The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Owners Group

[donmil723]

Yep, we called right after we picked up our bags and they told us to go right outside baggage claim to be picked up- you don't have to drag your bags upstairs to the shuttle area. They were there in under 10 minutes (I'm guessing closer to 5 minutes- it didn't feel like a long wait at all), and the whole thing went really smoothly. We prepaid the tip online when we paid for the reservation, and I seem to recall we tipped 15%.

I was bummed the price went up too- we are also going in June, and I liked the $61 price back in September better. But it's still worth it at $72.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like they are pretty efficient.

 

[catislander]

Just added on 100 points at VGC. Got the 2009 points with an August use year purchase.

 

[SoCalKDG]

Just added on 100 points at VGC. Got the 2009 points with an August use year purchase.

Welcome home.

 

[Iggipolka]

Woo! We just bought 160pts while we were cruising on the Disney Magic. We got 160 Developer Points too. We already had a reservation for a 1-bedroom at VGC in July, so I'm going to see if I can switch the current reservation to our DP's.

So excited to own on the West Coast!

 

[ACDSNY]

Woo! We just bought 160pts while we were cruising on the Disney Magic. We got 160 Developer Points too. We already had a reservation for a 1-bedroom at VGC in July, so I'm going to see if I can switch the current reservation to our DP's.

So excited to own on the West Coast!

Welcome to the West Coasters' group!

 

[stopher1]

Woo! We just bought 160pts while we were cruising on the Disney Magic. We got 160 Developer Points too. We already had a reservation for a 1-bedroom at VGC in July, so I'm going to see if I can switch the current reservation to our DP's.

So excited to own on the West Coast!

Congrats & Welcome Home!

 

[gkrykewy]

Does someone have a signature-appropriate VGC logo block (the dark green box with the name of the resort that's featured in your signature images) at a decent resolution? If so, could you please post it?

I have a request to create a VGC signature image modeled on my BLT image (which sucks up half my monthly Photobucket bandwidth ), and I'd like to use something with decent quality.

 

[alexandmaddie]

Does someone have a signature-appropriate VGC logo block (the dark green box with the name of the resort that's featured in your signature images) at a decent resolution? If so, could you please post it?

I have a request to create a VGC signature image modeled on my BLT image (which sucks up half my monthly Photobucket bandwidth ), and I'd like to use something with decent quality.

We just added on 150 points at VGC. We stayed at the Grand Californian in 2008 and absolutely loved it!

Krista

 

[DVCGeek]

<Deleted>, this was already answered...

BUT, welcome to all the new VGC owners!

 

[duck_widow]

Hi, I'm finally an owner. After much fighting I was able to split my 160 point VCG contract. Our first ever stay on Disney property will be in September. I can't wait to hear 'Welcome Home' and see World of Color.

 

[stopher1]

We just added on 150 points at VGC. We stayed at the Grand Californian in 2008 and absolutely loved it!

Krista

Hi, I'm finally an owner. After much fighting I was able to split my 160 point VCG contract. Our first ever stay on Disney property will be in September. I can't wait to hear 'Welcome Home' and see World of Color.

Congrats & Welcome Home to you both!

 

[justkeepswimmin]

Looks like we owners can be very relieved that we decided to buy in here. I am reading lots of reports of limited availability at the 7 month mark. I recently tried to add on to a trip in May and was told all that was showing for my dates were 2 2 bdrm units whereas when I did a similar last minute add on of dates last September, I had no problem. Have also read other reports of people waitlisted for September dates or others being unable to modify existing reservations due to availability. It is catching on, and with World of Color and other DCA enhancements, I am convinced the 11 month booking advantage will be essential, especially for studio/ 1 bdrm seekers.

Now, I need to work on dh to convince him this also means we need another 50 points. My constant state of borrowing is becoming a challenge to my lofty vacation dreams.

 

[DVCGeek]

Well, hearing the 11-month booking might be needed is comforting in a way, that was a major motivating factor in buying my first add on (my VGC contract; master is @ BLT). Not that I want it to be hard to book exactly, but it is nice to own at an in-demand property!

 

[franandaj]

Looks like we owners can be very relieved that we decided to buy in here.

When I laid in that bathtub after the final F&W event last year staying on transferred points at the GCH, I had this realization: Next year when the villas are open I won't be able to use my points at the hotel and if I don't own here, I won't get in at the 7 month mark!

We were in the sales office the next afternoon talking to our guide about adding on points. Within two weeks we had signed the contract and I had reservations for our stay coming up in just over two weeks! My only problem is that we keep having reasons to add extra stays, Destination-D, special events, so now we've used all our SSR points for 2010 at VGC, we were lucky enough for the waitlist to come through on the late bookings, and hopefully we'll have that luck in the future. But if this keeps up, I'm going to burn through my SSR points at home and we won't be able to go to WDW

I need more points! What will we do when Hawaii opens?

 

[nunzia]

Looks like we owners can be very relieved that we decided to buy in here. I am reading lots of reports of limited availability at the 7 month mark. I recently tried to add on to a trip in May and was told all that was showing for my dates were 2 2 bdrm units whereas when I did a similar last minute add on of dates last September, I had no problem. Have also read other reports of people waitlisted for September dates or others being unable to modify existing reservations due to availability. It is catching on, and with World of Color and other DCA enhancements, I am convinced the 11 month booking advantage will be essential, especially for studio/ 1 bdrm seekers.

Now, I need to work on dh to convince him this also means we need another 50 points. My constant state of borrowing is becoming a challenge to my lofty vacation dreams.

Yep...we just signed by the Mickeys and sent off our paperwork..now I can quit fretting about if I should add on..I just DID..50 points here also.

 

[DVCGeek]

I need more points! What will we do when Hawaii opens?

Succumb to addonitious?

 

[justkeepswimmin]

Well, hearing the 11-month booking might be needed is comforting in a way, that was a major motivating factor in buying my first add on (my VGC contract; master is @ BLT). Not that I want it to be hard to book exactly, but it is nice to own at an in-demand property!

Yes, it is a bit of a double edged sword as now I really do need to plan 11 months out for my points and I think it will be hard to make many modifications after the 7 month mark. We will generally be in 1 bdrm units and there are not many to go around, particularly if the 2 bdrm people book the lock off units, which would be what we would want if we were booking a 2 bdrm. So happy to own here though

My only problem is that we keep having reasons to add extra stays, Destination-D, special events, so now we've used all our SSR points for 2010 at VGC, we were lucky enough for the waitlist to come through on the late bookings, and hopefully we'll have that luck in the future. But if this keeps up, I'm going to burn through my SSR points at home and we won't be able to go to WDW

I need more points! What will we do when Hawaii opens?

Us too! My dh is doing the DL 1/2 Marathon and at first we were going to just stay on Harbor but we did a 50 point add on that allowed us to get 2009 points too so we went ahead and booked at the Villas. Problem is, we are out of points again and our plan for 2011 is a trip to the new Hawaii DVC which will likely mean NO DVC trips to DL in 2011 as all our points (and then some) will likely be needed for THAT trip. We have 210 points at VGC but I really think 250 would be our "happy place" number.

Enjoy the F&W festival! We are going over Mother's Day weekend for the 1st time and I am looking forward to checking it out. I have been to the one at Epcot and I really enjoyed it.

Yep...we just signed by the Mickeys and sent off our paperwork..now I can quit fretting about if I should add on..I just DID..50 points here also.

Congratulations!

 

[wbl2745]

I've wondered what obligations of VGC members would be if there were to be a large earthquake in the LA area that seriously damaged the VGC? Would the owners, meaning us, be responsible for funding major repairs? Could we see $50 per point "maintenance" charges to rebuild a destroyed building? I guess this goes back to who owns the building and the land. I should probably look at the paperwork, but aren't we actually "lease holders" rather than "owners"? If we were "owners" then our points couldn't expire. Any thoughts on this?

 

[junglejoy]

Certainly we're paying for earthquake insurance. That would help cover the costs.

 

[DVCGeek]

We own an interest in units that make up a leasehold condominium, IIRC. When it comes to damage in particular I'm not entirely sure what that means, assuming the member (or 'guests' using their points) did NOT cause it. I HOPE DVD (or some division of the Mouse) maintains insurance for things like fire, flood, earthquake, etc. so we wouldn't have to pay for major damage out of a special dues assessment, but I'm not 100% sure how that works and my paperwork is at home... Don't know if I would find something that I could understand even if I was looking for it though!