7 night stay... should we do a split stay?

[Haley R]

We always do 7 nights and split stays are our favorite! We love getting to experience more than one resort and it's also helpful on the wallet. We are going in October doing 3 nights at Pop and 4 nights at Beach Club. We've never stayed at Beach Club before and it's pricey for us. Adding 3 nights at Pop helps us afford the nights at Beach Club. Last year we did 4 nights at POR and 3 at AKL.

I would say doing split stays is our preferred way to go.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I want to change my answer to the split of Pop and YC.

For us our first 2-3 days at the WDW we are in the parks. We still do midday breaks (not on arrival day) but we are running on pure adrenaline and can just go, go, go. With that, I wouldn't mind doing Pop for those first few days since we will be hitting the ground running. Once day 3-4 hit we start to relax more, sleep in, take longer midday breaks and take advantage of the amenities of our resort.

I would make your first 3 days MK and AK based. That's what we are doing with our first two nights at POFQ. Once we switch to BWV we are doing Epcot and DHS more often with sprinkles of MK and AK mixed in.

 

[Silvermist999]

We've done a few split stays. But our length of trip is at minimum 10 days.

For us, I think at 7 days, we wouldn't get to truly experience each resort and relax (but is a WDW vacation supposed to be relaxing, lol).

 

[CharissaOKC]

I want to change my answer to the split of Pop and YC.

For us our first 2-3 days at the WDW we are in the parks. We still do midday breaks (not on arrival day) but we are running on pure adrenaline and can just go, go, go. With that, I wouldn't mind doing Pop for those first few days since we will be hitting the ground running. Once day 3-4 hit we start to relax more, sleep in, take longer midday breaks and take advantage of the amenities of our resort.

I would make your first 3 days MK and AK based. That's what we are doing with our first two nights at POFQ. Once we switch to BWV we are doing Epcot and DHS more often with sprinkles of MK and AK mixed in.

This is similar to what we would do if we split. My husband wants more rest/resort time so the first full 2 days we would be at YC we would be a full rest day and half park day the second.

 

[CharissaOKC]

We always do 7 nights and split stays are our favorite! We love getting to experience more than one resort and it's also helpful on the wallet. We are going in October doing 3 nights at Pop and 4 nights at Beach Club. We've never stayed at Beach Club before and it's pricey for us. Adding 3 nights at Pop helps us afford the nights at Beach Club. Last year we did 4 nights at POR and 3 at AKL.

I would say doing split stays is our preferred way to go.

Same for us. With our current trip budgets we can only do 4 nights max at a deluxe.

 

[Bostonbeans99]

I've always wanted to do a split stay but with a family of 5 that packs too much, I didn't think it would be worth the hassle. We have 8 days at WL with 8 days of parkhopper passes in June. We drive 13 hrs to get there so I decided to try something new.

With under 50 days til we leave I got online & just added 1 day at AOA in a family suite.
So the plan is to get there a day earlier than planned. We are such a "go go go" family on vacation but that drive exhausts everyone. At AOA I selected ROOM ONLY With no passes........ I feel then we can choose to swim, sleep, visit Disney Springs, or eat at a nice restaurant or even just walk around the resort taking photos. Then check out at 11 a.m. and head to our deluxe resort. We can either leave our luggage at our new resort for CM/bellhops to put into our new room or just leave luggage in car while we hop on boat to MK. I always do online check-in in advance so I will get a text when our villa is ready.

 

[Haley R]

Same for us. With our current trip budgets we can only do 4 nights max at a deluxe.

We like to spend that extra money on things like special events. We did after hours in March and are doing 2 Halloween parties in October. We normally don’t get more than 3 day tickets either but this next trip we went up to 4.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

This is similar to what we would do if we split. My husband wants more rest/resort time so the first full 2 days we would be at YC we would be a full rest day and half park day the second.

Our arrival day is MK most of the day. The next day we are doing AK in the AM, midday break and then HDDR and MK in the evening. The next morning we will check out of POFQ, have our bags transferred to BWV and go to DHS. Then we will go to Epcot for lunch and spending the afternoon and evening at Epcot.

I'm making moving day an all day park day due to the room most likely not being ready until 3-4 pm, especially since it's DVC. Last trip I didn't really account for not having a room at noon or our bags and we were kind of annoyed. It was August and we really wanted to go to the pool but we couldn't. We got our room around 3 but didn't get our bags until 4 pm or so. We napped instead so it all worked out. If I truly wanted to do pool time on moving day I would uber my bags to BWV so they are there when we get back for a midday break.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We’ve done 3 and 5 split stays twice. I enjoyed the experiences—almost like two trips in one.

In both cases, it worked out that we started with the 3 night stay. We didn’t fully unpack for the 3 nights and brought a carry-on bag with the things that we would need immediately to the second resort ourselves. Stuff like bathing suits and a change of clothes and meds plus toothpaste/brushes.

Bell services can take everything else.

 

[Haley R]

Our arrival day is MK most of the day. The next day we are doing AK in the AM, midday break and then HDDR and MK in the evening. The next morning we will check out of POFQ, have our bags transferred to BWV and go to DHS. Then we will go to Epcot for lunch and spending the afternoon and evening at Epcot.

I'm making moving day an all day park day due to the room most likely not being ready until 3-4 pm, especially since it's DVC. Last trip I didn't really account for not having a room at noon or our bags and we were kind of annoyed. It was August and we really wanted to go to the pool but we couldn't. We got our room around 3 but didn't get our bags until 4 pm or so. We napped instead so it all worked out. If I truly wanted to do pool time on moving day I would uber my bags to BWV so they are there when we get back for a midday break.

We’re doing a park day when we switch hotels too. I’m going to have our luggage sent to beach club from pop. We will be at the park all day so it won’t be a big deal for us.

 

[Bostonbeans99]

My daughter and I try to fit as much as we can into our vacation. Crowds, heat, rain...nothing can stop us!

My husband and especially my teenage sons seem to hit a brick wall by day 2. They aren't bored as much as they seem tired and want to sleep in. I figure arriving a day early with no passes will allow them to relax.

I usually always get same number of passes as days I'm at resort only because in a Disney package there's barely a difference in total price of vacation. I would rather have a ticket unused than have to pay inflated price at gate if I change my mind later.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My daughter and I try to fit as much as we can into our vacation. Crowds, heat, rain...nothing can stop us!

My husband and especially my teenage sons seem to hit a brick wall by day 2. They aren't bored as much as they seem tired and want to sleep in. I figure arriving a day early with no passes will allow them to relax.

I usually always get same number of passes as days I'm at resort only because in a Disney package there's barely a difference in total price of vacation. I would rather have a ticket unused than have to pay inflated price at gate if I change my mind later.

With FP+ it makes so much more sense to add on a day even if you just hop into a park for 2-3 hours in the evening. You can still have your 3 rides set up and take a leisurely stroll through the park.

 

[AllieBoo]

We love doing split stays and we always do 7-8 night stays. I disagree with the other posters who say that's too short of a stay to do a split. As others have said, doing a split stay allows you to experience two new resorts. We did our first split stay because I wanted to stay at a deluxe but really didn't want to pay that much for the whole week; so we split between a mod and a deluxe. The only thing I would say is to make sure you do the value or mod first and then move to the deluxe or it may be a little bit of a letdown.

 

[xmansmom]

How exactly do you get your stuff moved to the 2nd hotel? I booked CR beginning June 1 but we're now going to fly in on the 31st. We get in really late so I thought we'd just stay by the airport the first night. I just looked and it's cheaper to stay at ASM that night. It would also allow us to take ME and not have to pay for transportation 2x. We'll be taking our grandkids 3 & 5 for the first time and I think it will be a lot more exciting to wake up there. What would you do?

 

[dansdad]

How exactly do you get your stuff moved to the 2nd hotel? I booked CR beginning June 1 but we're now going to fly in on the 31st. We get in really late so I thought we'd just stay by the airport the first night. I just looked and it's cheaper to stay at ASM that night. It would also allow us to take ME and not have to pay for transportation 2x. We'll be taking our grandkids 3 & 5 for the first time and I think it will be a lot more exciting to wake up there. What would you do?

You have a couple of options.

1. Uber/Lyft/Taxi with your luggage over to resort #2.

Or what we prefer to do.

2. Call Bell Services or Luggage Assistance at resort #1 ask them to pick up our luggage and deliver it to resort #2. Head to a park for the day. Late afternoon head to resort #2 and check in. From our room call Bell Services and ask them to bring us our luggage. If you choose this option, don't expect your luggage to show up at resort #2 until 3-4 in the afternoon. We still prefer this option as we don't loose any park time.

 

[xmansmom]

You have a couple of options.

1. Uber/Lyft/Taxi with your luggage over to resort #2.

Or what we prefer to do.

2. Call Bell Services or Luggage Assistance at resort #1 ask them to pick up our luggage and deliver it to resort #2. Head to a park for the day. Late afternoon head to resort #2 and check in. From our room call Bell Services and ask them to bring us our luggage. If you choose this option, don't expect your luggage to show up at resort #2 until 3-4 in the afternoon. We still prefer this option as we don't loose any park time.

Thanks! We'll spend the first day in the parks so late afternoon is not a problem not a problem. I think I'll go with this option. My only worry is that the kids will be disappointed with the CR after seeing ASM. Their idea of deluxe is different than mine.

 

[luvdisney73]

We love split stays! I agree with a previous post that it makes it feel like two vacations in one! We try to splurge on a deluxe for a couple of days. I hope you have a very magical trip

 

[PSUGuy]

We did one split stay, never again if we can avoid it. It was 8 days, Swan then Dolphin and we lived out of our luggage, never felt like we were 'there'.

Bill From PA

 

[Bostonbeans99]

I've never done a split stay either because I like to unpack and be done with it.

BUT......I have always thought that it would be nice to do.
My DH cracks me up because he doesn't like change (he's much less adventures than me) and when I book a resort he always says "Great resort, book it for the next time too".
When I don't and he sees the next resort, he then seems to call that home and forget about the last one lol.

This time we are staying a week and a half so I am doing AoA first night....letting Disney transfer our luggage to WL and enjoying a day at the park while our room awaits us at the second resort.

I would never want to do a 4-3 or a 5-5 split.... (my family would become a bunch of bothered complainers) so I am thinking a 1-9 isn't going to affect us at all.

Resort Hopping "just to look" isn't 100% experiencing the whole hotel and all its amenities.

I am calling WL our second home now & I can't ever let that one go .............. so I am going to start doing a 1-9 or 2-8 split from now on. I have stayed at 6 resorts so far and there's many left to still try.

 

[happymommy]

I agree that I don't like to move once I settle in. A week isn't long enough for me to justify that.

That being said, now with Pop having queen beds, I'd lean towards that. I was surprised how much I enjoyed staying there! The food court is super convenient (too noisy, though, so we always took food back to the room, or at least most of the time). The bus service has always been convenient too. Much better than AKL and other resorts sometimes.

Having extra funds for other things is always a plus!