Planning an 8 night trip to WDW in 2022. The group is my sister’s family - Sis, BiL, DN (nephew) 6, DN 6 and DN 8. My family me, DH, DD 9, DS 18. Total of 9 people.
My family went to WDW in 2019, we were hooked and booked another trip for May 2020, but obviously that didn’t happen. So now we are looking to make up for our lost trip and I’m bringing my sister’s family. BiL and DN’s have never been, sis went once to MK for part of a day, nothing was planned and she just remembers being hot and standing in lines, so I want to make it an awesome trip so she had the memories my family and I have.
I’m thinking of a split stay 4 nights each at BLT and BWV. I figured we could do MK and AK from BLT then switch to BWV and do 2 days each at Epcot and HS. I love the idea of being able to walk to most of the parks and getting to try out 2 hotels, letting the kids swim in 2 different pools, being able to see fireworks (hopefully these will be back in 2022) at different parks and not needing to wait for transportation back to the hotel at the end of the night.
For our transfer day, I was picturing dropping the luggage with bell services, hopping on the monorail for a late breakfast (10/10:30) at Garden Grill (assuming they are serving breakfast again) along with a leisurely Epcot day. Then we could just go to BWV when we are done - does this sound realistic?
I am nervous about how long it will take to get everything arranged for transfer, if we are mostly packed the night before, how long does it take to drop off luggage and arrange for transfer between hotels? What if we have a grocery delivery to BLT, will they transfer the food too? I’m thinking we won’t have too much, but I was planning to have some cereal, milk, yogurt, bagels and cream cheese for quick breakfasts - will they be able to keep the dairy products cool?
Anything else I should plan for or consider? You all have way more experience at this, and I value your insights.
I can’t answer your questions, as I haven’t done this! But always wanted to! I think it sounds fun as long as your sister is game for packing and moving. I also think the kids ages are perfect for this type of trip.
I haven’t done a split stay yet but I was told that it’s best to call the front desk to pick up your luggage from your room on transfer day rather than bring your luggage down.
Others can undoubtedly explain this better than I but apparently, your call will kick start the process for tracking your luggage and ensuring it moves to the new resort.
If you bring your luggage down and then speak to the CM… well, there were some stories of luggage getting moved to the new resort much later in the day.
@Olafsdad recently did a live trip report (can’t find link) where they moved everyday to a new resort… actually they’ve done two trips like this. He’ll have good tips to make the move easier I bet
Following along. I have a split stay booked for March - 3 nights at BWV then 3 at GF and I need to research best practices as well. We also planned to leave the bags with bell services before heading to the parks for the day and hopefully just checking into GF later in the day.
I would call from your room too. You’ll be asked how many bags and any chilled or frozen stuff. Just have them in bags ready. Best allow 30 minutes in case they’re busy.
I always make sure to check out in person and have never had an issue with magic bands not working.
I love split stays and do one just about every trip. My June trip is BWV/AKL.
There is generally one luggage transfer from your original resort. They will tell you not to expect your luggage at the 2nd resort until after 3. Often it can be after 5. Keep in mind, check in time will be 3 (4 for DVC) so you should take what you will need to the park with you. At times, I have packed a small bag and rented a locker at the park.
As noted, you should call from your room. That creates a “ticket” that is easier to track. It came in handy for me when AKL sent my bags to FW instead of WL…
I pack knowing I am making a move: things needed over night in a back pack, a bag for each resort. I only unpack the first resort bag and generally all dirty laundry ends up in that first bag.
Yup everything the @PrincipalTinker is right. I do split stays every trip mostly between the 2 resorts that you are going to for the same reasons. Nothing beats walking to the parks. Much easier to get towards the front of the pack for RD when you walk rather than rely on the bus. Now that they hold cars at the gates to the parking lots you have an advantage over them as well.
We did a split stay in December. BLT, then BWV. We took our bags down to Bell Services ourselves so that we didn’t have to wait. They said the luggage would be at BWV about the same time we could check in. And it was. There was no delay at all. We picked our luggage from Bell Services ourselves as well because we didn’t want to have to wait for them to arrive.
When it works as designed, that is the fastest, easiest way. When there is an issue (they took your bags, never scanned them in and they are sitting in a corner of bell services or as noted above- they are sent to the wrong resort- I guess FW and WL are “close enough” usually).
When it does not work as designed, bringing your bags to Bell Services without having a ticket opened, is a nightmare. (Lesson learned from the cast member that was able to get AKL to look in that corner).
Of course, I have not had any luck getting SSR bell services to pick up my luggage from my room…
Thank you so much everyone! I am so excited about this plan, and now that it I know it’s feasible I am giddy with excitement! I appreciate everyone’s tips/suggestions
Good to know that this is an option, I will keep it in mind if they are running late.
I have to say the idea of someone come to the room to get everything sounds intoxicating, when I picture our group hauling 9 suitcases, groceries and 4 wild children down the lobby.
I will be writing all of this in my planning notebook!
