Aulani Closing Paperwork arrived today

[ChiSoxKeith]

Yippie!

Will fill it all out and send it off ASAP.

No Aulani swag in the box though.

September 2011 can't get her soon enough.

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Ours came today too. We've lost a bit of the excitement though, since it looks like it may be impossible for us to go for our anniversary. With so few villas being open for DVC rental during Phase I, we think it's unlikely that we will be able to extend our stay with non-Aulani points at 7 months out. Unfortunately, since our anniversary falls in the first year open, we can only use two years' worth of Aulani points for the initial booking. Our backup plan had been to book cash reservations for the first part of our stay, but now that we've seen the cash room rates, we realize that's just too rich for our blood. We may need to rethink this whole Aulani purchase... before we send back the paperwork. I'd rather lose the deposit than pay the full amount and still not get to celebrate our anniversary there. If we don't find a workable solution before the return deadline of July 30, then I think we'll just walk and revisit purchasing Aulani three years after our anniversary (which would be the next time we would consider a tropical trip again).

I'm wondering... did Disney offer a DVC discount for cash reservations when BLT opened? Or did y'all have to pay full rack rate? That would make a big difference in our decision.

 

[wdrl]

Congratulations!!

A couple questions for you: Does Disney offer an estimate of what the Hawaiian Transient Accommodation Tax will be at Aulani? Based on Aulani's MF of $4.31/point and the tax rate of 9.25%, I think it will be about $0.1993/point, but I'm curious if that amount is accurate.

Can you give us some information about your deed? I'm curious how many points DVD is allotting to the Aulani Units. If you don't mind, can you post your Unit number, your number of points, and your ownership percentage of the Unit? You can PM me if you prefer.

Thanks!

 

[wdrl]

Ours came today too. We've lost a bit of the excitement though, since it looks like it may be impossible for us to go for our anniversary. With so few villas being open for DVC rental during Phase I, we think it's unlikely that we will be able to extend our stay with non-Aulani points at 7 months out.

Don't give up hope, LouisianaDisneyFan!! We've been reading your posts about Aulani and your anniversary plans, and we were already looking forward to reading your trip report about Hawaii. Maybe Aulani's Phase 2 will come online sooner than expected and there will be more villas available by your anniversary. Maybe you'll winner the Powerball lottery. Remember, Disney is where dreams come true!

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

I'll look my paperwork over the next couple of days and let you know.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Ours came today too. We've lost a bit of the excitement though, since it looks like it may be impossible for us to go for our anniversary. With so few villas being open for DVC rental during Phase I, we think it's unlikely that we will be able to extend our stay with non-Aulani points at 7 months out. Unfortunately, since our anniversary falls in the first year open, we can only use two years' worth of Aulani points for the initial booking. Our backup plan had been to book cash reservations for the first part of our stay, but now that we've seen the cash room rates, we realize that's just too rich for our blood. We may need to rethink this whole Aulani purchase... before we send back the paperwork. I'd rather lose the deposit than pay the full amount and still not get to celebrate our anniversary there. If we don't find a workable solution before the return deadline of July 30, then I think we'll just walk and revisit purchasing Aulani three years after our anniversary (which would be the next time we would consider a tropical trip again).

I'm wondering... did Disney offer a DVC discount for cash reservations when BLT opened? Or did y'all have to pay full rack rate? That would make a big difference in our decision.

My perception has been that when new resorts open it's actually been easier to book at 7 months than a little later on. There's often more existing inventory than there are current owners at that time. Maybe you just want to plan on trying for the resort at 7 months with your existing points and have something else as backup in case you can't get the reservation?

I'm thinking that we might try a trip there shortly after it opens and I feel decent about getting a reservation. We won't be tied to one specific date though like an anniversary.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Don't give up hope, LouisianaDisneyFan!! We've been reading your posts about Aulani and your anniversary plans, and we were already looking forward to reading your trip report about Hawaii. Maybe Aulani's Phase 2 will come online sooner than expected and there will be more villas available by your anniversary. Maybe you'll winner the Powerball lottery. Remember, Disney is where dreams come true!

Agreed! Someone will trade some points to you. Just give it some time. People are just getting their closing paperwork now and a trade of some points will definitely be in the works for you somewhere. If I wasn't going in September of 2011 I would offer mine up.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

My perception has been that when new resorts open it's actually been easier to book at 7 months than a little later on. There's often more existing inventory than there are current owners at that time. Maybe you just want to plan on trying for the resort at 7 months with your existing points and have something else as backup in case you can't get the reservation?

I'm thinking that we might try a trip there shortly after it opens and I feel decent about getting a reservation. We won't be tied to one specific date though like an anniversary.

Agreed with that sentiment too. I read somewhere on the boards that it took almost 6 months for BLT to sell out their founder's allotment. If a similar pattern held true for Aulani, they won't have 600+ people buying at least 160 points until sometime in December. There's a lot of weeks in there until your anniversary and not all of the 600 are going to book their vacations in that first couple of months.

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Agreed with that sentiment too. I read somewhere on the boards that it took almost 6 months for BLT to sell out their founder's allotment. If a similar pattern held true for Aulani, they won't have 600+ people buying at least 160 points until sometime in December. There's a lot of weeks in there until your anniversary and not all of the 600 are going to book their vacations in that first couple of months.

Really?! That surprises me. I guess because we're all DVC fanatics here, then it seemed like "everybody" was purchasing Aulani. I just assumed the founders' allotment would have been sold out during the first few days as we all raced to talk with our guides! Of course, there is also another very strong market for Aulani that doesn't exist for BLT... Japan. Let's face it, with the value of the dollar, this is a much more affordable investment for them than it is for us. We have NO IDEA how sales are going there, but I think with that many more potential buyers, the timeline will go quicker. Perhaps a better estimator would be looking at how long it took to sell the allotment at Grand Californian, since it was also a "first property" being offered in a new location... but even that wouldn't factor in the value of the dollar in foreign markets.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Really?! That surprises me. I guess because we're all DVC fanatics here, then it seemed like "everybody" was purchasing Aulani. I just assumed the founders' allotment would have been sold out during the first few days as we all raced to talk with our guides! Of course, there is also another very strong market for Aulani that doesn't exist for BLT... Japan. Let's face it, with the value of the dollar, this is a much more affordable investment for them than it is for us. We have NO IDEA how sales are going there, but I think with that many more potential buyers, the timeline will go quicker. Perhaps a better estimator would be looking at how long it took to sell the allotment at Grand Californian, since it was also a "first property" being offered in a new location... but even that wouldn't factor in the value of the dollar in foreign markets.

VGC founding member was a bit different. There wasn't a fixed amount like the first 600. In order to be a founding member you had to have made a previous purchase at DL. You then were given time prior to the resort opening for sales to other members. My memory is slipping there but I think it was 4 weeks. If you were eligible to be a founding member and bought in that time then you were. We were founding members there but at the time we did our our purchase that qualified us for that status we were told we'd pretty much have to be founding members to have a chance to buy at the resort.

I think you're over estimating the length of time that Aulani will take to sell. Before VGC opened it was thought it might even sell out in the founding member period. Now - 1.5 years later it's nearing the end of sales. And VGC is tiny in comparison to Aulani. People swore that BLT would sell out in less than 1 year. It's now getting very close to 2 years and it's not sold out yet. And there was lots and lots of buzz with BLT and people buying immediately.

DVC is going to be a pretty new product for the Japanese so I don't think that will cause a quick sell out either.

I of course can't guarantee anything for your trip but I'd place very, very, very high odds on the chance of you booking it.

I wrote the bit about founding membes at VGC b/c when I first read your post I thought you wanted to compare to that. I edited after re-reading.

 

[KarlMal]

Really?! That surprises me. I guess because we're all DVC fanatics here, then it seemed like "everybody" was purchasing Aulani. I just assumed the founders' allotment would have been sold out during the first few days as we all raced to talk with our guides! Of course, there is also another very strong market for Aulani that doesn't exist for BLT... Japan. Let's face it, with the value of the dollar, this is a much more affordable investment for them than it is for us. We have NO IDEA how sales are going there, but I think with that many more potential buyers, the timeline will go quicker. Perhaps a better estimator would be looking at how long it took to sell the allotment at Grand Californian, since it was also a "first property" being offered in a new location... but even that wouldn't factor in the value of the dollar in foreign markets.

I've been surprised too. We were waiting on baited breath for Aulani to go on sale and I assumed that would be the same for more members than it appears to be. There (at least to me) appears to be resistance to Aulani.