Buying DVC - October vs. December use year?

[Antonia]

I have decided to buy and I am buying where I want to stay - VWL.

Is there any difference between an October or December use year. Any pros or cons to either of them???

 

[chalee94]

here's a good thread for Understanding Use Year.

october UY pts need to be banked by the next may 31.

december UY pts need to be banked by the next july 31.

so if you book a july 2011 trip using pts from oct 2010 and then decide in june 2011 that you need to cancel, it's too late to bank them (since the banking window closed on may 31, 2011) and you'd need to quickly decide what to do with them before they expire on sept 30, 2010.

with a december UY, if you canceled more than a month out in june 2011, you would still have the option of banking those pts into your 2011 UY...which would give you more time.

of course, if you were taking a trip in the first few months of your UY, even if you had to cancel within a month of a trip, you'd still have a longer period to try to use those "holding pts."

but if you never have to cancel, UY will never be an issue. UY month has nothing to do with booking a reservation: both the oct UY and dec UY can book july 2011 starting in aug 2010 at their home resort.

 

[drusba]

If you have a usual time of year that you go, the simple rule to follow is to get a use year that begins shortly before that usual time (0 to 4 months before; I note 0 because, for example, if you usually go in December a December use year is ideal for the purpose of avoiding any issue of having to cancel and not being able to bank).

 

[JimMIA]

I don't think there is much difference unless you would often take November vacations. In that case, October would be much better than December, but that's a pretty rare case I'd say.

The only case where December would be better would be if you frequently vacation in late summer. We have an October UY and my two adult daughters ALWAYS vacation in the summer (one is on vacation now and the other goes on Saturday). Despite that, we have never had a problem with the October UY in six summers of ownership with three families using the account.

 

[adminjedi]

A side note -
We have an OCT UY and have experienced that there seem to be fewer resale contracts available, and they go quickly. Apparently a popular UY.

 

[Sandisw]

Oct UY allows for more flexibility for changed or cancelled trip Oct through June. December UY allows for more flexibility for changed or cancelled trips December through August.

Based on that, I would choose the one in which you feel will work best for your travel. As you can see, many of the months overlap between these two.

 

[ToddyLu]

We are glad we have a Dec. UY becasue that is when DH makes vacation plans for the coming year with the other firemen. The end of Dec I know which weeks he has off for sure so I can make an 11 month reservation for the following year soon after since we travel during Oct-Dec. I know that is not optimal for when we travel but it works for us becasue of when we know which weeks of vaction are his...we (so far) have never cancelled a trip to Disney.

 

[JimMIA]

One thing I'd say to any prospective buyer is that we probably tend to overanalyze aspects of DVC ownership here on the DIS. We criticize DVC guides for overemphasizing features of limited value (like exchanging out via RCI), but we do the same thing sometimes with technical aspects of the program. The only difference is, we're not trying to sell you anything.

Use Year has been under a lot of scruitiny recently because of the recent "streamlining to enhance the ownership experience as a result of member feedback" rotfl2by the imposition of the "Rule of 4." Just because one aspect of the program is getting a lot of attention lately doesn't mean it's the most important consideration in a purchase decision.

The fact is every DVC contract has a UY and that is one of the many things we have to learn about and manage.

If an owner is not knowledgeable (and a LOT aren't) or if we fail to pay attention to little details like banking deadlines and cancellation policies, we're likely to have difficulties no matter what our UY is. Obviously, some UYs provide more flexibility for some months of the year, but all of them limit flexibility the last four months of the UY and all have to be managed.

In a resale decision, unless a UY is just plain horrible for your carved-in-stone vacation pattern, there are probably a lot of other more important considerations to evaluate. That doesn't mean questions shouldn't be asked and answered, but keep things in perspective.

 

[patdotson]

I dont think it matters much since we are only talking about 2 months.

 

[Sandisw]

I dont think it matters much since we are only talking about 2 months.

If someone is traveling in November, those two months make it a huge difference. With an Oct UY, you would be traveling at the beginning of it and wouldn't have to worry as much if something happens as you have plenty of time to bank points or re-book the trip.

However, a Dec UY would be risky. If someone had to cancel or wanted to change, they would not have much time to use up the points as they would expire November 30th.

 

[Pirate4Ever]

We just bought our first DVC points and opted for the December UY- either would have been fine for us, but we were able to bank 2009's points because of the July 31 deadline, which was a real bonus for us newbies!

 

[bookwormde]

just pick a UY that you do not plan on traveling in the 3 preceeding months