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

[tx911]

Accurate on all fronts.

Since it was my first time in the DVC wing, the refurb fail went right over my head

 

[Liquidice]

tl;dr: There was plenty of budget in Capital Reserves for the refurb, so why did the VGC refurb stink so much? VGC in 2024 (including 2025 annual dues) had $12.4M in Capital Reserves or $258,819 per unit available. Comparably, BLT had $190,154.58 per unit in their 2024 budget and BRV had $152,942 per unit in their 2021 budget before the refurb started.

Ok sorry if this has been answered already (someone please point me in the right direction and help me out if so!) - but this "refurb" of VGC is bothering me as an owner of VGC.

I see some people speculating that we must be underfunded -- but I don't agree -- all of the information is freely available in the budgets released each year outlining where our annual dues go.

In the latest budget (reported 12/2024) ( https://cdn2.parksmedia.wdprapps.di.../condo-association/180918-WDW-Mtg-Bk_GCAL.pdf ) there is ~$10.6M in Capital Reserves with an additional ~$1.7M expected from annual dues paid in 2025.

There are 48 Units in Grand Californian, 23 2-bedroom lockoffs, 23 2-bedrooms and 2 Grand Villas. For the purposes of my calculations - lets assume an equal amount of money is available to each unit. I realize not all of the money will be spent on the refurb, because some money needs to be spent on common areas, exterior maintenance and roof replacement -- but hear me out, lets just use this for comparison to other DVC resorts. So using the exact numbers from the budget gets you to $222,264.50 per unit of available Capital Reserves and if you include the additional budget from 2025 dues, you'd have $12,423,333 or $258,819.43 per unit.

For sure, they didn't spend $200k per unit and I'd be hard pressed to see where they spent even $100k per unit on this so called refurb.

Lets compare this to another DVC resort that is having its hard goods refurbishment -- Bay Lake Tower. In 2024, Bay Lake Tower started its refurb, so lets look at how much money was in the Capital Reserves when it was reported in December 2023.

In the 12/2023 Budget ( https://cdn1.parksmedia.wdprapps.di.../collateral-docs/BLT_Insert_12-2023_clean.pdf ), BLT reported roughly $45.7M in Capital Reserves across 281 units or $162,872.30 per unit in available reserves with an additional $7.66M added via annual dues for 2024 - meaning $53,433,436 available or $190,154.58 per unit.

Following up in the 12/2024 Budget ( https://cdn2.parksmedia.wdprapps.di...bers/condo-association/180918_BLT_11-8-24.pdf ) there was $36,672,352 in Capital Reserves before the annual dues, that is to say they spent $16,761,084 of the Capital Reserves or $59,647.99 per unit. BLT's refurb was started but not completed in 2024 - so more money is probably getting spent.

It would be highly interesting to see how much was spent on the Grand Cal Refurb once the budget is reported again in 12/2025. There are probably economies of scale for the BLT refurb being much larger - but VGC was refurbished at the same time as the rest of the hotel - so there should have been similar economies of scale.

But to say that VGC didn't have enough money in its budget is just plain wrong imho - as you can see from the above numbers.

Another quick comparison is BRV. In the 12/2020 (so 2021 budget) BRV reported $17.8M in Capital Reserves and an estimated additional budget of $2.97M or a total Capital Reserves balance of $20,800,155. For 12/2021, the Capital Reserves were $15.88M with a $3M budget for dues or total Capital Reserves of $18,933,561 meaning $4,915,080 was spent. Then in 12/2022, $6,289,922 was left, meaning $12,643,639 was spent.

For BRV, almost everything needed replacing though - Roof, interior, external and common areas - but lets say there was a total spent of $17,558,719 across 2 years. There are 136 Vacation Units in BRV, but lots of standalone studios and 1-bedrooms. For a more apples to apples comparison, there are 44 2-bedrooms, 45 2-bedroom lockoffs, 20 standalone studios and 27 standalone 1-bedrooms. So lets call it 126 units for a more fair comparison to VGC which is divided into 2-bedrooms and then the 2x Grand Villas.

That gives us $139,354.91 per unit spent on the refurb, including all of the other things they did like roof replacement, etc.

And at one point they had $20,800,155 at its peak in Capital Reserves or $152,942.31 per unit (using 126 units).

So VGC with $258,819 per unit of available Capital Reserves had plenty of money for the refurb - even accounting for inflation and higher costs in California.

Has anyone written DVC to find out why the VGC refurb is so terrible? It looks like for the studios they changed the floors from carpet to vinyl, added a murphy bed, replaced the patio furniture, added a throw rug and changed a painting and maybe touched up some existing furniture so they don't look so bad. That does not really seem to make sense for a hard goods refurb and it doesn't make sense given how much money we had in Capital Reserves. Obviously I'd want to know how much was spent on the refurb - but I feel like DVC owes VGC owners an explanation for why the refurb was so limited. If they spent a significant amount of the Capital Reserves - I think we are owed an explanation of how our money was spent - since the refurb is paid for by part of our annual dues.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Since it was my first time in the DVC wing, the refurb fail went right over my head

I’m hoping I feel the same

 

[VGCgroupie]

tl;dr: There was plenty of budget in Capital Reserves for the refurb, so why did the VGC refurb stink so much? VGC in 2024 (including 2025 annual dues) had $12.4M in Capital Reserves or $258,819 per unit available. Comparably, BLT had $190,154.58 per unit in their 2024 budget and BRV had $152,942 per unit in their 2021 budget before the refurb started.

Ok sorry if this has been answered already (someone please point me in the right direction and help me out if so!) - but this "refurb" of VGC is bothering me as an owner of VGC.

I see some people speculating that we must be underfunded -- but I don't agree -- all of the information is freely available in the budgets released each year outlining where our annual dues go.

In the latest budget (reported 12/2024) ( https://cdn2.parksmedia.wdprapps.di.../condo-association/180918-WDW-Mtg-Bk_GCAL.pdf ) there is ~$10.6M in Capital Reserves with an additional ~$1.7M expected from annual dues paid in 2025.

There are 48 Units in Grand Californian, 23 2-bedroom lockoffs, 23 2-bedrooms and 2 Grand Villas. For the purposes of my calculations - lets assume an equal amount of money is available to each unit. I realize not all of the money will be spent on the refurb, because some money needs to be spent on common areas, exterior maintenance and roof replacement -- but hear me out, lets just use this for comparison to other DVC resorts. So using the exact numbers from the budget gets you to $222,264.50 per unit of available Capital Reserves and if you include the additional budget from 2025 dues, you'd have $12,423,333 or $258,819.43 per unit.

For sure, they didn't spend $200k per unit and I'd be hard pressed to see where they spent even $100k per unit on this so called refurb.

Lets compare this to another DVC resort that is having its hard goods refurbishment -- Bay Lake Tower. In 2024, Bay Lake Tower started its refurb, so lets look at how much money was in the Capital Reserves when it was reported in December 2023.

In the 12/2023 Budget ( https://cdn1.parksmedia.wdprapps.di.../collateral-docs/BLT_Insert_12-2023_clean.pdf ), BLT reported roughly $45.7M in Capital Reserves across 281 units or $162,872.30 per unit in available reserves with an additional $7.66M added via annual dues for 2024 - meaning $53,433,436 available or $190,154.58 per unit.

Following up in the 12/2024 Budget ( https://cdn2.parksmedia.wdprapps.di...bers/condo-association/180918_BLT_11-8-24.pdf ) there was $36,672,352 in Capital Reserves before the annual dues, that is to say they spent $16,761,084 of the Capital Reserves or $59,647.99 per unit. BLT's refurb was started but not completed in 2024 - so more money is probably getting spent.

It would be highly interesting to see how much was spent on the Grand Cal Refurb once the budget is reported again in 12/2025. There are probably economies of scale for the BLT refurb being much larger - but VGC was refurbished at the same time as the rest of the hotel - so there should have been similar economies of scale.

But to say that VGC didn't have enough money in its budget is just plain wrong imho - as you can see from the above numbers.

Another quick comparison is BRV. In the 12/2020 (so 2021 budget) BRV reported $17.8M in Capital Reserves and an estimated additional budget of $2.97M or a total Capital Reserves balance of $20,800,155. For 12/2021, the Capital Reserves were $15.88M with a $3M budget for dues or total Capital Reserves of $18,933,561 meaning $4,915,080 was spent. Then in 12/2022, $6,289,922 was left, meaning $12,643,639 was spent.

For BRV, almost everything needed replacing though - Roof, interior, external and common areas - but lets say there was a total spent of $17,558,719 across 2 years. There are 136 Vacation Units in BRV, but lots of standalone studios and 1-bedrooms. For a more apples to apples comparison, there are 44 2-bedrooms, 45 2-bedroom lockoffs, 20 standalone studios and 27 standalone 1-bedrooms. So lets call it 126 units for a more fair comparison to VGC which is divided into 2-bedrooms and then the 2x Grand Villas.

That gives us $139,354.91 per unit spent on the refurb, including all of the other things they did like roof replacement, etc.

And at one point they had $20,800,155 at its peak in Capital Reserves or $152,942.31 per unit (using 126 units).

So VGC with $258,819 per unit of available Capital Reserves had plenty of money for the refurb - even accounting for inflation and higher costs in California.

Has anyone written DVC to find out why the VGC refurb is so terrible? It looks like for the studios they changed the floors from carpet to vinyl, added a murphy bed, replaced the patio furniture, added a throw rug and changed a painting and maybe touched up some existing furniture so they don't look so bad. That does not really seem to make sense for a hard goods refurb and it doesn't make sense given how much money we had in Capital Reserves. Obviously I'd want to know how much was spent on the refurb - but I feel like DVC owes VGC owners an explanation for why the refurb was so limited. If they spent a significant amount of the Capital Reserves - I think we are owed an explanation of how our money was spent - since the refurb is paid for by part of our annual dues.

When I complained to the head of DVC I got a call back and was told that this was actually a soft goods not a hard goods like it was supposed to be. That was the explanation. No idea if I was the told the truth of fed a line of junk.

I highly recommend emailing to let them know you are not okay with how they handled this overdue hard goods refurb. Many forget that this was not only not done properly but also delayed. william.c.diercksen@disney.com

 

[Girlstar30]

Yeah, the refurb was totally awful, unbearable even. Everybody should stay far far far away, take your points and use them at VDH, it so new and bright and shiny.

You especially wouldnt want to stay there for Christmas Eve! That would surely ruin the holiday! Cancel now! (And tell me when you do)

 

[Girlstar30]

Since it was my first time in the DVC wing, the refurb fail went right over my head

Same here!

 

[cruisehopeful]

I’m hoping I feel the same

Have you stayed at VDH? The outlets for charging were so convenient that I was in complete shock in the VGC studio after refurbishment when looking for a spot to charge my phone. I didn't know you could use the clock as a charger until I saw the DVC fan video today.

Other than that, it's heavenly to stay at VGC, even after the ridiculous refurbishment. I like the new floor and I love the Murphy bed.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Have you stayed at VDH? The outlets for charging were so convenient that I was in complete shock in the VGC studio after refurbishment when looking for a spot to charge my phone. I didn't know you could use the clock as a charger until I saw the DVC fan video today.

Other than that, it's heavenly to stay at VGC, even after the ridiculous refurbishment. I like the new floor and I love the Murphy bed.

Yes - we stayed at VDH on our last trip! You’re right that the rooms had outlets everywhere - I was working remotely for two days and had a nice little set up going!

We had a great time but were just wowed by VGC…so excited for our stay next year!

 

[VGCgroupie]

I still think and I get if I am in the minority. Just because VGC is highly popular and will book up no matter what and that it is insanely close to the park means that it should not get the refurb it needs when all others get it. The BLT refurb was fabulous. CCV's soft goods is beating VGC hard goods by a mile. It's not fair and I will continue to whine about it whenever I get the chance.

 

[Girlstar30]

I still think and I get if I am in the minority. Just because VGC is highly popular and will book up no matter what and that it is insanely close to the park means that it should not get the refurb it needs when all others get it. The BLT refurb was fabulous. CCV's soft goods is beating VGC hard goods by a mile. It's not fair and I will continue to whine about it whenever I get the chance.

I agree

 

[Chili327]

Ok sorry if this has been answered already (someone please point me in the right direction and help me out if so!) - but this "refurb" of VGC is bothering me as an owner of VGC.

I see some people speculating that we must be underfunded -- but I don't agree -- all of the information is freely available in the budgets released each year outlining where our annual dues go.

Maybe Dues will go down next year?

 

[gsdweller]

NEW ROOM TOUR: Grand Californian Deluxe Studio ​

We stayed in a refurbished Deluxe Studio at Disney’s Grand Californian… but let’s just say we had some thoughts.
What’s new? What’s not? We’re breaking down the changes (or lack thereof) and sharing our honest review in our latest video!

Watch the full tour: https://dvcfan.com/dvc-resorts/grand-californian/grand-californian-deluxe-studio-video-tour/

#DVCFan #GrandCalifornian #DisneyRoomTour #DisneyVillas #DVCResorts #DisneyRefurbishment #DisneyVacationClub #DisneyHonestReview

Oh no! No built in charging! What is the world coming to? Oh the humanity!

 

[tx911]

Have you stayed at VDH? The outlets for charging were so convenient that I was in complete shock in the VGC studio after refurbishment when looking for a spot to charge my phone. I didn't know you could use the clock as a charger until I saw the DVC fan video today.

Other than that, it's heavenly to stay at VGC, even after the ridiculous refurbishment. I like the new floor and I love the Murphy bed.

The only "outlets" that matter are the outlets into Downtown Disney and DCA!

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Oh no! No built in charging! What is the world coming to? Oh the humanity!

Honestly this is a HUGE pain when you have 4+ magic bands to charge each night, as well as your phones (personal and sometimes work devices) watches, back up battery, etc.

I stay at VGC for location, location, location— but I am disappointed they didn’t add convenient outlets, the option of brighter lighting, or a nightstand on both sides of the bed.

 

[Liquidice]

When I complained to the head of DVC I got a call back and was told that this was actually a soft goods not a hard goods like it was supposed to be. That was the explanation. No idea if I was the told the truth of fed a line of junk.

I highly recommend emailing to let them know you are not okay with how they handled this overdue hard goods refurb. Many forget that this was not only not done properly but also delayed. william.c.diercksen@disney.com

I'll definitely email them - but as owners I do believe we need to come together and demand a public explanation as we should understand how our money was spent.

The Capital Reserve funds don't come from Disney - it is money paid from our Annual Dues for VGC. So we deserve to know how our money was spent.

If this was just a soft goods refurb, I would expect the amount of money spent to be much less than a full refurb and the Capital Reserves to reflect that. But why would they only do a soft goods instead of a hard goods refurb?

I hope someone is able to attend the annual meeting this year and ask why the refurb for VGC was done the way it was.

 

[Liquidice]

Just for comparison to Paul's video of the "refurbished" studio - here is a video of a Deluxe Studio at Grand Californian from 13 years ago. So this was even before the first soft goods refresh in 2017. Other than the new TV, carpet and murphy bed - you can hardly tell the difference between the two!

 

[AstroBlasters]

I'll definitely email them - but as owners I do believe we need to come together and demand a public explanation as we should understand how our money was spent.

The Capital Reserve funds don't come from Disney - it is money paid from our Annual Dues for VGC. So we deserve to know how our money was spent.

If this was just a soft goods refurb, I would expect the amount of money spent to be much less than a full refurb and the Capital Reserves to reflect that. But why would they only do a soft goods instead of a hard goods refurb?

I hope someone is able to attend the annual meeting this year and ask why the refurb for VGC was done the way it was.

I believe it was discussed earlier that the external refurb that the DVC wing did along with the hotel side likely ate up a significant portion of the budget.

 

[eticketplease]

ohhh I would so love to be a broker in between the broker an buyer. I will hunt down the best contracts and negotiate for you.

Disclaimer for the mods: No im not seeking for people to ask me to do this.

You might actually be able to do that lol.

They do have people that do it for buying cars.

 

[VGCgroupie]

You might actually be able to do that lol.

They do have people that do it for buying cars.

Is it weird I also love buying cars? I have went with family to help with buying theirs

 

[eticketplease]

Is it weird I also love buying cars? I have went with family to help with buying theirs

Yes it is!!! lol I hate it