Every third year?

[BestDadEver]

Why would you expect your points back? If you cancel the day of your trip, you lose them. Cancel at least the day before and you still have them.

That was my question why would you need the insurance at all . If you could do that .

 

[tjkraz]

I agree with others that the every 3 years plan is dicey. We tried that with one of our smaller add-ons and it tends to be quite a hassle.

If you buy 100 points, that gives you 300 to use every 3 years. What if you only need 270 points for a reservation? If you aren't returning for another 3 years, you cannot bank the excess points forward that far.

Similarly, what if you need 320 or 330 points? DVC allows owners to buy 24 one-time-use points every year but those can only be used to book at 7 months. Waiting until 7 mos to book could put the entire stay in jeopardy.

IMO, DVC works a lot better if you will at least be visiting once every 2 years. My $.02.

 

[crisi]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I would much rather stay at the deluxe resorts -I LOVE the Beach Club- and I view it as this way I get deluxe resorts at moderate prices and then get to really take advantage once we retire with cheaper seasons and take eventual grand kids. I figure we would be saving the money/getting value from the nicer accommodations and locations.

Have you stayed DVC?

DVC is a timeshare. If you are expecting a Deluxe resort, you may or may not be disappointed. One of my biggest disappointments with DVC is that I don't think it comes close to being a Deluxe resort (then again, I don't think Disney Deluxes do a very good job either, but DVC is not as good as those). There are reasons I like my DVC that more than make up for it, but if what I was looking for was a Deluxe at Moderate prices, I'd be really disappointed.

But then we were Deluxe visitors pre-DVC, so for us, DVC was a quality step down.

Not all members feel this way. But I do.

 

[Panbuck97]

So what I like most about Beach Club is #1. Location and #2. SAB. Location is such a big deal for our family that the deluxe resorts usually win out whenever we go. Also, I don't understand people's comments regarding needing X more points or whatever. To me you get your points and find out if you can go for eight days or ten days, can you stay at this resort or a different resort, can you stay in a studio or a one bedroom, etc. My OP was a technical question regarding the ability to both bank and borrow into the same travel year. It seems like that is possible, so that makes me happy.

 

[tjkraz]

Also, I don't understand people's comments regarding needing X more points or whatever. To me you get your points and find out if you can go for eight days or ten days, can you stay at this resort or a different resort, can you stay in a studio or a one bedroom, etc. My OP was a technical question regarding the ability to both bank and borrow into the same travel year. It seems like that is possible, so that makes me happy.

I guess it depends upon your mindset going in.

Functionally, yes you can used banked and borrowed points in a single reservation. If you buy 100 points, you will have 300 to use every 3 years.

But what if your desired reservation only costs 270 points? What would you do with the other 30? If the answer is "just let them expire", then I suppose you'll be fine. You will still pay dues on those 30 points and you paid money to acquire them in the first place.

Same with needing more points than you own. If you have 300 available (from 3 separate years) and need 330, you cannot borrow the extra 30 points. Most likely responses would be to either cut your trip down by a day, try to rent the points from another member or buy some "one time use" points from DVC (which can only be used at 7 months.)

Personally I've never lost a single point in 9 years but if you're comfortable forfeiting unusable points every 3 years and/or adjusting your stay to fit what you have available, that's your prerogative.

 

[k3chantal]

I guess it depends upon your mindset going in.

Functionally, yes you can used banked and borrowed points in a single reservation. If you buy 100 points, you will have 300 to use every 3 years.

But what if your desired reservation only costs 270 points? What would you do with the other 30? If the answer is "just let them expire", then I suppose you'll be fine. You will still pay dues on those 30 points and you paid money to acquire them in the first place.

Same with needing more points than you own. If you have 300 available (from 3 separate years) and need 330, you cannot borrow the extra 30 points. Most likely responses would be to either cut your trip down by a day, try to rent the points from another member or buy some "one time use" points from DVC (which can only be used at 7 months.)

Personally I've never lost a single point in 9 years but if you're comfortable forfeiting unusable points every 3 years and/or adjusting your stay to fit what you have available, that's your prerogative.

In my five years of membership, I have never lost a single point either and I have banked and borrowed as needed. Currently, we have already used most of our 2013 points. There are 24 left from our 280 points in our 2013 use year. We will bank them into 2014 with the plan to take a vacation in 2014. Depending on what we decide to do with these points, we may borrow from 2015 or move the left over 2014 points into 2015.
It doesn't 'bother' me that I am not going on a DVC vacation in 2013. I will happily pay my annual dues knowing they went towards a wonderful vacation last May and because our DVC vacations tend to cost more than other vacations we take, getting a financial break from purchasing airfare, tickets to the parks, and paying for restaurants will be good too.
In other words, I would imagine that the OP could figure out a way to easily not 'waste' those imaginary 30 points. As most of us have discovered, it is rare to have too many points and easy to find ourselves wanting to go on additional vacations or extending existing plans and using those points. I think the OP will be able to adjust their vacations to optimize their point usage with little trouble.

 

[tjkraz]

In other words, I would imagine that the OP could figure out a way to easily not 'waste' those imaginary 30 points.

Thing is, if OP is resigned to only visiting every 3 years, there is no functional way to use those extra points.

Imagine a trip scheduled for 2013 using '12, '13 and '14 points. 30 points are unused from '14 Use Year. The next trip won't occur until 2016 and there is simply no way to carry those excess 2014 UY points out to 2016.

Many owners do end up vacationing more frequently than anticipated but I'm taking OP's comments at face value. IMO there is no way to do it cleanly with trips every 3 years.

 

[k3chantal]

Thing is, if OP is resigned to only visiting every 3 years, there is no functional way to use those extra points.

Imagine a trip scheduled for 2013 using '12, '13 and '14 points. 30 points are unused from '14 Use Year. The next trip won't occur until 2016 and there is simply no way to carry those excess 2014 UY points out to 2016.

Many owners do end up vacationing more frequently than anticipated but I'm taking OP's comments at face value. IMO there is no way to do it cleanly with trips every 3 years.

Completely agree with you if we are taking the OP's comments at face value. However, they could add a day and have those points be 'eaten up' very quickly depending on where they were staying; perhaps even having to purchase a few one time points each time to make up the difference. Even if they did not use all of their points, I think the loss could be very minimal.

 

[crisi]

Completely agree with you if we are taking the OP's comments at face value. However, they could add a day and have those points be 'eaten up' very quickly depending on where they were staying; perhaps even having to purchase a few one time points each time to make up the difference. Even if they did not use all of their points, I think the loss could be very minimal.

But then they end up in the "too few" points. Three years is tricky if you aren't resigned to "wasting" points. You need exactly the number of points for every three years. Points get reallocated, you move seasons - you now have too many points or too few.

Its especially tricky if your target is BCV, because that is the resort most likely to be booked up at seven months if you want to rent some points from Disney.

I suspect that the point loss would be pretty minimal. I also suspect that they'll either go more often than every three years or they won't be happy with this scheme and it will be a regretted purchase.

 

[Dean]

But then they end up in the "too few" points. Three years is tricky if you aren't resigned to "wasting" points. You need exactly the number of points for every three years. Points get reallocated, you move seasons - you now have too many points or too few.

Its especially tricky if your target is BCV, because that is the resort most likely to be booked up at seven months if you want to rent some points from Disney.

I suspect that the point loss would be pretty minimal. I also suspect that they'll either go more often than every three years or they won't be happy with this scheme and it will be a regretted purchase.

And thus we're back to the idea that a strict every 3 year plan is likely not a good choice in buying DVC.

 

[ELMC]

And thus we're back to the idea that a strict every 3 year plan is likely not a good choice in buying DVC.

Agreed. There's a big difference between what works on paper and what works in real life. In order to make the once every three years strategy work on paper, it takes a lot of playing with the dates and numbers. And that's just in the planning stages. Once you try to put that into practice, I'm predicting that it will get even messier.

Now don't get me wrong, saving up for a mega trip using three year's worth of points can definitely work. But when all you plan on doing is one trip every three years, it's not worth it IMO.

 

[Sandisw]

I think that everyone has done a great job bringing up all the situations that could happen with the every 3rd year plan.

Knowing the ins and outs of how DVC works is important, especially when one does not plan to travel yearly to WDW.

As long as you are comfortable with the possibility of having points expire because what you need every 3 years is not exactly 300 points, then if you feel that owning a small contract will meet your needs, then I think you will be okay.

I know that some have mentioned renting as an option for an every third year of travel but personally, I was never comfortable with renting due to the restrictions of having to pay up front, strict cancellation, and loss of control of my reservation so one must be in order to make that a realistic choice.

I have a feeling, though, that your every 3rd year plan will quickly change to more frequent trips. We were a once a year family and in 2012, I will be visiting 4 times...it's addicting--that's for sure!!!

Good luck!!!

 

[Nick Beecham]

Actually you can use your membership to go every FOUR years, if you plan it just right. Say you have enough points for a one-week stay:

Year 1: Bank

Year 2: Stay the last 3 weeks of your use year using banked points, year 2 points and borrowed year 3 points. Also stay for the first week of Year 3 use year using year 4 borrowed points. That makes a 4 week stay.

Year 5: Bank

Year 6: Stay the last 3 weeks of your use year using banked points, year 6 points and borrowed year 7 points. Also stay for the first week of Year 7 use year using year 8 borrowed points. That makes a 4 week stay.

etc

 

[Panbuck97]

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that! It would require a lot of vacation time from work for me, but what a trip!! And I suppose that could alleviate some of the other poster's concerns (and probably bring up some more ;-)).

 

[Dean]

Actually you can use your membership to go every FOUR years, if you plan it just right. Say you have enough points for a one-week stay:

Year 1: Bank

Year 2: Stay the last 3 weeks of your use year using banked points, year 2 points and borrowed year 3 points. Also stay for the first week of Year 3 use year using year 4 borrowed points. That makes a 4 week stay.

Year 5: Bank

Year 6: Stay the last 3 weeks of your use year using banked points, year 6 points and borrowed year 7 points. Also stay for the first week of Year 7 use year using year 8 borrowed points. That makes a 4 week stay.

etc

True but if and only if you stayed over your UY change every time and even then it's still every third UY and more than any other options, requires exactly the number of points to match up which is likely impossible due to the fact that not every calendar day will be the same points each time due to the weekday/weekend differences. I think I alluded to it before but this type of plan is totally sabotaged with even a small reallocation.