Dec UY--pros/cons?

[ldo]

Hi. What are the downsides to Dec UY? We would usually travel Christmas, Springbreak and summer. I am thinking Dec would be the best?

 

[Msmithmd]

Your thoughts are correct. There are no advantages to one UY versus another. Merely the rule that you can't bank unused points in the last four months of your year, so ideally you should have a UY that is right before your travel period if you tend to go at the same season each year.

If (like my family) you equally go any time of the year, then UY doesn't matter at all.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

It goes a little further than the part about banking. Say you have to cancel less than 31 days prior to your trip. Those points go into holding and will expire at the end of your UY. The more months you have to try and use them might be the difference between rebooking or not having time to book something. In that regard having a good UY for your travel times becomes a cheap form of cancellation insurance.

Your travel covers quite a few months but a Dec UY would be a good option.

 

[bellablue2]

dec is my favorite use year. perfect for booking december/january reservations at the first possible moment with plenty of time to change/bank if need to. i have one oddball september contract, wish it were dec too.

 

[JustTinking]

LOL! All 5 of our contracts are oddball Sept contracts, and it works perfectly for us, as we never go to WDW over the summer. We go in the autumn and sometimes in the spring.

So yes, it really does depend on when you vacation.

 

[chalee94]

Hi. What are the downsides to Dec UY? We would usually travel Christmas, Springbreak and summer. I am thinking Dec would be the best?

you are correct.

the weirdest thing about dec UYs is that they are so "off" from the calendar year. from 1/1/2015 to 11/30/2015, you will still be in your 2014 UY...so you definitely need to keep them separate.

 

[disBOBney]

And of course there is the final year issue. since all contracts end Jan 31, you might have to vacation the whole month of Dec or Jan to use up your last points. :smile:

 

[jerseyduke]

It is all about when you travel.

One thing I would caution tho:

I am a first week of December kinda guy, This year, my trip is actually starting in november, so if i had a december UY i would be spanning UYs. May or may not really be an issue.

Put KAT made a good point....if your points ever go into holding, its always good to have as much time left in the year as possible.

 

[CarolMN]

......(snip)...........One thing I would caution tho:

I am a first week of December kinda guy, This year, my trip is actually starting in november, so if i had a december UY i would be spanning UYs. May or may not really be an issue..........

My current understanding is that you may have trouble booking online if your trip spans use years. Wondering what your experience was?

 

[bellablue2]

booking across use years is a problem...would have to be multiple reservations or banking/borrowing. this is true for any use year though.

 

[tb1972]

We have Dec. UY for both our contracts and it works fine for us even though we're not traveling much in Dec.

Dec. UY point allocation takes some getting used to. For instance, the 2014 points technically just became allocated in Dec. to us but of course you can use them prior to Dec.

 

[bakerworld]

We should've asked for a February or March UY as we vacation in Spring and Fall. Even our guide mentioned this when we purchased. Our solution is to decide by July if the September / October vacation is set in stone. I cannot remember why the December UY was all she offered but she made sure we were comfortable with our decision before starting the paperwork.

So far it hasn't been a problem. 2012 and 2013 we did CRO's at Dolphin but that was more a location issue which resulted in a small BC purchase.

 

[ldo]

thanks to all who replied. We decided on a Dec UY. Although any UY can be problematic, depending on travel times (ex. Dec would be awful for Thanksg travel), we decided as we mostly will use DVC for Christmas and Easter in the near term, and then Jan/Feb when kids are out of the house, Dec made the most sense.

 

[disneynutz]

thanks to all who replied. We decided on a Dec UY. Although any UY can be problematic, depending on travel times (ex. Dec would be awful for Thanksg travel), we decided as we mostly will use DVC for Christmas and Easter in the near term, and then Jan/Feb when kids are out of the house, Dec made the most sense.

October UY is good for vacations between Oct and May, that's what we have.

Bill

 

[Dean]

Hi. What are the downsides to Dec UY? We would usually travel Christmas, Springbreak and summer. I am thinking Dec would be the best?

Depending on when in the spring and summer as well as the frequency of each, would determine other reasonable UY's. Assuming equal usage of all 3 times I think Dec is best by far. Oct might also work as well as March or April for Spring and June or August for summer (only if most summer travel is August). This is also a situation where 2 UY's might be best if you had enough volume. Now if one travels mostly for one of those times with a little the others, I'd concentrate on that time alone.