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

[KAT4DISNEY]

So it's only a CA problem I guess. CCV soft refurb is blowing VGC hard good refurb out of the water. BLT refurb was amazing. Im willing to bet AKV refurb will also be good. Again you can be okay with it but we don't all have to roll over and accept it just because VGC desirable, small and in CA. Nonsense.

Talk and write to DVC. It is good some are doing that as it has led to changes in the past. I am just presenting probabilities why it wasn't done the same. And refurbs have varied so greatly over the years with DVC but I have seen things stated here attributable to refurbs that I've not seen as standards.

I also don't know if FL has seen the same uptick in construction costs since 2021. My experiences are west coast and midwest. Though the Midwest saw an uptick it's been positively outrageous on the west coast in comparison.

 

[eticketplease]

So it's only a CA problem I guess. CCV soft refurb is blowing VGC hard good refurb out of the water. BLT refurb was amazing. Im willing to bet AKV refurb will also be good. Again you can be okay with it but we don't all have to roll over and accept it just because VGC desirable, small and in CA. Nonsense.

At least in most rooms at VGC the Murphy bed was installed during the hard goods refurb at Aulani they were not added.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I thought they just paid the TOT out of dues for grand Californian , but they got a favorable fixed rate.

Yes. Different Anaheim politics at the time. Then came the one that was very unfavorable to Disney. I believe it's shifted back to at least being reasonable or maybe even favorable but we'll probably not see such a TOT again as it was at the time VGC was built.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

At least in most rooms at VGC the Murphy bed was installed during the hard goods refurb at Aulani they were not added.

I wondered if the Aulani studio layout would prohibit it so then they wouldn't do it at all in any of the Villas there. Sounds like that happened?

 

[thadhouse]

At least in most rooms at VGC the Murphy bed was installed during the hard goods refurb at Aulani they were not added.

Aulani wasn't a hard goods refurb. Its due for its hard goods in the next year or 2.

 

[eticketplease]

Aulani wasn't a hard goods refurb. Its due for its hard goods in the next year or 2.

Thanks for correcting me for some reason I thought they did theirs early

 

[eticketplease]

I wondered if the Aulani studio layout would prohibit it so then they wouldn't do it at all in any of the Villas there. Sounds like that happened?

Some certainly have odd layouts so it is possible but it looks like I was confused on which refurb it was

 

[VGCgroupie]

At least in most rooms at VGC the Murphy bed was installed during the hard goods refurb at Aulani they were not added.

No hard goods for Aulani yet. I am going to go out on a limb and say Aulani will also get a better refurb than VGC and then the CA being expensive excuse won’t hold any water. Come on Aulani prove me right!

 

[Mouseforward]

No hard goods for Aulani yet. I am going to go out on a limb and say Aulani will also get a better refurb than VGC and then the CA being expensive excuse won’t hold any water. Come on Aulani prove me right!

Will this be the first hard goods refurb of a resort while it is still in active sales?

I'm repeating myself here but the extraordinary, unexpected construction inflation costs changes things.

In the video from the site sponsor , they were pointing out that they did not replace the microwave and it still had worn out buttons. I would guess they cost the same in FL and CA.

 

[thadhouse]

Will this be the first hard goods refurb of a resort while it is still in active sales?


In the video from the site sponsor , they were pointing out that they did not replace the microwave and it still had worn out buttons. I would guess they cost the same in FL and CA.

Yeah the cost of labor and raw materials I can understand, but the cost of trivially replacable appliances is really what irritates a lot of us. Like even in Aulani's soft good refurbs, it got Keurigs and upgraded clocks, and Aulani actually has an excuse for appliances to be more expensive due to shipping costs. VGC got _none_ of that. The only upside is it got the Murphy beds.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Will this be the first hard goods refurb of a resort while it is still in active sales?

Great question... Im thinking yes.

In the video from the site sponsor , they were pointing out that they did not replace the microwave and it still had worn out buttons. I would guess they cost the same in FL and CA.

Yeah I think so too

 

[AstroBlasters]

Even that isn't set in stone, It used to be no refurbishments at all for approximately that time, not even soft goods. DVC rooms were getting pretty long in the tooth and other brands began stepping up the process causing Disney to rather reluctantly IMO to step up their game.

I'm repeating myself here but the extraordinary, unexpected construction inflation costs changes things. Capital reserves are accumulated over time. There shouldn't be any borrowing for things like this so to me it was being a proper fiduciary agent. If there is proof that a tremendous amount of funds were available but not spent then that's different but I haven't seen those numbers.

Have you stayed there yet since the refurb? I have not but will be there in a month. I've never ever been one to advocate for replacement just because however so I don't get the feeling I'll look at the same way as you may.

I’ll be there in a week and staying in a 2BD for 6 nights.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Aulani wasn't a hard goods refurb. Its due for its hard goods in the next year or 2.

I actually don’t want them to do it at Aulani in the 2BDs and higher…. I’d rather have a more comfortable couch.

Some people jam way too many bodies into these rooms and it has accelerated the wear and tear.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Because the person I quoted was stating to DVC that all those items were replaced in soft good refurbs. I quoted that part.

But… they couldn’t replace the shower heads that are peeling? I don’t think the cost of shower heads has exploded and it would likely have been better to get them ordered before all of these tariffs raise the cost of everything by 10-30%.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Honestly, some things could have been replaced for very little cost, I imagine. Showerheads, for sure would have been doable. And a Keurig.

I really wish they would have added the extra lighting like the hotel rooms have. I know I'll be missing that when we're there in December and it gets dark so early.

 

[Liquidice]

Has there been a post where someone learned what remains in the Capital Reserve fund? And one that worked out what the numbers would be for a full refurb? See above.

Yes, I posted quite a bit of information previously about it - there was about $12M in the Capital Reserve Funds at the end of 2024 and about $2.5M was spent in 2024 out of Capital Reserve Funds, in prior years the Capital Reserve Fund had been going up, but 2024 was the first time in the last few years that it went down. When compared to Bay Lake Tower, there was enough money for roughly $190K per vacation unit, while in Grand Cal there was about $250K per unit. So, it does not appear that there was insufficient funds. I could see if the refurb was not as complete as Bay Lake Tower or other Florida resorts because of higher costs in California - but I don't think what essentially was a very minor refurb makes sense imho assuming the money was spent. What we don't actually know is how much DVC spent on the refurb in 2025.

 

[gsdweller]

Not sure why everyone is dying to have a Keurig. Those things are the biggest polluters on the planet. 2.5 Billion of those stupid cops in the landfill every year. Even the guy that invented it has said he wishes he never did. They should be illegal.

 

[RickNJane]

Not sure why everyone is dying to have a Keurig. Those things are the biggest polluters on the planet. 2.5 Billion of those stupid cops in the landfill every year. Even the guy that invented it has said he wishes he never did. They should be illegal.

Agree, Just give me a good ole drip pot.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Agree, Just give me a good ole drip pot.

I’m pretty sure most of the problems are with the lack of a bathroom refurb and that pointing out things like microwaves, keurig, and shower heads is to illustrate how bare bones they went here.

 

[PortlandFan]

Yup, for me it's the bathrooms.