Hotel switch during your stay....

**GoofyGuy** · 01-03-2012, 09:40 PM

Me, the wife and our daughter (5yrs) are planning on heading to WDW in early November this year. My wife would like to try the Animation (Lion King) resort, and I was hoping for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. we are planning on 10days/9nights. I was thinking maybe doing the value for the first 5 nights, then heading over to the Animal Kingdom for the last 4 nights.

1. Has anyone ever done that on this site that could share some advice?
2. Is it a good idea? I'm thinking it'll save us a little ca$h too, instead of paying for 9 nights Deluxe.
3. Does Disney Handle the move (transfer baggage etc...) ??
4. Is it a good idea to do both of the room reservations at the same time?
5. Is there a fee involved?

Thanks!

**SnwhtNdwrfs** · 01-03-2012, 11:22 PM

The good thing is that there is no fee involved. Disney will take your luggage from one resort to another. You will need to take your luggage to Bell Services for them to transfer (okay- you can have them come get it but that takes longer). And if you need to get tickets related to your new hotel reservation, you will need to run over to the new resort. You will have two separate reservation numbers. I would make both reservations at the same time.

One trip I stayed in 3 different hotels. No problems at all! Enjoy your trip.

**wallfan329** · 01-03-2012, 11:22 PM

We switch hotels almost every trip we take. I think it is a good idea, it changes up your week a bit. I do not know if Disney handles the bags, we drive down to Disney so we handle everything ourselves. We normally book together so we get both hotels. I am sure about the fee because my family is dvc so we switch between dvc resort. But I am amusing there is not one. Some advice is to pack all the stuff you are going to need for resort a in one bag and resort b in another. We did not do that first time and it was a mess. Plus if you do forget stuff in your other room you have it in your new room.

**GoofyGuy** · 01-04-2012, 12:00 AM

Thanks, great advice!
Right now we are in the beginning stages, but soon I will start my spread sheet LOL

**HauntedGabe** · 01-04-2012, 12:08 AM

We have done it too. A moderate to Deluxe mid trip. You will likely have good luck in November off season. Sometimes you can wind up homeless for like 4-5 hours and I'm not fond of that Mid-Trip however in early November likely AK will not be full up when it is time for the trip.

We let Bell's completely handle the transfer. Depending on the bags I leave $5 to $10 atop of the bags in old room. Call bell services they come get, transfer and we have gotten our room at Deluxe, I leave $$$ on table for Bell's with a note for them to take tip. Works perfect.

**weepstah** · 01-04-2012, 10:33 AM

Everyone,

Thanks for the tips (and Goofy Guy, thanks for posting) - I'm planning to do the same thing in August. Probably will have a rental car so wasn't sure how to handle the transfer. How about things like bottled water/food items? Are those any problem to transfer if you have bell services do it?

**HauntedGabe** · 01-04-2012, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by weepstah

Everyone,

Thanks for the tips (and Goofy Guy, thanks for posting) - I'm planning to do the same thing in August. Probably will have a rental car so wasn't sure how to handle the transfer. How about things like bottled water/food items? Are those any problem to transfer if you have bell services do it?

Toss all the food items etc. in a laundry bundle bag and label it with your name and resort. They'll take it too. We always carry a cloth laundry bag or two with us.

**doconeill** · 01-05-2012, 05:15 PM

We've done it to conserve on DVC points, going from AKV to POR.

I recommend that you start at the lower resort first, then move to the higher if possible. There can be something of a let-down otherwise.

Plus, since we went from a 1BR to a moderate room, it felt a bit cramped for the 4 of us.

There are no fees, but Bell Services is a tippable position I believe.

**disneyrunrchick** · 01-20-2012, 10:38 AM

We've done it a couple times and had one good experience and one not so good experience. In the latter, we didn't end up getting our luggage till one am, they lost my friend's bag, and they kept telling us they were on the way with our luggage when they were clearly not. We ended up having to go down and get it, searching in the luggage room ourselves. The bag was found the next day. This was at POR.

Our last trip, we decided to stay an extra night at the last minute and went from Yacht Club to Pop. Everything went perfect.

I would definitely do a switch again, and despite our bad luck the first time, I'd probably still use the luggage transfer, but just a warning that even the most perfect system can be flawed.