Switching Resorts by Steve Russo
Steve explains why switching resorts in the middle of a vacation may be a good thing.
Read it here!
Switching Resorts by Steve Russo
Steve explains why switching resorts in the middle of a vacation may be a good thing.
Read it here!
When you have 3 kids like I do, the las thing you want to do is pack up and move.. again. It's bad enough bringing the camel caravan to the parks everyday. But having to switch rooms in the middle of a vacation doesn't sound great to me. But that's me.
Great Defender of the Sorceror's Hat
WDW Trips: June 2002, Feb 2004, Dec 2006, Dec 2008, Jan 2010, Feb 2011, Dec 2012
One trip, one resort, one room.
Once I'm there, I'm there and I ain't moving.
I've switched resorts a couple of times, and if the option is to never stay at a deluxe, or to split a stay so I am not blowing the whole budget on the room, then I'm going to switch resorts. We just did it this last trip and were 8 days at Carib Beach and 2 at Yacht Club. We basically didn't unpack at Yacht, and had no issues with Bell Services transporting our luggage. Originally, when we were planning it was going to be a Pop/yacht split, because Pop wasn't a participating resort with Wine & Dine transportation, and with Yacht we could just walk back to our room after the race. But we decided to go for moderate instead of Pop, in part because the last time my sister stated at a Value, we had real issues with other guests (unsupervised teens from cultures with different concepts of acceptable behavior for groups of teens, in particular). I've since stayed at values on solo trips, but she's just not ready to risk it. So for us, it's budget reasons to do a split stay.
Cathy
We've switched resorts in the middle of a trip before. And it's absolutely no big deal. We are DVC members, so we're always staying on points, and we've never worried about higher points on weekends. We'll switch mainly because our party size changes, or because we just want to have two different experiences.
Quite often, we bring other people along with us when we go. We'll get a two-bedroom villa for the duration of time that the other people are with us, then downsize to a one-bedroom for the remainder -- our stays tend to be in the 9- to 10-night range, and we've never had anyone stay with us for that long.
Or we'll spend the first half of the trip at the Bay Lake Tower, taking advantage of the walking distance to the Magic Kingdom and monorail to Epcot, and then switch to Kidani Village, to enjoy some quiet time and a more secluded feeling.
And sometimes we've stayed at two different resorts simply because we couldn't get all the nights we wanted at one resort. During our last trip during the Food & Wine Festival, we were unable to get the 2-bedroom villa at the Boardwalk for the entire trip, so we got the nights we could at the Boardwalk and finished up at Kidani Village. This is a disadvantage to not planning a trip early...
We have the tremendous advantage of having a son living in Orlando, so a car is never a problem for us. We can load up his car in the morning, then wait to check in at the new resort later in the afternoon. Since we only bring enough clothes for a few days (there's a washer and dryer in the DVC villas), we never have all that much to pack up.
Interesting responses here, on FaceBook and via email. They're not what I was expecting... all responses seem to fall in the "No way would I consider switching resorts" camp or the "We do it all the time" side. No one's been middle of the road on this.Originally Posted by MousePlanet AutoPoster
Steve
There's nothing wrong with switching resorts, but other possibilities and benefits were not discussed. There is a whole lot more to explore these days in Orlando.
1. Add on an outside resort. Stay near Universal or SeaWorld for a few days. It is cheaper and you can see other theme parks. You could even avoid getting that rental car if you wish to stay on-site at Universal or next door to SeaWorld.
2. Switching from DVC to a value or moderate resort is a step down; however, a deluxe hotel in a regular hotel room is not equivlent to a DVC 1 bedroom suite or larger. Most people travel with their families. You have to decide if it is worth it to be frugal with your points when it might just be better to use up all your points to stay the full 7 days.
We switch resorts every trip. In fact, I can't imagine staying in one resort the whole time. During an annual 10 day trip we will stay in 3 resorts. We start our trip off with 2-3 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and do everything Universal. We then check into a Disney value or moderate for 3-4 nights and do all the Disney parks. Then check out and spend 2-3 nights at a Deluxe just relaxing, sitting by the pool, going watertubing, fishing and everything resort life offers. Packing is not really an issue as we don't mind taking 20 minutes out the night before to pack and reorganize. We have 3 children and they love the different atmospheres throughout the trip.
My husband and I are visiting Disney World this coming March. I have had my heart set on staying at the Contemporary for quite some time but after seeing the cost, I decided to split the trip and stay at 2 places. The first 3 nights we are at the Contemporary, the next 6 we will be at the Caribbean Beach Hotel. I This will be our second visit to the World and are looking forward to seeing more of the options. For our last visit, we stayed at the Port Orleans-Riverside, which was lovely but with so many resort choices, I want to get a better sense of the different themes and ammenities. But, travel is a lot easier when you only have 2 adults to contend with. Thanks for the great article Steve. As always, your thoughts are most appreciated and valued.
Great idea. I would offer one suggestion, and it's likely too late for your upcoming trip, I would always try to begin the vacation at the lesser resort. As lovely as the Caribbean Beach Resort is (and I love it there), it may seem like a downgrade after the Contemporary.
Steve
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