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

[wbl2745]

Hello. Our family just bought our first contract. 200 points. 6 nights in a 1-bedroom in Adventure season is our intent. We're very excited. We're on the west coast and visit Disneyland annually. We always stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Love the feel and vibe there. Decided on VGC for the room size and amenities.
We've never actually stayed at the Grand Californian, but we know we'll love it. Our first trip is this October on rented points. Just my wife and I. We already got our tickets for the Halloween Party. Can't wait.

Congratulations! I think you'll love the Grand Californian. The convenience to the parks is fantastic.

 

[Nonsuch]

...We have a dedicated 2bdrm booked and are considering requesting one of the units that faces Redwood Creek Challenge. I’m curious if anyone has thoughts on the noise level from that side -would we find it quieter than directly facing Paradise Pier? (We found WoC pretty noisy last time when we stayed in 5500)...

The villas facing Redwood Creek will be very quite. 5518 in particular will be one of the most peaceful rooms, since few guest will go to the end of the hall which wraps around the master bedroom (the hallway is only used to access the second floor of the Grand Villa).

...I’m curious if anyone has any current view photos of 5518? (the one linked in bigAWL’s list seems to be no longer accessible). Wondering if the tree growth has obscured the ‘views’ we might have from 5518. Can you see Grizzly River Peak from the room?

The view from 5518 will be mostly trees. Grizzly Peak and Guardians (TOT) will be partially visible.

Picture is from 5514 (1 bedroom, 2 doors away from 5518) taken in December 2016, leaning out from the balcony toward 5518:

 

[wbl2745]

We found that the rooms are well sound-proofed so as long as the sliding glass doors are closed we didn't notice the sound. If you're on the Redwood Creek side they have bird sounds that run really late, even after the park closes, but if the doors are closed you won't notice it.

The only noise that bothered me was if you have a ground floor room on the side looking over to Paradise Pier you're on top of the access to the valet garage underneath the building. They have to honk the horn before coming up or down, so you hear that.

 

[PortlandFan]

The villas facing Redwood Creek will be very quite. 5518 in particular will be one of the most peaceful rooms, since few guest will go to the end of the hall which wraps around the master bedroom (the hallway is only used to access the second floor of the Grand Villa).

The view from 5518 will be mostly trees. Grizzly Peak and Guardians (TOT) will be partially visible.

Picture is from 5514 (1 bedroom, 2 doors away from 5518) taken in December 2016, leaning out from the balcony toward 5518:
View attachment 258370

Terrific! This helps a bunch.

Thanks for the photo too!!

 

[PortlandFan]

We found that the rooms are well sound-proofed so as long as the sliding glass doors are closed we didn't notice the sound. If you're on the Redwood Creek side they have bird sounds that run really late, even after the park closes, but if the doors are closed you won't notice it.

The only noise that bothered me was if you have a ground floor room on the side looking over to Paradise Pier you're on top of the access to the valet garage underneath the building. They have to honk the horn before coming up or down, so you hear that.

Good to know about the birds!

On our last visit, they were testing a new version of WoC, so in addition to hearing the 2nd show after we had already retired for the night, we also heard the 2AM testing. 4 nights of that was enough!

 

[PasadenaJacket]

Hey everyone! Have any of you ever had member services link 2 consecutive reservations at VGC? I called in to have them link my 2 reservations and they said they couldn't do it at VGC. She said she would note it but we still may have to switch rooms.

You know, there would be a silver lining if you had to switch rooms: you'd get a clean room!

 

[keaster]

I am getting excited, planning to get online at 8am on Tuesday August 8th to book a 1-bedroom at GCV for March. So far availability looks good! Last time we went to Disneyland was in 2011 for a short stay before our DCL Mexican Riviera cruise. At that time a big chunk of the California Adventure park was closed for Carsland construction!

 

[Ddaba1]

 

[keaster]

Update: Logged in this morning and got a 1-bedroom for March 8-15 Do we get a chance to put in room requests?

 

[Nonsuch]

Update: Logged in this morning and got a 1-bedroom for March 8-15 Do we get a chance to put in room requests?

Welcome home

I have had good results submitting a list of specific villa numbers to Member Services, using the message feature on the DVC website (Envelope icon on the "Contact Us" page).

For request suggestions: you might search this thread for "6502", since most 1-bedroom view requests include that villa.

 

[keaster]

Welcome home

I have had good results submitting a list of specific villa numbers to Member Services, using the message feature on the DVC website (Envelope icon on the "Contact Us" page).

For request suggestions: you might search this thread for "6502", since most 1-bedroom view requests include that villa.

thanks! How soon before your trip do you put in requests?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

thanks! How soon before your trip do you put in requests?

You can do it now if you wish up until a few days prior to check in. I'd recommend getting it done at least a week prior to check in and probably just doing it now so you don't forget. If you change your mind you can always change the requests.

 

[2boysmommy]

Recently returned from another great stay at VGC (our 4th). We booked exactly 7 months out and easily obtained a 2-bedroom dedicated villa reservation for 4 nights. Prior to our stay I sent a request via email with a list of prioritized room numbers based on information I gleaned from disboards (in addition to "high floor, theme park view") - I will paste the email below if anyone wants to copy it!
When we checked in (arrived at 10:00 am) on Sunday, July 30, I asked if they were able to grant any of our requests. She could not give me my assigned room and did not have the specifics I sent so I pulled the email up on my phone for her to look at. She said we had been given a room on the second tier of priorities. Knowing it would be fine, I wasn't going to argue the situation. However, my husband nicely asked if there was anything they could do to move us to another room since we had guests with us from Germany experiencing their first Disney park ever. She disappeared to the back and returned about 5-10 minutes later with a smile saying that she was able to change our room but it would not be available until later in the day.
We spent the remainder of the day enjoying the pool and sunshine (and heat!). At 4:30 I had not received the room assignment text so I went to the front desk to make sure they had my number correct. The CM I spoke with this time said it was still being cleaned. She offered to move us to an open room but when she looked at our assigned room she smiled and said "If I were you I would wait on this one!"
At 4:55 pm I finally received our room assignment text and was so happy to see 5500 as our room number! (We previously stayed in 6500 and know the view well!) We happily took off from the pool and went straight to our room. Everything was clean and ready for us. Our guests could not believe how amazing our view was and kept commenting on how much space we had. It was exactly what I wanted them to experience!
As far as the remainder of our stay, we never had any problems. We called down for a step stool for the kids to use at the bathroom sink and it was brought up within 20 minutes. Every single cast member we encountered was friendly, helpful, and genuinely concerned that we were having a good stay. This was especially true for those at the front desk. Everyone was so great!
We did notice noise from World of Color on the nights where we were not out enjoying the parks late. It was a minimal annoyance which was usually remedied by just opening the curtains and experiencing the show! A few days we came back to the room for naps (mainly to escape the heat!!) and it was a little loud with the screams from Goofy's Sky School, Mickey's FunWheel and Screamin' but we masked the noise with a sound machine app on our phones or iPads and it worked great.
Oh! When we arrived the front doors were still blocked off (which made for a hot hike around with our luggage and was a bummer to not have our guests experience the doors right at first). By the end of our stay all the black curtains were down, the front door was beautifully back in service, and everything looked great!

Email to DVC Member Services prior to arrival:

For our upcoming reservation at the Villas at Disney's Grand Californian, I would like to request a room location. I understand that room requests cannot be guaranteed.
We prefer a HIGH FLOOR with a PARADISE PIER VIEW. The room order of preference is:
5500
5506
4500
4506
6500
If those rooms are not available, the following preference is requested:
3522
3500
5518
4518
3506
3518
3516

 

[Nonsuch]

...When we checked in (arrived at 10:00 am) on Sunday, July 30, I asked if they were able to grant any of our requests. She could not give me my assigned room and did not have the specifics I sent so I pulled the email up on my phone for her to look at. ...

The CM at registration is not allowed to disclose your assigned room number, but the room number is printed on the registration form guests sign. Some guests have reported the CM even pointed at the number on the form

 

[2boysmommy]

The CM at registration is not allowed to disclose your assigned room number, but the room number is printed on the registration form guests sign. Some guests have reported the CM even pointed at the number on the form

Right - but we were not to the point of signing a form so she was just looking at it on the screen. By the time we were to paperwork I had moved on to deal with kids and my husband was finishing up. He would have never thought to look...

 

[Just Peachy]

Hello. Our family just bought our first contract. 200 points. 6 nights in a 1-bedroom in Adventure season is our intent. We're very excited. We're on the west coast and visit Disneyland annually. We always stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Love the feel and vibe there. Decided on VGC for the room size and amenities.
We've never actually stayed at the Grand Californian, but we know we'll love it. Our first trip is this October on rented points. Just my wife and I. We already got our tickets for the Halloween Party. Can't wait.

Congratulations! That is almost exactly how we started our family DVC adventures in 2014 with 160 points. We had to book our first trip on rental points while waiting for our contract to close (it seemed to take a protracted time). With our family we needed a 2-br and we plan to go every other year for 5 nights. So far we've used it twice since 2015 (just got back from celebrating our 25 wedding anniversary and renewal of Vows at Disneyland). We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel for several visits until we got the DVC buying "itch" and fell in love with going to Mickey's Halloween Party.

 

[Buson808]

Walking thru the lobby doors and you see/hear the guy playing disney songs on the piano!

Gives me goosebumps, one of the best experiences staying at vgc.

I wish Grand cali was my home and not Aulani! I dont know what I was thinking? I live 20 mins away from Aulani

 

[MikeRx]

We've started the paperwork on a 100 point VGC contract (resale) and hope everything goes smoothly as we are anxious to call the Grand home! We too live out west (AZ) and come to DLR 2-3 times per year so an 11-moth window for 1-2 short trips per year closed the deal for us. We are considering a 100-120 contract in WDW to cover our every-other year trips there or Aulani. We will be at the DLR for Labor Day, but not at the GC...
Mike

 

[Nonsuch]

We've started the paperwork on a 100 point VGC contract (resale) and hope everything goes smoothly as we are anxious to call the Grand home! We too live out west (AZ) and come to DLR 2-3 times per year so an 11-moth window for 1-2 short trips per year closed the deal for us. We are considering a 100-120 contract in WDW to cover our every-other year trips there or Aulani...

Good luck with ROFR

I also considered adding WDW points, but ended up adding more VGC. It has been convenient having all points for the same resort and same use year. While WDW points will have a lower initial cost than VGC, VGC points might maintain better resale value -- just another factor to consider.

 

[FireflyTrance]

We have our first stay planned at VGC next month and I have two questions if anyone has any insight.

1. This is our first stay so I would prefer a theme park view if at all possible. Do you think I will be able to get this view if I just ask at check in? From reading the thread, it sounds like the majority of rooms have a theme park view?
   
   
2. I made reservations for Napa Rose for myself, husband and our 4 year old. Do you think this restaurant is OK for a 4 year old? I have been wanting to go there for years but I was afraid to take my daughter. At this point she can usually sit quietly through a meal, but I also usually don’t take her to fancy restaurants. Thoughts?