A couple of questions about DVC from a new member...

[Just People]

Hiya! I just bought into DVC AKV at Kadani Section. I have a couple of questions. The DVC guide gave us a February use year. We received our 2008 points which we are using to stay at OKW first week of August. I'm a little unsure of how the whole Use Year comes into play. So we usually take 1 or 2 vacations a year, usually March and August. Is February a good use year for our usual vacation travel dates? Also, even though we have an active reservation in the system for August of this year using our 2008 points, can we go ahead and book a vacation now at AKV for Early March and apply NEXT february's points toward that vacation??? If I am correct, if our plans change, we need to make sure to cancel our trip with just more than 30 days before the trip in order not to lose any points. Also, since we have a February Use year, when would be our deadline to bank unused points towards the following year in order to not lose any points? Sorry, its just a lot to take in! Oh, and btw, do the DVC resorts offer wifi internet service? Is it free?


Thanks for helping a fellow Disser and DVCer!!!

 

[eva]

Hiya! I just bought into DVC AKV at Kadani Section. I have a couple of questions. The DVC guide gave us a February use year. We received our 2008 points which we are using to stay at OKW first week of August. I'm a little unsure of how the whole Use Year comes into play. So we usually take 1 or 2 vacations a year, usually March and August. Is February a good use year for our usual vacation travel dates? Also, even though we have an active reservation in the system for August of this year using our 2008 points, can we go ahead and book a vacation now at AKV for Early March and apply NEXT february's points toward that vacation??? If I am correct, if our plans change, we need to make sure to cancel our trip with just more than 30 days before the trip in order not to lose any points. Also, since we have a February Use year, when would be our deadline to bank unused points towards the following year in order to not lose any points? Sorry, its just a lot to take in! Oh, and btw, do the DVC resorts offer wifi internet service? Is it free?


Thanks for helping a fellow Disser and DVCer!!!

First I'll say: Welcome Home!

You seem to have a pretty good grasp for a brand new member. A February use year sounds good for you. We have February too. Since you now have all the way up to September 30th to bank points, you have plenty of time to take care of your points if you need to cancel a reservation. That's if you normally vacation by the end of August each year. The problem comes when you make a reservation after the banking deadline. If you have to cancel a reservation then, you have until the end of January to try to use those points. And the closer you get to the end of your use year, the more restrictions you have on the points. I believe the last couple months of your use year you can only book at DVC resorts. So there is no trading out that late in the year.

Yes, you can go ahead and make a reservation for next March using your 2009 points. The points just need to be available at the time of the stay. Be sure that all cancellations happen 31 days or more out. At day 30 you will have your points put in a holding account. Those points have some pretty strict rules applied to them and are difficult to use. If you cancel on check-in day, you lose all the points. Reservations canceled at 31 days or more out return the points to the current use year. That is the use year of the reservation. So remember, if you borrow or bank, the points stay in the year of the reservation. They can't go back to their original year.

No WIFI service. But the wired service in your DVC resort room is free to members staying on points.

 

[LisaS]

Let's cover the easy questions first:

- Internet access is now free at the WDW DVC resorts when you book the resort on points. No wifi though, at least not at the WDW DVC resorts.

- If you cancel a trip less than 31 days prior to check in you don't lose the points but there will be restrictions placed on them. If you cancel 30 days to 1 day prior to check in, your points go into the holding account. They can only be used to book a stay within 60 days of check in and cannot be banked. If you cancel on your check-in day, all points are forfeited.

- You can bank up to 100% of your points during the first 8 months of your UY and nothing after that date. With a Feb UY, your banking deadline is Sep 30th.

Now on to the more complicated question: Based on what you have posted, I think you purchased a Jambo House unit rather than a Kidani unit. If you purchased a Kidani unit, you would not have been able to use your 2008 points for a trip this August and you would not be able to use your 2009 points for a trip in March '09. The reason is, the Kidani units have an occupancy date of May 2009** so you cannot use the points for a stay beginning any earlier than that date. If you purchased a Jambo House unit, they are already open so there is no occupancy date restriction on the points. ** The first units sold in Kidani have that occupancy date. I haven't heard any reports of any units being sold with any earlier dates than that so I'm assuming that is still the earliest date that "Kidani points" can be used.

Although we call points associated with Jambo House units "Jambo points" and we call points associated with Kidani Village units "Kidani points" they are really "AKV points" and you can use them to book a room in either building. So it doesn't matter whether you bought Kidani points or Jambo points other than this occupancy date issue. Assuming you really do have Jambo points, then yes you can use your Feb '09 points to book a vacation at AKV for early March. If you have Kidani points, you would not be able to use any of the points for a stay that begins any earlier than your occupancy date.

 

[Just People]

Let's cover the easy questions first:

- Internet access is now free at the WDW DVC resorts when you book the resort on points. No wifi though, at least not at the WDW DVC resorts.

- If you cancel a trip less than 31 days prior to check in you don't lose the points but there will be restrictions placed on them. If you cancel 30 days to 1 day prior to check in, your points go into the holding account. They can only be used to book a stay within 60 days of check in and cannot be banked. If you cancel on your check-in day, all points are forfeited.

- You can bank up to 100% of your points during the first 8 months of your UY and nothing after that date. With a Feb UY, your banking deadline is Sep 30th.

Now on to the more complicated question: Based on what you have posted, I think you purchased a Jambo House unit rather than a Kidani unit. If you purchased a Kidani unit, you would not have been able to use your 2008 points for a trip this August and you would not be able to use your 2009 points for a trip in March '09. The reason is, the Kidani units have an occupancy date of May 2009** so you cannot use the points for a stay beginning any earlier than that date. If you purchased a Jambo House unit, they are already open so there is no occupancy date restriction on the points. ** The first units sold in Kidani have that occupancy date. I haven't heard any reports of any units being sold with any earlier dates than that so I'm assuming that is still the earliest date that "Kidani points" can be used.

Although we call points associated with Jambo House units "Jambo points" and we call points associated with Kidani Village units "Kidani points" they are really "AKV points" and you can use them to book a room in either building. So it doesn't matter whether you bought Kidani points or Jambo points other than this occupancy date issue. Assuming you really do have Jambo points, then yes you can use your Feb '09 points to book a vacation at AKV for early March. If you have Kidani points, you would not be able to use any of the points for a stay that begins any earlier than your occupancy date.

Well i already booked a trip for this august and next february at AKV. So I guess I did buy into Jambo. It seems like just a technicality though, since I would have the 11 month window in both. Thanks!

 

[LisaS]

Well i already booked a trip for this august and next february at AKV. So I guess I did buy into Jambo. It seems like just a technicality though, since I would have the 11 month window in both. Thanks!

Correct, it doesn't matter whether your points are associated with a unit in Kidani or Jambo House, they are AKV points and can be used to book in either building. The only difference it makes is whether or not you can book a stay that begins earlier than May 1, 2009 (or whatever the occupancy date is for the unit that was purchased). Since you wanted to book for August this year and February next year, you were lucky to get some of the last points in Jambo House! When you get your paperwork you will find out what AKV Unit you own. Jambo House units are numbered between 1 and 56. Anything above that is Kidani.

So congratulations and welcome home!!