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

[Royal Consort]

Not to mention the table lamps!

My biggest concern about the upcoming refurbishment is the loss of the lamps and what their replacement may be.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Sounds like your family needs a 1 bedroom

Doesn't the 1-bedroom also just have 1 decent bed, 1 pull out couch, and 1 small murphy?

We're actually considering doing the 1-bedroom for our December 2025 trip. May have to borrow some points to do it as a special Christmas-time splurge. But not sure how the sleeping situation would go. Our son, being autistic, can't stay out in the living room area on his own.

LOL, it’s hard to go back to a studio after a one-bedroom. I love the tile work and wallpaper border in the master bath, the tile work and details in the mirror frame in the hallway bath, and all the Mickey cutout in the wood brackets. Not to mention the table lamps!

Everyone says that about the 1-bedroom. We don't have enough points for a 1-bedroom every trip so I hope we don't fall in love with it if we stay there sometime!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Oh...and where can I see some pictures of these cute details you guys are mentioning?? I'm not sure the best place for villa pics.

 

[Dobermanns]

My biggest concern about the upcoming refurbishment is the loss of the lamps and what their replacement may be.

Hubby is actually hoping the lamps end up at Property Control so we could get one

Seriously though. If they do replace the lamps, I hope they stay true to the craftsmen style.

 

[Dobermanns]

Oh...and where can I see some pictures of these cute details you guys are mentioning?? I'm not sure the best place for villa pics.

 

[AstroBlasters]

View attachment 811172View attachment 811173View attachment 811174View attachment 811175View attachment 811171

Honestly, just put in new shower heads, lighten the carpets, replace the cabinets and appliances with newer versions of the exact same things, and add Murphy beds and I am a happy camper…..

 

[AstroBlasters]

Hubby is actually hoping the lamps end up at Property Control so we could get one

Seriously though. If they do replace the lamps, I hope they stay true to the craftsmen style.

I would absolutely buy one of those lamps for my office at home!

 

[Dobermanns]

Oh...and where can I see some pictures of these cute details you guys are mentioning?? I'm not sure the best place for villa pics.

 

[AstroBlasters]

View attachment 811176

I will morn the loss of that border…

 

[torchlight]

Hello all - we had plans to stay at VGC with a big family group using rented points mid-November next year (2024). Seeing this news coming out about the refurb, it sounds like those dates will be fully in the middle of that refurbishment. I've been trying to do some research - some comments I've found seem to suggest it is not ideal to stay at any property that is mid-refurb. High probability of significant construction noise, construction debris and materials in the hallways and common spaces, parts of the resort generally having a "construction site" appearance, etc. For what we pay to stay at a location like this, those kind of experiences don't sound particuarly appealing.

However, it has always been a dream of ours to stay at the Grand Californian with the family, and this was the trip it was finally going to happen! Unfortunately, our planned trip dates can't move earlier to before the refurb begins, and delaying would probably mean a full year delay (to Nov. 2025). I think our next alternative would be to try to find an owner we can rent from for VDH - and those new rooms are beautiful, for sure. However, it's not our longtime "dream" hotel for DLR, and as ridiculous as this sounds, its at least double the walking distance to the park. (our preferred touring strategy involves lots of flexibility to pop back to the hotel for rest and breaks).

I guess we could look into staying on the cash side of the hotel, but for the size of our group, renting points makes a very bid difference financially. We do prefer "suite" style rooms with separate living areas - this gets pretty nuts cost-wise on the cash side. And while we won't be cooking fancy meals in the room or anything, we do use the kitchen features for breakfast and lunch, and the cash-side suites don't have the kitchen elements.

Before we pull the plug on our plans and look into making a switch, thought I would post here and see if anyone has any experience or feedback about the idea of staying at VGC during the refurb period and what we could realistically expect from that experience. Any thoughts or input would be helpful and appreciated - thanks!

 

[Dobermanns]

Before we pull the plug on our plans and look into making a switch, thought I would post here and see if anyone has any experience or feedback about the idea of staying at VGC during the refurb period and what we could realistically expect from that experience. Any thoughts or input would be helpful and appreciated - thanks!

I remember a stay when work was being done on the lobby floor, and another when work was being done on the same floor of my villa (maybe the refresh in 2017?). I don’t recall the noises, just the unsightly partitions in the lobby and the hanging plastic sheets in the hallway, which definitely destroyed the magical feeling of being in my beautiful home resort.

I think the upcoming full refurbishment would produce more noise, with more construction material, than a refresh. I read that they would do one floor at a time so you shouldn’t see anything in the hallways of your floor. I assume there are service elevators so you may not actually see workers coming and going along with furniture/carpet/flooring, etc. But during the day, when you might want to sleep in, or rest in your villa, there might be pounding and banging (putting in the Murphy beds? ).

 

[ajiuo]

I think the VGC referb might negatively affect members more than other resorts because there are so few rooms.

I’m excited for this update but I do hope they keep the feel of the resort.

I just because a member of VGC back in January. I have my first trip booked for May… however I was staying at VDH for 2 nights a week ago and was able to get a third night at VGC… so I did get to stay there.

Having stayed at VGC one night after VDH… I am definitely glad I went with VGC… even with the rooms being less up to date.

I just hope we get some chip and dale art like the hotel rooms. I love that.

 

[TeamRiley]

Have you found the hidden Chip and Dale in the carpets in the halls?

 

[Nonsuch]

Have you found the hidden Chip and Dale in the carpets in the halls?

How time flies... already been 7 years
https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...vers-group-2-0.2592085/page-165#post-56834986

 

[ClaraOswald]

I think the VGC referb might negatively affect members more than other resorts because there are so few rooms.

I’m excited for this update but I do hope they keep the feel of the resort.

I just because a member of VGC back in January. I have my first trip booked for May… however I was staying at VDH for 2 nights a week ago and was able to get a third night at VGC… so I did get to stay there.

Having stayed at VGC one night after VDH… I am definitely glad I went with VGC… even with the rooms being less up to date.

I just hope we get some chip and dale art like the hotel rooms. I love that.

I'm curious what makes you glad you picked VGC over VDH? I'm hoping we can make time to do a quick tour of VDH when we're there in June. We have no plans to buy there because I think VGC just fits our vibe more and the closeness to the parks, of course.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Have you found the hidden Chip and Dale in the carpets in the halls?

I noticed this during our stay in February. We were in a hotel room but it was on the far west end of the same chunk of hotel as the DVC rooms. Is this carpet throughout the entire hotel or just in this section of the building?

 

[Nonsuch]

I noticed this during our stay in February. We were in a hotel room but it was on the far west end of the same chunk of hotel as the DVC rooms. Is this carpet throughout the entire hotel or just in this section of the building?

The same carpet is used throughout VGC and GCH

 

[ClaraOswald]

Thanks. We didn't venture out much during our visit. Just to our wing of the hotel, the lobby, and Craftsman Grill. Next time I want to wander some more. I didn't know there was a little area with chairs on a higher floor somewhere that looked down over the lobby. Also didn't know about the WOC viewing area.

 

[ajiuo]

I'm curious what makes you glad you picked VGC over VDH? I'm hoping we can make time to do a quick tour of VDH when we're there in June. We have no plans to buy there because I think VGC just fits our vibe more and the closeness to the parks, of course.

Several Thing

- Location is a huge one. It took me half the time to get to my room from Disneyland and less then half the time from DCA. I think there are actually one or two hotels across Harbor Boulevard closer than the Disneyland Hotel… This is definitely a first world complaint though. As convenient as the grand Californian is…. The Disneyland hotel is still more convenient than anything at Disney World. Haha

- I think the hotel and amenities are much nicer at VGC. I like the California Craftsman style a lot better than the mid century modern thing that most hotels do. The lobby is just WOW! I really didn’t find anything particularly impressive about the DVC tower… I did like the hallways though.

- I had a preferred view room at VDH. It was overlooking a neighborhood. I don’t think VGC has a bad view. I had a wooded view and could kind of see DCA in the background.. much nicer.

- My room at VGC had a patio, VDH didn’t. In fact, all rooms at VGC have patios. Most at VDH don’t.

- While the rooms are new at VDH. I still see better potential at VGC. They are going to get a full referb next year… so they will end up being even slightly fresher than VDH in just a short time… and once again, I like the California craftsman style better than mid century modern.

- At VGC I wasn’t stuck with a bill at the end of my stay like I was at VDH. VDH doesn’t have the transient tax built into their dues, the tax is higher, and their dues are also still higher… a lot of people speculated that VDH dues would not go up very much… that turned out to be very wrong.

- VHD is a deluxe Disneyland resort. VGC is the Premier Disneyland resort. I believe it’s the smallest DVC resort and hard to get into at seven months… I booked rooms at both resorts very late in the game. Both were hard… but VGC was definitely harder, in fact I had to get a two bed when I only needed a studio… however, it was nice to have my first night there in a two bedroom…. But having the 11 month window at VGC definitely makes me feel good!

Honesty, I think I spent more time comparing VGC to my other home resort AKV… and that was definitely a much more difficult comparison. I don’t see myself staying at VDH again unless I need to for some reason.

 

[Chili327]

But having the 11 month window at VGC definitely makes me feel good!

Honesty, I think I spent more time comparing VGC to my other home resort AKV… and that was definitely a much more difficult comparison. I don’t see myself staying at VDH again unless I need to for some reason.

I would assume very similar in feel, but trying to compare a theme park entrance to a Savanna would be tough. lol