More than 80 years after Mickey Mouse piloted Steamboat Willie and whistled his way into the hearts of children across the world, he has finally reached the shores of Hawaii.
Walt Disney Co on Friday gave a peek of its sprawling, beachside Hawaiian resort that is under construction and scheduled to open next year.
“Aulani” is Disney’s first major stand-alone resort away from a theme park and could serve as a model for future projects as the company diversifies and expands its vacation offerings.
“This is a very special project for us,” said Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “It’s unlike anything that Disney has done before; at the same time, it’s very like many of the things we do.”
Aulani will have 359 hotel rooms, 481 time-share units, restaurants, convention center, a 1,394m² spa and massive water play area that includes a volcano tube slide and snorkel lagoon.
It sits on 8.5 hectares on Oahu’s Leeward Coast in the Ko Olina development, known for its white-sand lagoons, scenic golf course and colorful sunsets. Ko Olina is about an hour west of Waikiki, where most of the hotels and tourists are.
Jim Lewis, president of Disney’s time-share component, said Hawaii makes “perfect sense” with its rich culture, traditions, warm greetings, family values, friendships and story-telling.
“Those are also terms synonymous with Disney,” he said. “And by the way, Hawaii also happens to be one of the most popular vacation destinations on the planet, and that’s the business that we’re in.”
Most of the resort is currently a jungle of concrete, steel, wires and pipes with no Mickey and Minnie in sight. Aulani is scheduled to open on Aug. 29 next year, with hotel reservations to begin next month. Time-share sales started three weeks ago.
With the construction phase alone costing more than US$600 million, Aulani represents a huge investment for Disney amid a sharp tourism downturn.
Staggs, who previously served as Disney’s chief financial officer, wouldn’t comment on the final cost.
“Are we nervous about this investment right now given this economy? The answer is we really aren’t,” he said. “We really do have a fundamental belief in this location and Hawaii in general.”
Staggs called the project “a tremendous opportunity,” giving Disney a permanent presence in the islands.
He wouldn’t say what other areas Disney was considering because “right now, our focus is right here and making sure we get this right.”
According to an economic impact study commissioned by Disney, Aulani is expected to generate 4,800 jobs during construction. When completed, 2,400 jobs will be created, with about half working at the resort. More than US$271 million annually in economic activity will be generated.
The largest units at Aulani are three-bedroom “Grand Villas” — 214m² timeshare units that are larger than most Hawaii homes, sleep 12 and have sweeping views of the Pacific.
All the hotel and timeshare units have more of a traditional Hawaiian flair with touches of Disney that generally are subtle — other than the surfer Mickey lamp in each room.
While this may be Disney’s first big push into Hawaii, the company has had a long and growing relationship with Hawaii. One of the most notable is the animated film Lilo & Stitch, the centerpiece of a US$1.7 million marketing deal between Hawaii and Disney.
Other projects have included the 2001 film Pearl Harbor and ABC’s castaway drama Lost, which filmed here for six seasons.
ABC is owned by Disney. In addition, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides began shooting here this summer.
“We couldn’t find a more perfect place in putting a resort like this,” Staggs said.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
HELPING HAND: Approving the sale of H20s could give China the edge it needs to capture market share and become the global standard, a US representative said The US President Donald Trump administration’s decision allowing Nvidia Corp to resume shipments of its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China risks bolstering Beijing’s military capabilities and expanding its capacity to compete with the US, the head of the US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said. “The H20, which is a cost-effective and powerful AI inference chip, far surpasses China’s indigenous capability and would therefore provide a substantial increase to China’s AI development,” committee chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, said on Friday in a letter to US Secretary of
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
RSS