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

[joihan777]

VGC Owners & Lovers Group - Upcoming Stays

If you are a VGC owner and would like to share your upcoming stay info with us... or even if you aren't and you want to add your name to the list, just send me a PM and I'll be happy to add you! We love to know when our fellow owners and DVC pals will be staying.

joihan777 - June 4-10, 2012 in a 2BR, pool view. Family vacation this yr!

 

[Davids-Coco]

We love using them! It is our only option for not having to bring car seats since they operate tour busses. My only hint with them is bring back up copies of your receipt. They take the original at the airport if you pay round trip. Last time they didn't give us the little ticket and we didn't have it for the ride back to the airport - but I had a copy of the receipt and it wasn't a problem.

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

It's GrayLine. I used it once from LAX, it's not bad. They take everyone to the Disneyland Hotel and collect the money there. They then direct you to the bus to your final destination, they serve more than just the Disney owned hotels. From LAX, I like it better than SuperShuttle because it's more comfortable for the longer drive. From SNA, I use SuperShuttle.

http://graylineanaheim.com/shuttles.shtml

Thank you so much for this info .... Now I just have to wait for a cheap airfare!!!

 

[DizDays]

VGC Owners & Lovers Group - Upcoming Stays

If you are a VGC owner and would like to share your upcoming stay info with us... or even if you aren't and you want to add your name to the list, just send me a PM and I'll be happy to add you! We love to know when our fellow owners and DVC pals will be staying

FEB 2-8, 2013 - DizDays - 3 nights studio, 3 nights 1 bedroom - first VGC stay as DVC members! Can't wait!!

 

[Nonsuch]

I attended the D23 Disneyland Off the Map event last week
I was very lucky to get tickets, and equally lucky to have a 1-bedroom villa available for 3 days surrounding the event

I love the park view and always make a detailed request. 3508 was 6th on my request list. The x508 rooms have a good view of WOC from the balcony.

Room from the park side:

Window view:

Balcony view:

WOC from balcony:

The showerheads had been replaced with cheap handheld units
These were perfectly functional, but seemed rather odd. I asked about it while at the guest services desk. The cast member did need to do some research, and left me a voice message that a previous guest had requested handheld shower heads. The correct shower heads were reinstalled

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

What a wonderful view you had!!! If I ever add on points it's got to be at VGC!!! I want that 11 month booking window!

 

[LAWalz23]

First time to GCV after many stays at WDW. Getting very excited but have few questions any help would be appreciated. Both sister and family and parents and myself have 1 bedrooms booked for July 18-24. From the maps it looks like parents and I will be on first floor since we have handicapped booked for my Mom. Question is would we be able to see Colors of Wonder? What rooms could my sister request so that she might have a view of Colors of Wonder if my parents didn't want to stay out for the show? Also does GCV have wheelchairs that we could borrow for the week or should we bring one from home? Mom can walk short distances but not anything over 10 min and has balance issues. Thanks for any help.

 

[wbl2745]

You won't be able to see anything of the World of Color from the first floor. Both landscaping and buildings will be in your way. There are maps that show the room locations. You want to be as close to the end of the building as possible and probably at least on the 3rd floor or above. Another possibility is to use the terrace on the 6th floor which is open to VGC (and hotel?) guests. You're a little too far to the side to see the projections, but the show is still very impressive. If your mom is up to it I'd recommend getting into the handicapped section, which has benches and wheelchair locations, in the official viewing area. You really need to see it from the front, not the side, to get the whole picture.

Hope you have a great time!

 

[franandaj]

There will be no view from the HA Villa as it faces the fence to DCA, all the units ending in 14 face this direction. Nonsuch has a good list of room numbers to use for requests to get a good view of WoC. Don't know if they have wheelchairs available at the resort, but there are also places you can rent them and scooters if you don't want to bring one from home.

Have fun!

 

[LAWalz23]

Thanks, wbl2745 and franandaj for your replies. They were very helpful in planning our trip! We leave 4 months from tomorrow, yea!

 

[Chereya]

There will be no view from the HA Villa as it faces the fence to DCA, all the units ending in 14 face this direction. Nonsuch has a good list of room numbers to use for requests to get a good view of WoC. Don't know if they have wheelchairs available at the resort, but there are also places you can rent them and scooters if you don't want to bring one from home.

Have fun!

Nonsuch, do you have a list of preferred room requests for a dedicated 2 br?

 

[Nonsuch]

Nonsuch, do you have a list of preferred room requests for a dedicated 2 br?

I have not stayed in a dedicated 2 bedroom, but this would be my request:

Prefer a high floor with Paradise Pier Park View.
The room order of preference is: 5506, 4506, 6500, 5500, 4500, 3522, 3506, 3500, 5518, 4518, 3518

My thoughts when selecting rooms, which might let you fine tune your own request:
5506, 4506: high floors with a good angle toward WOC
6500, 5500, 4500: high floors with a slightly worse angle to WOC. Wall restricts view toward the right (not a big issue).
3522: Best angle to WOC, but trees restrict WOC view.
3506, 3500: more 3rd floor rooms
5518, 4518, 3518: Redwood Creek view, no view of WOC

The WOC view rooms can be rather noisy while the park is open, although I love the sounds
The pool view rooms (not on my list) will have less noise.

 

[mrsw94]

My father in law decided we should take a family trip to DL and managed to rent points for a 2 bedroom Villa!! We are soooo excited! It will be my in-laws, my sister-in-law and her 22 year old daughter, and my family. My self, hubby, dd10 (or at least she will be when we get there!) and DS4&1/2.

We will be there Oct. 13-18.

I finally finished reading through the original Grand Californian thread and have moved on to the DVC thread! I'm looking forward to all the advice and info you all can provide!

 

[Chereya]

I have not stayed in a dedicated 2 bedroom, but this would be my request:

My thoughts when selecting rooms, which might let you fine tune your own request:
5506, 4506: high floors with a good angle toward WOC
6500, 5500, 4500: high floors with a slightly worse angle to WOC. Wall restricts view toward the right (not a big issue).
3522: Best angle to WOC, but trees restrict WOC view.
3506, 3500: more 3rd floor rooms
5518, 4518, 3518: Redwood Creek view, no view of WOC

The WOC view rooms can be rather noisy while the park is open, although I love the sounds
The pool view rooms (not on my list) will have less noise.

Perfect - thanks so much for the detailed list and reasoning, Nonsuch! Now I have to backtrack through the thread so I can show DH the night time pics of WoC from the balconies...

 

[Colo Nana]

Oh how I love looking at the pics & hearing the stories. One day I dream of staying there but being a gramma raising her autistic grandson it'll never happen, so I live thru you plz continue to share pics....I am taking him to disney tho my bff its treating us but were staying at some off property 1 star place boo

 

[Colo Nana]

double post sry

 

[raftislander]

Ok..mostly just posting so that this thread does not face the ignominy of dropping to the fifth page. Dont want others to think that we don't love our Resort. So I am a new owner at GCV. Now the only problem is having to wait for my first trip there as a DVC owner. Have a reservation for October and I do love Halloweentime! Has anyone heard if the Halloween parties will stay at DL or will they go back to DCA now that construction is over?

 

[sechelt]

Does anyone have a pic of the view from 5518? I'd love to have one of the south facing villas but the family wants something 'quieter'.

 

[Starr W.]

Booked a 2br on Monday for our November trip! Already had booked my FF tickets(got 4 25k skypesos ones from DL). Had back up lodging but was really looking forward to VGC.

 

[bigAWL]

Does anyone have a pic of the view from 5518? I'd love to have one of the south facing villas but the family wants something 'quieter'.

Didn't find a photo, but here's a little report on the room:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36000458&postcount=2326