The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Owners Group

[franandaj]

What made you decide to buy in ?

We bought for a number of different reasons. The first being that we knew that once F&W really takes off, we will never get rooms at the Villas at 7 months out. We purchased for the 11 month advantage at our home resort.

However there are other factors. The first being we could never justify spending $300+ per night at a place that's only 25 minutes from home. While it may seem silly to pay $25K for a place that close, when you break it down over 50 years that comes to about $1500 per year. If I were to break that down to the value we have already received this year that comes out to less than $150 per night, and some of those nights were spent in the very spacious one bedrooms.

By owning at the VGC it completely changes the way that we visit. In the past we would only go out for lunch/dinner and shopping. I might get on a ride, but most likely not. Now that we stay in the Villas, my DP can take a nap while I go ride some rides. Sometimes on checkout days, we will go in the parks and she will bring a book while I go on a few rides before we head home.

What's even more exciting I will be sharing it with a friend that I met on the DISboards when she comes to her first trip to DL. The one bedroom will be perfect for three of us since it has two bathrooms. Perhaps we might even be able to share it with other friends who come from out of town that want to visit.

I feel that even the studio Villas are more luxurious than the regular hotel rooms (although I have not stayed in a suite). Having the refirgerator, microwave and toaster are a big bonus, and when staying in a one bedroom the full kitchen, jacuzzi tub and extra space are just heavenly!

I also do not consider the lack of everyday housekeeping a bad thing. My cleaining lady doesn't come every day to my regular house, why would I want someone to come daily into my vacation home.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I can echo not missing Mousekeeping. We have been DVC owners since 1999, and have never taken advantage of the option to pay and have Mousekeeping come in. Probably wouldn't want it even if we could get it for free.

It is nice to settle in and just leave your stuff out and not worry about anyone coming in the room.

My one wish, when staying in a studio, is that you got fresh towels more often. It seems we take more showers on vacation, particularly with the Florida heat and those towels don't always dry between showers.

 

[pearl12970]

I am not sure I understand - how is $25K over 50 years = $ 1500 per year ? do you mean $500 per year ?

While it may seem silly to pay $25K for a place that close, when you break it down over 50 years that comes to about $1500 per year. If I were to break that down to the value we have already received this year that comes out to less than $150 per night,

 

[pearl12970]

What is F&W ? please explain to the ignorant ME

We bought for a number of different reasons. The first being that we knew that once F&W really takes off, we will never get rooms at the Villas at 7 months out. We purchased for the 11 month advantage at our home resort.

 

[Nonsuch]

I am not sure I understand - how is $25K over 50 years = $ 1500 per year ? do you mean $500 per year ?

You need to include the annual dues when evaluating DVC

Some rough numbers:
$25K = 250 points.
dues are $4/point, so $1K per year on 250 points.

Expanding on this example.
We like to spend 5 days in early December at the Grand. This would be $1500 for a standard hotel room. 195 points would be needed for 5 weekdays in a one-bedroom villa. This means we stay in a one-bedroom villa for the same cost as a regular hotel room.

Of course these simple computations ignore many details. There is an opportunity cost of tying up $25K and annual dues will increase. Of course the rates for hotel rooms will also increase.

 

[CrazyDuck]

What is F&W ? please explain to the ignorant ME

It stands for Food and Wine Festival. It something for the big kids to do while the little ones run rampant. It happens in the Spring at Disneyland and in the Fall at WDW.

 

[pearl12970]

It's an indivdual thing- housekeeping ended up knocking every time we were in the room and DH ddint like it coz we had to request them to come back later. While I appreciated the well made beds and propped up pillows

I can echo not missing Mousekeeping. We have been DVC owners since 1999, and have never taken advantage of the option to pay and have Mousekeeping come in. Probably wouldn't want it even if we could get it for free.

It is nice to settle in and just leave your stuff out and not worry about anyone coming in the room.

My one wish, when staying in a studio, is that you got fresh towels more often. It seems we take more showers on vacation, particularly with the Florida heat and those towels don't always dry between showers.

 

[gkrykewy]

We are still here! Two more full days after today. In response to some earlier questions about my photo/room:

We're on the fifth floor, no problem posting the number later. I would post more photos, but photobucketseems to want to convert all of my photos into PNGs, which makes them super big. And flickr limits my uploads to 640x480 (both from the ipad/iphone apps). Alas.

The view I was requested was "high floor, theme park view."

Other thoughts with regard to prior conversations on GC in comparison to AKL and WL: while we love love love GCV, my wife and I still generally prefer the overall aesthetic at the other two resorts. I think this is generally because we prefer our theming to be a bit more "over the top". For example, at the WDW resorts, the lodge aesthetic is supported by things like exposed logs and such, whereas at GCV those logs are squared off into beams. The overall aesthetic across the board is a bit more modern, with the theming left more to the details.

On the lobbies specifically, this one doesn't have quite the jaw dropping impact IMO, and I think it's because of the proportions of the space. GC's lobby is roughly a cube, as wide as it is tall, whereas the WDW resort lobbies come closer to the golden proportion (1.6:1?) that defines truly wonderful enclosed spaces.

A few other minor quibbles:

The outdoor fireplace would be a gorgeous place, but it seems to have become an informal smoking zone :/

The free wifi is essentially useless for us, as it does not reach our room from the lobby.

Thin walls: was treated to a phone conversation from the neighbors where I was forced to hear every word they said from our bed.

All that said, this place is phenomenal, Disneyland is great, and we're having a wonderful time! Our view is such a treat.

 

[MCSfromWA]

We are still here! Two more full days after today. In response to some earlier questions about my photo/room:

We're on the fifth floor, no problem posting the number later. I would post more photos, but photobucketseems to want to convert all of my photos into PNGs, which makes them super big. And flickr limits my uploads to 640x480 (both from the ipad/iphone apps). Alas.

The view I was requested was "high floor, theme park view."

Other thoughts with regard to prior conversations on GC in comparison to AKL and WL: while we love love love GCV, my wife and I still generally prefer the overall aesthetic at the other two resorts. I think this is generally because we prefer our theming to be a bit more "over the top". For example, at the WDW resorts, the lodge aesthetic is supported by things like exposed logs and such, whereas at GCV those logs are squared off into beams. The overall aesthetic across the board is a bit more modern, with the theming left more to the details.

On the lobbies specifically, this one doesn't have quite the jaw dropping impact IMO, and I think it's because of the proportions of the space. GC's lobby is roughly a cube, as wide as it is tall, whereas the WDW resort lobbies come closer to the golden proportion (1.6:1?) that defines truly wonderful enclosed spaces.

A few other minor quibbles:

The outdoor fireplace would be a gorgeous place, but it seems to have become an informal smoking zone :/

The free wifi is essentially useless for us, as it does not reach our room from the lobby.

Thin walls: was treated to a phone conversation from the neighbors where I was forced to hear every word they said from our bed.

All that said, this place is phenomenal, Disneyland is great, and we're having a wonderful time! Our view is such a treat.

Are you having trouble with the wi-fi? We have stayed twice in the villa and multiple times in the hotel ... never had any trouble with the wi-fi. Have you checked with the front desk about other options like ether net cable so that you can get connected that way?

 

[gkrykewy]

Yes, we are having trouble with the wifi. Could be that we are in among the furthest villas from the lobby; worth the tradeoff for the view. Our devices are wifi only, so the cable doesn't help. For us it's not a big deal, since I can just share the 3g connection from my phone, but others should bear it in mind if it matters to them. I did call the tech support on our second day, and they agreed that it was a range issue.

 

[nunzia]

We were at GCH recently and took the DVC tour.Couldn't spend much time with our guide and ask as many questions since we wanted to get back to the park. I am on the fence about it.Pls help me decide. What are the advantages / disadvantages ? What are the normal hotel amenities that DVC members cant avail of ? We are a family of 3 ( DH me and DS 3.5 yrs )
What made you decide to buy in ?

Housekeeping is the only amenitie you don't get. We do get free internet and free laundry facilities..the villas are so intermingled with the hotel that it really doesn't have a different feel at all. We bought in to prepay for our lodging for the future. We also have 3 kids who have given us 8 grandkids and counting and we like being able to offer rooms for trips to Disney, plus knowing we can do so for years is a big bonus. If you will only stay at a studio, it may not be right for you, or if you don't go often enough. There is always the option of buying as many points as you feel you might need through the resale market so you don't need to buy the Disney minimum if that is too much for you. We stayed in a 1 bedroom, so that could get addicting but studios are still just fine. Think about it and your budget and your travel patterns very carefully before you decide.

 

[funatdisney]

We were at GCH recently and took the DVC tour.Couldn't spend much time with our guide and ask as many questions since we wanted to get back to the park. I am on the fence about it.Pls help me decide. What are the advantages / disadvantages ? What are the normal hotel amenities that DVC members cant avail of ? We are a family of 3 ( DH me and DS 3.5 yrs )
What made you decide to buy in ?

We bought in because we vacation at GCH at least twice a year. We loved staying at OKW in WDW and knew knew how DVC worked. Since we vacation there so often and there were only going to be less than 50 DVC rooms, we had to buy in to insure we can book a room at 11 months. In addition, we take 8-9 day trips a year to DLR. The park visits are not the focus of our stays in the Villas (the day trips take care of that for us.) When we stay at VGC, we spend a lot of time in the villa, enjoying the hotel, swimming and just enjoy the room. We use the kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner (we even BBQ). We feel like we are really living in our room and, there, at DLR itself. We make the most of our stay there, and it feels like a real vacation. We don't arrive home tired and exhausted, and can't wait for our next visit.

As for what the difference of what amenities are offered for GCH guests and Villa guest. In addition to mousekeeping service, there is no turn down service for DVC booked rooms. I do sort of miss that.

 

[IandGsmom]

We were at GCH recently and took the DVC tour.Couldn't spend much time with our guide and ask as many questions since we wanted to get back to the park. I am on the fence about it.Pls help me decide. What are the advantages / disadvantages ? What are the normal hotel amenities that DVC members cant avail of ? We are a family of 3 ( DH me and DS 3.5 yrs )
What made you decide to buy in ?

Even though we have gone to WDW yearly for the past several years buying at VGH just made the most sense. Since it is the smallest resort we really wanted the 11 month booking option. Also since we live in California, I would rather own in CA than Florida. We also go at least a couple of times to DL a year so now we have somewhere very nice to stay. But really, we were already spending the money at Disney and staying in smaller rooms. Now next year I am planning to take my parents to WDW and stay in a 2 bedroom. I love it!! We also added point in Aulani because I wanted to own there.

 

[pearl12970]

Do you mainly use your points at VGC and WDW ? Do you ever use your points on Disney Cruises / World Passport Collection ( RCI ) / Concierge collection ?

 

[pearl12970]

You are the perfect candidate for DVC. you kids and grandkids will be so glad you invested in DVC;specially for VGC with the limited villas.

We are a small family - DH , me and DS 3.5 yrs. It will be a long long time before we have grand kids However we do look forward to taking DS to Disneyland atleast every alternate year. Just wondering if I should opt for the min of 160 points and accumulate them over 2 years to use them OR just buy 200 points so we can use them every year at other locations where DVC offers accomodations. I am not sure if its effective use of points if I use them to stay at RCI /cruise or other locations as well.

Housekeeping is the only amenitie you don't get. We do get free internet and free laundry facilities..the villas are so intermingled with the hotel that it really doesn't have a different feel at all. We bought in to prepay for our lodging for the future. We also have 3 kids who have given us 8 grandkids and counting and we like being able to offer rooms for trips to Disney, plus knowing we can do so for years is a big bonus. If you will only stay at a studio, it may not be right for you, or if you don't go often enough. There is always the option of buying as many points as you feel you might need through the resale market so you don't need to buy the Disney minimum if that is too much for you. We stayed in a 1 bedroom, so that could get addicting but studios are still just fine. Think about it and your budget and your travel patterns very carefully before you decide.

 

[ACDSNY]

Do you mainly use your points at VGC and WDW ? Do you ever use your points on Disney Cruises / World Passport Collection ( RCI ) / Concierge collection ?

We use our points mainly at VGC or other DLR hotel when there's no availability at the VGC. Our WDW trips are every other year or so. We've never used our points for a cruise, but when DVC exchanged with Interval International we did exchange out to Kauai one year. We love the flexiblility of DVC as we can reserve different size units as we need to and stay as little as one night or several nights.

 

[p1n0ijigga]

Just became a VGC owner !!

 

[funatdisney]

Just became a VGC owner !!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

 

[duck_widow]

We just got back from our ever stay at VGC and had a great time. I begged and begged for a theme park view, and did get that but it was a view of Grizzly Peak and the pool area to the left. Room 3518 Oh well, maybe next time we'll get that great Paradise Pier view.

We had a two-bedroom for seven of us and it was bigger than I remembered from the model. We had no noise from above or below, but one morning starting at 7am we got to hear someone's kid having a meltdown and their dad yelling at them for 30 minutes. Yikes. Gosh, it was so nice to be so close to the park. I can't wait to go back.

My only gripe is that there is no non-stick cookware. We burnt so much food trying to cook in stainless steel. Doing eggs each morning was a real challenge. We'll bring along one large non-stick pan next time along with paper plates. We did grocery delivery and that worked out fine although we were missing a gallon of milk and Italian sausage. The hotel just sent those things up from room service at no charge. Nice!

Also we ended up with free valet parking for our stay. We intended to self-park but when the valet saw our handicap placard he said he'd just comp the valet parking. Again, nice! We felt like total rock stars there and staying at the Grand really, really enhanced the whole experience.

 

[madbio]

Originally bought 180 pts. at GCV, then loved it so much, we got an additional 125 pts. We will be staying in that 3bdrm villa someday!