What You Need to Know About a Split Stay in Disney World
If you’re considering a split stay in Disney World, you don’t want to miss this post. We’ll get into what, exactly, a split stay is, why it’s something you might want to do, and so much more!
What is a split stay
A split stay is when you stay at two (or more) different Disney World Resort Hotels in one trip. So, you might stay at Caribbean Beach Resort for the first half of your trip and then jump over to Old Key West Resort for the second half of your trip.
You can spend as little as one overnight at any given Disney World Resort before moving to the next one.
Why would you want to have a split stay?
There are several reason why a split stay at Disney World might be a good fit for you.
First, it can give you the chance to spend a night at a pricer resort. This lets you have the experience without blowing the budget for the entire trip. If you’ve always dreamed of staying in a Savannah View room at Animal Kingdom Lodge, but can’t quite justify the price, splurging for a night or two is one way to make that dream come true.
Or, maybe you want to spend your arrival day at an incredible pool, like Stormalongbay. Remember, when you choose your hotel, you’re choosing your pool. You can access your pool at any point on your check-in day, so you can very easily store your bags with bell service and spend the afternoon at the pool.
It’s also possible that Disney is booked up when you want to travel and you’re struggling to find a hotel in your price range that’s available for your travel dates. A split stay could be a solution to this problem.
What to do on your transfer day
When you check out of your original hotel, you’re going to take your bags and head to bell services. If you’re not sure where that is, just ask a cast member.
Let the cast members at bell services know that you’re transferring resorts. They’ll take your bags and get them tagged to be transferred to your new resort.
Then, you go an enjoy the day in the parks! You can head to your new resort when you’re park day is over. You’re bags will either be at bell services or delivered straight to your room. A cast member should be able to tell you where to find your bags when you hand them off to bell services in the morning.
It’s genuinely that easy.
The cons of a a split stay
Of course, there are pros and cons to everything. One big down side to a split stay is that you’re not really settled in one place for the duration of your trip.
You also won’t have access to your bags during your transfer day, since they’ll be in transit. And if you’re accustomed to going back to your room in the middled of the day, that’s also not going to be an option on transfer day.
However, you can go to your hotel and use the pool. So if you think you might want to take a break from the parks in the middle of the day, consider packing your swim gear in your park bag.
I’ll also add that Disney often has rooms ready before check in time. If you check in on the My Disney Experience app ahead of time, you’ll get a text when your room is ready.
So it’s possible you’ll gain access to your new room earlier than expect, but it’s not something you can count on.
My personal split stay experience
I once did a split stay because I decided to add a night to my trip. The resort I was booked in didn’t have rooms available for the extra night. So I stayed at a different resort for the night instead.
It was a seamless process.
Me and my travel group brought our bags to bell service in the morning. We were given tags to label our bags, and Disney took it from there!
I spent the day in the park. Then when I was done, I went to my new resort and my bags had been delivered to my room.
In most cases, I’d rather be settled in my room for the week and not have to worry about making the change. But if I found myself in the right situation, I’d absolutely do a split stay again. Disney really made it an easy experience.
Do you have any experience with a split stay in Disney World? Tell me about it in the comments!