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!
Hey Tom. Haven’t seen this talked about very much, but I’ve had issues when checking out of a Deluxe Resort on a Wednesday when Magic Kingdom Extended Evening runs until 1:00am. Disney’s system seems to refresh at midnight and it doesn’t reflect we were at a Deluxe Resort anymore. Only some Cast Members are difficult about this, but a data point to keep in mind.
We love split stays! We’re DVC and it’s difficult to get a full week at many of the resorts 7 months out, but easier to get 2-3 nights. Triple Splits our favorite. We’ve done arrival day at Bay Lake Tower with a Park View ans watched the fireworks from our balcony, and gome beck to Contemporary on check out night, which is usually an non-park day anyways, to watch them again in the evening. then 3 day a piece at different resorts, as you suggested, stratefically close to the parks we’re visiting. Wilderness Lodge is by far our favorite resort to date overall. Riviera is incredibly decorated and finished, with access to the Skyliner for Epcot and MGM Studios, , but lacks the warmth we feel at Wilderness. Lodge. Kidsni Village Savannah view on the third floor is also a nice way to end a vacation. not much beats sitting in your balcony in the morning with a cup of coffer and watching exotic wildlife roam about in search of their breakfast. Exploring the resort, wnjoying the pool, and bottomless Jungle Juice during breakfast is a no Brainerd.
We were hesitant of the potential hassle of packing up and relocating a few times during our trip, and it can be a tad inconvenient as Disney won’t transfer refrigerated or freezer items, but we make due with a few small grocery deliveries.
Tom – I feel like we are on the same wavelength on so many things Disney related!! I’ve almost always done split stays – before it was common but more because the hubs balks at a 5 night deluxe stay, so to keep prices down I do what I have to! I am also one who WILL do a one night stay (more often at DL because there are only 2 (not really 3) on property resorts where we want to stay and those prices are insane). We also don’t need 5 days at DL. The first night is off property ~$100-$125 per night, then we actually walk to a Disney Hotel, check in and enter the parks. The walk is the worst part – but it is maybe 10-20 min and I’m a cheap gal. And two nights at GC or DLH. Even at DW, I’ve done a one night stay, more if it is a short overall visit and only on the first night at a cheaper DW hotel and often moving from Swan/Dolphin to a Disney crescent lake hotel.
We love Animal Kingdom Lodge. We don’t love how far it is from all the parks except AK. We use split stays to get around this. We’ll book AKL for the day we plan on visiting AK and also schedule a break day during that stay to really enjoy the hotel. Then we’ll switch to a monorail resort when we’re doing the rest of the parks.
Highly recommend this strategy if you want to stay at AKL but don’t like the long commutes.
That’s a great suggestion!
It also helps that AKL is quite arguably the best option at Walt Disney World for a resort day–great pools, dining, and animal-watching!
Could not agree more about split stays. They are fantastic. Thanks to this blog our very first trip to WDW was a split stay. Our upcoming mid-December trip will be 6 nights in a Boardwalk Studio and 3 nights in an Animal Kingdon Villas Jambo House one-bedroom savana view. Pinciple of convenience – we will spend those three days enjoying the resort, checking out the two pools, and spending a couple easy days in the Animal Kingdom park. Also similar to your club level strategy – we will stay in a studio first and then a one bedroom. If it was reversed, I’m sure the Studio would feel cramped. Didn’t plan on getting a one bedroom, but this is our first time staying at AKL and I really wanted us to stay on the Jambo side our first stay.
We are doing a split stay in November, 9 days at POP and then five days at CBR. We have two rooms with seven people going from the ages of 2 to 83, we have planned our switchover day from resort to resort on a rest day. I have zero concerns about packing up and having our stuff moved over, I agree I feel like people make it a way bigger deal than it is. I look forward to experiencing two different resorts, the different amenities & remaining on the Skyliner route.
What I’ve neglected to see mentioned, is Disney’s fascist policy of making you book your dining reservations separately for each resort you stay at. This was not the case in 2019, but apparently somebody thought it’s not an inconvenience for people on the west coast to wake up multiple times at 3AM to get the reservations they want. Not to mention the increased chances of things being sold out because you can’t book for Day 7 of your vacation until the 1st day of your 2nd resort which might not be til day 6 or 7.
Disney has continued to make things more inconvenient for guests since re-opening and honestly, I wasn’t that surprised upon learning this last week. If they would rather I spend less money on vacation, then apparently that’s the way it will be.
Describing a dining reservation policy as “fascist” undercuts what would otherwise be a valid and good point. I’d encourage you to rethink that in the future–casually throwing around terms like that saps them of their significance and makes people less inclined to read or take seriously what you have to say.
We have been going with our kids since the early 2000s. And when we did a split stay that was one of the drawbacks, the 60 day advance dining didn’t work for the whole time. Maybe there was a blip in time when it did and we missed it.
I’d like to try to do a 7 day split stay between 2 Deluxe Villas (to take advantage of Extra late hours in the 4 parks) by renting points thru one of the DVC rental websites (to save some money). Will I be able to easily link my park tickets to both Deluxe Villa stays so i can take advantage of the Extra late hours for the full week of my stay? thank you!
You’ll get a confirmation number for the resort stay and will be able to link that in My Disney Experience, which will also have your tickets linked.
From there, it’s either a matter of scanning your MagicBands or room key to take advantage of Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours. Pretty simple process!
Can staff at the Swan & Dolphin arrange for luggage transfer to a Disney-operated resort, or would that have to be DIY?
Same question
Officially, the answer is currently that they do not.
Unofficially, there have been numerous reports of Swan & Dolphin doing the transfer (and vice-versa) in the last 6 months. I’d love to hear more firsthand reports, but to my knowledge, it actually *is* possible.
I’m going to be VERY interested to see whether your stance on split stays changes once the baby comes. With two little kids, split stays seem like madness to me
Sarah – in general we found it was really easy. Even with kids. You do have to pack up everything – but once that is done you just drop your stuff off at the first hotel concierge (you have to walk downstairs anyways and more or less walk by the concierge on your way out – so that isn’t out of the way), then go about your day in the parks, check in to the second hotel and go up to your room. You could even spend time at the pool at the second hotel (or even first – let one parent spend pool time and one parent packs). This is simplified in that this is baring no problems checking in to the next hotel and if kids nap then they might need to do it in a stroller. If there is anything I ever needed during the day or thought I might need if we checked in before luggage was transferred – I just packed it in my park bag. Yes, having little ones and all their paraphernalia is more work and more time consuming – back when they were little we would often do split stays (before it was fashionable). I am not one to unpack and put everything in the room dresser unless we are in one place for a week, so the bag was still packed and it took minimal time. We were used to car travel across the US, so one night stays were habit which made unpacking unnecessary and has just translated to how we travel. I also usually stayed a shorter time at the first place (so not as much stuff had made it around the room). Only once did we have a bad, long problem, but having the packed backpack with kid stuff was a lifesaver!
Our first trip in years was when our two were toddlers and we did a split stay with stroller, etc and we were far from the experienced Disney people that Tom and Sarah are. It was fine. Probably easier as we had more bags for the park, etc. Now we pack light when we head out.
That has got to be the most beautiful picture of the Tron canopy I’ve ever seen. Seriously, getting the sunset/rainbow/canopy pattern on that one is lovely, and TRICKY – unless it was sheer coincidence, as I can easily imagine you hoofing it up the Tron spike in record time…
Also as a note, you mention that one should absolutely NOT combine doing a Dining Plan and a Club level stay…immediately above recommending combining a dining plan and club level split stay (where you list out your ‘formula’ beneath the infinitely waving Beast.)
I had *just* gotten on the TTA PeopleMover when the rainbow appeared, and it was the most “excruciating” 10 minutes or so in recent memory. The rainbow ended up sticking around for a decent amount of time. I probably should’ve raced over to the Liberty Square Bridge for a shot with Cinderella Castle, but the moat is still drained and TRON is the new shiny object, so I didn’t.
To clarify, I’m only advising doing DDP and Club Level in a 3-part split stay–Value Resort, then DDP, then Club Level. I’ve edited that to make that clearer, hopefully it makes more sense now!
Hi some advice needed first timer.
Is this too much?
3 nights pop
3 nights French quarter
2 nights. Animal kingdom
3 night’s Polynesian
3 nights hard rock
2 adults 1 x16 year old.
We leave 20th August
My $0.02. That’s a lot of moving. Remember, the days that you change hotels, you won’t have a place to go rest in the middle of the day, which for my group was critical. However, at this late date, I don’t think you have any flexibility in making alterations.
My own two cents? Yep, that’s a LOT of moving around. However, you’re basically three adults so you should be okay. Just make sure to plan and coordinate your park days accordingly and like Tom said, remember you won’t likely have access to your luggage until the evenings. So be sure you have your swimsuits, a change of clothes and anything else you might need available in your day bag.
Hi, chiming in with my agreement on the other comments….we do split stays a lot and they are great. But that’s a LOT of moving. I see your rationale for location change on all of them except going from Pop to French Quarter. No transportation/location benefit to moving to FQ (except boat to Disney Springs which has been suspended til further notice, so currently nothing at all). Pop for Skyliner (Epcot/HS), Poly for monorail (AK), AK for AK, Hard Rock at Universal. I’d just drop FQ. Have a great trip whatever you choose.
Yeah that would be too much for my crew.
Keep Universal at the end. You’ll enjoy the unlimited express pass, but you’ll still want to get there early to do Hagrid as no express pass.
The Disney planning system has serious issues with split stays, as I’m unfortunately finding out. I think others have already noted issues with FP+ (RIP) and also with ADRs, as it doesn’t recognise subsequent stays until you’re 60 days out from check-in (even if they fall into the 60+10 rule).
However, it’s also really problematic with DAS advance selections (for disabilities). My first hotel is a package stay with tickets, then I have ~10 more days at other hotels. However, the system doesn’t recognise that I have a valid ticket after the check-out date from my first hotel, so I can’t make any more advance selections. This is a huge shortcoming in the DAS system!
We’ve done split stays before and really enjoy getting the benefits of more than one hotel. However, this is the first time with DAS and the first time with 60 day ADRs (from 180), and booking everything has just been incredibly frustrating.
We have a split stay booked in December: 4 nights at Beach Club, 2 at Galactic Starcruiser, 2 at Grand Floridian and then 1 at Portofino (to get free universal express for two days). Just writing all of that is making me a little anxious but a split stay was inevitable with Star Wars. More than a little disappointed to realise we will have two separate ADR dates. Are customer service able to book ADRs for 60+10 if we phone? We are in Australia so phoning is a bit of a nuisance, but worth it if we can get the ADRs we want.
What are DAS and ADR?
DAS = Disability Access Services
ADR= Advanced Dining Reservations
Hi Tom. We’re doing a 9 night 3 way split stay at the Contmeporary (just booked a Disney+ deal, then AKV Kidani then BWV (both with point rentals but with different agencies) at the end of September. All three reservations are showing in my Disney Experience.
I just now realized since we have different check-in dates this will probably impact our 60day ADR plans.
Will the system allow me to do it for the full 9 days or will I have to keep checking back?
Should I book the first 3 nights on line at 6am and then call reservations at 7am for the rest of the trip or will they not allow that?
Thanks for your advice, we couldn’t plan our Disney trips without it!
Leenie
What is a reasonable tip to give bell services at either end for the luggage, i am from the UK so am a bit cluless with this, i know the general rule of 15-20% tip for wait staff, but for other things am not so sure
For what it’s worth, I tipped $5 when I dropped off the bag at one hotel and then $5 when I picked it up at the other.
I just booked a split stay in July at Port Orleans Riverside and Beach Club. Our transfer day will be our Animal Kingdom day, and I’m expecting we will be done at AK by 2:00 or 3:00 and ready to head to Beach Club to swim and nap. Since our luggage will probably not transfer over until around 5:00, do you have any recommendations about how to avoid carrying extra stuff around AK all morning in order to have access to our swimsuits? (I’m considering buying new ones when we get to the resort, lol!)
Lisa, Check out the first come first served lockers on the immediate left after you enter AK. Small lockers 12 x 10 x 17; large 15.5. x 13 x 17. Also lockers near Kali River Rapids. May be an option for you!
Hi
just read your split stays. This is what I am doing in October
I have 4 complimentary nights in a luxury hotel( just need confirmation) so I have booked 5 night at all stars. I am on my own as my husband died last year but I know disneyworld very weii so not scared
I thought value then luxury and I love the tip of the luggage Thank you
Hi! Booking a split stay, do you book the tickets for the full duration of the stay then the seperate hotel reservations? And then lose the hotel discounts on the park tickets? When trying to book hotel and tickets together, I am forced to book two different stays and not get the 7-days park tickets discounts.
I am a bit confused
Regards from Scandinavia
We also love split stays. BUT, on our last trip (end of February), MDE did not recognize the 2nd half of our stay and would not let us make ADRs 60+ days out from our first resort reservation dates. Those dates were “unavailable.” I called Disney, and the CM confirmed that we could not make our ADRs for our second half of our trip until 60 days from check-in date of our second resort. Needless to say, we were not happy having to get up at an ungodly hour twice to get our ADRs — especially when that is supposed to be a “perk” of staying at a Disney resort.
Ugh. I just read your post after asking Tom this question. We have a 3 way split. That doesn’t sound quite fair that they won’t allow this, I can’t imagine the reasoning for it. I’ll post here again after July 23rd which is our 60 day mark in case anything has changed. Thanks for the heads up..
Split stays are fun. A word of caution on luggage transfers though. We just did a split stay at Animal Kingdom Kidani Village 5/11-5/14. On our transfer day to All Star Movies we took our luggage to Bell Services at 10:00am (just two suitcases). As of 5:00pm that day our luggage had not arrived at Movies. Bell Services could not get anyone to answer the phone at Kidani Village. At 7:00pm Bell Services told us to go to the front desk because they may have a different phone number. After 20 minutes of a helpful Cast Member on the phone she finally contacted Kidani Village. Our luggage was still there, it had never been transferred. They put in in a van and it arrived about 30 minutes later. So it’s not flawless! Hopefully everyone else has better success than we did.