Anyone ever changed resort midway

[sandheichert]

Through your vacation? Thinking about staying at contemporary first 3 nights then a week offsite. Anyone ever do this?

 

[GoofyforWDW]

Yeah we do this most times!

As we arrive from UK we dont arrive until early evening so dont want to waste using a disney resort then.

We normally arrive on Thursday, stay offsite for 3 nights, check in to Disney on Sunday for however many nights. This also saves us DVC points as Fri and Sat evenings are more points!

This year we stayed offsite 3 nights, SSR 7 nights then OKW 5 nights! The moving doesn't bother me and its nice to get time at each resort.

In november doing a week offsite and then 5 nights Disney!

 

[DisneyJoe]

Many people do, you will see it commonly referred to as a split-stay. Many will do it to try 2 different resorts in one trip, I did it a few weeks ago between Pop Century and Saratoga Springs.

Disney will move your luggage between its own resorts.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I have had clients switch resorts on property but not off. You do lose a lot of the benefits of staying on property if you do stay off property.

Pam

 

[SnowWhiteMomma]

We changed from CSR to AKL midway. The only downside to that is you cannot extend your dining. What I mean by that is you have to be purchasing a park ticket to get the dining. When we switched we had a 10 day park ticket at CSR and whern we switched we had to start at full price park tickets again to get the dining. We just extended to ten day at CSR and dropped the dining. I hope what i said makes sense.

 

[MinnieSummer]

I always read about peopple doing this and it just amazes me. The thought of having to pack everything up to move to another hotel makes me nervous. If I was going to be there for an extended stay I might consider it but if I'm only there for two weeks I don't want to have to worry about changing hotels. It just seems like it would be a pretty wasted 1/2 day.

 

[Elonwy]

I always read about peopple doing this and it just amazes me. The thought of having to pack everything up to move to another hotel makes me nervous. If I was going to be there for an extended stay I might consider it but if I'm only there for two weeks I don't want to have to worry about changing hotels. It just seems like it would be a pretty wasted 1/2 day.

I actually didn't find it a hassle at all to go between two Disney hotels. My mom, sister and I were booked at one of the all stars for 5 days and we surprised my Mom for the last 3 days of our trip and secretly booked at Wilderness Lodge.

We threw everything into suitcases and headed off to the parks while Disney took care of moving everything from one hotel to the other. We just left the All stars in the morning and went to Wilderness lodge in the evening and our luggage was already there. It certainly didn't waste a half day because we didn't need to worry about dragging our luggage around...Disney made it very easy.

 

[MickeyspalJim]

I always read about peopple doing this and it just amazes me. The thought of having to pack everything up to move to another hotel makes me nervous. If I was going to be there for an extended stay I might consider it but if I'm only there for two weeks I don't want to have to worry about changing hotels. It just seems like it would be a pretty wasted 1/2 day.

I would think the only time waster here would be sitting in Your room repacking Your bags, and then when they arrive you have to unpack. But if You are staying for any amount of time, these times of packing and unpacking can be done while watching tv. on a night that a park may close early. With the check in time being only a few mins. even that time is minimal. For anyone in your party this really upsets or bothers, let them go to or stay at the parks while the other guest checks in. The bags are being moved by the resorts, so that is done without anyone in the party being put out. I just reciently left SSR. to head home and while on the ME bus I called DVC. and got a room in OKW and caught a ME right back to the resort and settled in for another 3 days of fun at Disney. It's really not too much trouble to make a swith mid vacation. Just think of the fun You are having at Disney and forget of the short amount of time it really takes to make the shift. Some times people have different reasons to switch, but I really is not too bad of an ordeal.

 

[The "Pro"]

I have done this before (though only between WDW Resorts) and found that it is to much of a hassle to pack up and move. If you are moving between Disney resorts, though they will transport your luggage for you, you will not have access to it for a few hours.

You also need to check in again at the next resort and they may not have any rooms prepared yet since the official check in times are not until mid-afternoon. Alot of time is wasted in the check in lines.

 

[Elonwy]

I have done this before (though only between WDW Resorts) and found that it is to much of a hassle to pack up and move. If you are moving between Disney resorts, though they will transport your luggage for you, you will not have access to it for a few hours.

You also need to check in again at the next resort and they may not have any rooms prepared yet since the official check in times are not until mid-afternoon. Alot of time is wasted in the check in lines.

I actually didn't have much of a problem at all. I probably got lucky with the lines and since we were transferring to Wilderness lodge we just spent the day at magic Kingdom, took a break mid-afternoon and checked in then went back to the Kingdom. Our luggage hadn't yet arrived from the All Star so they said they would put it in the room for us when it got there.

We went back to our new room that evening, our luggage was waiting and there was barely an interruption in our trip at all.

It was worth it to surprise our Mom with a few nights in a deluxe hotel...she just thought we were going over for lunch. If I could have afforded the whole week there I would have but at least we got a taste of it :animwink:

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

I always read about peopple doing this and it just amazes me. The thought of having to pack everything up to move to another hotel makes me nervous. If I was going to be there for an extended stay I might consider it but if I'm only there for two weeks I don't want to have to worry about changing hotels. It just seems like it would be a pretty wasted 1/2 day.

Me, too.

 

[disneydiva72]

We have done this and its fun!! You feel like you are on a second vacation. :lol:

We went from Pop Century to Polynesian.


You don't have to waste 1/2 a day at all....you just pack the stuff at night before you go to bed (it only takes like 1/2 an hour) and then you get to the new hotel in the morning (Disney sent a van for us at no extra cost or you can drive) they hold your bags for you, go to the park, then go get your bags when you come back.

It was not a hassle at all, and we never had any wasted time.

If I was going to be there for an extended stay I might consider it but if I'm only there for two weeks I don't want to have to worry about changing hotels.

I love Disney but I would loose my mind being there for 2 weeks, once the week is up, I'm so ready to go home.

 

[Omnimover]

Not much to add, but I'd encourage you to stay on property the entire time if you can (unless you've got specific reasons for going off). Even staying at a value resort on property gets you all the benefits of being a resort guest, and they're worth it easily. I'd consider even value hotels at WDW to be on par with any off-site lodgings just due to the Disney amenities and theming.

I've had one trip where we switched from one WDW hotel to another mid-stay, and it was a breeze. Disney basically handled the entire thing for us, including sending a CM with a golf-cart to pick us and our bags up from the room on the day of our switch. We spent the day at the park and came home to our new room. Took about five minutes to check in at the desk, and our luggage was already in the room. This was several years ago, so perhaps policies have changed, but for us it was really convenient.

If you're going to do an on-site switch, I'd suggest maybe mentioning it at check-in. If the resort staff know you're going to be moving during your stay they may get things set for you so things go smoothly during the transition. I know they did for us.

 

[sandheichert]

Just trying to get the longest stay for the money..

With a 1yo and 6 yo was thinking about first 3 nights at WL then next 7 nights off site at a 2 bedroom condo with kitchen. Would be getting the condo at Marriott Horizons for $645 for the week for the 2 bedroom. With a car for the week and 3 nights at WL plus airfare food and disney gifts , it would be about the same price or even less then staying on site at WL for only 6 nights

 

[Rob562]

I've switched resorts before, but only out of budget-necessity (though for a two-week trip, I'd consider swithcing hotels).

One time, I went with a friend who could only stay for 4 nights, compared to the 8 nights I was there for. So, we stayed at Riverside for 4 nights. When he left, I packed up and transfered over to All-Star Music to save money.

Another time we stayed at Sports for two nights before transferring to an off-site timeshare villa, though that time we had a rental car.

The only "bad" experience I had was transferring from the Best Western on Hotel Plaza Blvd to Music without our own vehicle. None of the Values had availability for the first two nights of our trip, so the Best Western was our cheapest option. Though the problems were because of Best Western and not Disney. We had early plans that morning at Animal Kingdom. There had been a power outage overnight, and they didn't have backup batteries installed in the alarm clocks, so we overslept. I knew we'd have to transport our own luggage, but the front desk wasn't very helpful in calling us a taxi. When we finally got to Music (at about 7:30AM), there was no line and we were checked right in. They even had a room available for us if we had time to go to it. But we just dropped out luggage off with Bell Services and headed for the buses. Luckily, we JUST got to Animal Kingdom on-time.

-Rob

 

[Figment626]

I will be doing this for the first time in a few weeks. We are going to WDW for our honeymoon....first stay on-site for us. First 4 nights at Wilderness Lodge, next 4 at Polynesian. Hope all goes well with the swap.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

We're also switching Resorts for the first time this Christmas. 5 nights AKL (Dec 25 - 29) and then 4 nights GF. Can't wait !!!

 

[Philo]

Yep, I did it in April. 6nights at AKL and 5 in WL. We never really unpack properly when we're on holiday so all we had to do was tidy up a bit, pass our bags to bell services and collect them a few hours later at WL (they were actually bought to the room for us).

I would say 30minutes of packing is worth an experience in another resort - especially if your unlikly to visit that often

 

[DisKid]

Did this just a couple of weeks ago... Three nights at Caribbean Beach and three at Wilderness Lodge...

It was nice moving from a moderate to a deluxe...if we stayed at WL and then moved to CBR, it would have been a disappointing switch.

So, I would suggest you flip the switch so you stay off property first and then move on grounds.

 

[Eyekimore]

So, I would suggest you flip the switch so you stay off property first and then move on grounds.

I totally agree- DisKid! I think you'll be terribly disappointed if you start at Contemporary and then go off-site. I'd try to end up in the on-site resort.