Considering buying GF DVC -- Use Year?

[mrsmarilyn]

We are considering buying DVC at the GF (yes, i understand the difference between buying at Disney vs Secondary Market). My question is -- can someone give me the idiots guide to Use Year? For some reason, that is what I have the hardest time grasping. I know it relates to when you travel. (FYI, we are most likely to travel Jan-Feb-March, or Sept-Oct-Nov). We NEVER travel to FL in the summer, nor will we ever go in Dec or April.

Advice on Choosing Use Year?

 

[Dean]

We are considering buying DVC at the GF (yes, i understand the difference between buying at Disney vs Secondary Market). My question is -- can someone give me the idiots guide to Use Year? For some reason, that is what I have the hardest time grasping. I know it relates to when you travel. (FYI, we are most likely to travel Jan-Feb-March, or Sept-Oct-Nov). We NEVER travel to FL in the summer, nor will we ever go in Dec or April.

Advice on Choosing Use Year?

The best UY is simply the one that is the closest to when you normally travel. It's more important for some than others. For example if you normally travel in the summer you'd want a June UY unless you are likely to start your time over the May holiday then an April UY would be best. For your stated travel times, assuming the times are fairly evenly spaced for travel it really doesn't matter much though Sept is likely the single best option to cover those months quoted. Now if you'd travel the majority of the time in certain months, that could change the answer.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

UY CAN BE VERY IMPORTANT. My August UY is poor for those who travel in the summer. If you book a July trip and have to cancel it, you have to reschedule for the end of July or lose all the points in the reservation.

 

[chalee94]

agree with dean that sept UY is best if you never travel in jun/jul/aug.

 

[abner1776]

UY can be very important...or be totally meaningless. It's like a spare tire...you never think about it, but when you need it at midnight on a lonely dark road....

Most of us think we will never have to cancel a DVC reservation...why would I have to ??

But on the rare occasion that we have to cancel a reservation, it's nice to know that my points can go back into my account with minimal issues....like knowing the spare tire is in the trunk. But what would happen if my UY was just after my vacation and canceling that reservation puts the points inside the 4 month banking window ? Now you cannot bank them and have to use them before your UY expires which could be in 2-4 months...and it's Food and Wine time with limited availability and the airfares are now twice what you originally booked...yup, you just opened the trunk and there's no spare tire.

As I said...you can have your DVC membership for 15 years and visit WDW 25 times and never have a UY issue just like you can drive 200,000 miles and never have a flat tire...until.....

 

[Dean]

UY can be very important...or be totally meaningless. It's like a spare tire...you never think about it, but when you need it at midnight on a lonely dark road....

Most of us think we will never have to cancel a DVC reservation...why would I have to ??

But on the rare occasion that we have to cancel a reservation, it's nice to know that my points can go back into my account with minimal issues....like knowing the spare tire is in the trunk. But what would happen if my UY was just after my vacation and canceling that reservation puts the points inside the 4 month banking window ? Now you cannot bank them and have to use them before your UY expires which could be in 2-4 months...and it's Food and Wine time with limited availability and the airfares are now twice what you originally booked...yup, you just opened the trunk and there's no spare tire.

As I said...you can have your DVC membership for 15 years and visit WDW 25 times and never have a UY issue just like you can drive 200,000 miles and never have a flat tire...until.....

That is true, UY can be very important for one person and not much to another. Basically if you have a very stable medical, work and personal situation and travel routinely at all times of the year it doesn't mean much. For the rest it can be very important and be worth as much as a full years worth of points or more. However, lets be clear. For the person where it is not important, they are taking more risk by the nature of their travel patterns than one where it is important. Sometimes it's enough of an issue that having two or more UY can be worth it for the insurance alone.

 

[Ismo]

We just bought at GF this week. (YAY!!!)

They are currently offering 200 back dated pts when you sign up, so we got those. I'm not sure if it's 200 flat, or based on how many you purchased.

The UY for for GF has been moved to April 1st instead of March 1st.

We usually vacation in the late summer/early fall so April works fine for us.

If we didn't get the backdated pts, we would have 0 pts until April 1st. As we aren't planning on traveling until Sept. next year, that's not a problem for us.

However, if we always traveled in February, we wouldn't have our points until April so we wouldn't be able to use points for a Feb. vacation.

Am I understanding/saying this right?

 

[chalee94]

We just bought at GF this week. (YAY!!!)

They are currently offering 200 back dated pts when you sign up, so we got those. I'm not sure if it's 200 flat, or based on how many you purchased.

they are not back-dated pts, just current UY pts. you would always get these buying direct.

However, if we always traveled in February, we wouldn't have our points until April so we wouldn't be able to use points for a Feb. vacation.

Am I understanding/saying this right?

no.

all UYs can be used for any month of the year - the risk you are taking is if you need to cancel late in your UY. (for an april UY, you take more risk if you travel in jan/feb/mar and wind up needing to cancel as your banking window closes on nov 30.)

let's say you wanted to book feb 2016 - that is in your 2015 UY (which runs from april 1, 2015 to march 31, 2016). since you are traveling in your 2015 UY, you have access to banked 2014 pts (if you bank the pts you are describing as "back-dated") plus current 2015 UY pts (they are "current" based on the dates of the stay) plus borrowed 2016 UY pts (if you need them).

you would be able to book that feb 2016 stay starting in march 2015 for your home resort. booking window is completely based on home resort - nothing to do with UY.

here is the problem, though:

let's say you have to cancel that feb 2016 trip 2 months ahead of time...if you call in december, you are too late to bank the pts (banking window closed on nov 30) so all the pts in the reservation would have to be used (by you, your family/friends or a renter) before they expire on march 31, 2016. if you can't scramble to use them, you lose all those pts.

let's say you have to cancel a june 2016 trip 2 months ahead of time...if you call in april, you still have 7 months before the banking window closes on nov 30, 2016. you can still bank current UY pts forward to the next UY and while any banked or borrowed pts are stuck in that 2016 UY, you'd still have about a year to figure out how to use or rent those pts...

 

[disneynutz]

We just bought at GF this week. (YAY!!!)

They are currently offering 200 back dated pts when you sign up, so we got those. I'm not sure if it's 200 flat, or based on how many you purchased.

The UY for for GF has been moved to April 1st instead of March 1st.

We usually vacation in the late summer/early fall so April works fine for us.

If we didn't get the backdated pts, we would have 0 pts until April 1st. As we aren't planning on traveling until Sept. next year, that's not a problem for us.

However, if we always traveled in February, we wouldn't have our points until April so we wouldn't be able to use points for a Feb. vacation.

Am I understanding/saying this right?

The backdated spiel is the sales persons way of making you feel special, like you got something extra.

You actually got what you paid for.

Bill

 

[Ismo]

That's what I thought as I had read it on other info sites. Didn't feel special for it. She just called them back dated pts so I did't want to say something different than what I was told.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

That's what I thought as I had read it on other info sites. Didn't feel special for it. She just called them back dated pts so I did't want to say something different than what I was told. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

You should check if those points can be banked. If not used and unbankable, you might lose them.

 

[Ismo]

I've been told they can be banked. I will look into it more when I get all of my paperwork back and can log into the member site.

We are planning on going to WDW next sept but would use less than our 200pts most likely. I was told we would use our "oldest" pts to book the trip. So that would most likely be the ones I already have in my account.

I'm still very new to all of this.

 

[Msmithmd]

You should check if those points can be banked. If not used and unbankable, you might lose them.

DVC usually provides a banking exception right up until the UY rolls over, for a buyer of a new contract direct for that first year's points.

Theoretically you could buy an October VGF contract tomorrow, and have both 2013 points as well as new ones next month, and DVC would immediately bank the '13.

Of course, for every subsequent UY of that contract the purchaser is subject to the same four-month banking rule as everyone else.

As the PP stated, this isn't a "special deal," despite the consistent sales tactics from the guides trying to suggest otherwise. Nonetheless, it is a nice benefit to a direct purchase.

It isn't anywhere near enough of a benefit to buy most resorts direct, but for ones like VGF where the resale price spread is very small, it might sway a purchaser toward direct.

 

[Dean]

DVC usually provides a banking exception right up until the UY rolls over, for a buyer of a new contract direct for that first year's points.

Theoretically you could buy an October VGF contract tomorrow, and have both 2013 points as well as new ones next month, and DVC would immediately bank the '13.

Of course, for every subsequent UY of that contract the purchaser is subject to the same four-month banking rule as everyone else.

As the PP stated, this isn't a "special deal," despite the consistent sales tactics from the guides trying to suggest otherwise. Nonetheless, it is a nice benefit to a direct purchase.

It isn't anywhere near enough of a benefit to buy most resorts direct, but for ones like VGF where the resale price spread is very small, it might sway a purchaser toward direct.

I was under the impression the banking exception was part of the purchase option, not an ongoing option. I seem to recall someone who bought and didn't bank initially and wasn't allowed to later once inside the exclusion time.

 

[Msmithmd]

Correct as I understand it as well, Dean. Thanks for the clarification.

This exemption applies only right at purchase, if one's selected contract UY renews inside four months away from the purchase closing.

 

[Dean]

We are considering buying DVC at the GF (yes, i understand the difference between buying at Disney vs Secondary Market). My question is -- can someone give me the idiots guide to Use Year? For some reason, that is what I have the hardest time grasping. I know it relates to when you travel. (FYI, we are most likely to travel Jan-Feb-March, or Sept-Oct-Nov). We NEVER travel to FL in the summer, nor will we ever go in Dec or April.

Advice on Choosing Use Year?

One thing I'd add is that if the points you decide to buy is at all close to the number related to a fixed week there and you decide to proceed with VGF, I'd buy a fixed week even if it's not one you plan to use and over breaking up the contract size into smaller chunks.