Confirm my thoughts

[Seanjclarke]

I'm looking into buying resale, one third of the points I would need. My thought is that me and my family could go the 2nd of every three years.

So hypothetically bank 2014 points, use 2015 points, and borrow 2016 points for a trip in 2015. Then do the same thing again in 2018. This is possible, right? Are there any little quirks I would need to know about to do this? I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything before I take the plunge.

Sean

 

[rlovew]

That works if it fits your vacationing schedule. Plenty of people do that or at least plan to do that when they buy.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm looking into buying resale, one third of the points I would need. My thought is that me and my family could go the 2nd of every three years.

So hypothetically bank 2014 points, use 2015 points, and borrow 2016 points for a trip in 2015. Then do the same thing again in 2018. This is possible, right? Are there any little quirks I would need to know about to do this? I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything before I take the plunge.

Sean

You are still going to have to pay dues every year without going on a trip. Will that make a difference?

 

[Seanjclarke]

Yup, I fully understand I'd still pay the dues every year.

But there's not a weird time frame thing with the banking and borrowing? I think I read you have to bank within the first 8months of your use year, but then are those points available for the entire next use year or only a portion of the year (less the time before you decided to bank it)? Is it really that straight forward?

Sean

 

[chalee94]

Yup, I fully understand I'd still pay the dues every year.

But there's not a weird time frame thing with the banking and borrowing? I think I read you have to bank within the first 8months of your use year, but then are those points available for the entire next use year or only a portion of the year (less the time before you decided to bank it)? Is it really that straight forward?

Sean

You cannot unbank or unborrow pts. And you can only bank pts one time.

The banked pts are available for that entire UY... but if you had to cancel, your options might be limited if you couldn't travel in another part of that UY.

I think every-other-year can work but every-third-year is pretty risky.

 

[Seanjclarke]

Why is every third year pretty risky?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Why is every third year pretty risky?

Because if you have to cancel the trip and can't use the points during that UY, you have lost the banked points and the borrowed points. If you are past the banking deadline, you have lost the current year points.

 

[Muhlenberg]

The other thing that you have to bear in mind is that you'd need EXACTLY 1/3 the points required for your stay, no more and no less. Otherwise, you'll have leftover points that can be banked, but it'll be an odd year for your plan, or you won't have quite enough. That's less of a problem, as they CURRENTLY have One Time Use Points, but they could change whether they offer that as an option. The other thing that COULD happen is the point chart is reallocated, and then your plan won't work. You could be flexible in where you're staying, the number of days, etc., but figuring that out will be a little tricky with the "no leftover points" on the 3-year repeat plan.

Maybe someone will chime in that does an every 3 year trip, and mention how it works for them.

 

[Seanjclarke]

yeah, I kind of figured I'd be a small amount of points under/over most trips I take. Now as I understand it, they can reallocate the points in the table, but the weekly total has to stay the same. Is that right, or is it something else that stays the same?

What does everyone else do about leftover points, just keep banking the small points (and then using those first next year) until eventually you take an extra trip one year?

And yes, I would love to hear from an every 3 year person or someone that has tried it and decided it didn't work.

 

[rlovew]

The total points at the resort for the year has to stay the same so any given week could change up to 20% each year- so it could be a 40% change between your trips if they did the max change on your time each year but most changes are fairly small.

 

[Sandisw]

yeah, I kind of figured I'd be a small amount of points under/over most trips I take. Now as I understand it, they can reallocate the points in the table, but the weekly total has to stay the same. Is that right, or is it something else that stays the same?

What does everyone else do about leftover points, just keep banking the small points (and then using those first next year) until eventually you take an extra trip one year?

And yes, I would love to hear from an every 3 year person or someone that has tried it and decided it didn't work.

I think when you go at least every other year, as mentioned, you have less of a risk in terms of what to do with the banked/borrowed points as with the every 3 year plan.

But, yes, when I have to bank points--although I go at least two or three times a year--those are the ones that get used first when making the next reservation.

In terms of your plan, you will probably always have points that go to "waste" since you will have to buy enough to cover what you typically want. For example, say you decided you need about 324 points for your typical every 3 year trip...that would be 108 contract. Finding that is going to be hard on the resale market so you may be forced into 125 or 150.

Given your example, you'd use all 125 2014, 125 from 2015, and have to borrow 74 from 2016. That would leave you 51 points in your 2016 UY...those would only be bankable into 2017 UY so you'd be stuck with them going unused (unless you rent them to someone).

You could try to buy closer to what you need from Disney--ie: 110, which would give you, based on my example, only losing 6 points every three years...manageable...they have been known to sell smaller contracts recently--you will pay more, but given an every 3rd year plan, getting closer to what you want may be worth it vs. paying dues on points that go to waste.

Of course, if you are like the rest of us, after buying, you'll probably find yourself changing the every 3rd year plan to going more often!!! I bought with the plan to go yearly--like I did before DVC--now, as mentioned, its multiple times a year...its addicting!!!

Good luck!

 

[Seanjclarke]

how have the tables changed over the years? I think i've heard of only one change, has it been more frequent than that?

 

[crisi]

Two years works - three is problematic because of the waste. The other thing is that every three years - you probably won't take the same trip forever. For instance, we started our trips in October - the kids had some time off school so we could pull them for a few days - but in middle school we couldn't pull them any more, so we switched to a more point heavy time of year.

I suppose you could go for under buying and then use the option to add points at seven months from Disney.

We do every other year, which works fine.

 

[Seanjclarke]

I've already figured on never being able to use the exact number of points, but rather looked at the yearly fee estimates combined with the buy in to see enough of a savings to justify the potential lost points. Glass half-full outlook I guess.

(But the evil long term plan is to eventually buy a second small contract to turn it into an every 2 out of three year plan)

 

[Minniesgal]

I do a trip every three years and it works for me. It takes a bit of thought to get all the points used but so far I have a plan that works. The way I manage it is by traveling over 2 use years so i borrow a little amount from the 4th years points. Our UY is August so we fly out for the last week in july using 2 years points and the first week in August using banked points from the second year that years points and a very small amount from the 4th year to make the last night work. I do agree however that every other year is easier

 

[Seanjclarke]

For instance, we started our trips in October - the kids had some time off school so we could pull them for a few days - but in middle school we couldn't pull them any more, so we switched to a more point heavy time of year.

I hear this a lot, apparently school has changed since I was a kid. Why can't you just pull your kids out of school during the year? Can't they just make up the work when they get back? Or is it more of a sports/activity thing and the kids not wanting to miss that stuff to go to disney?

 

[bighoo93]

I hear this a lot, apparently school has changed since I was a kid. Why can't you just pull your kids out of school during the year? Can't they just make up the work when they get back? Or is it more of a sports/activity thing and the kids not wanting to miss that stuff to go to disney?

I think a lot apparently has changed since we were kids. I think I know what it is and why, but don't want to get bogged down into that discussion here. The bottom line is that it is definitely "a big deal" now to voluntarily take your kid out of school for a week. But personally, I don't intend to let that stop me, at least not without a little effort. If we were to do this, I would assume that the responsibility to make up any missed assignments and learning concepts rests entirely with the family. It would be outrageous to assume that teachers should work overtime to teach make-up classes because I chose to go on a vacation. So I would try to discuss this with the teachers and plan ahead, and then take time during the vacation (perhaps during travel or down time) to do the assignments. I don't think there is reasonable objection to this. At least for now, my kids still belong to me, not the school.

 

[sara mom]

It would be outrageous to assume that teachers should work overtime to teach make-up classes because I chose to go on a vacation..

You would be surprised. And yes, I am a teacher.

 

[zavandor]

You can buy one time points from Disney to not waste points.
So let's say that booking 7 nights you would have 5 wasted points, but you are 12 points shorts for the 8th night, buy 12 one time points and book it.
OTP cost 15$ each and can be bought only 7 months out (so if you plan to use the 11 months windows this might not work).

 

[Minniesgal]

You would be surprised. And yes, I am a teacher.

Many parents do assume that in the UK. Seems to be worse in private schools. Schools now have the power to find and to report absent kids to the police.