You might be better off booking 2 2-bedroom villas, which sleep more than 1 3 bedroom villa. I think the 2-bedrooms sleep 9. But you would still need to book very early--probably not immediately at 11 months, but still before the 7 month mark. There is a thread for the VGC (villas) on the Disney Vacation Club section under Resorts.
Search Grand Caliornian suites--those are the larger hotel rooms. I don't know of any that big, but there might be with adjoining rooms. The 'Villas' are the Disney Vacation Club rooms. Definitely compare prices with renting from a DVC rental company vs. a suite from Disney.
3-bedroom suites (or a Grand Villa) have an occupancy of 12, and regular hotel rooms have an occupancy of 5. Officially you would need 2 extra hotel rooms for a group of 18, so you might want to book for a group of 17.
Some clarification of terminology: Suites are are larger hotel rooms paid for with cash. Villas are DVC (timeshare) rooms reserved using points.
If you manage to rent points for a Grand Villa, there are no hotel rooms adjacent (you should be able to get a hotel room in that area of the hotel).
Seems likely, but the renovation has not even started.
I have had good results emailing a list of specific villa numbers to DVC Member Services, which must be done by the DVC owner.
There have been posts about renting cabanas at DLH while staying at GCH (or VGC), but might have been to accommodate guests when GCH cabanas were booked. So it is certainly possible, but might not be an official policy -- a situation where several calls might be required (playing CM roulette).
1-bedrooms suites only have 1 bathroom. A pair of regular rooms with a connection door are quite common, although Disney will not guarantee connecting rooms.
There does not seem to be an official map, but this is one I created:
The renovation is likely to begin in February or March, lasting a year or more. Some of the items to be replaced: carpets, wall paper, beds, furniture. It's unclear if bathroom will be extensively renovated, replacing tile and sinks...
1-bedrooms suites only have 1 bathroom. A pair of regular rooms with a connection door are quite common, although Disney will not guarantee connecting rooms.
There does not seem to be an official map, but this is one I created:
The renovation is likely to begin in February or March, lasting a year or more. Some of the items to be replaced: carpets, wall paper, beds, furniture. It's unclear if bathroom will be extensively renovated, replacing tile and sinks...
It will certainly not be as extensive as the DLH renovation, where all the exterior glass was replaced and the pools completely changed.
There are several 1-bedroom layouts:
Looking at those floorplans of the 1-bedroom suites, it seems some of them have 2 queens and a pullout, others have 1 king and a pullout. If Disney claims that all 1-bedrooms will sleep 6, how do they accommodate that in some of those layouts?
They will only put 4 people in the king-suites, or pair them up to make a 2-bedroom with a neighboring room.
You should make some sort of view or location request. GCH does not book specific views for suites, so there is no way to guarantee a view type. Making a request might put you at an advantage over guests that don't. I suspect queen suites are located: x312, x318, x329, x331 (floors 3-5)
