Booking Grand Californian at 7 months mark

[Meemoo]

Hello there

We are in the planning stages of working out a Disneyland vacation. What are the chances of getting a studio room using my DVC points for Grand Californian booking at the 7 month window? I am thinking of an early November time period and hoping for around 9 nights....Any tips, or recommendations, I can travel in different off peak periods if it is recommended...however we do reside in Australia and hardly get to visit Disney so want to ensure all of the rides etc are in operation not maintenance etc. Many Thanks for your advice

 

[DebbieB]

Hello there We are in the planning stages of working out a Disneyland vacation. What are the chances of getting a studio room using my DVC points for Grand Californian booking at the 7 month window? I am thinking of an early November time period and hoping for around 9 nights....Any tips, or recommendations, I can travel in different off peak periods if it is recommended...however we do reside in Australia and hardly get to visit Disney so want to ensure all of the rides etc are in operation not maintenance etc. Many Thanks for your advice

I'm 3 for 3 at exactly 7 months.

Studio early May
Studio late Sept
1 bedroom early Aug

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

9 consecutive nights at 7 months for a VGC studio in early November when Christmas time is starting? I can't give that good odds but you never know until you try.

 

[zavandor]

Be online exactly when reservations open at 7 months. 5 minutes late can be fatal.
I would suggest also to try to walk the reservation: check 3 or 4 days before, if you see availability book it and the following days cancel the nights you don't need and add more night at the end (calling MS, you cannot do this online).

If you don't find all 9 nights, do not worry. Even if Disneyland Resort has nearly the same number of attractions of the 4 parks in Disneyworld, it's much smaller and requires less days to visit and do everything. 3-4 days are often more than enought. If you cannot get all the days you need, you might add a few days in a different place in Los Angeles, maybe near Universal Studios Hollywood (the studio tram tour alone is worth the ticket) and waitlist the remaining days.

 

[Breyean]

Be online exactly when reservations open at 7 months. 5 minutes late can be fatal.
I would suggest also to try to walk the reservation: check 3 or 4 days before, if you see availability book it and the following days cancel the nights you don't need and add more night at the end (calling MS, you cannot do this online).

If you don't find all 9 nights, do not worry. Even if Disneyland Resort has nearly the same number of attractions of the 4 parks in Disneyworld, it's much smaller and requires less days to visit and do everything. 3-4 days are often more than enought. If you cannot get all the days you need, you might add a few days in a different place in Los Angeles, maybe near Universal Studios Hollywood (the studio tram tour alone is worth the ticket) and waitlist the remaining days.

To the OP. These are all very good suggestions.

I would add two things.

1. Walking isn't AS effective in you case as a non VGC owner since one could jump in at any time and mess up your strategy. But it is certainly worth a shot since it will give you an advantage over other non VGC owners who are not walking.

2. Coming from so far away, you might want to stay at VGC for whatever nights you can and visit DLR during that time, but with so much else to do in the LA area, you could save time and $$ by switching to less expensive hotels closer to whatever attractions you might decide to do besides DLR.

Good luck to you.

 

[Anal Annie]

I just booked a studio for a few nights in August - I initially booked a full week just like zavandor has suggested but ultimately we only wanted 3 nights so I called back and canceled off the first 4 when I hit my real 7 month booking window. I watched the availability obsessively leading up to then and saw that it was hit & miss and that it went fast (with so few studios there) so I didn't want to risk it not being available. Stopping at DL will be the start of our big vacation that continues at Aulani and then Maui so my nerves couldn't deal with it NOT being available at our 7 mo. window for the dates we wanted. There is just so much planning involved with a trip like this. By the time I called to drop off the extra days the first few days that I was dropping were no longer available so I look at it that probably somebody's waitlist came thru for them. Not sure what the odds are for booking more than a week since you'll have to wait to add the extra nights. I just felt like this strategy worked for us for this trip. In FL there are always more resorts to book at - so we always start with a 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice of resort when booking at 7 months but in CA they don't have that opportunity.

 

[Meemoo]

Thanks for the tips. Sounds like I'll need to get on top of the time difference and try snap them up as soon as the window opens and cross my fingers! We are not doing anything else in LA for this time - this is primarily for Disneyland so staying at Disneyland is a must whether we end up having to pay cash in the end (hopefully not!) We've done all the sight seeing on our last 2 visits.

Another idea that crossed my mind this morning was to maybe sell my points (Aulani) to something like Davids and buy for Grand Cal so I can book earlier....things to consider! Those theme park view rooms do look awesome!

 

[Sheribo]

I tried to book a studio for 2 nights in August and was online right at the opening of the 7 month window. Nothing was available. I'm waitlisted.