# WDWCo has fired DVC President Jim Lewis



## littlestar (Aug 13, 2011)

Interesting news:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-...ion-club-executive-ou20110813,0,7050337.story


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## bnoble (Aug 13, 2011)

Will be interesting to see if they ever hint at why. I thought sales were going relatively well all things considered.


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## rrlongwell (Aug 13, 2011)

bnoble said:


> Will be interesting to see if they ever hint at why. I thought sales were going relatively well all things considered.



It will be interesting to see what Disney does with the planned development surrounding National Harbor (Wyndham) at National Harbor.


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## pedro47 (Aug 13, 2011)

Sales much not be meeting the board high expectation.

Also why sure anyone purchase a t/s now when you can rent from various sources.


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## littlestar (Aug 13, 2011)

I heard there was a mistake with Aulani legal filings - maybe that has something to do with it.


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## SueDonJ (Aug 13, 2011)

That's what I've been reading on the disboards for a few days now, that they started selling Aulani before all the required legal filings were done.  That's a gigantic mistake and it makes sense that he'd be held responsible for it.


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## bnoble (Aug 13, 2011)

I wonder if the "Aulani situation" contributed, as well.


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## rickandcindy23 (Aug 14, 2011)

I heard Deanne Gabel is trying to find a job.  

It's making me wonder if DVC is going to exercise their ROFR again on most properties.  Maybe that was part of the issue with the guy.  You never know, maybe he kept showing up for work late.


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## 6scoops (Aug 15, 2011)

*New leader named*

Claire Bilby named as new senior VP


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## SueDonJ (Aug 16, 2011)

Have any TUGgers bought Aulani points?  

The various legal aspects of timeshares fascinate me although I can't explain why.  Today's news related to Jim Lewis' firing - that Disney had to suspend Aulani sales because the MF figures in the legal filings would seriously underfund the resort - appears staggering.  Is it?


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## heathpack (Aug 16, 2011)

Fascinating.  I also cannot look away.  No severance, poor JL, whatever will he do?!


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## loafingcactus (Aug 16, 2011)

May God bless me and grant me that I am never used for the "dumb consumer" opinion and quoted by name as at the end of this article, amen.


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## dvcdavid (Aug 17, 2011)

I'd been circling around the idea of buying points there.  Maybe I should have acted early, since the dues for buyers will now be higher.  On the other hand, maybe they will have to drop the cost of points and offer much better incentives than they had been doing to offset the higher annual dues.  From the start I wondered why Disney's dues seemed so much lower that many of the other Hawaii timeshares I'd looked at.


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## Twinkstarr (Aug 17, 2011)

SueDonJ said:


> Have any TUGgers bought Aulani points?
> 
> The various legal aspects of timeshares fascinate me although I can't explain why.  Today's news related to Jim Lewis' firing - that Disney had to suspend Aulani sales because the MF figures in the legal filings would seriously underfund the resort - appears staggering.  Is it?



I wouldn't be surprised if Bay Lake Tower is in a similar though not as serious situation,  those MF/pt are at a really low level in comparison to the other WDW DVC resorts.


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## SueDonJ (Aug 17, 2011)

That's what I'm reading on the disboards, that folks are wondering about BLT's MF especially because of some of the lower-quality fixtures they used and the re-design they had to do for some of the bathroom configurations.

Slowly word is getting out through different news media.  Last night one of Hawaii's TV news outlets had a report.  Interesting that in it they repeated what was said in one of the first reports and later retracted by a Disney official:


> The Disney spokeswoman said anyone who already purchased time share units at Aulani for the lower rate will not see a dues increase over the life of the 50-year contract that expires in 2062.
> 
> "It's the right thing to do," said Langley.



And this:


> Cantfort said state law does not require Disney from keeping those lower fees in effect for people who already bought time share units at Aulani. But if Disney chose to raise fees on customers who’ve already made purchases, those customers could file complaints, which the state could investigate and eventually impose fines against the company for anywhere from $500 to $25,000, Cantfort said. The company could have its Hawaii registration revoked or suspended, if there are enough complaints upheld against it.



Wow.  If true it means that Disney will be subsidizing the owners who have already closed, and probably those pending as well, for decades.  That's an enormous cost in itself, nevermind if fines are imposed and/or licenses revoked.

I'm so surprised that Disney hasn't released some sort of statement directly to Aulani owners yet.  Even if they've not worked out or gotten approval for the changes they need to make, you would think that they would at least give the owners a heads-up that something is happening.  So far the only statements directly given to DVC owners is that Jim Lewis has been replaced, and there's not much in that statement to put Aulani owners on notice that they have reason to be much more concerned than other DVC owners.


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## heathpack (Aug 17, 2011)

SueDonJ said:


> That's what I'm reading on the disboards, that folks are wondering about BLT's MF especially because of some of the lower-quality fixtures they used and the re-design they had to do for some of the bathroom configurations.
> 
> Slowly word is getting out through different news media.  Last night one of Hawaii's TV news outlets had a report.  Interesting that in it they repeated what was said in one of the first reports and later retracted by a Disney official:
> 
> ...



Totally agree that Disney needs to say something to members, esp Aulani members.  I understand this is a real disaster for them, but they need to at least address it, if only to say "we are working on the long-term plan, we will be in touch soon."

They are already charging high buy-in prices for these units, and the points requirement mean that people must buy a lot of points to be able to stay at Aulani.  If the MF are now going to be wicked high, this will be a real deal breaker for many people.  To make buying Aulani attractive, I think they are going to HAVE to offer some blazing incentives to purchase-- something so good, people will forget about the MF for awhile.  Of course the problem for DVC is that their profit is in selling the units, not in collecting higher MF down the road.  IMO, they will just have to take a very big profit hit to get sales going again.  If sales just stall out because both purchase price and MF are too high, the project will be a disaster.  And this particular project has such huge implications as to the future direction of DVC-- it HAS to be a success or they will never build anywhere else.

If DVC does not come out with some absolutely BLAZING purchase incentives as a result of this, IMO they deserve everything bad that happens as a result.  And thats coming from me, a DVC owner, who will undoubtedly be impacted as well if DVC suffers.

H


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## frank808 (Aug 18, 2011)

I am an owner at Aulani. Have not heard squat from DVC.  Only know whateveryone else has read and seen on tv.  I wonder if they will keep the dues at. $4.31 or subsidize them like v ero beach. I hope they stay the same.


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## SueDonJ (Aug 18, 2011)

frank808 said:


> I am an owner at Aulani. Have not heard squat from DVC.  Only know whateveryone else has read and seen on tv.  I wonder if they will keep the dues at. $4.31 or subsidize them like v ero beach. I hope they stay the same.



Yep, cannot believe that Aulani owners haven't gotten an official statement yet - it's been almost a week now!  How are the phone lines, have you had a reason to call in at all since the reports came out?  I'm asking because when Marriott introduced their new program last year, without any supporting guides other than the legal docs, folks called in by the thousands.  Or at least it seemed that way because the lines were busy for days on end.


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## Jay MA (Aug 24, 2011)

*Motley Fool on Aulani*

See 

http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...ii.aspx?source=ihpsitcag0000002&lidx=2#633285


for more info on Aulani's issues


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## bnoble (Aug 24, 2011)

Munarriz spends more time understanding the theme/amusement park business than he does hotel/resort/etc.  I'd take that article with a grain of salt.


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