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

[sgrap]

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

Awesome, thank you! That is a great link--I am saving it!

 

[Nonsuch]

...I have a big mug of tea every morning, and most of the little hotel type coffee cups just don't cut it.

Typical size ceramic mugs, might not "cut it" for you
You might want to buy a Starbucks (DL or DCA) mug, or the larger Anniversary mug.

...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.

There are quite a few hangers, since there are 2 closets (near the entry door, in the bedroom)

 

[sgrap]

Typical size ceramic mugs, might not "cut it" for you
You might want to buy a Starbucks (DL or DCA) mug, or the larger Anniversary mug.

There are quite a few hangers, since there are 2 closets (near the entry door, in the bedroom)

Great, thank you! Hmmm . . . buying the mug, hadn't thought of that idea. I like it!

 

[Circusgirl]

Great, thank you! Hmmm . . . buying the mug, hadn't thought of that idea. I like it!

I've done just this for many trips. When I get home the mug has all sorts of happy memories associated with it, and it makes re-entry a little easier when I use it for my morning coffee at home.

 

[Nonsuch]

There have been quite a few GCH pins, but only a few VGC pins.

This one is available at for purchase by DVC owners at the pins shops at DLR (I found it in Frontierland):


This pin was found on eBay, part of a DVC mystery pin collection.
I have not found where these "mystery" pins can be purchased.

 

[sgrap]

We just got home at 1 a.m. from a wonderful 5-night stay at VGC--our first stay in a villa there and first as new DVC owners! We were in room 4508, a 1-bedroom with park view. It wasn't on the top 3 of my room requests, but was an upper level with park view, so I was satisfied. Loved the view, loved the room! Thank you for all the help preparing for our trip! I will add pictures when I get unpacked and get through my 100's of shots.

 

[sjaz22]

Will be staying at VGC for first time in July. Will be booking a 1 Bedroom Villa for 2-3 nights. What room request do I need to make in order to try to get a park view?

 

[sgrap]

Will be staying at VGC for first time in July. Will be booking a 1 Bedroom Villa for 2-3 nights. What room request do I need to make in order to try to get a park view?

I asked the same question this spring, and this is what I was told:
You want to request the white numbers in Nonsuch's first picture - 5508, 4508, 6502, 5502, 4502. Any of those would have an awesome view.

We put the 6th floor as 1st choice, then the 5th floor ones. We ended up with 4508, which wasn't quite as high as I hoped, but had a nice view anyway.

 

[lwanthony]

Okay, I need an opinion from you seasoned owners here. I am planning a trip in Dec of 2016. We want to stay at the Grand Dec 3rd- 9th so 6 nights total. I have rented points before and had great luck at the 11 month mark even in December. Here is that catch. I have a good friend that is willing to rent me points, but her home resort is Hawaii, which means no booking until 7 months out. The real catch is, she is offering the points at a substantial discount, like savings of over a thousand dollars over anyone else I have rented from in the past.

Is it too big a risk to save the money? What would your gut say about getting a studio at the 7 month mark Saturday - Friday the first week of December? How about a one bedroom? The extra points for the one bedroom would take up most of the savings, but it's a better room.....

I'm not sure what to do, but I have to decide soon, because the 11 month mark is in about 3 weeks. Do I take the risk to save the money, or spend the money and get the reservation at the 11 month window?

Help!!!!!!

-Lane

 

[Nonsuch]

...What would your gut say about getting a studio at the 7 month mark Saturday - Friday the first week of December? How about a one bedroom? The extra points for the one bedroom would take up most of the savings, but it's a better room...

It is very unlikely there will be any studios available at the 7 month mark for the first weekend in December, which is usually Candlelight. This is one of the few DLR events that can be predicted far in advance, so every year I book that weekend 11 months in advance.

There is some chance a one bedroom will be available at 7 months. VGC one bedroom villas are my favorite room at DLR, but the occupancy limit of 5 (the same as a regular room at GCH) might help with availability (which is good for you).

I would consider it worth gambling and try for a one bedroom. If your friend has some available points (and is flexible), you might try initially booking the start of the trip earlier with the weekend at the end. Then walk the reservation forward, or just book a much longer stay and cancel the first days. Your backup plan would be to use rented points for a regular GCH room.

 

[lwanthony]

It is very unlikely there will be any studios available at the 7 month mark for the first weekend in December, which is usually Candlelight. This is one of the few DLR events that can be predicted far in advance, so every year I book that weekend 11 months in advance.

There is some chance a one bedroom will be available at 7 months. VGC one bedroom villas are my favorite room at DLR, but the occupancy limit of 5 (the same as a regular room at GCH) might help with availability (which is good for you).

I would consider it worth gambling and try for a one bedroom. If your friend has some available points (and is flexible), you might try initially booking the start of the trip earlier with the weekend at the end. Then walk the reservation forward, or just book a much longer stay and cancel the first days. Your backup plan would be to use rented points for a regular GCH room.

I wasn't aware you can use rented points for a regular room. How does that work, and is the point per night cost more?

Thanks Nonsuch

 

[hjgaus]

Does it mean using points for a regular GCH room instead of villa?

 

[lwanthony]

Our dates are a little flexible, in as much as we want to go during the Christmas season. Do you think I would have better chance if we moved our trip to Nov. 26th - Dec 2nd?

 

[boiseflyfisher]

It doesn't really matter when you move it at VGC, the issue is always high demand and low supply. If you are tied to getting a reservation for for next Christmas season, book it now. Otherwise, you rely on your friend being on immediately when the 7 month window opens to battle it out with the other people who are also trying to get a reservation there. You might get it, you might not. I guess it depends on if you like to gamble and if it matters to you if you lose out getting a reservation at all.

 

[Nonsuch]

...Your backup plan would be to use rented points for a regular GCH room.

I have done some research, and this is not a viable option.

It is possible to use points (and I assume rented points) to book at DLR hotels, but the points required have increased (seems to be keeping pace with cash price increases) and are now very high. The points needed to book DVC properties is fixed (except for some minor adjustments), but the points required to book other properties (such as GCH) is unrestricted.

The points needed for weekdays in early December 2016 (for example):
VGC studio: 20
VGC one bedroom: 29
GCH standard view: 48

 

[Nonsuch]

...What would your gut say about getting a studio at the 7 month mark Saturday - Friday the first week of December?

An owner has been monitoring availability and shared some hard data
The VGC information is quite recent, updated 10/21/15

 

[DMPicone]

I know it's been a while since my trip, but I wanted to stop back in to thank everyone for the great advice and help on my trip in September/October. I haven't been a big poster over here or any of the Disney forums, but am often lurking and learning. I'm more active on cruise forums where I know it's against the rules to post the name of any other forum so I won't mention names, but I can say that I spend more time on another forum, but the people and information in this thread was far more helpful and accurate to my experience.

I bought my DVC at Bay Lake specifically to make my intended first trip to Disneyland more affordable and it certainly worked. I booked an 8 night pacific coastal repositioning cruise from Vancouver to LA in February of 2014 for 9/18-26 of 2015 so our dates were locked in long before I even owned A DVC. Surprisingly it wasn't that difficult to get in for the entire 10 night stay from 9/26 to 10/6 in a studio. I booked online as soon as it opened and was waitlisted, by the afternoon I was in and each day kept extending it until all 10 were secured. I followed everyone’s advice and put in a room request for the high paradise pier view rooms and ended up with 4504. It was an incredible view. This was the second half of a 20 night trip with 2 nights in Vancouver, 8 nights on a cruise (Victoria BC, Astoria OR, overnight in San Francisco CA, Monterey CA, Santa Barbara CA) and then the 10 nights in Disneyland. We used the stay to explore the Los Angeles area as a whole since this was our first trip to the west coast in general, as well as obviously Disneyland.

On the other forum many people though 10 nights was too long and that you should save your money and just stay off site. Having experience Disneyland I can honestly say that I agree with everyone on here. I could have stayed even longer and can say for certain that had I not been staying on property it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as special and magical a trip. I don’t think set of rooms in Disneyland or Disney World could match the magical experience offered by the VGC Paradise Pier rooms. The closeness of everything and continuous connection to the resort was incredible. It was about 5 minutes to get from the room to either park and I took full advantage of that often heading out to the esplanade to see the fireworks and the deck 6 patio to see World of Color, even on the same night with just minutes to get between the two locations without problem.

If I were to do it again, the only thing that I can say I would do different is that I would not leave the resort. Contrary to what many say and I believed the Disneyland Resort may be small, but not having to use any kind of transportation or ever leave the Disney atmosphere really made this trip special. Every time that we got in the car to go somewhere else a little bit of the magic of the trip was lost. Even though we were in the middle of a city and I could see some of the good neighbor hotels from the VGC, they were not overpowering or even noticeable from within the parks. I was surprised to find that Disneyland was still able to feel like it’s own little world and the VGC being so centered and connected took that to a whole new level. I cannot wait to get back again in the future, and kind of wish I had bought into VGC instead.

If anyone is on the fence about giving Disneyland a try and the importance of staying on resort, absolutely do it! It was a great experience from the moment we arrived and they gave us our 1st time buttons to the moment we left. I have a ton of photos and videos from the trip. If anyone is interested here are all of my albums (including the cruise ones) that include many photos from and around the Grand Californian (the 26th specifically since it’s the day we arrived and explored the hotel).

September 16, 2015: Arrival to Vancouver, BC - https://goo.gl/photos/Y3xAdZZiJNiaEHZT7 (13)
September 17, 2015: Vancouver, BC - https://goo.gl/photos/nVTG7qnHd1LxP9WT8 (440)
September 18, 2015: Jewel in Vancouver, BC - https://goo.gl/photos/mV3ZHjYVFQLF7Bju9 (338)
September 19, 2015: Jewel in Victoria, BC - https://goo.gl/photos/Dd1BMsDv476SjRo4A (1,154)
September 20, 2015: Jewel in Astoria, OR - https://goo.gl/photos/NN3FV46y9meTDg5b9 (663)
September 21, 2015: Jewel at Sea - https://goo.gl/photos/V8zgxgGoyoZGQz2Y6 (488)
September 22, 2015: Jewel in San Francisco, CA - https://goo.gl/photos/xRYadzyJVz4CanHR6 (1,220)
September 23, 2015: Jewel in San Francisco, CA - https://goo.gl/photos/gEAPfJMRQb6o2XQYA (1,050)
September 24, 2015: Jewel in Monterey, CA - https://goo.gl/photos/jsAyKaGXJ7yxM9bQA (1,217)
September 25, 2015: Jewel in Santa Barbara, CA - https://goo.gl/photos/Zvhtn4o1e55RdYgS9 (1,232)
September 26, 2015: Jewel in San Pedro, CA - https://goo.gl/photos/yaYqeGQuNkSVJwmu6 (318)
September 26, 2015: Disneyland Arrival - https://goo.gl/photos/kdSpdGmt3k4t8LVf6 (468)
September 27, 2015: Disneyland - https://goo.gl/photos/sEVveD7qQtqQ9ihe9 (858)
September 28, 2015: California Adventure - https://goo.gl/photos/jMEkhkCJiQVZ2ZTX9 (641)
September 29, 2015: Queen Mary, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Griffith Observatory - https://goo.gl/photos/vRqqepza2EUGGJHG9 (633)
September 30, 2015: Universal Studios Hollywood - https://goo.gl/photos/3rQorMzrkYqzDPd67 (733)
October 1, 2015: Disneyland/California Adventure - https://goo.gl/photos/NZCeYXYKQ7Yyna5m9 (684)
October 2, 2015: Disneyland/California Adventure - https://goo.gl/photos/uBFsFiWFiS8v2N9F8 (1,067)
October 3, 2015: Disneyland/California Adventure - https://goo.gl/photos/yuvQgQYynMzuGw347 (826)
October 4, 2015: Warner Brothers Studios - https://goo.gl/photos/32qk2VQHGKCZEKw37 (739)
October 5, 2015: New Port Beach/Disneyland - https://goo.gl/photos/rf4VKTFeT1wccDpX7 (1,041)
October 6, 2015: Disneyland Departure - https://goo.gl/photos/CT8eWRADZtBoJfUf8 (281)

I also shot a ton of videos during the cruise as well as of all the shows and entertainment in Disneyland, many with multiple angles. Here is the Wold of Color: Celebrate! video that I shot with 6 angles; the front of the 6th floor patio, the side of the 6th floor patio, our balcony in room 4504, and 3 angles from the park. I’m going to have another version up soon that includes all 6 angles on the screen the whole time which will really show off the view from the VGC.

For the rest of my Disneyland videos you can check out this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtA0CtdOmopUdojfGjszx9z41qIkX5Ig4

And the cruise playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtA0CtdOmopV2Rnv5673H1uSOAgpMhUGq

A few of my favorite VGC photos:

For anyone looking for photos of room 4504 and it’s view, here you go!
View from the door:

Sink area:

The bathroom:

Bed side:

TV side:

Desk area:

View from the middle of the room:

View from the desk:

View from the balcony:

View from the balcony at night (iPhone takes dark panoramic photos, bright normal photos in the album)

I'm sure 6504 has the best view, but 4504 still had a great World of Color view. The trees were in the way a bit (as you'll see in the video above and the future one), but it was a better location and we could hear the audio perfectly from the park without using our TV. We could actually hear the park audio better than the audio playing on the 6th floor patio when up there.

 

[hjgaus]

Speaking as an owner - I would only reserve at GCH when VGC is not available on needed specific dates for just 1 night or 2. I live close by so trying for ANY ressies on a moments notice sometimes works for us. Although I do agree RENTING points for a Hotel room stay is not worth the cost.

 

[lwanthony]

An owner has been monitoring availability and shared some hard data
The VGC information is quite recent, updated 10/21/15

That is awesome data Nonsuch. Thanks for posting it. It doesn't paint a very positive picture for getting a room at the 7 month mark, but it's great info!

 

[Meemoo]

We loved our stay at the villas in October. We didn't manage to get our ideal view but that was no big deal. We were facing the Wilderness Explorer area of Cal Adventure. The resort is stunning, I love the ambiance, and architecture. The only negative I found was I thought the carpet in the room was quite dirty, everyone had black feet from walking around in there. I loved being able to grab a fast pass prior to going back to the room for a break and easily returning for a ride.