The Official VILLAS at DISNEYLAND HOTEL (Discovery Tower) Owners and Fans Info Thread

[HairyChest]

For those who have been, does VDH have its own 'resort scent' in the lobby and hallways?

One of the YouTube videos I saw, as soon as the guy went by the mural, he said it smells like the Contemporary.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Yeah, see above for how to look at actual room inventory levels.

And this reminds me that I have a long overdue, and somewhat shocking, update on the inventory levels: inventory levels were reduced at some point in mid/late-August. At first I thought it was maybe a collection of Fixed Week contracts that removed inventory, but it's stuck around.

Short version of the reduced inventory (non-accessible):

• 7 SV Duos
• 3 PV Duos
• 1 Garden Duos
• 39 SV Deluxe Studios (down 1)
• 56 PV Deluxe Studios (down 4)
• 1 Garden Deluxe Studio
• 7 1-Bedrooms (down 2)
• 6 dedicated 2-Bedrooms
• 7 lock-off 2-Bedrooms (down 2)

I don’t understand this. Are you saying Disney has reduced availability for next august? And if so, why? And why no 3 bedroom?

 

[MartyParty]

Bit of a weekend’r question. Now that VDH has opened and folks are experiencing it, starting to hear more positive buzz versus the presale days. Are folks feeling more pleased that they bought in?

Our first trip is in February, but from the videos and reactions I’ve seen I’m feeling good about our decision. I think I even heard Amy on their show mention to Paul a little regret for not taking the plunge. They did buy resale at VGC, so all good on the DVC California front.

I really don’t think of it as a VDH vs VGC competition. Both are really nice DVC resorts close to Disneyland.

 

[ehh]

I don’t understand this. Are you saying Disney has reduced availability for next august? And if so, why? And why no 3 bedroom?

Yes, they reduced availability starting mid-August 2024 and later. Also possibly earlier, I don't look retroactively since any inventory reduction is most likely explained by people booking.

As for why, future availability and inventory can be thought of as a prediction of declarations, which are a prediction of sales. They must have declared more than they have sold at any given point, and inventory is a reflection of the declarations. Max inventory indicates the maximum they expect to have sold by any date in the future. An interpretation of this is that they adjusted their sales predictions downward.

As for the 3BR GVs, they only built two GVs. One is wheelchair accessible and the other is non-accessible. They declared the wheelchair accessible unit first (in fact, they appeared to declare all HA rooms very early) and sales will need to progress until they declare the non-accessible unit.

 

[emchen]

Bit of a weekend’r question. Now that VDH has opened and folks are experiencing it, starting to hear more positive buzz versus the presale days. Are folks feeling more pleased that they bought in?

Our first trip is in February, but from the videos and reactions I’ve seen I’m feeling good about our decision. I think I even heard Amy on their show mention to Paul a little regret for not taking the plunge. They did buy resale at VGC, so all good on the DVC California front.

I really don’t think of it as a VDH vs VGC competition. Both are really nice DVC resorts close to Disneyland.

We came back from a weekend trip just last week. We are feeling great about the decision. In particular, DW kept saying how much better it was in person than in the concept renderings and even youtube room tours! Nothing beats seeing and experiencing it in person! Can’t wait for our return trip Thanksgiving weekend!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Yes, they reduced availability starting mid-August 2024 and later. Also possibly earlier, I don't look retroactively since any inventory reduction is most likely explained by people booking.

As for why, future availability and inventory can be thought of as a prediction of declarations, which are a prediction of sales. They must have declared more than they have sold at any given point, and inventory is a reflection of the declarations. Max inventory indicates the maximum they expect to have sold by any date in the future. An interpretation of this is that they adjusted their sales predictions downward.

As for the 3BR GVs, they only built two GVs. One is wheelchair accessible and the other is non-accessible. They declared the wheelchair accessible unit first (in fact, they appeared to declare all HA rooms very early) and sales will need to progress until they declare the non-accessible unit.

That is very interesting that they can effectively reduce availability based on projected sales. Is that legal? Obviously it is I guess. I just thought once rooms were declared it was permanent. I really appreciate how much information you gather on VDH! Thank you!

 

[Kidguile]

Bit of a weekend’r question. Now that VDH has opened and folks are experiencing it, starting to hear more positive buzz versus the presale days. Are folks feeling more pleased that they bought in?

Our first trip is in February, but from the videos and reactions I’ve seen I’m feeling good about our decision. I think I even heard Amy on their show mention to Paul a little regret for not taking the plunge. They did buy resale at VGC, so all good on the DVC California front.

I really don’t think of it as a VDH vs VGC competition. Both are really nice DVC resorts close to Disneyland.

Just got back from OBB & Knotts Berry Farm - absolutely no regrets buying in pre-sale.

It's a beautiful resort and the walk to PPH, VGC, Downtown Disney and the parks was very manageable while sight-seeing all the hustle and bustle

 

[HairyChest]

Hows the studio availability? Grand Cal has 23 of them, DLH has 240+. Is it really necessary to own here if all you want is a studio?

 

[ehh]

That is very interesting that they can effectively reduce availability based on projected sales. Is that legal? Obviously it is I guess. I just thought once rooms were declared it was permanent. I really appreciate how much information you gather on VDH! Thank you!

The key thing here is that they haven't declared the inventory yet. Future inventory increases are essentially pre-declarations, where they demonstrate an intent to declare additional inventory at that future date, rather than declaring it today.

Max inventory on any given date-of-stay is roughly equal to what is declared at that time. What's available to book in the future is a projection of what will be declared in the future.

I'll try to help with a visualization. Here's a chart of a hypothetical resort's points sold over time vs. declarations vs. max inventory:


A breakdown:

• The green line for "Declared Units (in points)" must always be greater than the blue line. Must.
  • The blue sales line represents actual sales by X date.
• DVC's MO is not to have 'inventory dumps' where they add a bunch of inventory to all bookable dates due to a declaration. They've demonstrated they'd rather provide that inventory somewhat invisibly at the 11m booking window.
  • I suspect this is because it makes booking easier for owners during the sales period and reduces complaints about how hard it is to book at an on-sale resort. There's also 'fairness' complaints if someone couldn't book something at 11m as an owner but it becomes readily available for anyone at 3m due to declarations. It also reduces unused rooms.
• Because of this, they must forecast the blue line and then plan the declarations (green line) to always be above the forecasted sales.
• They must do this at least a year in advance so that they can then make Max Posted Inventory (yellow) available for owners at 11m.
• What I do is monitor the yellow line, which is information provided via the booking tool, and is roughly inline with planned declarations (there is some wiggle room with breakage, buybacks, etc.).
  • This gives me a glimpse into what they expect in the future
  • It's also useful for everyone to know how much is currently bookable at 11m, in my opinion
  • Plus I also monitor OCRW for actual declaration paperwork, but that happens on X date, not before it needs to happen

 

[ehh]

Hows the studio availability? Grand Cal has 23 of them, DLH has 240+. Is it really necessary to own here if all you want is a studio?

Preferred View Deluxe Studios are consistently the 'last room standing' and I think have been consistently available at the 7m mark.

This might get even easier in the future, as PV Deluxe Studios have been proportionally under-declared. Roughly 44% of rooms are available in inventory, but just ~38% of PV Deluxe Studios are in inventory vs. ~65% of SV Deluxe Studios. (though 38% of rooms being available is much higher than the current ~15% of points being sold...)

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

The key thing here is that they haven't declared the inventory yet. Future inventory increases are essentially pre-declarations, where they demonstrate an intent to declare additional inventory at that future date, rather than declaring it today.

Max inventory on any given date-of-stay is roughly equal to what is declared at that time. What's available to book in the future is a projection of what will be declared in the future.

I'll try to help with a visualization. Here's a chart of a hypothetical resort's points sold over time vs. declarations vs. max inventory:
View attachment 801901

A breakdown:

• The green line for "Declared Units (in points)" must always be greater than the blue line. Must.
  • The blue sales line represents actual sales by X date.
• DVC's MO is not to have 'inventory dumps' where they add a bunch of inventory to all bookable dates due to a declaration. They've demonstrated they'd rather provide that inventory somewhat invisibly at the 11m booking window.
  • I suspect this is because it makes booking easier for owners during the sales period and reduces complaints about how hard it is to book at an on-sale resort. There's also 'fairness' complaints if someone couldn't book something at 11m as an owner but it becomes readily available for anyone at 3m due to declarations. It also reduces unused rooms.
• Because of this, they must forecast the blue line and then plan the declarations (green line) to always be above the forecasted sales.
• They must do this at least a year in advance so that they can then make Max Posted Inventory (yellow) available for owners at 11m.
• What I do is monitor the yellow line, which is information provided via the booking tool, and is roughly inline with planned declarations (there is some wiggle room with breakage, buybacks, etc.).
  • This gives me a glimpse into what they expect in the future
  • It's also useful for everyone to know how much is currently bookable at 11m, in my opinion
  • Plus I also monitor OCRW for actual declaration paperwork, but that happens on X date, not before it needs to happen

Thanks for explanation
Very helpful visual

 

[emchen]

The key thing here is that they haven't declared the inventory yet. Future inventory increases are essentially pre-declarations, where they demonstrate an intent to declare additional inventory at that future date, rather than declaring it today.

Max inventory on any given date-of-stay is roughly equal to what is declared at that time. What's available to book in the future is a projection of what will be declared in the future.

I'll try to help with a visualization. Here's a chart of a hypothetical resort's points sold over time vs. declarations vs. max inventory:
View attachment 801901

A breakdown:

• The green line for "Declared Units (in points)" must always be greater than the blue line. Must.
  • The blue sales line represents actual sales by X date.
• DVC's MO is not to have 'inventory dumps' where they add a bunch of inventory to all bookable dates due to a declaration. They've demonstrated they'd rather provide that inventory somewhat invisibly at the 11m booking window.
  • I suspect this is because it makes booking easier for owners during the sales period and reduces complaints about how hard it is to book at an on-sale resort. There's also 'fairness' complaints if someone couldn't book something at 11m as an owner but it becomes readily available for anyone at 3m due to declarations. It also reduces unused rooms.
• Because of this, they must forecast the blue line and then plan the declarations (green line) to always be above the forecasted sales.
• They must do this at least a year in advance so that they can then make Max Posted Inventory (yellow) available for owners at 11m.
• What I do is monitor the yellow line, which is information provided via the booking tool, and is roughly inline with planned declarations (there is some wiggle room with breakage, buybacks, etc.).
  • This gives me a glimpse into what they expect in the future
  • It's also useful for everyone to know how much is currently bookable at 11m, in my opinion
  • Plus I also monitor OCRW for actual declaration paperwork, but that happens on X date, not before it needs to happen

Visuals + Breakdown = TIL! Thank you!!!

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Great overview video!

 

[MartyParty]

Great overview video!

Great video! Thanks for sharing Ursula.

Danny is informative, wonderful voice, and provides some interesting back story. Plus, video is only 8 minute. I got more out of this video than some of the other 40+ minute videos.

 

[ehh]

Great overview video!

Weird incorrect fact in the beginning about "there's 344 new rooms added to that hotel, of which 326 are exclusive to Disney Vacation Club" but otherwise great video.

I was specifically wondering, and will also ask here, how non-DVC members and Disneyland Hotel fans feel about VDH now that it's open. I think a lot of us have a DVC owner perspective (and are generally excited/positive), but wondering about perspective from the other direction.

 

[HairyChest]

Great overview video!

Love all the videos coming out! I want more!

Here is one that shows the feel of sitting in the lobby and goes in depth on the various views including the garden tower. Starts at about the 35:51 mark:

 

[Batuuwanderer]

Bit of a weekend’r question. Now that VDH has opened and folks are experiencing it, starting to hear more positive buzz versus the presale days. Are folks feeling more pleased that they bought in?

Our first trip is in February, but from the videos and reactions I’ve seen I’m feeling good about our decision. I think I even heard Amy on their show mention to Paul a little regret for not taking the plunge. They did buy resale at VGC, so all good on the DVC California front.

I really don’t think of it as a VDH vs VGC competition. Both are really nice DVC resorts close to Disneyland.

We are currently digging staying at VDH. Our family is onsite this weekend and it’s been lovely! Yesterday, the pool area was super crowded, with seemingly no chair availability, but I think there must be others like us who like midday swim breaks or those who deliberately avoid Saturday park days to avoid the crowds. I was getting Aulani vibes with the no chair availability but that was one day. Will assess today and tomorrow! Have no regrets buying in and look forward to many more trips in the future!

 

[DonMacGregor]

We are currently digging staying at VDH. Our family is onsite this weekend and it’s been lovely! Yesterday, the pool area was super crowded, with seemingly no chair availability, but I think there must be others like us who like midday swim breaks or those who deliberately avoid Saturday park days to avoid the crowds. I was getting Aulani vibes with the no chair availability but that was one day. Will assess today and tomorrow! Have no regrets buying in and look forward to many more trips in the future!

Probably a few regular hotel guests over there as well, checking it out. It's nice and "quiet" back there (as in tucked out of the way).

 

[HeightRequirement]

Thank you. This is helpful!

looking at inventory levels shown in the online booking tool, we can monitor what rooms have been added to inventory

If you look at 11m+7d between midnight and 8am ET, you can see the max inventory for that day before anyone has been able to book it.

 

[HeightRequirement]

There is a way to figure out. It's in a thread that was started last week. I think if you search for "calendar_availability" in the disboards search feature you'll probably find it.

Thanks. I was able to find the instruction on the VGF standard resort studios availability thread