The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Owners & Lovers Group - 2.0

[disland7]

All rooms (studio, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedrooms) are all gone for your dates. All categories seem to go pretty quickly at the 7 month mark. Sorry. It is hard to rent points at VGC - keep trying. I would check the disboards rent/trade boards too next time. I see VGC come up every now and then there.

 

[MrsSLF]

All rooms (studio, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedrooms) are all gone for your dates. All categories seem to go pretty quickly at the 7 month mark. Sorry. It is hard to rent points at VGC - keep trying. I would check the disboards rent/trade boards too next time. I see VGC come up every now and then there.

Thank you for checking for me! My fingers were crossed but I didn't have high hopes about getting a rental for those dates in a bigger room. This was a last-minute sort of trip because we decided to change our cruise plans due to the outbreak (and not wanting to be on a floating petri dish right now) for this summer. Oh, well. Just means I'll have to try another trip in the future.

 

[shaunacb]

I'm staying at the VGC in early April, and I have a late-afternoon flight on my check-out day, which is Day 6 of my trip, so my 5-Day Park Hopper will be all used up by that point.

What I have been unable to find out is if there are lockers and showers in the pool area for using after you don't have access to your room. Thanks!

There is a bathroom off to the side of the pool area but no showers lockers as far as I know.

 

[pepe3penelope]

Hi! I believe the DVC villas went through a recent refurbishment. Does anyone have any recent photos of 1 bedroom or larger? TIA!

 

[Nonsuch]

There is a bathroom off to the side of the pool area but no showers lockers as far as I know.

Photos of the restrooms within the pool area, with showers.
There are no lockers, and bring your own soap

 

[Nonsuch]

Hi! I believe the DVC villas went through a recent refurbishment. Does anyone have any recent photos of 1 bedroom or larger?

Refurbishment of VGC was completed 3 years ago.
Details of the changes from earlier in this thread.
VGC changes were minimal.
GCH rooms were completed updated.

 

[nikerbokers]

my wife will not stand for a noisy room past 10pm. Any ideas is this is still going on? Where to pick now? I’ll be in a 1 bed.

I've never had noise in any of my rooms at VGC- including facing the park. I've stayed at 3514 (I think that's the room number) twice. It's a 1 bedroom, facing the far right of the pool area. I've never heard any noise in this 1 bedroom. The view isn't much to behold but if you want to ensure your wife won't have a fit, this is a good choice.

 

[AlohaMyk808]

Our family's first real stay using DVC will be 8 nights in a dedicated 2 bedroom villa at VGC in October. We specifically saved for this and I am so grateful for this opportunity. Forgive me if this has been asked but if we want a WOC view what would be the recommended room numbers to request for? I've read 6500 has a fantastic view but I'm worried about the noise levels from the patio door.

 

[boscoj]

To us room 6500 has the best California Adventure view bar none! I wouldn’t worry about the noise level....it didn’t bother us at all. If not that room I would ask for 5500, 4500, 5506. Keep in mind that none of them actually have a great view of WOC....you really can’t see the water projections. But the park view is just awesome! I see your from Hawaii like us....what area?

 

[AlohaMyk808]

To us room 6500 has the best California Adventure view bar none! I wouldn’t worry about the noise level....it didn’t bother us at all. If not that room I would ask for 5500, 4500, 5506. Keep in mind that none of them actually have a great view of WOC....you really can’t see the water projections. But the park view is just awesome! I see your from Hawaii like us....what area?

Thanks boscoj for the information! We are from Ewa Beach, how about you? How early is too early to make a request? Would it be better to call MS or email? Thanks again!

 

[boscoj]

Hey Aloha,
We live in Moanalua. As for the rooms you can always put in a request with MS but I've found what works best for me is to call the Grand one week before check-in and talk to them personally. In fact, I just did this for my son and his friends recently and they ended up with 5500. It doesn't hurt that when you check-in maybe give the front desk a box or two of Hawaiian Host candies as an omiyage lol!

 

[AlohaMyk808]

Alooohaa. I can't believe that I get one local to answer my question ...small world small island! We think so much alike...was already planning on bringing da omiyage lol. Thank you so much for sharing that information with us! Have a good one!

 

[sgrap]

Our family's first real stay using DVC will be 8 nights in a dedicated 2 bedroom villa at VGC in October. We specifically saved for this and I am so grateful for this opportunity. Forgive me if this has been asked but if we want a WOC view what would be the recommended room numbers to request for? I've read 6500 has a fantastic view but I'm worried about the noise levels from the patio door.

We stayed in 6500 last August. I think it depends on the people sleeping in that room and how light of sleepers they are. The door is on the other side of the wall from the 2 queen beds, so it not only is loud, but also shakes the wall a bit. We were super tired on this trip, so tried to nap in the middle of the day sometimes, and that was probably the worst time dealing with the door. Also in the evening after dark. We still loved the view. I'm attaching a picture that shows the room numbers facing pixar pier. Please note that the trees are much taller now. The green #'s are the dedicated 2 bedrooms. I always do a live chat on DVC online and submit a list of specific room #'s, in preference of order. We have always received something on that list. The last 2 trips, we have received our very first choices, so we have been in every room on the 6th floor (one trip we had the 1 bedroom and studio, the next trip we had the 2 bedroom). It was pretty awesome!!! <3 Enjoy!

 

[AlohaMyk808]

We stayed in 6500 last August. I think it depends on the people sleeping in that room and how light of sleepers they are. The door is on the other side of the wall from the 2 queen beds, so it not only is loud, but also shakes the wall a bit. We were super tired on this trip, so tried to nap in the middle of the day sometimes, and that was probably the worst time dealing with the door. Also in the evening after dark. We still loved the view. I'm attaching a picture that shows the room numbers facing pixar pier. Please note that the trees are much taller now. The green #'s are the dedicated 2 bedrooms. I always do a live chat on DVC online and submit a list of specific room #'s, in preference of order. We have always received something on that list. The last 2 trips, we have received our very first choices, so we have been in every room on the 6th floor (one trip we had the 1 bedroom and studio, the next trip we had the 2 bedroom). It was pretty awesome!!! <3 Enjoy!

Thank you for the information and that schematic! We are really excited for this trip since we were unsure if DVC was worth the investment. We have been going to Disneyland almost every year for the past 5 years but staying off site. After our first stay at Aulani we knew that it was well worth it.

 

[boscoj]

Trust me, once you stay at the GCV you won't want to stay offsite ever again! That's what happened to us....

Hope you guys have a great time, we rank traveling Halloween season right below Christmas time....just love all the decorations!

 

[shaunacb]

Any news on the date for DVC moonlight magic at Disneyland? Any ideas when they will announce it?

 

[SeaDis]

Thanks boscoj for the information! We are from Ewa Beach, how about you? How early is too early to make a request? Would it be better to call MS or email? Thanks again!

Good info above. For this question, my recent experience is this:
You can submit requests to MS anytime, it's never too early. Then, between 10 and 5 days out, call the hotel direct 714.635.2300 and let it go to the operator (which is really front desk staff in the back, I think). Just nicely ask them to verify if your room requests made it over from MS. It's just a double check. We used to call hotel direct for room requests anytime, but I was told GCH underwent a system conversion in the last year+ and now can't see reservations past 10 days out.

I agree with above to submit five or six room numbers. And it never hurts to be nice to at the front desk, or any other time, but I've been told pretty consistently rooms are assigned a couple days before arrival. For the hotel if there are empty rooms, they have some lattitude. But VGC will always be at capacity, of course.

I was surprised by the noise during this past Christmas time on the Pixar Pier side. It was coming from the music stage at an AP event, I think. I don't know if that stage is up and running at Halloween time for the parties. We use a white noise app on our phones to try and smooth it out. Have fun!

 

[AlohaMyk808]

Good info above. For this question, my recent experience is this:
You can submit requests to MS anytime, it's never too early. Then, between 10 and 5 days out, call the hotel direct 714.635.2300 and let it go to the operator (which is really front desk staff in the back, I think). Just nicely ask them to verify if your room requests made it over from MS. It's just a double check. We used to call hotel direct for room requests anytime, but I was told GCH underwent a system conversion in the last year+ and now can't see reservations past 10 days out.

I agree with above to submit five or six room numbers. And it never hurts to be nice to at the front desk, or any other time, but I've been told pretty consistently rooms are assigned a couple days before arrival. For the hotel if there are empty rooms, they have some lattitude. But VGC will always be at capacity, of course.

I was surprised by the noise during this past Christmas time on the Pixar Pier side. It was coming from the music stage at an AP event, I think. I don't know if that stage is up and running at Halloween time for the parties. We use a white noise app on our phones to try and smooth it out. Have fun!

Thank you SeaDis for giving me some good etiquette tips....it’s invaluable information. I’d hate to come off as demanding and honestly I already consider myself lucky for having this booking. Halloween is our favorite time of the year and we know this will be a very memorable one!

 

[montreid]

we had the opportunity to stay at the hotel side last month -- ahead of our first VGC stay coming up later this month. Totally agree. We were VERY happy to be on-site after doing the Harbor drive hotel shuffle for many years.

The view for WOC isn't great at least at the terrace which is right next to 6500. The angle is too sharp for the projections.

We're going to ask for 5510 to see if that's any better.

 

[xelysecia]

Does anyone know how hard it is to rent points here after Christmas? We are looking into buying a resale since we have a large family of 7 and normally stay at a resort in a 2 bedroom condo in Newport which is only 20 minutes away. But the last few times the traffic from parking/tram has added so much extra time. But we wanted to stay here first to see if we liked it before we made the investment. We generally go from December 28-January 4th since we have 2 kiddos with birthdays during that time.