Your Thoughts on Aulani Opening Early?

[darby888]

I've been watching Aulani progress. It appears from the photos that it might be possible for this resort to open early????.....I would jump on the chance to go next summer before my daughter has to start school on Aug 10th.

GVC is my home resort & as I recall it opened in 2009 a couple of months in advance, but we weren't notified until about 3 months in advance of this... When that happened, I booked a stay for a cpl of nights during the 2nd week of it's opening and there was plenty of availability.

Any thoughts on Aulani opening by the beginning or middle of next summer & hopefully having some availability? .....

 

[Deb & Bill]

If it does open early, you probably would have to book on cash and not points.

 

[tjkraz]

BLT opened earlier than planned and they did allow owners to book on points. So it wouldn't be unprecedented.

But if memory serves they did finalize the BLT opening date before DVC started accepting reservations. That ship has already sailed with Aulani.

Outwardly it's impossible to know if they are ahead of schedule or not. If they open the hotel to guests, they would need to be fully staffed which is not cheap. It's typical for new hotels to be opened-up to employees and their families for a few nights as a sort of dry run. They stay in the rooms and try to identify any problems which may exist at the facility before paying customers arrive.

If they do run ahead of schedule, I'd say it's more likely that they have a longer pre-opening test period--perhaps inviting local VIPs and/or residents out to visit if they are particularly confident in the quality of the resort.

 

[bookwormde]

From a construction progress point of view May to July looks like the timing that is possible, from an operations point of view it is hard to tell.

bookwormde

 

[DisWitt]

Keep in mind that while the "shell" of the building is coming right along, the interior and all of the Disney touches take a LOT of time to complete. Plus, all of the water features have a long way to go. It's not just a matter of getting walls up and moving in the beds. Oh, and training the staff and getting that part settled will take a good month, too. I just booked for end of September! wohooo!