All About Fixed Weeks (RIV/CCV/AUL/VGF/POLY/TOWER/VHD/FWC Charts)

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

To clarify, holding status happens for any trip canceled less than 31 days from check in, even if you are still within your banking window.

So, even your FW could be in holding if you canceled it early December, even though you are within a banking windo.

Yes - sorry, thank you for clarifying!! I was thinking banking but said holding - appreciate it!

 

[jshadd]

Yes - they offered FW for AUL, GF, POLY, CCV, RIV, VDH and Cabins.

Can someone post the Cabins Favorite week point schedule? Thanks

 

[JackosinDIS]

Inquiring minds want to know…will you be going every week 39??

No not every year unfortunately, but once I’ve retired it will be part of my yearly trip!

 

[twincruisers]

It has a use year like any other contract. In most ways it is the same as a normal contract. The only difference is Disney will book that fixed week for you ahead of the 11 month window and there is no modifying that reservation, only keeping it or cancelling it. You can use the points for something else ahead of the 11 month window and then the reservation won't be made as all of the points are required for them to book your fixed week.

For example, my use year is September and I have fixed weeks 39 and 50. I can make any reservation that starts September 1st or after to use those points each year, and they will make the week 39 and week 50 reservations for me if the full points are in those contracts between 12 and 11 months ahead of time.

Hmm, does this mean you get a soft Jan or July UY by having a FW in Jan/July? or they default you to the nearest regular UY?

Also do FW mean you can also request a specific room number that you like? Or that’s up to the DVC algorithm to decide?

 

[JackosinDIS]

Hmm, does this mean you get a soft Jan or July UY by having a FW in Jan/July? or they default you to the nearest regular UY?

Also do FW mean you can also request a specific room number that you like? Or that’s up to the DVC algorithm to decide?

No, you get a regular UY - whichever you choose. It’s sensible to get a UY shortly before your FW dates though so if you have to cancel you can still bank the points.

Although you are deeded a specific unit (a small percentage anyway) you do not actually get to stay in that particular room. You will be allocated any room within the same size and view category.

 

[mabucco]

I’m wondering if the option to cancel your FW booking and use the points in other ways is a definite right written in the contract or some sort of incidental benefit that could theoretically go away.
If it’s written in the contract I don’t understand why anyone would not get a fixed week, with it only having an advantage and no disadvantages. Or am I missing something?

 

[intamin]

I’m wondering if the option to cancel your FW booking and use the points in other ways is a definite right written in the contract or some sort of incidental benefit that could theoretically go away.
If it’s written in the contract I don’t understand why anyone would not get a fixed week, with it only having an advantage and no disadvantages. Or am I missing something?

It cannot go away. I’d say the one minor downside is not being able to split up the fixed week contract into multiple smaller contracts and can potentially make you buy more points than you intended/need.

 

[jjanne]

It has a use year like any other contract. In most ways it is the same as a normal contract. The only difference is Disney will book that fixed week for you ahead of the 11 month window and there is no modifying that reservation, only keeping it or cancelling it. You can use the points for something else ahead of the 11 month window and then the reservation won't be made as all of the points are required for them to book your fixed week.

For example, my use year is September and I have fixed weeks 39 and 50. I can make any reservation that starts September 1st or after to use those points each year, and they will make the week 39 and week 50 reservations for me if the full points are in those contracts between 12 and 11 months ahead of time.

Interesting, might make me consider fixed weeks now.. @Tatebeck can you help clarify - I'm not sure I follow the timing of reservations, when not using the fixed week

It seems there's really no way to make a reservation that starts Sep 1st or after in your Sep UY, (which needs to wait the 11 mo window) unless you cancel the fixed week first (which is booked ~12mos ahead). If you borrow, then the points won't be there and they will not book the fixed week then. But the post seems to say any reservation starting Sep 1st can also be booked ahead of the 11 month window or am I reading this wrong ?

 

[Tatebeck]

Interesting, might make me consider fixed weeks now.. @Tatebeck can you help clarify - I'm not sure I follow the timing of reservations, when not using the fixed week

It seems there's really no way to make a reservation that starts Sep 1st or after in your Sep UY, (which needs to wait the 11 mo window) unless you cancel the fixed week first (which is booked ~12mos ahead). If you borrow, then the points won't be there and they will not book the fixed week then. But the post seems to say any reservation starting Sep 1st can also be booked ahead of the 11 month window or am I reading this wrong ?

The reservation isn't made 12 months ahead of your use year, just 11-12 months ahead of the week itself, so reservation timing can vary depending on the Use Year and the Fixed Week. Only the fixed week reservation is made before the 11 month window by Disney, usually between 11 and 12 months ahead. If I want to use my points elsewhere, I can make a normal 11 or 7 month booking myself as well

If my reservation is made before Disney makes the fixed week reservation, then they cannot make it and I just use my points like a normal contract

• Ex. My Week 50 contract in my September use year is usually the second or so week of December. If in October, I make a 11 month reservation for something in September to tie up any amount of points out of that fixed week contract, there will be no Week 50 reservation made when December/January (12 and 11 months before week 50) comes around.

If Disney makes the fixed week reservation before I make any reservations or had borrowed any points (ie if the contract has full points for that year) then they will make the fixed week booking and I will have to cancel it with member services in order to use the points elsewhere

• Ex. My Week 39 contract in my September use year is usually the last week of September. If Disney books this a full 12 months ahead of time, they will book it at the end of September before I can book anything on October 1st for my use year to prevent it. I would contact member services and have them cancel the reservation and then I could use my points as a I want.
  • In this case I would probably use some of my other points for the same resort to start a reservation for a day or two to guarantee I had a room I wanted, then cancel the fixed week and then extend the reservation I started. This way I do not risk losing a room I want while waiting on member services to cancel the reservation.

All in all after all my research I found that there were pretty much only positives when doing a fixed week, and I don't think I will ever buy any decent amount of direct points without a fixed week for a studio, duo, or maybe a 1br (if it's a hard to book 1br).

With a fixed week you can get:

• Guaranteed reservations at a time of your choice, usually a time and room combo that can be hard to book normally. And it can let you potentially plan trips years ahead for specific dates, instead of possibly at 11 months.
• Increased possible resale value, especially if it is a popular room and week
• A few weeks during the year that are actually LESS points for a fixed week than the average number of points they will cost to book each year due to abnormalities in the year the fixed week chart was made. Week 39 is one of those and why I booked it as it seemed like the only one in the Food/Wine Festival date range. (The year they made the chart Week 39 was mostly in September which is the lowest point season, but normally it goes a few days into October, which is a higher point season)

The only downsides I found were:

• It forces you to buy 10% extra points above your bare minimum. Which most people recommend doing anyway as you may not always travel in the same window or Disney may adjust the booking periods. You use the extra 10% of points when keeping the fixed week reservation as a fee for it, but if you cancel/skip the fixed week you never lose any points. It just adds flexibility in my mind, as you never have to actually use the fixed week
• Large contracts for 2brs or rooms with expensive views cannot be split into multiple contracts to increase resale value. A fixed week for 100-150 points shouldn't be hard to sell, but a contract for 300+ points with a fixed week may not resell better than 3 regular 100 point contracts due to smaller contracts selling for more per point as there are more potential buyers.

 

[Mikey15]

But the post seems to say any reservation starting Sep 1st can also be booked ahead of the 11 month window or am I reading this wrong ?

You can’t make a point booking for Sept 1, 2025, until Oct 1, 2024, so there shouldn’t be any overlap.

We’re 12 months out from Week 39 (should be end-September check in) so people with Week 39 and no points borrowed/used from their 2025 UY should already have a Week 39 stay booked for 2025. If they want to use those points to now book Sept 1-8 instead, they can call in and cancel their FW booking and book their stay with points like any other member.

 

[Sandisw]

I’m wondering if the option to cancel your FW booking and use the points in other ways is a definite right written in the contract or some sort of incidental benefit that could theoretically go away.
If it’s written in the contract I don’t understand why anyone would not get a fixed week, with it only having an advantage and no disadvantages. Or am I missing something?

This written that you can cancel. We don’t have and never will buy a FW because we don’t do 7 night stays.

We also travel many different times of the year so paying an extra 10% of points upfront for something we don’t need or will use makes little sense for us.

The only FW I would ever have considered at PVB tower is one for early December and only as a rental that I did every year.

But, I’d much rather buy more RIv points and then I’d have more to use for whatever is left at 7 months for the few nights I’d want to occasionally try.

 

[jjanne]

The reservation isn't made 12 months ahead of your use year, just 11-12 months ahead of the week itself, so reservation timing can vary depending on the Use Year and the Fixed Week. Only the fixed week reservation is made before the 11 month window by Disney, usually between 11 and 12 months ahead. If I want to use my points elsewhere, I can make a normal 11 or 7 month booking myself as well

If my reservation is made before Disney makes the fixed week reservation, then they cannot make it and I just use my points like a normal contract

• Ex. My Week 50 contract in my September use year is usually the second or so week of December. If in October, I make a 11 month reservation for something in September to tie up any amount of points out of that fixed week contract, there will be no Week 50 reservation made when December/January (12 and 11 months before week 50) comes around.

If Disney makes the fixed week reservation before I make any reservations or had borrowed any points (ie if the contract has full points for that year) then they will make the fixed week booking and I will have to cancel it with member services in order to use the points elsewhere

• Ex. My Week 39 contract in my September use year is usually the last week of September. If Disney books this a full 12 months ahead of time, they will book it at the end of September before I can book anything on October 1st for my use year to prevent it. I would contact member services and have them cancel the reservation and then I could use my points as a I want.
  • In this case I would probably use some of my other points for the same resort to start a reservation for a day or two to guarantee I had a room I wanted, then cancel the fixed week and then extend the reservation I started. This way I do not risk losing a room I want while waiting on member services to cancel the reservation.

All in all after all my research I found that there were pretty much only positives when doing a fixed week, and I don't think I will ever buy any decent amount of direct points without a fixed week for a studio, duo, or maybe a 1br (if it's a hard to book 1br).

With a fixed week you can get:

• Guaranteed reservations at a time of your choice, usually a time and room combo that can be hard to book normally. And it can let you potentially plan trips years ahead for specific dates, instead of possibly at 11 months.
• Increased possible resale value, especially if it is a popular room and week
• A few weeks during the year that are actually LESS points for a fixed week than the average number of points they will cost to book each year due to abnormalities in the year the fixed week chart was made. Week 39 is one of those and why I booked it as it seemed like the only one in the Food/Wine Festival date range. (The year they made the chart Week 39 was mostly in September which is the lowest point season, but normally it goes a few days into October, which is a higher point season)

The only downsides I found were:

• It forces you to buy 10% extra points above your bare minimum. Which most people recommend doing anyway as you may not always travel in the same window or Disney may adjust the booking periods. You use the extra 10% of points when keeping the fixed week reservation as a fee for it, but if you cancel/skip the fixed week you never lose any points. It just adds flexibility in my mind, as you never have to actually use the fixed week
• Large contracts for 2brs or rooms with expensive views cannot be split into multiple contracts to increase resale value. A fixed week for 100-150 points shouldn't be hard to sell, but a contract for 300+ points with a fixed week may not resell better than 3 regular 100 point contracts due to smaller contracts selling for more per point as there are more potential buyers.

Super helpful! This is great - if your fixed week starts a month or so after your use year starts, you can really just use the points as normal ahead of the fixed week booking, even canceling/modifying later as needed. For some reason, I thought folks were always saying you have to call each year to get your points back for the fixed week but it looks like this is not always the case Glad to learn this, thanks @Tatebeck!

 

[jjanne]

You can’t make a point booking for Sept 1, 2025, until Oct 1, 2024, so there shouldn’t be any overlap.

We’re 12 months out from Week 39 (should be end-September check in) so people with Week 39 and no points borrowed/used from their 2025 UY should already have a Week 39 stay booked for 2025. If they want to use those points to now book Sept 1-8 instead, they can call in and cancel their FW booking and book their stay with points like any other member.

Right, I might have read the post differently earlier. I guess what it was trying to say was if your fixed week booking was further out in your use year (let's say Dec), you can use the points ahead of the fixed week booking and just book as normal (let's say a September reservation can be booked in Oct.)

 

[Sandisw]

Super helpful! This is great - if your fixed week starts a month or so after your use year starts, you can really just use the points as normal ahead of the fixed week booking, even canceling/modifying later as needed. For some reason, I thought folks were always saying you have to call each year to get your points back for the fixed week but it looks like this is not always the case Glad to learn this, thanks @Tatebeck!

You do have to call if the FW has already been booked.

And, the FW will only be booked with current UY points.

If you have banked points, because you didn’t use your FW the previous year, and had extra points, those points won’t be used.

So, if you don’t want your FW booked, you simply, as mentioned, booking something with your points before that 12 month mark so the points needed are tied up.

 

[Brian Noble]

We also travel many different times of the year so paying an extra 10% of points upfront for something we don’t need or will use makes little sense for us.

I'm a little confused. If you don't use any particular FW, and cancel it, you get the full points listed on the contract to use, not the number it would take for anyone else to book that week.

If that's right, the only time you "pay an extra 10%" is in the year(s) you actually take advantage of the FW booking. If you never do that, you never "pay extra". In that sense, a FW can only be helpful, because it offers strictly more options.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I'm a little confused. If you don't use any particular FW, and cancel it, you get the full points listed on the contract to use, not the number it would take for anyone else to book that week.

If that's right, the only time you "pay an extra 10%" is in the year(s) you actually take advantage of the FW booking. If you never do that, you never "pay extra". In that sense, a FW can only be helpful, because it offers strictly more options.

This is correct. That’s why so many of us don’t see it as having a downside. Plus there are some scenarios where using a FW will actually put you ahead. FW39 at RIV is one example.

 

[Lorana]

I'm a little confused. If you don't use any particular FW, and cancel it, you get the full points listed on the contract to use, not the number it would take for anyone else to book that week.

If that's right, the only time you "pay an extra 10%" is in the year(s) you actually take advantage of the FW booking. If you never do that, you never "pay extra". In that sense, a FW can only be helpful, because it offers strictly more options.

That is correct. It’s why we bought fixed weeks, so we’d always have the week when we want it but the points otherwise.

3 of our 4 FWs were purchased before they adjusted the points charts, so 2 of them are now LESS than the week is to book on its own and 1 of them is only 3 points more - and that one is the Wine & Dine runDisney special benefits week (which they don’t sell anymore).

I was going to do a FW at Poly Tower, but the lack of good incentives, welcome home or magical beginnings changed my mind as it’s more upfront than we wanted to spend.

 

[twincruisers]

Very helpful discussions about using FW points, thank you all for the info. More follow-up questions...

How does UY selection/assignment work for those in Jan/July FW? Do we get to choose our UY? Or they automatically select the month before the FW?

I also agree that FW seem more interesting because if you cancel and re-book somewhere else, you are effectively getting a hedge that you will always have the FW booking at a 10% premium.

So do FW points usage grow each year at the same rate as the new points chart or do they move differently?

 

[Tatebeck]

Very helpful discussions about using FW points, thank you all for the info. More follow-up questions...

How does UY selection/assignment work for those in Jan/July FW? Do we get to choose our UY? Or they automatically select the month before the FW?

I also agree that FW seem more interesting because if you cancel and re-book somewhere else, you are effectively getting a hedge that you will always have the FW booking at a 10% premium.

So do FW points usage grow each year at the same rate as the new points chart or do they move differently?

For use year it is like a normal contract. You can choose one most of the time if you like, or they will give you one. Typically it's smart to get a use year a few months ahead of the fixed week, not after the fixed week to avoid missing the banking deadline etc.

FW contracts can't change, they are set. If Disney adjusts a period to cost more points, congrats you get a discount now on the week when you use the FW. If they decrease the point cost for a period you can book normally instead of using the FW and still get the lower cost. It effectively can give you a hedge against a travel period increase on the week of your choice.

Unless you meant do the fixed week costs go up at new resorts, then yes. The FW point cost is based on the normal reservation at each hotel. So a FW for a room at the Poly Tower will usually bend more than the same FW with the same view category at RIV for example

 

[Sandisw]

I'm a little confused. If you don't use any particular FW, and cancel it, you get the full points listed on the contract to use, not the number it would take for anyone else to book that week.

If that's right, the only time you "pay an extra 10%" is in the year(s) you actually take advantage of the FW booking. If you never do that, you never "pay extra". In that sense, a FW can only be helpful, because it offers strictly more options.

You do when you buy, don’t you? If I want 150 points, then I buy 150 points.

To get a FW, and I want to buy a FW, I have to choose one that is close to that, and if I am picking a random week, it makes no logical sense to buy one

If I am picking a FW that would be popular then yes, I may be paying more upfront.

The point is that for us, having a FW contract has no upsides to it because we’d be using it like a normal contract anyway.