Grand Californian Villas Hard Hat Tour

On Thursday I had the opportunity to take a “Sneak Peek Hard Hat Tour” of the DVC Grand Californian Villas. These villas are still under construction – they are scheduled to open late this fall – November according to some of the literature we were given.

Our tour began with a continental breakfast and an overview of the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) program from DVC Sales Director Mike Brunson. Lee and I have been DVC members since 1996, so the program itself is quite familiar to me. (Since AllEars has a very comprehensive DVC page, I won’t cover it here – see the AllEars Disney Vacation Club page for all of the details.)

Some things I learned about the Grand Californian Villas (GCV):

It is the smallest DVC resort to date – a total of only 50 units. There are 48 two-bedroom units (most of which can be split into a one bedroom and a studio) and two Grand Villas.

It will be the 10th Disney Vacation Club property to open.

The Grand Villas will sleep 12 and are two stories high.

Our next stop was the DVC Models, which are located near the Wonder Tower of the Disneyland Hotel. I had seen these last year, but at that point they were not quite ready for the public and we were not allowed to take photos.

What can I say – the rooms are gorgeous. They have models of a Studio and a One-Bedroom unit. The rooms are decorated in the Arts & Crafts style like the rest of the Grand Californian, so there’s lots of wood, granite counter tops, stained-glass lamps, etc. We started our tour in the Studio, since it just gets better from there. Yeah, staying in a Studio is a pretty tough assignment. 🙂

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We moved next door into the One-Bedroom unit. These units have a design that is a little different from most of the other DVC resorts – the major difference is that there is a second bathroom. Which would make it a lot easier if there’s 4-5 people staying in it. These units also accommodate 5 people instead of 4 – there’s a Murphy bed built into the bottom of the entertainment unit. Very tricksy! 🙂 The dining room table has a built-in bench seat, so it takes up a little less room that way.

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For the hard hat tour we moved into the construction site itself. We were not allowed to take any photographs, so that’s why all you’ll see are photos taken from outside.

First we had to put on hard hats – they were white and said “VISITOR” on them.

Our two guides were Leah Jason, the Walt Disney Imagineering Construction Supervisor, and Bruce Campbell, the Senior Superintendent, who works for CWD – the building contractor.

We started on the very bottom floor, which is actually the valet parking garage. Since space is at a premium, they put the parking garage below the new part of the hotel. There are two parking levels and about 300 spaces.

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From there we went up the freight elevator to the third floor. The rooms in that section are all standard guest rooms – the new wing of the Grand Californian adds about 200 new guest rooms in addition to the 50 DVC units. Most of these rooms had drywall on the walls, and the tile in the tub area was done. But no plumbing or any other fixtures yet.

There are going to be “bridges” to tie the new part of the building to the existing part on the second through sixth floors. On the first floor will be a covered walkway. To me that description sounded quite similar to the way that Wilderness Lodge and Villas at Wilderness Lodge are connected.

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There will be three passenger elevators.

From there we went up to the 5th floor and into one of the Grand Villas. We were on the second floor of it, where there is a balcony that overlooks the living area below, and also what will be a two-story window overlooking Paradise Bay in Disney’s California Adventure. Wow. That is going to be a wonderful view – and it should be a prime view for the new World of Color show that starts next year.

We went across the building to the other Grand Villa – this one will overlook the new pool area. This new Mariposa pool and spa are located on what used to be the wedding lawn. There will be a walkway connecting it to the existing pool area.

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This floor was a lot less finished – the interior walls were still open and not yet covered with drywall. I found it It very confusing being in a building that really had no identifying features and all of those open walls. Good thing we had expert guidance! 🙂

Bruce told us that there are 250 workers on-site per day. And he’s worked for Disney before – he was part of the team that built the Tower of Terror attraction.

Our final stop was the Observation Deck on the sixth (top) floor. This area also overlooks Disney’s California Adventure. The area will have a trellis type of cover and its own set of restrooms – apparently it will be available for booking special events.

We went back down the freight elevator and turned in our hard hats before leaving the site. Thank you to Leah and Bruce for taking us on the tour – it was very interesting to see the construction in progress.

I’m glad that there is finally going to be a DVC resort in California, but it’s so small that I’m not sure I’ll ever get the chance to stay there. Since we don’t live that far away, we don’t stay overnight very often – and when we do I don’t make reservations 7 months in advance, which is probably what it’s going to take to be able to book a stay. Up until now we’ve been able to use our points to book a hotel room at the Grand Californian, but once the DVC resort opens we will no longer be able to do that – though we will still be able to book stays at the Disneyland Hotel and the Paradise Pier.

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Laura Gilbreath is a native of San Diego, CA. She has been making the trek up Interstate 5 to Disneyland since she was a small child and terrified of talking tikis and hitchhiking ghosts. She and her husband Lee enjoy trips to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as sailings on the Disney Cruise Line.

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One Reply to “Grand Californian Villas Hard Hat Tour”

  1. You’re right! The units are gorgeous. Maybe it will be the right incentive to finally go to Disneyland (California) as opposed to Disney World. Can’t wait to stay there.