Aulani benefits resale vs direct

Gothemi

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
I'm considering buying into Aulani after our first trip there later this year. While I have not been there, I think my family will enjoy Oahu and probably want to visit more often so I've been watching the resale contracts come and go and there seems to be no shortage of available resale at an excellent price.

So I'm aware of the direct vs resale debate and value. I would love to be able to purchase a direct DVC purchase, but the overall benefits don't benefit us as much because we are on the west coast and would rarely, if ever, make it to a Moonlight Madness party, have a car to take advantage of free parking (at WDW at least) and my DLR AP gets me the same DLR discounts (we visit DLR often, but usually stay off property).

My question is this...what are the benefits at Aulani that I would not be able to partake in if I bought resale? Mixology, the one hour early character meet & greet, discounts? It seems that I would still have free parking (if staying on points)?
 
Resale buyers are limited to stays only at the original resorts so if you buy Aulani you not be able to use those points at any new resorts, including the potential new one being proposed near DL. It is a ways off and all approvals haven’t even happened but since you mention not doing WDW enough, it could be important. It also leaves RIV and any other new WDW resorts off the table

The other piece is any membership magic perks, but again, more of those are at WDW, so it doesn’t sound like too much of a loss for you.

Parking free is not a membership perk, so if you are staying on your points at WDW, that is included, regardless of how you purchase.
 
I have always said that the economic value of Aulani benefits is very hard to defend direct vs. resale on any basis save emotional.

I think they give direct members a different color wristband. Woo, I guess? I think they also have a separate check in line.
 
I have always said that the economic value of Aulani benefits is very hard to defend direct vs. resale on any basis save emotional.

I think they give direct members a different color wristband. Woo, I guess? I think they also have a separate check in line.

Out of my own curiosity, if you own Direct already at a WDW Resort, and add on at Aulani, is there really any point in going Direct at Aulani vs resale?
(We are unlikely to, as we live East Coast and wouldn't travel often to Hawaii, but my heart always does the - well, what if we had a small enough contract to go every 3rd year...and then my head reminds me that skier_pete's charts show that 7 month availability for Oceanview Studios is pretty open, and I don't need to own direct)
 


Out of my own curiosity, if you own Direct already at a WDW Resort, and add on at Aulani, is there really any point in going Direct at Aulani vs resale?

If you already own direct at WDW, there is no point in buying Aulani direct if you live on the East Coast. We bought direct at Aulani because (1) we're in Sacramento and go to Aulani more than WDW (plus we can fly direct to Honolulu) and (2) we use our Aulani points to go to WDW every 3 years. So having the ability to go to any DVC resort was essential for us to make DVC work.

Since already owning at WDW with a direct purchase disposes of the need to have direct points somewhere, resale at Aulani is the way to go!
 
I'm considering buying into Aulani after our first trip there later this year. While I have not been there, I think my family will enjoy Oahu and probably want to visit more often so I've been watching the resale contracts come and go and there seems to be no shortage of available resale at an excellent price.

So I'm aware of the direct vs resale debate and value. I would love to be able to purchase a direct DVC purchase, but the overall benefits don't benefit us as much because we are on the west coast and would rarely, if ever, make it to a Moonlight Madness party, have a car to take advantage of free parking (at WDW at least) and my DLR AP gets me the same DLR discounts (we visit DLR often, but usually stay off property).

My question is this...what are the benefits at Aulani that I would not be able to partake in if I bought resale? Mixology, the one hour early character meet & greet, discounts? It seems that I would still have free parking (if staying on points)?
I can't think of any strong benefit of direct purchase to you beyond the ability to book any/all current and future DVC properties using those points. On the other hand, in favor of resale, you could hunt for a contract with subsidized dues. Find one and you'll have the ongoing benefit of reduced dues for the remaining years of the contract.
 
I can't think of any strong benefit of direct purchase to you beyond the ability to book any/all current and future DVC properties using those points. On the other hand, in favor of resale, you could hunt for a contract with subsidized dues. Find one and you'll have the ongoing benefit of reduced dues for the remaining years of the contract.

That is kinda my thinking too. Having stayed at, and loved the Poly we don't mind not being able to get RR or any newer resorts. I have the time to wait it out on one of these "Unicorn" subsidized dues contracts, but I'm curious as to what events/perks/benefits for Aulani specifically that I would be missing out on going resale vs direct.
 


On the DVC website there is a heading called “member benefits, discounts, and special events” that has a number of items at Aulani. But most seem like rather small discounts such as 10% off beach equipment rentals or a painting class. And these member perks can be eliminated at any time.
On the Aulani board here a couple people mentioned being unable to get free laundry tokens from the front desk without showing a blue card. Unsure if that’s really the policy or just clueless cast members.

FWIW, if we lived on the west coast, I would 100% chose Aulani resale and devote time looking for a subsidized contract. Enjoy your upcoming trip to Hawaii!
 
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On the Aulani board here a couple people mentioned being unable to get free laundry tokens from the front desk without showing a blue card. Unsure if that’s really the policy or just clueless cast members.
Anyone in a DVC villa (even on the cash side rented through CRO) are supposed to have free access to laundry. Since it’s paid through dues. Though I suppose on the cash side Disney could limit it if they wanted (like parking) but they haven’t chosen to at WDW or DL
 
Anyone in a DVC villa (even on the cash side rented through CRO) are supposed to have free access to laundry. Since it’s paid through dues. Though I suppose on the cash side Disney could limit it if they wanted (like parking) but they haven’t chosen to at WDW or DL

Exactly! Everyone staying on DVC points should have complimentary self parking and laundry. But if you search “aulani blue card parking” or “aulani blue card laundry token”, there were multiple threads back in Sept and Oct about misunderstandings. Cast members have presumably been retrained, since these issues have not been reported more recently.
 
I'm curious as to what events/perks/benefits for Aulani specifically that I would be missing out on going resale vs direct.

The two main things you didn’t mention that I might have been a little sad about missing out on as a resale buyer when we were at Aulani include the wristbands and free popcorn bucket refills. They are very small and obviously probably not worth buying direct just for those perks, but it probably would have bothered me if we hadn’t had blue cards.

DVC blue card members do have a dedicated line for wristbands first thing in the morning, and our bands are sparkly and say DVC MEMBER instead of plain bands. 😆 My youngest and I collected them for the week:

1578754537755.jpeg


Hmm, not sure why it rotated....But you get the idea. Also, we bought the popcorn bucket for something like $9 at the beginning of our visit. Some CMs were sticklers about seeing our blue cards to get the free refills while others were ok with just our wristbands. I’m not a huge popcorn fan, but my family is so that was a great perk for them.

I’m not sure how many points you’ll be purchasing, but perhaps you might consider hybrid contracts? Enough direct for benefits and the rest resale? Another quick note: I just received a promo email which mentioned Aulani price per point would be going up to $5 to $193 from $188.
Either way it is one of our favorite DVC resorts! Enjoy!
 
I can't think of any strong benefit of direct purchase to you beyond the ability to book any/all current and future DVC properties using those points. On the other hand, in favor of resale, you could hunt for a contract with subsidized dues. Find one and you'll have the ongoing benefit of reduced dues for the remaining years of the contract.
What are subsidized dues and how can you tell if a resale has them
 
What are subsidized dues and how can you tell if a resale has them
Initial years of sale, the annual dues were subsidized by Disney to entice sales. Hawaii objected to this practice and Disney had to stop it.

Resales of these pop up time-to-time. You have to watch out for them. Great value. We've grabbed a few lately. Closed on 200 pt and another 250 pending closing papers
 
Initial years of sale, the annual dues were subsidized by Disney to entice sales. Hawaii objected to this practice and Disney had to stop it.

Resales of these pop up time-to-time. You have to watch out for them. Great value. We've grabbed a few lately. Closed on 200 pt and another 250 pending closing papers
For additional clarity on the quoted section in bold: During those initial years of sales the dues were not subsidized but, rather, artificially low compared to operational costs and reserves. That is, the idea of subsidized dues did not exist until after the review and action of Hawaii's Department of Real Estate.

HI's action triggered, among other things, a pause in Aulani sales. On reinstatement, dues for contracts sold from that point forward were more closely tied to actual/projected expenses + reserves; the original contracts were grandfathered at their original dues structure (note: structure, not rate). The gap between the grandfathered structure and the reinstated sales structure became the subsidy that is now a benefit to the original contracts and, possibly, carried by the newer contracts.

@Mini girls, You can possibly discern a contract's status (subsidized or not) by checking the dues listed for that particular resale contract. However, it might be both easier and more certain to work closely with a resale broker.
 
Subsidized dues contracts will always retain those lower dues. Even if DVC buys them back, which they haven’t yet, that I have heard, because the resort is about 50% sold. DVC appears to have a policy to not buy points back on resorts that are actively being sold.
 
There's a small premium for these contracts, but not a significant one compared to the value that it brings long term. Reference point: $100 on a 250pt sub contract in process of closing. did another two at $110 per point.
 
Anyone in a DVC villa (even on the cash side rented through CRO) are supposed to have free access to laundry. Since it’s paid through dues. Though I suppose on the cash side Disney could limit it if they wanted (like parking) but they haven’t chosen to at WDW or DL
I was wondering about this. If anyone who books a stay in a studio villa or if only actual DVC members receive free access to laundry. I know this is the procedure for WDW but the use of tokens for laundry caught me off guard. Wonder why they have it set up like that at Aulani?

And there must have been some major miss-communication for the cast members to be carding members for their direct or non-direct status for laundry! I mean really? Or, could they had been planning to test the waters out with such and had more ideas up their sleeve before the Covid got everyone's attention?

I just wonder how long it will take Disney to sell this resort out? I wonder how badly Disney regrets Aulani? I wonder if there will ever be anything drastic that Disney could do to make a direct purchase here far more valuable than the amount of savings you would get with resale?
 

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