Favorite Grand Villa / "Cabungalow"

[Tatebeck]

Question for those that have a bunch of points or have been part of big trips and have stayed at multiple nice high capacity rooms at WDW.

Which of the nice rooms (Grand villas, CCV Cabins, Bungalows, Treehouses, etc, and even nicer 2brs that aren't super special I guess) were your favorite and why? We have only stayed in studios and 1br so far.

Details of our trip if you have recommendations:
We have been planning a trip in October 2025 with a bunch of possible family guests. We booked a 2BR and a studio at 2 of our home resorts in the 11 month window. Just because we didn't know exactly how many would come. It looks like the final tally will have at least 7 or so for the entire week. and 8-12 over the weekend. No small children.

The 7 month window is approaching and (depending on what's available) I am considering splurging to an even nicer room to one of the fancier rooms that holds 8-10 or grand villas that hold 12. Or even just combining our points to stay at one of our non home resorts 2BR. We may not go as many trips for our 2025 use year and this would help us use up our points. We have some banked from our 2024 use year and my math says we should be able to stay in any room if we really wished. Though some have pretty steep prices. We could do a split stay to get a free water park day as well and experience 2 different cool rooms.
We will go to all the parks throughout the week and will do a MNSS Halloween party as well.

What would you recommend? Thanks!

 

[VGCgroupie]

I havent stayed in but toured the grand villa at Aulani and it is ginormous. Much more grand than the 2bed I just stayed in at VDH

 

[Simba's Mom]

The largest, most homey villa we ever stayed in was a Grand Villa at OKW. It wasn't the most glamorous villa I've ever seen, but we had a large family gathering, got take-out from Goods to Go, then sat around the huge dining table. The next morning Grandma (who was staying off-site with others) had a stroke and ended up being medical jetted back to Illinois. But what a memory! If you want to feel at home, only with tons more space, the GV in the elevator building at OKW was perfect.

 

[DVC_Eeyore_Fan]

We have stayed at the three bedroom grand villas at Riviera, Kidani, Grand Floridian and Bay Lake Tower. We have a stay booked for the three bedroom grand villa at Aulani this year as well.

Of the four WDW grand villas we have stayed at I think the clear winner for us was Riviera. The room is gorgeous and while it doesn’t have the “media/4th bedroom” that the Grand Floridian grand villa has, we found the dining room to be lovely and the living room to be great. All of the in-room amenities were awesome and the room looked like it had just opened (even though when we stayed the resort had been open for 4+ years). Also, a plus, we could see fireworks from Epcot from the primary bedroom. We were one floor below Topolino’s and didn’t notice any noise bleed from the restaurant. We are also big fans of the Riviera so that probably helps!

The three bedroom grand villa at Grand Floridian, while bigger than Riviera, felt smaller to us because we had someone sleeping in the “media/4th bedroom.” That said, it’s absolutely stunning. The dining table is MASSIVE and was great for family dinners. The bathrooms? Wow!

Now I personally really liked the three bedroom (theme park view) at Bay Lake Tower. It’s a two-story configuration, unlike Riviera and Grand Floridian. I LOVED being able to look out the giant two-story window at MK, especially at night. That said, we stayed before the recent refurb and the sink broke and the pullout sleepers were not comfortable.

We wanted to stay at Jambo’s three-bedroom grand villa, but it was booked at the 7-month mark so we “settled” for Kidani. We got a great room location (pretty central to the Kidani lobby) and the savanna view did not disappoint. This was probably the kids favorite for the savanna view. Similar to Bay Lake Tower, the Kidani three-bedroom villa is a two story configuration. Some of the furniture was well loved but that didn’t bother me. The dining table was probably the smallest of the four that I’ve stayed in and the amenities (I’m looking at you refrigerator) need some TLC, but overall it was a lovely room and would gladly stay there again.

None of the grand villas have disappointed thus far so if you splurge on one I hope you enjoy!

 

[MeridaMonkey]

We had 7 people in a Grand Villa at CCV in September 2023 and it was fantastic (would have been 9 people but my in-laws decided they wanted their own quiet space so they had their own room on the hotel side of WL).

I really like the layout of that one, the third bedroom is on the opposite side of the villa so there’s some separation from the other two bedrooms if noise is an issue or if anyone just needs a little bit of space. All of the GVs at CCV are at the end of the building so they all have the same view overlooking the lake and the big pool.

I’d requested a high floor for our stay but wound up with the villa on the same level as the lobby and couldn’t have been happier with that outcome, not having to use an elevator a few times per day was a blessing.

 

[Donna M]

Hands down, our favorite is CCV cabin. It is only two bedrooms though, but the view and interior are beautiful. The only 3 bd I wouldn't stay in again is at SSR. The balcony is for two people and the living room didn't have enough seating in my opinion. Jambo's 3 bd was fantastic with the pool table and large dining table, and OKW is great for the size and amount of seating in the living room. RIV and CCV and GF look great but the points are so high.

I would look at the sleeping plans for your group. Are there families that will be filling up the bedrooms, or are there single people that will want their own bed or room? Sometimes it's better to get a set up like you have where some people can go home to their unit and get away from all the togetherness.

Split stay is a good idea. Save the points in the beginning to use on a nicer place at the end of the trip.

 

[CWTC]

Poly bungalow all the way!!

Our largest travel party is 3 (me, spouse, mother in law for about 1/3 of our trips, and normally would get a 2BR LO) or 2 (me, spouse, 2/3 of trips, normally get a 1BR) so a grand villa generally doesn’t make sense for us. The poly bungalow plunge pool is clutch - no crowds, your lounger is always available, you have snacks/drinks/adult beverages a few steps away. We actually bought 400 BLT SAP to use as bungalow points - generally using those plus some of our other points we stay 8 nights every other year. That’s how much we love the bungalows.

If your trip were in January, I’d suggest the cabins at copper creek because of the hot tub - essentially same layout as bungalows but the screened in porch and double sided fire place are added bonuses. But October is going to be too hot I think.

The AUL GV is worth it to us because its ocean front, has a huge balcony, and has loungers on the balcony. The VGF GV is the only other GV that we might stay in given our party size - the media room is tempting.

A nice feature of the cabungalows and GV is the concierge reservation service. They do a great job and have always gotten all our ADRs even hard ones. The first time we used them it was hard to give up the control of doing it ourselves but now we love the service!

 

[OKW Lover]

I havent stayed in but toured the grand villa at Aulani and it is ginormous. Much more grand than the 2bed I just stayed in at VDH

We've been fortunate enough to have stayed in one several times and you are right about it being awesome! If the OP was going to Hawaii that would be our recommendation.

The largest, most homey villa we ever stayed in was a Grand Villa at OKW. It wasn't the most glamorous villa I've ever seen, but we had a large family gathering, got take-out from Goods to Go, then sat around the huge dining table. The next morning Grandma (who was staying off-site with others) had a stroke and ended up being medical jetted back to Illinois. But what a memory! If you want to feel at home, only with tons more space, the GV in the elevator building at OKW was perfect.

The OKW GV was the first GV we stayed at and yes, it is hard to beat. Just be aware that if you have somebody in your party that can't do stairs this could be an issue as the master bedroom is on the entry floor while the other 2 bedrooms are upstairs.

 

[ABCanada]

Hands down, our favorite is CCV cabin. It is only two bedrooms though, but the view and interior are beautiful.

Love the CCV Cabins, amazing sitting in your own hot tub watching the fireworks with the music piped in. Two bedrooms would likely be an issue for your group and it is almost a waste going to the parks when you are in a cabin.

The VGF three bedroom is amazing and the media room has doors so can easily be used as a fourth bedroom. Easy walk to MK.

We also love the BWV single storey three bedroom. It is great point value and you can walk to both EPCOT and DHS from there. Two storey is fine but single storey has a better feel.

Not a big fan of OKW three bedroom but it is good point value if you can get it. Issue is transportation to the parks. I would almost take the SSR Treehouse over the OKW grand villa. It has the same transportation issue but you can walk easily to and from Disney Springs. Bedrooms are tight and one is a bunkbed but very efficient use of space and great deck.

Not stayed at any of the others so cannot comment on them.

 

[Mouseforward]

While I love the RR grand villa - I made the right choice and got 2 2br for my large family gathering.

The Grand villa is a great choice for the following

1. If you are bringing in a chef and want to have a sit down dinner in the room.
2. You want an impressive living area to meet / party think cooperation event or bridal party

The points are more for the GV than 2 2br and they sleep fewer people comfortably. ( other than VGF )

For all other non close family groups I think multiple 2br offer more privacy, and less forced social interactions. It is hard when one group wants to “ do their own thing “ and you are all in the same villa. VGF / poly / RIV/ BLT/ BR / CCR have all of the 2br in the same building so they are better than SSR or OKW which may cause you to be quite a distance from each other.

I was very glad RIV put us in 2 br that were in different wings so we could walk inside to them but were not too close.

 

[Tatebeck]

I do like the idea of having someone be able to sleep in the living room as a 4th bedroom. Is VGF the only one like that or are there others with beds and things in the living room like a 4th room?

 

[Disdreaming479]

I’ve stayed in 2 bedroom villas at Beach Club x2, SSR, and BRV. We liked the layout better at BRV with our party of 5.
As stated above, when I look into the point cost of the GV, I can book 2 two bdrms for less than a GV and there’s more privacy. So I lean towards that option when I figure out what’s best for our 2027 Trip when I’ll have 1 kid (+ friends) graduating from university and 1 kid (+friends) graduating from high school. ***Need MANY bathrooms!!!
edit: I would rather not have anyone sleeping in the LR.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

Stayed in the Treehouses (4 adults, 3 kids). Had two cars to use for park transportation. Loved the remote location for the quiet.

 

[DVC_Eeyore_Fan]

I do like the idea of having someone be able to sleep in the living room as a 4th bedroom. Is VGF the only one like that or are there others with beds and things in the living room like a 4th room?

If my memory serves me correctly, Bay Lake Tower and Kidani’s three bedroom grand villa had a pullout sofa in the living area on the first floor and then a small pullout couch on the second story (in between the two bedrooms on the second story).

VGF has the media room that has a pullout sofa bed. Riviera I don’t believe has a pullout sofa bed in the living room but we did have someone sleep on the couch as that was their preference.

 

[CarolynFH]

I would look at the sleeping plans for your group. Are there families that will be filling up the bedrooms, or are there single people that will want their own bed or room? Sometimes it's better to get a set up like you have where some people can go home to their unit and get away from all the togetherness.

I agree that this is important. Once long ago I contemplated booking a GV for a trip that would include my parents and my two siblings plus their spouses, as well as the three kids we had between us. But when I started looking at actual bed assignments, it really wouldn't have worked.

I do like the idea of having someone be able to sleep in the living room as a 4th bedroom. Is VGF the only one like that or are there others with beds and things in the living room like a 4th room?

The GV at BWV has a queen sofa sleeper in the living room, and I think most of the GVs do in order to create sleeping surfaces for 12 people. There's the king bed in the primary bedroom to sleep 2, two queens in each of the two secondary bedrooms to sleep 4 in each of those rooms (so 8 people in those two bedrooms ), then the sleeper sofa in the living room for the remaining two. Shades of college spring break, stuffing as many bodies in as possible!

 

[Tatebeck]

Sleeping situations should be okay. It's a family trip with some siblings, cousins, and significant others. All adults with no small kiddos this trip. 3 or 4 couples that would definitely share beds and any other shared beds would be siblings or cousins depending if their significant others can make it.

We like the idea of a big living room that we can hang out in, have some drinks, play some games in some nights or cook breakfast and/or dinner (will be doing a grocery order) etc.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Just a little trivia about the GV at the Grand Floridian Villas. When the guide found out that I'd seen "The Middle" episode where Brick calls and says "There's a phone in the bathroom!", he told me that that had been filmed at the GF Grand Villa. Yes, they have a phone in the bathroom.

 

[Tatebeck]

BWV is booked up but most others looking good so far! Saw a clip of the new BLT grand villa and we really like it. VGF looks huge but a bit pricey (and is not really our favorite decor)

 

[CarolynFH]

BWV is booked up but most others looking good so far! Saw a clip of the new BLT grand villa and we really like it. VGF looks huge but a bit pricey (and is not really our favorite decor)

Yes, BWV has only 7 GVs, and they do book up fast. They're all BW view, too.

 

[peder]

Biggest issue with the Grand Villas is no 2x King Bed option. Absurd when all their competitors are moving toward King beds as standard in all rooms in multi-room units.