How to Do a Split Stay at Disney World Hotels
Doing a resort split stay at Walt Disney World is great for trying two hotels or splurging on a luxury or Club Level accommodations. It can also be leveraged for proximity to the parks, making transportation, Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours, and midday breaks all easier! This covers strategy, tips & tricks, whether it’s worth the hassle, and more. (Updated January 21, 2024.)
A lot of readers have asked us about split stays, and the primary question is whether they’re worth the effort. We won’t bury the lede here: yes. We love the resorts at Walt Disney World almost as much as the theme parks, and staying at multiple hotels is a great way to experience different ‘thematic settings’ during a single trip.
Your resort can set the tone and atmosphere for the entire trip, so changing resorts makes it feel almost like a different vacation entirely–travel to both Fiji and the Pacific Northwest during your Florida trip. Right now, we’re even bigger advocates of split stays as a form of splurge that’ll allow you to take advantage of better on-site perks…
That’s because Walt Disney World is offering Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours through at least 2024 as a replacement to Extra Magic Hours. The former allows all on-site resort guests and those staying at select third party hotels to enjoy 30-minute access to any Walt Disney World theme park, every day before normal operating hours begin.
We’re big fans of Early Entry, as it essentially offer a couple of ride headstart for on-site guests, which can be pretty significant. (Learn more strategy in our Guide to Early Entry at Walt Disney World.) However, it’s not really relevant from a split stay perspective, since all on-site guests have access to this.
Where split stays come into play is with Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. This benefit is exclusively for guests staying at Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villas (Disney Vacation Club units), or other select hotels (currently Swan & Dolphin, Swan Reserve, and Shades of Green). Guests staying at Value or Moderate Resorts are not eligible for Extended Evening Hours.
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours occur only two nights per week in total–typically Mondays at Epcot and Wednesdays at Magic Kingdom, with a 2-hour duration starting immediately after normal park closing. Two hours should allow eligible guests to accomplish more, but this is only a perk for those who book more expensive hotels.
Currently, the two newest attractions in Epcot and Magic Kingdom–Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and TRON Lightcycle Run, respectively–both use virtual queues. This means you can only ride once per day via the virtual queue, assuming you score a spot, but Extended Evening Hours is an exception to that. On those evenings, there’s another chance to join the VQ. (See our Guide to the Virtual Queue at TRON Lightcycle Run for everything you need to know–same applies to Cosmic Rewind.)
Extended Evening Hours (ExEH) is a huge advantage. Crowds are virtually non-existent, as are lines for most attractions. It’s way better than Evening Extra Magic Hours were, which had become overcrowded due to expanded eligibility during its last few years. However, ExEH is only so blissfully unbusy because it excludes a large chunk of guests–everyone staying at Value and Moderate Resorts.
This is where a split stay comes into play. You’re eligible for these extra hours both on your checkin and checkout days, meaning that you could theoretically do a 2-night stay at a Deluxe Resort, checking in on Monday and checking out on Wednesday, and take advantage of Extended Evening Hours in two parks. (See our Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more rules, eligibility, strategy, etc.)
As of early 2024, Extended Evening Hours is back at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. Our favorite park for ExEH is Magic Kingdom, thanks to its ride density–there are more attractions and they’re easy to knock out in quick succession. (By contrast, there’s a lot of “commuting” at EPCOT that eats up valuable time.) Expect Magic Kingdom to continue hosting ExEH until around October 2024, when the heart of Party Season arrives and the perk is presumably (again) moved to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.
The same idea can be applied to a split stay and doing Club Level at Walt Disney World. You’re eligible to use the concierge lounge and all of the perks that come with staying Club Level on both your arrival and departure day, meaning that one night essentially enables you to access that lounge over the course of two days. Doing Club Level for a night or two, arriving early and leaving late gives you the most bang for your buck, and is a good way to get a taste of the Club Level life without breaking the bank.
Accordingly, we highly recommend Club Level as part of a ‘treat yourself’ split stay splurge. If you opt to do this, we highly recommend doing Club Level at the end of your vacation. This is partially because it’s tough to go back to normal accommodations once you’ve been in da club. More importantly, because you’ll spend the first portion of your trip racing around the parks doing everything that you want to get done, exhausting yourselves in the progress. Then at the end, you’ll have a Club Level stay to relax, rejuvenate, and actually vacation.
When we stay Club Level at Walt Disney World, we seldom leave the hotel–often bouncing between the lounge and the pool. For our favorite concierge lounges and recommendations, see our Guide to Club Level at Walt Disney World. If it’s going to be a big splurge and you want to do it but are unsure it’s in your budget, our recommendation would be Chronos Club at Gran Destino Tower, which offers far and away the best bang for buck.
(Once advance-booking of Lightning Lanes debuts later in 2024, it’s also possible that Club Level guests will have access to more or better ride reservation options. See When Will Pre-Arrival Lightning Lane Bookings Start at Walt Disney World?)
Only do the Disney Dining Plan for a portion of the stay, if at all. As covered in our 2024 Disney Dining Plan Info & Tips post, we think it provides too much food and can take too much time. Only doing the Disney Dining Plan for one portion of the trip allows us to do an attractions-oriented half of the trip, and a food-oriented half.
We almost always do the food half of the trip second, when we’re ready to slow down, relax, and focus more on eating. This also allows you to maximize savings by booking ADRs for the Best Uses of Disney Dining Plan Credits during the second half of your trip, while focusing on your favorite ‘good value’ restaurants during the first half. This isn’t something often discussed when it comes to split stays, but we wholeheartedly recommend it.
To that point, do NOT do the Disney Dining Plan at the same time as Club Level. It’s one or the other, not both. However, if you have a really long Walt Disney World vacation and really want to get creative and have fun, consider splitting your trip into thirds. This does allow you to do both the DDP and Club Level, just not at the same time.
If you’re worried about split stays wasting too much time, don’t. They actually offer a number of other different strategic advantages. One is in leveraging location for more efficient transportation to the theme parks near your hotel. This is of particular relevance when it allows you to avoid Disney buses, which aren’t typically as efficient as the non-bus transportation.
If you do a stay at Crescent Lake or at one of the Skyliner resorts, you have easy transportation–either via gondola or your feet–to both Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you follow that up with a Seven Seas Lagoon or Bay Lake resort stay, you have non-bus transportation to Magic Kingdom. That leaves only Animal Kingdom, and you could probably just deal with the buses for that.
The benefits of a convenient location cannot be overstated. This is especially true for Early Entry–walking to Epcot or Magic Kingdom, or taking the Skyliner to Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Epcot is far more efficient and easier first thing than relying on a bus. The time you save during Early Entry in turn gives you the freedom to leave the park–avoiding crowds in the middle of the day by taking breaks for pool time, afternoon naps, etc. Seriously, split stays open up a world of time-saving opportunities that you probably never imagined existed.
This approach also opens up more opportunities for enjoying and comparing a variety of amenities. For instance, you could do a head-to-head comparison and settle the Polynesian vs. Caribbean Beach Resort debate once and for all. Or, you could simply enjoy a greater range of restaurants, pools, and other entertainment that’s unique to each resort.
If you’re going to be spending more time at the pools or eating breakfast and dinner at your hotel, this helps you mix things up. Doing a split stay opens up more options–variety is the spice of life and all that.
As you can probably tell, we are huge fans of split stays. We change hotels frequently at Walt Disney World. Part because we really enjoy it and part because it’s necessary to keep our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews updated. There were times in the past when we’ve done as many as 6 hotels in a single trip! While I definitely wouldn’t recommend that, changing once over the course of a week is really no big deal at all.
For our own sanity, we’ve developed a few more ‘rules’ when it comes to split stays…
First, never do just a single night at any hotel. We’ve done that several times, and it can become exhausting. Unpacking and packing, settling in, and getting acclimated, only to do it all over again the next day. Plus, one night is simply not enough time to ‘get to know’ a resort and even partially enjoy its amenities.
Second, coordinate park days with resort stays. If we’re staying at the Contemporary or another monorail resort for one part of the trip, that’s when we go to Magic Kingdom. If we’re staying at Beach Club or another Crescent Lake Resort, that’s when we go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
This may seem like a minor or even odd thing, but it’s strategically huge. Walking between the Contemporary and Magic Kingdom is a pleasant stroll of less than 10 minutes, with the shortest security check you’ll encounter for the park. Waiting for and taking a bus, then going through the main bag check, can take over an hour. Ditto walking to and from Epcot or DHS.
Finally, go low to high if at all possible. This is to say, start at the lowest tier hotel and end at the highest. This is kind of implied above with the Club Level recommendation, but applies even beyond that. One big motivation for doing split stays is to splurge on something nice without breaking the bank on a full week there. You probably do not want to go from the Grand Floridian for 2 nights to All Star Sports for the next 5 nights.
That’s simply too jarring of a change, and in the wrong direction. Experiencing the nicer properties first really amplifies the shortcomings of the lower tier ones, and will make you less comfortable. It might sound silly, but beginning at a Value and ending at a Deluxe is a far superior approach, and will help you appreciate the Deluxe more.
Here’s our ‘formula’ for this:
- Start with 3-4 nights at a lower tier resort and go hard on the parks
- Switch to a nicer resort, get the Disney Dining Plan, and slow down for the next few nights
- End it all with a couple days for rest and recovery with Club Level accommodations.
Numbers 2 and 3 could even be at the same resort if you don’t want to hassle with transfering your luggage repeatedly. We’ve done trips like the above, and they’re a ton of fun. It sounds more complicated than it really is!
It’s worth noting that the low to high “rule” can be difficult to reconcile with the above advice about Extended Evening Hours, since those happen Monday and Wednesday and most vacations start over a weekend. If it comes down to one or the other, err on the side of Extended Evening Hours. Like the Pirate’s Code, these are really more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules.
With that said, consider “rethinking” your vacation time frame if at all possible. Resorts tend to be more expensive over the weekends, so it can be savvy to do a Value Resort Friday through Sunday to pay the (comparatively) lower rates for those as opposed to a Moderate or Deluxe Resort.
Equally as significant, crowds on Saturday and Sunday are lower than Monday through Thursday. Accordingly, you can do ‘commando style’ park touring over the weekend, then take things slower Monday through Wednesday, enjoying the nicer resort more before doing Extended Evening Hours to end the night! (See the ‘Wonky Weekends’ section in our updated Best & Worst Days to Visit Every Park at Walt Disney World.)
The resort transfer itself is pretty easy. On the morning you check out of your first resort, take your luggage down to Bell Services and indicate that you’re transferring resorts. They’ll ask where you’re going, at which point you’ll want to specify the full name of the resort to which you’re going.
As we cover in our Tipping at Walt Disney World: Info & FAQ, you’ll need to tip the Cast Member to whom you give your luggage. After that, you can head to the bus stop/monorail/etc. and start your day. Only a few minutes of extra effort, and you can be on your way to the theme parks.
Most transfers occur in the mid-afternoon, so plan on not receiving your luggage at the next resort until as late as 5 p.m. At your new resort, you’ll almost always have to either go down to Bell Services to retrieve your luggage or call down to have it delivered again. Again, you’ll need to tip.
One thing we’d caution against is opting to ‘do it yourself’ and transfer resorts via Uber, Lyft, or (worst of all) Disney transportation. There are several exceptions to this: those with a rental car, transferring between monorail resorts, or any hotels within walking distance of one another.
Additionally, it can be easier at resorts that are spread out among multiple buildings (like Caribbean Beach), or between off-site and on-site hotels (at which point doing it yourself is necessary). In these cases, Uber or Lyft can pose an advantage.
We understand that some of you may be apprehensive about the luggage transfer, but we have done split stays dozens of times (probably nearly 100 times–so many we’ve lost count) and have had zero issues with the luggage transfer. This doesn’t mean they don’t happen, but they so infrequent it’s not worth worrying about.
More importantly, doing it yourself is a complete waste of time and money. You’ll have to take the time to go to the new resort and spend the money on a ride. You’ll most likely still have to drop your luggage off with Bell Services at the new hotel, because you’ll be arriving there by about noon at the latest and your room is unlikely to be ready.
With the greatness of split stays established, let’s turn to some of the potentially unpleasant logistics. Some Walt Disney World visitors make a huge deal about the planning “hurdles” that come with a split stay, but in fairness, people make a huge deal about everything Walt Disney World-related. It’s not that much additional coordination at all.
No matter how you want to do the split stay, you’re going to be stuck booking multiple reservations. This is irrespective of whether you’re doing a vacation package, room-only reservation, Disney Vacation Club booking. Unfortunately, Disney’s system is not sufficiently sophisticated to allow for a single reservation to encompass multiple hotel stays.
From our perspective, tickets are the most important element to discuss, and you’ll want to purchase tickets for the full duration of your stay with the first stay. The reason for this is, quite simply, that one 7-day or 10-day ticket is cheaper than two shorter tickets.
There are potential hiccups and exceptions (you know, the usual when it comes to Walt Disney World planning), but that’s essentially it. For most visitors, booking a split stay and planning all components shouldn’t be much of a challenge, particularly if you’re a more laid back planner.
With that said, we did just lay out a bunch of rules/guidelines, some of which are contradictory. If you want more thorough guidance or assistance navigating the ‘split stay’ planning waters, we’d highly recommend contacting an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. Those travel agents are free-to-use so long as they handle your booking, and they can offer personalized planning that takes into account your priorities and preferences. No Disney planning advice is one-size-fits-all, and that includes our strategies for split stays!
Overall, hopefully this helps you understand the ins and outs of how to do a split stay and, much more importantly, the upsides of doing one. In case you can’t tell, we love split stays. There’s something truly special about sleeping in the rustic seclusion of Fort Wilderness for a night, and then flipping a switch to the grandiosity and elegance of the Grand Floridian the next.
Likewise, staying within walking distance of Magic Kingdom at the Contemporary for a couple of nights, and then walking distance of DHS and Epcot at BoardWalk a few nights is both a ton of fun and smart strategy. Those are just a couple of examples, but the options for changing from one richly-themed environment and ‘region’ of Walt Disney World to another are pretty much boundless.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Have you done a split stay at Walt Disney World? What’s your favorite approach to doing different resorts during the same WDW vacation? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any hotel combos you particularly like? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Can we do a split stay with vacation package and DVC rental? Rental are going for so cheap right now!
Tom
I know you’re exercising an abundance of caution these days. I want to do a split stay, going from Poly to BWV, but those coming with me are reluctant to change rooms, and we’ve already see decided on no housekeeping during our 7 days. I’d appreciate your thoughts on cleaning, additional luggage handling, etc. with split stays. Thanks!
We did s split stay between the Boardwalk and the Contemporary specifically for the convenience of walking and wanting to reduce our time on busses right now and it was a total game changer. I think I’ve been ruined for any resorts without such easy options for future trips.
Was considering a split stay, over the course of two weeks, any chance you think the 10 day pass will come back before the end of the year?
Do there seem to be price increases or decreases with not full capacity and all of the restrictions happening? Or do prices for the resorts, including Fort Wilderness, appear to be the same as always?
Hi Tom,
I have a say coming up at the Caribbean Beach resort in September but really wanted to stay at the Riviera and would love to do a split stay. Do you know if they are doing the luggage transfer now that they’ve opened with restrictions?
Thank you.
It’s still the same process. I just did a split stay at the end of July- no issues at all going from the Polynesian to the Beach Club.
I’ve heard about this but have never done it. The longer you stay, the cheaper your tickets are so I wonder how that is affected. I do my own reservations thru the Disney site and don’t recall where you can make a reservation for say 7 days and choose two different places to sleep. If you have to make 2 reservations, don’t you lose any discounts by splitting into 2 lesser stays? Just ranting here, not really expecting a reply.
You could book a reservation at your first resort for say 4 days but attach a seven day ticket, thus getting that discount. Then book your next resort for the remainder of your stay as a resort only reservation. You will still be using the tickets from first reservation during the second part.
Yes you still buy a 7 day ticket. Only thing that is really effected is your magical express. You have to do arrival on one reservation and departure on the other. I normally buy my ticket from undercover tourist and just link it up.
Good to know, thanks
We have a week-long Bounceback stay booked for December (was at POR, our favorite, now CBR…sigh). Do you happen to know if you can modify a Bounceback offer to become a split stay?
Many years ago we did split trips each year! As new hotels opened we wanted to try them and then return to an old favorite. One year we forgot to check out at the end of day three to move on. We went to the parks and returned after 10 pm. Only to be locked out of our room. After getting help because are card would not unlock the door we found that we were indeed supposed to be at another resort for the next four night! Frustrated with the lockout, which was totally our fault, the cast members were great and we ended up staying in the first hotel one more night and moved on in the morning! We transferred ourselves because we had our own car! But when you are moving you must remember when! The days go by and if you are like us you get caught up in the experience and forget what day it is!
Potentially doing a Pop/Coronado split-stay in April. Wasn’t our initial plan. We only had 2 Disney days @ Coronado added at the end of our 5 day Carnival cruise (spontaneous decision!) but now we don’t think we’re doing the cruise because of the fear of being quarantined on a ship. Would much rather a resort stay so we added nights before the initial stay. Anyway because we booked the Coronado first, all of our fastpasses (including Mickey’s RR!) are within the last 2 days, not to mention CRT at MK and Star Wars special events (light saber/droid/Oga’s Cantina) at HS. I was thinking of adding at least one more park day in the first half if we extend the trip but maybe just relaxing and doing non-park related things is better like Disney Springs (NBA), character dining, tea party, checking out other resorts, etc. It is what it is I guess, we already anticipated the hustle at the last half of our vacay after the cruise anyway. Thankfully at least the Coronado seems more slow-paced than Pop! I am looking into switching our MK day to a full day in the first half of the stay though, contingent on scoring CRT since the fastpasses we have for MK aren’t that exciting. Thanks for the post Tom!
We are doing one night at Caribbean Beach, then a week at Poly through DVC rental. I booked Caribbean beach direct with Disney and booked our 8 day tickets and memory maker with that reservation. I feel certain I’ll be able to book all my fast passes, but will I be able to book my 8 days of dining on the first 6 month out date, or will I have to wait until day 2 to book the other 7 days? Thanks for anyone who can advise…
I just had this issue with our split stay. For dining you can only reserve for 180 days from check in at each resort. For example you will be able to book dining for the Caribbean stay on the 180 days prior to that… but will not be able to book your Poly until 180 days from check in for that one. This was a bit of a hang up for us in that there are certain character meals we want and couldnt get with the first stay and need to wait for our second check in to see if we can get it then. Hope this helps.
So as of my booking for Feb 2020, and doing a split stay, 2 nights at AKL then 6 at Riviera, I was able to do all 8 days of fastpasses on the 60 day mark of the first stay.
I just did a split stay. From the poly to AoA, due to a lack of availability at the Poly for our full travel week, and wanting to see what another resort was like. I thought it would be seamless. I will not do it again. Bell services delivered our luggage from the Poly to someone else’s room at AoA, and it took hours to rectify. The whole experience made our trip less magical, and our 11yo felt this experience ‘didn’t seem like we were staying at a Disney hotel’.
Doing my first split day ever in January.
One night at the Riviera (that’s all we can afford) and 3 nights at the Port Orleans French Quarter. Can’t wait to see the new resort!
How easy is it to do a split stay if based in the UK? We wanted to book on WDW website and not through a travel agent like Virgin…. with flights etc is this possible to book from the UK?
It’s possible, but as far as I know you wouldn’t be able to book the UK offers which are usually much better than any deals we get here. Similar to how Disneyland Paris runs different deals for different countries, the UK typically gets the best discounts on packages.
The ultimate Disney World split stay is what we call “The Trifecta”: A few days at a value or moderate resort, a 3 or 4 day Disney Bahamas cruise out of Port Canaveral, then two or three days at a moderate or deluxe resort.
It’s like having three vacations in one! You get two Magical Express rides and two Cruise transfer rides. We consider that a plus as the anticipation during these rides is almost as fun as a park ride (except for the last one back to the airport).
You don’t get that sad “kicked to the curb” feeling at the end of the cruise because you still have more time ahead at Disney World.
We don’t get off the boat in Nassau — there is nothing there as fun as what’s available onboard or better than Castaway Cay the next day. So we are “on property” from the minute we enter the Magical Express area on the lower level of Terminal B until we get off the bus at the airport on the way home. A really big Disney bubble that runs the gamut from the depths of the Jungle Cruise to the wide expanse of the open ocean — with a day on a tropical island to boot!
It’s a really great trip — we did it twice for both my husband’s my 50th birthdays!
THIS sounds like a wonderful idea! May have to copy you in the future once cruising and all is safe and sound once more!
How does memory maker work? Will it be active for both reservations?
Is there a split stay standard for Disneyland? We are going to try that next year, probably.
We do split stays, but at Disneyland, with only three official Disney hotels, the split is between non-Disney (the majority of our stay) and then finish with a couple nights at one of the official hotels. I recommend. Spring for a view room at Paradise Pier–the best view at the resort, IMO. Don’t spring for a fireworks view at Disneyland Hotel. The views were partial and were no substitute at all for being there. Better fireworks view at the Tropicana, directly across the street from Disneyland. Remember at DLR, many non-Disney hotels are closer than the official ones.
We were upgraded to the view room at Paradise Pier, and I totally agree that it was amazing!
Thanks for the info on the other hotels!!
You can also opt out/refuse the second set of magic bands and only use the first one issued. This option is done through the my Disney experience. I was told that batteries last about 18 months so you can use any magic band issued within that time frame for any stay. Plus, as a last resort option, if your battery is dead the front desk has grey magic bands they can issue on the spot, free of charge.
When doing a split stay, are you able to book FPs 60 days out for each reservation and ADRs 180 days out for each reservation?
You can book ADRs 180 days out from your first resort day plus 10 days. Fastpass is 60days from each resort stay per my experience last year.
Based on our experience doing a split stay in Jan 2019, we had to do our ADRs in 2 steps – 180 days out from EACH reservation. However, I was able to make FP at the 60-day mark for BOTH reservations, meaning I only had to wake up early once!
Hope that helps.
It USED to be the case that you could book FP+ at 60 days out from the first day of your first split stay for the entirety of the stay. But with the February 2019 changes, this is no longer the case. You have to book FP at the the start of each reservations. As someone who doesn’t go to WDW very often (and who is being more or less screwed by this change–can’t believe they didn’t grandfather us in), a split stay doesn’t make sense for this reason.
How long should you plan for switching resorts if you are driving to Florida? We are going in May and will check into the All Star Movies on a Monday and only go to Disney Springs that afternoon. The next morning, I was planning on switching to Caribbean Beach and then going to Epcot (which has extended hours that evening so we wouldn’t have to get there super early). But we would need to move our car to Caribbean Beach that morning. Are you allowed to do that if check in isn’t until 3?
I’ve parked my car at the resort I was staying at later that day as early as 6:30 AM. But you may want to check.
I’m sorry I haven’t had time to read through all the comments, so I apologize in advance if this has already been asked.
How do you manage your Magic Band for a split stay? If your frontload tickets, I understand that part, but what about using it as a room key, I am guessing you need to check in with the 2nd hotel to have things updated?
Well two things on this: First, you get magic bands for each stay, since they are separate reservations. So you can start to increase your collection more quickly this way. Second, as to the use of the MagicBands, they are not tied to your specific reservation/split. In other words, you can use both MagicBands for both portions of your stay. You can actually use any MagicBand that is connected to your My Disney Experience account and is active both in the parks and as your room key. The MagicBands are tied to you and your account, not to a specific resort reservation. They just issue you one for free with your reservation and connect it to your account in advance. As long as the batteries are still good, you can use any old MagicBands you have as well.
Thanks Anthony, so sounds like it’s no issue at all then. I will say, a split stay does sound like fun to try one of these times. 🙂