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

[AstroBlasters]

We just got back from a short stay at the Grand Cali ourselves -- a whirlwind little getaway of 2 Nights at Universal (really just for Super Nintendo World for our boys) and 3 nights at Disneyland. We hadn't been again since well before Covid, and both my husband and I had forgotten JUST HOW MUCH WE LOVE this resort and its feel, and deeply regret only having a small contract here. I'm not sure how much we really will visit in the future, but at least before we got on the plane with the very bumpy flight home, DH was saying that we need to plan more stays out there.

So of course I made the mistake of looking at resale sights, saw a contract with the same UY as our existing VGC points, and made an offer... I really shouldn't be adding on, but it's so impossible to book if you don't own most of the time. If it gets accepted, I may need to consider which of our existing contracts I may try to sell to offset the cost addition, lol, since VGC is so much more.

We DID visit the new Disneyland villas while there, and admittedly they are BEAUTIFUL. But they aren't the Grand Californian. And I don't like those point charts, or transient taxes, so looking to add on again at VGC is the way to go.

I definitely cannot wait to go back!

There is a reason the best view category at VDH are views of VGC!

 

[Chili327]

I'm on the waitlist, and have been for years. So resale is how I've had to go. I'd prefer direct, if only so that on a whim we could use them at VDH if we wanted, but I do have direct points on my Sep UY I can use for that if I really wanted.

There definitely are a few 100pt or less out there with many different use years. Grab another!!

 

[Lorana]

There definitely are a few 100pt or less out there in many use years. Grab another!!

Yeah, I was definitely eying the 100-point in our existing Sep UY, which would be convenient from the perspective of all of our other points are in Sep UY, so if by some miracle we found availability at 7 months, we could easily grab points from our other contracts.

But our existing 62 VGC points are an Oct UY, and I'm leaning towards keeping VGC in one UY, since having them in multiple UY would be a bit of a pain.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Yeah, I was definitely eying the 100-point in our existing Sep UY, which would be convenient from the perspective of all of our other points are in Sep UY, so if by some miracle we found availability at 7 months, we could easily grab points from our other contracts.

But our existing 62 VGC points are an Oct UY, and I'm leaning towards keeping VGC in one UY, since having them in multiple UY would be a bit of a pain.

I have my VGC in two UYs because I felt the need to strike when the prices dipped to $225.

I think what you end up doing is just transferring your OCT UY 62 points over to the Sept UY and then use the OCT points first when making a booking.

Not ideal… but it’s only a pain 1 day a year….

 

[NVDISFamily]

We hit it out of the park again on this trip. Room xx06 (5th floor this time).



I want to try a pool view one of these days. Room was a bit rough. No lamp on the desk in the master bedroom. A few way to bright bulbs in key areas. Too bad I can’t afford to stay in a 2br each trip. 5506 and 4406 have spoiled us.

 

[Heroes_or_Villains]

We hit it out of the park again on this trip. Room xx06 (5th floor this time).

View attachment 824784

I want to try a pool view one of these days. Room was a bit rough. No lamp on the desk in the master bedroom. A few way to bright bulbs in key areas. Too bad I can’t afford to stay in a 2br each trip. 5506 and 4406 have spoiled us.

Is that the view from one of the 2bdrms? I have a 2br trip coming up and would love a view like that!

 

[NVDISFamily]

Is that the view from one of the 2bdrms? I have a 2br trip coming up and would love a view like that!

Yep. We had 4506 last visit and 5506 this visit. Both have awesome views.

 

[Rex1993]

This was the view from our 2bdrm on our first stay back in 2022. Absolutely amazing for World of Color and really cool all around except at 1am during grad night. We’ve asked for a pool view room for our trip next month to try out a little quieter side.

 

[Chili327]

Yeah, I was definitely eying the 100-point in our existing Sep UY, which would be convenient from the perspective of all of our other points are in Sep UY, so if by some miracle we found availability at 7 months, we could easily grab points from our other contracts.

But our existing 62 VGC points are an Oct UY, and I'm leaning towards keeping VGC in one UY, since having them in multiple UY would be a bit of a pain.

I have my VGC in two UYs because I felt the need to strike when the prices dipped to $225.

I think what you end up doing is just transferring your OCT UY 62 points over to the Sept UY and then use the OCT points first when making a booking.

Not ideal… but it’s only a pain 1 day a year….

Yea 1 month apart, I'm not sure would be that big of a deal, basically same banking window (close enough) & like Astro said transfer the points when booking. As long as the deal is worth doing, I wouldn't let one month throw me off.

Is that the view from one of the 2bdrms? I have a 2br trip coming up and would love a view like that!

Me too!!!

 

[ajiuo]

I'm hoping they don't brighten the villas rooms anymore than they did on the hotel side. I want there to still be darker wood and whatnot. They put that murphy in one of the studios and it was in a similar wood tone so hopefully that's a good sign!

They already installed test Murphy beds in 1 or two of the rooms and they have the same wood color. So if I were to guess I think the wood will stay. I do hope that they install the accent lighting in it like they did in the hotel rooms though.

 

[Heroes_or_Villains]

Yep. We had 4506 last visit and 5506 this visit. Both have awesome views.

Amazing! I will have to call and see if I can get some pixie dust sprinkled on our reservation. Thanks!!

 

[KPeterso]

We hit it out of the park again on this trip. Room xx06 (5th floor this time).

View attachment 824784

I want to try a pool view one of these days. Room was a bit rough. No lamp on the desk in the master bedroom. A few way to bright bulbs in key areas. Too bad I can’t afford to stay in a 2br each trip. 5506 and 4406 have spoiled us.

We had the 5504 studio (part of that 2 bedroom maybe?) in November. View was truly amazing. We could see (and hear) WoC from our room. I would love to have that room every time!

 

[Lorana]

I have my VGC in two UYs because I felt the need to strike when the prices dipped to $225.

I think what you end up doing is just transferring your OCT UY 62 points over to the Sept UY and then use the OCT points first when making a booking.

Not ideal… but it’s only a pain 1 day a year….

Hmmm, all good points, though I hate using up my once a year transfer. Not that I buy many transferred points these days, but you never know when I might need to.

Getting a Sep UY would be nice if only because lingering points that would expire can just be used for my WDW vacations. That was really my concern with 2 UYs. I do like keeping VGC separate so I don’t get tempted to use them for something else. ;-)

That said, I’ve already accepted an offer for an Oct UY. If that falls through, I think I will pick up a Sep UY. Though I don’t think Disney has been ROFRing VGC?

 

[AstroBlasters]

Hmmm, all good points, though I hate using up my once a year transfer. Not that I buy many transferred points these days, but you never know when I might need to.

Getting a Sep UY would be nice if only because lingering points that would expire can just be used for my WDW vacations. That was really my concern with 2 UYs. I do like keeping VGC separate so I don’t get tempted to use them for something else. ;-)

That said, I’ve already accepted an offer for an Oct UY. If that falls through, I think I will pick up a Sep UY. Though I don’t think Disney has been ROFRing VGC?

Congratulations! Keeping them in the same UY is optimal…. but there are only so many options for VGC… and it seems a lot of sellers right now are emotionally frozen at that post VDH price spike….

 

[ClaraOswald]

I think I'm just going to check prices once in a while and if there's ever a nice drop that lines up with us having some extra cash...maybe we'll add more points. One thing I didn't really consider when we purchased our contract is that 160 really isn't enough if we wanted to do our typical 6 nights during a more 'peak' time. I really just looked at our usual travel months - January/February/June/December. But I'm seeing now that if we ever wanted to do something in the Spring, we likely wouldn't be able to on 1 year of points. Kind of a bummer...though not a big deal at this point. I could see us wanting to travel in spring some day though so who knows. But if prices go up a lot then I don't see us ever getting more points for VGC.

 

[ClaraOswald]

So our very first DVC stay in just over a week away (Boulder Ridge studio.) Is it weird that I'm kind of bummed that our first stay isn't going to be at our home resort? Don't get me wrong...I'm still excited! But it seems weird for some reason. I also wonder if staying in the newly renovated BRV is going to make the VGC studio seem super rundown this summer. I can't see myself being disappointed though. I mean, we've mostly stayed at the Desert Inn and Park Vue on previous trips so the studio villa, even worn down, has got to be at least a little better than those rooms, right??

Anyway...I'm just bored and rambling and dreaming of all future vacations since there's a blizzard on it's way to us with wind chills of 45 degrees BELOW zero.

 

[Chili327]

So our very first DVC stay in just over a week away (Boulder Ridge studio.) Is it weird that I'm kind of bummed that our first stay isn't going to be at our home resort? Don't get me wrong...I'm still excited! But it seems weird for some reason. I also wonder if staying in the newly renovated BRV is going to make the VGC studio seem super rundown this summer. I can't see myself being disappointed though. I mean, we've mostly stayed at the Desert Inn and Park Vue on previous trips so the studio villa, even worn down, has got to be at least a little better than those rooms, right??

Anyway...I'm just bored and rambling and dreaming of all future vacations since there's a blizzard on it's way to us with wind chills of 45 degrees BELOW zero.

What is your home resort?
I’m going in a couple weeks too, but starting with a couple nights at AKV, then a few nights at BWV, then finishing with 5 nights at my home resort (for now), but I’m not even thinking about where “home” is, because I assume I’m always going to do split stays at 2 or 3 different resorts on every trip (depending how long the trip), but since it’s a long way for me, I can’t see doing any trip to WDW that would be less than 7 nights at minimum (which would be a 2 resort stay), but more likely 10-11 day trips.
I’m thinking I’ll sell my BRV contract when I get back then start looking for an SAP+ contract (assuming I love WDW) most likely CCV or Poly (possibly SSR).
Anyway now I’m rambling too. lol

Back on topic, I’m excited for the newly renovated BRV as well.!! Along with everything at WDW in general, and VGC in December, I just locked in 4 nights in 2 bdrm. I’m like you, we usually stay off property, so it’s gonna be great!!

By the way, there are a couple small VGC contracts out there right now.

 

[Lorana]

So our very first DVC stay in just over a week away (Boulder Ridge studio.) Is it weird that I'm kind of bummed that our first stay isn't going to be at our home resort? Don't get me wrong...I'm still excited! But it seems weird for some reason. I also wonder if staying in the newly renovated BRV is going to make the VGC studio seem super rundown this summer. I can't see myself being disappointed though. I mean, we've mostly stayed at the Desert Inn and Park Vue on previous trips so the studio villa, even worn down, has got to be at least a little better than those rooms, right??

Anyway...I'm just bored and rambling and dreaming of all future vacations since there's a blizzard on it's way to us with wind chills of 45 degrees BELOW zero.

Well, Wilderness Lodge is also a Peter Dominick hotel (as is VGC and AKL), so it’s almost like being home?

 

[Royal Consort]

Yeah, I was definitely eying the 100-point in our existing Sep UY, which would be convenient from the perspective of all of our other points are in Sep UY, so if by some miracle we found availability at 7 months, we could easily grab points from our other contracts.

But our existing 62 VGC points are an Oct UY, and I'm leaning towards keeping VGC in one UY, since having them in multiple UY would be a bit of a pain.

I have two VGC contracts split across two UY. It's a PITA sometimes but I tend to make it work fine. My small 50 pointer was excellently priced, my larger contract not so much but the Australian dollar was much stronger against the US dollar back then so it actually works out less expensive than if I bought now. Either way, I still make it work between them. My original intention was to use the 50 pointer as the "stopover" from WDW before flying home to Oz. But post-pandemic airfares to the US make 2 trips a year too expensive so it hasn't quite worked to plan. Instead I'm doing one bedrooms that I don't need.

 

[Chili327]

I have two VGC contracts split across two UY. It's a PITA sometimes but I tend to make it work fine. My small 50 pointer was excellently priced, my larger contract not so much. Either way, I still make it work between them. My original intention was to use the 50 pointer as the "stopover" from WDW before flying home to Oz. But post-pandemic airfares to the US make 2 trips a year too expensive so it hasn't quite worked to plan. Instead I'm doing one bedrooms that I don't need.

How far apart are the UY’s?
If more than one month, would I make a difference if closer or farther?