The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Owners Group

[lisah0711]

Thanks wideeydwonder for the neat pics! It looks wonderful. Hope that it is open when we are there at the end of June.

 

[Grumpygrandpa]

Great Pics wideeydwonder! Have fun at my home (that I haven't been to yet). I sure hope the WOC will be running by the time I get to go home for the first time this Spring Break

 

[Nonsuch]

Nope. Didn't get paperwork. Guide totally dropped the ball - AGAIN! Messed up our reservations for trip this week on top of everything else. We canceled our contract. I'm done w/ DVC. This is the third time this has happened to us. Are they really doing that well in a down economy that they don't need our business?

If this is how we're treated before they have our $$$, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like if they had actually gotten our $$$.

The DVC buying process is similar to buying a car, with secret promotions and poor sales follow-up. There are dozens of DVC kiosks herding customers to the sales office, but the salesmen (or "guides") want to close deals immediately.

It would be great if Disney sold points online, and skip dealing with salesmen completely.

 

[nunzia]

You entered directly into the Paradise Pier are of DCA, right between Corn Dog Castle and Route 66 Souvenirs. I beleive that both of these have been bulldozed to make way for the Little Mermaid ride. It did feel a little like you were sneaking in the back door. -- Suzanne

Oh..doh..of course. When I first read it I thought it meant a private entrance for Paradise Pier HOTEL folks Oy...

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh..doh..of course. When I first read it I thought it meant a private entrance for Paradise Pier HOTEL folks Oy...

No, it was a PPH entrance. That's where you could come in, if you crossed over from PPH. Started planning in March of that year, and the most current guidebooks still talked about it. AT some point it was closed, and it just took a bit for the guidebooks to catch up.


I'm not sure that entering over in that area really gets you close to TSMM, as someone said. You'd still have to walk around the boardwalk, and since the early-morning line generally starts on the Screamin' side of the ride, any Villa stayers would have to walk past the line just to get into it.

Later in the day it would be nice if the line is started pointing in the Maliboomer direction, though.

The DVC buying process is similar to buying a car, with secret promotions and poor sales follow-up. There are dozens of DVC kiosks herding customers to the sales office, but the salesmen (or "guides") want to close deals immediately.

It would be great if Disney sold points online, and skip dealing with salesmen completely.

I think that just by reading many people's experiences you can find that not everyone has a bad guide. In fact I think that most people have good guides who help them!

In the last couple days we've seen two people...one who just recently closed, and was able to make their first purchase and split it into two contracts. WHile someone else, just a bit behind the other one, has NOT been allowed to do that. So guides differ on what they know (this might also be a case of something that was allowed at the time the first person started the process but stopped before the second person started).

 

[toocherie]

Like Molly said--there are good guides and bad guides. She and I happen to have a good one. If you don't like your guide call Member Services and ask for someone else (and if you have a specific name of a Guide you want they can do that too). DVC wants to sell points--the company doesn't care which guide sells them. And I would suspect that a guide who loses customers on a regular basis wouldn't be a guide for long . . . . .

I would not walk away from DVC just because I happened to get assigned someone I didn't mesh with.

But it has always been my understanding that your first DVC contract bought from Disney had to be for at least 160 points--so if someone was able to buy in with two contracts for 100 points and 60 points that would be a deviation from what I have been told is a requirement. Once you have the "master" 160 point contract then you can split up the rest of your points in as small as 25 point contracts. In fact, when I bought VGC, I ended up having to buy my first contract at 160 points (even though I already had a 160-point SSR contract) because my guide knew I intended to divest the SSR points. (Edited to add: there was a short period where the minimum contract was reduced to 100 points.)

I'm really confused about this DVC member entrance into DCA--my info was that the area by the CornDog Castle wasn't re-opening until 2011--is this supposed to be something that is going to open prior to that?

 

[Disney Princess]

Thanks for the pictures wideeyedwonder - we can't wait to see the show in person!

 

[thelionqueen]

You are correct, for the general public it is normally 160 point buy-in. However I know AKV has sold recently (if not currently) for 100 min point buy in. For CM's it is 100 points at any resort, so there are exceptions to the rule.

I would also suggest getting a different guide. We had 3 different guides all together before we got the one we currently have who we are THRILLED with!

I can TOTALLY understand having a guide that does not follow-through or who is just not capable. But try getting another guide and see if that improves your situation. Once you get a competent guide, it can and probably will, change everything! Good luck

 

[stopher1]

No new entrance for DVC members... I just got the email from my pal Tim who did some checking around. He's posted a story about it on his website as well. Apparently the "new entrance" that was reported on that other website yesterday is for CM's and such, not for guests.

 

[ACDSNY]

Nope. Didn't get paperwork. Guide totally dropped the ball - AGAIN! Messed up our reservations for trip this week on top of everything else. We canceled our contract. I'm done w/ DVC. This is the third time this has happened to us. Are they really doing that well in a down economy that they don't need our business?

If this is how we're treated before they have our $$$, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like if they had actually gotten our $$$.

I agree with the other about switching guides. Our guide is in WDW, but I've had a few dealing with a guide at DL that I knew more about the program then he did. You usually do not get your paperwork/contract docs until after you pay the downpayment or deposit. Are you saying you've paid your deposit and still did not receive your documents?

DVC has been letting new members buy into AKV & SSR with 100 point contracts off and on over the last year. The guides will not offer it, but if you ask them to ask a supervisor it's been happening.

 

[nunzia]

No new entrance for DVC members... I just got the email from my pal Tim who did some checking around. He's posted a story about it on his website as well. Apparently the "new entrance" that was reported on that other website yesterday is for CM's and such, not for guests.

Well, darn..that does make sense though...

 

[lisah0711]

No new entrance for DVC members... I just got the email from my pal Tim who did some checking around. He's posted a story about it on his website as well. Apparently the "new entrance" that was reported on that other website yesterday is for CM's and such, not for guests.

Well, phooey, but I agree with nunzia that it makes sense. Surely if there was going to be a special entrance it would have been known and pushed as a plus by the salesfolks. VGC is still the closest to the parks of any Disney hotel so there really is nothing to complain about.

 

[duck_widow]

We at the Villas right now, and they are testing the WoC show in the CA lagoon:

Ooh. That looks cool!

 

[duck_widow]

Nope. Didn't get paperwork. Guide totally dropped the ball - AGAIN! Messed up our reservations for trip this week on top of everything else. We canceled our contract. I'm done w/ DVC. This is the third time this has happened to us. Are they really doing that well in a down economy that they don't need our business?

If this is how we're treated before they have our $$$, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like if they had actually gotten our $$$.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. My buying process has been painful so far too. We've signed and returned it, but I have it on hold.

 

[stopher1]

Well, phooey, but I agree with nunzia that it makes sense. Surely if there was going to be a special entrance it would have been known and pushed as a plus by the salesfolks. VGC is still the closest to the parks of any Disney hotel so there really is nothing to complain about.

I definitely agree - it was one of those back of your mind, hopeful, kind of things when read on that other website, but at the same time I was like, "nah, that would have definitely been promoted earlier as a special perk or something." Oh well.

 

[amyup]

Does anyone have a guess on how much longer until VGC is sold out? Thinking about adding on finally but wondering if I should wait to see if the incentives get any better.

 

[Nonsuch]

Does anyone have a guess on how much longer until VGC is sold out? Thinking about adding on finally but wondering if I should wait to see if the incentives get any better.

The Orange County California Recorder lists 5375 deeds, but not the number of points. Many names are repeated because of a split contract, which will reduce the average points per deed.

The total points for VGC is 1,136,968

If the average deed is 160 points: (160*5375)/1136968 => 76% sold
If the average deed is 100 points: (100*5375)/1136968 => 47% sold

World of Color will help stimulate sales, but I would expect incentives will continue.

 

[Grumpygrandpa]

I'm still surprised that VGC isn't sold out already. It is such a small number of points to sell and I think it is the best DVC resort. It must be this super sucky economy.

 

[the donut]

Is this pricing still good? We already put down our deposits and are waiting for our paperwork, but maybe I should call our guide back since we got a price of $97/point. Do I need to watch the webcast to qualify for this price?

I paid $92 for 220 points, this price came from the webcast in early December.
This is the webcast VGC price list.
You have the $94 webcast price for 160 points
My guide is Linda Duran.

 

[Nonsuch]

Is this pricing still good? We already put down our deposits and are waiting for our paperwork, but maybe I should call our guide back since we got a price of $97/point. Do I need to watch the webcast to qualify for this price?

The webcast was 2 months ago, so that incentive is most likely expired. It does not hurt to ask for the lower price. I think even better incentives will be coming, but it is also possible the incentives will smaller once World of Color opens.

I might have continued to wait for lower prices, but already had another DLR visit planned for February -- now my first VGC trip is less than 3 weeks away