diff --git a/demos/gcal.html b/demos/gcal.html
index 3a968cf0d6..d9dc93b9cc 100644
--- a/demos/gcal.html
+++ b/demos/gcal.html
@@ -13,9 +13,14 @@
 	$(document).ready(function() {
 	
 		$('#calendar').fullCalendar({
+
+			// THIS KEY WON'T WORK IN PRODUCTION!!!
+			// To make your own Google API key, follow the directions here:
+			// http://fullcalendar.io/docs/google_calendar/
+			googleCalendarApiKey: 'AIzaSyDcnW6WejpTOCffshGDDb4neIrXVUA1EAE',
 		
 			// US Holidays
-			events: 'https://www.googleapis.com/calendar/v3/calendars/usa__en@holiday.calendar.google.com/events?key=AIzaSyAjuKkq7EvbGztcj9eSAnIzqC1iFrpby8U',
+			events: 'usa__en@holiday.calendar.google.com',
 			
 			eventClick: function(event) {
 				// opens events in a popup window
diff --git a/src/gcal/gcal.js b/src/gcal/gcal.js
index 0a6d55f079..bb0648f5dc 100644
--- a/src/gcal/gcal.js
+++ b/src/gcal/gcal.js
@@ -14,64 +14,128 @@
 })(function($) {
 
 
+var API_BASE = 'https://www.googleapis.com/calendar/v3/calendars';
 var fc = $.fullCalendar;
 var applyAll = fc.applyAll;
 
 
 fc.sourceNormalizers.push(function(sourceOptions) {
-	if (sourceOptions.dataType == 'gcal' ||
-		sourceOptions.dataType === undefined &&
-		(sourceOptions.url || '').match(/^(http|https):\/\/www.googleapis.com\/calendar\/v3\/calendars/)) {
-			sourceOptions.dataType = 'gcal';
-			if (sourceOptions.editable === undefined) {
-				sourceOptions.editable = false;
-			}
+	var url = sourceOptions.url;
+	var match;
+
+	// if the Google Calendar ID hasn't been explicitly defined
+	if (!sourceOptions.googleCalendarId && url) {
+
+		// detect if the ID was specified as a single string
+		if ((match = /^[\w-]+@[\w-\.]+\.calendar\.google\.com$/.test(url))) {
+			sourceOptions.googleCalendarId = url;
+		}
+		// try to scrape it out of a V1 or V3 API feed URL
+		else if (
+			(match = /^https:\/\/www.googleapis.com\/calendar\/v3\/calendars\/([^\/]*)/.exec(url)) ||
+			(match = /^https?:\/\/www.google.com\/calendar\/feeds\/([^\/]*)/.exec(url))
+		) {
+			sourceOptions.googleCalendarId = decodeURIComponent(match[1]);
+		}
+	}
+
+	// make each google calendar source uneditable by default
+	if (sourceOptions.googleCalendarId) {
+		if (sourceOptions.editable == null) {
+			sourceOptions.editable = false;
 		}
+	}
 });
 
 
 fc.sourceFetchers.push(function(sourceOptions, start, end, timezone) {
-	if (sourceOptions.dataType == 'gcal') {
-		return transformOptions(sourceOptions, start, end, timezone);
+	if (sourceOptions.googleCalendarId) {
+		return transformOptions(sourceOptions, start, end, timezone, this); // `this` is the calendar
 	}
 });
 
 
-function transformOptions(sourceOptions, start, end, timezone) {
-
+function transformOptions(sourceOptions, start, end, timezone, calendar) {
+	var url = API_BASE + '/' + encodeURI(sourceOptions.googleCalendarId) + '/events?callback=?'; // jsonp
+	var apiKey = sourceOptions.googleCalendarApiKey || calendar.options.googleCalendarApiKey;
 	var success = sourceOptions.success;
-	var data = $.extend({}, sourceOptions.data || {}, {
-		singleevents: true,
-		'max-results': 9999
+	var data;
+
+	function reportError(message, apiErrorObjs) {
+		var errorObjs = apiErrorObjs || [ { message: message } ]; // to be passed into error handlers
+		var consoleObj = window.console;
+		var consoleWarnFunc = consoleObj ? (consoleObj.warn || consoleObj.log) : null;
+
+		// call error handlers
+		(sourceOptions.googleCalendarError || $.noop).apply(calendar, errorObjs);
+		(calendar.options.googleCalendarError || $.noop).apply(calendar, errorObjs);
+
+		// print error to debug console
+		if (consoleWarnFunc) {
+			consoleWarnFunc.apply(consoleObj, [ message ].concat(apiErrorObjs || []));
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (!apiKey) {
+		reportError("Specify a Google Calendar API key (googleCalendarApiKey).");
+		return {}; // an empty source to use instead. won't fetch anything.
+	}
+
+	// The API expects an ISO8601 datetime with a time and timezone part.
+	// Since the calendar's timezone offset isn't always known, request the date in UTC and pad it by a day on each
+	// side, guaranteeing we will receive all events in the desired range, albeit a superset.
+	// .utc() will set a zone and give it a 00:00:00 time.
+	if (!start.hasZone()) {
+		start = start.clone().utc().add(-1, 'day');
+	}
+	if (!end.hasZone()) {
+		end = end.clone().utc().add(1, 'day');
+	}
+
+	data = $.extend({}, sourceOptions.data || {}, {
+		key: apiKey,
+		timeMin: start.format(),
+		timeMax: end.format(),
+		singleEvents: true,
+		maxResults: 9999
 	});
 
 	return $.extend({}, sourceOptions, {
-		url: sourceOptions.url + '&callback=?',
-		dataType: 'jsonp',
+		googleCalendarId: null, // prevents source-normalizing from happening again
+		url: url,
 		data: data,
-		timezoneParam: 'ctz',
-		startParam: 'start-min',
-		endParam: 'start-max',
+		timezoneParam: 'timeZone',
+		startParam: false, // `false` omits this parameter. we already included it above
+		endParam: false, // same
 		success: function(data) {
 			var events = [];
-			if (data.items) {
+			var successArgs;
+			var successRes;
+
+			if (data.error) {
+				reportError('Google Calendar API: ' + data.error.message, data.error.errors);
+			}
+			else if (data.items) {
 				$.each(data.items, function(i, entry) {
 					events.push({
 						id: entry.id,
 						title: entry.summary,
-						start: entry.start.dateTime || entry.start.date,
-						end: entry.end.dateTime || entry.end.date,
+						start: entry.start.dateTime || entry.start.date, // try timed. will fall back to all-day
+						end: entry.end.dateTime || entry.end.date, // same
 						url: entry.htmlLink,
 						location: entry.location,
 						description: entry.description
 					});
 				});
+
+				// call the success handler(s) and allow it to return a new events array
+				successArgs = [ events ].concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1)); // forward other jq args
+				successRes = applyAll(success, this, successArgs);
+				if ($.isArray(successRes)) {
+					return successRes;
+				}
 			}
-			var args = [events].concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1));
-			var res = applyAll(success, this, args);
-			if ($.isArray(res)) {
-				return res;
-			}
+
 			return events;
 		}
 	});
@@ -81,7 +145,7 @@ function transformOptions(sourceOptions, start, end, timezone) {
 
 // legacy
 fc.gcalFeed = function(url, sourceOptions) {
-	return $.extend({}, sourceOptions, { url: url, dataType: 'gcal' });
+	return $.extend({}, sourceOptions, { url: url });
 };