4 Days, 2 Resorts: Why Splitting Our Disney Stay Was Worth It

Where you stay at Walt Disney World can make a big difference in your experience and budget, but you don’t necessarily have to commit to a single accommodation for your entire trip. On a recent 4-night trip to Disney World, for example, we split our stay between 2 Disney resorts.

We started at the deluxe Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, then moved to the value Disney’s All-Star Music Resort. With a split stay approach, we got the best of both worlds: access to deluxe-level amenities and benefits when we needed them most and serious cost savings when we were ready to focus on the parks with a comfortable place to snooze.

We took advantage of Disney resort guest perks, including free water park admission on our check-in day and exclusive extended evening hours at EPCOT for deluxe resort guests.

See how we used a split stay to stretch our benefits while getting a break on our budget.

Benefits of a Split Stay at Disney World

A split stay at Disney World is when you stay at 2 (or more) resorts during the same trip. It involves transferring between Disney resorts, which can be a hassle, but can make sense for budgeting, perks, experience, location, and availability. These are some of the reasons a split stay might make sense.

You want to splurge on a Moderate or Deluxe resort for part of your stay, but also need to lower the cost with some nights at a Value resort. In addition, resorts can book up quickly, and you might not be able to find availability at a particular resort for your entire stay. In that case, you can book available dates at a preferred resort and fill in the gap with dates at another resort for the rest of your stay.

Of course, there are extra perks for deluxe resort guests, such as complimentary water park access, allowing you to enjoy the water parks each time you check in. Deluxe resorts offer extended evening hours access on select nights. It might make sense to stay at a Deluxe resort for that benefit and then move on to a lower-priced resort afterwards.

Some resorts offer more convenient locations and transportation to a particular park, such as Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa or Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows for visiting the Magic Kingdom, or Disney’s Yacht Club Resort for visiting EPCOT. You might move to a resort with the best access to the park you want to visit on a particular day.

Our Experience at a Disney Deluxe Resort

We stayed our first 2 nights at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, a Deluxe resort near Disney Springs. It was $649.36 (including taxes) for 2 nights, which I paid with my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

A Deluxe resort made sense for the first part of our stay because we had a late-night flight, and I knew we’d want to sleep in and get a slow start to the next day. At a Deluxe resort, we had better amenities to enjoy while we hung out and recharged at the resort instead of heading straight to the parks.

Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa was a great choice, as we received boat transportation to Disney Springs for breakfast, our choice of Deluxe-level pools in the afternoon heat, and convenient transportation to the parks for the evening.

We got on the Sassagoula River Cruise to Disney Springs, where we got a late breakfast and did some quick shopping.

After breakfast, we checked out 2 of the resort pools, including the High Rock Springs pool with water slides.

That night, EPCOT had extended evening hours, which gave us 2 hours of access to the park after the regular park hours — a benefit exclusive to Deluxe resort guests. When we were ready to head to the park, transportation could not have been more convenient. There was a shady, covered bus stop within sight of our building.

With extended evening hours, we got to enjoy a ride on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure that we otherwise might have missed, plus 2 rides on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Worth it!

Our Experience at a Disney Value Resort

The next day, we moved to a Value resort: Disney’s All-Star Music Resort. We paid $282.02 for 2 nights, tax inclusive — less than the cost of 1 night at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa.

A Value resort made sense for this part of our trip because we wouldn’t take advantage of another night of extended evening hours. Moreover, we planned to spend most of our time in the parks for the rest of our stay, so we didn’t need the amenities of a Deluxe resort.

Another great reason to move to Disney’s All-Star Music Resort? With a second check-in day, we got another window of free water park access on our check-in day. Since we’d arrived late at night for our first night at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, we’d missed water park hours and couldn’t use that benefit — but moving to a second resort gave us another shot.

When we checked out of Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, we stopped by bell services to arrange for a luggage transfer. Once we checked in at the second hotel, they began the process of bringing our bags to our room at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort.

We asked about transfer times, and they recommended not checking anything we’d need during the day, as we probably wouldn’t have our bags delivered to our next room until late afternoon. We dressed in swimwear for the water park and packed a day bag with a change of clothes, toiletries, sunscreen, and charging cables, so it didn’t matter when our bags arrived. We rented a locker at the park to stash our day bag and rinsed off at the park showers before we left.

We visited Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park between resorts, and I’m convinced that water park access is one of the best reasons to do a split stay at Disney World. It’s nice to visit the water parks any time, but it was especially refreshing to visit midtrip during the summer heat. We left the water park sufficiently chilled out and ready to hit the Magic Kingdom.

After the water park, we headed to Disney’s All-Star Music Resort to get cleaned up and settled into our room. I’d checked in digitally with the direct-to-room service in the My Disney Experience app and got a notification that our room was ready at 11:30 a.m. while we were still at the water park. About 30 minutes after we got into our room with my MagicBand+, bell services delivered our bags. Perfect timing!

Checking into a Value resort after leaving a Deluxe resort presented a contrast in room size, layout, theming, and ambience. We had a longer walk to our room, and Disney’s All-Star Music Resort was clearly a lot more lively and less relaxing than the Deluxe experience we’d had at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. But for this part of the trip, the budget-conscious approach was appropriate, as we still wanted to stay in the Disney bubble while only planning to be at the resort for bedtime.

The next morning, we used the early-entry benefit available to all resort guests (whether Value, Moderate, or Deluxe) to get into Disney’s Hollywood Studios early. That gave us time to ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance before official park opening hours — a great way to start our last park day of the trip.

Pros and Cons of Our Split Stay at Disney World

Overall, I’m pleased with how our split stay between a Deluxe and Value resort worked out. We got the benefits and amenities we wanted at a Deluxe resort when we wanted to use them, and then saved money but still got crucial benefits when we moved to a Value resort.

Though there was some finessing to a midtrip move, it was a fairly smooth transition — other than the obvious step down in quality from a Deluxe to Value resort.

Pros

• We accessed extended evening hours at EPCOT and a free water park day.
• The Deluxe resort offered an upgraded pool, dining, and transportation experience early in the trip.
• There was a significant savings in transferring to a Value resort.
• Bell services and Disney transportation helped make for a smooth resort transfer.

Cons

• Having 2 reservations required a little extra time with booking and checking in.
• We had to pack strategically for a midtrip move with a day bag for the water park.
• The Value resort was a clear downgrade, especially after we’d just checked out of a much nicer Deluxe resort the same day.

Final Thoughts

Would we do another split stay at Disney World? Absolutely.

We liked taking advantage of Deluxe resort benefits and amenities when they mattered, but didn’t want to pay Deluxe resort rates for our entire stay. Moving to a Value resort strategically helped us save money while still getting what we wanted from Disney resort benefits, including a refreshing water park visit.