Help me figure out use year for fall/winter trips

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Ok we have decided to take the plunge and buy a DVC resale contract. We plan to use three years of points by banking and borrowing to take a trip every 3 years until we could afford to purchase more points. We know that our trips will almost always be for Halloween or Christmas. Given this information - what use year would best benefit us? I am so confused and some people say not to worry about it but I feel like with the specific needs we have it may really matter. We hope to buy at VWL and be able to stay there during Christmas time so the 11 month window will be very important.

I have done some reading on the use years and I feel like I just keep getting more and more confused. Thanks for helping out a DVC newbie!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

In general, you're better off with trips being near the START of your UY, rather than the end.

An August UY would be better for you than a December.

 

[CMNJ]

Because you want to go every 3rd year and stay exclusively in the oct-dec timeframe I would say attempting to find a contract that works for you with a aug, sept, or Oct UY would be best. Traveling late in your use year regularly can be risky because if anything happens that requires you to cancel or reschedule the trip you could stand to lose up to 3 years of points. For example if you had a February use year and booked a trip for December using 3 years worth and had some type of medical/family situation come up before your trip you would have to be able to reschedule it and complete travel by Jan 31st or lose all those points. Once borrowed you can't return points to their original UY and banked points can only be banked one time (and current UY points can't be banked in the last 4 months of your UY). Having a use year later in the year would allow you more time to reschedule your trip or at least bank your current use year points if you couldn't reschedule (assuming you cancelled 31 days or more out).

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

In general, you're better off with trips being near the START of your UY, rather than the end.

An August UY would be better for you than a December.

Because you want to go every 3rd year and stay exclusively in the oct-dec timeframe I would say attempting to find a contract that works for you with a aug, sept, or Oct UY would be best. Traveling late in your use year regularly can be risky because if anything happens that requires you to cancel or reschedule the trip you could stand to lose up to 3 years of points. For example if you had a February use year and booked a trip for December using 3 years worth and had some type of medical/family situation come up before your trip you would have to be able to reschedule it and complete travel by Jan 31st or lose all those points. Once borrowed you can't return points to their original UY and banked points can only be banked one time (and current UY points can't be banked in the last 4 months of your UY). Having a use year later in the year would allow you more time to reschedule your trip or at least bank your current use year points if you couldn't reschedule (assuming you cancelled 31 days or more out).

Ok so how does an August use year for instance, work with the 11 month booking window for a Christmas vacation at VWL? Wouldn't that mean I can't book until 4 months before? Or do I have that completely misunderstood? I am probably not helping the matter by needing to use 3 years points to book the trip.

 

[CMNJ]

Ok so how does an August use year for instance, work with the 11 month booking window for a Christmas vacation at VWL? Wouldn't that mean I can't book until 4 months before? Or do I have that completely misunderstood? I am probably not helping the matter by needing to use 3 years points to book the trip.

You are misunderstanding the way booking works. You must have access to the points you need at the time of travel not the time of booking. So using Aug UY as your example and assuming want to book Christmas 2017. Assuming you own VWL you can book in Jan of 2017 (11 month window) using the following points
Aug 2016 UY (that were banked into 2017 UY by March 31st 2017)
Aug 2017 UY (current use year points)
Aug 2018 UY points (that you borrow into your Aug 2017 UY as part of the booking process-note these cannot be unborrowed once done)
If you don't own at VWL it will be very difficult to book for Christmas but the same info applies you would just book at 7 months instead of 11

 

[drusba]

You can always book 11 months out from date of arrival for your home resort and 7 months out for others. You do not have to wait for the use year to start to use points for a reservation. Use year simply determines which points you use for a trip, banked, current or borrowed, and that solely depends on when you will be at WDW not when you call to reserve.

Example, assume August use year and Oct 2017 trip. In November 2016, you can reserve your home resort in Oct 2017 at 11 months out from date of arrival. The points you can use at the time you make that reservation are: (a) those from your August 2017 use year, which points will be your "current" use year points for the Oct 2017 trip because the trip occurs during that use year; (b) any points from your August 2016 use year but only if you bank them into the Aug 2017 use year; and (c) any more points needed by borrowing points from your Aug 2018 use year.

As noted above, if usual trips are Oct or Dec, then Aug, Sep or Oct are ideal candidates for use year to purchase, although even June would be OK (there is no July use year)

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

You can always book 11 months out from date of arrival for your home resort and 7 months out for others. You do not have to wait for the use year to start to use points for a reservation. Use year simply determines which points you use for a trip, banked, current or borrowed, and that solely depends on when you will be at WDW not when you call to reserve.

Example, assume August use year and Oct 2017 trip. In November 2016, you can reserve your home resort in Oct 2017 at 11 months out from date of arrival. The points you can use at the time you make that reservation are: (a) those from your August 2017 use year, which points will be your "current" use year points for the Oct 2017 trip because the trip occurs during that use year; (b) any points from your August 2016 use year but only if you bank them into the Aug 2017 use year; and (c) any more points needed by borrowing points from your Aug 2018 use year.

As noted above, if usual trips are Oct or Dec, then Aug, Sep or Oct are ideal candidates for use year to purchase, although even June would be OK (there is no July use year)

Thank you so much!!!!! This totally helped me understand.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

You are misunderstanding the way booking works. You must have access to the points you need at the time of travel not the time of booking. So using Aug UY as your example and assuming want to book Christmas 2017. Assuming you own VWL you can book in Jan of 2017 (11 month window) using the following points
Aug 2016 UY (that were banked into 2017 UY by March 31st 2017)
Aug 2017 UY (current use year points)
Aug 2018 UY points (that you borrow into your Aug 2017 UY as part of the booking process-note these cannot be unborrowed once done)
If you don't own at VWL it will be very difficult to book for Christmas but the same info applies you would just book at 7 months instead of 11

Thank you!!! That was the part I was not getting.

 

[Splashboat]

We like to go to Disney for one of our annual vacations at the end of November/ beginning of December. One of our contracts is a December UY. I can't stand it for planning these trips.
You can't crossover with points (on-line) if you need to book using different years. We always book the beginning of the trip right at 11 months and than need to call MS to finish the rest of the days. I find it to be an annoyance that I wish I avoided. I understand you are talking about Christmas travel but you might find yourself changing travel plans down the road. Just something to keep in mind. It can be done but it's a pain.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

We like to go to Disney for one of our annual vacations at the end of November/ beginning of December. One of our contracts is a December UY. I can't stand it for planning these trips.
You can't crossover with points (on-line) if you need to book using different years. We always book the beginning of the trip right at 11 months and than need to call MS to finish the rest of the days. I find it to be an annoyance that I wish I avoided. I understand you are talking about Christmas travel but you might find yourself changing travel plans down the road. Just something to keep in mind. It can be done but it's a pain.

I don't imagine we will have the same vacationing plans for the next 25 years but I do know we hate the heat of the summer and have always preferred the October or December vacations.

 

[Dean]

I don't imagine we will have the same vacationing plans for the next 25 years but I do know we hate the heat of the summer and have always preferred the October or December vacations.

While none of us know where we'll be in 10 years, if there's a clear UY for our current planned usage and no specific changes on the horizon, I'd concentrate on that UY. For this situation Oct is clearly best. Just be aware than an every 3 year plan has more risk than an EY or EOY plan.