Lol, they were asking how my trip to Iceland was- I had mentioned that I was travelling there and wouldn't be able to update the thread for a while as a result
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Yes I knew they were referring to your trip to the real Iceland, just a little Canada Day humor. I can believe it actually as most people, even Cdn disney fans don't know about Walts parents. Walt actually came to Ontario trying to find the homes(farms) his parents grew up in.Lol, they were asking how my trip to Iceland was- I had mentioned that I was travelling there and wouldn't be able to update the thread for a while as a result
But I hope that you also had a nice Canada Day! And can you believe I didn’t know that Walt’s parents were Canadian…
Same boat. 3 yr old son and we go to Hawaii every year. Why not lock in at aulani right?
I 100% agree. There should be penalties to the seller if they drag out closing too!
So for full transparency I do own 175 direct Riviera points that I bought back in Nov 2019. So I do look at my recent Aulani purchase through the lens of a person that can get into a WDW dvc resort at the 11 month mark already. With that being said in mid April I made an $131pp offer on a 230pt SSR contract. It took Disney 42 days to tell me they were taking it. So I was way less than thrilled to make another SSR contract offer. But I also was very unwilling to pay $200pp by buying direct. My purpose for wanting that 230 points was wanting to use a grand villa every other year for a week for my bigger family trips in mid December. The Aulani contract that I should be closed on very very soon is 270 points. So at the 7 month mark for my current booked December trip I looked at availability. There was only 1 grand villa available for the full week I would have needed and that was at SSR. But almost every resort had 2br villas available for that full week. We always bank a full year of points for these trips. So getting 2 2br villas is doable with that amount of points. And the best part for us is when we do decide to take a Hawaii vacation we will have them to use. We actually do go to Hawaii every 5 years. I think if you already own at WDW dvc resort and enjoy Hawaii vacations it’s not a bad gamble.
Still not sure it’s a good strategy to buy 270 Aulani points to go there every 5 years. The dues are too high, but am sure you’ll figure out a good way to use the points!
Aulani dues is at $8.67. I’m already paying $8.38 for Riviera. Maybe my views are off because I started at a resort with what most seem to call high dues. I gave OKW a look but their dues jumped to $8.80. Just my perspective.
I agree - I think the focus on how high the Aulani dues are are exaggerated. Yes, they are on the higher side, but they are really not that out of line with them other Disney World resorts, and the savings from buying Aulani if invested could be fairly valuable.
But I think the thought is they will escalate faster like Hilton head and vero because it is beach front. Those are significantly higher than the rest of dvc.
I don't think you can accurately compare Aulani to either Vero Beach or Hilton Head.
I agree with this. I think the DVC resorts that share common space with hotels, will have dues that go up more slowly than stand alone DVC properties.
But the resort is on the ocean, and will require more and more maintenance over time, meaning the dues will probably rise at a higher percentage than other WDW resorts. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a resort on the other side of the world for SAP, foregoing the 11 month advantage with a home resort where you’ll almost never need it. That said, Aulani is sensational, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
