Does Disney regret Aulani?

[RD-SOX]

"NON-DVC pool wristbands"
What does that mean? I know you get a wristband when staying there but are there different bands for different guests? We are planning a trip there and was wondering about the pool wristbands, obviously we are DVC, so would our wristbands be different from hotel guests or someone renting points to stay in the villas?

 

[that1jeff]

"NON-DVC pool wristbands"
What does that mean? I know you get a wristband when staying there but are there different bands for different guests? We are planning a trip there and was wondering about the pool wristbands, obviously we are DVC, so would our wristbands be different from hotel guests or someone renting points to stay in the villas?

DVC Members' wrist bands are sparkly. Guest staying on cash bookings are not. That's all.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We go to aulani every year (from Chicago) so obviously we love it. There doesn’t seem to be dip in guests so I can’t believe there are any regrets. Also from my perspective they don’t seem to be pushing dvc very hard. They used to have a decent breakfast meeting for members with mimosas and donuts and the usual rah rah from reps trying to sell more points. And giving great hats out. They cut out that during Covid and the replacement meetings are nothing like the old ones. The stalls they set up around the resort aren’t manned very often and the crappy sticker they give out is not worth the stop. They used to give out pins. I know it’s happening everywhere at Disney but the cost cutting in trying to get new dvc members or expand ones they have is astounding to me.

 

[Jwaire]

Nah, if anything, it's a free vacation for Bob Iger and the executive team at TWDC.

However, the chance of them building another non-park DVC is slim to none.

 

[Cfabar1]

Clearly they didn't care enough to sell it out more quickly.... Even last summer VGF and RIV had really nice incentives, and as I recall AUL did not....

What are the chances of other non-resort properties, I'd say remote.... There are 1-3 more locations they could do to round out the portfolio (a ski resort, NYC both come to mind)...

DIS at the end of the day is not a great hotelier... It's funny to me, because DCL does everything so well, but compare VGF to a true 5 star hotel and you really do see how lacking it is.... You can get away with a lot more when your entire appeal is location, location, location... Much harder to do when there's lots of properties in Beaver Creek or wherever you might be...

 

[Genie+]

I doubt they regret Aulani. When RIV and VGF were both active, incentive rounds made a big difference in sales numbers. The one with better incentives sold quicker. They could push AUL like that. Enough people booking cash means they don’t need to push selling out. It’s different than WDW where they need to also book other cash rooms. Unsold RIV for example, those cash bookings are taking potential customers from other cash resorts. That’s not happening in Hawaii.

 

[jekjones1558]

I don't know if the Disney bean counters regret building Aulani but I surely am glad it was built. I absolutely LOVE it there!

 

[J-Dog]

It seems to me that people are assuming that DVD used the same business model for Aulani that they did for the theme-park-associated resorts with comments about Aulani "being a failure because it's not sold out yet".

But we don't know that at all. Aulani is a one-off for them. It different than any other resort as far as general client base, location, amenities, etc. For all we know, DVD planned for Aulani to take 3 times longer than any other resort to sell out, and it's therefore selling faster than they thought.

 

[lilsonicfan]

DVC Members' wrist bands are sparkly. Guest staying on cash bookings are not. That's all.

DVC-Y Members' wristbands are sparkly. DVD-ND Members get the plain bands like cash bookings, point renters, etc.

 

[that1jeff]

DVC-Y Members' wristbands are sparkly. DVD-ND Members get the plain bands like cash bookings, point renters, etc.

What!? Say it ain't so! My wife was very excited for the sparkly bands once our Aulani resale contract comes through (hopefully). How am I going to break the news to her? lol

 

[iheartglaciers]

However, having said that, I was just there last week, and I was surprised at how many NON-DVC pool wristbands I saw - probably about 60-70% of people by my estimation - considering how many villas there are compared to hotel rooms, which I think suggests that there are tons of rentals going on.

This doesn’t surprise me. Every Aulani online group I’m in, there are so many comments with people telling others to rent for a more affordable stay. Also a lot of Disney influencers have been advertising DVC rentals.

 

[lilsonicfan]

What!? Say it ain't so! My wife was very excited for the sparkly bands once our Aulani resale contract comes through (hopefully). How am I going to break the news to her? lol

Yep, a perk (?) that is restricted to DVC-Y. Very weird.

 

[babyruth]

It's a gorgeous resort and I often see zero availability so I don't think they regret it. More like they regret VBR with all the storms and the fact they never built phase 2. Sold the property off instead and now the tennis courts are weirdly on the other side of the street next to vacant land. Aulani has a lot of potential especially if they start booking land and sea vacations there.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

.

 

[SpaceMountain77]

Am I the only one that thought this thread was more fun when it said Diney in the header?

 

[TinkAgainU]

Aulani being in the DVC inventory helps Disney sell the other DVC resorts.

This. Most of the popular timeshares have a Hawaii location. To be competitive, Disney needed to cover that base too.

 

[SL6827]

Am I the only one that thought this thread was more fun when it said Diney in the header?

Ya, I finally seen that, lol.

 

[Callie]

It seemed quite packed when we visited in September. It was an excellent use of points for us. 4 nights cash rate would have probably been $3200. Our member dues alone last year were just under $800 and we didn’t use all our points.
We barely left the resort while there except to grab food because it it’s just beautiful. We spent 6 nights prior at an air bnb where we did a lot of touring. We were in Waikiki and when we got to Aulani that is what we pictured for a resort.

 

[MartyParty]

We were just there last week as a family. It was packed. The one thing I noticed is that there were a ton of DVC guides and sales people at the report. Seemed like 10 folks manning the desk and another 2 at the two model home stations. Probably around 14 to 15 DVC sales folks each day. They were certainly selling Aulani but also VDH, OKW deals, etc. I'd be curious the amount of sales volume they do at the Aulani location. Perhaps Disneyland has that many working in the resorts on any one given day but isn't visible. Just seemed like a lot of staff for the one resort.

And the Aulani reps seemed to be plenty busy all day long with guests inquiring about DVC.

 

[mikeuno]

We noticed the same thing while there late last year...