Aulani Prices in Resale Huge Drop.....Why?

[Ben E N]

I see some comments here about the overbuilt timeshare market in Hawaii. Living in Orlando I'd be willing to bet that its just as "overbuilt".

But attractions at Orlando keep on growing. Plans to double the size of Universal were just announced, for example. Hawaii's beaches are not growing. Also, Disney owns their whole property and can give incentives to people who stay there.
It is a unique thing to stay right next to Cinderella's castle. That is not nearly the same case for stating on the beach front in Hawaii. Personally, I think the beach front is more special, but with more places offering the opportunity, it is easier for it to be overbuilt.

 

[limace]

I see some comments here about the overbuilt timeshare market in Hawaii. Living in Orlando I'd be willing to bet that its just as "overbuilt".

True, but no other timeshare in Orlando is on the property of what almost everyone comes to see. Whereas most folks come to Hawaii for beach and weather and snorkeling, etc-and those are available everywhere (and I would argue they are better in many parts of Hawaii than on Oahu, though we had a wonderful time there and my husband has lived on the island a couple times).

I think folks who have just done the cruise around the islands and/or have only visited Aulani haven’t really “seen” Hawaii-it’d be like me making decisions about which Caribbean islands are best based on a few hours wandering around each port on my cruises.

 

[disneynutz]

Hawaii is beautiful but you have to love it and want to vacation there often to own Aulani. Aulani is expensive to get to, high fees and taxes and you are at one resort with either resort, beach or island things to do. At WDW, parks, more restaurants, Disney shopping, shows, and Disney extras makes a WDW vacation a better buy for most. For this reason Disney has scrapped their plans to build resorts away from Florida and California for now.

Bill

 

[mustinjourney]

It costs about $400-$450 for us to fly to SFO from Houston. We can get to LAX for $200-$300 consistently. I don't know why SFO is so much more, but it is.

My guess is that is due to competition with flights between LAX/IAH. AA/Delta/United all have hubs there -- plus you have SW making direct flights from LAX to HOU, so the airlines have much more pressure to keep prices down with flights between LAX and Houston than they do SFA to IAH.

 

[KenInDenver]

If you plan to go to Hawaii a lot then buying Aulani might be right. We have owned at the Marriott Ko Olina since before Aulani and love the Ko Olina area. We stayed at Aulani when it first opened and it is great. Developers are supposed to put an Atlantis in Ko Olina too. Oahu is great. You find what you are looking for. I would say Aulani is better for smaller kids. The beach is calm, waterslides, lazy river, etc. We are planning on going for New Year week and looked into Aulani but it seems like you need 11 months for holidays and it's expensive. We will stay at the Marriott (which is beautiful). If you love going to Hawaii and not just the Disney part then I would recommend a Marriott resale instead of Disney. We love Disney and own at SSR but it is much more useful in Florida. Maybe rent someone's points first and try it out.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Here are annual dues for 2020

Aulani - $8.33
BLT - 6.57
SSR - 6.76

I would rather buy BLT or SSR as they offer WDW locations and have lower annual dues, but Aulani at $80-90 appears to be a fantastic deal as it would take 10-20 years to catch SSR/BLT savings on dues.

Rule #1 - buy where you want to stay the most
Rule #2 - go with the lowest price + annual dues combination (ie BLT, SSR, AK)