A lil use year help for a future .....

[snowwhitemom]

DVC owner, I always like to go at Halloween and From Christmas through New Years. Is there a better use year than others or is it really not that important????I would always be able to book in advance as well........Thanks Suzy

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Use year is only important if you have to cancel a reservation. You want your use year to be when you can still bank all of your points if you have to cancel. 100% can be banked in the first 6 months. A September or October use year would be perfect for you. That way if you have to cancel a December trip, you would still have until February or March to decide whether to return to WDW during your use year or bank your points.

Remember that use year has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation.

HBC

 

[Dean]

While use year is only important if you have to cancel, you never know when this will happen. It gives everyone a little extra protection and options though it is far more important for some than others. While I'd say go for the best deal, if two were abou the same, I'd go for one between August and October in your situation and Branch out as early as a June use year if necessary.

 

[disneyberry]

how far you book in advance shouldn't have any effect on which Use Year is "good" for you.

Use Year only makes a difference to those people who are likely to cancel trips last minute.
this is because when you cancel a trip, ideally you would like the opportunity to save your points either by banking them, or trying to reschedule your trip.

an example of how a particular Use Year can be bad for you:
you have a Dec Use Year.
you have a Halloween week trip booked.
in late Sep something comes up, and it turns out you need to cancel your trip.
your points are back in your account, but they expire on 11/30.
if only you could bank them to use them in your next UY. but by Sep, you have missed almost all of your banking deadlines, and can only bank up to 25% of your points allotment.

however, if you had an Oct UY instead, then your points wouldn't expire until 9/30 of next year. you would have plently of time to reschedule your trip. or you could bank all of your points.

but, again, if you don't worry that you'll ever have to cancel trips last minute, then UY doesn't make any difference.

 

[Richyams]

I vacation exactly the same times as you. Our next trip is Nov 8, my favorite time is the first two weeks of December and we almost never miss the Food and Wine Festival. We were there in Oct of '92 and they were selling September use years at OKW. Not knowing the significance of use year, we accidently got the perfect use year for our travels.

I agree with Dean completely, Aug to Oct would work perfectly, June would not be bad.

 

[snowwhitemom]

Thanks so much...it finally makes sence to me!!! Can you pick your use year if you buy new at SSR vs having to take what you get with a resell???Thanks again.

 

[mom2rb]

You can pick your UY at SSR except Dec. is sold out and they don't sell Jan.

 

[Dean]

The only factor about SSR is that you will not get points until your use year, though you could borrow. If you're looking at SSR, I'd likely go with June so you get the points a few months earlier.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I asked about smaller contracts and use year, and Rich pointed out that you can take a vacation that spans your UY and if timed correctly, you could use 4 years worth of points.

I really appreciate him explaining this, and as we won't do this now, it may be an option later when we don't go as much. (much later!) The drawback to spanning use year's is that you lose the flexibility to cancel without losing the banked and current points, but if that's not an issue, it would be a great way to have a REALLY nice vacation.

As we like to go in Late May, Early June, My use year of March would only allow me to do the 4 year span in Late February and Early March. So we would have to adjust our vacation if we wanted to do that.

This would also be a great option if you find yourself with use or lose points because you banked points and missed your banking deadline for your current points.

For my March UY , the 4 year span vacation in late February/March 2005 would work like this.

2003 Banked points (must be used by 2/31/05)

2004 points (must be used by 2/31/05)

2005 points (Would get this allotment while in WDW March 1, 2005)

2006 points (Would borrow these points)

The only thing Im confused about, is how to make the Ressie!

This info definitely gave me something to think about so I hope it helps!

 

[pumpkinboy]

Wow, but the 4 years of points thing, great info!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Originally posted by LIFERBABE
I asked about smaller contracts and use year, and Rich pointed out that you can take a vacation that spans your UY and if timed correctly, you could use 4 years worth of points.

I really appreciate him explaining this, and as we won't do this now, it may be an option later when we don't go as much. (much later!) The drawback to spanning use year's is that you lose the flexibility to cancel without losing the banked and current points, but if that's not an issue, it would be a great way to have a REALLY nice vacation.

As we like to go in Late May, Early June, My use year of March would only allow me to do the 4 year span in Late February and Early March. So we would have to adjust our vacation if we wanted to do that.

This would also be a great option if you find yourself with use or lose points because you banked points and missed your banking deadline for your current points.

For my March UY , the 4 year span vacation in late February/March 2005 would work like this.

2003 Banked points (must be used by 2/31/05)

2004 points (must be used by 2/31/05)

2005 points (Would get this allotment while in WDW March 1, 2005)

2006 points (Would borrow these points)

The only thing Im confused about, is how to make the Ressie!

This info definitely gave me something to think about so I hope it helps!

 

[snowwhitemom]

Oh my, Wow.....I will have to re read these replys a few times to really get it. Thanks for all the replys. It sounds as if I should go for June thru Oct. with closer to fall being more ideal. If I go with SSR when can I get a use year date and how is that given, does it come with your purchase month or.... Thanks Suzy

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

If I go with SSR when can I get a use year date and how is that given

Very often you just get whatever use year Disney is selling at the time. You may have to request a certain one if they aren't selling one to your liking. The fact is that most peoploe don't understand use year as well as you already do when they are buying, so it usually isn't an issue for them.

Buy where you want to stay the most. If that's SSR then buy through Disney. If it is one of the other resorts, buy a resale.

HBC

 

[snowwhitemom]

The only reaon I was even considering SSR is for the longer contract, the extra years over a re-sell. I Love the BWV during the holiday so I am still considering a re-sale from there...ughhh. It is a hard decision and also I can get more points with re-sale. Thanks so much for all the info and the little boost of faith that my knowledge isn't that bad. But if it isn't during a holiday I love OKW ...isn't that usually easy to do at a 7 month booking? Thanks, Suzy

 

[SStJean]

Originally posted by snowwhitemom
Oh my, Wow.....I will have to re read these replys a few times to really get it. Thanks for all the replys. It sounds as if I should go for June thru Oct. with closer to fall being more ideal. If I go with SSR when can I get a use year date and how is that given, does it come with your purchase month or.... Thanks Suzy

We just purchased into SSR earlier this month. Our guide had us set up for a Feb. use year. We only go in the late Oct. to early Dec. span, so we asked to have an Oct. UY. He said no problem and that is what we have now. Since we will not be going back until next Dec., not getting the points until Oct. 2004 is not a problem for us.

So, you just have to ask your guide for the UY that works best for you.

Best of luck!

Steve