The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Owners & Lovers Group - 2.0

[sgrap]

I'm looking into booking for a group of 11 (1 family (2adults 4 kids), 2 adults, 2 adults and 1 adult. What would you recommend?

You could do a Grand Villa, but I think it is less points to do a combination of a 2 bedroom and another one or two bedroom, depending on how you can divide up the families and how everyone wants to sleep. Technically you could do a two bedroom and a studio. Look at the layout posts to see all the sleeping arrangements.

 

[blue888]

You could do a Grand Villa, but I think it is less points to do a combination of a 2 bedroom and another one or two bedroom, depending on how you can divide up the families and how everyone wants to sleep. Technically you could do a two bedroom and a studio. Look at the layout posts to see all the sleeping arrangements.

Thanks. I will look into that. I'm thinking a studio and 2 bedroom should be good.

Another question: Do you get the early entry to the parks?

 

[sgrap]

Thanks. I will look into that. I'm thinking a studio and 2 bedroom should be good.

Another question: Do you get the early entry to the parks?

Yes, you get all the perks of staying at a resort hotel, including the magic morning and early morning hour (or whatever they are all called!).

 

[sgrap]

Thanks. I will look into that. I'm thinking a studio and 2 bedroom should be good.

Another question: Do you get the early entry to the parks?

Just make sure to figure out who is willing to sleep with who, and who is opposed to using the sofabed. Make sure to look at the difference between the 2-bedroom and the 2-bedroom lock-off, which is a 1-bedroom with a studio adjoining. They are different reservations. The lock off has a sofabed instead of an extra queen. All the diagrams in the beginning of this thread are very helpful with that, as are the descriptions on the DVC reservation tool online. Have a wonderful trip, sounds like a blast!

 

[blue888]

Just make sure to figure out who is willing to sleep with who, and who is opposed to using the sofabed. Make sure to look at the difference between the 2-bedroom and the 2-bedroom lock-off, which is a 1-bedroom with a studio adjoining. They are different reservations. The lock off has a sofabed instead of an extra queen. All the diagrams in the beginning of this thread are very helpful with that, as are the descriptions on the DVC reservation tool online. Have a wonderful trip, sounds like a blast!

Thanks so much.
Yes I'm thinking we definitely need the 2 bedroom suite, not the 2 bedroom lockoff. My plan is to put the kids int he room with the 2 queens, the master for ourselves. My FIL is happy on the pull out. Then the other 4 adults can decide what type of room they want to get. We are planning a big Christmas vacation. Should be a blast. We went 2 years ago and we loved it. We will be just renting points as we aren't Vacation club members. We will be booking 11 months ahead, so hopefully we can get what we want. Is it possible to request rooms beside or close to each other? I'm excited to be so close to the park. Last time we stayed at PPH. Any recomendations for best rooms for kids (will be 8, 6, 4 and 2). Last time we had a park view which they loved.

 

[sgrap]

Thanks so much.
Yes I'm thinking we definitely need the 2 bedroom suite, not the 2 bedroom lockoff. My plan is to put the kids int he room with the 2 queens, the master for ourselves. My FIL is happy on the pull out. Then the other 4 adults can decide what type of room they want to get. We are planning a big Christmas vacation. Should be a blast. We went 2 years ago and we loved it. We will be just renting points as we aren't Vacation club members. We will be booking 11 months ahead, so hopefully we can get what we want. Is it possible to request rooms beside or close to each other? I'm excited to be so close to the park. Last time we stayed at PPH. Any recomendations for best rooms for kids (will be 8, 6, 4 and 2). Last time we had a park view which they loved.

 

[sgrap]

Oops hit reply without saying anything. What a fun trip! You can request rooms near to each other, and you can request specific room numbers. Request the ones facing Paradise Pier on the upper level. There is a great graphic on this thread I believe that shows all the rooms from the outside and their corresponding numbers and what room types they are. So you could look at that and request accordingly.

 

[Nonsuch]

...we definitely need the 2 bedroom suite, not the 2 bedroom lockoff.
...We are planning a big Christmas vacation.
...We will be just renting points as we aren't Vacation club members. We will be booking 11 months ahead, so hopefully we can get what we want.

2 bedroom dedicated will be much easier to book than 2 bedroom lock-off, the lock-off is limited by the availability of studio villas. The large number of points needed for a 2 bedroom (or grand villa) may make it difficult to rent at 11 months (due to the limited number of VGC owners renting points), but there might still be available villas at 7 months (when any DVC points can be used).

 

[PoohsFan1]

Hi all, my family and I are planning our second visit to DLR in either June or July 2016, it all depends on whether DH can get the time off in July (we would like to be there on my DD12's birthday, fingers crossed). Anyway, we are planning on a stay at VGC, we stayed here the last time and loved it. Our first trip we stayed in a Studio (room # 6504) and loved everything about it, however this time we are looking to stay in a dedicated 2 bedroom villa with hopefully the same view. We are so excited to be coming back to DLR .

 

[wbl2745]

I'm a little late posting here, but we booked the 3 bedroom grand villa for the whole family to go to Disneyland in June. I'm really excited. I actually booked this at the very first possible moment at 11 months (VGC is our home resort), so I actually did this in July. We love VGC and have stayed in all of the types of units and have loved every one of them. We usually try to get something on the first floor since we enjoy being able to go straight to the room rather than waiting for the elevator. We've had all of the views too: north, looking at the pools, west looking at the Grizzly River Rapids, and south, looking at Paradise Pier. We've enjoyed all of them. We'll have seven adults. I'm preaching to the choir, but I love VGC. The only one that comes close in my mind is AKV, although I haven't stayed at all of the DVC resorts at WDW.

 

[sgrap]

We are arriving a week from today on our first DVC trip!! We have stayed at GCH many times but never in the VGC suites. Is there anything I need to bring? Is there dish soap? Enough body/hand soap for the 4 days until replenished? Hair dryers? Any other tidbits would be great! Thanks!

 

[wbl2745]

We are arriving a week from today on our first DVC trip!! We have stayed at GCH many times but never in the VGC suites. Is there anything I need to bring? Is there dish soap? Enough body/hand soap for the 4 days until replenished? Hair dryers? Any other tidbits would be great! Thanks!

You didn't mention whether you were staying in a studio or the 1 or 2 bedroom units. The studio has a small sink, a microwave, and a small fridge. They have paper plates, cups, and plastic utensils. They also have dish soap and plenty of hand and body soap for 4 days and more. The 1 and 2 bedroom units have a full kitchen with real plates, glasses, pans, both eating and cooking utensils. They also have dish soup and plenty of hand and body soap. Also both kinds of units have plenty of paper towels. They also all have hair dryers in the bathrooms. Only the 1 and 2 bedroom units have washers and dryers in the unit. If you're staying in a studio, you can get tokens at the front desk to use the washers and dryers in the hotel. This is only for DVC guests. Hotel guests have to pay to use the washers and dryers.

Really the units are well stocked. If you're after easy to get groceries you can go to White Water Rapids, which has groceries but also serves fast food. If you are staying long enough to order a lot of groceries you can either order directly though the Grand Floridian hotel or have Ralphs deliver, but you have to have a minimum order.

Hope you have a great time. What I like about the Grand Californian is that you are so close so both DCA and DL. Ride Grizzly River Rapids, get soaked, and you're back in your room in 5 minutes to change and throw all the wet clothes in the dryer!

 

[sgrap]

You didn't mention whether you were staying in a studio or the 1 or 2 bedroom units. The studio has a small sink, a microwave, and a small fridge. They have paper plates, cups, and plastic utensils. They also have dish soap and plenty of hand and body soap for 4 days and more. The 1 and 2 bedroom units have a full kitchen with real plates, glasses, pans, both eating and cooking utensils. They also have dish soup and plenty of hand and body soap. Also both kinds of units have plenty of paper towels. They also all have hair dryers in the bathrooms. Only the 1 and 2 bedroom units have washers and dryers in the unit. If you're staying in a studio, you can get tokens at the front desk to use the washers and dryers in the hotel. This is only for DVC guests. Hotel guests have to pay to use the washers and dryers.

Really the units are well stocked. If you're after easy to get groceries you can go to White Water Rapids, which has groceries but also serves fast food. If you are staying long enough to order a lot of groceries you can either order directly though the Grand Floridian hotel or have Ralphs deliver, but you have to have a minimum order.

Hope you have a great time. What I like about the Grand Californian is that you are so close so both DCA and DL. Ride Grizzly River Rapids, get soaked, and you're back in your room in 5 minutes to change and throw all the wet clothes in the dryer!

Oops, sorry, see I am a newbie! ;-) We have a 1-bedroom. Just placed my Von's order but it's nice to know that we can restock at White Water if we run out.

We always seem to run out of the little bars of soap at GCH and are asking housekeeping for more, so I wanted to be prepared if they only gave you like the 1 little bar and then didn't come back for 4 days.

I am thrilled with having the washer and dryer . . even though I don't really want to do laundry on vacation, it is nice to know it is there if we need it. I have done the GRR run back to GCH for dry clothes before, but never with a dryer! Always the hang up over the tub routine! ;-)

Thanks so much!

 

[PoohsFan1]

So a bit of an update....I was able to book a 2 bedroom villa for this upcoming June , the next step is to call MS to put in a couple of requests (I know they are just requests and are not guaranteed) for certain room numbers. Like I have mentioned in my previous post, when my family was there back in 2013, we were in a studio that had a perfect WOC view. I would love to have the same view again this time...crossing my fingers .

 

[Betty Remain Anonymous]

We are arriving a week from today on our first DVC trip!! We have stayed at GCH many times but never in the VGC suites. Is there anything I need to bring? Is there dish soap? Enough body/hand soap for the 4 days until replenished? Hair dryers? Any other tidbits would be great! Thanks!

Sgrap, congratulations on your DVC. We aren't DVC yet but going to GCH over XMAs for first GCH experience.

 

[sgrap]

Sgrap, congratulations on your DVC. We aren't DVC yet but going to GCH over XMAs for first GCH experience.

Thanks, we are quite excited! We bought our first VGC contract in February and then added on another before we had even been on a DVC trip yet! So glad we did, because the prices for the VGC contracts have gone nuts since then. Are you staying in a VGC Villa? We love any room at GCH. You will have a ball!!

 

[Betty Remain Anonymous]

Thanks, we are quite excited! We bought our first VGC contract in February and then added on another before we had even been on a DVC trip yet! So glad we did, because the prices for the VGC contracts have gone nuts since then. Are you staying in a VGC Villa? We love any room at GCH. You will have a ball!!

No, we are just spying on this thread and got excited when we saw your post about being new DVC owners. We hope to rent our first bedroom villa at Beach Club or Aulani. We have many things on the Bucket List right now. I have to work in a trip to Universal FL to get my hubby to see Harry Potter soon. I am extremely nervous to travel outside Disney so taking baby steps and deep breaths. Our next trip may need to be Aug for his 50th to see Harry Potter. Being in FL then is super hot of course but we are limited around school holidays and did WDW one Aug and didn't die. So, may try again. Have a great trip - Merry Thanksgiving/Christmas!

 

[sgrap]

No, we are just spying on this thread and got excited when we saw your post about being new DVC owners. We hope to rent our first bedroom villa at Beach Club or Aulani. We have many things on the Bucket List right now. I have to work in a trip to Universal FL to get my hubby to see Harry Potter soon. I am extremely nervous to travel outside Disney so taking baby steps and deep breaths. Our next trip may need to be Aug for his 50th to see Harry Potter. Being in FL then is super hot of course but we are limited around school holidays and did WDW one Aug and didn't die. So, may try again. Have a great trip - Merry Thanksgiving/Christmas!

We are going to Aulani for my 50th and our son's college graduation celebration in June! We have yet to do any Harry Potter land . . . definitely on our wish list as well. You will love GCH! I wish we had done the DVC tour of VGC last time we were there. Are they still doing them, anyone know?

 

[sgrap]

How big are the biggest coffee mugs stocked in the 1-bedroom? I have a big mug of tea every morning, and most of the little hotel type coffee cups just don't cut it. I usually pack my own, but was hoping not to have to this trip staying in DVC.

Also, how many coat hangers do they give you in the 1-bedroom? I like to hang up my clothes, and there are never enough hangers for me in the regular hotel rooms.

Thanks!

 

[bwang123]

How big are the biggest coffee mugs stocked in the 1-bedroom? I have a big mug of tea every morning, and most of the little hotel type coffee cups just don't cut it. I usually pack my own, but was hoping not to have to this trip staying in DVC.

Also, how many coat hangers do they give you in the 1-bedroom? I like to hang up my clothes, and there are never enough hangers for me in the regular hotel rooms.

Thanks!

We just stayed in a 1 bedroom and remember about 10 hangers, which we utilized. Looked it up and allears indicates 10 as well.
http://allears.net/acc/dvc12bvamenities.htm