Best way to get a room at Grand Californian and not break the bank?

[Edelweiss]

Greetings!

I have been planning our first trip to Disneyland. I think it would be so wonderful to stay at the Grand Californian. It looks amazing. I have talked to a few different sources about renting "points". For our family, that would be a one bedroom villa. The prices that came back were wow...pretty expensive. I am not expecting a bargain basement price, but well..um...reasonable?? We were hoping to go first week of October, but that is flexible.

So please be honest with me. Do I give up on this dream and just go ahead and get serious about booking a Good Neighbor Hotel??

 

[hakepb]

Yep, the Grand takes a ton of points for a 1BR.
You save a little on Sun-Thu nights vs the weekend, but 39 points/night is still a bunch at $10-15/point rentals.

OKW in WDW is a lot more reasonable at 24 points/night.

FYI, you are really pushing it booking GCV this late. 1BR may have some availability exactly 7mo out, but its better to rent 11+ mo out from an owner.

 

[Edelweiss]

Yep, the Grand takes a ton of points for a 1BR.
You save a little on Sun-Thu nights vs the weekend, but 39 points/night is still a bunch at $10-15/point rentals.

OKW in WDW is a lot more reasonable at 24 points/night.

FYI, you are really pushing it booking GCV this late. 1BR may have some availability exactly 7mo out, but its better to rent 11+ mo out from an owner.

That's a really good point. I keep thinking that myself. Maybe if we move our trip back to January, that might be a better strategy. I am realizing that 7 months out to Grand Californian is really pushing it for booking. Oh, the things a newbie like myself has to learn the hard way