Grand Californian Villas

[Michael623]

Although they haven't been officially announced it seems like a done deal. Would anyone like to speculate what the point chart will look like? Something like BCV maybe? What do you think?

 

[dwelty]

I think it will be more like Boardwalk with a Themepark view and a Pool/standard view. Themepark view will cost more points. I think it will have 50% themepark and 50% pool/standard views.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Since it is the first one in California, I can't even guess!

On the one hand, it might be on the high side as it will be very special to have a DVC at the GC....and park access literally at the doorstep. On the other hand, the vast majority of DVCers live in the Eastern half of the country, so they may want to keep the points low to entice folks to try a DL vacation.

I do agree that there will have to be different view categories.

 

[tomandrobin]

I think it will have the highest point per night stays, on average.

 

[dwelty]

I think it will have the highest point per night stays, on average.

I disagree, I do not think it will be any higher than BCV or VWL. DVC wants consistency, and they seem to be emphasizing the DVC program as a whole, rather than the home resort. This will be especially important as they expand to sites not on Disney property.

I do think they might make the price per point at the initial sale higher than AKL.

 

[CheapMom]

MY guess:
theme park view: similar to AKV club points chart
standard view: similar to BCV/WLV points chart

 

[Mtnman44]

Since we're totally guessing here, I have to say that the only logical thing to think at this point is that it will be basically in line with the other recent DVC resorts. It would be a hard sell showing potential buyers that they have to pay the standard $104 or whatever but that those points won't go as far at their own resort.

 

[tomandrobin]

I disagree, I do not think it will be any higher than BCV or VWL. DVC wants consistency, and they seem to be emphasizing the DVC program as a whole, rather than the home resort. This will be especially important as they expand to sites not on Disney property.

I was just trying to factor in the higher cost of living in California, in relation to Florida. Real Estate out there is not cheap.

 

["Got Disney"]

I would say around $104 also. GC is very very popular with us westerners and we and many go there know and use our pts even though the pts are high. I dont think twice about using my pts there.

I plan on buying more pts there so can get a better pt value and also because will want that 11 month window. Am curiouse to know if they will make/continue the Hotel DVC as it is know and that they will just be adding Villas(no studios) but the rest will stay the same as studio rooms.

that would make more sence to me. This way there will be plenty to go around and that if you miss out on the villas you can still get the studio rooms as they offer it know.

 

[Michael623]

I'm more curious of the points per room type per season than cost per point. I would consider adding on but only if there was no chance of getting a room at the 7 month window.

 

[dwelty]

I was just trying to factor in the higher cost of living in California, in relation to Florida. Real Estate out there is not cheap.

I totally agree with you, the land will appraise at a higher value than Lake Buena Vista, FL land. For example, the median home price in Orange County, CA is over 500K!
However, I think where we might dissagree is how Disney will pass that on to the consumer, I think it will be in the initial point sale, you think it will be a higher points chart. I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

[salmoneous]

There's one huge unknown we still have. Are we getting Grand California Villas, or Disneyland Villas? If we are getting rooms in the CG, plus in some new building, plus maybe one of the DL Hotel buildings, that's going to be one complicated point chart.

DCV is changing a bit. Through BWV/VWL/BCV/SSR we had essentially the same point chart - only the standard-BWV rooms were really different. With AKV, we suddenly have 4 classes of rooms, none of which match the WL/BCV/SSR charts. I see more rather then less comlication in the future.

Gonna be fun to see....

 

[dwelty]

There's one huge unknown we still have. Are we getting Grand California Villas, or Disneyland Villas? If we are getting rooms in the CG, plus in some new building, plus maybe one of the DL Hotel buildings, that's going to be one complicated point chart.

DCV is changing a bit. Through BWV/VWL/BCV/SSR we had essentially the same point chart - only the standard-BWV rooms were really different. With AKV, we suddenly have 4 classes of rooms, none of which match the WL/BCV/SSR charts. I see more rather then less comlication in the future.

Gonna be fun to see....

I think the villas will be Grand Californian Villas, If they name them Disneyland Villas they restrict themselves from adding additional DVC properties later at DLR. Just like the original name for OKW was changed from Disney Vacation Club to Old Key West Resort.
I do not think they will cannibalize rooms from the GCH. They did this at AKL because the occupancy rate was lower there than other WDW resorts. The same cannot be said for the GCH which consistenlty has occupancy rates at 96%.

Also remember there are still 45 acres avaliable behind Paradise pier for 2 additional resort properties and up to 2,900 additional rooms (Based on the Anaheim Resort master plan)

 

[squidmo]

I think it will have the highest point per night stays, on average.

I'm not so sure. The current points chart for a room at the Grand Californian is very similar to that of the Animal Kingdom Lodge before AKV. My guess is that themepark view points will be in line with the other "premium" views points charts, although I suspect they might do something like making the entire top floor "club" level, with points on par with AKV club level. Since I think most (if not all) of the top floor is currently Concierge level, this would make a certain amount of sense. Maybe that's what they are planning to do with the Mt. Whitney suite- convert it into a DVC concierge lounge.

I also think that the price per point will have only a slight markup ($5 or less) over whatever other properties are being offered. With this being the first Disneyland DVC, I think they are going to want to make it an attractive sell, and get the program off on a good footing. Also, they are going to have to compete with the 647 other timeshare units that will be opening around the same time, 400 in the Gardenwalk, and 247 in the WorldMark behind the Gardenwalk. Both are within a 10 -15 minute walk of the front gates, so DVC will have less of an on-site advantage at DL vs WDW.

 

[Longhairbear]

I'm not so sure. The current points chart for a room at the Grand Californian is very similar to that of the Animal Kingdom Lodge before AKV. My guess is that themepark view points will be in line with the other "premium" views points charts, although I suspect they might do something like making the entire top floor "club" level, with points on par with AKV club level. Since I think most (if not all) of the top floor is currently Concierge level, this would make a certain amount of sense. Maybe that's what they are planning to do with the Mt. Whitney suite- convert it into a DVC concierge lounge.

I also think that the price per point will have only a slight markup ($5 or less) over whatever other properties are being offered. With this being the first Disneyland DVC, I think they are going to want to make it an attractive sell, and get the program off on a good footing. Also, they are going to have to compete with the 647 other timeshare units that will be opening around the same time, 400 in the Gardenwalk, and 247 in the WorldMark behind the Gardenwalk. Both are within a 10 -15 minute walk of the front gates, so DVC will have less of an on-site advantage at DL vs WDW.

If GCV has only 50 units, as rumored, that seems, to me, to be no competition for the other timeshares at all.

 

[disney-super-mom]

If GCV has only 50 units, as rumored, that seems, to me, to be no competition for the other timeshares at all.

The new rumor is GCV will have 250 units. (I sure hope that rumor is true!)

They will have to price somewhat competitively, but GCV will of course cost more because you're paying for location, location, location (and the Disney name). But I agree with squidmo that there's less of an onsite advantage at DL. It'll be interesting to see what price/point system they come up with given the different variables at DL compared to WDW.

Gardenwalk will be a very nice location too, especially for those who are looking for more upscale dining choices, shopping, and evening entertainment. (Evening entertainment is practically non-existant in DTD. I think I saw a tumbleweed blowing through there one evening, it was so dead!)

 

[squidmo]

The new rumor is GCV will have 250 units. (I sure hope that rumor is true!)

I compared the room layout map for the existing parts of the Grand Californian:
http://www.go2mickey.com/images/maps/gcroomlocalmap.jpg

To how much room is available to build on just the old valet parking lot:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&ll=33.808071,-117.922214&spn=0.004083,0.007231&z=17

It looks like the parking lot is approximately the same size as the wing including rooms 108-170, maybe excluding the suites 166-170. There are 54 standard rooms per floor in that wing, and 5 floors, which would be 270 hotel-sized rooms. So they must be adding way more than 50 rooms- not only can the parking lot area support much more than that, all evidence points to the expansion being even larger than the parking lot was. So, the question then becomes, is the entire wing DVC, or mixed-use? I'm hoping they've realized that there is no point in starting small, and will be dedicating the entire wing to DVC.

 

[kjjlouie]

Where will they park all of the cars from California DVC owners that will drive to the resort? Maybe they can tear out the tortilla factory and the sourdough bread attraction at DCA and build a DVC parking structure.

 

[dwelty]

Where will they park all of the cars from California DVC owners that will drive to the resort? Maybe they can tear out the tortilla factory and the sourdough bread attraction at DCA and build a DVC parking structure.

They already park all of the cars for GCH guests across the street. The lot for Valet has been removed, but they did get a permit recently to build a basement under the new wing. Maybe this will be additional parking.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I looked at the 2005 point charts and compared the GC with the YC. I used 2005 because this is before the points at the DLR hotels dropped dramatically in connection with the push to market DVC at the DLR.

Those points are slightly cheaper at GC:
Standard view at YC = 42 (avg weekend and not) for value and 78 avg for holiday season.
Standard view at GC = 31 for value and 42 for holiday season.
Concierge at YC = 68 avg for value and 95 avg for hoiliday season.
Concierge (avg view and non) at GC = 70 for value and 92 for holiday season.

That makes me optomistic that the points chart at GCV will be somewhat comparable to the chart at BCV.

Just being hopeful -- Suzanne