walk over to the BW to use those busses. And my opinion only, but I think a split stay with a group that large might be difficult, unless everyone is super organized.

Ah...ok that makes sense. Thank you for clarifying!

 

[sndral]

The Disney busses don’t stop at the Swan/Dolphin, I think the poster meant that Disney stopped providing bus service to those resorts. As a result, a lot of their guests (going to the MK especially) now walk over to the BW to use those busses. And my opinion only, but I think a split stay with a group that large might be difficult, unless everyone is super organized.

Yes, thanks for clarifying, the Swan/Dolphin now provide their own buses (they used to be part of Disney’s bus system) & for the MK they drop/pick up at the TTC which means their guests have to take the monorail or ferry to/from the TTC for their MK bus.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Is there a big difference in standard rooms versus Boardwalk view, etc? Is the walk further to the parks? I dont think view is important than location.

I mentioned trying to book standard view, to save points. No guarantee standard view would be available for both rooms that you’re booking, just something to think about.

We’ve stayed in different view categories at BWV, based on what was available. We enjoyed all the rooms. The hallways seem long, no matter what view you book.

We always joked BWV had the longest hallways ever until we stayed at AKV

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

I have been thinking about doing a split stay due to my indecisiveness. 4/4, AKL and BWV. But i heard the bussing situation at AKL is a mess. We will be doing AK/MK during the AKL stay and HS/Epcot during the BWV stay.

Have you done a split stay before?

You will want all your belongings packed the night before except for what you need that night and next morning.

When you’re ready to checkout, you can have Bell Services transfer your luggage to your next resort. I think it arrives after 5:00pm. Someone with this experience can correct me. We have switched resorts with either Uber or our own car and taken our luggage with us.

If you have Bell Services transfer your luggage for you, you can head to a park for the day. If you take your luggage with you, keep in mind your new room might not be ready until after 4:00pm. Bell Services will hold your luggage for you, in this case.
Then you can head to the park for the day and wait until you get the room ready text.

Will your group be able to handle switching rooms mid trip, keeping in mind you could be without a room for most of the day?

In reference to the bus at AKV, we just stayed there in July and didn’t have any issues with the bus transportation at all. We went to/from all the parks during our vacation.
There’s also an internal bus between Kidani and Jambo that was very convenient.

Happy planning!

 

[MMays]

Have you done a split stay before?

You will want all your belongings packed the night before except for what you need that night and next morning.

When you’re ready to checkout, you can have Bell Services transfer your luggage to your next resort. I think it arrives after 5:00pm. Someone with this experience can correct me. We have switched resorts with either Uber or our own car and taken our luggage with us.

If you have Bell Services transfer your luggage for you, you can head to a park for the day. If you take your luggage with you, keep in mind your new room might not be ready until after 4:00pm. Bell Services will hold your luggage for you, in this case.
Then you can head to the park for the day and wait until you get the room ready text.

Will your group be able to handle switching rooms mid trip, keeping in mind you could be without a room for most of the day?

In reference to the bus at AKV, we just stayed there in July and didn’t have any issues with the bus transportation at all. We went to/from all the parks during our vacation.
There’s also an internal bus between Kidani and Jambo that was very convenient.

Happy planning!

We have done a split stay before. It was from POP to Port Orleans French Quarter. We utilized bell services to transfer our luggage then went to the park for the day. We didnt have an issue since we were out most of the day. I do think that since this is our first trip "home" that we should stay at BWV all week. We do have time to visit other resorts in the years to come.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

We have done a split stay before. It was from POP to Port Orleans French Quarter. We utilized bell services to transfer our luggage then went to the park for the day. We didnt have an issue since we were out most of the day. I do think that since this is our first trip "home" that we should stay at BWV all week. We do have time to visit other resorts in the years to come.

It’s good that you’ve done a split stay before and know what to expect, if you decide to do this again.

I agree with staying at BWV for the entire first trip “home” too.

Either way, you will have a fantastic vacation!

 

[ElizabethG]

We are also planning a family group in 2024 (8 adults for us). It will be a first trip for 4 of the people. I am not doing a split stay to make everything a little easier. I have done split stays a lot (we had 3 resort split in 2023) and it is always a little disruptive. I talked to my group about resorts. We have CCV booked, but the group would like to stay at AKV, so I'm planning to try and switch at the 7-month mark. Happy planning!

 

[Shellyred8]

With that many people, I would go for 3 studios at BWV and stay put all week. When it's just the two of us, we do split stays all the time. But it might get a bit chaotic with that many people.

 

[RoseGold]

I have seen legit complaints about AKL buses in the context of wheelchair users. AKL is running non-accessible buses in the mix since Covid. It's cool to have bigger buses for people who aren't in chairs, but not so much if you have to wait for the next bus. This doesn't matter so much at Pop, when there's another bus a couple minutes away, but it can be a problem when AKL buses are already infrequent. WL also has this issue on a lesser scale, with the non-accessible little boats they seem to be running lately sometimes.

Maybe not an issue for OP, but def an issue for some.