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

[CastAStone]

We've always found a pack n play in the closet of the 1 and 2 bedroom (dedicated). You can probably even get a real crib if you do a chat w member services before you leave home.

There was not a pack n play in our 1BR, just FYI.

 

[CastAStone]

How far in advance will I be able to see which parks have EE? We're never up early so we won't use them. But I already made our park reservations for June and didn't see which days will be EE in each park.

It’s the same pattern every week.

 

[Royal Consort]

This is the Disboards way. VGC threads become VDH threads, VDH become VGC,

...and then everything becomes a Poly thread.

 

[DonMacGregor]

We've always found a pack n play in the closet of the 1 and 2 bedroom (dedicated). You can probably even get a real crib if you do a chat w member services before you leave home.

Real cribs are definitely available. There was one mis-delivered outside our villa back in September. Full-sized, white metal crib.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I'm wondering how many points will end up being the 'right' amount for us. Right now we have 160 and it's good for our yearly trip in a studio for the times of year we usually travel. But it wouldn't be enough if we wanted to go during a more expensive time. And obviously not enough if we wanted to switch to a 1 bedroom. So I wonder how many points is ideal for 6-7 nights per year in a 1-bedroom. We typically go in January/February/June/December. But in future years, I could see us going in almost ANY month. Especially once our son is out of school. The price difference for a week in slow times vs more expensive times is kind of a lot. I assume it makes the most sense to try to get enough points to cover the most expensive time we'd travel (basically anytime minus actual holidays.) And then on years we stay during a more value time, I guess if we had extra points we just plan an extra trip? Or bank? Or rent out? I don't want to constantly have an excess though. How do you find the right balance? Planning extra trips won't always been an option for us.

Also, it seems like most VGC resale contracts I see are for 50,100 or 160 points. Or much higher which I think would be too much for us. So I'm guessing maybe those will be our main choices for our June UY.

I wish I knew what prices were going to do in the future so I'd know the best time to try to buy more. In general, I imagine they will go down at some point when there are less years....but maybe not until close to the end?

I think an easy way to think about it would be that if 160 is roughly right for a weeklong stay in a studio then you need at least 320 to move to a 1BR and then you may be doing some banking or borrowing. If you averaged out the weekly point cost in a 1BR over the four seasons, it’s 344 points, but of course this isn’t a true average since some seasons have more weeks.

We are in a 1BR this weekend for four nights and that is already 142 points in the lowest season. It’s point heavy for sure.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Hi Grand Cal lovers. We are staying at VGC in a few weeks in a hearing accessible studio. We have never stayed in a DVC studio before, and have only stayed one night at VGC previously (2-bedrooms), so don't know the property well. This is also our first time staying without a car.

I am wondering about food options, as we have some special food needs in our family. Usually we stay in larger rooms and make breakfast in the room and make a lunch to pack into the park. It looks like the studios come with a microwave, mini fridge, and toaster. Is there a shop on site to buy simple groceries (i.e. bananas, milk, eggs, bread, lunch meat, etc)? Or will we need to have groceries delivered? Can we have groceries delivered before we arrive, and if so, will they hold them at the desk or put them in the room? Do they provide washable plates and silverware, or is it disposable? Is there a freezer in the fridge?

Thanks!

I would try to time grocery delivery for after your actual check in if you have any frozen items. We picked up our grocery order on the way and arrived around 2PM, room wasn’t ready. Bell services told us they can hold items in the fridge but there’s no freezer.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I think an easy way to think about it would be that if 160 is roughly right for a weeklong stay in a studio then you need at least 320 to move to a 1BR and then you may be doing some banking or borrowing. If you averaged out the weekly point cost in a 1BR over the four seasons, it’s 344 points, but of course this isn’t a true average since some seasons have more weeks.

We are in a 1BR this weekend for four nights and that is already 142 points in the lowest season. It’s point heavy for sure.

We typically go in the 2 lower point tiers so that helps a little. I think we could probably make it work with just an additional 100 points if we did studio some trips and 1 bedroom others. Though it wouldn't leave us any leftover points for a WDW trip every couple years so we'd need to rent or pay out of pocket for those, I think. I'd need to do some math to decide what makes the most sense, money-wise for us when the time comes. I think we'll be fine in just studios for the next several years. We actually plotted out our possible trips from now until 2028....ha! Not that it's exactly what we'll do but just an idea. With just studios we can manage exactly what we want during that time.

 

[AZMermaid]

I feel ya! We limp along with our 120 VGC points. I wish we had 150! But we also have 220 Aulani points. Those are the ones we use for Aulani and WDW (and occasionally DL. We have a VDH stay booked for April to try it out- but we don’t rely on that for VGC). We tend to book stays is the 300-350 point range for Aulani/WDW. Generally that’s a week in a one bedroom in the summer. I’m a teacher with sporty kids so our travel window is basically Winter Break or the last week of July. We are just a 6 hour drive to DL so those are usually 3 night trips. We rent out our Aulani points every 3-4 years.

Anyway, we fell in love with OKW on our last WDW trip. Our new long term life plan is to spend 2.5-3 weeks in a one bedroom during lower point times every year, or maybe 2 out of 3 years. But this isn’t for probably 10+ years. So we toy with adding on to Aulani with the same UY to just make that a bigger pool of points or buying OKW points outright. Not sure what we’ll do. Right now I remind myself we don’t need them yet and why pay dues on them for a decade when hopefully the price goes down As the contracts age. But add-on-itis is real!

 

[ClaraOswald]

It's definitely real! For fun, I look at resale prices a lot and do the math to see what we could do with different contracts. But right now, it's not an extra expense we want. Especially since we'll probably want to have VGC points ($$$) I'd like to get by with our 160 for a while before adding anymore. Plus, we have tons of things we want to spend money on with our house before dropping another large chunk of money on vacations.

Though, I have to admit, while we were at BRV, it was hard to not think about buying a contract there to get that 11 month advantage booking a studio every couple years! Right now our plan is to go back to WDW in early 2026. We might use our VGC points to attempt another BRV studio but I feel like we just got lucky getting 6 nights in a row at the 7 month mark this time and won't be as lucky next time. And I don't think I'd want to pay out of pocket for a wilderness lodge room (too expensive!)

 

[ClaraOswald]

Some questions -

If I'm in a studio and need to do laundry - do I have to pay?
Does anyone know what kind of laundry detergent they have available in the laundry room? Just wondering if I'll need to bring my own or not. (I don't like anything with scents or dyes.)

Does anyone happen to have a photo of the studio villa with the couch pulled out into a bed? I can't seem to find any recent ones online. I'm apparently bad at Google, I guess. I'm just curious how much walk around space there is if we just leave it pulled out as a bed the entire time. Worried it will be too crowded but hoping not!

 

[DonMacGregor]

Some questions -

If I'm in a studio and need to do laundry - do I have to pay?
Does anyone know what kind of laundry detergent they have available in the laundry room? Just wondering if I'll need to bring my own or not. (I don't like anything with scents or dyes.)

Does anyone happen to have a photo of the studio villa with the couch pulled out into a bed? I can't seem to find any recent ones online. I'm apparently bad at Google, I guess. I'm just curious how much walk around space there is if we just leave it pulled out as a bed the entire time. Worried it will be too crowded but hoping not!

Laundry is free at every DVC resort for those staying on points. In the villas, the laundry soap is the Hypoallergenic Ecos brand liquid. I believe they use a powdered version in the laundry rooms. You can bring your own. for the dishwashers. It's the ECO stuff.

 

[ClaraOswald]

If anyone happens to be there soon, I'd love to know if it's the stuff in the laundry room is Ecos unscented or if it has a scent. If it's unscented, that would be one less thing for me to pack because I could just use that! We're driving 1500 miles each way and I'm already NOT a light packer so anytime I can eliminate something, my husband gets just a little bit happier. Ha!

And does anyone know what the hair dryers in the villas are like? I'm not super picky about them but I absolutely hate those little stubby ones that are attached to the walls in some hotels.

 

[CastAStone]

If anyone happens to be there soon, I'd love to know if it's the stuff in the laundry room is Ecos unscented or if it has a scent. If it's unscented, that would be one less thing for me to pack because I could just use that! We're driving 1500 miles each way and I'm already NOT a light packer so anytime I can eliminate something, my husband gets just a little bit happier. Ha!

And does anyone know what the hair dryers in the villas are like? I'm not super picky about them but I absolutely hate those little stubby ones that are attached to the walls in some hotels.

My wife said the hairdryers are bad and took forever. She has a LOT of hair though.

 

[Mathmagicland]

I'm just curious how much walk around space there is if we just leave it pulled out as a bed the entire time. Worried it will be too crowded but hoping not!

I don’t have a photo, but I can share that with the sofa bed pulled out, there is not a lot of room by the table & the window. You can walk between the table & sofa bed but it is not a wide space. Also, those couch cushions have to go somewhere, which also take up some floor space. And when I have used the sofa bed it is just two in the room, if you have more than two, it might feel more crowded with luggage around as well.

 

[aussiecookfamily]

Some questions -

If I'm in a studio and need to do laundry - do I have to pay?
Does anyone know what kind of laundry detergent they have available in the laundry room? Just wondering if I'll need to bring my own or not. (I don't like anything with scents or dyes.)

Does anyone happen to have a photo of the studio villa with the couch pulled out into a bed? I can't seem to find any recent ones online. I'm apparently bad at Google, I guess. I'm just curious how much walk around space there is if we just leave it pulled out as a bed the entire time. Worried it will be too crowded but hoping not!

Sorry don't have one with the sofa bed out, but this does give you an idea. It is roughly the same length as the bed, but the table intrudes more at that end in comparison to the dresser, and you have to find a space for the coffee table. So bottom line if spending any time in the room you really do need to fold it up. The laundry room is very convenient and I do believe you can go to reception and get tokens or refunds, but at $3 a wash (in 2022) I couldn't be bothered, just tapped my credit card and left it at that. I always take my own laundry detergent pods (all the way from Australia) as not a fan of cheap vending machine versions.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Thanks, guys. We'll probably just have to wait and see how it goes. There's 3 of us. During break we like to lounge on the beds and our son usually plays on his bed (which will be the pull-out.) So maybe we won't mind. I forgot there was a coffee table and cushions to deal with too though so I'm guessing we'll need to fold it up each morning. Those murphy beds can't come soon enough, IMO!

 

[ajiuo]

I wonder when Disney will release more info on the referb for VGC? Construction is supposedly starting in October. So hopefully before then.

 

[MartyParty]

How far in advance will I be able to see which parks have EE? We're never up early so we won't use them. But I already made our park reservations for June and didn't see which days will be EE in each park.

Clara, this is the current early entry pattern:

• Disney California Adventure Early Entry: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday
• Disneyland Early Entry: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If anyone happens to be there soon, I'd love to know if it's the stuff in the laundry room is Ecos unscented or if it has a scent. If it's unscented, that would be one less thing for me to pack because I could just use that! We're driving 1500 miles each way and I'm already NOT a light packer so anytime I can eliminate something, my husband gets just a little bit happier. Ha!

And does anyone know what the hair dryers in the villas are like? I'm not super picky about them but I absolutely hate those little stubby ones that are attached to the walls in some hotels.

The rooms typically have a very standard 1800/1850W hair dryer. Works like a typical hair dryer. Never an issue.
I have a lot of hair too. lol

I thought I had taken a picture of the laundry detergent at VDH which I'd guess is currently the same as VGC but apparently didn't. I don't know if it's the Ecos brand but it was unscented.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Clara, this is the current early entry pattern:

• Disney California Adventure Early Entry: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday
• Disneyland Early Entry: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

They dropped the early entry into both parks every day? Bummer.