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

We'll be there in 2 weeks in a 1 bedroom, but it's uncertain if WoC will be going. We've only ever had a 5th floor PP view. I wondered if we should take the opportunity to try another room? Any other rooms/views you love and why? Can you see fireworks from 5507?
We were just there 1 week ago and WOC was not going. They were working on the WOC platform in the morning before the park opened, but we never saw any lights or trial runs. We had a fantastic view of Pixar Pier from 6504 and 6502.

Also, they had (fairly big) travel size shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion.
 
You certainly had some pixie dust getting that pair of villas for a 2-bedroom lockoff :teacher::wizard:
Yes, it was absolutely amazing!!! We actually booked a 1 bedroom and a studio separately because we weren't sure that our adults kids would be able to go. We requested specific rooms #'s of room on the upper level rooms facing Pixar Pier, and requested adjoining or nearby rooms. We got every single one of our requests granted with our #1 choices!! I think it might have helped that we were celebrating our 30th anniversary and our son's fiance's birthday.
 
We'll be there in 2 weeks in a 1 bedroom, but it's uncertain if WoC will be going. We've only ever had a 5th floor PP view. I wondered if we should take the opportunity to try another room? Any other rooms/views you love and why? Can you see fireworks from 5507?
There is some progress with WoC, but it's still unknown when the show will return -- I'm hoping for next weekend (when I'm there) :goodvibes
5507 will have a distant view of fireworks, but I would rather face PP.
5514 faces Redwood Creek and is very quiet

Also, do the villas now have big shampoo/conditioner dispensers or do they still give the little travel sizes? I'm wondering if we need to pack more.
vgc_amenities-jpg.335083

Shampoo and conditioner are now 2 oz, previously 1.25 oz
You can always ask for more
 


Also, do the villas now have big shampoo/conditioner dispensers or do they still give the little travel sizes? I'm wondering if we need to pack more.

As recent as mid October, it was still the little travel sized ones. Love those!
 
We'll be there in 2 weeks in a 1 bedroom, but it's uncertain if WoC will be going. We've only ever had a 5th floor PP view. I wondered if we should take the opportunity to try another room? Any other rooms/views you love and why? Can you see fireworks from 5507?

According to one of the plaids that I was talking to last week. They have no estimated date that WoC would be back up and running.
 
According to one of the plaids that I was talking to last week. They have no estimated date that WoC would be back up and running.
There's a world of color press riser ordered for 12/5. I think there's a strong chance it's very soon!
 


Got back from VGC a couple of weeks ago and we had a couple of observations.

Our room number was 1502, a one bedroom, which is on the ground floor right across from the elevators. I was concerned that it would be too noisy, but it wasn't. The only time I heard noise from the hall was when I was in the foyer of the room. I was also concerned about hearing noise from the valet parking honking horns as they drive up the ramp. I only heard the honking a couple of times and it didn't disturb me.

We always request a ground floor room for the convenience of walking straight to our room without waiting for the elevator. We also have a nice patio, which is larger than the balconies and has nice plantings.

I had heard (in these forums) that you could add another day onto a five day ticket by paying a reasonable fee. Not so. We were there five nights and on the last day we wanted to go into the parks until we had to the airport. I went to the ticket booth, talked to a manager, went to customer service, and to the concierge desk at the Grand Californian. No go. They said there just isn't anything they can sell me since there is no six day ticket. My only option was to purchase a one day ticket. Just keep that in mind. There is no six day ticket.

We used the mobile ordering on the Disneyland App for the iPhone for almost every meal in the park. Fantastic! We were walking up to the mobile order window and picking up our food, while the line for placing an order went out the door. We also got our DVC discounts automatically! Be sure to do this! By the way, the "inside window" for the Dole Whip at the Tiki Room, is now only for mobile orders.

We got MaxPass for all of our days in the park. There were only two of us so the cost was $20 per day. It kills me how Disney keeps on "plussing" the prices. However, being able to see all of the FastPass times and get FastPasses without running across the park is fantastic. Frankly, worth the money.

White Water Snacks at the GCH was closed for some type of remodeling. There was no indication when it was going to open again.

We used Pavillon.com to deliver groceries and it worked great. They delivered to the bell services and we picked them up when we got into our room. BTW, I was totally surprised when we checked in at about 1:00 PM and our room was already available! That rarely happens.

With the new security at the resort, guests at the GCH are checked through security at the hotel's entrance to Downtown Disney and the entrance to DCA. We never saw a long line. Never waited more than five minutes.

Storyteller's Cafe is now buffet dining only. There's no menu. I don't like buffets so this really disappointed me.

We always fly into Long Beach (from Salt Lake City) because it is such a nice, small airport. I checked ahead of time and the fixed cost for a taxi from LGB to DLR was $60. We took Lyte and it cost $30, including the tip. I'm pretty sure that the airport shuttles for two people would also have been more than Lyte. We took Lyte back to the airport for the same cost.

We had trouble with renting a car for a day at Alamo in the Paradise Pier Hotel. We were meeting some friends for dinner so we reserved a car. We picked it up before the office closed on a Saturday and returned it that night after the office had been closed. We parked the car where we were supposed to and returned the rental contract and the keys to the front desk at the PPH. After we got back I got an email from Alamo offering to extend our rental since we hadn't turned it in yet.

I responded with where the car was parked and that we had turned in the keys and paperwork at the front desk. I didn't hear back, but a couple of days later they charged our credit card for the six hours we had the car. I'm willing to bet that whoever was supposed to get the paperwork and keys from the front desk didn't do it. Watch out if you rent there.

We had a great time and I'd like to share one thing that I really enjoyed. We made reservations (which appears to be a good idea) for Lamp Lighter Lounge. I've heard that the food is eclectic and I wasn't disappointed. I had Crispy Piggy Wings which were quite spicy, but I liked them.

Looking forward to our next DVC trip next November.
 
Fun trip! And yeah, sadly you haven’t been able to add more than five days to a DL trip for years now-maybe 2014?
 
Fun trip! And yeah, sadly you haven’t been able to add more than five days to a DL trip for years now-maybe 2014?

Yes, we were really disappointed when they removed the longer tickets. We always went at least 6 days. Now we only do 5 when we don't have APs.
 
Is anyone that has stayed in a villa recently able to confirm whether the room keys are still the tan colored ones with chip and the oranges graphic along the top? I was planning a project with that graphic but can't find a key from my last trip. Will be back in January and hoping the keys will be the same so I can get another one! Thanks!
 
Is anyone that has stayed in a villa recently able to confirm whether the room keys are still the tan colored ones with chip and the oranges graphic along the top? I was planning a project with that graphic but can't find a key from my last trip. Will be back in January and hoping the keys will be the same so I can get another one! Thanks!
yes, they are.
 
Hi everyone! I'm a first-time poster to this thread. We purchased DVC in October, and were not expecting to be able to use our shiny new points for a previously planned DLR trip in January 2019. Nevertheless, I've been checking occasionally, because you just never know. I was totally shocked today when I checked and found a 1-BR villa available for our last three (of six) nights! Well, we snapped that up and will now be doing a split stay!

I have so many questions that I am researching - like I said, the trip is long-planned, but the stay in a 1-BR villa is a total surprise!

The #1 thing I'd like to know right now: It seems like the 1-BR villas have the fold down murphy/daybed. Is that right? DD (6) would rather sleep on one of those than the big sofa bed, and it would preserve some floor space, too. (I hate a messy hotel room.) Does anyone have a picture of that fold down bunk-size murphy bed? Does it have the cute artwork you see at some other resorts?

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi everyone! I'm a first-time poster to this thread. We purchased DVC in October, and were not expecting to be able to use our shiny new points for a previously planned DLR trip in January 2019. Nevertheless, I've been checking occasionally, because you just never know. I was totally shocked today when I checked and found a 1-BR villa available for our last three (of six) nights! Well, we snapped that up and will now be doing a split stay!

I have so many questions that I am researching - like I said, the trip is long-planned, but the stay in a 1-BR villa is a total surprise!

The #1 thing I'd like to know right now: It seems like the 1-BR villas have the fold down murphy/daybed. Is that right? DD (6) would rather sleep on one of those than the big sofa bed, and it would preserve some floor space, too. (I hate a messy hotel room.) Does anyone have a picture of that fold down bunk-size murphy bed? Does it have the cute artwork you see at some other resorts?

Thanks in advance!

There is no artwork on the VGC murphy beds.

From trip advisors - easier than looking for my own picture of it. ;)

disney-s-grand-californian.jpg
 
Thank you! Would have been fun to have the cute artwork, but I think DD will like it just the same. :)
My 8 DD sleeps on it just fine. It's the perfect size. My 6'2" 13 yo DS sleeps on the sleeper sofa and we leave it all unfolded all week. Plenty of room. I absolutely love the set up of the 1 bedrooms at VGC with the 3 "beds" and 2 bathrooms. Sleeps much more like a 2 bedroom but for less points.

One odd thing I noticed this trip is there's no drawers in the living room for the guests out there. My kids have been living out of the suitcase all week. What does everyone else do?
 
One odd thing I noticed this trip is there's no drawers in the living room for the guests out there. My kids have been living out of the suitcase all week. What does everyone else do?

Thanks for your reply, and this is a GREAT question! I love to keep our room tidy and organized on vacation, so that's something to think about. Anyone have a strategy to share?
 
Thanks for your reply, and this is a GREAT question! I love to keep our room tidy and organized on vacation, so that's something to think about. Anyone have a strategy to share?

There is a small end table with 3 drawers next to the couch. Otherwise, the dresser in the master has a lot of storage. There are closets in both rooms too. We hung up a bunch of things, but one still needs some drawers for socks, etc.
 
There is a small end table with 3 drawers next to the couch. Otherwise, the dresser in the master has a lot of storage. There are closets in both rooms too. We hung up a bunch of things, but one still needs some drawers for socks, etc.

Lovely! Our daughter is only 6, so her things don't take up a lot of space. She can keep a lot of it in that end table, probably.
 

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