How to buy Points for DLR GCH?

[Mama of Indybride]

I recently found this whole board after my daughter got engaged this year and is getting married at DLR next year.

We stay at Disney Grand California Hotel at least once a year for 4 or 5 days. We always stay in a 2 or 3 bedroom suite and we typically stay 4 - 5 days and rack up the bill!

Does it make sense to look into buying at a WDW resort and exchanging into GCH or just waiting into the villas are complete and buy with that as our home resort, I think they are due to be done in Fall of 09.

One last thing, my daughter is getting married in April of 09 and we will be staying there regardless..for a week, in a 2 or 3 bedroom suite. That alone will be 4 or 5 k, not to mention the cost of the wedding..

Any advice would be so appreciated!

 

[funatdisney]

Since you stay at GC at least once a year in a two or three bedroom suite, you would probably be a good candidate for buying into the Grand Califorian Villas (? true name). BUT they will only have 50 units for sale for their Disney Vacation Club. It gets more interesting: Disney has a Founding Member program for the GCV. In the past anyone who wants to have the Found Members status would have to buy Saratoga Springs and Spa Resort or the Animal Kingdom Villas DVC (both in WDW) to have the Founding Member classification. Founding members will have the first opportunity to buy into GCV with a cap of 160 points. After the first initial offering to FM, it will open to the general DVC members. The points are then offered to the general guest interested in purchasing DVC points at GCV. There is a lot of worry that there will be very little points to buy after the all DVC members have a chance to buy.

You could buy into SSR (is it sold out already? I heard when at WDW a few weeks ago it was.) or AKV and try to book at the 7 month. It may prove to be difficult to do so since there are only 50 DVC units to book. Or it may not, depending on the time of year you want to travel and your UY.

Wow, you probably have lots more questions about DVC and how it works by now. I know that I haven't touch on every possible answer to your inquiry. I would recommend the you keep asking questions and, then, talk to a guide at DLR to get some clarification.

As for us, we go to DLR and stay at a one or two bedroom suite at the GC twice a year. We decided to buy at SSR since we go to WDW every even year and thus have the FM status. By the way, I saw the models last week and they are gorgeous with clever use of space and a morphy bed in the living room. I can't wait to book my first stay there.

 

[Mama of Indybride]

Thank you! Durn it! I real elsewhere that SSR was sold out also.

But! Maybe that is a marketing ploy???

I will keep lurking/posting/asking.

Btw, I grew up not too far from you, Port Hueneme, my dad was military down there.

 

[ACDSNY]

DVC has recently lowered the min buy in to 100 points of AKV and if you purchase through the DL DVC office you'll be in the Founding Member program for the VGC. If they are still offering developer points it would give you points to use for April 2009 to offset some of the cost.

 

[Longhairbear]

....
Btw, I grew up not too far from you, Port Hueneme, my dad was military down there.

Hello from a DVC member from Agoura Hills. It's sounds to me that DVC at GCV would be perfect for you.
We have heard rumors of a second DVC to be added to DLR if the GCV is a great success.

 

[All_Ears]

wow - I was just there - and not up to date on my DVC info - I own at SSR - and used my points to stay at the the Grand - which was Awesome - and would do it again - now I have to find out more info about the Founding Member benefits.............. Thank you!

 

[toocherie]

I would encourage anyone who is interested in Founding Member status at GCH to not hesitate--when I talked to my guide at the member event in May, he indicated that they were getting close to maximum on the number of people in the program.

I am very happy with my DLR guide.

 

[Mama of Indybride]

wow - I was just there - and not up to date on my DVC info - I own at SSR - and used my points to stay at the the Grand - which was Awesome - and would do it again - now I have to find out more info about the Founding Member benefits.............. Thank you!

Was it difficult to exchange into? I keep reading people say buy where you want to stay, but that doesn't seem possible if we want to stay at the Grand in Cali most of the time..

Thanks everybody for your input.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Was it difficult to exchange into? I keep reading people say buy where you want to stay, but that doesn't seem possible if we want to stay at the Grand in Cali most of the time..

Thanks everybody for your input.

At this time it doesn't seem too difficult to use points to stay at GC. I did for 2 nights in May and only made my reservation 2.5 weeks in advance. In the past once a DVC has opened at a hotel location then Disney has not allowed point exchanges to stay at the hotel. It's not known for certain if this will follow here, but it's likely.

If you don't buy points at SSR or AKV and get in on the founding member then there still could be a chance of buying - I think this gets more likely as airfares rise and the economy stumbles since so many current DVC owners are on the east coast and may change their minds about buy GC points. And then resale's will happen since life changes for people so I wouldn't lose hope of getting points there. It may not happen for your Aug '09 trip, but I wouldn't say that even that's a complete impossibility.

 

[Kdavis]

When we met with our DVC Guide on 6/27 (we sealed the deal on 7/1!), she told us that SSR had sold out just a few days prior and that AKL was the only current offering. We discussed GCV (since we were at Disneyland at the time) and she told us about the "Founding Member" availability and said that it was unlikely that there would be many - if any - points available to the general public. She indicated that there is a huge anticipation for GCV and that she expected the points go go quickly to existing DVC owners.

 

[Mama of Indybride]

When we met with our DVC Guide on 6/27 (we sealed the deal on 7/1!), she told us that SSR had sold out just a few days prior and that AKL was the only current offering. We discussed GCV (since we were at Disneyland at the time) and she told us about the "Founding Member" availability and said that it was unlikely that there would be many - if any - points available to the general public. She indicated that there is a huge anticipation for GCV and that she expected the points go go quickly to existing DVC owners.

Did she have a time frame for when the GCV will be completed?

I heard Aug of 09

 

[drag n' fly]

Was it difficult to exchange into? I keep reading people say buy where you want to stay, but that doesn't seem possible if we want to stay at the Grand in Cali most of the time..

Thanks everybody for your input.

You can do two things. You can buy AKV at DL like we did and get founding member status for GCV or you can wait it out for general public or re-sale. Depending on how badly you want GCV will determine what your decision is

 

[Kdavis]

Did she have a time frame for when the GCV will be completed?

I heard Aug of 09

She indicated that it would be well into next year and that it was currently behind schedule. She did say that because of differing laws between Florida and California, they can not sell any parts of GCV until it is complete (in other words, unlike AKV, they can't sell GCV until the units are built. In California "you can't sell what's not there" she said). So, though, we're eligible to be "founding members", the opportunity to actually buy is a while off, according to our guide.

 

[Mama of Indybride]

Good to know! Thanks so much everybody!

 

[funatdisney]

Btw, I grew up not too far from you, Port Hueneme, my dad was military down there.

Sorry if I make a mistake. I think you were referring to me with your response. I'm a transplant. I grew up in the San Fernando Vally (a valley girl) Been living here for about 15 years (moved here when I married my DH), and love it here. Ventura is a great place to raise kids and you can't beat the life style. Not too far from DLR: about an hour and half drive from here. we go once a month, in addition to staying there twice a year. I have noticed that the gas prices have effected the traffic here in So. Cal. It has dropped quite a bit. Guess I'll advantage of that and go more to DLR often.