2 Different Use Years Make Sense?

[jcf]

I bought VWL with Dec UY strictly for a Christmas vacation. Now I want to buy at BCV but I only plan on using, at least in the near future, for Feb or Easter break (maybe summer too).

Shouldn't I be looking for Feb or March UY in this case given how hard it is to get in there at those times?

Work and school make it hard to plan a vacation outside of those times.

Any suggestions?

 

[dwelty]

JFC, Use year makes no difference on WHEN you can reserve your Villa. You will only need to pay attention to the 11 month and 7 month reservation window. For example, if I want to reserve right now for February 10, 2008 at my home resort, I will have to wait until March 11th, (This is when the 11 month window opens up). I have an October use year, but the same rules apply to you (even though your use year is different).
Use year only applies to when your yearly points expire, and your banking deadlines (when you can bank all of your points for the next year) It has nothing to do with when you can reserve your villa.

Hope this helps.

 

[dcfromva]

I bought VWL with Dec UY strictly for a Christmas vacation. Now I want to buy at BCV but I only plan on using, at least in the near future, for Feb or Easter break (maybe summer too).

Shouldn't I be looking for Feb or March UY in this case given how hard it is to get in there at those times?

Work and school make it hard to plan a vacation outside of those times.

Any suggestions?

jcf,
For what you are planning, Feb or March make perfect sense to me.

Our first contract was purchased when I didn't have a really good idea as to how the points worked and when I would want to use them. It turns out we have a Feb UY and we prefer to go in Dec or Jan.

UY doesn't matter if you don't ever have to cancel a ressie, but it is something I worry about before we make the trip. Ex, we had to borrow points for our most recent stay over NYE. So, we not only had our current UY points, but some of next years' tied up. The trip went just fine, but I wonder what are the chances over the life of the contract that something might come up that might prevent us from using a ressie--if something did come up and we had to cancel, the points would be distressed with little opportunity to reschedule.

On the other hand, we bought some points at BWV for use during F&W festival. They are OCT UY. We make ressies for Oct, Nov--sometimes even Dec and Jan and I don't worry (except maybe a day before ).

Another point is that over the life the contract--your life situation may change (ex your kids grow up and leave home or your grown up kids have kids and you want to take your grandkids to WDW , you retire, et'c.) and your usage patterns may change--so you end up going at a different time--so your ideal UY could change over time.

-DC

 

[tic-toc-croc]

We have Feb UY, and usually travel in Nov, Dec and Jan. It has always been a pain to worry about missing the July banking deadline if we have to cancel after July. We want to add on AKV, still trying to weigh the pros and cons of getting a separate contract with Oct UY. But, we don't need 150 more points. Decision...decision

 

[jcf]

Given my situation if I am lucky to get a 1 bedroom at 7 month window?

 

[LisaS]

I think a Dec UY still works well for you for trips in Feb, Easter and even in the summer. With a Dec UY, your 100% banking deadline is May 31st so if you had to cancel a Feb or Easter trip, you would still be in your 100% banking window and could bank all of the points, provided you cancelled at least 31 days prior to check in. Your 50% banking window is Aug 31st so if you cancelled a summer trip after May 31st (but at least 31 days prior to check in) you could bank up to 50% of your points. If your BCV contract is an "add on" to your VWL master contract (same UY, same names on the deed), then the total points you own on both contracts are used to calculate that 50%. So depending on whether you had banked any of your VWL points that UY, you might be able to bank all of the BCV points returned to your account from cancelling a summer reservation.

Example: Let's say you had 150 VWL points and added on 100 BCV points. You booked a trip for August at BCV using all 100 of your current-UY points but then cancel that trip in June. If you have not banked any points earlier in your UY, you can bank up to 125 points during your 50% banking window (50% of your combined total of 250 points). So you could bank all 100 of the BCV points returned to your account from the cancelled reservation even though you are in your 50% banking window!

If you purchase a BCV contract with a different UY, it will be set up as a new master contract. You don't get the banking advantage described above and you cannot simply pool the points to make a reservation at 7 months, you have to book as many days as possible with each contract and then link the two reservations or transfer from one contract to the other, using up your one transfer per UY in each contract in the process.

If you decide to go with a different UY and you want to purchase from Disney, you will have to purchase a minimum of 150 points. Otherwise you will have to purchase a resale contract. If you purchase a BCV add-on from Disney (same UY, same names on the deed) then you can purchase as few as 25 points if paying cash or 50 points if you want to finance your purchase.

 

[Mtnman44]

LisaS is right. If you mostly travel in Dec, feb, and Easter then a Dec UY sounds pretty optimal.

 

[dcfromva]

Given my situation if I am lucky to get a 1 bedroom at 7 month window?

jcf,
Do you mean you are not able to book more than 7 months in advance or are you just looking at an upcoming trip? If you are never able to make your ressies more than 7 months in advance then it doesn't matter where your home resort is.

-DC

 

[jcf]

for the times I wanted if I had to wait until 7 month window, but I think losing the banking advantage which I didn't even consider (thanks) would be poor trade off.

 

[Caskbill]

As Lisa said, keep in mind if you purchase a different use year, it becomes a totally new membership number. To buy from Disney would be a 150 point minimum purchase. If you buy resale, it's whatever number of points the contract has.

This cannot be stressed enough....

Disadvantages to having separate membership numbers:

1. Contracts must be managed totally separately.

2. At 7-months, points cannot be combined between contracts to make a single reservation somewhere. (With Add-on contracts, all contract points become a single pool and may be used in any combination to make any reservation at any resort)

3. Banking percentages apply to each contract separately. (For Add-on contracts, all points are combined, and banking percentages apply to the combined total)

 

[LisaS]

[Only concern was not getting a 1 bedroom] for the times I wanted if I had to wait until 7 month window, but I think losing the banking advantage which I didn't even consider (thanks) would be poor trade off.

I don't understand your thoughts here. It still sounds like you think that buying a Dec UY means you will be prevented from booking a summer stay at BCV at the 11-month window and that is not the case.

You can book a stay at your home resort 11 months prior to checkout regardless of your Use Year. You can book at a non-home resort 7 months prior to checkout regardless of your Use Year. Use Year has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation.

For example, let's say you go ahead and purchase a BCV add-on contract with a Dec UY and you want to book a stay for July 20-25, 2008. You can make that reservation on Aug 25, 2007 -- exactly 11 months prior to your checkout date of July 25, 2008. Since that stay falls within you 2007 Use Year, you can use '07 points for that reservation and/or banked '06 points and/or borrowed '08 points.

If I owned a BCV contract with an October Use Year, I could book those same dates of stay at exactly the same time -- Aug 25, 2007. If someone else has a June Use Year, they can also call on Aug 25, 2007 to book those same dates.

 

[jcf]

Starting over - when I bought VWL I told them it would be used for Christmas and was told then that Dec was the best UY. I assumed that was b/c it would be home resort and I could begin booking 11 months out since the rooms at Christmas may not be available at the 7 month window.

Is that part at least right? If not, how does the 11/7 month windows work?

 

[LisaS]

Starting over - when I bought VWL I told them it would be used for Christmas and was told then that Dec was the best UY. I assumed that was b/c it would be home resort and I could begin booking 11 months out since the rooms at Christmas may not be available at the 7 month window.

Is that part at least right? If not, how does the 11/7 month windows work?

Your Use Year month is when your points renew each year. In addition, your UY determines your banking deadlines. You can bank up to 100% of your points during the first 6 months of your UY, up to 50% during months 7-9, up to 25% of your points during the 10th month and nothing during the last 2 months of your UY. Because of the banking deadlines, UY comes into play if you ever have to cancel a reservation. Having a UY that starts just before your usual travel dates means that if you have to cancel a trip, you will still be within your 100% banking window and also have many months left in your UY to use those points for another trip during that UY.

So if you booked a stay for Dec 2007 and then cancelled it, the points go back in your account. Those points don't expire until Nov 30, 2008 so you have an entire year to do something else with the points before they expire. If they are current-year points (not banked or borrowed from another UY) you can bank them because you are within your 100% banking window. Even if they are banked or borrowed points, you have a year to use them for something else before they expire. So having a UY that starts just before your normal travel dates gives you a lot of flexibility in the event you ever cancel a trip.

Compare that to having a Dec UY and going to WDW for Thanksgiving. If you cancel a November trip, the points used for the trip expire on Nov 30th. It's unlikely you will be able to use the points for something else before they expire and if you cancel the trip after Sep 30th, you are past all of your banking deadlines so you cannot bank any of the points used for that reservation.

So that is why someone advised you that a Dec UY would work well for you!

 

[Caskbill]

Starting over - when I bought VWL I told them it would be used for Christmas and was told then that Dec was the best UY. I assumed that was b/c it would be home resort and I could begin booking 11 months out since the rooms at Christmas may not be available at the 7 month window.

Is that part at least right? If not, how does the 11/7 month windows work?

No, your assumption was not correct.

#1: Use year has absolutely nothing to do with when you can book a vacation. Use Year ONLY determines which 'year' the vacation points will come from for that vacation.

#2: You reserve at your home resort up to 11 months in advance of your check-out date for the desired reservation. This is true no matter what your Use Year month.

#3: You may reserve at any non-home resort at 7 months or less in advance of your check-out date. It makes no difference of what home resort you own, or what your use year month is.

#4: Use Year can be important in the event you may ever have to cancel a reservation. This is because when you cancel, it can occur that your points that are returned could be late in their use year, and therefore not eligible to be banked. This could be a problem. Again, this can occur ONLY in the event of a cancellation. If you don't cancel reservations, this is a non-issue.

When your guide said Dec was the best use year for Christmas, it may because of this cancellation issue. With a Dec UY, if you have to cancel a Dec reservation, you still have basically 12 months to use (or bank) those returned points.

Examples:

John owns VWL. He can make a reservation today for Christmas 2007 since it's less than 11-months away. It makes absolutely no difference what use year month he has.

Bill owns OKW. He can make a reservation at 7-months for Christmas 2007. It makes no difference what Use Year month he owns.

For December 2007 reservations, ALL owners of ANY Use Year month would be in their 2007 Use Year, so all would be using 2007 UY points.

However, for other months, Members could be using points from different use years.

Example: John owns VWL, March UY. Bill owns VWL Sep UY. Both want to make a reservation for June 2008. Since this is a home resort for both members, they each can call July 2007 to make the reservation at the 11-month window. However John would be using his 2008 UY points because his 2008 Use Year goes from March 1, 2008 thru Feb 28, 2009, which includes his desired June 2008 reservation.

Bill on the other hand would be using his 2007 Use Year points because his 2007 use year covers the dates Sep 1, 2007 thru Aug 31, 2008, which includes his desired June 2008 reservation.

Hope this helps.

 

[jcf]

While thats why I though a Feb or March UY for BCV (since I would be using that for one of those breaks) would be good as I could cancel w/o a problem.
But, I understand the banking mess as described above.

My original concern was there would no 1 bedrooms available in the prime season - Christmas for VWL so I needed to make that my home resort.

By the way, when do they put up decorations for Christmas - if its before Thanksgiving I may go over that holiday. Should I have done a Nov UY?

 

[Dean]

In this situation the best option is to have them all Dec. However, if you buy resale, the best deal will usually outweigh the advantages of use year.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

By the way, when do they put up decorations for Christmas - if its before Thanksgiving I may go over that holiday. Should I have done a Nov UY?

Christmas decorations go up right around Thanksgiving. There is no such thing as a November use year and if there was it would be the worst for you considering you want to travel at Thanksgiving.

STOP worrying about use year. You can always make reservations 11 months in advance at your home resort no matter what your use year is.

Read carefully what LisaS and Caskbill have told you.

HBC

 

[jcf]

Thanks, it's Friday I am tired. It has an impact if you need to cancel a trip - If I ever booked Thanksgiving and had to cancel that trip I'd lose my points b/c too late to bank.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

It has an impact if you need to cancel a trip - If I ever booked Thanksgiving and had to cancel that trip I'd lose my points b/c too late to bank.

True enough but if everyone only made their DVC reservations along this line of thinking, few would travel in the last 6 months of your use year and no one would travel in the last few months. We have always gone when we wanted and have not yet had to cancel and lose points yet.

HBC

 

[kimberh]

This Thread has helped me. I really never did understand the Uy. I just bought Oct and then got a Apr one on resale and I find it confining. I like my Oct much better. Never thought about Dec. Thanks for all the info. I am saving it to my favorites!