Booking Grand Californian at 7 Months Mark

[MRavanelli]

Hello everyone, I’m new here...

We have being visiting WDW for 7 years, just became DVC members last year and now we are planning our dream vacation to Disneyland...

Looking to book a standard room at the 7 month mark for January 23rd to the 30th 2021.

how easy is that? Or should I say hard? Trying to plan now so if it doesn’t work any recommendations for local Hotels, walking distance to the parks?

TIA

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Extremely hard, especially for a 7 night stay. If by standard room you mean a studio, the odds are near zero. A few days in a 1 or 2Br may be possible, but 7 is wildly unlikely.

 

[asunutgirl]

VGC is very hard to get reservations - although late January is a slower time. I booked for this March less than 7 months out and got two of the three nights I needed. (We called it our Christmas miracle!) I wait listed the third night and it came through. BUT I have had many other times when there just wasn't anything available. I would recommend that you waitlist any nights that you don't get and have a backup plan. It really is a beautiful resort so even a partial stay would be great. There are no view categories at the Grand.

There are a ton of hotels around the area if you can't get your stay at VGC. You can try booking at the DLR hotels with points. Not a great use of points but cheaper than the cash option.

We recently stayed at the Fairfield Inn on Harbor. The hotel is old (rooms open directly to the outside) but the rooms have been redone and they are clean. Staff was very nice. Easy walk to the parks. Courtyard by Marriott is right next door but the rates there were a little higher. Definitely do some research on the smaller, independent places along Harbor Blvd. I've heard some very mixed reviews.

 

[Happy2BMommy0812]

7 nights in a studio would be near impossible I think. A better bet would be to see if someone will trade their VGC points for yours, or rent yours out and use the $ to rent someone’s VGC points ASAP (like right now). We waitlisted VGC just after the 7 month mark - one night on each waitlist. Each night has come through. We have now waitlisted a 3rd night to see if it will come through. You could try piecing it together like that, but it may not work and you may end up having to change rooms.

 

[Happy2BMommy0812]

Oh, and we have stayed at The Tropicana, Park Vue and Disneyland Hotel. Disneyland hotel was fun to try, but $$$. We personally did not like Park Vue - AC did not work, rooms was musty. We liked the Tropicana and they have since refurbed, so I assume it’s even better. If we stayed offsite, it would definitely be there. My in laws like Paradise Pier.

 

[Frederic Civish]

The best way to do it would probably be to take your current points and rent them out to someone. Ask for $18 or more per point. Then take that money and find someone with Grand Californian points who might rent to you for about that cost. They might charge a bit more but it would probably be worth it. Then you can schedule what you want before the 7-month window

 

[Wakey]

7 nights in a 1 bed is certainly possible. Just got one for late July for 4 nights- it was the first day that’s difficult. I did not see any sign of later days filling up and becoming unavailable, it was just the first day. So if I can book the first day, I can book 7, at least in a 1 bed I booked it a month early and walked it. I never had anyone jump ahead of me.

 

[mort1331]

Let me give you some hope. But the other suggestions are great. We had a studio for seven nights end of august 2018. Had a great time. We book our flights after secured our room. So thise who say impossible are wrong. I would say very tough but end of Jan is slow time.

 

[Duchie]

I'm just looking for 2 nights in September for a Tuesday - Thursday stay. I'd be happy with either a studio or a 1-bedroom so I created a waitlist for both. Hoping that at least the 1-bedroom comes through.

 

[njmeisje]

If you have enough points for a 2BR...7 nights at 7 month mark is very doable. Just did it today for October for the Halloween party!

 

[LilyJC]

now we are planning our dream vacation to Disneyland...

January 23rd to the 30th 2021

As others have mentioned a studio will be nearly impossible. A thought I also had was that your dates might be a bit rough for a DLR dream vacation. Disneyland is a different animal, and early in the year the hours are shorter and it’s refurbishment season. Granted sometimes travel dates aren’t flexible, but just wanted to prepare you to have realistic expectations for DLR overall during that timeframe.

 

[CmdrThor]

We were able to book 5 nights in a 1 bedroom for last month. It helped to book ahead of time and walk the reservation to our desired dates. But that is definitely not a guarantee at 7 months because VGC owners could have all of the rooms of a particular room type booked on a given day and that would block your walk.

 

[justadreamaway77]

We have stayed at the Tropicana and it was fine. Nice and clean. We weren't dvc members then so the option of pool hopping wasn't there but Grand California is not on the prohibited pool hopping list so you could still use their pool. Tropicana's is just a bland pool in the middle of the parking lot.....typical 50's/60's two story u-shaped motel but remodeled very nicely and clean.

 

[rkstocke5609]

I got lucky and waitlisted into 5 nights Sunday - Thursday a few years ago. We liked it so much we got lucky the next year and booked a 1BR at the 7 month mark (again, Sunday-Thursday). The DVC element is sooooo tiny! It’s blind luck if you get it, and I would think there is no way for a weekend night.

 

[boiseflyfisher]

We have stayed at the Tropicana and it was fine. Nice and clean. We weren't dvc members then so the option of pool hopping wasn't there but Grand California is not on the prohibited pool hopping list so you could still use their pool. Tropicana's is just a bland pool in the middle of the parking lot.....typical 50's/60's two story u-shaped motel but remodeled very nicely and clean.

Pool hopping is not allowed at all at DL unless a pool is under refurbishment. Also, if you are not staying at the resort, you cannot use the pool no matter if you are a DVC member or not. GC pool use is for GC guests only.

 

[montreid]

Been new vgc member for past two months and getting used to the booking patterns. Sept goes fast....like at ten months already mostly booked out. Other popular vgc dates for home members appear to be the long weekend holidays and special night's. Labor day. Columbus day weekend, Halloween. Veterans day. Early sec also looks really popular for the holiday decorations before the price bump. Then New year's is out already as well as MLK day.

So far, end of Jan is open. We grabbed weekend then already ourselves.