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

[Wakey]

Oh - I thought you were talking about the hotel guest entrance.

I am - the one for hotel guests which is behind the food and merchandise buildings opposite the World of Colour. The corn dog place near it. Imagine you enter Grand Californian grounds through that and when you walk into the grounds we were the first ground floor room exactly in front of you there.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I am - the one for hotel guests which is behind the food and merchandise buildings opposite the World of Colour. The corn dog place near it. Imagine you enter Grand Californian grounds through that and when you walk into the grounds we were the first ground floor room exactly in front of you there.

They reopened that for guests? I was unaware that was back in use for the public.

 

[Nonsuch]

5. Rooms are v dark and whilst not Boulder Ridge bad, need that refurb soon.

Rooms were originally much darker, both VGC and GCH. Earlier remodel made everything lighter (carpet, drapes, wallpaper), but only GCH received upgraded lighting. I’m happy with the current VGC lighting, and would prefer not to pay dues for a big lighting upgrade

 

[Wakey]

They reopened that for guests? I was unaware that was back in use for the public.

Yes it was open when we were there early August. The best thing about the room was we were literally steps from the entrance. If we went out the patio door (albeit we would have to leave it unlocked) it was, what, 10 steps from the park entrance just across a path. We would usually leave by the normal door though so as not to leave the patio unlocked, and walk to the end of the corridor which was near us, through a fire door and then you’d be outside.

 

[Wakey]

Rooms were originally much darker, both VGC and GCH. Earlier remodel made everything lighter (carpet, drapes, wallpaper), but only GCH received upgraded lighting. I’m happy with the current VGC lighting, and would prefer not to pay dues for a big lighting upgrade

I think it was very dark in our room because of where it was. Ground floor opposite that park entrance/ exit. A lot of foliage around.

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

Hello VGC fans!

I was extremely fortunate to book at the 7-month reservation window at VGC over the July 4th holiday week! My homes are VGF and CCV and haven't stayed at Grand Californian for number of years - never as a DVC owner. I have a 2-bedroom suite booked.

A couple of questions:
1) What are the view options and how (if possible) can one request them?
2) Does Touring Plans help with room requests for these rooms similar to those at Disney World Orlando?
3) Are there any floor or views that are well appreciated? - higher floors, pool views, etc.
4) What food delivery services to owners typically use locally (Walmart +, Instacart, etc.)

Can't wait for my trip and feeling very fortunate right now!

 

[pineapplepalms]

Is anyone else having issues modifying a VGC reservation? For my WDW and Aulani reservations I can still see the View or Modify Details link, but for VGC that link isn’t there and all I see is an error message:
“Sorry but Resort-specific planning information cannot be displayed at this time. For planning assistance, please view the Pre-Arrival Checklist”

Great news, all! This issue seems to be fixed now.

 

[pineapplepalms]

Hello VGC fans!

I was extremely fortunate to book at the 7-month reservation window at VGC over the July 4th holiday week! My homes are VGF and CCV and haven't stayed at Grand Californian for number of years - never as a DVC owner. I have a 2-bedroom suite booked.

A couple of questions:
1) What are the view options and how (if possible) can one request them?
2) Does Touring Plans help with room requests for these rooms similar to those at Disney World Orlando?
3) Are there any floor or views that are well appreciated? - higher floors, pool views, etc.
4) What food delivery services to owners typically use locally (Walmart +, Instacart, etc.)

Can't wait for my trip and feeling very fortunate right now!

Congrats! We will also be there that week. We love VGC and stay there pretty often despite not owning there. The location is unbeatable and the new back entrance is so convenient. The 2BR is great with all that space and 3 full bathrooms.

For view, I generally just request high floor and Pixar Pier view. We’ve been very fortunate and gotten a lot of great views where we can see World of Color from the balcony. The views from the 5th and 6th floors are the best, although I was surprised we had a decent view from the 2nd floor recently. I usually just email MS from the online form with our request. I’ve heard they prioritize nicer views for longer stays, though I’m not sure how true that is. I will say we had a 2 week stay there (using up banked DVC points), and they offered to move us to a nicer view room the next night if we wanted to. We were very glad we decided to take them up on the offer since we were there for so long and the view was much better than the first room. They’ve only offered us that once.

For food delivery, if we don’t pick up ourselves from Target, we’ll do delivery from Instacart or Amazon/Whole Foods. Bell Services should store anything until you can get if it needs to be refrigerated or frozen, and if we’ve had anything happen where something wasn’t stored properly they have offered us a room credit (against things like spa services or other room charges since there’s no DVC room charge).

Example of view from 5500 (2BR dedicated):

 

[BrianLa]

Hello VGC fans!

I was extremely fortunate to book at the 7-month reservation window at VGC over the July 4th holiday week! My homes are VGF and CCV and haven't stayed at Grand Californian for number of years - never as a DVC owner. I have a 2-bedroom suite booked.

A couple of questions:
1) What are the view options and how (if possible) can one request them?
2) Does Touring Plans help with room requests for these rooms similar to those at Disney World Orlando?
3) Are there any floor or views that are well appreciated? - higher floors, pool views, etc.
4) What food delivery services to owners typically use locally (Walmart +, Instacart, etc.)

Can't wait for my trip and feeling very fortunate right now!

Congrats. I was lucky enough to snag a 1BR starting July 8th. Like you, I am looking for room/view suggestions.

 

[limace]

There is a thread with VGC views and pictures on this board if you search.

 

[DebbieB]

What happened to the 2024 refurb?

 

[VegasDisneyMom]

What happened to the 2024 refurb?

View attachment 723877

I really hope the refurb happens in 2024 (or earlier). There’s not many rooms to refurbish. Such a disappointment to not see it on this list.

 

[byhookorbycrook]

I’ve heard they prioritize nicer views for longer stays, though I’m not sure how true that is. I will say we had a 2 week stay there (using up banked DVC points), and they offered to move us to a nicer view room the next night if we wanted to. We were very glad we decided to take them up on the offer since we were there for so long and the view was much better than the first room. They’ve only offered us that once.

Very interested in hearing about this 2-week stay, if you could share what that experience was like. We just bought into owning at VGC and want to utilize it for general vacationing around LA area, in addition to park days. We have a lot of friends who live there.

 

[bigAWL]

I really hope the refurb happens in 2024 (or earlier). There’s not many rooms to refurbish. Such a disappointment to not see it on this list.

It almost seems like the small number of rooms could be a problem for refurb. With such high demand and low inventory, when do you shut down rooms? However they do it, perhaps it might coincide with the completion of the new DLH tower.

 

[VegasDisneyMom]

It almost seems like the small number of rooms could be a problem for refurb. With such high demand and low inventory, when do you shut down rooms? However they do it, perhaps it might coincide with the completion of the new DLH tower.

It’s definitely going to be a problem. I think this is the first full refurb, right? I wouldn’t mind being moved to the hotel side while they refurb the studios. I may be in the minority though.

 

[pirate33]

It almost seems like the small number of rooms could be a problem for refurb. With such high demand and low inventory, when do you shut down rooms? However they do it, perhaps it might coincide with the completion of the new DLH tower.

This is a good point. I would think they would have to schedule 11+ months out to block the rooms. It seems they do something like that already but, with such a small property, they would probably need to go floor by floor. That’s what they did at VGF1. I was fortunate to check in on the day they opened a floor early this year and received a completely new room.

 

[pirate33]

It’s definitely going to be a problem. I think this is the first full refurb, right? I wouldn’t mind being moved to the hotel side while they refurb the studios. I may be in the minority though.

Might be passable for a studio but not for people booking 1BR and higher. The hotel suites generally lack kitchens, except perhaps one of the huge presidential-style suites I’ve seen on a video (and that kitchen is more of a catering kitchen with a door and not a regular, family-style version). Plus no washer-dryer on the hotel side (I believe).

 

[bluecruiser]

Might be passable for a studio but not for people booking 1BR and higher. The hotel suites generally lack kitchens, except perhaps one of the huge presidential-style suites I’ve seen on a video (and that kitchen is more of a catering kitchen with a door and not a regular, family-style version). Plus no washer-dryer on the hotel side (I believe).

Excellent points! Although I wouldn't mind an upgrade to Concierge with complementary laundry instead of my usual 1BR.

 

[bigAWL]

It’s definitely going to be a problem. I think this is the first full refurb, right? I wouldn’t mind being moved to the hotel side while they refurb the studios. I may be in the minority though.

Or maybe they open the DLH tower and move folks there during refurb.

 

[vacay77]

No DVC side. Room was right outside the CA back entrance, literally 15 feet or so from it. Bottom corner of wing.

We stayed in a similar location last June. It actually worked out well for us - my 78 year old mom was with us and she had a scooter so it was nice to quickly return back to our room after being in California Adventure. It also made it easy for us to rest for a few hours mid-day before going back into the park later in the day. But I'll admit, I was initially disappointed when I saw the room - our last visit, we had a beautiful view of the theme park.