Is a split stay inconvenient?

[Mflaherty]

How inconvenient is it to switch rooms after one night either within the same resort(different room category) or from one resort to another. I've never done it but it seems like a pain...mostly because of 11am checkout and 4pm check in.not to mention repacking and travel time. We have a 2 and 3 1/2 year old which makes it more complicated. Im hoping it isn't as bad as I think it is because we may want to add a night or 2 to the beginning of our vacation. Any input would help!

 

[ericm078]

We did it last year at AKV. Granted it was from Jambo house to Kidani, but we at the time had a 3 and 7 year old. It wasn't really that bad. When we checked out Bell Services took out luggage for us, and would bring it to our new room for us. We may have got lucky but we walked over to Kidani and our room was already ready (around 9:30am). We already had our swimming stuff on and ready to head out to Blizzard Beach. When we got back in the afternoon Bell services brought our luggage to the room, and we were all set.

 

[hakepb]

I've done split stays for availability or (lack of) points. Its not ideal, I would never plan to split stay at 11mo.

For a day or 2 at the beginning, I'd keep most bags closed and just open 1.

I would plan on going to a park between 11 and 4pm, which kinda stinks if that's nap time. You can "check into" your new resort early, but your keys may not work for a while. They can send out a text when the room is ready.

 

[disneynutz]

Moving is extra work and you loose part of a day. Another issue that we have found is that you increase your chances of something going wrong, room issues, late availability, CM mistakes.

If we move at all it's if we are doing a 10 day stay to experience 2 vacations at different resorts. Our next vacation is a 10 dayer and we are staying at BWV the whole time.

Bill

 

[Simba's Mom]

I don't find split stays inconvenient at all. I've done it numerous times, both switching room categories and switching resorts. But I think it depends largly on the make-up (ages) of your traveling party. All my split stays have been on solo trips, or a few times just with other adults. Last year, I spent 2 nites in a studio, then 3 nites in a 1 BR with DH, then back to a studio for 1 nite, then over to a different resort for 4 nites. That was a little too much. Generally, I just pack up in the morning or nite before if I want to leave early, bring my suitcase to be moved as I walk to the bus stop, head to a park, then take the bus over to the new resort and check in at the end of the day. No problem for me-but like I said, I'll admit that with young children, I doubt I'd recommend split stays.

 

[goofy4tink]

I do them all the time. BUT..if you like to have a room available during the day, it could pose a problem for you.
I usually pack up the previous night. Then, I hand off my bags to Bell Services to move to the next resort. I do this prior to 8am. Then, I head off to a park for a few hours..as I normally would. I head to the 'new' resort around 2ish. I get checked in and usually my villa isn't ready yet. If it isn't, I just go about my day as usual, waiting for the text alerting me to my villa being ready.
My biggest issue is that it can take overly long to get the bags back. I have yet to get my bags before 5pm. Even if my room is ready, I still have to wait for my bags to arrive. One would think that if you hand them off prior to 8am, the first resort has plenty of time to move them to the next resort. It's almost enough to make me pay for a cab and take the bags to the new resort myself!!!

 

[Disneylvr4]

I think it all depends on the people! Bell Services will certainly make the transition easier, BUT you do loose some of the day and if you have smaller children that can add to the stress of moving around.

I'd consider changing it up to a different resort if we were going for 2 weeks, but anything shorter and I'd rather stay put!

 

[dianeschlicht]

It really depends on your outlook on things. If you don't mind being "homeless" for the better part of a day and plan to be in the parks anyway, it's not too big a deal other than the packing and unpacking. For me, the packing and unpacking is a BIG deal, and I prefer to just stay put if I can.

 

[WDWorld2003]

We changed rooms four times in 12 days a few weeks ago all at BWV because of availability and the numbers in our group changing. It wasn't ideal but it wasn't bad. Stored our luggage with bell services and just kept our valuables. The plus of staying at the same resort is you can access your luggage in storage which we did a few times. We were all over the place from standard, to Boardwalk view to pool view. I know the place pretty well now!

We have changed resorts in the middle of the trip and that is harder I think but you do get to experience two different areas so it is like two mini vacations.

However, we did not have young children that might need a nap so staying in one place might be easier... only you know your kids.

 

[MichiganDVC]

I have done split stay almost every other time we go to Disney. Usually it's because I prefer walking distance to the parks and so I would like to stay at an Epcot resort and then a Magic Kingdom resort. One time, due to availability and points, I stayed at three different resorts on three different nights during food and wine. Started at Boardwalk, next night was Beach club, final night was Dolphin. That was a little much, but it was the only way I could do three nights during food and wine at Epcot resort. One of my best trips was several nights at Boardwalk and then several nights at Bay Lake. This gave me my wished for opportunity to walk to Epcot and then walk to Magic Kingdom and have to use very little transportation between. Perfect. Wasn't a problem at all. Finally, in July I will be doing yet another split stay between ALV Kidani and again Bay Lake. This is a compromise for me because usually I like to stay near the parks but this time I really wanted to check out Animal Kingdom Lodge and figured a split stay would be a good compromise. Plus we have seen plenty of Epcot resorts this year already and will be going to Food and Wine again in November, so I figured we can avoid the Epcot area just this once.

 

[mdsd8700]

Agree with the general consensus here that as long as you don't mind being "homeless" for quite sometime it really isn't a big deal. We really enjoy a split stay and don't find it inconvenient at all. We plan the switch day as such that we really don't notice the homeless part very much. When our kids were younger we didn't do it very often. Our DS needed a break in the room but for our DD it never mattered. It really does depend on the family.