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

[thndrmatt]

Apologies if this has been covered, but it seems a lot of the links in the OP from 2010 are broken/out of date, is there another post where links to the basics have been compiled?

 

[MonaMN]

DVC Resale Market has a pretty good summary on each resort (overview, floor plans, etc).
https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/listings/grand-californian/

 

[AstroBlasters]

FYI, VGC preview center and kiosks have DVC sliders but not the slap bracelets as of 3.23.23

 

[buffalobasingal]

Accepted an offer to sell my VGC contract. I keep second guessing whether I should have sold it and my husband said "I've heard of buyer's remorse, but I've never heard of seller's remorse". Goes to show how special the Grand California is to be a part of. But, our family is planning to do more cruises and WDW trips in the future instead of Disneyland, so it makes sense. Farewell, friends! Enjoy the Happiest Place on Earth from the shortest walk and best views!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Accepted an offer to sell my VGC contract. I keep second guessing whether I should have sold it and my husband said "I've heard of buyer's remorse, but I've never heard of seller's remorse". Goes to show how special the Grand California is to be a part of. But, our family is planning to do more cruises and WDW trips in the future instead of Disneyland, so it makes sense. Farewell, friends! Enjoy the Happiest Place on Earth from the shortest walk and best views!

I wonder if the person buying yours is a board member here. How many years did you have a contract at VGC?

We are in the closing process of our very first contract and super excited!

 

[AstroBlasters]

Accepted an offer to sell my VGC contract. I keep second guessing whether I should have sold it and my husband said "I've heard of buyer's remorse, but I've never heard of seller's remorse". Goes to show how special the Grand California is to be a part of. But, our family is planning to do more cruises and WDW trips in the future instead of Disneyland, so it makes sense. Farewell, friends! Enjoy the Happiest Place on Earth from the shortest walk and best views!

I hope you had and continue to have wonderful Disney family memories in whatever form they take.

Many families, such as my own, are very grateful for the opportunity to buy into VGC. I’m sure the family that purchased your points feels similarly.

 

[buffalobasingal]

I wonder if the person buying yours is a board member here. How many years did you have a contract at VGC?

We are in the closing process of our very first contract and super excited!

So excited for you! You are going to love being an owner at the Grand Californian. We bought in 2020 after staying there the year before and it was such a great decision. We were only able to stay in 2021, but it was amazing being able to stay there with the direct entrance to California Adventure and short walk to Disneyland. That is what we love about VGC is the location and being able to quickly go back to the room for a break in the middle of the day.

If we had plans to go back every year then I would keep it, but my family wants to go on other adventures so we decided to sell. The nice thing is that between renting points and current market rates we were able to stay there at no cost. Have fun making magical memories!

 

[AstroBlasters]

Is it true that the showers in the DVC rooms are not the kind you can use as a handheld?

We were just on the hotel side and they had a handheld convertible & the rainfall overhead.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Based on photos I've seen, that seems correct but maybe someone will chime in with first hand info. I'm hoping when they do the refurbishment they will change over to the handheld type!

 

[HIRyeDVC]

I think it depend on if you have a regular room, or handicap accessible one

 

[ClaraOswald]

Do people cut through the pool area to get to the park entrance quicker? Or do you always just walk all the way around?

 

[The_MT]

Do people cut through the pool area to get to the park entrance quicker? Or do you always just walk all the way around?

If you're going into California Adventure, the new entrance by Corn Dog Castle is amazing. You can walk out of the DVC building directly onto the path to that entrance.

 

[nalabear]

If you're going into California Adventure, the new entrance by Corn Dog Castle is amazing. You can walk out of the DVC building directly onto the path to that entrance.

Exactly; no more extended walk around the pools! Just exit the back corner stairwell and you're literally steps away from the back entrance -- this is also open for early entry.

If you do want to go through the original DCA entrance, it's a hit/miss to cut through the pool area as the key doesn't always work to get into the pool. On the return though; cut from Craftsman Grill is easy and our typical route back if coming from the front side of DCA.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Okay....so forgive my crappy map here....

But the yellow lines are the way to get to DCA and the orange is basically the only way to DTD and Disneyland, correct?

 

[nalabear]

Okay....so forgive my crappy map here....

But the yellow lines are the way to get to DCA and the orange is basically the only way to DTD and Disneyland, correct?

View attachment 749543

For the bottom; you can exit in the stairwell on the bottom right. Upon return; you have to go the BBQ route that you show that gets you in right across from the laundry room (which is free for DVC stays!)

I also learned recently for DTD, there sometimes a 'no bags' entry to the right of the starbucks when they open that gate up -- never seen that personally though.

 

[HIRyeDVC]

Okay....so forgive my crappy map here....

But the yellow lines are the way to get to DCA and the orange is basically the only way to DTD and Disneyland, correct?

View attachment 749543

I've never seen anyone ever cross through the pool to get to the Grizzly Peak DCA entrance. We never use that to enter the park anymore since they opened the Pixar Pier entrance. It's a game changer

 

[ehh]

I've never seen anyone ever cross through the pool to get to the Grizzly Peak DCA entrance. We never use that to enter the park anymore since they opened the Pixar Pier entrance. It's a game changer

We've definitely cut through on the way back to our room from the park when we're tired. But never going to DCA.

And we also haven't used the Grizzly Peak DCA entrance/exit since Pixar Pier entrance opened (except maybe once when we were going to lobby from DCA).

 

[Becx N Gav]

Anyone who has stayed in a 1 bedroom villa and used the beds in the living area, how comfortable are they? Thanks

 

[HIRyeDVC]

Anyone who has stayed in a 1 bedroom villa and used the beds in the living area, how comfortable are they? Thanks

It’s good enough for children. Not very comfortable for adults. Some of them are in really bad shape and some don’t even recline completely flat. My kids once said look, it’s like a slide!

 

[AstroBlasters]

It’s good enough for children. Not very comfortable for adults. Some of them are in really bad shape and some don’t even recline completely flat. My kids once said look, it’s like a slide!

Yikes!