we were wanting to trade them in for time at the Grand Californian and Aulani.
You will not see VGC, barring a miracle. It is never deposited. You probably won't see Aulani. In the years I've been following (almost 15 now) Aulani has been deposited for exchange only a very small handful of times. Unlike some other systems,
DVC controls which resorts/sizes/dates are deposited, and these two resorts don't go in. You can't exchange into what doesn't get deposited.
For a Disney theme park visit, you have a much better chance at one of the WDW resorts---and particularly SSR. If you are even moderately flexible with your dates and you have sufficient trade power, you'll get a match there. The resort quality (elite status) is only a small part of trade power. The other two components are unit size, and the demand during the time of year at that resort for those specific weeks you are hoping to trade.
For Hawaii, there are tons of awesome resorts not named Aulani, and most of them are on islands not named Oahu. (Oahu happens to be my fourth favorite island of the big four.) If these weeks you have been gifted are Marriott or Sheraton/Westin branded, then you have even better odds, because II uses an internal preference period for most new deposits, during which only other owners in those brands can secure an exchange. This preference period is several weeks long, and the high-demand inventory goes quickly. It's not impossible without being in-system---I grabbed a 1BR at a Marriott on Kauai for next July with an unbranded week---but it is hard. Even if your gifted weeks are unbranded, there are lots of "other" great resorts on the islands.
