Changing hotels during stay?

[lena sanok]

Hi,
Just wondering if this is worth the trouble? We are booked at the Contemporary Resort for a trip in May. My inlaws are footing the bill. My family would like to come one night early and are not thrilled with the $400+ price tag.

I was considering staying at a Value resort for the first night and then moving to the Contemporary after that. Rooms are only $120. Is this worth the cost savings? How difficult is it to change hotels?

Just a note about us- we will be traveling with a 3.5 year old and 3 month old. We will not have appropriate carseats for any transportation other than disney buses.

Thanks!!!

 

[correcaminos]

Normally I'd say it's worth the price to save that much, but with an infant and a child, I might suck it up. You'd have to rely on Uber instead of a cab to get car seats to travel unless you go straight to a park. Not sure the Minnie Vans will be at values anytime soon.

It's really not difficult to change though. You just bring your bags to bell services and tell them to transfer, and they'll do it for you. But it can take a while (hours) to get there. With an infant I honestly wouldn't want the bother... but that's my opinion after switching and traveling with an infant.

 

[Dave B]

we are switching three times next trip, A of A for two nights, Yacht Club for 7, then Pop for 3, its very easy, your struggles will be the transportation part obviously

 

[eliza61nyc]

unless I'm staying at any resort for a period of time I don't do it. one night? no way. with small children. lol, hell to the no.

listen IMO one of the big reasons for a vacation is to relax and enjoy oneself. when my kids were small vacations usually meant saving up for months if not years. now I worked when my kids were small which meant having to do the daily "get up and get ready and load up the car".

Did you check and make sure there were no available discounts for your stay, you maybe able to get the price down a bit.

either way, I'd suck up the 400 for one night.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I agree with the above -- if it was for more than one night, I'd say yes, go to the value resort, but for just one night, with a baby and a nap schedule to consider, I think the inconvenience of packing (and the hours you'd spend "homeless" between checkout and check-in) outweighs the savings. I'd book at the Contemporary and start watching for spring room discount offers to be released - most likely, in or around the end of December or early January. (Make it a habit to go to the WDW website in the morning, scroll down to the bottom and click on the "special offers" link.) If one of the offers applies to your reservation, you can call Disney and have them apply it - and can have your parents do the same with their reservation (assuming it qualifies and that there is still availability).

 

[dreamfinder]

It's an easy process to do. Take your luggage down to bell services (or have them pick it up) and as them to do a resort transfer. It might take a bit to get to the new resort, but it's usually there by 5 PM or so. Basically pack anything you need for the first day in carryons or in a single bag so you aren't unpacking everything. Spend the night in the value, drop off the luggage the next morning on the way to the parks, and then at the end of the day just head to the new resort and claim the luggage when you check in.

Naps with the little ones might be harder. No guarantee your new room would be ready for nap time, so you would need to find someplace they can nap or let them crash in the stroller. We did it for our first trip with DS when he was just about 1yo and it worked pretty well.

 

[NelleBelle]

This! We did it with a 1-month old and a 2.5 year old. We dropped the bags off at the Contemporary Bell Services and went to the parks for the day. No need for carseats as we used Disney transportation (I'm assuming you will be using throughout your stay as well?). The boys napped in their stroller (we had a nice side-by-side that reclined with extended sunshade and we just found a nice shaded spot for us to people watch while they napped. When our room was ready at AKL, they texted but we didn't head over until we were ready to be done with the parks for the night. Our kids learned to nap wherever we were. We would also just pick a long, a/c attraction (Ellen's Energy was a good one, too bad its no more) that both me and the baby napped it Point is, it's not too difficult to do. So if saving the dollars is important, go for it. But if it's too much hassle and to you it's worth it to be hassle free, by all means--stay the extra night at the Contemporary (we loved it btw)!

 

[jimbojones]

I've done several split stays, it really takes some of the fun out of the trip and adds one more thing to have to deal with. The exception is I often get a cheaper room on property for the night I arrive so that I have a full first day. But I would never switch rooms mid vacation again.

 

[DarthVader]

I did it once, because we added a day to our trip. I don't think I'll do it again, the disruption while not bad, was not worth it. I will commend the Disney staff for taking care of all the details and getting my luggage to the new resort without too much issues, but it required two checkins and making sure my magic bands were synced up to the correct hotel

Overall, I think staying at one hotel for my family and I works best.

 

[Amos1784]

We have switched a ton of times and I think it is definitely worth the 300 dollar savings, especially because it is the beginning of your stay not the end. My suggestion is since it is just the one night pack a bag that has all the necessities for the evening so you are not digging through and unpacking suitcases. In the morning bring your bags to bell services, they will transfer for you, get on the bus going wherever you are going and when you get to your new resort your bags will all be there in the same condition you would have found them if you returned and had not switched hotels. Any other place on the planet I would say no to this, Disney makes it so easy. If this was the end of your stay and you were switching I would say no, the beginning no problem.

 

[JohnD]

We have switched a ton of times and I think it is definitely worth the 300 dollar savings, especially because it is the beginning of your stay not the end. My suggestion is since it is just the one night pack a bag that has all the necessities for the evening so you are not digging through and unpacking suitcases. In the morning bring your bags to bell services, they will transfer for you, get on the bus going wherever you are going and when you get to your new resort your bags will all be there in the same condition you would have found them if you returned and had not switched hotels. Any other place on the planet I would say no to this, Disney makes it so easy. If this was the end of your stay and you were switching I would say no, the beginning no problem.

My experience is as a solo traveler where I added a night at ASMu before the bulk of my stay at Pop but you could make it work for the family too. Pack an overnight bag or several and only use those for overnight. If arriving by car, leave everything else in the car. If by plane, you'll have to bring everything to your room.

The next morning either drive to the Contemporary or have luggage services transport your bags for you. Leave your luggage at bell services if you want to get right into a park.

 

[Seeshark]

I thought switching rooms was really simple. You head out to a park and they move your luggage. I've done it twice now and I think it actually adds to the enjoyment of the trip. I find the ability to take a boat, monorail or walk to a given park is much nicer than taking the buses, though the bus system is really well done I think. So I switch to a resort closer to the parks I'll be visiting during a given chunk of the vacation. I also like the change in atmosphere and scenery. The first time I switched I had them bring the luggage over to the new resort. It came a bit later than I had hoped - maybe 5:30ish, but it wasn't that big a deal. I suppose if you have a lot of luggage, and you're the type that takes everything out of the suitcase and puts it away in drawers, I could see packing up mid-trip being a pain. My packing to move to a new resort isn't quite as neat as when I pack to leave the house or leave to go home. I also usually travel pretty light, so on the second time, I just took a taxi to the second resort and left my luggage with the concierge there so if I needed something midafternoon during a break from the park I could get it, like a bathing suit. If you're doing a dining plan, it gets split between the stays, so you just want to plan that out. Or maybe just skip it on the real short stays.