k&a&c'smom I agree understand about not being able to book too far in advance..having children in young adulthood..their commitments often have us changing our plans...
Its not easy...But..We do always manage to work something out!
Again..having children in young adulthood really makes that extra space seem so appealing...but we love all that staying CL has to offer...
and having the lounge to go to does add some extra space..my DH calls this Disney logic!
As for laundry..I absolutely refuse to do any on vacation..Have found that if we forget something at home..or run out of anything..Sandy Cove.. Summer Lace and Commander Porters are very well stocked!
....
Having adult children does make the space issue more imperative! When we thought we would have 6 adults, I looked into booking DVC villas for the first time ever, but due to the short notice there was very little left that would work for us. My second thought was a suite, but found two CL rooms to be far less expensive!
Ended up 2 of the kids dropped out, so it was a moot point, but I know eventually this will affect us.
We feel the lounge is extra space, too, our last trip to RPC was with 3 adults - plenty of room with the lounge as a retreat.
LOL about the boutiques being well stocked! I do a few things while the kids are at the parks, or while we are swimming. If we do not have an extra for DD to tour with, I'll send them out to valet laundry.
Congrats!! We too bought vgf and I cannot wait to go! We have been using our marriott timeshare for a while now and I have to say. Staying in a regular studio hotel room is tough with kiddos once you are used to two or three bedroom condos! I love having the kitchen and laundry, and I actually like not having cleaning daily. Then I don't feel like I need to worry about our stuff. Now if I could just get someone to leave a chocolate on my pillow.........
I'll bet that's right, once you get used to the room it's tough to go back.
I've read others who prefer not to have housekeeping due to fears about their stuff.
I have to say, that particular fear has never bothered me at WDW, but I'm sure my DH would be anxious. (he never comes along any more, not a WDW lover - hard to fathom, right?!)
Yeah, those holiday times are crazy. What used to be value season the week before Christmas is now peak season, which leads right into holiday season
.
It's disappointing that the rates keep going up so high
. I am looking forward to a spring RPC trip......hopefully a good discount will be available
.
I remember now that you mention it - we used to book the week before Christmas due to the local school schedule, but had to give it up. I refuse to start off with such high rates, not to mention some years have no discounts during that time.
Thanks for the reminder! When I was researching for the blurb on the first page, every date contradicted each other so I went with "summer 1988"!
I'd love to be there, too, I wish we all were hanging in the lobby right now.
If anyone is at the Grand today ...........let us know if they did anything special to celebrate !!!
Syndrome ...........
27 days until Sugarloaf !
They usually have cake in the lobby, with some sort of ceremony, I think. I would imagine the 25th would be extra special.
Hi all. I think DH is driving the DVC rep crazy with all my questions. The standard view is a view of the main building, the beach pool or the wedding chapel. Not so bad. I also read that it is $65 per day for housekeeping to come in and clean and refresh towels.
I still like the thought of CL level, but I guess that's why there is a kitchen and Garden Grocer. My kids don't seem to mind, but...
18 more days for us and I will certainly let everyone here know my impression of the model rooms.
LOL about driving the rep crazy - at those prices, they should expect the third degree!
Only 18 days, woohoo!
We are also new DVC members with the Villas at the Grand Floridian as our home resort. We last stayed at GF in January, 2012. We stayed CL and had a room about 2-3 doors away from the lounge. I worried that my young children wouldn't like GF but quite the opposite was true.
We only bought 160 points which is enough for one week in a studio annually. We plan our first stay in our new home away from home in August, 2014. Since we tend to go to Disney more than once a year, there will be plenty of opportunities to stay CL or elsewhere on our non-DVC trips. I love having a kitchen and laundry facility and even when we don't stay in DVC rooms, I always do laundry on vacation. With 3 children it just becomes a necessity for me (and I won't lie - my time in the laundry room is often the most peaceful time of our vacations!
).
We're super excited to have many great future trips to GF!!!
Amanda
Congrats on your VGF purchase.
LOL about the peaceful moments in the laundry room. I've spent a lot of time in the WDW laundry rooms, never really thought of it that way.