*The Official VILLAS AT DISNEY'S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA Owners & Lovers Group*

[bobbiwoz]

So, other owners, not of a fixed week, do you have a favorite month to go in? Thanksgiving through December seems very hard to get, even in one bedrooms, so, it may be that I will be going to VWL and BWV during those ( Holiday) stays as we always had before VGF came out.
Those lake views are wonderful, I am happy that I went with lake view for our next stay!

 

[Luvears]

We officially closed on our first VGF contract (currently owners at BC and CC.) Yay- If I haven't asked to be on the "official" owners list- asking now please
Question for the group:
The inventory at a glance at this point in time has got to be way off trend given pandemic. We have enough for 1BR 1x year for a few nights, but what would the group say are the top 3 times of the year that studios are a 11 mo booking window must ASIDE from XMas week? Thanks in advance!

 

[cgodzyk]

We officially closed on our first VGF contract (currently owners at BC and CC.) Yay- If I haven't asked to be on the "official" owners list- asking now please

Congratulations! We also own at CC! Welcome Home!

 

[mrsap]

We officially closed on our first VGF contract (currently owners at BC and CC.) Yay- If I haven't asked to be on the "official" owners list- asking now please
Question for the group:
The inventory at a glance at this point in time has got to be way off trend given pandemic. We have enough for 1BR 1x year for a few nights, but what would the group say are the top 3 times of the year that studios are a 11 mo booking window must ASIDE from XMas week? Thanks in advance!

CONGRATS!!!!! I’ll add you now!!!!!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

So, other owners, not of a fixed week, do you have a favorite month to go in? Thanksgiving through December seems very hard to get, even in one bedrooms, so, it may be that I will be going to VWL and BWV during those ( Holiday) stays as we always had before VGF came out.
Those lake views are wonderful, I am happy that I went with lake view for our next stay!

We love the end of September. We always go to VGF that week ( prior to Covid that is).

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We officially closed on our first VGF contract (currently owners at BC and CC.) Yay- If I haven't asked to be on the "official" owners list- asking now please
Question for the group:
The inventory at a glance at this point in time has got to be way off trend given pandemic. We have enough for 1BR 1x year for a few nights, but what would the group say are the top 3 times of the year that studios are a 11 mo booking window must ASIDE from XMas week? Thanks in advance!

Welcome Home to VGF!

 

[strumy]

Our drive is 9-10 hours with 5 and 2 year olds and we've done it differemt ways. We've done different combinations of leaving early (like 4am) and driving straight through vs leaving the night before and stopping 3-4 hours away so we are not exhausted on first day. We've gone straight to the resort some times and other times booked a standalone night at a value or something offsite. We value park time when we get in so we like going part of the way the "night before" and getting a room on way.

If the grandparents are traveling I'd listen to what they are comfortable doing. It might be leaving at 8am and going straight to VGF so yall dot have to move in and out to save a few bucks. If you're there for two weeks I don't think there's any rush to get to a park on first day. I'd take it easy and make it a resort day. Get in and unpack and get groceries delivered. I'd suggest an early dinner reservation at the resort and pool time after. Of course you could instead cook dinner in your room.

We’re driving down from the RTP area in a couple days and it takes about 9ish hours. I’m packing the car the night before and plan on being on the road by 6 am (earlier if possible) so we can have lighter traffic on 95 South through NC and SC. I’m hoping to be in WDW by 5 pm. My kids don’t do well with overnight drives; so this is better for us. They’ll turn 7 on our trip.

Thanks for the advice! We like to spread 4 days over our ~8-9 day stay to enjoy the resorts and 1/2 day at sea world so definitely no rush to get to the parks. Bigger factor for me is where my little dudes will nap!

 

[Doberge]

Thanks for the advice! We like to spread 4 days over our ~8-9 day stay to enjoy the resorts and 1/2 day at sea world so definitely no rush to get to the parks. Bigger factor for me is where my little dudes will nap!

I hear you on naps. My 5 year old is still a nightmare without one. Even if you have a reservation at another hotel you'll still check out of that before GF check in time, unless of course your room is ready early. So unless you book the room the night before you get there you're likely going to face uncertainty no matter what. An alternative suggestion is a Swan or Dolphin room booked the night before that you may be able to request late check out. Hotel status can get a late checkout free when available, or it might costs about $30 more to get a 4pm guaranteed late checkout, if available.

We do split stays and often run into nap issue. We've had good success napping in the stroller at Animal Kingdom where it's easier to find a quiet corner. We've also had disasterous days and just called it an early night.

 

[Luvears]

Somewhat off topic but related to DVC... has anyone tried calling member svs today? Perpetual busy signal. Just curious if it's just me.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Somewhat off topic but related to DVC... has anyone tried calling member svs today? Perpetual busy signal. Just curious if it's just me.

It's a busy busy booking week and the website is filled with issues. I haven't tried but a few others have posted about long waits and even a disconnection or two.

 

[mrsap]

Somewhat off topic but related to DVC... has anyone tried calling member svs today? Perpetual busy signal. Just curious if it's just me.

I actually called earlier and it was busy the first two times and I got through the 3rd. About a 1/2 hour wait.

 

[Luvears]

Hello VGF Fans. Keep me honest here as a new home resort owner. Which months/weeks should I not count on a grand villa coming through for 2 nights... even at the 11 month mark?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hello VGF Fans. Keep me honest here as a new home resort owner. Which months/weeks should I not count on a grand villa coming through for 2 nights... even at the 11 month mark?

11 months for a GV? I'd really think you could get that most any time of the year.. Definitely if you have even a smidge of flexibility on the 2 nights. They are point intensive and most dates don't book immediately.

 

[strumy]

broken link

 

[strumy]

Post for Villas at Grand Floridian - 2-bedrooms and Grand Villas (Thanks to @Bing Showei ) Note these aren't going to be done for another 3 months, but I figured I'd post the incomplete ones.

So this is the first time I've looked at data for 2-bedrooms. Interestingly, the 2-bedrooms are easier to get than 1-bedrooms. This is not something that is generally considered to be the case. It makes me curious how other resorts would look. Grand

Post for Villas at Grand Floridian - Studios and 1-bedrooms

So here's a good study in what happens to resorts from when they are new to when the owners have been around a bit. If you look at the data from last survey, it was actually even WORSE to get into one of these studios - though still pretty hard it is now in fact POSSIBLE to get one, though still the hardest get at WDW. (Until CCV is sold out - then that one with their limited studios will become the hardest.)

This returns to the fact that 1-bedrooms are pretty available. If you have the money to stay in 1-bedrooms, you can pretty much stay anywhere much of the year.

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Villas also appear to be more available at VGF, but again I don't think this is universally the case.

2019 Update for 2-bedrooms: @Bing Showei went and redid his 2BR and 3BR charts. Honestly the differences were extremely minimal, but since he put in the work, here are the updated charts.




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These would be good to add to our page 1 as a resource for us.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

Hello VGF Fans. Keep me honest here as a new home resort owner. Which months/weeks should I not count on a grand villa coming through for 2 nights... even at the 11 month mark?

December is tough, but you should get it most of the time. There are only 6 GVs.

 

[strumy]

Hello VGF Fans. Keep me honest here as a new home resort owner. Which months/weeks should I not count on a grand villa coming through for 2 nights... even at the 11 month mark?

Please see post above that skier Pete and Bing Showei put together. Should give you a good breakdown of what the pressured times of the year are and when you shouldn't have an issue booking!

 

[mrsap]

These would be good to add to our page 1 as a resource for us.

I’ll be happy to add them to Page 1! Might you have the link to the charts? Thank you!

 

[past_or]

Hi! Just hoping to be added as an owner. We bought a direct fixed week contract this August. Thanks so much! Appreciate being a part of the DVC VGF family!

 

[strumy]

I’ll be happy to add them to Page 1! Might you have the link to the charts? Thank you!

Thread link below.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...-bd-charts-september-2019-2-bd-added.3689931/
my post above has the charts as attachments. May need to download them and then put them in?