Staying at the Grand Californian when you don't own there

RamblinWreck

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 16, 2008
What's the recommended way to do this?


Should I rent from a VGC owner and then rent my VGF points to someone else?

Should I check in at 8 AM every day to see if I can snag a room and then "walk" the reservation at the 7 month window?

Should I just not bother?

Inquiring minds want to know!

I'm a new owner by the way. My VGF points were literally just loaded onto my account today.
 
What time of year and what room size? “Off season” I’ve been shocked how many rooms are available at 7 months, especially 1 and two bedrooms. Take a look at January now for example... most of the rest of the month is available even for studios. That said, they’re gone within minutes of 8am so you have to be quick.
 
We were just there in may for 3 days coming home from a trip to aulani. We don’t own. At the 7 month date I was easily able to get a one bedroom although it was a lot of points. But we enjoyed the pool and going to the park one day.
 


Walking only works at 11 months. At 7 months, an owner can book the room in front of you, and especially at VGC it is unlikely to be successful so I wouldn't even try.

The only success I ever had a VGC is waitlist. I know an owner out there, and they told me a lot of VGC owners because they know how difficult past the 7 month window is to book - they book tentative trips and then cancel them when they change their mind. It's a good method if your only looking for 2-3 nights I think. The longer the block you need, the harder to get.

Your idea of exchanging points with an owner is a good one since you own at VGF. Posts on the rent/trade board that you want to trade your VGF points for VGC points. You might get lucky since VGF is so valuable. (2nd only to BCV.)
 
I successfully walked a 1 bedroom for August, 4 nights at 7 months. Sunday to Wednesday nights before D23. It is risky, a owner could jump in but it worked for me. Started 2 or 3 weeks out. You could see people were walking, they day before would open up after everyone moved to the next day.
 
Walking only works at 11 months. At 7 months, an owner can book the room in front of you, and especially at VGC it is unlikely to be successful so I wouldn't even try.

The only success I ever had a VGC is waitlist. I know an owner out there, and they told me a lot of VGC owners because they know how difficult past the 7 month window is to book - they book tentative trips and then cancel them when they change their mind. It's a good method if your only looking for 2-3 nights I think. The longer the block you need, the harder to get.

Your idea of exchanging points with an owner is a good one since you own at VGF. Posts on the rent/trade board that you want to trade your VGF points for VGC points. You might get lucky since VGF is so valuable. (2nd only to BCV.)
Thanks! I know that walking is much more of a guarantee at 11 months.

But based on your charts on predicted booking patterns, it seems that almost the entire resort tends to have availability right before the 7 month window and then it disappears right at 7 months.

That would indicate to me that there are a lot of people who don’t own VGC booking at the 7 month window, so there may be some value to trying to walk a reservation there.

Am I missing something in that evaluation?
 


Thanks! I know that walking is much more of a guarantee at 11 months.

But based on your charts on predicted booking patterns, it seems that almost the entire resort tends to have availability right before the 7 month window and then it disappears right at 7 months.

That would indicate to me that there are a lot of people who don’t own VGC booking at the 7 month window, so there may be some value to trying to walk a reservation there.

Am I missing something in that evaluation?

This is true. I considered trying to walk a room before the D23 convention, but there were dates that were occupied and so it wouldn't have worked. You certainly could TRY and walk a reservation to get what you want - I'm just saying it isn't necessarily guaranteed to work like it would at your home resort. I never encourage walking because the more people that walk, the bigger a mess the reservation system will become - and the more likely that Disney will step in to stop it...and I can tell you its very unlikely that we will be very happy with THEIR solution.
 
This is true. I considered trying to walk a room before the D23 convention, but there were dates that were occupied and so it wouldn't have worked. You certainly could TRY and walk a reservation to get what you want - I'm just saying it isn't necessarily guaranteed to work like it would at your home resort. I never encourage walking because the more people that walk, the bigger a mess the reservation system will become - and the more likely that Disney will step in to stop it...and I can tell you its very unlikely that we will be very happy with THEIR solution.
I agree!

In general, I have a distaste for walking (even though I basically just became a member today. I don't like it in principle).

The thing is, though, that when you are booking at Disney World you have several other resorts to fall back on if the one you really want falls through.

With Disneyland, it's VGC or bust. That's a lot of pressure to hopefully be one of the few to grab a spot right at 8 AM on the exact day you want to book. Especially if your travel dates aren't very flexible.
 
I agree!

In general, I have a distaste for walking (even though I basically just became a member today. I don't like it in principle).

The thing is, though, that when you are booking at Disney World you have several other resorts to fall back on if the one you really want falls through.

With Disneyland, it's VGC or bust. That's a lot of pressure to hopefully be one of the few to grab a spot right at 8 AM on the exact day you want to book. Especially if your travel dates aren't very flexible.

The one time we tried to stay on-site, we just booked off-site and then used waitlist as our back-up-plan. We got lucky that the back-up plan came through. You can try to grab it at 8 AM, but there's probably 3-4 units open (realize only maximum of 23 studios and 23 1-bedrooms) and possible several hundred people trying to get those 3-4 units. I've personally never succeeded in getting a room at VGC at 7 months, but again haven't really worked at it.
 
What's the recommended way to do this?


Should I rent from a VGC owner and then rent my VGF points to someone else?

Should I check in at 8 AM every day to see if I can snag a room and then "walk" the reservation at the 7 month window?

Should I just not bother?

Inquiring minds want to know!

I'm a new owner by the way. My VGF points were literally just loaded onto my account today.

Very difficult to do.

* First option is to just pay cash. But Grand Californian is very expensive.

* Stalking the RAT probably doesn't work very well. There usually are NEVER any studios at VGC available inside the 7 month window. Same goes for 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom. There very rarely are 1-bedroom units available, as a single day or two at a time. HOWEVER, it wouldn't hurt to put in a WAITLIST request. Do this right at the 7 month window. There are only about 24 studios and 24 one-bedrooms available as 24 2-bedroom lockoffs. But, if you are lucky, one of those 24 people who has the dates you want will cancel and drop their vacation, in which case, if you are at the top of the Waitlist, you might get it.

* If you are a Direct owner, you can go and use some of your points to Exchange into it through the Disney Collection. But, this is pretty point intensive. They want a LOT of points to stay in a regular hotel room. I don't remember how much now, but I seem to remember it being around 45 points per night.

*You can rent out your current DVC points and take the money and use the money to stay at Grand Californian. Except that it costs so much cash, per night, that it just might not be worth it.

* You can go to one of the Rental brokers and pay $18 per point to buy the points to stay there.

* You can try to contact a VGC owner and offer to rent points directly from them.

* You can post a message somewhere, offering to trade a week at your home resort for a week at Grand Californian, and see if you can find any takers. Depending on where your home resort is, you might need to offer a few more days and receive a few less days.

* You can go to the Transfer forums and offer to TRADE/Transfer your own DVC Points for VGC points.

I think I have pretty much covered your options. I once used 345 Poly points for 6 nights at VGC, through the Disney Collection. It was an amazing vacation, but I don't think I would do it again.
 
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I own 2 contracts (second one added when I realized the first was just not enough) at VGC after having problems more than once trying to get a room and not having waitlists come through. It is a very small resort. i think using your VGF points in a trade with a VGC owner is your best bet. But I am sure that are like me and use them all every year and have them specifically earmarked for VGC only. I have a reservation there next month for Disneyland's anniversary and then another for January (for around the same dates as Moonlight Magic occurred last year). We are locked for next month, but I may still cancel the January one if there is no Moonlight Magic even there next year. I believe I will be banking 2 points this year.
 
So, 9 years ago, in November 2010, I was able to get a reservation for a studio from a DVC owner (owned at WDW) for a Sunday through Thursday in April. I think it was the second week of April. I have no idea if the owner waitlisted or just booked it when I asked about availability...but it was around the 5 month mark. I was so surprised! I doubt it would happen again.
 
Stalk at 7 months; use the waitlist; continue stalking.

So basically: Stalking + Waitlist
 
It doesn't hurt to try booking it on your own before going the renting/transfer route! I've had really good luck with booking VGC so far at the 7 month mark or even a month or so out. I have a full week in a 1BR booked this November and another few days in a 1BR after Christmas, all booked at 7 months. I've considered buying VGC points but haven't done it yet since I've been pretty successful so far with booking it on non-VGC points. That being said, it definitely requires more effort than when I book my WDW home resorts at the 11 month mark.

- 1BRs are way easier than studios. They are quite point heavy, but we prefer them due to the 2 full bathrooms and Murphy bed in the living area. I've booked a couple of weekend stays in a studio, but that required a combination of stalking, waitlist, and flexibility (we drive to DLR). One weekend came through on the WL only a couple weeks before the stay.

- Agree with others - stalking and waitlist. With waitlist, you have a much better chance if you waitlist 1 night at a time. I usually book a backup hotel on reward points that I can cancel pretty last minute and leave my waitlist up until the 7 day mark, and it has come through a few times at less than a month out. So if you're okay with potentially staying somewhere else, I would book a backup hotel that you can cancel without penalty. This is also easier with shorter rather than longer stays.

- Flexibility. If you can be flexible about when you go, you can time your trip to whenever you can get the room. We had certain dates we preferred after Christmas, but the first day I tried I didn't get it, so I tried again the next day and got a few nights, so we're just shifting our stay by a day from what we originally planned. I have the first night waitlisted, but if we don't get it we'll just go with the days we already have. Since we drive to DLR we are pretty flexible as to when we go and can match our trips to whenever we can get availability. I have also walked a room before, but never for months. I might just start trying shortly before our desired dates so that I have more than one opportunity to get them, but if we need to shift our trip by a week or so depending on availability we can do that too.

- Be fast and on time! Rooms go really quickly when online booking opens at 5am (PT).

Good luck!! We love staying at VGC and it's always a treat to be able to walk into the parks so easily. Sometimes we book 1BRs at other hotels nearby but staying at VGC is just something special.
 
Dedicated 2 bedrooms are far more easy to get than any other villa size, even at 7 months. People are so used to lockoffs that they forget, or don't know about, this option. They're very point expensive though and I don't know how many points you're willing to spend.
 
I've picked up a random day or two and then stayed off property for the remainder of the trip. Rather than selecting specific dates, I try to see what is available during the month for a studio or one bedroom. There are many off property hotels within walking distance but it's nice to at least get a few on property days for the full experience!
 
It doesn't hurt to try booking it on your own before going the renting/transfer route!

If OP cannot book until the 7 months window, and cannot get it, renting will not work because the units will be gone.

This is VGC. When the units are gone they are gone.
 
If OP cannot book until the 7 months window, and cannot get it, renting will not work because the units will be gone.

This is VGC. When the units are gone they are gone.

I think I interpreted the OP's post differently and was more addressing possible ways to book VGC in general rather than a one-time trip for specific dates. I definitely agree that if you're trying to book a VGC stay for specific dates, have no/little flexibility, and don't want to stay anywhere else nearby, then renting from an owner at the 11 month window is best.

My post is more intended for general thoughts on booking VGC based on my own experiences. So if someone has flexibility in when they go, I think it's worth trying to book it on your own at the 7 month window since I've had a lot of success with that, especially with 1BRs. There's always renting from an owner in the future if that approach doesn't work out. Also going along with flexibility, I've picked up several last minute weekend stays in the span of a few months (i.e., less than 30 days out) when others have canceled, so it's definitely possible but just not something to count on, and mostly possible if you're close enough to drive.
 

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