can i pull off a surprise split stay?

[princessmommy]

Thinking of spending 6 nights at POP or POFQ and then 2 nights at WL before our 3 night cruise. I love surprising the family. Do you think it's possible to pull off a surprise resort change? I was thinking of sending dh and ds off to disneyquest the morning of the transfer. Packing everything up The night before saying I am organizing for the cruise. Then meeting them at DTD and when it's time to catch a resort bus, say nope we need to catch this one.
What do you think?

 

[mateomouse]

Yeah, it is possible, I know some friends who stayed at POFQ and then moved to Swan before a cruise, didn't do it as a surprise though. You probably will have to move the luggage yourself, unless you can work something out with Disney.

 

[Ariel484]

I think you can do it. We've done one split stay so far and when we checked in to resort #1 we made sure to tell the front desk that we were going to need a transfer on check-out day. I think the tricky part for you will be checking in, because they'll probably say something like "you have a x type room with us for 6 nights..." So if anyone else is paying attention they might want to know where you're heading for those last 2 nights. In order to full keep it a surprise I think you might want to figure out a way to be alone at check-in.

Yeah, it is possible, I know some friends who stayed at POFQ and then moved to Swan before a cruise, didn't do it as a surprise though. You probably will have to move the luggage yourself, unless you can work something out with Disney.

Disney moves the luggage for you. Just let them know you're transferring to a new resort and they'll tell you what to do. They moved our luggage from AKL to BWV in 2011 and it was no problem...we just made sure to bring a carry-on with a change of clothes and swimsuits in case our new room wasn't ready yet.

 

[Brickcity Pauly]

Will they have you board a bus to get to the new resort, or do you have to take the regular bus to a park, and then transfer from there.

 

[princessmommy]

I think you can do it. We've done one split stay so far and when we checked in to resort #1 we made sure to tell the front desk that we were going to need a transfer on check-out day. I think the tricky part for you will be checking in, because they'll probably say something like "you have a x type room with us for 6 nights..." So if anyone else is paying attention they might want to know where you're heading for those last 2 nights. In order to full keep it a surprise I think you might want to figure out a way to be alone at check-in.
Thanks for the information! I hope I can pull this off, but if not it will still be a stay in our first deluxe resort! It's a win win.

Disney moves the luggage for you. Just let them know you're transferring to a new resort and they'll tell you what to do. They moved our luggage from AKL to BWV in 2011 and it was no problem...we just made sure to bring a carry-on with a change of clothes and swimsuits in case our new room wasn't ready yet.

 

[englanddg]

I think this sounds like an awesome idea! I don't think you will have any issues. Enjoy WL!

 

[Mickey2minnie1]

You can do it!!! How exciting! I am doing something similar. We are in a condo at reunion for 6 nights and then I am surprising my family with a 5 night stay at the Poly. I just have not figured out how to surprise them. DH knows, but my kids do not.

 

[luv]

I think you totally could, but it's going to be a lot of packing and unpacking! Good luck with it!!

 

[Bethypoo]

It's very possible. Like @Ariel484 said, you can arrange a luggage transfer with the bellman. Maybe you can ask them to keep your secret. I just did a split stay at POFQ and BC and had no problem at all. I left FQ, took a bus to Epcot and my luggage was waiting for me at BC when I returned from the park. Good luck and have fun!

 

[princessmommy]

I think you totally could, but it's going to be a lot of packing and unpacking! Good luck with it!!

I know, lol! I think the surprise will be worth it. This is our 10 year anniversary trip, and the WL is hubby's favorite! He loves log cabins and such so the theme is so him. I will keep pumping myself up, so hopefully the packing won't get to me... Just gotta be extra extra organized, lol!

 

[princessmommy]

You can do it!!! How exciting! I am doing something similar. We are in a condo at reunion for 6 nights and then I am surprising my family with a 5 night stay at the Poly. I just have not figured out how to surprise them. DH knows, but my kids do not.

Wow! Don't you just love the thrill of surprises!

 

[luv]

I know, lol! I think the surprise will be worth it. This is our 10 year anniversary trip, and the WL is hubby's favorite! He loves log cabins and such so the theme is so him. I will keep pumping myself up, so hopefully the packing won't get to me... Just gotta be extra extra organized, lol!

That's really nice of you! I hope it is as little trouble as possible! I bet it goes over well!!!

Have you considered the cabins in Ft. Wilderness? I bet you have, but thought I'd mention them in case you didn't know they existed.

Please come back and update the thread to let us know how it went!!!!

 

[princessmommy]

That's really nice of you! I hope it is as little trouble as possible! I bet it goes over well!!!

Have you considered the cabins in Ft. Wilderness? I bet you have, but thought I'd mention them in case you didn't know they existed.

Please come back and update the thread to let us know how it went!!!!

I did consider the cabins, until I found out that that is the only resort that the DCL buses don't pick up from. Since I am doing all this packing and un packing in one trip I wanted the transitions between each leg to be as smooth as possible. I love the idea of having our own cabin though! We may look into doing it at Christmas one year so that I can see all of the Ft Wilderness decorations!

 

[princessmommy]

For those of you who have done a split stay, how do you go about tipping the bellman? Before, after, both, and how much? We have always just unloaded/loaded our own luggage on all vacations, so I have NO idea, lol!

 

[luv]

For those of you who have done a split stay, how do you go about tipping the bellman? Before, after, both, and how much? We have always just unloaded/loaded our own luggage on all vacations, so I have NO idea, lol!

If you're valet parking, you tip the guy who takes the car. Then you tip the guy who takes all the luggage out of the car and gives you the ticket. Then you tip the guy who brings it to the room.

In some hotels, the bellmen take the stuff out of your car and hang around while you check in and show you to your room, so it's the same guy. Not at Disney. They do it a little differently.

 

[jeffk410]

I did something similar to this last year. We did 3 nights at WL and then switched to AKL Kidani. It wasn't a complete surprise, but I was able to hold it off until we got to WDW.

 

[princessmommy]

Hubby knows I am debating POP and POFQ so I think I have decided to let him in on the fact we are splitting the stay. I am going to go with POP and just say we are switching to POFQ.

 

[HMANSION LOVER]

Thinking of spending 6 nights at POP or POFQ and then 2 nights at WL before our 3 night cruise. I love surprising the family. Do you think it's possible to pull off a surprise resort change? I was thinking of sending dh and ds off to disneyquest the morning of the transfer. Packing everything up The night before saying I am organizing for the cruise. Then meeting them at DTD and when it's time to catch a resort bus, say nope we need to catch this one.
What do you think?

It's very easy. We did it when we were at Disneyland. We spent the first night at Paradise Pier the moved to Disneyland hotel. Cm's moved our luggage and groceries for us. But you will have to stay behind when the bellhop comes for your luggage. In my case he counted the number of bags and gave me what is essentially a claim check. When I got to the Disneyland hotel I just gave the claim check to the bell captain and my bags were brought to my room. I can't imagine that the bell service would not move your luggage at WDW as well

 

[jkl2000]

Seems doable - the only reason I couldn't really do it is because both my sons get kind of attached to things - even hotel rooms, and they'd feel bad that we were leaving one room for another. Sweet, isn't it? And one of them is 14 years old! It would just stress them out more than it would excite them. Probably me too, I suppose. I don't really want to pull up stakes and move unless I have to.

We were once at a resort in Cancun, and we went to Isla Mujeres (a nice island a boat ride away), and liked it so much that we found a room there for a night, but still had our room in Cancun. We felt pretty rich having two hotel rooms at once, though neither one was actually that expensive. It was our vacation from our vacation!