Let’s follow the pixie dust trail and discover the pros and cons of doing a split stay!
What is a split stay? A split stay is when you begin your trip at one Disney resort and then transfer to another resort to finish out your stay.
Pros:
- It can help you get a bang for your buck and stay under budget. You can stay at a moderate resort for the majority of your stay and then end with a bang at a deluxe resort. This option still gives you a luxury experience but extends your vacation days by splitting between a value, moderate, and deluxe resort. Coming in late on your first night? Do a one night stay at a value resort then move the remainder of your stay to your resort of choice.
- Room availability can be slim during certain times of the year or on last minute trips. Doing a split stay gives you more flexibility on booking. You might still be able to put together a sporadic week-long vacation if you can split your stay a little.
Location, location, location. This is the thing we take advantage of during a split stay. We like to arrange our splits around what parks we are visiting. This saves us time with transportation, breaks up our day with mid-day relaxation to escape the heat and pool time. It also saves us money since we can easily go back to our room to eat. Will you focus your trip on Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom? Split your stay with a resort on the Skyliner for quick access to Hollywood Studios and then move over to a Magic Kingdom area Resort. - Multiple vacations in one trip. When you do a split stay, you can get two completely different experiences in one trip just by changing resorts. It’s like two vacations in one!
Cons:
- Moving. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like you can get real settled in. You’d hate to unpack and just repack again in a few days. So, we just try to live out of our suitcase and not settle into the dressers, closets and such. We will also pack our bags strategically to minimize having to unpack everything.
- Your dining window is also split. Dining reservations can be made 60 days before your check-in plus your length of stay up to 10 days. With a split stay you will have two 60 day windows. This means some of those hard to get reservations will be even more elusive. Your Pixie Path Travel planner can help to minimize this inconvenience.
- On the day of your switch, Disney will move your luggage for you and you can still access it at bell services! But… you won’t have access to your new room until later. I find it harder to do split stays when you have little ones that still need that midday nap. If you do an early check-in, sometimes your new room will be ready before that nap time, but it is a gamble.
Pixie Path Pointers:
We love split stays, but with infants and toddlers it is a bit harder. Let Disney handle your luggage. They do a great job moving your belongings from one resort but make sure you pack a backpack with anything that you might need during the day. The day you move you have access to both resorts all day long. Either take advantage of your dual resort day or make it a long park day. Split stays are great for those longer stays. If you are splitting between two different resort categories, always end with the higher end resort. Staying club level at the end of one of our split stays was amazing. We just enjoyed everything the club level had to offer and relaxed at the resort. If you are a first timer or just staying a short time, save the planned split stay for another trip.
Interested in a split stay and need an expert to walk your through it? Contact Pixie Path Travels for a free quote.
I never thought about doing this but would be totally interested when we go next year!