Buy Aulani resale or direct?

[VandVsmama]

Help me decide between buying Aulani points direct or resale!

Earlier this month, we spent a week vacationing on Oahu. Did 2 nights in Waikiki and 4 at Aulani. We all loved Aulani. Prior to the trip, DH was very much "Why are we paying $1000/night incl. tax to stay at that place?" and then ended the trip with "I really like it here. I wouldn't mind coming again."

We stayed in a standard view studio villa. We're definitely a Disney family. We live in AZ, go to Disneyland more often because it's closer, but have gone to WDW about 4 times and we love WDW as much at we love DL. DH's favorite places to eat at WDW are Primo Piatto at Riviera and Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge. At WDW, we've only stayed Deluxe 1 time and it was just for 1 night at AKL (I love that place!). Rest of our stays were at Value resorts (All Star Music, Pop Century, Art of Animation).

DH is definitely not as much of a Disney person as the rest of us. He more goes along with it so we can spend family time together. We had a long discussion this past week and we've decided to buy DVC and we're going to purchase Aulani. DH said, "Even if the only place I could ever stay for the rest of the timeshare contract was Aulani, that's where I'd want to stay." Aulani is about a 6-6.5 hr direct (no stops or plane changes) plane ride from our home airport.

I've scoured the Internet and watched a bunch of videos and read a lot of stuff that goes through all of the pros and cons of both options (direct vs resale). DH has said it doesn't matter to him whether it's direct or resale. So here's what's going through my head on this (I keep going back and forth on it). I need input from the crew of you Dis experts!

Age-wise, my kids are 16 and 18. The 18 yr old is starting college next month.

Buying resale:

• way cheaper purchase price 48-55% less than buying direct.
• this means we could buy more points and for less $$.
• Thus making it easier to 'afford' a 1 BR villa at Aulani every other year (buy banking or borrowing points) instead of staying in a studio every time (and, thus, have a full kitchen to use)
• For example, 150 pt direct right now w/the current incentives going on would be $31,800 vs ~$14,550-$14,850 based on some current resale 150-pt listings I've seen. OR for $10,700 less, we could buy 220 resale pts, which could get us a 2 BR villa every other year (a huge plus since 1 of my goals is to be able to do trips w/some friends down the road).
• Don't get any of the 'incidental member benefits' if buying resale. BUT the DVC CM did say (and I've read this elsewhere, too) clearly that Disney can change or take away the incidental benefits at any time. And the general consensus I've read out there is to not make your decision solely based on the incidental benefits.

Buying direct:

• We'd probably have to finance some of the purchase. This idea does not thrill me.
• Would only be able to afford 150 pts. However, like DH said the other day, we could always buy an add-on resale contract at a later date w/that same use year.
• DVC CM we met w/at Aulani said that they're currently selling Feb use year.
• 10% discount on food and the $45/day free parking at Aulani would be pretty nice. Plus 20% off on merchandise purchases would be a plus all the times we go to DL and WDW, too.
• Over the remaining 37 yr on the Aulani resort contracts, between food & merchandise discounts and free parking, not counting for inflation, I calculated that would be almost $20,000. However, are DH & I going to live another 37 yr? LOL. Probably not (I'm 51, he's 52). Our kids would inherit the DVC ownership after we're gone.
• BUT, one shouldn't count on the incidental benefits.
• But there's those DVC lounges at WDW and DL (in Tomorrowland and soon at DCA). Those might be nice to hang out in. But am I willing to pay an extra 50% on a 150 pt contract just to get to sit in a lounge and drink a 'free' soda? Eh, I don't know.
• If we buy direct, we could use those points to stay at Riviera. Asked DH what he thought about that. Right now, his opinion is "Whatever. It's just a place to sleep. If I really want to eat at Primo Piatto, we can always take the Skyliner there from Epcot or HS and it's no big deal."

Stuff I do NOT care about:

• staying at HH or Vero Beach
• staying on DVC points at DLH or GCH in CA. We usually stay w/friends when we're going to DL (some good friends live about an hour's drive away) or we stay at a cheaper hotel on Harbor Blvd (like Tropicana or Park Vue Inn; closer walk to DL than staying on site!).
• staying in the DVC cabins at Fort Wilderness.
• participating in DVC member Moonlight Magic events at WDW. Odds are low that we'd ever happen to have a trip align whenever those are happening anyway.

Many thanks to people here and elsewhere online who are way smarter than me because I borrowed their formulas & calculations to figure out what the approximate cost savings per night would be on different direct or resale contracts + what the break-even point would be (in terms of # of trips)...I did this at the suggestion of my very wise 18 yr old ODD, who said, "Show Daddy the numbers. These #s were based on some resale contract listings on a couple of websites when I looked it all up about a week ago. I think the cheapest one listed is now sold.

FWIW, DH isn't interested in buying AKL resale OR direct. Nor is he interested in buying WL either, but I included them there because I was curious and wanted to have something else to compare it to. Both of the $213/pt Aulani and Riviera ones are direct pricing.



Anyway, looking for opinions on this. We're not in a rush or anything on this. Lots of kudos to the DVC Fan Youtube channel.

 

[VandVsmama]

The $$ savings per night was calculated based on calculating the DVC owner cost per night:

 

[VGCgroupie]

Free parking isn't only a direct benefit any DVC stay gets free parking.
You can get many of the same DVC direct discounts with a Disney Visa or Disney Debit.
If Aulani will be your only DVC purchase ever then direct may be what you want. If not, personally I would look for an Aulani subsidized dues contract to get the best of both worlds Aulani home resort with lower dues, they are rare but they do pop up. The spread between resale price and direct for Aulani is too much for me to consider direct.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Also wanted to add if you dont need to stay at any Disneyland Villas and dont care for WL either then Riviera is currently the only restricted resort you would get to stay at. To me thats another check mark for buying resale.

 

[VandVsmama]

I do like Wilderness Lodge and wouldn’t mind staying there at some point. But not interested in the Fort Wilderness cabins.

 

[VandVsmama]

Free parking isn't only a direct benefit any DVC stay gets free parking.
You can get many of the same DVC direct discounts with a Disney Visa or Disney Debit.
If Aulani will be your only DVC purchase ever then direct may be what you want. If not, personally I would look for an Aulani subsidized dues contract to get the best of both worlds Aulani home resort with lower dues, they are rare but they do pop up. The spread between resale price and direct for Aulani is too much for me to consider direct.

Oh, that’s good to know! That definitely sways things toward resale.

 

[Tatebeck]

How many points are you looking at buying?

In your case my vote would be all resale or at most 150 direct and the rest resale. If you are mostly/only going to stay at Aulani then resale is a no brainer. A lot of the perks are for WDW like access to cheaper annual passes etc that it doesn't sound like you would ever use. And as long as your occasional WDW uses are flexible and you are ok taking whatever resort is available then it should be fine.

You could also buy a decent amount of resale points now and then add on 150 points direct if/when they ever do a firesale on Aulani points

 

[VandVsmama]

How many points are you looking at buying?

If buying direct, then we'd just buy 150 pt. If buying resale, we'd buy somewhere between 150 and 200-220 pt.

 

[Tatebeck]

I'd go resale then. I don't think that is enough points to make the direct perks worth it at the occasional stay at WDW or yearly short stays at Aulani. The price difference for Aulani is just too big

 

[DVCanadian]

Buy as many resale points as you can, the 2 bedroom at Aulani is awesome!
Resale points still get you the 11 month booking window and if you want you can stay at any of the other 13 DVC resorts. Aulani sounds like your priority but not seeing the advantage of a direct purchase

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Direct benefits are worthless at Aulani, or nearly so. The only real west coast direct benefit of real value is the ability to book VDH, which you say you do not care about.

The discounts can go away, but the money you save today by paying less and not financing is real, absolute and captured value.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Subsidized Aulani, based on what you want. Buy this via resale.

 

[Stormalong Smiths]

Subsidized Aulani, based on what you want. Buy this via resale.

+1 to this!

 

[supercarrie]

I am team resale for you, even though I'm a hybrid member myself (we own 153 points direct, purchased after we started with a smaller resale contract). We also paid $1000 a night for Aulani and did a split Waikiki trip like you and that was the push my husband needed to finally sign off on buying DVC.

Get as many resale points as you can reasonably afford. Look into subsidized contracts! You can always buy direct down the line if you decide there is a compelling reason to do so (and/or an Aulani fire sales comes up). Addonitis is incredibly common, be prepared!

As you have noted, the Aulani cost savings on a resale contract are tremendous. The main reason to buy direct (imo) isn't the incidental benefits, but the ability to stay at all future resorts. Since you don't care about that, that's not a factor. On the off chance you wanted to try Riviera, Cabins, or some other to be constructed WDW resort in the future, you could rent your Aulani points out and then rent points from another member to stay at the restricted resort.

Given your husband isn't as big a Disney person and your kids are older, there is also at least slightly more than a non-zero chance you may not want to own your contract for its length, either (or the kids may want to sell it on). You'll likely lose far less money if you need to resell it than the hit you would take selling on a direct Aulani contract.

Last note - the Aulani 1 bedrooms are SO MUCH NICER than their studios. You will not regret having more points to stay in a 1 or 2 bedroom. And once you stay in a 1 bedroom+, it is very challenging to move back into studios.

 

[VandVsmama]

My kids have said that when they’re out of the house and all that, they’ll still want to do Aulani and WDW trips occasionally so the odds are high that we’d hang onto the contract for a long time.

I already have plans in my head at some point for DH & I to do the Epcot fall food & wine festival with friends of ours. Using a 2 BR would be awesome for that. And I really want to stay at AKL for a week in a savanna view room at some point. Having some extra points to go around would help out with extra trips.

 

[CastAStone]

You sound like a slam dunk resale buyer to me.

It’s possible that starting in 2057, trading into WDW becomes difficult, but it sounds like you don’t think that’s your problem. And for your kids the contract will have been long since paid off and if they find it to not be worth the trouble, they can sell it. Or just wait it out for 5 years.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Help me decide between buying Aulani points direct or resale!

Earlier this month, we spent a week vacationing on Oahu. Did 2 nights in Waikiki and 4 at Aulani. We all loved Aulani. Prior to the trip, DH was very much "Why are we paying $1000/night incl. tax to stay at that place?" and then ended the trip with "I really like it here. I wouldn't mind coming again."

We stayed in a standard view studio villa. We're definitely a Disney family. We live in AZ, go to Disneyland more often because it's closer, but have gone to WDW about 4 times and we love WDW as much at we love DL. DH's favorite places to eat at WDW are Primo Piatto at Riviera and Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge. At WDW, we've only stayed Deluxe 1 time and it was just for 1 night at AKL (I love that place!). Rest of our stays were at Value resorts (All Star Music, Pop Century, Art of Animation).

DH is definitely not as much of a Disney person as the rest of us. He more goes along with it so we can spend family time together. We had a long discussion this past week and we've decided to buy DVC and we're going to purchase Aulani. DH said, "Even if the only place I could ever stay for the rest of the timeshare contract was Aulani, that's where I'd want to stay." Aulani is about a 6-6.5 hr direct (no stops or plane changes) plane ride from our home airport.

I've scoured the Internet and watched a bunch of videos and read a lot of stuff that goes through all of the pros and cons of both options (direct vs resale). DH has said it doesn't matter to him whether it's direct or resale. So here's what's going through my head on this (I keep going back and forth on it). I need input from the crew of you Dis experts!

Age-wise, my kids are 16 and 18. The 18 yr old is starting college next month.

Buying resale:

• way cheaper purchase price 48-55% less than buying direct.
• this means we could buy more points and for less $$.
• Thus making it easier to 'afford' a 1 BR villa at Aulani every other year (buy banking or borrowing points) instead of staying in a studio every time (and, thus, have a full kitchen to use)
• For example, 150 pt direct right now w/the current incentives going on would be $31,800 vs ~$14,550-$14,850 based on some current resale 150-pt listings I've seen. OR for $10,700 less, we could buy 220 resale pts, which could get us a 2 BR villa every other year (a huge plus since 1 of my goals is to be able to do trips w/some friends down the road).
• Don't get any of the 'incidental member benefits' if buying resale. BUT the DVC CM did say (and I've read this elsewhere, too) clearly that Disney can change or take away the incidental benefits at any time. And the general consensus I've read out there is to not make your decision solely based on the incidental benefits.

Buying direct:

• We'd probably have to finance some of the purchase. This idea does not thrill me.
• Would only be able to afford 150 pts. However, like DH said the other day, we could always buy an add-on resale contract at a later date w/that same use year.
• DVC CM we met w/at Aulani said that they're currently selling Feb use year.
• 10% discount on food and the $45/day free parking at Aulani would be pretty nice. Plus 20% off on merchandise purchases would be a plus all the times we go to DL and WDW, too.
• Over the remaining 37 yr on the Aulani resort contracts, between food & merchandise discounts and free parking, not counting for inflation, I calculated that would be almost $20,000. However, are DH & I going to live another 37 yr? LOL. Probably not (I'm 51, he's 52). Our kids would inherit the DVC ownership after we're gone.
• BUT, one shouldn't count on the incidental benefits.
• But there's those DVC lounges at WDW and DL (in Tomorrowland and soon at DCA). Those might be nice to hang out in. But am I willing to pay an extra 50% on a 150 pt contract just to get to sit in a lounge and drink a 'free' soda? Eh, I don't know.
• If we buy direct, we could use those points to stay at Riviera. Asked DH what he thought about that. Right now, his opinion is "Whatever. It's just a place to sleep. If I really want to eat at Primo Piatto, we can always take the Skyliner there from Epcot or HS and it's no big deal."

Stuff I do NOT care about:

• staying at HH or Vero Beach
• staying on DVC points at DLH or GCH in CA. We usually stay w/friends when we're going to DL (some good friends live about an hour's drive away) or we stay at a cheaper hotel on Harbor Blvd (like Tropicana or Park Vue Inn; closer walk to DL than staying on site!).
• staying in the DVC cabins at Fort Wilderness.
• participating in DVC member Moonlight Magic events at WDW. Odds are low that we'd ever happen to have a trip align whenever those are happening anyway.

Many thanks to people here and elsewhere online who are way smarter than me because I borrowed their formulas & calculations to figure out what the approximate cost savings per night would be on different direct or resale contracts + what the break-even point would be (in terms of # of trips)...I did this at the suggestion of my very wise 18 yr old ODD, who said, "Show Daddy the numbers. These #s were based on some resale contract listings on a couple of websites when I looked it all up about a week ago. I think the cheapest one listed is now sold.

FWIW, DH isn't interested in buying AKL resale OR direct. Nor is he interested in buying WL either, but I included them there because I was curious and wanted to have something else to compare it to. Both of the $213/pt Aulani and Riviera ones are direct pricing.

View attachment 880448

Anyway, looking for opinions on this. We're not in a rush or anything on this. Lots of kudos to the DVC Fan Youtube channel.

If you don’t care about staying at VDH, RIV, or any DL Fwd properties and aren’t going to buy WDW APs then I don’t see a reason to buy direct Aulani.

 

[Jimmy Geppetto]

Help me decide between buying Aulani points direct or resale!

Earlier this month, we spent a week vacationing on Oahu. Did 2 nights in Waikiki and 4 at Aulani. We all loved Aulani. Prior to the trip, DH was very much "Why are we paying $1000/night incl. tax to stay at that place?" and then ended the trip with "I really like it here. I wouldn't mind coming again."

We stayed in a standard view studio villa. We're definitely a Disney family. We live in AZ, go to Disneyland more often because it's closer, but have gone to WDW about 4 times and we love WDW as much at we love DL. DH's favorite places to eat at WDW are Primo Piatto at Riviera and Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge. At WDW, we've only stayed Deluxe 1 time and it was just for 1 night at AKL (I love that place!). Rest of our stays were at Value resorts (All Star Music, Pop Century, Art of Animation).

DH is definitely not as much of a Disney person as the rest of us. He more goes along with it so we can spend family time together. We had a long discussion this past week and we've decided to buy DVC and we're going to purchase Aulani. DH said, "Even if the only place I could ever stay for the rest of the timeshare contract was Aulani, that's where I'd want to stay." Aulani is about a 6-6.5 hr direct (no stops or plane changes) plane ride from our home airport.

I've scoured the Internet and watched a bunch of videos and read a lot of stuff that goes through all of the pros and cons of both options (direct vs resale). DH has said it doesn't matter to him whether it's direct or resale. So here's what's going through my head on this (I keep going back and forth on it). I need input from the crew of you Dis experts!

Age-wise, my kids are 16 and 18. The 18 yr old is starting college next month.

Buying resale:

• way cheaper purchase price 48-55% less than buying direct.
• this means we could buy more points and for less $$.
• Thus making it easier to 'afford' a 1 BR villa at Aulani every other year (buy banking or borrowing points) instead of staying in a studio every time (and, thus, have a full kitchen to use)
• For example, 150 pt direct right now w/the current incentives going on would be $31,800 vs ~$14,550-$14,850 based on some current resale 150-pt listings I've seen. OR for $10,700 less, we could buy 220 resale pts, which could get us a 2 BR villa every other year (a huge plus since 1 of my goals is to be able to do trips w/some friends down the road).
• Don't get any of the 'incidental member benefits' if buying resale. BUT the DVC CM did say (and I've read this elsewhere, too) clearly that Disney can change or take away the incidental benefits at any time. And the general consensus I've read out there is to not make your decision solely based on the incidental benefits.

Buying direct:

• We'd probably have to finance some of the purchase. This idea does not thrill me.
• Would only be able to afford 150 pts. However, like DH said the other day, we could always buy an add-on resale contract at a later date w/that same use year.
• DVC CM we met w/at Aulani said that they're currently selling Feb use year.
• 10% discount on food and the $45/day free parking at Aulani would be pretty nice. Plus 20% off on merchandise purchases would be a plus all the times we go to DL and WDW, too.
• Over the remaining 37 yr on the Aulani resort contracts, between food & merchandise discounts and free parking, not counting for inflation, I calculated that would be almost $20,000. However, are DH & I going to live another 37 yr? LOL. Probably not (I'm 51, he's 52). Our kids would inherit the DVC ownership after we're gone.
• BUT, one shouldn't count on the incidental benefits.
• But there's those DVC lounges at WDW and DL (in Tomorrowland and soon at DCA). Those might be nice to hang out in. But am I willing to pay an extra 50% on a 150 pt contract just to get to sit in a lounge and drink a 'free' soda? Eh, I don't know.
• If we buy direct, we could use those points to stay at Riviera. Asked DH what he thought about that. Right now, his opinion is "Whatever. It's just a place to sleep. If I really want to eat at Primo Piatto, we can always take the Skyliner there from Epcot or HS and it's no big deal."

Stuff I do NOT care about:

• staying at HH or Vero Beach
• staying on DVC points at DLH or GCH in CA. We usually stay w/friends when we're going to DL (some good friends live about an hour's drive away) or we stay at a cheaper hotel on Harbor Blvd (like Tropicana or Park Vue Inn; closer walk to DL than staying on site!).
• staying in the DVC cabins at Fort Wilderness.
• participating in DVC member Moonlight Magic events at WDW. Odds are low that we'd ever happen to have a trip align whenever those are happening anyway.

Many thanks to people here and elsewhere online who are way smarter than me because I borrowed their formulas & calculations to figure out what the approximate cost savings per night would be on different direct or resale contracts + what the break-even point would be (in terms of # of trips)...I did this at the suggestion of my very wise 18 yr old ODD, who said, "Show Daddy the numbers. These #s were based on some resale contract listings on a couple of websites when I looked it all up about a week ago. I think the cheapest one listed is now sold.

FWIW, DH isn't interested in buying AKL resale OR direct. Nor is he interested in buying WL either, but I included them there because I was curious and wanted to have something else to compare it to. Both of the $213/pt Aulani and Riviera ones are direct pricing.

View attachment 880448

Anyway, looking for opinions on this. We're not in a rush or anything on this. Lots of kudos to the DVC Fan Youtube channel.

Resale all the way in your scenario. Especially since you don’t plan to use the points at DLH.

Parking is free for all owners whether you buy resale or direct. It’s factored into our dues.

If you were to buy Aulani resale at around ~$90pp point, in two to three years if you decided to sell you’d still be ahead of Aulani resale was going for $70pp. So you certainly minimize the downside risk with resale. And in the future, if you decided to purchase direct because there was an amazing fire sale, you could always do that and if needed finance it then. Doesn’t make sense to do that now when resale checks almost all the boxes for you.

Good luck with your purchase! You will love owning at AUL as much as we do!

 

[lilsonicfan]

Aulani subsidized resale contracts are the best - but hard to come by and a higher up front cost. If you’re not in a rush, keep an eye out for one of those.

Aulani is pretty point heavy for the 1BR so 150 points doesn’t go a long way.

 

[Disdreaming479]

Two aspects that make resale the best choice here: paying cash for the points and having points for a 2 bedroom! Having the living room space available is worth buying enough points for the two bedroom. Your family will enjoy the time so much more with everyone sleeping in a bedroom.