Does use year really matter?

[twotoohappy]

Just curious......what makes people choose certain use years? I'm planning on going to WDW for Thanksgiving and April vacation. I have 100 points VWL in the process Feb. use year. What would be a good add on time for my BCV?
thanks for the input

 

[jarestel]

Most people don't choose use years, and I don't think they matter very much at all. The month people think they will vacation most often today will probably change many times over the next 50 years. I wouldn't worry too much over this. Good luck!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

The only way it could matter is for the cancelation of a trip. If you usually vacation in January (for example) you wouldn't want a use year that begins in February. If you had to cancel a trip for January and had a February use year, you wouldn't have time to either bank or use the points. You have the first 6 months of your use year to bank 100% of your points, so if you can get a use year that starts right before you usually vacation it would be best. It is a small detail but you never know.

HBC

 

[disneyberry]

what i write below only applies if you're talking about buying another resale (assuming your Feb VWL goes through), and you are dead set on buying a 2nd use year to maximize your vacation flexibility.

then IMO the best bet would be to buy a UY that is 6 or 7 mos away, i.e. Aug or Sep.

my reasoning is that every use year will cover the first 6 - 7 mos very well in terms of if you need to cancel your trip last minute, and want to be able to bank 100% of your points. (remember you must cancel 31 ore more days ahead in order to avoid that dreaded holding acct)

so if you want "coverage" the entire year, then 2 separate UYs that are 6 - 7 mos apart is the way tot go.

i say this because vacation habits are impossible to predict for the next 30+ years.

i do want to warn you that your Feb UY is not very good for Thanksgiving trips, since those trips will always fall towards the end of your UY.
if you only buy a single UY, and really only plan to travel April and Thanksgiving, then an Oct UY would be the best.

hope this doesn't confuse you more. heh. sometimes i type the same reply to UY questions over and over, so i thought i would try sometime different this time.

 

[invalid_char]

I basically agree with what is being suggested here. The best use year is the one that starts immediately prior to when you norrmally go. That will give you the most time to change your mind.

For example, we have an April use year and we usually go in the end of April or beginning of May. Our 100% banking window is from April 1 - September 30. So we can always book our vacation for the following year at the 11 month window (say end of May) and then we have a few months (until September 30th) to change our mind without penalty.

This worked out nicely one year when we decided to forego a trip and sell our points so we could justify an add-on. We knew that we could keep our points on the market for several months, and if we didn't get a reasonable offer, we could still go on the trip. It was nice to not be under any pressure. As was said earlier, ya never know!