wbl2745
Pointless infinite loops are prohibited.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
- Messages
- 709
To celebrate my retirement my family went to the Villas at the Grand Californian and got a Grand Villa for three nights. VGC is our home resort and I booked this villa at the very first moment that I could at the 11 month mark. Perhaps because this might be a desirable time, both of the Grand Villas were booked within minutes. Then comes the long wait... (I'm glad to have an 11 month advantage to booking, but then I have to wait so long!)
This first entry will be about the Grand Villa. I'll post another with some snippets from the rest of the trip.
One daughter and her husband came from Houston, and the other and her husband came from Eagle Point, Oregon. My wife, my third daughter, and I came from Utah. Wanting to make the most of our stay in the Grand Villa, we drove from Utah on the day before out reservations started and stayed at the Embassy Suites on Harbor Blvd. I've stayed there before, but this time was not very good. It was quite warm, over 111 degrees driving through the desert, and in the mid to high 90s in Anaheim. The room's air conditioning was overwhelmed and the temperature in the room never got below about 79 all night long.
The next day we checked into the Grand Californian early, realizing that our room wouldn't be ready until about 4:00 PM. We gave our luggage to the Bell Captain to be held until then. I love the lobby of the Grand Californian. Even when not staying here I've been known to just sit here and enjoy the music when my hotel is not nearby. In fact one of our daughters who had to get up really early for their flight ended up taking a little mid-afternoon nap here waiting for our room to be available.
We toddled about Disneyland until finally, right at 4:00 PM we got the text that our room was ready. I forwarded it to everyone and we all headed up to the villa.
The view of the villa is wonderful. You've seen it from California Adventure, or, as in the following photos from the pool area of the GCH. The villa was stayed in was the one the faced the pool area, and as it would turn out, Disneyland with a view of the fireworks. The Grand Villa is the unit on the 4th and 5th floors with the two story window as well as the balconies on either side of the big window on both floors.
As you can imagine, this is a really big unit. You can enter either on the 4th or the 5th floor. The following picture is of the entry hall on the 4th floor. I love all of the wood, which is of course the California Craftsman style. The lamps, such as the one in the hall are glass and carry out the forest theme.
The stairs go up to the two bedrooms and an entry way on the 5th floor.
Directly in front of the entry way is the living room, which is open to the 2nd story of the room (the 5th story of the building). The balcony looks down on the living room from an entry way. The living room has a sofa bed which can sleep two, and the balcony, in addition to having a pool table, also has a sofa bed. Nominally the Grand Villa can sleep 14, but that means everyone is sharing a bed.
The living room has a large entertainment system, as well as those magnificent windows. If you get the unit that over looks the pools, as we did, you can see the fireworks at Disneyland. The music for the fireworks can be played on one of the TV channels. The other unit overlooks Paradise Pier and the World of Color. I debated whether to specifically request that unit, but its kitchen and master suite are made handicapped accessible, which I did not prefer.
There are both light drapes and black-out curtains on the windows. Since the windows are so high, opening and closing them is automated from switches on the wall between the living room and the dining room.
From the living room you can see into the kitchen and the dining room. On the left is a large clock, again built in the California Craftsman style.
The kitchen is fully equipped with dishes, baking pans, cleaning supplies, a full-sized refrigerator, and ovens. My only criticism might be that the kitchen is a little dark. You can see from the picture above, taken from the living room, that it appears dark, even though all of the lights are on. There are bar seats at the bar in the kitchen.
Right next to the kitchen is the dinning room. The table easily seats 8, but there are chairs for 10. If you had the full compliment of 14 people there, someone would need to sit at the bar in the kitchen or get more chairs from the hotel. There is also a small balcony. Maybe you put the extra people outside to eat.
Right after getting into our room we went to a nearby Ralphs to buy mostly breakfast supplies so that people could get up and have breakfast whenever they wanted. On our first night there everyone was so tired that we also got pizza and goodies. We cooked the pizzas and some cookies. This was really nice to be able to have a full dinner since we just didn't want to go out.
The master bedroom is also on this level, opposite the kitchen and dinning room. The bed is a king size bed, which is nice since that's what my wife and I are used to at home. There is an armoire for hanging things, a chest of drawers with an entertainment center, and a desk in the room. There is also a small balcony, which I used for having breakfast when I was the first one up. I found the bed to be really comfortable.
The next picture is of the balcony and its view of the pool area.
The full view from the balconies shows the entire pool area.
The master bathroom is right off the master bedroom and is frankly quite large. The view below is looking through the sliding panels between the jetted tub and the master bedroom. Behind that you can see one of the vanities, the shower, and the door to the water closet (toilet).
The next picture is of the other vanity in the master bathroom showing the parallel mirrors and a view into the living room since all of the doors are open. Supposedly there is a TV built into this mirror, but I could never get it to work and the only times I cared about this were when I had just gotten out of the shower. It seemed like more bother to dress and get someone in to fix it than it was worth.
Before we head upstairs, the next picture is of the fourth bathroom in the unit. Each bedroom has its own bathroom and this bathroom is off of the entry way. My single daughter slept on the sofa couch in the living room so it was nice for her to be able to have her own bathroom. Family happiness can be enhanced with everyone having their own space and their own bathrooms. Not all of the new Grand Villas or two bedroom units at DVC have this extra bathroom.
At the top of the stairs there is a foyer with a pool table and a sofa couch that sleeps two. The balcony looks down into the living room.
On either side of this foyer are two bedrooms, each with two queen-sized beds. Each room also has its own balcony.
Each room also has its own bathroom with a vanity separate from the shower/bathtub and the toilet.
Well this concludes the tour of the Grand Villa. The number of points needed to book this unit was 115 per night which required me to bank points from last year and borrow points from next year. It was a great time with the family and if you are inclined to find a place to put up everyone, I highly recommend this.
I'll post a brief trip report as a follow-on to this entry with just a few happy shots from our trip.
This first entry will be about the Grand Villa. I'll post another with some snippets from the rest of the trip.
One daughter and her husband came from Houston, and the other and her husband came from Eagle Point, Oregon. My wife, my third daughter, and I came from Utah. Wanting to make the most of our stay in the Grand Villa, we drove from Utah on the day before out reservations started and stayed at the Embassy Suites on Harbor Blvd. I've stayed there before, but this time was not very good. It was quite warm, over 111 degrees driving through the desert, and in the mid to high 90s in Anaheim. The room's air conditioning was overwhelmed and the temperature in the room never got below about 79 all night long.
The next day we checked into the Grand Californian early, realizing that our room wouldn't be ready until about 4:00 PM. We gave our luggage to the Bell Captain to be held until then. I love the lobby of the Grand Californian. Even when not staying here I've been known to just sit here and enjoy the music when my hotel is not nearby. In fact one of our daughters who had to get up really early for their flight ended up taking a little mid-afternoon nap here waiting for our room to be available.
We toddled about Disneyland until finally, right at 4:00 PM we got the text that our room was ready. I forwarded it to everyone and we all headed up to the villa.
The view of the villa is wonderful. You've seen it from California Adventure, or, as in the following photos from the pool area of the GCH. The villa was stayed in was the one the faced the pool area, and as it would turn out, Disneyland with a view of the fireworks. The Grand Villa is the unit on the 4th and 5th floors with the two story window as well as the balconies on either side of the big window on both floors.
As you can imagine, this is a really big unit. You can enter either on the 4th or the 5th floor. The following picture is of the entry hall on the 4th floor. I love all of the wood, which is of course the California Craftsman style. The lamps, such as the one in the hall are glass and carry out the forest theme.
The stairs go up to the two bedrooms and an entry way on the 5th floor.
Directly in front of the entry way is the living room, which is open to the 2nd story of the room (the 5th story of the building). The balcony looks down on the living room from an entry way. The living room has a sofa bed which can sleep two, and the balcony, in addition to having a pool table, also has a sofa bed. Nominally the Grand Villa can sleep 14, but that means everyone is sharing a bed.
The living room has a large entertainment system, as well as those magnificent windows. If you get the unit that over looks the pools, as we did, you can see the fireworks at Disneyland. The music for the fireworks can be played on one of the TV channels. The other unit overlooks Paradise Pier and the World of Color. I debated whether to specifically request that unit, but its kitchen and master suite are made handicapped accessible, which I did not prefer.
There are both light drapes and black-out curtains on the windows. Since the windows are so high, opening and closing them is automated from switches on the wall between the living room and the dining room.
From the living room you can see into the kitchen and the dining room. On the left is a large clock, again built in the California Craftsman style.
The kitchen is fully equipped with dishes, baking pans, cleaning supplies, a full-sized refrigerator, and ovens. My only criticism might be that the kitchen is a little dark. You can see from the picture above, taken from the living room, that it appears dark, even though all of the lights are on. There are bar seats at the bar in the kitchen.
Right next to the kitchen is the dinning room. The table easily seats 8, but there are chairs for 10. If you had the full compliment of 14 people there, someone would need to sit at the bar in the kitchen or get more chairs from the hotel. There is also a small balcony. Maybe you put the extra people outside to eat.
Right after getting into our room we went to a nearby Ralphs to buy mostly breakfast supplies so that people could get up and have breakfast whenever they wanted. On our first night there everyone was so tired that we also got pizza and goodies. We cooked the pizzas and some cookies. This was really nice to be able to have a full dinner since we just didn't want to go out.
The master bedroom is also on this level, opposite the kitchen and dinning room. The bed is a king size bed, which is nice since that's what my wife and I are used to at home. There is an armoire for hanging things, a chest of drawers with an entertainment center, and a desk in the room. There is also a small balcony, which I used for having breakfast when I was the first one up. I found the bed to be really comfortable.
The next picture is of the balcony and its view of the pool area.
The full view from the balconies shows the entire pool area.
The master bathroom is right off the master bedroom and is frankly quite large. The view below is looking through the sliding panels between the jetted tub and the master bedroom. Behind that you can see one of the vanities, the shower, and the door to the water closet (toilet).
The next picture is of the other vanity in the master bathroom showing the parallel mirrors and a view into the living room since all of the doors are open. Supposedly there is a TV built into this mirror, but I could never get it to work and the only times I cared about this were when I had just gotten out of the shower. It seemed like more bother to dress and get someone in to fix it than it was worth.
Before we head upstairs, the next picture is of the fourth bathroom in the unit. Each bedroom has its own bathroom and this bathroom is off of the entry way. My single daughter slept on the sofa couch in the living room so it was nice for her to be able to have her own bathroom. Family happiness can be enhanced with everyone having their own space and their own bathrooms. Not all of the new Grand Villas or two bedroom units at DVC have this extra bathroom.
At the top of the stairs there is a foyer with a pool table and a sofa couch that sleeps two. The balcony looks down into the living room.
On either side of this foyer are two bedrooms, each with two queen-sized beds. Each room also has its own balcony.
Each room also has its own bathroom with a vanity separate from the shower/bathtub and the toilet.
Well this concludes the tour of the Grand Villa. The number of points needed to book this unit was 115 per night which required me to bank points from last year and borrow points from next year. It was a great time with the family and if you are inclined to find a place to put up everyone, I highly recommend this.
I'll post a brief trip report as a follow-on to this entry with just a few happy shots from our trip.
.
