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

[elgerber]

HOME!

We don't get to WDW too often so that's why we bought at VGC. But to give you an idea, my waitlist for a mid-June night 2012 just came through today. DH's boss changed her vacation plans so we had to change ours at the 7 1/2 month mark and we had to waitlist for the studio we wanted (yep, when we were competing with VGC owners only!) ... Its pretty tight with only 48 villas. However, if you're flexible with your dates and/or willing to risk wait lists not coming through, you might do just as well with SSR points. We also like to travel at peak-DVC times: early Dec, mid-October, and throw the occasional early summer trip in, so we definitely needed the home resort advantage. And I've waitlisted extra nights for our fall trips the last couple of years and not had those come through at all.

Can I ask what dates and type of room your Waitlist was for? I have one also and am not very optimistic.

 

[taaren]

Can I ask what dates and type of room your Waitlist was for? I have one also and am not very optimistic.

We waitlisted a studio for June 17 & 18 (Sun-Mon) and got it ... still not 100% that we're going to go on those dates if DH can't get the time granted but figure we can cancel anytime before May since we have a June UY and just bank the points for our big 2013 trip. Will post under Mouscellaneous if we cancel.

 

[JimmyJam838]

If you pay attention, you can get your room number when you check in, even if it is not available. It is available on the card you sign when checking in. It is near the top and says GV ####. I haven't noticed this on our previous stays as my wife is usually done checking in by the time I get up to the front desk as I self park our truck. This time though, she was still in the check in process when I arrived at the front desk.

 

[Nonsuch]

...It is near the top and says GV ####...

Nice find, I'll keep an eye out for it

 

[franandaj]

We waitlisted a studio for June 17 & 18 (Sun-Mon) and got it ... still not 100% that we're going to go on those dates if DH can't get the time granted but figure we can cancel anytime before May since we have a June UY and just bank the points for our big 2013 trip. Will post under Mouscellaneous if we cancel.

Did you use points from your 2012 UY to make the reservation?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Announcement at the Annual meeting that GC rooms will once again be available for point booking starting Sept 2012! I've so missed having that option when the villas are full.

 

[DebbieB]

Announcement at the Annual meeting that GC rooms will once again be available for point booking starting Sept 2012! I've so missed having that option when the villas are full.

I wonder if it will be Disney Collection or actual DVC rooms like the inn rooms at VB. I thought I read somewhere that DVC owns the hotel rooms in the new wing (they are listed on the dues budget?). If it's DVC rooms, that would open up more points to be sold, there seems to be a demand. If it's Disney Collection, the points required will probably be outrageous.

 

[Snurk71]

If it's Disney Collection, the points required will probably be outrageous.

I hope so, otherwise where is the exclusive benefit to VGC owners? I think the points should be jacked up 40% over the VGC rates like they do for DLH and PP.

 

[DebbieB]

I hope so, otherwise where is the exclusive benefit to VGC owners? I think the points should be jacked up 40% over the VGC rates like they do for DLH and PP.

What if a VGC owner wants to get a night there when all the DVC rooms are booked? Are you going to pay 40 or 50 points a night? Plus the restrictions of reservation points if you cancel.

Are you a VGC owner? What does it have on your dues budget for # of rooms? I thought someone had posted that it said 48 villas plus xxx hotel rooms last year. If DVC owns those hotel rooms, you would think that they would want to start declaring them and selling points.

 

[Snurk71]

What if a VGC owner wants to get a night there when all the DVC rooms are booked? Are you going to pay 40 or 50 points a night? Plus the restrictions of reservation points if you cancel.

What happens if a BWV owner wants a night on the BW and all of the BWV rooms are booked? You either pay through the nose for a regular room at the BW with cash, stay at SSR, or plan your trip for another time when you can book the room you want.

At DL you either pay through the nose for a GC cash room, pay through the nose in points at DLH or PP, or plan your trip to take advantage of your 11 month window. That is the benefit/advantage of the 11 month window (to me) - of which I support the "you snooze, you lose" function. By that I mean if you don't take advantage of the 11 month window, you shouldn't expect a room to be available later.

Are you a VGC owner? What does it have on your dues budget for # of rooms? I thought someone had posted that it said 48 villas plus xxx hotel rooms last year. If DVC owns those hotel rooms, you would think that they would want to start declaring them and selling points.

Yes, I own at VGC (BLT and BCV too). I like that the resort is small/exclusive with the 48 units. And I'm okay with my dues - they don't seem outrageous to me as they are now.

With regards to DVC owning more rooms and selling points for them - that's fine. But I don't think they should open up GC on points any more than they should open up BC or BW at WDW. Should be the same concept/principle applied.

 

[DebbieB]

The thing that makes me wonder is why wait until September 2012 to make them available for the Disney Collection? Why not open them up sooner? If they are declaring them to DVC, that would give VGC owners a priority period to book them plus time to sell points.

I found the post that talks about the VGC dues. It's based on 48 DVC units & 203 hotel rooms. 203 is the number of hotel rooms in the new wing.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39046566&postcount=51

I also read on post #59 that there was a clause in the VGC contract saying that existing hotel rooms could be declared/converted into DVC.

 

[Snurk71]

I didn't attend the meeting, but that's not how reports are coming out. It's being presented/interpretted that you will be able to exchange points for "cash hotel rooms" - not converting and declaring additional hotel rooms into VGC.

That - I don't agree with. And if it's accurate, I think it should happen program-wise (CT, BC, BW, WL, soon to be GF) - not just in CA.

 

[elgerber]

We waitlisted a studio for June 17 & 18 (Sun-Mon) and got it ... still not 100% that we're going to go on those dates if DH can't get the time granted but figure we can cancel anytime before May since we have a June UY and just bank the points for our big 2013 trip. Will post under Mouscellaneous if we cancel.

Interesting, I tried and tried and tried to get the 18th in a studio, to no avail. I have no hope for the 18th-20th that I am waitlisted for.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I wonder if it will be Disney Collection or actual DVC rooms like the inn rooms at VB. I thought I read somewhere that DVC owns the hotel rooms in the new wing (they are listed on the dues budget?). If it's DVC rooms, that would open up more points to be sold, there seems to be a demand. If it's Disney Collection, the points required will probably be outrageous.

I'm a little doubtful this is going to be converting those hotel rooms to DVC at this time otherwise I think the announcement would have been of sales starting at VGC again. But I also wouldn't be terribly surprised if they do convert some sooner rather than later.

Either way I'm happy they are adding something instead of taking away more!

I hope so, otherwise where is the exclusive benefit to VGC owners? I think the points should be jacked up 40% over the VGC rates like they do for DLH and PP.

I think it's a bit apples to oranges comparing restricting booking at WDW resorts with DVC components to doing the same at DL and the biggest problems are a) DL relies far more on local attendance and b) there aren't any additional DVC options to trade in to at DL where you have many options at WDW. Allowing booking at GC is a sales tool to the west coast even more than a benefit for current owners. And I don't require any exclusivicity of only being able to stay at the Villas on points. For my DVC enjoyment I wouldn't care if they allowed the same at the WDW resort and think it would add a nice option to DVC owners.

 

[Snurk71]

I think it's a bit apples to oranges comparing restricting booking at WDW resorts with DVC components to doing the same at DL and the biggest problems are a) DL relies far more on local attendance and b) there aren't any additional DVC options to trade in to at DL where you have many options at WDW. Allowing booking at GC is a sales tool to the west coast even more than a benefit for current owners. And I don't require any exclusivicity of only being able to stay at the Villas on points. For my DVC enjoyment I wouldn't care if they allowed the same at the WDW resort and think it would add a nice option to DVC owners.

Allowing DVC to book in the cash rooms effectively devalues our VGC ownership. We bought at VGC partially because of the low number of villas - and paid a high price for having the ability to lock in "DVC point rates" for rooms. If you increase the supply, you've lowered the value/demand for the VGC points (basic supply and demand economics).

I'm fine with opening up the cash rooms for points, but I expect the point cost to be similar to the point costs at DLR and PP (40% premium). We can get into a whole cost thing of cash rooms vs DVC rooms (refurb frequency, etc) - but that's a good chunk as to why the point rates at any non-DVC rooms are so high.

Curious - do you own at VGC?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Allowing DVC to book in the cash rooms effectively devalues our VGC ownership. We bought at VGC partially because of the low number of villas - and paid a high price for having the ability to lock in "DVC point rates" for rooms. If you increase the supply, you've lowered the value/demand for the VGC points (basic supply and demand economics).

I'm fine with opening up the cash rooms for points, but I expect the point cost to be similar to the point costs at DLR and PP (40% premium). We can get into a whole cost thing of cash rooms vs DVC rooms (refurb frequency, etc) - but that's a good chunk as to why the point rates at any non-DVC rooms are so high.

Curious - do you own at VGC?

Allowing DVC to book cash rooms does not devalue your membership in actual dollars. Your value is that you have locked in and know approx how much you will pay for your room at VGC for the next 49 years and says nothing about how it will compare to the cost of other rooms at the hotels. There is more value to me personally to have this option back than to not have it even though I may never use it.

I also don't think there's any reason to believe that the points won't be more for the hotel rooms. In order to "pay" for the cost of the exchange DVC charges the members more points and I think that's unlikely to change.

And yep - I am a VGC owner. The one and only place I'll ever be a founding member.

 

[franandaj]

I think it's great! I'm someone who lives close enough that owning is probably a sin, however, if an event comes up that I want to stay overnight and it is only announced 2 months in advance, chances that I will get into the VGC are slim. However if I can get into the regular hotel we may consider staying there.

If F&W comes back all bets are off because we won't have any extra points for things like that as we will book up all of our available points during the festival, but otherwise, we're good.

 

[taaren]

Did you use points from your 2012 UY to make the reservation?

Interesting, I tried and tried and tried to get the 18th in a studio, to no avail. I have no hope for the 18th-20th that I am waitlisted for.

Yes, the points are in my 2012 UY (we are June on our main contract so it'll be easy to put them back). elgerber I'll pm you when I give up the 18th .... it looks highly likely that I'll be giving that reservation up. Probably going to be trading my VGC points with another member for our Dec BLT reservation so he can get VGC President's Day weekend in Feb 2013 so I'm going to need my 2012 points for that and will probably end up staying offsite in June after all.

but I really want that BLT reservation and haven't been able to find anybody able to transfer in the qty points I need (+ DH likes the trade better since its not cash out of pocket, which was kind of the point of buying DVC).

I didn't attend the meeting, but that's not how reports are coming out. It's being presented/interpretted that you will be able to exchange points for "cash hotel rooms" - not converting and declaring additional hotel rooms into VGC.
That - I don't agree with. And if it's accurate, I think it should happen program-wise (CT, BC, BW, WL, soon to be GF) - not just in CA.

From the posts I've seen it sounds like the GC points are going to be part of the Disney Collection again (I think that's what you're saying and I agree). I doubt they'll expand it to CT, BC, BW, etc though simply because the DLR Disney Collection already has several exceptions: no last four months of UY rule, no $95 booking fee, etc because availability at VGC/on-site hotels are limited. GCH/DLR is kind of special and has its own rules. What would be cool is if they brought back the concierge option on points. They'd probably be too rich for my blood point-wise, but its nice to read people's TRs of staying concierge on points at DLH/GCH back in the day ... some really seem to like it! I'll take my kitchen most of the time, but as an alternative, it'd be cool to know its there.

 

[nunzia]

I own at VGC and am glad they are bringing the points option back. I'm sure they will be outrageous..I booked a stay at DLH on points..holy cow..and they are higher by quite a bit next year, so I'm betting VGC hotel room points will be like mid 40 low time weekdays to maybe even low 70's for weekend high time. Still..nice to have the option, even though I'd probably pay cash.

 

[elgerber]

Yes, the points are in my 2012 UY (we are June on our main contract so it'll be easy to put them back). elgerber I'll pm you when I give up the 18th .... it looks highly likely that I'll be giving that reservation up.

Wow, that is nice of you, thanks!!!