"America's Funniest Home Videos" visits Aulani

[quote="robskidmore"] I was there in January and saw them filming segments over 3 days. [/quote]

[quote="waltons"] It might be great promos for the Aulani when TV shows film there, but it can be intrusive on a guests stay while they are there. We were at the Aulani in February when the "Live with Kelly" show was there and we did not appreciate the inconvenience it caused. Some of the Disney entertainment for guest on property was cancelled, areas of the grounds were closed, one night the better portion of Ama Ama Restaurant was taken over, the best cabanas were taken over for a couple of days, some of the prime condos were taken over, and so on and so on. The last 6 of our 11 days there were inconvenienced by the show and crew. Although they shot all 5 days of shows in 2 days, it was the pre-production that I feel caused the most inconvenience. We were there during the pre-production and the first filming day, I don't know what happened the second filming day that also included a Destination Wedding show and then the post production activities. I do know that from now on when we are making reservations at any of the resorts, I will be checking with the Resort to see if there is any filming planned for the time we plan on travel and then change our dates if filming is planned. [/quote]

[quote="denlo"] Sorry to hear that it affected your stay. I wish I could say that when you make your reservation the resort will know if any filming is scheduled, but it's very doubtful. I would say that an opportunity presented itself and Aulani execs jumped and said yes to filming just weeks before. Did you mention these problems to the resort or to DVC? You could still write Member Satisfaction (dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com), giving them details so they will adjust things for the future filming. I know that cancellations of activities has been pretty common at Aulani during Feb though April, either weather or not enough guests attending an activity or no CM's to cover the activity have caused cancellations. Just wondering, would go to Aulani again despite the disruption you experienced? Hopefully it wouldn't happen again. [/quote]

[quote="waltons"] We did talk to the front desk about some of concerns but that is about as far as it went. I know we could have been more assertive and even possibly had some points refunded, I have heard from other members that they have been refunded points for unsatisfactory portions of their stays."But we didn't want to push to that point because overall, we had a great vacation. We were on a family vacation that included all of our kids with their spouses and our "one and only" grandchild. Because they closed off the lawn area for pre-production building, anything that took place there such as the "Starlit Hui Show" and "Movies on the Lawn" were cancelled. We did get to see two Starlit Hui shows and one evening of "Movies on the Lawn" before pre-production crews and Ms. Rippa arrived. So, we were fortunate. I was aware of guests complaining at the desk about these cancellations because some of them were there for just 2, 3 or 4 nights and they missed out completely. Anyone that I heard complaining, their main complaint was, "Why didn't you inform us of the "speial event" and how it would effect out vacation when we made our reservations?" I do get that Disney may not have known at the time the reservation was made, but once the plans were in cement, maybe they could notify guests as to what the situation is and give them a chance to change reservations without penalty if they so desired. (Both DVC members and paying guests) To be truthful, if I had known ahead of time, ([U]before going through this experience)[/U] I most likely would have kept our reservations especially since there were so many people involved and they had to get vacation time to do this trip. I would just like the opportunity to say yay or nay and know what we are in for . Actually, I think what one of my main points is, alot of people think it is so cool to be where the celebs are and don't realize that it has it's very definate downsides too. As for our family..... we still had a great time because we are not whiners and would not allow the inconveniences to totally shadow our family vacation experience. But, after going through the experience, if we had a choice, we would prefer to be on property when nothing major is going on unless we knowingly sign up for it. Yes, we will be going back to the Aulani. We loved it. It was one of our best Disney all family vacations. My 6 year old grandson cried for 3 days after getting home because he just wanted to go back. The service was great. The resort is beautiful, the spa is fabulous, the food was great (except for character breakfast buffet) there was plenty of [U]"day time"[/U] activities to do. We only went off property 2 of our 11 days there. The main big evening activities were the cancelled activities. And that was when you didn't want to get into the car to go somewhere because you are tired and just want to hang out at the resort for night time entertainment. It wasn't really my intention to sound so negative in the first post. I just wanted to alert people that there are some down sides to being at the resort when filming is taking place. So, beware. Another thing that we have considered is that the Aulani is new and still growing. Most of the CM's are learning the Disney way of doing things even if they have had previous hotel and spa experience. So they deserve some consideration while in their infantcy at this particular resort and location. We still love Disney. It will take a lot more than this to turn us off. [/quote]