Split Stay Tips

[Mopedmom1]

You don't really have to "check out" at Disney. At least I've never checked out. It's all done automatically.

Out trip last March involved a split between POFQ and AKL and a rental car. We loaded up the car and headed to AKL around 10:00 am without checking out. Got to AKL gate and the guard couldn't find our reservation. Got to the front desk and the CM chastised us (rather rudely) for having not checked out at our other resort. Perhaps the difference is because we got to AKL before actual checkout time at POFQ?

Our November trip involves three resorts and no rental car. I am trying to figure out how we want to do the transfers. The first one is AKL to WL. Being the Saturday after Thanksgiving we are not braving the parks and will make it a resort day. I'm pretty sure we will Minnie Van it with the luggage and just leave it at WL Bell Services until our room is ready.

Our second transfer is from WL to YC and the day will be spent in HS and EPCOT. I am thinking we will try the Bell Services transfer here. Trying both methods will give us an idea of what works best for us!

I am using packing pods and will try to pack a suitcase specific to each resort. Unlike you, I am an unpacker. I am not sure if I will be able to keep everything in the suitcase. The FIRST thing I usually do upon entering the room is unpack. THEN the vacation can start!

 

[usmccobrawife]

We are doing a split stay with AOA for 2 nights and 5 nights at GF we want our split day to be a resort day so we can enjoy both pools. We don't have a car. Should we take our luggage ourselves between the resorts?? We want to keep a bag with swim stuff out so we can go to GF pool before our room
Might be ready. I think we will have some dining credits left from the first stay for breakfast so I don't want to Check into gf too early.

 

[MamaJessie]

This will be our first split stay but we are going to drive to the parks that day or else or car will be at the other resort. I figure we will pack separately for each resort, and let bell services transfer the first resort luggage so we aren't playing suitcase jenga in the parking lot in the early morning (I like to be there before rope drop) but will have what we need in the car when we arrive at the next resort.

 

[GoGoBeans]

We did a split Poly then BC stay this year. It was easy, but I didn't love it. We barely unpacked at Poly, had a dirty clothes suitcase, and easy check in at BC. All that though, I think we all would have preferred to unpack and stay put for a week.

 

[dansdad]

We are doing a split stay with AOA for 2 nights and 5 nights at GF we want our split day to be a resort day so we can enjoy both pools. We don't have a car. Should we take our luggage ourselves between the resorts??

You can take a taxi/Uber/Lyft with all your luggage to the GF if you want.

We want to keep a bag with swim stuff out so we can go to GF pool before our room
Might be ready. I think we will have some dining credits left from the first stay for breakfast so I don't want to Check into gf too early.

It won't matter when you check in to the GF, you will have access to your dining credits from AoA until Midnight of moving day.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

My best tip for a split stay with a car, which I learned from experience, is do NOT leave your inflated Mickey helium balloon in your car for a few hours during the day while you're in between resorts. It will partially deflate.

If you drive directly from the first resort to the second and leave your luggage and balloon with bell services, that is fine. Or even easier, don't buy the balloon until you're already at the second resort.

 

[closetmickey]

So once you leave resort #1, do you use the app to check inti resort #2, and await a room text? We have done a split stay before but it was before the age of online check in so we went to the 2nd resort front desk after a long day at the parks. Would be nice to skip that step and just call down for our bags to be delivered.

 

[dansdad]

So once you leave resort #1, do you use the app to check inti resort #2, and await a room text? We have done a split stay before but it was before the age of online check in so we went to the 2nd resort front desk after a long day at the parks. Would be nice to skip that step and just call down for our bags to be delivered.

Not everyone that does Online Check In gets to Bypass The Front Desk. You may still have to stop by the Front Desk.

 

[Chancery8]

So once you leave resort #1, do you use the app to check inti resort #2, and await a room text? We have done a split stay before but it was before the age of online check in so we went to the 2nd resort front desk after a long day at the parks. Would be nice to skip that step and just call down for our bags to be delivered.

We did online check-in before we left for our trip and there was nothing else we had to do once we got to Disney. On transfer days, we just left the resort (no check-out required), went to the parks and waited for the room number text from the next resort. Just checked my text history and we got our room texts at 1:58pm, 2:12pm, and 1:28pm (we did a split at 3 resorts). So we were able to just go right to our room (we did so around 3-4pm each time) and called bell services to get our bags. It took about 10 min for bell services to deliver the bags to the room.

 

[duketennisgal]

We are splitting our stay between offsite and onsite for the first time ever, but thankfully we will be driving my car. My plan is to check out of our onsite hotel around 7:30 am and just head to the parks with our luggage in our car. Then once I get a text that our room's ready we will take a break from the park, head to POR, unpack and rest up a bit before heading over to another park.

I thought about heading straight over to POR and dropping our luggage off, I'm assuming that they would just send it to my room when the room is ready but it's just two of us and we will likely only have one small suitcase each so I don't think that's necessary.

 

[Mopedmom1]

I thought about heading straight over to POR and dropping our luggage off, I'm assuming that they would just send it to my room when the room is ready but it's just two of us and we will likely only have one small suitcase each so I don't think that's necessary.

They will NOT just send it to your room. It will be held at Bell Services until you call for it.

 

[e mcduck]

i'm doing my first split stay this fall, and i will not have a car. i would like to have the resort transfer on my behalf (from pop to bc) while i go out to the parks for the day. it seems like taking it downstairs myself is the best option. but im just not sure what to do about my valuables like my cpap machine, my macbook and other work laptops i have with me. it seems like i should carry those into the park with me and get a locker, but thats a pain too. thats when it seems like maybe i should just take my luggage over to BC myself..but then ive lost a few hours. just not sure what to do!

 

[AngiTN]

i'm doing my first split stay this fall, and i will not have a car. i would like to have the resort transfer on my behalf (from pop to bc) while i go out to the parks for the day. it seems like taking it downstairs myself is the best option. but im just not sure what to do about my valuables like my cpap machine, my macbook and other work laptops i have with me. it seems like i should carry those into the park with me and get a locker, but thats a pain too. thats when it seems like maybe i should just take my luggage over to BC myself..but then ive lost a few hours. just not sure what to do!

We have them move everything. Just put our computers in our bags. As I've mentioned elsewhere, it's not like I have a neon sign pointing to computers and whatnot in our bags so no one bothers them. Lock your bags if you just can't do it any other way

 

[e mcduck]

thats so scary! lol. all the jostling and computers owned by my employer. thanks

 

[AngiTN]

thats so scary! lol. all the jostling and computers owned by my employer. thanks

How did they get there in the first place? Computers aren't delicate. Not laptops.
And ours are owned by employers too

 

[ColoradoMom12]

I’ve done both. I travel with a CPAP, and I have electronics like iPads along. The first time I had a split stay, I had Disney transfer just the luggage. I brought everything valuable along with me that morning and had to rent a big locker by the buses at Epcot. That was not only a gigantic nuisance, but it felt slightly vulnerable to me leaving our stuff there. I know it’s a risk letting Disney transfer those things, although locked in a suitcase, I don’t worry too much. In fact, the next time we had a split stay, I felt much better about letting Disney transfer those few valuable items that I did locking them in the Epcot bus lockers.

The first time I was traveling with refrigerated medicines for my DD, I did choose to transfer everything myself. I know Disney will transfer refrigerated things (I let them move our groceries every split stay, and everything that needs it has always stayed cool), but it was not a chance I was willing to take with a medication. Since then I have purchased a Frio and have been able to keep the refrigerated medication safely with me (and at an appropriate temperature!) on the day we move resorts. I just lock the valuable things in my suitcase. I make sure I stuff all of the laundry around things the CPAP for extra protection, and it’s worked out for me. Like I said, I feel better doing it this way than I do stashing it in the Epcot bus lockers.

 

[hammie59]

We’ve had Disney handle our belonging many times without any issues other than sometimes taking forever to make it to our new room. (This includes Magic Express, resort tranfers and dropping everything off early at checkin to go to a park before room was ready). Anything valuable and small enough to fit into a backpack came with us to the park. All of our refrigerated items were stored by them as well. You can pack everything up and leave in your room after you arrange pick up with bell services if you choose, OR if you’re a little skeptical like me, you wait until they come to get it or take down yourself
If you are worried about anything fragile like medical equipment, maybe pack it well and tag it as such. I know things can happen, but I feel pretty comfortable letting Disney handle our stuff.

 

[closetmickey]

Lots of good advice above.

FWIW, in April we did a split stay where we did a water park on switch day and that ended up working very well for us / our style. Since they (mostly) open at 10AM we could have a late/lazy morning, finish packing, etc, and make it to RD in plenty of time. We headed back at 3PM and got the room ready text while on the bus. Easy peasy!

That plan could have backfired on me with bad weather, but on this day we were a happy family.

This is us! We use it as "slower" day, giving us time to explore the new resort for the first evening.