Is Disney Lost in Hawaii?

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz, Motley Fool

Hawaii has been good to Disney (NYSE: DIS ) over the years.

The tropical state of islands served as the backdrop for the blockbuster Lilo & Stitch animated feature, and it inspired Disney's Polynesian Resort -- one of the three marquee Florida hotels on Disney's exclusive monorail track. Hawaii is also where the show Lost was filmed, which Disney milked for six plot-twisting seasons on ABC.

The island giveth, but it also taketh away.

Janney Capital Markets analyst Tony Wible is concerned that Disney's losing its magical touch with a Hawaiian timeshare resort where projected operating costs are spiraling out of control.

Disney's Aulani Resort makes perfect sense as the latest beachfront addition to its Disney Vacation Club, the family leisure giant's upscale fractional travel offering. However, the Orlando Sentinel reported last week that new sales have been halted since last month and that several executives have been fired because the annual dues that they will be charging apparently won't be enough to cover the project's operating costs.

Ouch.

Did mouse-eared bean counters blow it, or is Disney simply trying to move luxury travel at any cost during a very iffy economic climate? Either way, isn't Disney simply shooting the messenger by firing executives who have helped oversee a product that has transformed Disney into a lifestyle travel juggernaut?

Timeshares are no longer seedy, but this is still a difficult industry. Marriott (NYSE: MAR ) is in the process of spinning off its premium timeshare business, presumably to emphasize the healthier margins in its flagship lodging stronghold.

It isn't easy to tie travelers to long-term travel commitments, even with Interval Leisure Group (Nasdaq: IILG ) giving buyers an easy way to swap timeshare weeks for getaways at different vacation properties.

On the higher end of the travel spectrum, several destination clubs have gone kaput. The popularity of HomeAway (Nasdaq: AWAY ) -- a fast-growing alternative to upscale vacation properties where travelers book vacation properties directly from the owners -- also has to be eating at current pace of timeshare sales.

These are the uncertainties that should make Six Flags (NYSE: SIX ) and Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN ) investors feel lucky that the regional amusement park operators have never gone beyond modest adjacent hotels.

As for Disney, "aloha" isn't the only thing that can go both ways when it comes to Hawaii.

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This isn't the only budgetary lapse at Disney, which recently shelved its Lone Ranger theatrical production over spirally costs. Stay on top of the latest Disney news -- earning your ears along the way -- by adding Walt Disney to My Watchlist.

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz can usually be found at Walt Disney World. Not today, though. He does own shares in Disney. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.

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