Hi Lorrie,
Thank you for stopping by the
Disney Parks Moms Panel. And how exciting to know you'll be celebrating the
Holidays at Walt Disney World Resort. It is my favorite time of the year to visit.
A few years ago, we had the opportunity to enjoy a "split-stay" with my family. We spent a few nights at
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, followed by another few nights at
Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. And it was super easy to move from one Resort Hotel to the other. Early in the morning we packed all our luggage and with a call to Bell Services, everything was transferred to the other Resort Hotel. They even took care of some refrigerated items we had. We then went to enjoy the Theme Parks, and in the evening, we went straight to Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. Bell Services there, had all our luggage waiting for us.
A "split-stay" works best when you book room-only reservations. The problem with
vacation packages is that in general, they require
Theme Park Tickets. There are couple of options though. For example, if your first stay is a vacation package with Tickets and
Dining Plan, you could add days to the Tickets so they cover your entire vacation. Then for the second stay, you could either book a room-only reservation, or a Ticketless vacation package with Dining. Another option is to book a room-only or Ticketless vacation package at the beginning, especially if it is for just a couple of nights. In this case, you can request your Theme Park Tickets part of the second stay's package a few days earlier of Check-In, by visiting
Guest Relations. Note that Ticketless packages are only available by speaking to a vacation planning specialist at (407) 939-1936 or your travel agent. And certain
Special Offers like Free Dining require a stay with Tickets, so you may not want to book these back to back.
One last tip: the easiest way to Check-In is by taking advantage of
Online Check-In. But note that any meal entitlements from your first reservation will expire when you Check-In to the next Resort Hotel, so be sure to plan accordingly. Happy planning!
Ricardo.