Didn't you guys get a giant dues refund last year?
I wasn’t an owner yet. I bought knowing some stuff wasn’t available at the time but it seems like they keep stripping more and more. Just read about the gym closure (not Covid related but a Disney choice). I am still going to go and understand the restrictions with COVID or having staffing issues but hard to swallow none the less when all us DVC owners worldwide pay a lot of money for a certain product that is not living up to expectations.
Do you understand that something can be "due to COVID" without being the product of a government mandate? My favorite pizza place requires masks. My favorite seafood place doesn't. Under your logic, the fact that the seafood place doesn't require masks is proof that the pizza place requires masks for some reason other than COVID.
Where are you getting that the gym closure is "not COVID related"? That is absolutely false.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/at-aulani-now-it’s-amazing.3852234/post-63376375Granted not an official source but I doubt someone would completely pull it out of thin air
Again, just because the state is ALLOWING gyms to operate does not mean that Disney's decision to keep it closed for now is not due to COVID.
That is fine wether it is because of manning or whatever their decision related to it is however I still have a concern of where my money is going and if I am paying for something I have a right to question their decisions. Not that it will change anything. Again I am not saying screw Aulani I am not going. In fact I will be there after the New Year. I am just disappointed in the whole situation.
Rest assure that your dues money is closely audited. Everything you pay is being spent on what it's supposed to be spent on, or it's going into a reserve fund for future projects at the resort. Disney can't pocket dues money as extra profit. It's all walled off.
I guess the real rub is the fact Aulani’s perk are all they have to offer considering it’s location. If it is let’s say BLT or OKW and they were cutting back stuff at least you have 4 parks and a multitude of things to do. Granted I know FL and HI are in different places COVID wise. I do not plan on spending every moment at AUL it is Hawaii after all and I try to go all over the island. But when I am AUL I would love to use the fitness center or drop the kids off for a few hours so the adults could have some alone time, or use the pool without 600 kids splashing. But I understand it all. Just venting that is all.
"Everyone who disagrees with me is a Disney shill."
So let’s use the OP’s DVC drink for your scenario - not something directly tied to public health like masks. Which are obviously and exclusively about Covid.
Except the drink discount was offered when the resort was at 85% occupancy, not when it's at 40% occupancy. Nobody in Hawaii is "increasing their profits" right now, they're trying to mitigate the bleeding as best they can. Aulani is not a profitable operation for The Walt Disney Company in 2021.
I reach the same conclusions as you but my community is almost the exact opposite. We're extremely highly vaccinated (like 90%+ of eligible) and have very little community spread, so everyone has completely lost patience with any lingering restrictions. My kids have been in all of their sports and activities since Fall 2020.
I’m a blue (NY) state democrat.
But that is EXACTLY my point. They are cutting their losses. Calling it Covid related is disingenuous. Just call it what it is. They would be smart to be long term greedy.
Right. I was just at WDW and I think there are some precautions in place that make sense (I wouldn't have gone w/o indoor masking, given the level of community spread at the time). Some don't make sense, and housekeeping is one of them. That's purely a staffing and cost decision.
