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

[franandaj]

I'm happy to amuse
We usually only have 2 in a 1-bedroom, occasionally 1 or 2 more for a day -- if they are staying longer they need their own room.

We usually only stay 1-2 nights per trip, especially since that is completely splurging. We should be going home every night (at least our cats think so), but sometimes it's so nice to do rope drop without freeway traffic, and stagger back to the room after a night of great food and drink!

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

VGC doesn't allow 5 in the studios unless one is under the age of 3.

1 of mine is under 3 so I wasn't thinking of that. But to me, that makes all sleeping in the same tiny space even worse. Lol! I also was just thinking of the general trend for many studios at WDW to sleep 5 now.
We very much prefer the 1 bedroom and don't feel the points are that high for what you get. I will also enjoy that for whatever reason they are the easier size to book.

 

[Peter C]

Hey everyone! Have any of you ever had member services link 2 consecutive reservations at VGC? I called in to have them link my 2 reservations and they said they couldn't do it at VGC. She said she would note it but we still may have to switch rooms.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hey everyone! Have any of you ever had member services link 2 consecutive reservations at VGC? I called in to have them link my 2 reservations and they said they couldn't do it at VGC. She said she would note it but we still may have to switch rooms.

Between 2 different membership? Yes, had it done for a reservation just a couple of weeks ago and also for a January trip.

HOWEVER - it isn't the same as linking a WDW stay because DL does not use the same system. In January they actually didn't see the linking but they did on the reservation a couple of weeks ago so double check when you check in that they have you blocked into the same room. However you have to get new room keys and we have yet to have them work when we've let them issue both at check in.

 

[Peter C]

Between 2 different membership? Yes, had it done for a reservation just a couple of weeks ago and also for a January trip.

HOWEVER - it isn't the same as linking a WDW stay because DL does not use the same system. In January they actually didn't see the linking but they did on the reservation a couple of weeks ago so double check when you check in that they have you blocked into the same room. However you have to get new room keys and we have yet to have them work when we've let them issue both at check in.

Ok so maybe just call back and see if the next person knows how to do it?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Ok so maybe just call back and see if the next person knows how to do it?

Honestly that the behind the scenes action I really don't know but when I linked for the June trip the person needed to get the names to match etc. just like linking a WDW trip. So yes, I'd just call back.

 

[Peter C]

Honestly that the behind the scenes action I really don't know but when I linked for the June trip the person needed to get the names to match etc. just like linking a WDW trip. So yes, I'd just call back.

All taken care of. This person instantly knew how to do it. Thanks!

 

[vbmom40]

Do the renovated studios have a murphy bed?

 

[limace]

Hey, everyone! Just made it through the full thread-whew! We just had an offer accepted on a 100 pt contract, so waiting for ROFR....waiting is hard. We live in Oregon and have been looking at DVC for a long time-since we rented points to stay at 2 bdrms at AKV and OKW in 2000-but we really are DL people at heart (plus it's so much easier to get to for us) so I finally decided to pull the trigger. The cost per point is hard to swallow after stalking WDW resales for a long time, but my hope is to have both-a smaller GCV contract to use only at DL, and a cheaper AKV contract for WDW, that we could occasionally also use at DL when availability works out. We have contemplated Aulani, but are not huge fans of Oahu-do a couple weeks on Maui every couple years, so not sure it'd be worth the investment for us (though I'd love to stay at least once). Anyway, hopefully I'll know in a few weeks if I'll really be joining you...and then off to plan a trip. We haven't been since 2015 and I'm dying

 

[POTCfan]

Hey everyone! Have any of you ever had member services link 2 consecutive reservations at VGC? I called in to have them link my 2 reservations and they said they couldn't do it at VGC. She said she would note it but we still may have to switch rooms.

I just recently did this. I pieced together 3 nights, one night at a time. The first two nights were in a one bedroom and the last night was in a studio. The first two nights were combined under the same reservation number. The last night was "linked", but had it's own number. I put a request to have a high floor on both reservations. My last two stays at VGC I got the first floor, which has no view at all. When I checked in (at 6:00 am) my room wasn't ready. They took my phone and said they would text. At 4:30pm or so, they still hadn't texted. My wife went up and they said it wasn't ready, but they took her phone number. About an hour later, she got a text - we were in the accessible one bedroom unit on the first floor (I think room 1514). I went up to the front desk to see if there was anything at all in a higher floor. Then something that has never happened to me happened. They could not move me to a higher floor (claiming there was an engineering issue), but did say they saw that I had a continuing stay (in the studio) on the third night and offered to let me keep the one bedroom (on the first floor) for the third night instead of switching to a studio. My wife said sure (as she is not a fan of changing rooms), so we took their offer. I know the room wasn't available the many times I looked in the weeks leading up to the trip (as I said, my wife is not a fan of changing rooms). I am not sure what they did to compensate the person who's room I took for that last night, unless they did have a room out of service that they could use (which to my understanding is not real common for DVC rooms).

 

[sgrap]

If anyone is looking for something the night of Nov 15th (DVC member night) . . . I will be cancelling our Nov 14-17 reservation for a 1-bedroom. I tried to do it online today but the website won't work. We're not interested in renting out our reservation or anything, but head's up that something will open up tomorrow . . . or at least someone's waitlist will fill!

 

[jbh275]

I think my favorite thing to do with the proximity of VGC is letting the kids take the single rider on Grizzly. I've got twins who are 8 and they will single ride it 5 times in an hour. Then we can walk right back into VGC to dry off. It's got great seating and I can watch them take off, then come around for the big drop. All within steps of our room.

 

[wbl2745]

I think my favorite thing to do with the proximity of VGC is letting the kids take the single rider on Grizzly. I've got twins who are 8 and they will single ride it 5 times in an hour. Then we can walk right back into VGC to dry off. It's got great seating and I can watch them take off, then come around for the big drop. All within steps of our room.

We do the same thing. Ride Grizzly multiple times, then walk back to our room. Squish, squish, squish. Throw the clothes in the dryer and head back to the park! Great location!

 

[sgrap]

We do the same thing. Ride Grizzly multiple times, then walk back to our room. Squish, squish, squish. Throw the clothes in the dryer and head back to the park! Great location!

My girls love to ride Grizzly at night, last thing before going to the room.

 

[limace]

So excited! My contract passed ROFR!

 

[DebbieB]

Do the renovated studios have a murphy bed?

No. DVC's pattern seems to be to only add the Murphy bed in studios if they could not add it to the 1 bedroom.

 

[nicole88s]

I'm so excited that I'm finally staying here!! It has always been a dream of mine. My dad became a dvc member recently and I have been stalking the calendars since. We are going to the halloween party October 27 and imagine my surprise when I saw a one bedroom open up on that day. I almost cried tears of joy! Now I'm stalking even more and Oct. 25 just opened today! Now if I can just get October 26th everything will work out!

I'm so looking forward to October! Grand Californian here I come

 

[Just Peachy]

It is really cool that your dates are coming together for a Halloween stay at the VGC. The close proximity of the parks really help to simplify costume changes, etc.

 

[PortlandFan]

We just inked our 2nd stay at VGC for next Spring and I’m super excited! We have a dedicated 2bdrm booked and are considering requesting one of the units that faces Redwood Creek Challenge. I’m curious if anyone has thoughts on the noise level from that side -would we find it quieter than directly facing Paradise Pier? (We found WoC pretty noisy last time when we stayed in 5500).

Also I’m curious if anyone has any current view photos of 5518? (the one linked in bigAWL’s list seems to be no longer accessible). Wondering if the tree growth has obscured the ‘views’ we might have from 5518. Can you see Grizzly River Peak from the room?

 

[emmagator]

Hello. Our family just bought our first contract. 200 points. 6 nights in a 1-bedroom in Adventure season is our intent. We're very excited. We're on the west coast and visit Disneyland annually. We always stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Love the feel and vibe there. Decided on VGC for the room size and amenities.
We've never actually stayed at the Grand Californian, but we know we'll love it. Our first trip is this October on rented points. Just my wife and I. We already got our tickets for the Halloween Party. Can't wait.