Split stay for 5

[woodys_girl]

My family actually really enjoyed our split stay in 2022 and we're hoping to do another in April of 2025. I was thinking of renting DVC for the first time and thought combining that with another resort would be a great way to keep costs down, hedge our bets, and try another resort. We are 2 adults and 3 kids (will be 12, 10, 8).
The general plan would be to reserve the DVC for the second part of our trip and choose a more flexible (i.e. booked through Disney) room for the first part. I am leaning towards Boardwalk for the DVC portion, but I'm still researching.
The most important reason we stay onsite is convenience so we probably won't consider a bus-only resort. The bus is by far our least favorite form of transportation.
Epcot is our favorite park, but we like and would visit them all. The kids like pools and enjoy the slides at moderates but will usually pick the quiet pool if given the choice because they are quiet.
Our second favorite thing about staying onsite is that the quick service at the resorts tend to be open after the park closes. We love to shut down the park and then grab a bite on the way back to our room.
My family loved the suites at Art of Animation, but the cost is so high, it's kind of hard to justify.
If we rent DVC, we will stay in a studio. I know it's tight, but space is what we give up for the convenience of staying onsite, and we won't spend a ton of non-sleeping time in the room.
So, given all that what 2 resort combo would you recommend?
Thanks in advance for your recommendations.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

All the Mods except for CBR are buses only, so based on your post, CBR is the only Mod you could choose. AOA suite is the only value that sleeps 5 and has another choice of transportation and not just buses. That leaves deluxes. Luckily for our family we do not find any issues with the buses

 

[Marthasor]

Is deluxe in the budget? Or are you only looking at values and mods for the second part of your stay? If a deluxe in your budget, I would look at CR, Poly and GF as they will sleep 5 in one room. WL has deluxe rooms in which you can sleep 5, but they are quite expensive. You could consider a BRV studio. The only mod and value that has transportation other than a bus and you can put 5 in a room is a CBR, 5th sleeper room or a suite at AoA. You can certainly book 2 rooms at AoA or Pop, but that will increase costs. If you really don't care about being squished into one room, CBR is probably the most cost effective way to go. You could also look at a cabin at Ft. W but that has its own transportation logistics challenges.

 

[woodys_girl]

Is deluxe in the budget? Or are you only looking at values and mods for the second part of your stay? If a deluxe in your budget, I would look at CR, Poly and GF as they will sleep 5 in one room. WL has deluxe rooms in which you can sleep 5, but they are quite expensive. You could consider a BRV studio. The only mod and value that has transportation other than a bus and you can put 5 in a room is a CBR, 5th sleeper room or a suite at AoA. You can certainly book 2 rooms at AoA or Pop, but that will increase costs. If you really don't care about being squished into one room, CBR is probably the most cost effective way to go. You could also look at a cabin at Ft. W but that has its own transportation logistics challenges.

I suppose since I haven't made the budget yet anything can be in the budget.
I'm definitely okay with doing 2 rooms. I think you are right that the lowest cost option would probably be a 5th sleeper at CBR. Since we haven't stayed there yet, maybe we should give that a shot.

 

[woodys_girl]

Let me also ask this: Are there any resorts that have particularly good bus service (value, mod, or deluxe)? Like we thought the bus service at AoA (one bus stop for the resort) was pretty good with very little wait (maybe we were lucky or maybe it's always like that).

 

[CarolynFH]

Let me also ask this: Are there any resorts that have particularly good bus service (value, mod, or deluxe)? Like we thought the bus service at AoA (one bus stop for the resort) was pretty good with very little wait (maybe we were lucky or maybe it's always like that).

You’ll read complaints about bus service at every resort. Buses can run late anywhere, and when you’re waiting at the end of a tiring day you may see several buses come for another resort before one comes for yours. But none have consistently bad service.

Many people like to avoid the resorts with multiple internal stops, like POR, CBR, SSR, and OKW, because if you get picked up early on the route you may get a seat but have a long ride around the resort before you actually head to the park - or you may have to stand on a crowded bus but head to the park right away.

 

[woodys_girl]

You’ll read complaints about bus service at every resort. Buses can run late anywhere, and when you’re waiting at the end of a tiring day you may see several buses come for another resort before one comes for yours. But none have consistently bad service.

Many people like to avoid the resorts with multiple internal stops, like POR, CBR, SSR, and OKW, because if you get picked up early on the route you may get a seat but have a long ride around the resort before you actually head to the park - or you may have to stand on a crowded bus but head to the park right away.

Thank you.
We are not incapable of riding buses, but when there is a long wait and we're really crammed in we are kind of wishing we'd just saved the money, stayed offsite, and brought a car. These are thoughts we don't have when we're on other forms of transportation. But of course it's not always like that, so it's good to know that none are consistently bad.

 

[lynzi2004]

We are a family of 5. Kids ages 12, 10 and 6 and our go to favorite for budget-friendly is CBR. We love the Skyliner access to HS and EP. We do the newly refurbished rooms in Trinidad with the fold up beds that allow for more room during the day. If we decide to splurge just a bit, we have found renting DVC points and staying at Boulder Ridge to be a favorite. The rooms were recently refurbished and have the fold up beds that we love. We haven't done Boardwalk yet, I was waiting for the refurbishment and that has recently been completed. It's next on my list to try! Unless you're just set on the Boardwalk, maybe do a split stay at CBR for HS/EP and then move to BRV and do MK/AK on those days. That would give you Skyliner to 2 parks, boat to MK, and a bus to AK which you would have to do anywhere you stayed. Happy Planning!

Edit to add: We have also found the bus situation much more favorable at Deluxes. We have yet to ride one that is just crammed full. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, we have just noticed that they are never as full as say POP Century or the All-Stars.

 

[Cabius]

I would split Caribbean Beach and the Poly. (In fact, my family have done that exact split-stay before!)

CBR is a great moderate, with skyliner access to Epcot and DHS, as well as easy access to the great restaurants at the Riviera (on foot, depending on where your room is, or by skyliner). I do also love Gran Destino, but I don't think they'll sleep 5, and it's bus-only.

The Poly gives you monorail access to MK and Epcot (from the DVC side it's actually faster to walk to the TTC anyway). It also has HUGE rooms (about 450 SF vs 360 at BWV). While studios have just one toilet, they have two bathroom areas -- two showers, two sinks -- which is really helpful for big groups. Plus, it's just an amazing resort all around.

Have fun!

 

[woodys_girl]

We are a family of 5. Kids ages 12, 10 and 6 and our go to favorite for budget-friendly is CBR. We love the Skyliner access to HS and EP. We do the newly refurbished rooms in Trinidad with the fold up beds that allow for more room during the day. If we decide to splurge just a bit, we have found renting DVC points and staying at Boulder Ridge to be a favorite. The rooms were recently refurbished and have the fold up beds that we love. We haven't done Boardwalk yet, I was waiting for the refurbishment and that has recently been completed. It's next on my list to try! Unless you're just set on the Boardwalk, maybe do a split stay at CBR for HS/EP and then move to BRV and do MK/AK on those days. That would give you Skyliner to 2 parks, boat to MK, and a bus to AK which you would have to do anywhere you stayed. Happy Planning!

Edit to add: We have also found the bus situation much more favorable at Deluxes. We have yet to ride one that is just crammed full. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, we have just noticed that they are never as full as say POP Century or the All-Stars.

Thank you. I have read that Boulder Ridge is very nice. I will definitely look into it. Whenever we fly over CBR in the skyliner my husband asks if we can stay there, but I am a little nervous about such a big resort. I do like the idea of having one MK area and one skyliner resort, though.
Good to know also on the bus situation with the Deluxes.

 

[woodys_girl]

I would split Caribbean Beach and the Poly. (In fact, my family have done that exact split-stay before!)

CBR is a great moderate, with skyliner access to Epcot and DHS, as well as easy access to the great restaurants at the Riviera (on foot, depending on where your room is, or by skyliner). I do also love Gran Destino, but I don't think they'll sleep 5, and it's bus-only.

The Poly gives you monorail access to MK and Epcot (from the DVC side it's actually faster to walk to the TTC anyway). It also has HUGE rooms (about 450 SF vs 360 at BWV). While studios have just one toilet, they have two bathroom areas -- two showers, two sinks -- which is really helpful for big groups. Plus, it's just an amazing resort all around.

Have fun!

Thank you. I do think the Poly would be really awesome to try. The split bathroom sounds great, too.

 

[lynzi2004]

Thank you. I have read that Boulder Ridge is very nice. I will definitely look into it. Whenever we fly over CBR in the skyliner my husband asks if we can stay there, but I am a little nervous about such a big resort. I do like the idea of having one MK area and one skyliner resort, though.
Good to know also on the bus situation with the Deluxes.

I was concerned about the size of CBR too, but we found by staying in Trinidad (specifically for split stays) that it wasn’t as big as it seemed since we were typically doing HS/EP with Skyliner. Especially if you request one of the closest Trinidad buildings 34,36. The Spyglass grill is a small quick service right there in Trinidad that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Coke freestyle machines are in several of the outlying buildings now. So really you only have to walk over to the main CBR area if you want to use the feature pool (and there is a quiet pool in Trinidad!) If you do decide to do a Mod/Deluxe split, I would lean towards doing the Mod first, the deluxes will spoil you quickly

 

[Isabelle12345]

I would also recommend a split between CBR and poly
We did CBR last spring with one of the new refurbished rooms and we loved it! Very close to the Skyliner station, spyglass grill was very close and not too bad of a walk to the main pool
And we love love love the poly with the extra shower and split bathroom
And the combo skyliner-Epcot/Hs and MK resort is great!

 

[kc51570]

If you rely on quick service when you head back to your room, Boardwalk is not ideal for that. Beach Club may be slightly better for quick service, but still pretty limited options. For the DVC portion of your vacation, Riviera has great quick service and is accessible to two parks via the skyliner. Grand Floridian, Poly, and Bay Lake all have better quick service than the 2 Epcot resorts. Copper Creek/Boulder Ridge also has decent quick service. The buses at the deluxes tend not to be as crowded heading into the parks, but I feel like it takes forever for a bus to show when you’re ready to leave the park and go back to the resort. The last time I was there, I think there were 4-5 Pop and Old Key West buses before the combined GF/Poly one showed.

 

[kylenne]

The buses at the deluxes tend not to be as crowded heading into the parks, but I feel like it takes forever for a bus to show when you’re ready to leave the park and go back to the resort. The last time I was there, I think there were 4-5 Pop and Old Key West buses before the combined GF/Poly one showed.

Sometimes you see a ton of buses dispatched like that because somebody goofed. The one time I ever had issues with the buses getting home at night was a July 4th weekend when I stayed at Gran Destino and the CSR line at MK was backed up outside the stanchions. Once they got it together they sent one after the other. That was the longest I ever waited and it was still maybe 30 minutes tops, it looked a lot more horrible than it was.

Personally, I pretty much only stay at deluxes with the odd GDT or Dolphin stay, and I haven't really seen any difference in bus service between them. I haven't stayed value, but the longest I ever waited for a bus going home besides the above incident was coming back from Epcot to French Quarter. I kinda feel like this is confirmation bias, when you're exhausted you always tend to notice when a million other buses come besides yours.

 

[kc51570]

Sometimes you see a ton of buses dispatched like that because somebody goofed. The one time I ever had issues with the buses getting home at night was a July 4th weekend when I stayed at Gran Destino and the CSR line at MK was backed up outside the stanchions. Once they got it together they sent one after the other. That was the longest I ever waited and it was still maybe 30 minutes tops, it looked a lot more horrible than it was.

Personally, I pretty much only stay at deluxes with the odd GDT or Dolphin stay, and I haven't really seen any difference in bus service between them. I haven't stayed value, but the longest I ever waited for a bus going home besides the above incident was coming back from Epcot to French Quarter. I kinda feel like this is confirmation bias, when you're exhausted you always tend to notice when a million other buses come besides yours.

Yes, I think one of the stays was around July 4th and to top it off it was when the monorail station was shut down for months so we were taking a bus from Epcot to GF. They eventually changed one of the Pop or OKW buses to head to Poly/GF. It had to be at least 45min to an hour of waiting-there were lots of people waiting with us. It happened again after leaving AK, but not quite as bad.

 

[woodys_girl]

I was concerned about the size of CBR too, but we found by staying in Trinidad (specifically for split stays) that it wasn’t as big as it seemed since we were typically doing HS/EP with Skyliner. Especially if you request one of the closest Trinidad buildings 34,36. The Spyglass grill is a small quick service right there in Trinidad that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Coke freestyle machines are in several of the outlying buildings now. So really you only have to walk over to the main CBR area if you want to use the feature pool (and there is a quiet pool in Trinidad!) If you do decide to do a Mod/Deluxe split, I would lean towards doing the Mod first, the deluxes will spoil you quickly

Thank you for sharing your experience. I was unaware that there was quick service other than at the main area. I guess I never really looked into it too hard, but it's at the top of my list now.

 

[woodys_girl]

Sometimes you see a ton of buses dispatched like that because somebody goofed. The one time I ever had issues with the buses getting home at night was a July 4th weekend when I stayed at Gran Destino and the CSR line at MK was backed up outside the stanchions. Once they got it together they sent one after the other. That was the longest I ever waited and it was still maybe 30 minutes tops, it looked a lot more horrible than it was.

Personally, I pretty much only stay at deluxes with the odd GDT or Dolphin stay, and I haven't really seen any difference in bus service between them. I haven't stayed value, but the longest I ever waited for a bus going home besides the above incident was coming back from Epcot to French Quarter. I kinda feel like this is confirmation bias, when you're exhausted you always tend to notice when a million other buses come besides yours.

Definitely an element of confirmation bias. I mean there are a ton of busses, how are none of them coming for your resort?

 

[Carolynleanne]

We’re a family of five who love split stays! We’re doing Board Walk for the first five days and a cabin at Fort Wilderness for the other 5 days.

 

[Carolynleanne]

We’re a family of five who love split stays! We’re doing Board Walk for the first five days and a cabin at Fort Wilderness for the other 5 days.