Two weeks at Disney at two different resorts?

[kaylamag]

I'm planning a disney vacation for December of this year and I am thinking about splitting our stay between two hotels (one week at a deluxe and one week at a moderate). I would love to stay at Beach Club or Contemporary but my pocket book says Port Orleans Riverside. We are a party of five and stayed at POP in 2008 with adjoining rooms, which was fine but i want to try something different this time.
Has anyone done this before that could give me some advice?
Also, if Disney would offer free dining during our trip we would want to do that, how would staying at two different resorts affect that?

[TammiMcMan]

Each resort would be considered a separate reservation, you can't combine them.

When you make your reservations, you'd need to be sure free dining is available at both of the resorts that you select. Also, check the ticket requirements as you'd be booking two different packages. That could mean having to buy 2 sets of minimum day tickets for everyone in your group.

Because it can get a little complicated, I'd highly recommend contacting Magical Journeys and having them give you all your options.

[wdwluv]

We are a family of 5, so that POR was our best option for our size. We had also heard great things about the pool at the Beach Club, and really wanted to try it out, but our budget is not in the Beach Club price range!

So we did a week at POR and 2 days at the Beach Club. We loved both. The kids loved both. Keep in mind the trundle bed is meant only for kids 9 and under. (or so - it's really a height thing) And the bed is on the floor between two double beds. (or is it queen beds???)

We did have to do two separate reservations. For us it worked out, since the bulk of our stay was at POR, and we did the meal plan with our POR reservation. We did room only for our 2 Beach Club days. You get to use your dining credits all the way to the end of the day on the day you check out, so that we could use them all that first day at the Beach Club. (we learned from this trip, that the meal plan isn't cost effective for us. We find ourselves STUFFING ourselves just to get all our food out of our plan!)

Also keep in mind - two separate reservations, two separate deposits - two different dates for calling in dining reservations.(I have this with our upcoming Nov 2011 trip)

I'm no pro, but feel free to email me if you have any specific questions I can answer!

[gerald72]

Look at it as two separate reservations.
I don't know why it would be considered any more difficult or complicated than making one reservation.
Your dining plan credits from your first week expire the night you check out of the first resort, but your park admissions carry on.
Your cheapest option is probably get a 10 day ticket for your first week and none for your second. That means you can get the dining plan the first week but not the second. It wouldnt pay you to get two day tickets the second week just to get the dining plan. Pay out of pocket the second week. If you want to do parks more than 10 days in the parks you might want an annual pass.

[mom2morgan]

Look at it as two separate reservations.
I don't know why it would be considered any more difficult or complicated than making one reservation.
Your dining plan credits from your first week expire the night you check out of the first resort, but your park admissions carry on.
Your cheapest option is probably get a 10 day ticket for your first week and none for your second. That means you can get the dining plan the first week but not the second. It wouldnt pay you to get two day tickets the second week just to get the dining plan. Pay out of pocket the second week. If you want to do parks more than 10 days in the parks you might want an annual pass.

That is my plan as well, and I'm going to schedule the meals that are poor DDP value (breakfasts, signature meals) for the week I don't have it. BUT since you are talking about doing FREE dining, sit down and work out the numbers. It might actually be less money for you to buy two 1-week packages if it means no money at all on food.

[MissionDisney]

We are also a party of 5, and did a double Hotel stay ( by accident the first time ).
POP/WL. The kids Loved it and it gave us a chance to test out other places to stay.

We loved it so much, we did it again the next year. (AKL/CONTEMP)...One Word..AWESOME!

Our only advice is to take a carry-on bag with clothes. It took awhile for our Luggage to be sent over to the 2nd hotel. We needed to change, and had to change a nice dinner reservation because our clothes were not at the hotel soon enough..

However, we would do it again..If you can do it.... DO IT!

[Mousemates]

My number one advice for a split stay is to end your vacation at what you perceive to be the better resort. Its far easier and more enjoyable to upgrade (get used to bigger rooms and more amenities) than it is to downgrade (and adjust to less).

[EeyoresBestFriend]

For those of you that have done this before ~ is it worth the hassle of packing everything up to change resorts?

Trying to make everything I brought, and bought , fit back into my suitcase is always one of my most frustrating tasks.

[mook3y]

For those of you that have done this before ~ is it worth the hassle of packing everything up to change resorts?

Trying to make everything I brought, and bought , fit back into my suitcase is always one of my most frustrating tasks.

When we did, it, we stayed 2 nights at ASmu - we actually had this room for 2 weeks but only used it the first 2 nights.

We move over to BWV. this move wasn't too bad because we had packed 1 suitcase that we used for the first 2 days and did not unpack anything else..

We stayed there 9 nights then we packed everything up as if we were going home and kept 1 bag out for our last couple of nights at WLV.

We had the advantage of having a washer and dryer in our room at BWV, so we were able to wash everything before we packed it.

Then at WLV we only had 1 suitcase to deal with and just put everything else in the corner of the room until we left.

It was nice to try different resorts, but for our family, The only way I see us transfering rooms now, would be to stay at a value resort the night we arrive so that we could get up first thing in the morning and head over to where we are staying and check-in first thing in the morning and head to a park.

But, I would rather check in where we are going to be, unpack and not worry about packing again until we are ready to leave.