How would you split your stay advice needed please

Thought I was happy with my rough plan, but now I’m back to going round in circles. How would you split your stay please? 8 nights Poly, 1 night AKL & 7 nights Poly, or 7 nights Poly & 1 night AKL. Arriving 7pm ish on first night and coming from the UK, so 5 hours ahead. This is our first time and unlikely to be back in the near future.

There are a few questions that you should ask yourself. Why do you want to do a split stay, and why these resorts? Are there particular things from each resort that you want to (or must) experience? Can you do those things without staying at the resort?

Once you have answered those questions, you will probably know how (or if) to split your stay.

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I would do the first night at AKL for many reasons. Your vacation will just be beginning and you can enjoy a nice first night at the resort and get a good night’s sleep. Disney will move your luggage for you and all you should need to do is online check in for Poly so your magic bands are updated with your tickets/package. You can then head to the parks while Disney handles your stuff, and you should receive a text when your room is ready and can then head to the Poly at your convenience. Packing up and moving at the end of the vacation seems like more of a drag to me. I also wouldn’t want to worry about having my luggage transferred and possibly getting lost or delayed in delivery, and I wouldn’t want the hassle or to take time to transport it myself at the end of the vacation. It would be a waste of time on your last day.

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That’s a good problem to have @Tate! I’ve stayed at both resorts. Each is great in their own way and offer very unique experiences. If it were me, I wouldn’t want stay at AKL on the first night and then transfers the next day. I would also want to spend some time exploring AKL and I would feel like I wouldn’t have enough time for that if I was arriving at night and checking out the next morning. The question then becomes stay at the Poly the hole trip or have the last day at AKL. Since you are not sure when you are coming back it might be nice to experience AKL at the end of your trip. Hope that helps

Thank you, I’ve been having similiar thoughts. I love the look of both places, especially AKL, but the Poly is ultra convenient for the kids resting every afternoon. Needed to book 7 nights in one place to get the discount being offered. Current booking is our 8th night at the AKL, but we won’t want to spend our last night in the hotel and that means we’ll only have a few hours in the afternoon to appreciate staying there, which doesn’t seem worth moving for. Had thought we’d save AK till the end of our holiday, but from reading the blogs, AK is recommended as the first park to see. Also our week in Dec starts with low crowds and ends with very large ones, and from what I’ve read AK doesn’t handle it’s crowds well, so another reason for going there near the beginning. We might have slept on the plane but chances are we will probably be very tired, could be great to have our first night at AKL, or we’ll end up going straight to bed and have to check out in the morning. Sounds like I’ve at least ruled out staying there for the last night, so thank you.

Personally, the amount of time saved by being closer to AK because you’re staying at AKL is not going to justify the time you use packing all your stuff up again for a move to another resort. I vote staying at Poly for the whole trip. You don’t need to sleep at AKL to enjoy the resort! You can eat at the restaurants, enjoy seeing the animals on the savannas, use the night vision goggles in the evenings, and even do the campfire sing alongs and marshmallow roasts all while just visiting the hotel without a booking there!

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Despite my intense love of AKL, for this particular scenario, I also vote to stay all nights at the Poly.

If you weren’t required to have 7 nights in 1 place, I’d say split it more evenly. But that is not an option.

I have to say, even with Disney’s ability to make the transition as smooth as possible, it will be very disruptive to move for just the 1 night. We did a split stay last time (BLT & Beach Club). 4 nights at both. I won’t do that again unless necessary.

Just go over to AKL for a meal at some point and explore the resort. Not worth moving everything for one night, too much added stress. It’s nice and I’ve stayed before but 1 night hotel stays when the purpose is resort time is kind of pointless if you’re going to hit a park at any point during the stay.

Thank you, I think I agree. A lunch or dinner at Boma or Sanaa would be a better option than changing hotels. There’s a chance they might offer free dining while we are there, it’s worth less than our room discount, but for only a £150 difference I could then split the stay 6/2. Would that change your opinion? Am I right in thinking I need to do AK at the beginning of our holiday in low crowds instead of at the end when it will be heaving everywhere please?

If it were me and I had 8 nights to spend, I’d start off by having 4 nights at AKL, and then finish off with 4 nights at AKL

:smile:

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Think AKL is wonderful but far. I would split it up to be at AKL during days at AK and HS and then finish up at poly. I would stay at least 2 nights at any resort so you can enjoy the grounds.

Thank you, I like the idea of 2 nights at the AK followed by 6 at the Poly. Unfortunately I couldn’t do it that way round as I need the tickets and 6 nights to be first to qualify for the free dining.

If you flip it - you should be fine too. I think AK is awesome. Just plan your days so you are doing AK park the days you are at AKL and you should be good.

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Still undecided. 1 night at AKL, when we don’t arrive until 7pm (midnight for us) doesn’t seem worth it, but we could be awake very early the next morning and it would be nice to explore then.