Has anyone ever done 3 resorts in one trip?

[Marionnette]

I did 3 resorts in 7 nights because of limited resort availability. One night in a BCV 1-bedroom followed by 3 nights in an AKV CL studio and then 3 nights in a YC room. It helped that we had a car and there were no kids along on the trip. I loved being able to sample each of the resorts but we never felt settled in. If we had closer to 5 nights in each resort, I think we would have had more time to enjoy them. Yet, I would do it again if I couldn't get all the nights I wanted in a single resort.

 

[Babsy]

We love split stays! We do prefer to stay at least three nights in every resort, if possible, to really be able to settle in and get the 'feel' of the resort.

We always do room only with split stays. Packages gets too complicated for us on a split stay. We buy out tickets on UT, usually, through Mousesavers.

The down side of a split stay is that Disney counts them as separate reservations so that your 180+ days ADR's can only go to the last day of your first reservation. then you can only do 180+ to the end of the second reservation. Finally you have to wait till 180 days before your third reservation before you can book to the end of the third stay. So three different days booking ADR's and only booking +3, +2 and +5, for example.

Enjoy!

 

[tinkermom_of_two]

We have split before around a cruise, but never just on a park stay. We are doing our first true split stay in April, due to DVC availability when we booked less than 5 months out during spring break and wanting to try somewhere besides SSR and maximize point value using studios. We are doing 2 OKW, 3 AKV CL and 2 BLT- we are still new to DVC and had limited deluxe experience, so we are treating these early trips as DVC "flights" so we can get a feel for our favorites for later, longer bookings without being locked into a longer stay, which will allow us to know what we want to try harder for at 7 month windows. We plan on packing by resort instead of by person to make it easier.

 

[MNtwinsplus1mom]

We like split stays. I've only done it a couple times at Disney World, but it provided nice variety. Next time we are going to 3 resorts & can't wait! I like your packing strategy. We use eBags that enable us to keep things simple and organized. Before that we did the large ziplocs which were great too. The important thing for us is to not really fully "unpack" anywhere. With a good plan (like packing separate luggage for different resorts) and keeping things orderly each day in the room I find it isn't stressful at all on moving day. If we dump everything out in the drawers and leave things more broadly placed, then moving day can be a bother.

My DH was anti-split stay at first but when he saw that we had a plan and it could go smoothly he changed his mind. Remember you can give your bags to Disney in the morning to transfer to your next resort. We will do that on our next trip. I love your plans for AKL in the middle that afford convenient laundry options. Good move! And you are at deluxes for all parts of your trip, nice places with different perks that'll give you good variety.

I hope the ticket issue is workable, that you can maybe leave them on the 2nd reservation as a package but pick them up early? I think I've heard of that.

 

[jillt2ph]

I have done a 1,4,4 split before. As a gold AP holder, I like split stays so I can add a dining plan to just one portion.

 

[Regan117]

We are splitting 3 ways next month, with 2 nights in a grand villa at BLT, 4 nights in a grand villa at GF, and 2 nights in a grand villa at AKL.

We've also done shorter adults-only trips, where we switched each night. We love it.

 

[happymommy]

I personally hate to change rooms. Done it a couple times, but it wasn't by choice. Once, we did 4 nights at Marriott's Grande Vista followed by 11 nights at Sabal Palms. Once, a night a Swan then walked over to BWV, then last time 2 nights at Pop then AKV for a week. I don't care to move, but if it's the only way (like the off site, each week was less than $300 so I did an overlap for our 15 nights, or the time we had BWV last minute rental for $700 for a week in a one bedroom from the TUG boards, or the AKV for an awesome deal off redweek) I'd do it.

I do prefer to settle in, as it seems we lose a day or at least half a day moving. You have to pack up and get out (if you even unpacked, which I like to do), and your new room may or may not be ready.

I also tend to order groceries if staying on site (off site, we just shop), so that's a consideration.

After 3 stays at AKL and then one at AKV Kidani, I have no desire to stay there again, unless I'd get a good deal on club level again. The villa was good as far as space and the extra bathroom was nice (although no one showered in it, nice to have the toilet). But, it was so remote. When we stayed club level, that was nice, but our kids were younger, and we can't do one room now (I'd kill someone).

 

[goofy4tink]

My dd and dh hate switching resorts. I like it!! So, I tend to do it on my solo trips. The most crazy one? 1 night at AKL, 4 nights at BWV, 2 nights at Kidani, 5 nights at Pop, 2 nights at BWV!!! It was crazy!!! I had to stop and think which resort I was going to when taking the park buses!!!
If you don't mind being without a room for at least half the day, it's kind of fun to try different resorts!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We are considering doing a split stay. Do you get a room ready text for the second resort, just like you do for the first resort? One of my worries is being homeless for a day.

 

[OKW Lover]

Not a fan of split stays for a couple of reasons:

• you need to pack/unpack for each move, which consumes valuable vacation time
• you need to check out/check in for each move, which consumes valuable vacation time
• you are essentially "homeless" for the switchover day from the time you leave the first resort until you can get into a room at the next one with no ability to go back to the resort for a nap or shower.

 

[mb187143]

For our wedding trip, we did 1 night at the Buena Vista Palace (unplanned as a result of having to drive down due to hurricane sandy), followed by 2 nights at the Contemporary, 2 nights at the Grand Floridian, 4 nights on the Dream, and then 8 nights at AKL.

I actually didn't mind moving around as much as we did, but I was glad our last stay was our longest. Because we were traveling for our wedding i had more stuff than usual. In 2014 we did a split stay at POFQ and AKL and we had much less stuff with us and it was super easy. Disney transferring all of the luggage does make it easier.

 

[NYCANC]

In January, we did 3 resorts due to a winter storm here in NC. So we came in 2 days early.
We spent one night POP Century (only room available in all of Disney! It was during race weekend), then moved to POR. And then finally to our original reservation at the Poly.
Hardest thing for me was just unpacking and repacking toiletries. My kids (9 and 11) were fine with it and did great.

 

[Regan117]

Not a fan of split stays for a couple of reasons:

• you need to pack/unpack for each move, which consumes valuable vacation time
• you need to check out/check in for each move, which consumes valuable vacation time
• you are essentially "homeless" for the switchover day from the time you leave the first resort until you can get into a room at the next one with no ability to go back to the resort for a nap or shower.

It doesn't really take up any valuable vacation time. We bring our suitcases to bells services after breakfast in the morning, tell them where we want them transferred, get a tag and off we go. It took 5 minutes. Then we went to a park. By the time we were done at the park, it was past checkin time for our second resort, and our bags were there too. Easy.

 

[Kimi313]

Okay so we are trying to plan a trip for October and a split stay would work best since Poly or BC isn't available the entire time we want to go. So I have never done a split stay so talk to me about does it complicate Magic Band, will we have to get our tickets separate and does that mean we get Magic Bands when we arrive, if we are doing 3/4 nights can we get a RO discount for both if a discount becomes available, and how does it effect magical express? Any other complications or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[eastendlights]

I dread packing up once on a trip, there is no way I would do it extra times. We bring too much with us (I don't fly anywhere without a minimum of three suitcases) to even think about having it hauled around any more than absolutely necessary. We also tend to spread out-especially when all four of us travel and stay in 2 bedroom suites-we unpack completely and there is stuff everywhere.

We never get bored with our rooms and we take some pretty long trips-we have spent close to three weeks at resorts in Maine, Colorado, New Hampshire and California where we spend much more time actually in our rooms-10 to 14 nights at WDW would never make us want to change rooms especially since we are out of them from before breakfast until park close every night.

 

[Regan117]

We don't unpack, so it's not an issue. I've heard too many gross stories about people using the dressers to store their dirty clothes to ever put my stuff in there!

There's 5 of us with 3 suitcases total, so no big deal. I enjoy a change of scenery.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We are DVC are from the UK so we come over for 14 nights. We do at least 2 resorts sometimes 3. We book at 11 months our home resort then keep some of the nights seeing which others we can get at 7 months. Other times we might have booked a value on the first night to save points as we arrive late. And then sometimes we cruise!

We use packing cubes! Spilt stays are fun!

 

[fairygagamother]

Okay so we are trying to plan a trip for October and a split stay would work best since Poly or BC isn't available the entire time we want to go. So I have never done a split stay so talk to me about does it complicate Magic Band, will we have to get our tickets separate and does that mean we get Magic Bands when we arrive, if we are doing 3/4 nights can we get a RO discount for both if a discount becomes available, and how does it effect magical express? Any other complications or suggestions would be appreciated.

Everything will be on your band. If you have, say, 7 day tickets , they will all be on your band. I always physically check in just because I'm weird that way! But I'm sure you can still do it online without any problems. Make ME reservations for your arrival resort & then for your departure resort.
We actually prefer split stays! And your resort choices are great because you can go to MK on your Poly days easily. & DHS & Epcot on your BC stays. I think you're going to really enjoy it!

 

[Stitch7911]

i have personally have not. but i dont see a reason why? i mean doing so you would have to pack and move to another resort to un pack and then pack again. i had a friend did it once and they did not like it. it was great they stayed at other resorts to enjoy them but hated to pack and un pack to move to another resort.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We love split stays. We usually do 2 but last summer we did 3. We were there 2 weeks and we loved the 3 resorts. We did POR Royal Guest Room, then Poly and then the CR. We absolutely love having a different experience - This time we are ending with the Poly. Enjoy the 3 hotels.