The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Owners & Lovers Group - 3.0

[AstroBlasters]

I’m seeing a drop in capital reserves at VCG to $1.8m and a drop at BLT to $8m

I think the figures you have quoted are the opening balance as at 31 Dec 2024

Ok, so we had $10.6m at the end of 2024 and we add $1.754m in 2025 (1,136,866 points ×$1.543pp 2025 cap reserve) = $12.35m reserves.

Some of that went to exterior and so that cost us our bathrooms….

 

[Royal Consort]

Ok, so we had $10.6m at the end of 2024 and we add $1.754m in 2025 (1,136,866 points ×$1.543pp 2025 cap reserve) = $12.35m reserves.

Some of that went to exterior and so that cost us our bathrooms….

I think this is a pretty good hypothesis. I suspected the exterior work was more expensive than you'd think initially.

PSA: don't pee on the exterior people, just because it may have replaced our bathrooms.

 

[VGCgroupie]

RIDICULOUS. I assume we had to sacrifice bathrooms because we had do exterior to keep up with the hotel side of things.

 

[JackosinDIS]

I did make a mistake with the dates, everything above should be pulled back by 1 year in my tables. Will make those edits (originals can still be found in quote posts).

However, the Estimated Capital Reserves Budget that I also see $1.8mil and $8mil is the budget for 2025, not the Estimated Capital Reserves Fund Balance for the end of 2025. If you look at prior years reports, you can see they separate the annual budget from the fund balance at the end of the year similarly.

Ah yes, I see what you mean.

 

[AstroBlasters]

RIDICULOUS. I assume we had to sacrifice bathrooms because we had do exterior to keep up with the hotel side of things.

I’m guessing they had to do the exterior the same time the hotel did since it’s the same contractors and the same building.

Having such a small number of rooms really can put the squeeze on an increase in labor and material costs unless those costs are shared with the rest the resort….

I still don’t understand why we could not at least get new handheld shower heads like the hotel side….

 

[VGCgroupie]

I’m guessing they had to do the exterior the same time the hotel did since it’s the same contractors and the same building.

Having such a small number of rooms really can put the squeeze on an increase in labor and material costs unless those costs are shared with the rest the resort….

I still don’t understand why we could not at least get new handheld shower heads like the hotel side….

Someone should have been smarter and bundled our refurb when the hotel side got it. I still feel like we are getting the short end of the stick and Im not happy.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Someone should have been smarter and bundled our refurb when the hotel side got it. I still feel like we are getting the short end of the stick and Im not happy.

A great question to ask at the condo meeting….

 

[VGCgroupie]

A great question to ask at the condo meeting….

Highly unlikely I could make it not being local

 

[JackosinDIS]

I’m guessing they had to do the exterior the same time the hotel did since it’s the same contractors and the same building.

Having such a small number of rooms really can put the squeeze on an increase in labor and material costs unless those costs are shared with the rest the resort….

I still don’t understand why we could not at least get new handheld shower heads like the hotel side….

Well we know what to get you for Christmas now at least…

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Looking at the Public Offering Statements may provide some hints about what has and hasn't happened here.

Date of end of year	Estimated capital reserves available at end of year	Estimated cost of interior refurbishment
Dec 31, 2019	$4.97mil	$12.27mil
Dec 31, 2020	$6.01mil	$13.29mil
Dec 31, 2021	$7.28mil	$15.15mil
Dec 31, 2022	$9.07mil	$16.94mil
Dec 31, 2023	$11.22mil	$33.38mil
Dec 31, 2024	$10.67mil	$35.28mil

(Credit to https://dvcfieldguide.com/public for hosting all the Public Offering Statements from the last few years!)

I don't know how much work the "Expected cost of interior refurbishment" includes, I'm assuming a total gutting beyond a normal hard goods, but I can surmise four things:

1. They did accelerate the contributions to the capital reserves in recent years
2. They never got all that close to amassing the capital reserves needed to satisfy the full expected cost of interior refurbishment
3. They started spending in 2024
4. Their estimates for how much money they needed jumped up dramatically from 2022 to 2023

EDITED above after @JackosinDIS pointed out an issue with the dates!

Estimated costs increasing that dramatically explains a lot. Even if they wanted to top out on dues increases they couldn't have made up that difference due to the cap. And also dealt with the screaming that would have come with that. At least there were good bones in the furniture to back off on any replacement costs for that.

 

[PolyRob]

Someone should have been smarter and bundled our refurb when the hotel side got it. I still feel like we are getting the short end of the stick and Im not happy.

WDW does tend to share materials across the cash and DVC resorts during refurbishment even if they are slightly off by a few years. It's very obvious at BCV, BWV, BLT, etc.

Maybe VGC gets new bathrooms during the next GC cash room hard goods refurb?

 

[VGCgroupie]

Estimated costs increasing that dramatically explains a lot. Even if they wanted to top out on dues increases they couldn't have made up that difference due to the cap. And also dealt with the screaming that would have come with that. At least there were good bones in the furniture to back off on any replacement costs for that.

Well ccv is about to get a refurb so we will see what they do there. BLT just finished and didn’t get a refurb like this. It seems that VGC is not getting the same treatment as other resorts. Costs have increased everywhere not just in CA.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Well ccv is about to get a refurb so we will see what they do there. BLT just finished and didn’t get a refurb like this. It seems that VGC is not getting the same treatment as other resorts. Costs have increased everywhere not just in CA.

But @PolyRob brings up a good point. WDW resorts have more units per resort and more resorts overall that get refurbs at the same time and so that really reduces the cost of materials and probably the cost of labor as well.

 

[VGCgroupie]

But @PolyRob brings up a good point. WDW resorts have more units per resort and more resorts overall that get refurbs at the same time and so that really reduces the cost of materials and probably the cost of labor as well.

Hopefully they have learned their lesson and try to refurb hotel side and dvc concurrently in the future to save on costs. But all of this should have been accounted for. It’s not a surprise that they have a small footprint of rooms. Regardless of any excuses made I’m not okay with it. It’s was scheduled for a hard goods refurbishment and thats what it should have gotten.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Hopefully they have learned their lesson and try to refurb hotel side and dvc concurrently in the future to save on costs. But all of this should have been accounted for. It’s not a surprise that they have a small footprint of rooms. Regardless of any excuses made I’m not okay with it. It’s was scheduled for a hard goods refurbishment and thats what it should have gotten.

Also to add maybe if they had done when it was originally supposed to be done instead of kicking it down the road it would’ve been cheaper.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Also to add maybe if they had done when it was originally supposed to be done instead of kicking it down the road it would’ve been cheaper.

 

[tx911]

Also to add maybe if they had done when it was originally supposed to be done instead of kicking it down the road it would’ve been cheaper.

I may fire off an email, but I'm definitely planning on not showering for 4 days in protest when I go.

 

[Canchaser143]

Something happened from 23-24…. maybe increased cost of food or labor charges….

If the reason we didn’t get the bathroom is because there wasn’t enough money to pay for it…. then I am OK with that answer as long as it is spelled out for me and I understand what that may mean for potential dues increases moving forward.

Obviously the bathrooms will have to be done at some point…. I actually really like the tile work in the villa showers…. MUCH more than on the hotel side…

Do you think the city of Anaheim had something to do with it maybe? Wasn't that around the time they renegotiated some bad deals? Perhaps they had to pay them more money lol Or Anaheim was like no new bathroom permits for you because we are still bitter

 

[crazycatlady]

I sent my e-mail to DVC membership. The fact that the cash side has better amenities than the DVC side is terrible. Not updating wallpaper and fixtures in bathrooms is unsanitary. A lack of small things like a rainfall/hand-held shower head, combo coffee pot, and lighted make-up mirror is ridiculous, as is the inferior tv and lack of usb ports.
Even though it shouldn't matter, it is sad that the rooms at the flagship DVC resort are not as nice as the ones at the other DVC resorts.

I agree with the pp who said they felt DVC chintzed out on our refurb because it is a highly sought after reservation.

We also had issues with the hot water during our stay last November, but I didn't bother complaining because I knew they were going to be having the refurb. I am very disappointed that the issue doesn't seem to be getting addressed.

 

[nalababybear]

I sent my e-mail to DVC membership. The fact that the cash side has better amenities than the DVC side is terrible. Not updating wallpaper and fixtures in bathrooms is unsanitary. A lack of small things like a rainfall/hand-held shower head, combo coffee pot, and lighted make-up mirror is ridiculous, as is the inferior tv and lack of usb ports.
Even though it shouldn't matter, it is sad that the rooms at the flagship DVC resort are not as nice as the ones at the other DVC resorts.

I agree with the pp who said they felt DVC chintzed out on our refurb because it is a highly sought after reservation.

We also had issues with the hot water during our stay last November, but I didn't bother complaining because I knew they were going to be having the refurb. I am very disappointed that the issue doesn't seem to be getting addressed.

Have to say even we stayed at GF this spring in newly refurbed rooms; was excited to see what VGC would bring -- reports of lack of matching improvements to that is -- disappointing.

not even USB wall ports? SMH