April Travel-Feb use year

[Ellie42699]

I am looking to purchase DVC. We are at Disney now and I just looked into DVC. We will be planning our trips for April school vacations. I'm still a bit confused about use year but saw a resale with a February use year. From what I understand, this would probably be the best use year for us correct? Thanks for your help!!

 

[disneynutz]

A UY just prior to your normal vacation period usually works best. What happens when the kids graduate?

Bill

 

[Crystal_27]

I think it would be a good use year for you based on your current travel schedule, but do keep in mind that your vacation habits are likely going to change quite a bit during the course of your ownership, so use year isn't as important as, say, home resort might be. Still, we have a February use year and I love that I get my annual allotment of points near the beginning of each calendar year so I can plan out what we need for each year. And, as long as we remain aware of when we need to bank our points (by September 30th), February is an awesome use year. Good luck!

 

[dbs1228]

Agree with pp. We just bought in not knowing much about UY and the significants of UY and ended up with Aug. We usually travel in Feb to Disney (school break) We will have 2 in college next year so once youngest DD is in college (the others heading out to the real world) Feb break will not be our travel time. Once I started reading about UY I started to panic then realized it is a non issue for us.

Since joining in Feb we had addonitis and bought resale also so we have a lot of 2009 points to use. I have a ressie in May with the girlfriends, my DD (grad gift) is going in Aug, just booked a long weekend for DH b.day in Dec and we have Feb booked! I know for many UY does matter for us I know as time goes on we will travel different times of the year and if there are grandkids down the road (far down lol) it will change again. I do know for myself I will never travel to disney in June, July or Aug if I can at all help it since I do not have a lot to tolerance for the heat unless on I sitting on a beach.

 

[Sandisw]

Feb UY will work well for you. But so would April UY. As Bill mentioned, think about when you might be traveling once your kids are older. Will it be the fall? Summer?

You want to try and travel within the first 8 months of your UY to allow flexibility if you want/need to change or cancel a trip since you would still be within your banking window.

A Feb UY has to have it's points banked by Sept 30th, covering trips through October (since you must cancel or change 31 days prior in order to avoid holding points). With an April UY, you have until November 30th, covering trips through December.

If fall trips are in your future, you may want to consider April. However, if Spring Break could happen in March, then Feb UY works better.

 

[hellerjw]

Or a March UY. That's what we have and it works very well for Spring/Summer trips when having to plan against a school schedule.

 

[DizGirl20]

For whatever it's worth we have a Feb use year and plan to travel Mar-Apr-May-June for now while the kids are young. When they get older and it's just me & hubby I recognize that may change. But I figure worse case scenario we bank any unused points in September and if we need to travel prior to February we would just borrow against the upcoming year. It will all work out somehow!

Robyn

 

[kristenrice]

Feb UY will work well for you. But so would April UY. As Bill mentioned, think about when you might be traveling once your kids are older. Will it be the fall? Summer?

You want to try and travel within the first 8 months of your UY to allow flexibility if you want/need to change or cancel a trip since you would still be within your banking window.

A Feb UY has to have it's points banked by July 31st, covering trips through August (since you must cancel or change 31 days prior in order to avoid holding points). With an April UY, you have until September 30th, covering trips through October.

If fall trips are in your future, you may want to consider April. However, if Spring Break could happen in March, then Feb UY works better.

Thank you for posting this! I am trying to convince DH to do an add-on at HHI because I thought that late-summer trips might be a nice alternative to WDW. I was concerned because we have a Feb UY and I thought that might be too early. Now, I do not *have* to comb through resales trying to find a small contract with a June UY. Now...off to win the lottery.

 

[Sandisw]

Thank you for posting this! I am trying to convince DH to do an add-on at HHI because I thought that late-summer trips might be a nice alternative to WDW. I was concerned because we have a Feb UY and I thought that might be too early. Now, I do not *have* to comb through resales trying to find a small contract with a June UY. Now...off to win the lottery.

Actually, I just realized that I made mistakes. February UY has until September 30th to bank, and April UY has until November 30th to bank. Must be a tough day for me! Sorry for the confusion!!!!

 

[karebear06]

I don't think a use year really matters. We have an April use year and we usually travel in September and February. We are planners and have always gone when our trip is scheduled. Also, you never know what your travel schedule will be 5 or even 10 years from now. I would focus more on the points and home resort you want.

 

[Connears]

I have had Feb UY since we bought in 1994 (when OKW WAS DVC!) and added on HHI twice both with Feb UY. We usually go to WDW during xmas week and HHI in the summer and have found it fine. We occasionally change it up and do WDW in summer and also usually add HHI nights before/after xmas WDW trip on the drive to/from Boston.

Connears

 

[kristenrice]

Actually, I just realized that I made mistakes. February UY has until September 30th to bank, and April UY has until November 30th to bank. Must be a tough day for me! Sorry for the confusion!!!!

Well, that's even better! That would definitely cover any summer trips. My new guide called to introduce herself yesterday and she said that they have plenty of HHI points available with my Feb UY. She also pointed out that I can get a 50-point add on for a mere $78/month for five years.

Oooooo....why did she have to say that!? My truck will be paid off in December and that will rid us of a $500 car payment...hmmmm....now, I just have to convince DH that HHI would be a great alternative to "Disney".

 

[Connears]

Well, that's even better! That would definitely cover any summer trips. My new guide called to introduce herself yesterday and she said that they have plenty of HHI points available with my Feb UY. She also pointed out that I can get a 50-point add on for a mere $78/month for five years.

Oooooo....why did she have to say that!? My truck will be paid off in December and that will rid us of a $500 car payment...hmmmm....now, I just have to convince DH that HHI would be a great alternative to "Disney".

don't know what that works out to per point, but I just added on thru TSS 60 points $60 pt for HHI with my Feb use year.

Connears

 

[Sandisw]

Well, that's even better! That would definitely cover any summer trips. My new guide called to introduce herself yesterday and she said that they have plenty of HHI points available with my Feb UY. She also pointed out that I can get a 50-point add on for a mere $78/month for five years.

Oooooo....why did she have to say that!? My truck will be paid off in December and that will rid us of a $500 car payment...hmmmm....now, I just have to convince DH that HHI would be a great alternative to "Disney".

Don't you just LOVE how easy it is to get more points. I can't wait to add on again. We were going to do it this month, but with DD heading off to college in the fall (and of course, she picked the most expensive one!!!), we decided we better wait a year to make sure we are all set with that. We don't really need it until next year anyway.

I hope your DH gives in. And, did you know that you can put up to $5000 on your Disney Visa and get 6 months, 0% interest? We did that last year and it gave us just what we needed to pay it off in full.

 

[kristenrice]

don't know what that works out to per point, but I just added on thru TSS 60 points $60 pt for HHI with my Feb use year.

Connears

I would definitely prefer a resale but since I want a specific UY (Feb) and a small contract (45-60 points), I would have to do some fast convincing of the DH if and when the contract ever became available. At least I know that buying direct, the option is open if I can get him onboard.

I would love to do an add-on of 50 points before next month because then I could use banked, current and borrowed points and make a reservation at the 11-month window for next April. The only problem is that it will be a bit of a financial pinch at this point and DH really doesn't want to buy in at a place neither of us have ever seen. Although everything I have read here looks absolutely fantastic, it is hard to lay down a couple grand to commit to vacationing at a locale that we've never visited. I've also considered the argument of "use the money I'd spend on next year's trip to buy an add-on", except that doesn't fly either. IF we go next year, it will be because we were able to secure a reservation with the points we already own (at AKV) at the 7-month mark. If we can't, then we'll visit WDW in June or October next year.

But thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I really hope that we can visit HHI next year, even if it is on our AKV points. That way, I might have a little more leverage in convincing DH that this is a great place to vacation.

 

[Connears]

We waited quite a while for a small add on in Feb use year, so we jumped on it the day it came up on TSS list. You could check the listing when you are on disboards with the link above and keep track for the future. Good luck.

Connears