Split Stay! Need help PLEASE!

[DisneyDear83]

I have never been to Disney World before and am considering a split stay between Pop and WL for a week in January 2009. I assume that you must book two seperate packages for each hotel to include the dining and tickets. I don't understand how people do this since two packages are a great deal of money. If anyone could offer me a suggestion or explain how this is done in a cheaper way... I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!!!

[Guya103]

I am quite certain you can book one package and split your stay between two hotels.

I would book an original package lets say for five days at POP with 7 day tickets. Then, call and book the WL for the remainder of your stay. Tickets are good for 14 days.

The only way you could not do this is if you have a package deal such as free dining. Which is our case.

We need two rooms per resort so I had to make 6 different reservations!

In Aug we are staying at WL, CBR and POFQ.

You should have no problem. I am sure an expert will be on here to confirm my presented thoughts.

Have a great trip!!!! :mickey:

[RaRaRoundTheWorld]

We recently did a split stay.

We booked through AAA. For the hotel and dining plan, we had 2 separate packages. The hotel (15%) and tickets (not sure) were discounted under the AAA rates.

As for the tickets, the agent placed one set for our entire stay, minus one day, on one package, then booked the last ticket day on the second package.

The only problem we experienced was when we shifted to our second hotel. The CMs had some trouble understanding how to use up our dining credits from our old card, in combination with our new credits (we had some TS on the old).

Just a note about what the previous poster has stated, we were told that we must book separate packages for the AAA discount. Disney obviously may have separate policies. However, I personally wouldn't forgo the AAA discount for the convenience of booking directly through Disney.

[mouseketeer mom]

OOO! I am a split stay expert! We split our stay pretty much every time because we love the Disney resorts and splitting between 2 terrific resorts lets you have 2 very different vacations within one!
Here's what we do;
We do it one of two ways;
The first part of the stay is a package. Book your tickets for your ENTIRE length of stay, as they will transfer the remaining tickets onto your new key when you check into your 2nd resort. No need to book 2 packages.
The second part of your stay is room only. Meaning no tkts are booked with this stay. They will put the remaining tkts onto your new key when you check into this second resort.
OR:
You can book 2 room only stays and purchase your tickets seperately.
Either way accomplishes the same thing. There are just different payment schedules and rules between a package booked and a room only booked. So you would have to decide what you are most comfortable with. A package needs to be paid in full 45 days in advance of your arrival. A room only stay requires only a one night deposit per reservation. The rest can be paid upon check in.
Splitting is terrific. I highly recommend it.
Also, another tip...start with the "least" resort..moving up to your favorite for your second half.
Enjoy!
PM if you have more questions!

[KAT1811]

If you want the dining on both ends of the trip you will have to book two packages, no way around that with a split stay. Like a PP said the best way to do it is to book two packages with the first package containing the tickets for the length of your stay on the second package just book a one day pass. The one day pass can be saved for a future stay. We did this a couple of stays ago because we were staying for 2 weeks the packages do not go that far out so we had to book two separate packages. Not a bad deal that way.

[DisneyBunch]

If it's your first trip, why are you splitting resorts? I know there a few people who do this, but they probably have a feel for what the resorts have to offer already. Switching might be a distraction to you on your first trip. We've stayed in values, moderates, and deluxes on previous trips and we would be perfectly happy in any of them. I think that you'll have a great time no matter where you stay. Good luck!:mickey:

[KAT1811]

If it's your first trip, why are you splitting resorts?

I missed that. If I were you I would seriously consider staying at one resort on your first trip to WDW. WDW can be very intimidating to first timers and switching resorts mid trip adds to the confusion. Even as a WDW vetran I won't do a split stay.

BTW - :welcome: to Intercot I think you are going to like it here!!!

[DisneyDear83]

Thank you all for replying! I was considering doing a split stay because my bf and I will be joining my brother, sisnlaw, neice and nephew on the trip. They have been to disney for the last 5 years. There has been so much confusion while trying to decide on accomodations that we would all be happy with. We had all finally decided on WL but then they decided to stay at Pop Century instead. So we were thinking of doing a split between Pop and WL. Everything is new to me so I'm a bit confused.

[jonahbear2006]

I wish we did split stay cause we couldnt decide between beach club and grand floridian and ultimately picked bc for the pools and now I wish we had monorail service for our MK days. We tried to do the split stay but like the cm said, we wouldve had to buy two one day park tickets at rack rate to get free dining throughout our trip and we got free comp. tickets and didn't need to spend the money, so it wouldve cost us an extra $350 to split up our stay. Hindsight, I wish I wouldve paid the extra $350 and just done it, now I am considering buying an extra ticket anyways. :confused:

[DisneyDear83]

That seems to be the problem I am running into as well.Thanks to everyone's help on here I have determined that if I chose to do a split stay, I can get the package with dining for the first portion of the stay but in order to keep the dining for the second portion of the stay I would have to buy a 1 day base ticket which is $71 x 2 and pay the extra $142. I am not sure that is worth getting the dining savings for the second portion of the trip. Or I could pay out of pocket for the meals for the second portion and simply book a room only. I do not have AAA but I am looking into getting it for the vacation savings alone. From what I keep reading apparently you can get some decent savings with AAA.

[AlyceMarie03]

I'm glad the OP posted this because I was wondering the same! Can't make up our minds just yet so we may stay at two places.

[Mousemates]

Just :twocents: from a fam who does split stays on a regular basis...there is nothing really intimidating about a changing resorts from a purely logistical stand point...Disney will move your luggage for you and all you have to do it check in at the new resort...where you will be issued new "keys to the kingdom" cards.

We love the split stays and enjoy taking in the sights and sounds and recreation options of the various resorts (i.e .last trip we paddleboated to the third lake at CBR...we also rent surrey bikes, do hidden mickey hunts, etc)... so we do tend to spend more time at the resorts than many guests do and thus like the change of scenery. If your going to be "theme parking" every day , a one resort trip might be a better option.

[Mackflava99]

We just did one a few weeks ago- i was worried and good friends like mouseketeermom:) and others helped calm me down with great advice-

it was much easier than i thought-Actually it was pretty cool.

My tips:
1.) pack up the night before-
2.) Get your bags to valet as soon as you can.
3.) Keep enough items so you have something to wear and bathing suits too-
4.) When you are ready go to the other hotel asap and check in- they may not have a room BUT you will be first on the list. They asked for our cell number and called us when it was ready- that was so cool. we waited about an hour- it wasnt bad. even if you are not around, they will bring the luggage to your room for you.
Our luggage came around 3pm-
5.) keep your meal plan seperate for each hotel-
6.) DON'T attach your park tickets to your hotel key- otherwise you will have to get them moved over etc... i found that to require an extra trip to the consierge -easy but another line to wait in.

otherwise- no worries at all-
it was like 2 seperate trips, the downtime of packing and moving wasnt to bad.

Make dinner reservations near the destination hotel just in case.


The only sad thing was we had gotten so used to our room and how to get there that we had to memorize a new number and route:)

Its funny- we went from WL to BC- i liked the shower and Bed at WL better, but the rest of the room at BC was better- ( now to me, bed and shower are important but my wife liked the kitchen and other items much more) so i guess its all releative, but its fun to make the comparisons because its so fresh in your mind.

[CleveRocks]

If I am BUYING the Disney Dining Plan (as opposed to being part of the FREE DDP promotion), I wouldn't buy the DDP for the second part of my split stay.

Well, I guess it all depends on how long the 2nd leg of the trip is. Let's say it's 3 days (like mine will be). At $75 for the 1-day ticket for the second stay, that's an average of $25 per day. Do I think buying the DDP will SAVE me $25 per person per day as compared with paying out-of-pocket for food?

As to the idea of saving the 1-day ticket for a future trip ... unless there are very special circumstances, it really won't be worth it. Let's say your next trip will include 6 park days. If you already bought a 1-day ticket for $75, you'd then need to buy a 5-day ticket. However, if you didn't have that 1-day ticket and just bought a 6-day ticket, that 6-day ticket costs only about TWO DOLLARS more than a 5-day ticket. In other words, you paid $75 in the past to save about $2 in your next trip.

[Mackflava99]

That seems to be the problem I am running into as well.Thanks to everyone's help on here I have determined that if I chose to do a split stay, I can get the package with dining for the first portion of the stay but in order to keep the dining for the second portion of the stay I would have to buy a 1 day base ticket which is $71 x 2 and pay the extra $142. I am not sure that is worth getting the dining savings for the second portion of the trip. Or I could pay out of pocket for the meals for the second portion and simply book a room only. I do not have AAA but I am looking into getting it for the vacation savings alone. From what I keep reading apparently you can get some decent savings with AAA.

Can't you just buy your park ticket outsideof the plan or does it have to be included?

[CleveRocks]

Can't you just buy your park ticket outsideof the plan or does it have to be included?The Disney Dining Plan, whether you buy it or it's part of a free promotion, is available ONLY as part of a "package." In Disney-speak, a package is resort reservations and at least a minimum park ticket purchase of a 1-day base ticket.

The DDP is not available as an a la carte option. The package is called MYW + Dine.

[Tinkerfreak]

We considered this a few years ago and decided against it because of the following:

We were told that if we did book two seperate packages to get the dining plan for the entire stay we had to make sure to use all of the dining credits from the first stay before checking out to check into the next resort or we would just lose them. Once you check out the dining credits expire as of midnight that night. We did not want to have to micro manage our dining credits to avoid losing them. We just decided it was too much of a hassle.

We did however stay one night at the AKL last year on a room only stay and transfered to the Poly the next day. We enjoyed staying at both resorts and the luggage transfer went very smoothly. If we ever decide to go without the dining plan we would do a split stay.

[Nurse Kim]

We are thinking about splitting our stay between an offsite home to POR because we plan on going to Seaworld and Universal as well as the Disney Parks. It would save us almost $1000 doing this but I love the thought of being on Disney property our whole trip. My DH is all about saving money though.