Anyone had the concierge service offered for Grand Villa stays recently?

[sndral]

No, was not offered it for either of my GV stays in the end.

That said, the ADRs have been incredibly easy to book this year, even with 11 of us (although we have had to split in to 2 groups for a few of them).

Thanks - they just launched a new dinning reservation system & I was checking things out this morning & thought wouldn’t it be nice...
We only have 9, but having a couple of youngsters in the prime princess & character buffet demographic will be more challenging than normal for me .

 

[Moonspinner]

We’ve booked GVs 3 times, never been offered this service.

 

[CWTC]

We’ve been offered it every time we have stayed in a bungalow or copper creek cabin. They do an excellent job with dining reservations and it’s just nice to not have to do it ourselves.

 

[Boopuff]

I just got my offer today excited to see what they can do. Anything to prevent the super early wake up to book stuff!

 

[sndral]

Thanks - they just launched a new dinning reservation system & I was checking things out this morning & thought wouldn’t it be nice...
We only have 9, but having a couple of youngsters in the prime princess & character buffet demographic will be more challenging than normal for me .

Quoting myself to update that I received an email today offering this service for our early October GV stay .

 

[Tatebeck]

Quoting myself to update that I received an email today offering this service for our early October GV stay .

Great news! I'll keep an eye out for emails for our later October trip!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Our only GV stay was in February, 2023. If they offered it then, they didn't offer it to us. This is the first I've heard of it.

 

[Tatebeck]

Sad to report that I haven't received anything for our late October GV trip. Based on when others have gotten their offers I don't think we will be getting one as we are now under 90 days

 

[sndral]

So today was the day & the concierge was able to get everything we asked for at the times we wanted, a few split tables but some surprising party of 9 seatings - including Cinderella’s.
He also booked a tour I’d requested. I called to confirm after I woke up today as per the emailed instructions & to pay for Cindy’s & the tour & it all shows up on MDE now .
He mentioned that I could get a bit of a refund for the DVC discount for 4 of us on the tour & Cindy’s on the day of by showing my DVC Y card.
@Tatebeck I hope you do get an email.

 

[Tatebeck]

So today was the day & the concierge was able to get everything we asked for at the times we wanted, a few split tables but some surprising party of 9 seatings - including Cinderella’s.
He also booked a tour I’d requested. I called to confirm after I woke up today as per the emailed instructions & to pay for Cindy’s & the tour & it all shows up on MDE now .
He mentioned that I could get a bit of a refund for the DVC discount for 4 of us on the tour & Cindy’s on the day of by showing my DVC Y card.
@Tatebeck I hope you do get an email.

Thanks! I hope I still do too, but it's not looking great, since I thought they send it out close to 90 days out and we are around 80 days out now

If you don't mind me asking, how far ahead of the 60 day dining reservation window did they send yours? Was it closer to 90 days or 60 days out? And what was the title/heading of the email so I can search for/keep an eye out for it?

 

[OPDman]

I’m wondering whether this is a service offered depending on your resort. We have stayed at a grand villa twice at Jambo house and didn’t know this was even a thing. I’d be interested in seeing where this is happening and where it doesn’t.

 

[sndral]

Thanks! I hope I still do too, but it's not looking great, since I thought they send it out close to 90 days out and we are around 80 days out now

If you don't mind me asking, how far ahead of the 60 day dining reservation window did they send yours? Was it closer to 90 days or 60 days out? And what was the title/heading of the email so I can search for/keep an eye out for it?

It was 92 days out, came from DVC & was titled “Welcome Home Xxxx Party.” They sent a follow up reminder at 79 days out.
I was surprised because I always seem to miss these things - we’re never there for MMs, I bought our APs 2 weeks before they offered the gift cards, etc.

I’m wondering whether this is a service offered depending on your resort. We have stayed at a grand villa twice at Jambo house and didn’t know this was even a thing. I’d be interested in seeing where this is happening and where it doesn’t.

We’re staying at Jambo for 7 nights - the only other thing I can think of is maybe it’s tied to how many nights you’re staying? Or maybe it’s offered to folks in a different time zone - we’re west coast based, so to reserve our ADRs we are typically up & ready to book at 3 a.m. our time.

 

[OPDman]

This really shouldn’t be “random.” It should either happen or not happen. Additionally, if it’s a concierge service, is this offered to Animal Kingdom DVC concierge guests?

 

[OPDman]

I was curious, so I called member services to inquire about this issue. For what it’s worth, apparently this is a “pilot program” that is being randomly offered to DVC guests. According to the advisor I spoke with, this service has been in a pilot stage for some time and you don’t need a grand villa reservation to qualify. She was very nice and was immediately aware of the service without much explanation.

 

[BigBadBobbyH]

Hi. I was fortunate enough to receive the invitation for a 3BR GV stay at VGF exactly three months prior to my stay. For those who have experience or knowledge about this offering, is there a sense as to whether they have a better chance of securing your dining reservations? whether they tend to book them at 6am (or potentially prior)? or whether I would be better off booking my reservations on my own right at 6am? It seems like a spectacular offer and am excited to participate but am curious how it all works. I have read inconsistent (but generally positive) reports. Any help appreciated!

 

[CarolynFH]

Hi. I was fortunate enough to receive the invitation for a 3BR GV stay at VGF exactly three months prior to my stay. For those who have experience or knowledge about this offering, is there a sense as to whether they have a better chance of securing your dining reservations? whether they tend to book them at 6am (or potentially prior)? or whether I would be better off booking my reservations on my own right at 6am? It seems like a spectacular offer and am excited to participate but am curious how it all works. I have read inconsistent (but generally positive) reports. Any help appreciated!

They’ll tell you they have no advantage, and I can’t say they do. I can say I received the email from them with all our desired ADRs, booked for exactly the places and times we wanted, pretty early in the morning of my ADR booking date (can’t remember exact time). Given that I’m in Central time and would have had to be awake and alert a couple of hours earlier than normal to book on my own, I was quite thankful for the service.

 

[Doingitagain]

Hi. I was fortunate enough to receive the invitation for a 3BR GV stay at VGF exactly three months prior to my stay. For those who have experience or knowledge about this offering, is there a sense as to whether they have a better chance of securing your dining reservations? whether they tend to book them at 6am (or potentially prior)? or whether I would be better off booking my reservations on my own right at 6am? It seems like a spectacular offer and am excited to participate but am curious how it all works. I have read inconsistent (but generally positive) reports. Any help appreciated!

They don’t really have an advantage, but it is an extra set of hands making reservations. I got up early and booked under my daughter’s account and was able to get similar reservations, and compared the two and canceled the ones I didn’t need.

But if I had been on a cruise or traveling or somehow unable to make the booking window, the service would have been invaluable.

 

[J-Dog]

They’ll tell you they have no advantage, and I can’t say they do. I can say I received the email from them with all our desired ADRs, booked for exactly the places and times we wanted, pretty early in the morning of my ADR booking date (can’t remember exact time). Given that I’m in Central time and would have had to be awake and alert a couple of hours earlier than normal to book on my own, I was quite thankful for the service.

That was definitely not the case when I had this service 2 years ago. We had 6 people at the time, and multiple of the ADRs they made were not at the ideal times, and a few they split into 3-tops. I think that your success is probably more related to the significantly easier ability to get ADRs in general recently, than having anything to do with this service.

I do, however, completely agree that it's better from them to do it than have to wake up at the crack of dawn.

 

[bianca]

Our experience is that we got many of our requested reservations, but not the hardest to get ones early in the trip. Didn’t get Beak and Barrel, Cinderella’s B-fast and a couple of others. I think if it’s a hard to get reservation, you should be working on your own.

I will add that the reservations closer to the end of our trip were more easily acquired. That tracks with the 60+length of stay rule. Overall, it’s a handy service and was appreciated.

 

[sndral]

We got all of our requests @ the times we wanted for our trip which starts tomorrow.
In fact, as I was frantically selecting lightening lanes last Sunday at 4 a.m. my time I found myself wishing the concierge was offered for that as well . I guess it was good practice for getting up tomorrow for our very early flight .