"Homeless" for 5 hours?

[Lildalejrfan]

We just did a split stay last weekend. It was our first time & we were surprised how smoothly everything went. We had bell services take our luggage & refrigerated items from BWV@ 11am. By 11:45 we were @ SSR & in our room. We went to DTD for lunch & by the time we returned we called bell services & they had our luggage & food ready to be delivered our room. Honestly though, I'm not a fan of split stays but it's something we can say we tried.

 

[La2kw]

Split stays are a real pain, and not worth it, IMO. You will most likely have no room until after 4pm. I especially wouldn't do it with young kids. You're only going to be there six nights, why bother switching resorts?

 

[crisi]

We did one last trip. Dropped the luggage off at VWL bellhop - went to Typhoon Lagoon for the day, reached BWV at 2:00 - our room was ready and our luggage was brought up right away.

I would recommend packing a day bag and having a backup plan for activities. You may be "homeless" until early evening. That might be a nap by the pool or a plan to hang out in the public areas of the resort or a commando day that day - with your mid afternoon break in the parks (multiple trips on Spaceship Earth)

 

[princessvacg]

We do 2 resorts every trip. We get up early and check into the new resort and hang out at the pool until our room is ready. Sometimes it is ready and sometimes it is not. We have never really had to wait too long.

 

[daisyduck123]

We do split stays every trip now. We head over to our "new" resort about 9am, check-in, eat breakfast there, & swim until our room is ready.

*We have never gotten into our room before 3pm & usually it's 4pm. Our last trip though, at SSR, we did not get in until 4:30.

We also learned a valuable lesson last time....we won't make a table-service ADR for anywhere but at the resort we're staying at on our check-in day anymore. Last time, we had a 5:30 ADR at Tepan Edo, & at 4:30 we were STILL in our swimsuits by the SSR pool because we hadn't gotten into our room yet.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Go to your vacation details under my vacation points. Bring up that reservation...there is a link "What will you celebrate"....when you click on that link, it gives you the option to check in online and a separate field to tell them what you are celebrating.

Thank you, Hope. I saw that link and had no idea what it meant. Now I see the opportunity to check-in. Not real obvious though. I even did a word search on the site for "check-in", but got NO results. Have you used this feature yet?

 

[crisi]

We also learned a valuable lesson last time....we won't make a table-service ADR for anywhere but at the resort we're staying at on our check-in day anymore. Last time, we had a 5:30 ADR at Tepan Edo, & at 4:30 we were STILL in our swimsuits by the SSR pool because we hadn't gotten into our room yet.

That is the purpose of the daybag - though I admit changing for the California Grill in the bathroom of the Poly pool did leave something to be desired.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Thank you, Hope. I saw that link and had no idea what it meant. Now I see the opportunity to check-in. Not real obvious though. I even did a word search on the site for "check-in", but got NO results. Have you used this feature yet?

Well, I filled in the "What will you celebrate" part, but I did not do the online check in. I think I am going to pass on this for right now, and see how it goes in the future. From what I've read, it hasn't made much of a difference.

 

[buzz5985]

I have to say we do split stays practically every trip. It really works well for us.

OKW has a really nice changing area/showers/bathroom by the pool. I think it had showers?? Am I wrong?? We used it last trip to change into our swimsuits on our arrival day waiting for our villas.

 

[cruisereg]

I've seen others suggest early check-in at the new resort, but what about late check out of the first resort? We were really fortunate to be able to extend our checkout time to Noon or 12:30pm (can't remember which) last year at the AKL. A combination of late checkout and early checkin would be ideal!

 

[daisyduck123]

I've seen others suggest early check-in at the new resort, but what about late check out of the first resort? We were really fortunate to be able to extend our checkout time to Noon or 12:30pm (can't remember which) last year at the AKL. A combination of late checkout and early checkin would be ideal!

Late check out is not an option in a DVC room. They don't allow it.

 

[cruisereg]

Late check out is not an option in a DVC room. They don't allow it.

DOH thanks - we definitely didn't have a DVC room. Sorry, my newbness is shining much brighter than I hoped

 

[LisaS]

We also learned a valuable lesson last time....we won't make a table-service ADR for anywhere but at the resort we're staying at on our check-in day anymore. Last time, we had a 5:30 ADR at Tepan Edo, & at 4:30 we were STILL in our swimsuits by the SSR pool because we hadn't gotten into our room yet.

I follow this advice as well both on our original check-in day and on moving day if we do a split stay. We either have an ADR at the resort where we're checking in or we do counter service somewhere that day.

We have not had a great experience with splits stays and ended up homeless for several hours each time. After the first time, we learned to keep our plans flexible on moving day and that has helped a lot.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Late check out is not an option in a DVC room. They don't allow it.

99.9% of the time that's true, but the DVC resorts aren't totally heartless (well, HHI, at least). A couple years ago, we were at HHI, and we were told that the people checking out of the villa we were checking in to had been given a late checkout (I think the CM said 12:30 or so) because their child was ill, so they gave them a little extra time before their flight. However, changing resorts is a little less of an emergency than an ill child, so don't expect late check-out.
BTW, we were in our spotless villa at 3:00.

 

[jade1]

We just moved 12 of us from VWL to BCV on NY Eve with no car-it went great. Stayed out the night before for NY Eve fireworks preview at MK, checked out at 11-spent the day at SAB and hit EPCOT for Japan ADR and NY Eve. We dont mind moving (actually like it)-but the kids are now older in our group. One of us checks in early-like 8AM, then heads back to make sure everyone is out and bell services have instructions and everything. We bring a backpack with anything we may need (no car with ME anymore so just hop a bus or walk depending). If moving to BCV we just hit SAB until the room is ready-I mean what could be better than that, especially in the summer?

Its not much different than arrival day for us-still homeless from 11AM to 4PM anyway-we just hit a park until midnight, then come back and check in. Theres so much to do and enjoy on our list-homeless hours are irrelevant.

 

[crisi]

Its not much different than arrival day for us-still homeless from 11AM to 4PM anyway-we just hit a park until midnight, then come back and check in. Theres so much to do and enjoy on our list-homeless hours are irrelevant.

That statement says so much. Its not generally a big deal to be homeless if you have older kids or are a party of adults. When you have kids that nap - and like to nap in the room, it can be a way bigger deal, since your homeless hours are over nap time.

I also think its easier to switch resorts one day into a stay - or for your last day - than it is to switch mid stay. When we switch one day into a stay, we are living out of the top of the suitcase for one day - no big deal - and if we do groceries, we just have them delivered on day 2 - and are groceryless in our first resort. For our last day, same in reverse - groceries don't get moved and we only have to set aside clothes for one day - everything else gets packed for the trip home.

I found it easy to do with a waterpark day - since the waterparks open a little later and since you are wearing your clothes, change into your swimsuits, and then have decent changing rooms to get back into your clothes and look presentable for dinner. You haul so much in a daybag for the waterparks that it isn't adding much to make it your switch day - and you can still look decent for dinner at the vast majority of Disney restaurants. We've found it more difficult to do on a park day, since hauling the daybag through the parks meant schlepping more stuff than we usually carry.