Grand Californian question

[Carolc]

Well, you can't beat the convenience of walking right out into DCA, lol. It may be just as far from the DL main gate as the Fairfield Inn (though you could take the monorail). Is it worth an extra $300? Well, to some people for sure - to me I'm more of a penny pincher, and have a hard time paying over $150 for a hotel . It for sure is a very nice hotel, though I've only stayed in a regular hotel room (before they added on the villas). It is quite difficult to get a room there, though. There aren't many villas (relatively speaking) so they are often sold out. You can ask any member if they'd mind checking availability for you (there is an online booking engine on the member site)

Hope that helps!

[monstermama]

Never stayed myself, but the hotel is absolutely gorgeous and certainly nicer than any of the off-sites I've stayed at! The main benefits that I see for staying there are the early magic hours, which might be helpful at DCA with Cars land, and the closeness to DCA itself. If you're planning on spending more of your vacation at DL, I'd think it's not as useful. Also, if you have a big family (so you'd need more than one hotel room elsewhere) or little ones who need to nap in a hotel room, DVC may be better for you.

We tried renting points once for what was predicted to be a not very busy time of year, but couldn't get any availability. There's only something like 100 possible rooms, assuming the 2-bedroom villas are being used as a studio and a one-bedroom.