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

[stopher1]

You're welcome!

 

[the donut]

This sounds so cool! I've already decided that for my 50th birthday I am going to book dinner at the Napa Rose in the private dining room, but I'm thinking it would be really cool to put my favorite family and friends in a Grand Villa, also because I would LOVE to stay in Grand Villa and living in Long Beach I certainly could not justify staying in one unless it was for something like my 50th!?

We live fairly close by (though not as close as Long Beach), and it really was fantastic. I can't recommend it enough. We brought friends that were not that into disney, and everyone was very impressed by the villa and the resort in general, and of course, Napa Rose. It really is a different experience to stay onsite and relax, especially in poor weather.

This was my 40th birthday, and I thank all of you for making me feel like such a youngling. When I was checking in, I swear that just about half of the other guests at the counter were celebrating a birthday. They gave me 2 balloons for the kids and an autographed picture of Winnie the Pooh and the gang. Very cute!

I've scanned my pics, and unfortunately they don't look that great. I got lazy and only brought my point and shoot instead of the good camera. I'll poll my other guests for their pictures and post any decent ones that I have.

 

[franandaj]

I like that plan! I've got a few years to plan for THAT birthday (I just had the one BEFORE that birthday in October... though I am now in my 5th decade because of the BEFORE birthday ) so hopefully DW and I can model something like that for my turn with THAT birthday when it's time.

This was my 40th birthday, and I thank all of you for making me feel like such a youngling. When I was checking in, I swear that just about half of the other guests at the counter were celebrating a birthday. They gave me 2 balloons for the kids and an autographed picture of Winnie the Pooh and the gang. Very cute!

We really did it up for my 40th about 40 guests on a Murder Mystery Paddle Boat Cruise, so I have to come up with something completely different!

Oh no, now you've made me realize I'm getting close to THAT birthday too! We're suppose to be going to Kauai the month before THAT birthday so I guess that will make it not so hard to swallow. Maybe we should stop in at Aulani for a few nights too!

I'm still right smack in the middle, but I like to have my plans laid well in advance.

I'm PAST that birthday, and you know, it's not so bad...

My DP passed that one more than several years back so I know it's not that bad, and it sure beats the alternative!

 

[VallCopen]

Just got back from 11 days at Disney with 8 of them in a 2 bedroom villa (originally had 6 but was able to add 2 in the last few weeks). Oh how I love our home..... Nothing better than arriving to the villas, finding out that we were blessed with a park view for the 3rd time in a row, and being greeted by everyone with "Welcome Home". We got my brother a studio for 2 nights and they were given a 2nd floor facing Redwood Creek Challenge and really didn't have much view of anything except the pool that was off to the side. We did peek at a 5th floor view studio facing the same direction and it had a pretty decent view of TT and Grizzly Run.

World of Color-
For anyone wanting to know we had room 5506 (park view) and we were able to make out a lot images from the world of color (unlike 4500 - which we have had twice). It is just awesome to watch from the deck, I personally could do that every night.

Noise-
The noise was a bit loud some mornings but it really depended on what they did that morning (we had a few mornings that they ran a hoe/hammer and that was loud) but other than that the other mornings were fine with little noise.

Room difference-
The only thing that wasn't as good to us was that this 2 bedroom unit does not have quite the picture window that 4500 had, there is a support beam that runs right down the middle of the window and it seemed to us that the 2nd bedroom was a tad narrower (1-2 feet) then our end unit was, but we still had an awesome time and loved our villa. Just wanted to note the minor differences we saw - for informational purposes.

We had an awesome dinner at Napa with some friends and surprised some other friends that were there celebrating a 40th birthday, with a Disney stone that had their families name on it, of course we also purchased one for ourselves right next to them.

Just a question for anyone that might know - When we leave our villas we always leave the leftover paper towel rolls (4-5), lysol can, tide detergent and bounce fabric sheets for the next guest but I don't know if they just throw it all away or if they maybe leave it for those that might want it??? We always throw the other things away but I have thought why not leave these - just incase. Does anyone know or has anyone found things left from previous guest in their Villa?

 

[wbl2745]

I tried to open a new thread on a question I had about DVC and hotel units being included in the statement on VGC for the annual meeting. It got moved into the thread on annual dues. Another poster suggested that maybe it belonged here. Rather than duplicate threads, here's a link to that posting.

The gist of the question is why are their hotel units included in the VGC "Condominium", to use the official language?

 

[franandaj]

Happy Thanksgiving!

So I know it's not the VGC, but I know everyone here likes pictures. Last weekend I stayed in a refurbished room at the DLH and thought you all might enjoy the pictures!

They had this really cool effect on the headboard.

The bathroom had great fixtures

They are doing some serious renovation on the hotel

 

[Disney Princess]

Awesome pictures franandaj! Love those bathroom fixtures.

And Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

 

[stopher1]

Thanks for sharing Alison! Great pics.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

I can hardly wait to check in on Saturday...

 

[franandaj]

I can hardly wait to check in on Saturday...

So I'm trying to follow you...are you going to CA or FL first? Will you be doing a TR?

 

[stopher1]

So I'm trying to follow you...are you going to CA or FL first? Will you be doing a TR?

CA first, which includes a lengthy stay for end of year work meetings, followed by FL afterwards. I probably will do a TR, and just run both into one. I haven't decided yet. I'm still working on getting a TR up from my Daddy Daughter trip in September!

 

[ACDSNY]

Oh Alison, your DLH pics are making it hard for me to keep my PP reservation for our last night we added on in January after the Panama cruise. I originally used our points for PP since we couldn't get a villa and figured it would be easier to move all our luggage from GC to PP, but oh the DLH is calling my name.

 

[nunzia]

Nice pictures! I'm glad they kept the Mickey hand fixtures in teh bathroom..loved those when I stayed there for Destination D. Hopefully someday I'll stay there again in a new room..but I was pretty impressed with the old ones too!

 

[wbl2745]

I was on the phone with MS regarding our stay next week and she excused herself and came back to say that my wait list for VGC in February had come through! This will be the first time that my wife and I will use our DVC points just for ourselves! We keep inviting people to come with us, which is a lot of fun, but I'm really going to enjoy just the two of us being at VGC in a one bedroom. In general I've had pretty good luck with wait lists.

The next visit after that is going to be in June 2012 in a two bedroom with my wife, my daughter, her husband and the in-laws. Could be cozy.

 

[ACDSNY]

I was on the phone with MS regarding our stay next week and she excused herself and came back to say that my wait list for VGC in February had come through!

The next visit after that is going to be in June 2012 in a two bedroom with my wife, my daughter, her husband and the in-laws. Could be cozy.

Congrats on the waitlist. I wish mine would come through for Jan, but I think I was too late getting on it.

You'll be fine in the two bedroom in June 2012 since you'll have 3 bathrooms, we had 8 & 9 in them before and it wasn't bad.

 

[marts35]

We were privileged to eat from the Thanksgiving Menu at the Jazz Kitchen earlier this week. It was wonderful. Even though the suggestion was made by me of course, to pop over to the VGC to see if the decorations are all set, we didn't really have time in our schedule. So we're back home and I just have to wait a little more.



There is snow on the mountains in the distance which does add to the feel of Christmas! Can't wait!

 

[Nonsuch]

I am not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I just wanted to let you all know that I posted my Founding Members print for The Villas at Disney's Grand Califorian, on eBay...

That being said, we decided that we'd put it on eBay and see if anyone wants to put it in their home. Hopefully the end result is that we get some cash to put towards Christmas and someone else gets a hard to find print to hang in their home.

I won the auction
The print will be nice reminder of our vacation home

 

[stopher1]

Sigh... I am getting ready this morning to check out of our beautiful, beautiful, beautiful west coast home. It was just a short 2 night stay, but once again it was wonderful. I am so looking forward to being back here in a dedicated 2 bedroom in just 4 weeks.

I have been in a theme park view studio, but way down at the end of the hall next to the Grand Villa that juts out towards the park, so the view was not that great. I could see just one teeny tiny part of WOC from there. But that's okay. I went down into the park last night right before 10 when it closed, and walked right over to the WOC viewing area, and then walked right in. Being a Sunday evening, last show of the night, it wasn't all that packed. I then was given the option of being in the "regular" or the "wet" sections. I chose the wet zone, because I wanted to be as close and obstruction free as possible. It was my first time seeing it in person (I'd seen it on the net previously) - and I wanted to be sure to capture some photos without heads in front of me or down at the bottom of my pics. There I was right along the fence and just absolutely was blown away by what I saw. I'd read so many different opinions and reviews about how the show lacked heart, or there was no cohesive storyline, blah, blah, blah... but I didn't care. It truly is a technical marvel, and I was just absolutely loving it. I can't wait to see it again with the family very, very soon.

When I get my pics uploaded and such, I'll share them.

 

[funatdisney]

Christopher, safe travels! Glad you enjoyed WOC. I think it is one the most beautiful shows I have ever seen. I was at DL yesterday, too. Just a day trip with my DD(13) and her friend. I took some pictures of the GCH Christmas tree and hope to get them posted today. I will be in a one bedroom this Friday and can not wait to see "home" again!

 

[lulubelle]

I will be there 12/11 for two nights and cannot wait to experience the magic of Disney at Christmastime.

Great pics of the refurbed room, Alison.
I booked one for a quick weekend in January with the new low rates they just put out.

Looking forward to everyone's pictures.

 

[stopher1]

Here's one shot of the lobby. I have more, but haven't uploaded everything yet.

Ok, gotta run for now! Work beckons...