Why I’ve Stopped Doing DVC Split Stays

I’ve been writing here for nine years, which means you may have read me suggesting a Split Stay. I’ve been an evangelist for this sort of DVC vacation for a while now, but I have a confession. At this point, I think I’m done with them. Here’s why I’ve stopped doing DVC Split Stays.

What Are Split Stays?

Every Disney Vacation Club resort will engulf you in luxury, which is the genius of the program. You’ll love staying at a different DVC property each visit. So, my argument is simple. Why should you wait?

You can plan a Split Stay instead. That’s when you book multiple DVC reservations for the same vacation. You may wonder why you would do that, but there’s a very good reason to consider this practice.

For example, let’s say that you’re planning your itinerary for your next Walt Disney World vacation. You intend to spend one day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a couple of days at EPCOT and/or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the rest of your time at Magic Kingdom. 

That’s the approach many guests take during their trips. Disney even offers those 4-Day Magic Tickets, which provide vacationers with access to one park per day. The company wouldn’t do that unless it were a popular vacation itinerary. 

Now, let’s say that you’re staying at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. You’re golden on the Magic Kingdom days, and you can take the monorail to EPCOT. On the other days, you’ll face a logistics challenge and a long bus ride. 

That’s where the Split Stay comes into play. What you could do instead is book one night at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas. Then, you could switch to Disney’s Riviera Resort or Disney’s BoardWalk Villas for the Epcot/Hollywood Studios days. Finally, you switch to Bay Lake Tower for the second half of your trip, the time you plan to spend at Magic Kingdom.

You’ve now reduced your reliance on Disney’s bus systems, which are notoriously mercurial. To a larger point, you’ll spend less time traveling due to your proximity to the theme park. 

Why I Once Loved Split Stays 

I’ve always found a lot to love about Split Stays. The convenience can’t be beat, and the practice helps in building an itinerary. Since I know that I’ll be staying at a park all day, I can plan my schedule accordingly.

Then, once I’ve finished at that park, I can switch hotels and repeat the process. The only real drawback is that I’ll spend part of the day without my luggage. Disney even streamlines that process, though.

In the morning when you check out, you head to Bell Services. There, you’ll forward your bags to the next hotel, where they’ll be waiting for you when you return to your room that night. 

The thought of this bothered me at first, but I quickly realized that I found the process liberating. I reduced my packing to necessities only, which helps me at airports. Plus, I can find everything I need when I pack lighter, an underrated advantage. 

In combination with the time savings from superior logistics, Split Stays almost sell themselves. Well, that used to be true. Something has changed at Disney, and it directly impacts my Split Stays. 

I Miss Magical Express

Photo Courtesy of WDW News Today

In 2020, the pandemic forced Disney to eliminate Magical Express. If you’re new to DVC, you may not even know what that is. After all, we haven’t had the service in more than five years now. 

With Magical Express, DVC vacationers would check our luggage at the airport when we initially flew out of town. Disney’s Magical Express stickers would guarantee that the luggage would be waiting for us when we reached our rooms that night. This service was truly magical. 

Disney reduced the aggravation of travel by taking care of our luggage. Then, tourists flew into Orlando, and a Magical Express bus would drive us to our DVC hotel. It was fantastic and almost completely negated travel day vacation stress. 

Since Magical Express ended, I’ve worried a lot more about my bags. Now, I have to lug them to an Uber when I touch down in Orlando, and I know I’ll do the same thing when I’m ready to fly home. It’s an extra layer of aggravation. 

But the death of Magical Express represents only part of the reason why I’ve stopped doing DVC Split Stays. At some point, I aged out of this kind of aggravation. That’s the real sticking point now. 

When I’m on vacation, the last thing I want to do is wake up early, re-pack my bags, and ship them to another hotel. I realized this the hard way during a recent DVC visit when I was staying at Disney’s Old Key West. Since I was slow in booking, I couldn’t get Hospitality House the first night. So, I reserved a different room in the Hospitality House category for my second night and beyond, which seemed smart at the time. 

Why I’ve Stopped Doing DVC Split Stays 

When I flew into Orlando that day, a lot went wrong at the airport, which happens sometimes. So, we were already running late, which made our first vacation day at Disney feel rushed. The last thing I wanted the next morning was to refill my luggage and move to a different room. 

While doing just that, I found myself thinking back to a previous trip when I’d done a Split Stay. Bell Services had temporarily lost our bags, keeping us locked out until 7 p.m. It’s rare when something like this happens, but it did that time. Since we hadn’t packed enough chargers, both our phones ran out of juice at the park that day. So, we were tired and grumpy when we returned to the room. 

At the time, I hadn’t let it bothered me. When I was changing rooms at Old Key West, however, I suddenly realized how fed up I was with the whole thing. Split Stays make sense when you’re younger and brimming with energy. As you get older, vacation means taking it easy, even at Disney. So, Split Stays create a layer of aggravation and fatigue to the process. And that’s why I’ve decided I’m just not doing it anymore.

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