Vgc trip report

[worldfanatic]

Living less than 100 miles from Anaheim means we make several trips a year over to the Disneyland Resort. But because we have a limited number of DVC points, and are too cheap for cash stays, we only spend a few nights a year at the Grand Californian. So those stays are very special for us. We just got back from one yesterday.

Day One - Saturday, Sept 10

We left Palm Springs a little after 10AM and arrived at the Grand Californian just before noon. I was glad to see they're again reserving the ground level parking lot just across the street for Grand Californian guests. At times, that hadn't been the case, and you often had to drive around back of the Paradise Pier Hotel and park in the garage.
It's just much easier to access your car in that front lot.
When checking in, they open the separate parking entrance gate for you, and from then on you use your room key to get in and out. Very easy.

Our plan was to have lunch outside on the patio at Tortilla Joe's in Downtown Disney. But it was drizzling rain, and we decided we might as well go to ESPN Zone to stay dry and watch the US OPEN tennis while eating. Saturdays are usually pretty easy to get a seat at ESPN Zone (unlike sundays), so we popped over and grabbed a seat in the large main bar area. There was several college football games on as well as the tennis. We split a couple appetizers and a Margarita while watching Roger Federer begin to collapse and blow a 2-0 lead to Novak Djokovic.

A little after 1pm I headed over to see if we could check in early. While Tracy went to do a little shopping at some of her favorite DTD stores. I told her to find me in the GC's Hearthstone Lounge when she finished. The studio wasn't ready, so I pre registered and went over to the lounge to keep watching the tennis and have a welcome drink. Tracy showed up thirty minutes later. She had bought a little makeup at Sephora, but other than that, no damage done.:)(a small victory for me)

The Hearthstone Lounge was pretty empty at that time of day. I'd say they're was maybe 6 or 7 other people in there. A far cry from the evenings when it's generally packed. Just after 2pm, I got a text that our room was ready.
Studio #5516. GREAT ROOM!
Fifth floor, directly across from the Redwook Creek Challenge Trail inside California Adventure. It was fun watching the kids bounce around inside that attraction. We could see 2 of the 3 Grand Californian main pools to our left, and a portion of the lake that hosts the World of Color water show to our right. This might be the favorite Villa we've gotten yet. There are certainly better views of California Adventure from other Villas, but I loved being able to view that beautiful pool area as well.

After watching Djokovic finish off Federer (poor Fed), I immediately headed to the pool. Tracy laid down for her afternoon nap. Pretty much standard fare for us on vacation. She loves her sleep, I love my water!
The Grand Californian has an awesome pool area. 3 large pools, 2 large jacuzzis, gorgeous setting! And while they don't have a traditional bar area, there are servers buzzing around who take food and drink orders which can be charged to the room. I ordered a Mai Tai and just relaxed. Sometimes Tracy will come down and join me, but we had tickets to the Angels-Yankees game at 6pm, so I figured she was just relaxing and getting ready. Sure enough, when I wandered back up to the Villa around 4:45 she was dressed and ready to leave. We're both huge Angel fans and this was a big game, so I quickly showered and we shot over to Angel Stadium. It's only a 10-12 minute drive and we were there before 5:30. A couple friends of ours met us at the game and we had a great time. (ANGELS WON 6-0):thumbsup2:

Afterwards, we drove back to the hotel, stopping for a snack at Wendy's on the way. I love junior bacon cheeseburgers!!!:eating:
Tracy and I both went down to the pool area to enjoy it before it closed at 10pm. The pools have a great atmosphere at night. They pipe in cricket sounds throughout the pool area at night to fit the forest theme. Very cool.
The Disneyland fireworks went off at 9:30 and we could see the top of the exploding shells over the main building from the pools. And we could certainly hear them. Very Loud! There was a large group of people (perhaps 15-20 people) in a Grand Villa just above the pool area. They were looking out the windows and from the balconies at the fireworks. They were having a great time. It was nice to see.

After that, we went back to our room and from the balcony watched the 10:15 World of Color show. It was a side view, and not nearly as good as our last time at the VGC (Villa #5504), but it was still cool and you could hear everything.

We went to bed very happy, looking forward to another amazing day tomorrow at the VGC.

[denlo]

Thanks for doing your TR, I'm really enjoying it. Looking forward to the next installment.

[KNWVIKING 2.0]

But it was drizzling rain......

We've been to DL once (10 day trip) and on a rainy day we were lucky enough to be chosen as The Umbrella Family.

Glad you got a great room.

Enjoy your trip.

[idratherbeinwdw]

Sounds fabulous so far. Looking forward to more, thanks for sharing with us! :woohoodance:

[worldfanatic]

Day Two - Sunday, Sept 11

I woke up around 6am today. Conveniently, that exactly when the pools open.
So, as Tracy slept, I headed down to hit the jacuzzi.

I have to ask, how in the world do the VGC elevators know where I am at all times?
Every single time, and I mean, EVERY SINGLE TIME I pushed that elevator button, an elevator door would open and be waiting for me. It's unreal!! There's 6 floors in the Villas, and 3 elevators, so it you'd think you'd have to wait at some point. But no....never. I'd hit the button and a door would open. All three days! Fantastic!!

It was still dark at the pool area, but it was indeed open. There's was a couple cast members cleaning the umbrellas, chairs and other things. And one other guest with me in the entire pool area when I got there. We shared the extra large jacuzzi. He was visiting from Oregon with his daughter and grandkids. He'd never been to Disneyland before and was amazed at the Grand Californian. He couldn't have imagined a Disney hotel would be so nice. It was nice to hear. I, of course, gave him the DVC sales pitch and he seemed genuinely interested. (In fact, I saw him again the next morning at the pool, and his daughter had arranged for a DVC tour later that day):thumbsup2:

After 1 1/2 hours at the pool, I headed up to see if Tracy was awake yet. She was just getting up and having some coffee I had gotten started before heading to the pool. We watched some 9/11 coverage on CNN before heading to breakfast. It's amazing to think it's been 10 years since that horrible day. But it makes me proud that our nation rallied and not given in to the terrorists.

Breakfast was at Catal in Downtown Disney. One of 2 hidden breakfast gems at the Disneyland Resort.
We sat on an outside patio, looking down as people walked through Downtown Disney on their way to the parks. Great food and a 10% DVC discount. Can't beat it!! The pancakes were great.

We'll do California Adventure tomorrow, but no big plans for us today. It's NFL Opening Sunday, so I know we'll be watching plenty of football. Tracy is almost as big a sports fan as I am, and that's pretty huge. After breakfast we wandered over to World of Disney and did a little shopping. The halloween merchandise is out in force already. Afterwards, I stopped by the Grand Californian gift shop to see what was new in there. It's a pretty small store for a resort of that size, but I guess when Downtown Disney is just steps away, you don't need much extra shopping space.

The NFL games kicked off at 10am and Tracy fired up the laptop to start monitoring her fantasy football team. The Steelers-Ravens game was on in the room. I watched the first half from the balcony and then made my way back down to the pool. My Droid phone allows me to keep track of the games from the pool, so I stayed down there until around 1pm. I was very happy to see the Steelers lost. I'm a Niner fan and can't stand the fact that the Steelers have 1 more Super Bowl Ring than us. Plus my college roomate, Jamie, was going out to dinner with us tonight, and he's an obnoxious diehard Steeler fan. The fact that they lost would calm him a bit.

Once I got to the room, Tracy reminded me that I need to pick up some beer before Jamie arrived, so I jumped in the car and took the 5 minute ride to CVS. Upon returning, Tracy had gotten us lunch from Whitewater snacks. Great sandwich!

At that point, I had been planning to head back over to the ESPN Zone to watch the Niner game, but my previously mentioned friend Jamie called from the lobby.
I thought we we're doing dinner? Why was he here now? At 2pm?
Well it turns out, he was so upset about the Steelers loss, that he didn't want to just sit home, so he came early. We hung out at the Villa all afternoon, drank some beers, watched football & tennis, and made fun of Tracy's fantasy football team. (Although she had the last laugh when her team came back and won)

Our plan for dinner was either Tortilla Joe's, House of Blues, or Ralph Brennan's Jazz Cafe.
We wandered into Downtown Disney around 6:30 to see what's up. As usual, Downtown Disney gets pretty busy in the evenings and there were a lot of people around. Jamie didn't want to eat Mexican food. And because he usually insists on buying us dinner (Jamie's pretty wealthy), that was fine. The wait for a table at the House of Blues was 30 minutes, and the same at the Jazz Cafe. However, there was 3 seats available at the Jazz Cafe bar, so we headed in. It was perfect, the Cowboys-Jets game was on, there was live music, and the food was great. We all had pasta and it was fantastic. We stayed til the end of the football game and as usual Jamie wouldn't let us pay. God bless him!!

Afterwards, we took the long 3 minute walk back to the Grand Californian and said goodbye to Jamie. A hilarious moment happened on the hotel's front drive. Jamie had valet parked his Porsche (which is like his girlfriend) and they couldn't find his keys. He stayed calm, but I could see his eyes popping out of his head. He had earlier tried to bribe the valets into leaving his car on the front drive, but apparently that doesn't work at Disney hotels. Just before I thought he was going to "lose it", they found his keys and brought his cherished "steel baby" back to him. Tracy and I were laughing our brains out.
We drive 10 and 11 year old Toyotas, and couldn't really relate to his hysteria.

We went back to our studio and did the same thing as the previous night. A pool visit followed by World of Color on the balcony. We thought about making a late night Hearthstone Lounge appearance, but instead decided to get to sleep.

It's California Adventure tomorrow and our first ride with a certain Red Haired Mermaid.:woohoodance:

[KNWVIKING 2.0]

Went to the CVS to pick up beer. Gotta love that.

In Jersey if you go to CVS looking for alcohol, you're coming out with a bottle of Nyquil.

[worldfanatic]

Went to the CVS to pick up beer. Gotta love that.

In Jersey if you go to CVS looking for alcohol, you're coming out with a bottle of Nyquil.

:grin:
And on a Sunday too.
I remember living in Seattle where you had to buy all your booze in a state run store.
And on Sunday??????? Forget it!

[worldfanatic]

Day Three - Monday, Sept 12 (part 1)

Woke up very excited today. I've purposely put off going to California Adventure this summer because I wanted to ride Little Mermaid without waiting in a huge line. As it turns out, the very effective omnimover system in Little Mermaid ride has kept the lines to a minimum through the summer. So I didn't really need to wait. But I'm happy I did, because today will be fun!

Unfortunately, my excitement got the best of me and I woke up at just after 4am. And once I'm up, I rarely go back to sleep. Maybe I should have had those late night drinks at the Hearthstone Lounge?

Well, it's too early to go to the pool. So I make the coffee...................quietly, very quietly.............because if Tracy wakes up and looks at the time, she'll be PISSED!
After the coffee's ready, I load up a couple cups and go looking for a newspaper. Sure enough, there's a whole stack of USA Todays at the bell stand. I grab one and assume a seat in the GC's amazing lobby. The mood music is playing, the fireplace is roaring, and it's just me and 2 front desk agents in the entire lobby. The experience is very similar to my early mornings at the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge. In a word..........AWESOME!

As I'm reading, a Disney security guard wanders by and greets me. We speak for a bit, he was very nice, but I suspect he was trying to find out why this "Bozo" in a Niner hat was sitting in the lobby at 4:30 in the morning.

In any case, the newspaper distracted me until 6am when the pool opened. Sure enough, the gentleman from Oregon I had met yesterday morning was there in the main jacuzzi. His first ever visit to Disneyland park the previous day had been fantastic. And he was honestly hoping his daughter would buy DVC so he could come back some day. That made my day.
Seeing a happy first timer who was probably nearly 70 years old.
Disney Magic strikes again!

There was a few other people at the pool as well today, including a couple swimming laps. Very nice, very peaceful. I stayed out there until around 7:30am and then went up to check on Tracy. The room was pitch black when I entered, and she was still sound asleep. I took a quick shower, hoping the sound of the water would wake her up. Nope. On mornings after she drinks, she loves to sleep in. Today was no exception. I decided to head out exploring, knowing she'd call me when she was awake and hungry.

I wandered over to the Paradise Pier Hotel and spent a couple bucks in the arcade. There were quite a few people in the PCH Grill having breakfast with Mickey. I then went over to the Disneyland Hotel to see how the new construction was going. Everything is coming along over there. The towers are almost complete. The half of the pool with the Monorail slides is completed and looks fun. The other new pool, the "E-ticket" pool still has a lot of work to do, but you can tell it will be great when it's finished. And, of course, the Trader Sam's bar and Tangaroa Terrace are looking nice as well. They've installed probably 20 new palm trees outside the entrance lobby of the hotel and they're working on upgrading the main hotel store. I've been going to the Disneyland Hotel for almost 40 years. It's always been great. And I love that it's getting some serious love. It's going to be amazing when it's done.

Tracy still hadn't called, so I grabbed a seat in the recently completed Frontier tower and relaxed. There's a large model of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in there, and it was fun to watch kids get off the elevators and run over to look at it as their parents looked on. I also noticed that the Frontier tower plays many of the same songs that are featured in the Wilderness Lodge loop of music. I've purchase a couple of albums with those songs and I recognized several of them.

Finally Tracy called and was ready for breakfast. We planned on eating at Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel, so I wouldn't have far to walk. I told her to meet me there. I headed over and noticed that Goofy's Kitchen, as usual, was swamped with people. Both inside, and outside waiting. Steakhouse 55 was the complete opposite. As I waited for Tracy, I talked to the hostess. She confirmed that Steakhouse 55 would eventually change its name to Walt's. But she didn't know when. Tracy's arrived and we were escorted in. Only 3 other tables in the restaurant were being used. Hilarious!! This place has great breakfast, it's reasonable, and always easy to get into. Another Hidden Gem! I hope the name change doesn't make it too popular. But I doubt that.
We had a great breakfast and enjoyed our 10 % DVC discount again.

And now, it's finally time to head over to California Adventure to visit Ariel, Flounder, Sebastian, Scuttle and the all the rest.
I've been looking forward to this for a while!:woohoodance:

[worldfanatic]

Day Three - Monday, Sept 12 (part 2)

We arrived at the private Disney Resort guest entrance to California Adventure at about 10:30am. Thirty minutes after the official opening time. I turned on my Verizon Disney Parks Mobile Magic Application and it seems to be working fine.
It lists Soarin' with a 10 minute wait, Toy Story Mania with a 15 minute wait, Tower of Terror with a 10 minute wait.
It shows California Screamin' as closed for refurbishment (which I already knew), Grizzly River Run as a 5 minute wait, and Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure as being unavailable at this time.
Ummmmmmmm what???????

OK, Jeff, stay calm.

We make a bee line to the Little Mermaid, and sure enough, cast members are at the front entrance turning people away.
As usual, they don't have any specific information. Just that it's closed right now, and hopefully will open later on.
Hopefully????? I've been looking forward to this all summer.
We don't have annual passes right now. I don't want to have spent $160 for today's tickets and not get to go on that ride.I was just here 4 months ago just before it opened.

OK, these things happen. No worries. Stay calm.

We make our way over to Toy Story Mania and wait for 15 minutes to ride. It would be the longest wait of the day. It was fun, I barely beat Tracy, but my mind was on the Little Mermaid.
It couldn't stay closed all day. Could it?
Tracy goes into the Paradise Pier shops and I stand near the water's edge, looking across the water to see if there's any movement around Ariel. I keep checking the Mobile Magic App for an update.

You know, if you had told me when I was a kid, that when I was 44 years old I'd be all worked up over whether or not a Mermaid ride was open or not, I might have killed myself right then. :headbrickwall:

Meanwhile, Tracy's not helping matters. She thinks it's ridiculous how nervous I am about it, and is taunting me relentlessly.
"Must be a problem with the omnimover Jeff, those things aren't easy to fix, could be down for days".
What a wonderful, caring wife, huh???

We made our way over to the newly rethemed Goofy Coaster and walked right on. They did a good job with it. It's nothing spectacular, but it's a fun version of Primeval Whirl without the spinning.
We start walking back towards Ariel's Undersea Adventujre and as we approach, I think I can see guests inside.
Or are they cast members?
Wait.........................YES!! It's open! We end up walking right on.

It was fun. And so new and clean.
I'll agree with others. It's far from an E ticket. But it's well done and a solid addition for Disney.
We'll definitely come back for another ride later today.

Well that was a relief! Main mission accomplished. Everything else today is just gravy.
We wander over to It's Tough to be a Bug and walk right in. I haven't been on it for a few years, and that was at WDW. I forgot how scary that show can be for kids, Wow!! Kudos to Disney for not bowing to pressure and toning it down. I can see why some kids are terrified of it.

We made our way through the maze of construction walls bordering what will become Cars Land and snuck a few looks over the walls. That is going to be an amazing place to be next summer.
You think I was excited about the Little Mermaid, quadruple it for Radiator Springs Racers. That ride will be off the hook!

Early september after schools back in is an amazing time to visit, especially weekdays. We waited 5 minutes for Soarin', walked right on the Grizzly Run, walked right on to Monsters, Inc., (which despite the Little Mermaid) is still the best dark ride at California Adventure. I love that ride!!
We basically walked on or waited 5 minutes or less for every ride, including a second trip to Ariels's Undersea Adventure.
When you consider how bad lines can be at Disneyland Resort during peak times, this was amazing.

We got hungry around 5:00 and still had time to make it over to our favorite happy hour in Anaheim.
The Gardenwalk Mall on Katella, just a 12-15 minute walk from Disneyland has several great restaurants. In fact, we often stay at the Super 8 right next door because of it's low rates and proximity to the Gardenwalk. Mccormick and Schmick's has a particularly outstanding happy hour deal. From 3 - 6 PM on weekdays, they have great drink specials and amazing food deals. Like a 1/2 lb. Cheeseburger with a load of fries for $2.95. Or a California Sushi Roll for $4.95, amongst many other deals.
We stuffed ourselves to the brim!


The plan had been to go back to California Adventure after the meal, but we were so stuffed and with the park closing early at 8pm on monday, we decided to waddle back to the hotel and watch Monday Night Football. We had gotten more than our money's worth at DCA anyway. We had fit a couple day's worth of rides into 6 1/2 hours. Back at the Grand Californian, we fell onto the couch in our studio and watched the Raiders-Broncos game.
I did make my way to the pool for a half an hour or so, but my lack of sleep caught up to me and I was asleep in bed by 10:30.


The next day we had to wake up early to get Tracy back to Palm Springs for work at 9am. So that's the end of this report.

Sorry it was so long and detailed for a 3 day trip, but I don't write them too often. I like to get my $$$$'s worth!:grin::grin::grin:


Despite living in Southern California, and growing up going to Disneyland, I'm a Walt Disney World guy.
Disneyland Resort is fantastic and amazingly Magical in its own way, but how can you compete with all WDW has to offer.

That said, I truly feel the Grand Californian is the best Disney Resort I've ever experienced.
I wish I could stay there all the time. But once or twice a year works just fine.:thumbsup2:

[TimK]

Thanks for sharing, Jeff.

I'll have to write down some of your breakfast suggestions. My wife and I really enjoy eating a hot breakfast but it's such an easy meal to prepare in the room. We usually end up with cereal or toaster waffles for the family before heading to the parks. One of these days we'll get around to enjoying a few more meals. :)

[denlo]

Thanks for the TR Jeff. Your report made DH and I start looking at going to DL again. We just keep putting it off as we always have plans for our DVC points. But last night we started looking at a cash stay. I think I'm still in sticker shock and that's getting the 30% off they are advertising on the room right now. Also we'd be fitting it in between other trips. I don't know. But it sure sounds nice when you write about it.

[nono]

Loved your report!

I am an East Coast gal but so a DL fan, kinda the opposite of you, so THANKS VERY MUCH!!!! :hug1: I have to figure out a way to get out there once Cars Land opens. I don't think I'll be able to stay away!

Going to do a spin off with the rest of my thoughts on bag check.

[worldfanatic]

Loved your report!

I am an East Coast gal but so a DL fan, kinda the opposite of you, so THANKS VERY MUCH!!!! :hug1: I have to figure out a way to get out there once Cars Land opens. I don't think I'll be able to stay away!

Going to do a spin off with the rest of my thoughts on bag check.

Thanks NONO, and all the rest who responded.

I think Cars Land really will bring in a lot of people who have been wanting to visit DLR, but needed a slight push.
There's no doubt it will be amazing!

Your spin-off thread brings up a very tough but interesting discussion topic.:thumbsup2:

[DVCMBR05]

Day Three - Monday, Sept 12 (part 2)

Toy Story Mania with a 15 minute wait

As someone who has only been on TSM at WDW, I have no idea what a 15 minute wait time is like. LOL!

[TimK]

As someone who has only been on TSM at WDW, I have no idea what a 15 minute wait time is like. LOL!

30-40 minutes seems pretty typical. The standard railed queue area backs you up to the 40 or 45 minute mark. And since TSM at DL doesn't have FastPass, there are no virtual line cutters to slow things down. ;) You keep moving at a decent pace when in that line.

TSM really is a case study in the merits of FastPass. Sure it's great to have a minimal FP (at Hollywood Studios) but the trade-off is having to be at the park right at opening and waste time running to the back of the park to secure FP tickets. At California Adventure, 30-40 minutes and you're on.

That DL wait isn't a whole lot of fun in July or August but I may actually prefer it to the park criss-crossing often necessitated by FastPass.

[DVCMBR05]

Tim,

Is it also true that TSM isn't as popular at DL as it is at WDW and that's also a reason why the wait time at the DL version is minimal?

[TimK]

Tim,

Is it also true that TSM isn't as popular at DL as it is at WDW and that's also a reason why the wait time at the DL version is minimal?

I'm really not sure about that. My guess is that their popularity is pretty close to identical but FastPass has such an overwhelmingly negative impact on the standby times.

Let's assume for the moment that about 50% of DHS TSM guest use FastPass and 50% use Standby. If the FP guests are waiting in the queue about 10 minutes each and the Standby guests are waiting about 75-85 minutes, the average wait is about 40-45 minutes...pretty close to California Adventure.

But we don't know any of those averages (average wait, FP percent) so no way to really judge.

I do think both parks have a good mix of competing "E" Ticket attractions. DHS has Rock N Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and Star Tours. DCA has Tower of Terror, California Screamin and Soarin.

When Cars Land opens we could speculate that DCA's TSM would lose some business. However if the park itself begins to draw a much larger population of guests, TSM could stay as busy as ever.

[denlo]

Tim is there any chance that since the attendance at DHS is 3 million more (for 2010) than California Adventure that could be a factor that should be considered? I grant you that FPs could affect the wait times, but I still think that the attendance matters too. I don't know, but doesn't DCA have more attractions than DHS? That would make a difference too, because the attendance could be spread out amongst the additional attractions..

[TimK]

Tim is there any chance that since the attendance at DHS is 3 million more (for 2010) than California Adventure that could be a factor that should be considered? I grant you that FPs could affect the wait times, but I still think that the attendance matters too. I don't know, but doesn't DCA have more attractions than DHS? That would make a difference too, because the attendance could be spread out amongst the additional attractions..

Park attendance could play a role.

But let's take a step back for a moment. I'm trying to dig into my college mathematics...which is always dangerous. ;)

If both attractions are identical and have the same rider capacity, wouldn't they host pretty much the same number of guests per day? In other words, if DHS and DCA are both open for 10 hours and can accommodate 1000 guests per hour, then they both host 10,000 guests per day. The only real variance would be number of guests in line at closing time since the park is obligated to accommodate anyone in line when the operating day ends.

So then you're left trying to measure popularity. That gets into things like each guest's willingness to enter the queue when the posted wait time reaches "X".

Stepping back even further, how do we define "popularity"? Yes DCA has a bit more to do than DHS. So if guests are waiting in line for Ariel's Undersea Adventures or Goofy's Sky School instead of waiting for TSM, does that make TSM "less popular?" :confused24:

My head hurts.

At the end of the day, I've never had the sense that guests at DCA are any less appreciative of Toy Story Mania than at DHS. I do think that FastPass gives the DHS version a much different mindset. FastPass demands that guests build their day around arriving early and possibly staying late to use those passes. Meanwhile at DCA there is a bit more to do, there are newer attractions to otherwise occupy one's attention, and the crowds are smaller.

[MrsNick]

Jeff, thanks for the trip report...Now I'm thinking that I'd love to take a trip to DL/DCA at some time in the future. The last time I was at DL was before DCA was built. I haven't had a chance to make it back to California since then. Hoping DH and I can come up with an excuse; both he and I could come up with business reasons to make a personal visit, and I have a dear friend who lives in Burbank.

Even more important to me than hearing that there is a safe/sane way to get onto TSM and that there's a wide variety of attractions to visit at DCA is the fact that there are things to do in the wee hours at GCV.

DD is always up really early (it's a rare occasion when she allows me to sleep past 6:30AM). Add to that the 3 hour time difference for us East coasters and it's possible that she might have me up at 3:30AM PT. Good to hear that the lobby is open and I could at least take her down there for a while to walk around and that the pool opens up at 6:00AM so that I could take her for a swim to blow off some steam.

And of course, for my own enjoyment, I'd heard that DCA has a pretty good selection of wines to drink :)

[cloudnut220]

I really, really, REALLY want to go to DL, but I have serious sticker shock. 250 points for a week in a STUDIO? In March? REALLY??

Your trip report does get me more excited for it though. Guess I'll have to stay off site.

[DVCMBR05]

I really, really, REALLY want to go to DL, but I have serious sticker shock. 250 points for a week in a STUDIO? In March? REALLY??

Your trip report does get me more excited for it though. Guess I'll have to stay off site.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but according to the points chart, a studio in March for a week at VGC is 194 points, not 250 points.

[denlo]

I have to agree the figure DVCMBR05 posted for a studio at VGC in March. Of course, 194 points is still much higher than the 108 points at OKW or BWV standard view. But keep in mind you don't really need a week's stay at DLR to see it all.

[KNWVIKING 2.0]

One final comment: Tennis ?

You were watching tennis ? Men's tennis ? And not even tennis with those cute young ladies with names I can't spell or pronounce. On vacation ?