Are my points available at midnight?

[pamelaj]

This is my first time booking and our points are available 2/1. I want to be prepared, do I call at midnight on 1/31? Midnight in what time zone? We are PST. I was planning to call instead of booking online since we are splitting between two rooms, to stay as long as possible. I wasn't sure if that would be tricky online and don't want to lose a room because of it.

Thank you!

 

[DisBuckMan]

They're not there 24/7. They open at 9am Eastern time.

 

[pamelaj]

But if I book online, are they available at midnight? If yes, what time zone?

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

This is my first time booking and our points are available 2/1. I want to be prepared, do I call at midnight on 1/31? Midnight in what time zone? We are PST. I was planning to call instead of booking online since we are splitting between two rooms, to stay as long as possible. I wasn't sure if that would be tricky online and don't want to lose a room because of it.

Thank you!

I am guessing you mean you have a Feb use year. If you have closed, your points are available now.
As for booking, the time for the 7/11 month window is available online 8AM Eastern, not midnight, but phone lines don't open until 9AM. Other than that, you can book online 24/7 if there is availability.
So...if your vacation starts Feb 1 or later, you can go ahead and book it today, you don't have to wait to Feb 1 to book. You could go ahead and borrow next year's points too, and have a BIG trip.
Does splitting between two rooms mean you will move? 3 days at one resort, and 3 days at another? Or do you mean you want to book 2 rooms?
That is all easy to do online too, but you sound like it would be good for you to call. Keep reading the forums to learn how to use your DVC, and enjoy!

 

[DisBuckMan]

I'm not sure what exactly you're asking about what time your points become available to you, but "Disney DVC time" is always going to be eastern time.

 

[chalee94]

This is my first time booking and our points are available 2/1.

if you have a Feb UY, that means your 2016 pts are valid for stays from Feb 1, 2016 to Jan 31, 2017. But as the prior poster said, that is not when they become "available for booking" - you can book 11 months out for your home resort. so you could have booked a Feb 1, 2016 stay with 2016 UY pts (or borrowed 2017 UY pts for that matter) by calling as early as March 1, 2015...

Use Year has nothing at all to do with when you can call (or go online) to book a stay.

 

[Minniesgal]

If you are booking a split stay you will not be able to book it all at once. at 11 months you can book the first stay and 11 months from the 2nd check in you can book the 2nd stay or 7 months if not home resort. Just as easy to book online as call

 

[pamelaj]

We do have a Feb use year, I am trying to use my 2016 points and borrow some of my 2017 points for a reservation in November, at our home resort. So, I think that means they will all be available on 2/1. Splitting between two rooms means staying at the same resort, but moving from a 1 bedroom to a studio. Now I am wondering if I should have already booked part of the reservation with my 2016 points. I may try calling them tomorrow, but thank you for the advice! This can get tricky.

 

[DisBuckMan]

We do have a Feb use year, I am trying to use my 2016 points and borrow some of my 2017 points for a reservation in November, at our home resort. So, I think that means they will all be available on 2/1. Splitting between two rooms means staying at the same resort, but moving from a 1 bedroom to a studio. Now I am wondering if I should have already booked part of the reservation with my 2016 points. I may try calling them tomorrow, but thank you for the advice! This can get tricky.

You can book all of that stay right now.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

We do have a Feb use year, I am trying to use my 2016 points and borrow some of my 2017 points for a reservation in November, at our home resort. So, I think that means they will all be available on 2/1. Splitting between two rooms means staying at the same resort, but moving from a 1 bedroom to a studio. Now I am wondering if I should have already booked part of the reservation with my 2016 points. I may try calling them tomorrow, but thank you for the advice! This can get tricky.

That will be 2 reservations, separate and distinct with 2 different reservation numbers. You can book them both now. I think your confusion is you think you are trying to make it one, but you can't. It you had 2 different studio reservations in the same category for instance, and didn't want to move, you could ask to merge them, and maybe wouldn't have to move. But going from a one bedroom to a studio, or even studios in different categories, obviously you have to move, even if it is the same resort, and so you have 2 reservations. It really is easy and not confusing. YOu can borrow online too, but it is a final transaction, so if you mess it up, or change your mind, or plans change, you can't ever put the points back into your 2017 use year.

 

[chalee94]

We do have a Feb use year, I am trying to use my 2016 points and borrow some of my 2017 points for a reservation in November, at our home resort. So, I think that means they will all be available on 2/1. Splitting between two rooms means staying at the same resort, but moving from a 1 bedroom to a studio. Now I am wondering if I should have already booked part of the reservation with my 2016 points. I may try calling them tomorrow, but thank you for the advice! This can get tricky.

yes. you could have booked a Nov 2016 stay in Dec 2015. since you are well past that, you can book online right now if there is availability.

be aware that travelling late in your UY like that is fairly risky. since your banking window closes on sept 30, if you have to cancel after sept 30, then you will not have many options to get any value for your pts before they expire on Jan 31, 2017.

(remember that any banked or borrowed pts will have to stay in the use year of the reservation and cannot be moved forward - but if you cancel before sept 30, you would still have the option of banking any 2016 UY pts in the reservation.)

 

[pamelaj]

I think I am/was confused about when I can borrow my 2017 points. With a Feb use year, I can already use 2017 points? When were they available? I feel foolish if I am already late.

I wish they were open now so I could call. Thanks for all of the advice!

 

[LisaS]

I think I am/was confused about when I can borrow my 2017 points. With a Feb use year, I can already use 2017 points? When were they available?

Your points do not drop into your account at the start of each Use Year. All of your points are already in your account. Each set of points has a set of dates associated with them. For example,

Your Feb 2016 points are valid for stays from 2/1/2016 - 1/31/2017
Your Feb 2017 points are valid for stays from 2/1/2017 - 1/31/2018
Your Feb 2018 points are valid for stays from 2/1/2018 - 1/31/2019
and so on through the end of your contract.

Points can be moved up one Use Year by borrowing or moved back one Use Year by banking them. Once banked or borrowed, they stay in their new UY and will expire if not used by the end of that UY.

You can book a stay at your home resort using home resort points 11 months or less from check-in. You can book a stay at any resort using any points 7 months or less from check-in.

Putting this all together, you could have booked a stay for November 2016 at your home resort on or after the corresponding date in December 2015, so you can book that stay right now. Your Feb 2016 points are valid for use for a reservation in Nov 2016. If you need more points than what you have in your 2016 UY, you can also borrow Feb 2017 points into your Feb 2016 UY and use those borrowed points right now to book your reservation. And if you had any points that were banked from your Feb 2015 UY into your Feb 2016 UY, those could also be used for a Nov 2016 reservation. In fact, you would want to use those up first before using any current UY points and before borrowing from your Feb 2017 UY.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I think I am/was confused about when I can borrow my 2017 points. With a Feb use year, I can already use 2017 points? When were they available? I feel foolish if I am already late.

I wish they were open now so I could call. Thanks for all of the advice!

Lisa explained it all very well but I'll just add that every single UY can book their stay for a date at the same time - when you call or go online to book is only determined by the 11 month and 7 month window. Then the date of your stay determines what points are available to be used for that stay. You could have booked your stay in Dec.

You can book online earlier than calling in. Online opens at 8am eastern and to call in it's 9am eastern.

 

[DebbieB]

I think I am/was confused about when I can borrow my 2017 points. With a Feb use year, I can already use 2017 points? When were they available? I feel foolish if I am already late.

I wish they were open now so I could call. Thanks for all of the advice!

This confuses a lot of new members. Points don't "deposit" when your use year starts. If you look at your online account, it will now show 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 points. Points use is based on date of stay and any points you could possibly use are already there.

 

[CarolMN]

If it's easier, you can think of it as the points you want to use have to be available for the dates of your vacation - they don't have to be available on the day you make the reservation.

 

[bumbershoot]

I wish they were open now so I could call.

I hope you got what you wanted.

You could have booked online at the time of making the post.

You're not alone in this misunderstanding, by the way. Plenty of people get confused about it.

 

[pamelaj]

Thank you for all of the help! I called and booked today. I got the last 1 bedroom standard view at Aulani, so thank goodness I didn't wait any longer. There was only one night we originally wanted that is now booked, but we have a new plan that will let us stay even longer. I think it I understand it all now. I appreciate all of the help.