Disney's Aulani resort sits on the Ko Olina coast of Oahu, about 27 miles west of Honolulu. It opened in 2011 and it's unlike any other DVC property -- no theme parks, no Magic Kingdom shuttle, no monorail. Just a 21-acre beach resort with a Ko Olina lagoon, a 900-foot lazy river, and a waterslide that winds through a lava tube. If you're expecting Disney World vibes, this isn't it. Aulani is a Hawaii resort that happens to be run by Disney.
That distinction matters a lot when you're pricing a resale contract.
What Aulani DVC Resale Actually Costs in 2026
Right now, resale contracts at Aulani are trading in the $80-$100 per point range. Disney's direct price is $195-$225 per point depending on the incentive period. That's a gap of roughly 55-60%. On a 150-point contract, you're looking at $13,500 on the resale market versus $29,250 or more direct. That's real money.
Most contracts that come through the resale market are 100-200 points. That's the sweet spot -- big enough to get meaningful stays, small enough that buyers can actually close. At the $90/point average, a 100-point contract runs about $9,000 and a 200-point contract runs about $18,000. Closing costs, title insurance, and estoppel fees add another $500-$1,000 depending on the title company.
Smaller contracts (50-75 points) do come up occasionally. They're harder to use effectively at Aulani given the point requirements, but they work fine if your plan is to combine them with points from another home resort.
How Many Points Does a Stay at Aulani Actually Cost?
This is where people get surprised. Aulani's point chart is on the higher end. Here's what you're looking at for a standard view (not ocean front, not premium):
A Studio runs 8 points per night in value season and up to 28 points per night at peak. A One-Bedroom Villa runs 17 points (value) to 45 points (peak). A Two-Bedroom Villa starts at 22 points and goes up to 58 points per night at the top.
Value season at Aulani is mid-September through late November (excluding Thanksgiving week), plus parts of January after the holiday period ends. Those are the times you get reasonable point costs. Summer is expensive. Spring break is expensive. Christmas week is extremely expensive -- that's when the chart hits those 28-point-per-night Studio numbers.
Run the math on a one-week Summer trip in a One-Bedroom. You're looking at roughly 35-40 points per night times 7 nights -- that's 245 to 280 points for a single trip. On a 150-point contract, you'd need to bank points from a prior year or buy an additional contract. That's not unusual, but it's worth knowing before you sign anything.
Annual Dues: Higher Than Most WDW Resorts
Aulani's 2026 annual maintenance fees are approximately $8.04 per point per year. On a 150-point contract, that's $1,206 every year, every year, whether you use the points or not. Compare that to resorts like Saratoga Springs at around $7.23/point or Old Key West at around $7.42/point. Aulani costs more to hold.
Why? Operating costs in Hawaii are genuinely higher. Labor, energy, everything. It's not Disney padding margins -- it's just what it costs to run a resort on Oahu. You need to factor that annual fee into your break-even analysis. If you're buying 150 points at $90/point ($13,500 purchase) and paying $1,206/year in dues, your all-in cost over 10 years is over $25,000 before a single hotel rate comparison. The math still works for frequent Hawaii travelers, but it's tighter than it looks on paper.
The Blue Card Issue -- What Resale Buyers Don't Get
This comes up in every Aulani resale transaction and buyers deserve a straight answer: if you buy on the resale market, you don't get Disney's Membership Extras (the Blue Card). That means no discounts on dining at Aulani's restaurants, no merchandise discounts, no recreation discounts (think snorkel rentals, cabanas, character experiences). You still get full booking rights. You can still stay at Aulani and book any DVC resort at 7 months. You just pay full price for everything else while you're there.
At Aulani specifically, this matters more than it does at Walt Disney World resorts. The dining at Aulani is pricey. AMA AMA, their signature restaurant, runs $60-$100+ per person. Members with a Blue Card get 10% off. Resale buyers pay rack rate. Over a week-long trip for a family, that adds up. It's not a dealbreaker, but don't let anyone tell you it doesn't matter.
HARPTA: The Tax Wrinkle Nobody Mentions at the Sale Point
Here's something most resale brokers won't bring up when you're buying: when you eventually sell your Aulani contract, if you're not a Hawaii resident, the state of Hawaii withholds 7.25% of the gross sale price under HARPTA (Hawaii Real Property Tax Act). This is separate from federal FIRPTA withholding.
On a contract you sell for $12,000, that's $870 withheld at closing. You get it back (or most of it) when you file a Hawaii non-resident tax return, but you have to actually do that -- and most people don't know it's coming. If you sell and forget about it, you've effectively donated $870 to the State of Hawaii. File the return. It's Form N-288C if you want to reduce the withholding at closing by establishing your actual gain.
This doesn't affect buying, only selling. But it's part of owning Aulani that you should know going in.
Home Resort Advantage: Who Actually Benefits
Every DVC resort has a home resort booking window -- 11 months out for your home resort, 7 months for everywhere else. At Aulani, the 11-month window matters because peak season rooms (summer, holiday) can book up quickly among Aulani owners competing against each other. If you want a Two-Bedroom in July, you want to be booking at 11 months, not 7.
But here's the honest breakdown of who buys Aulani resale and why. Some buyers are genuine Hawaii regulars -- they go every year or two, they love Ko Olina specifically, and Aulani is their vacation. For those people, the math works. Some buyers are optimizing for flexibility -- they want access to all DVC resorts and they picked Aulani because the resale price is lower than some other options. That's fine, but they're paying $8.04/point in annual dues for a home resort they may not use at 11 months. Worth thinking through.
The Honest Take on Aulani DVC
Aulani is a genuinely beautiful resort. The pool complex is excellent. Ko Olina lagoon is calm, clear, and great for kids. The Hawaiian cultural programming -- the storytelling, the craft sessions, the music -- is better than you'd expect from a Disney property. It doesn't feel like a theme park, which is either a feature or a bug depending on your family.
It's also expensive in points per night compared to what you get. You're not at Epcot or Magic Kingdom -- you're at a beach resort in Oahu that competes with every other luxury beach resort in Ko Olina. The Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club and Four Seasons Oahu are right there. If you're maximizing Disney park time, Aulani is a detour. If Hawaii is the trip and Disney service is the draw, it makes sense.
At $80-$100/point resale, it's the most affordable way into Aulani DVC by a wide margin. Just go in knowing the dues are real, the Blue Card gap is real, and HARPTA exists when you eventually sell. The people who own Aulani and love it really love it. It's a specific kind of vacation, and it's not for everyone -- and that's fine.
