Grand Californian at DL - Points or cash?

[SEC]

We are considering a trip to Disneyland and would like to stay at the Grand Califrnian. Has anyone stayed there? The weekend points are high - 50 points a night in June. If you stayed there did you use points, cash or points and cash?

 

[allforpooh]

We are staying this April and decided not to use points. Since we were able to get really great rates- only $1448 5 nights and tickets(3adults 1 child) we decided it was a better deal to pay cash.

I think you will need to look at the rate you can get with Cash and then decide if it is worth it.

Denise

 

[dcfromva]

SEC,
We have stayed at the GC 3 times and are scheduled to stay again in April. (We love that hotel). I looked at the price versus points and decided to go for the cash price.
There may be a discount for you--sometimes, they offer an AP holder discount. There is also a stay 3 nights and get the 4th one free deal (not sure when it expires, though). Mary usually lists discounts on Mousesavers.com.

-DC

 

[SEC]

It looks like the cash price is a better deal especially with the fourth night free deal! It looks like a beautiful hotel! I can't wait to go (and save my points for WDW later in the year)!

 

[jdkdorn]

We are going using points. We decide to use our points because we count them as prepaid vacations. We figure we have already paid for them why pay for the trip again. We are going to DL instead of DW next year and do not want to spend anymore cash on a hotel. So it all depends on how you look at your points. Some people would rather bank them than use them when rates are low at the hotels.

Since we just vought DVC we will try it this way , but we might rent points in the future to pay for NON-DVC trips

Please write a trip report when you return, we have never stayed there and look forward to it.

 

[neiman5]

We have stayed at the Grand Californian 3 times in the past year. Being from California and Season Pass Holders to DL we love the hotel and take advantage of a great season pass discount. Depending on how long you are staying you may want to look at the season pass purchase taking into account the discount at the hotel. We are going again in April for a couple of nights and paying 220.00. I think we have paid as little as 169.00. It all depends on how busy they are and the time of year. Once we were there and they offered us an additional night at 129.00 if we would extend our sty another day. Too bad...we had to get back home. It is an awsome place! Try to eat at the Napa Rose...a bit pricey...but very worth it. Another tip...never buy coffee...the in house fitness club has it free every morning!

 

[sueg]

We used some of our pts. to stay at GC. We have two "homes": OKW & HH. We go to HH every Aug. One yr., we went to California instead of HH. So we used our HH pts. for GC & I was very happy w/ the results. It was a 10 day long trip to CA, w/ alot of hotel expenses, so using our pts. for the last 3 nts. helped us keep our costs down. We also think of our pts as a way to "pre-pay" our vacations. But we realy only have time for 2 full vacations per yr., so using our HH pts for GC made the most sense for use. I think this thread shows the real beauty of DVC's flexibility. It works differently, but just as well, depending on your family's needs.

 

[CarolAnnC]

My last trip to the Grand Californian, I used points for some nights, and the Disneyland AP discount for the other nights. This helped with the higher point weekend nights as they were cash discounted.

Price it out several different ways and see what works best for your own budget! The GC is my favorite DL Resort hotel!

 

[JimC]

We have stayed twice, most recently two weeks ago. It is a great resort! We paid cash because we got a good deal on rates. We are thinking about using points on our next trip west in two years and will decide when we get closer to making reservations.

By the way, the first stay we had a CA view room and looked out over the new park. On the second stay we opted for DD view and watched the DL fireworks from our balcony.

The best resort meal and service we had is at Hook's Point (restaurant at DL Hotel). Napa is very good, but expensive. Granville's is good, expensive and slow with inattentive service. Our favorite restaurant is Blue Bayou in DL (PS a must and ask to wait for a table next to the water).