Beware of Very Cold Lazy River

[disneyfan123]

82 today. Our last day in the Hawaiian sun. Enjoy my Thor moment.

 

[JC1984]

82 today. Our last day in the Hawaiian sun. Enjoy my Thor moment. View attachment 736991

Is that the hot tub you’re checking? No wonder it is 82! And when was that thermometer calibrated? Is that authorized for pool use?

 

[Paul Stupin]

Lazy River feels great! Not the slightest bit cold. Warm and nice. The grotto pool, perhaps because it was more in the sun when we dropped by a few minutes ago, felt downright hot, almost like bath water. For what it’s worth, the ocean feels super nice as well, surprising since I was expecting chillier this time of year.

 

[SL6827]

Well this time next year it will be interesting to see if it "breaks" again. Disney tried twice to cook the books with the lock off premium.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

82 today. Our last day in the Hawaiian sun. Enjoy my Thor moment. View attachment 736991

I love the t-shirt. A nice peoplemover/flight to the moon reference.

 

[JC1984]

This thread has really cooled off since the pools have heated up.

 

[808blessing]

 

[disneyfan123]

Said our sad goodbye to Aulani today. We had a fabulous time and the family loved the lazy river and was so thankful it warmed up. We met some great people on the river. Yesterday on the lazy river a man stopped my wife and told her how much he enjoyed her comment at the character cartooning event when the CM asked what Aulani stands for and she said “bring your money”. He apparently almost spit out his drink seeing the CMs face. So many great memories this week .

 

[disneyfan123]

View attachment 737115

Where we are heading after leaving Aulani

 

[PetePanMan]

I miss this thread. Is it really over?

 

[JC1984]

I miss this thread. Is it really over?

Me too…it had consumed my life for the last 2 months…

 

[PetePanMan]

Me too…it had consumed my life for the last 2 months…

 

[Paul Stupin]

I miss this thread. Is it really over?

Me too…it had consumed my life for the last 2 months…

Well, guess what, it doesn’t appear to be over. I’m here at Aulani now, it’s beautiful, having a great time, but for the last few days the adult hot tub, the two level one that’s best for looking at sunsets, has been about ten degrees cooler than it should be. It’s not hot at all. Not to worry, every other hot tub is functional. The ocean water is clear and spectacular. We see whales almost every day in the distance. We love it.

But still.

Everyone I spoke to had no idea it was even happening, so yesterday I insisted that one of the cast members actually find someone who could tell me what was going on. He couldn’t have been nicer, but he did not convey encouraging news. He told me that the heater was quite old, that it wasn’t working, that they were working with a “third party vendor” to fix it, that if the “necessary part” was on the island it could be fixed yesterday (it wasn’t) or today (we’ll see), but if it wasn’t on the island he smiled and shrugged his shoulders and basically implied the repair time could be much longer.

It appears that Aulani should have long since upgraded this equipment, has failed to do so, and is now facing a chronic, continual maintenance issue where the equipment constantly seems to break down, and instead of replacing it they attempt to jerry rig some sort of short term solution to keep it operational and on life support. My takeaway is that this presents a challenge not unlike the carnival game “whack a mole.” Just when you smash the hammer on one mole, and it retreats into its hole, another one pops right up. And, like all carnival games, it’s a rip off.

So let’s see if it’s fixed today. Maybe my conclusions are wrong and this problem will disappear momentarily. But if it doesn’t, management is doing all of us DVC owners a disservice.

 

[JC1984]

Well, guess what, it doesn’t appear to be over. I’m here at Aulani now, it’s beautiful, having a great time, but for the last few days the adult hot tub, the two level one that’s best for looking at sunsets, has been about ten degrees cooler than it should be. It’s not hot at all. Not to worry, every other hot tub is functional. The ocean water is clear and spectacular. We see whales almost every day in the distance. We love it.

But still.

Everyone I spoke to had no idea it was even happening, so yesterday I insisted that one of the cast members actually find someone who could tell me what was going on. He couldn’t have been nicer, but he did not convey encouraging news. He told me that the heater was quite old, that it wasn’t working, that they were working with a “third party vendor” to fix it, that if the “necessary part” was on the island it could be fixed yesterday (it wasn’t) or today (we’ll see), but if it wasn’t on the island he smiled and shrugged his shoulders and basically implied the repair time could be much longer.

It appears that Aulani should have long since upgraded this equipment, has failed to do so, and is now facing a chronic, continual maintenance issue where the equipment constantly seems to break down, and instead of replacing it they attempt to jerry rig some sort of short term solution to keep it operational and on life support. My takeaway is that this presents a challenge not unlike the carnival game “whack a mole.” Just when you smash the hammer on one mole, and it retreats into its hole, another one pops right up. And, like all carnival games, it’s a rip off.

So let’s see if it’s fixed today. Maybe my conclusions are wrong and this problem will disappear momentarily. But if it doesn’t, management is doing all of us DVC owners a disservice.

The Adventure Continues…the manager told me a lot at Aulani is showing its age. Paul did you noticed the tiles on the lower level of that hot tub? Eye sore…

 

[Paul Stupin]

The Adventure Continues…the manager told me a lot at Aulani is showing its age. Paul did you noticed the tiles on the lower level of that hot tub? Eye sore…

I did not! But I will certainly be on the lookout today.

 

[Paul Stupin]

The Adventure Continues…the manager told me a lot at Aulani is showing its age. Paul did you noticed the tiles on the lower level of that hot tub? Eye sore…

Actually, sorry about that, a few days ago, when the hot tub was actually functional, I did notice...if you’re referring to some of the small mosaics that have popped out and are now missing where the water cascades down from the upper hot tub. It wasn’t a deal breaker for me but it doesn’t look good either.

 

[tankin]

The Adventure Continues…the manager told me a lot at Aulani is showing its age. Paul did you noticed the tiles on the lower level of that hot tub? Eye sore…

We saw those too in Dec and they didn't look new ... Also a lot of miscolored "rocks" where water had cascaded over them for awhile.

 

[SL6827]

Where is the money going for maintance that is paid for with dues

 

[jimmymc]

This thread has really cooled off since the pools have heated up.

 

[Paul Stupin]

We saw those too in Dec and they didn't look new ... Also a lot of miscolored "rocks" where water had cascaded over them for awhile.

They are currently refurbishing the slides and repainting the volcano, which looks great. I disagree that Aulani is showing it’s age, since for the most part, for me, it still looks as good as it always has. But it’s the skimping on the things we don’t see (like the heaters), which management might feel that they can get away with, that’s starting to bother me.