Points at 1 home resort vs. 2

[Luvears]

Add-on-itis has got of hold of me! DH with me if we come across ‘right’ resale for same UY. My vote is different resort- his is more pts at same home resort.
I’d like the adventure of moving for 2nd half of stay- he thinks takes away from feeling settled in. Longest stay would likely be 7 nights.

Would be interested to hear of your insights and strategies. Thx!

 

[skippytx]

I'm personally not a fan of split stays, I like to unpack, settle in and hide the luggage in the closet. We did it once and I just didn't care for the whole packing up and unpacking in the middle of the trip.

That's just me though, to each there own. There's no wrong way to enjoy Disney.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You could also bank/borrow to alternate full stays.

 

[kboo]

You could also bank/borrow to alternate full stays.

If prices ever get to a point where I want to jump in again, that is what we will do. Currently own at BLT, and our plan is to primarily use those points for staying at BLT, especially while the kids are small. We have enough to go annually for longer than a week in a studio, or less than a week in a 1BR. I have been gently coaxing DH to consider an EP resort with a different UY that we would use separately from our BLT contract.

With 2 little kids, we don't see ourselves doing split stays by choice unless we wanted to try a hard-to-get resort or points-heavy resort at 7 mo.

 

[disneynutz]

Here is what we do, one vacation we stay at our Epcot resort, next vacation, we stay at our MK resort. No reason to park hop or spend time on Disney transportation, no need to split stay.

Bill

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I'm more like your husband.

We move in. Suitcases are unpacked, fridge is loaded and everything is put in place. Moving, for us, is a huge pain.

If you like the idea of having two home resorts, banking and borrowing for different stays, go with that. Otherwise, I would stick to the same resort.

 

[DougEMG]

We like to do split stays with one resort near MK and then another by EPCOT. I like walking to the parks and experiencing the different resorts.

 

[ScubaCat]

I travel some for work and hate moving hotels just by myself with a carryon! Doing a split stay at Disney is not appealing to me at all. We have spent a few nights at the Hilton Orlando by Universal (free with my Hilton points cache) and then switched to BCV, but that's about the extent of my split stay tolerance....and that really added convenience being right by Universal. (and free breakfast in the exec lounge wasn't horrible )

 

[suebeelin]

Here is what we do, one vacation we stay at our Epcot resort, next vacation, we stay at our MK resort. No reason to park hop or spend time on Disney transportation, no need to split stay.

Bill

I agree.

For us, moving with little kids was worth the hassle of not having to bus as often with little kids! It was a pain when they napped but we are past that nap stage as of a few months ago!

 

[mustinjourney]

If prices ever get to a point where I want to jump in again, that is what we will do. Currently own at BLT, and our plan is to primarily use those points for staying at BLT, especially while the kids are small. We have enough to go annually for longer than a week in a studio, or less than a week in a 1BR. I have been gently coaxing DH to consider an EP resort with a different UY that we would use separately from our BLT contract.

With 2 little kids, we don't see ourselves doing split stays by choice unless we wanted to try a hard-to-get resort or points-heavy resort at 7 mo.

didn't your DH greenlight BCV direct? Or am I thinking of someone else?

 

[mustinjourney]

We like to do split stays with one resort near MK and then another by EPCOT. I like walking to the parks and experiencing the different resorts.

That's how I feel -- but my wife strongly disagrees. But since I'm the Disney planner -- so far we've done split stays. hahaha

ironically -- the one time I went without DW, I stayed in the same room all 5 nights.

 

[mustinjourney]

I agree.

For us, moving with little kids was worth the hassle of not having to bus as often with little kids! It was a pain when they napped but we are past that nap stage as of a few months ago!

That's my thought. I try to minimize bus trips as much as possible while at WDW b/c there is nothing worse than removing a napping child from a stroller and then taking the 20 minute bus ride with a cranky kid. By the time you get back to the resort, they don't want to nap anymore, so the whole trip back to the resort is a wasted effort.

As such, I try to stay at BWV/BCV for 3-4 nights, and then move to VGF for the last 3-4 nights. We always do DAK on the transfer day since we usually leave DAK around 4-5 pm anyways. Works out pretty well.

If I was super organized, I would pack our suitcases such that one or two suitcases were just for the 2nd half of the trip...but I'm not that organized. I've considered getting those divider pouch things to use in the suitcase as well -- but again -- that seems like too much work on the front end.

 

[kboo]

didn't your DH greenlight BCV direct? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Maybe? At our last stay at BCV DH came running in after seeing SAB and said, "Why didn't you buy BCV! We should sell our BLT points and buy here!!"

(Now you all know why I am in charge of the purchasing decisions, and he just greenlights or not... lol)

We did have a conversation that we would probably buy at an EP resort but we had time (2 trips planned on the BLT points in 2018) so I'd wait for prices to get a bit more realistic, and wait for the right contract, before jumping on anything.

Or I could just be waiting for @ScubaCat to sell.

 

[mustinjourney]

Maybe? At our last stay at BCV DH came running in after seeing SAB and said, "Why didn't you buy BCV! We should sell our BLT points and buy here!!"

(Now you all know why I am in charge of the purchasing decisions, and he just greenlights or not... lol)

We did have a conversation that we would probably buy at an EP resort but we had time (2 trips planned on the BLT points in 2018) so I'd wait for prices to get a bit more realistic, and wait for the right contract, before jumping on anything.

Or I could just be waiting for @ScubaCat to sell.

I think I remember you saying he wanted an EP resort too.

As far as waiting on @ScubaCat, I'd imagine you'd have to wait for hell to freeze over. And even then, he'd probably just be ice skating around SAB.

 

[ScubaCat]

Or I could just be waiting for @ScubaCat to sell.

As far as waiting on @ScubaCat, I'd imagine you'd have to wait for hell to freeze over. And even then, he'd probably just be ice skating around SAB.

I'm just waiting on DW, who will probably agree to sell sometime around 1/31/2042 (unless there's an option to extend, if I'm even still alive..) If it were up to me, I'd sell you both contracts today!

 

[Luvears]

All great insights! Our home is BCV- and YES- I hear all of you regarding the bus thing to MK! Our kiddos are 4 and 6- as of last trip, if we get a healthy early start, they both will nap for a bit so we can get a late night in- but with a bus ride and such- eh, not happening! We tried Minnie Van service (not bad)- but when we travel w. extended family in tow- that won't work I do feel like the trek to MK takes a ton of valuable vacation time. We value being so close to EP and HS, wish MK was magically right around the corner!
I'm not sure where we'll go with the right answer- my feeling is to put in a full week at BCV next stay (we have really only done 4 nights)- to see how we really feel. I like the idea of a refresh of room too (Studios not turned over as quick as 1BR??) BTW I'm not getting the "SAB" acronym here- can someone help me out?

 

[kboo]

SAB = Stormalong Bay, the pool at BCV. Our kids are 6 and 2, and we did a pre- and post-cruise stays at VGF and BCV and it was awesome! While we stayed at VGF (3 nights) we spent almost all our time at MK, with a half day at Pandora/Tusker House. Then with 3 nights at BCV was EP + HS + SAB. Im leery of an actual split stay because of the packing up and moving thing - So I suspect we'll end up alternating years with AKV in the rotation once in a while, and spend most of our time at the nearest park. That is fine with me, as it saves transportation times and also keeps the parks feeling "new".

If you're thinking of adding on at an MK resort, VGF is a relative bargain right now. (Meaning, price per point hasn't risen the way BLT has.)

(When we stayed at BWV in 2015 with just 1 3-year old, we ended up cabbing it to make dinner ADRs at MK and Boma.)

 

[Jelly563]

Storm along Bay the pool at Beach Club

 

[Dean]

Personal decisions to a degree. I would discourage split stays, they can be a pain esp if you get your second room late. But some don't mind and if you plan it may not be that much of an issue. Overall it depends on how many points you have and how many you'd be adding. You didn't mention volume but I get the sense you don't have a bunch now and wouldn't be adding a full sized contract. For example, if you had 150 and were adding 50 or so, I'd likely just stay with BCV or I'd add enough at say BLT to alternate stays. Are you current points qualified, if not, you might consider just a 25 pt add on.

 

[gharter]

We have 2 contracts at 2 different resorts. We did one split stay and while it wasn't bad, you do waste some time because of it. We don't anymore. We go twice a year. Each trip alternates the resort we stay at. It also factors in as to which parks we spend most of our time.