Hi Robert! My family loves to split our stays so that we can experience
different resorts and different areas of the Walt Disney World Resort. The Wilderness Lodge and the Boardwalk are both great resorts, and it will be so convenient for you to be close to the Magic Kingdom for the first half of your trip and Epcot for the other half. While there are lots
of benefits to moving from one resort to another during your vacation, you've hit upon one
drawback. At your first
resort, you can purchase a Magic Your Way package with park tickets to cover your entire stay at both resorts,
but you can purchase the dining plan only for the number of nights you're staying at
the first resort. Your dining plan credits must be used by midnight of the day
you check out of the first resort.
Unless you're an annual passholder, in order to purchase the dining
plan at the second resort, you must buy park tickets for everyone in your party.
You could purchase just a one-day ticket, but you're probably aware that with
Disney park tickets "the longer you play, the less you pay per day." The one-day
ticket is the most expensive, and with every day you add, the price per day
decreases, so that after the fourth day, you're paying only a few dollars more
to add days to your ticket. You'll need to do some number-crunching to determine whether purchasing the
dining plan at both resorts would be cost-effective. You'll likely find that it
is cheaper to purchase park tickets for your whole stay on the first resort
reservation. The
question then becomes whether it's worth it to buy a one-day ticket for everyone
in your party at the second resort so that you can add the dining plan. If you
think the savings you'll have on the dining plan will outweigh the cost of the
additional tickets, it would be worthwhile. (Keep in mind that if you don't use
the one-day tickets, you could save them for a future trip.)
Have a wonderful time in December!