Help please on Magical Beginnings

[jaysue]

I am struggling a bit to understand the MB "incentive" - I am seriously considering purchasing at DVC but do not fully understand the MB plan.

If I purchase with MB incentive do I then give back my points for the use year commencing with my use year date for 2003 - in other words my next allotment would not come until use year date in 2004?

Do I pay maintenance fees for all of 2003 or prorated from use year date in 2003 or not until my allotment starts in 2004?

Which resorts (if any) currently have the MB incentive?

Thanks
Jason

 

[Chuck S]

Let's say for instance you get a YU that started earlier this year - February for example. You could give up the Feb 2003 allotment of points, but still pay prorated taxes and dues on them, for a $10 per point discount. You next allotment of points will be February 2004. If you get a September use year, you will be paying prorated dues on points allotted Sept 2002, giving those points back to Disney for $10 per point, but will get a fresh allotment in Sept 2003. It is virtually the same as buying a contract and renting out your current years points, without the hassle of finding a renter.

 

[ripleysmom]

Generally though the Use Years that Disney sells are about 6 months ago so you really don't have to wait THAT long for your points.

 

[Cruelladeville]

Just in case you aren't already confused--your maintenance fees are based on the calendar year, not your use year, so you are paying from January to January for maintenance on points. Your use year is the time of the year when your new points become available to use, so people with a September use year don't get their 2003 points until September, but they paid their maintenance fees for the year in January and February, just like the rest of us. It's hard to understand, but that's how they do it.(If you pay by the month on the dues, you never have to worry about that part)

By the way, you can get Magical Beginnings on BCV, Vero, HH, and BWV if the points become available to the public later this year. I did hear that there are still some points that you can get at WLV, but I haven't heard if they are eligible for the MB discount. You cannot, even if you are extra nice and offer your first-born child as a sacrifice, get the discount at OKW, which is sold out, except for add-on points.

 

[DebbieB]

Maintenance dues are based on calendar year, not use year. When you buy in the middle of a year, you pay pro-rated dues from the date you buy. For example, if you buy on May 1, you would pay 8/12 of the annual dues (8 months left in 2003). It has nothing to do with use year or magical beginnings, you would pay the same regardless.

I'm not sure how far back they are going with magical beginnings, but since the 100% banking deadline for October was March 31, I would think they are using December now (there is no November). So you would sell back December 2002 points and get a full allotment in December 2003.

 

[disneyberry]

Originally posted by jaysue
If I purchase with MB incentive do I then give back my points for the use year commencing with my use year date for 2003 - in other words my next allotment would not come until use year date in 2004?

i think the answer is yes, for all use years except December. i believe up until the end of May this year, Disney will still offer MB on December UY where you sell back your 12/2002 points, and get new points in 12/2003.
edit:
that's right, after reading the latest replies to this thread, i remembered that, right now you also might have the option to do MB on 50% of your purchase for Aug, Sep, and Oct UYs. so if you bought 150pts of Aug, Sep, and Oct UYs, your contract can be backdated to 2002, you can bank 75 2002 pts, and then do MB on the other 75 2002 pts... thus getting 225 pts in a few months when your 2003 UY starts. i think that's how it works. i'm not 100% sure if this option is offered to first-time buyers though. i know current Members can do something like that.

Do I pay maintenance fees for all of 2003 or prorated from use year date in 2003 or not until my allotment starts in 2004?

you would pay maintenance prorated from the date you sign your Purchase Agreement. so, if you called today to buy, and sign your Purchase Agreement in 2 weeks, you would pay dues for 5/1/03 - 12/31/03? (i am not sure on the exact dates, if they go back to the beginning of the month you sign, or if their prorating is so detailed as to calculate actual days of dues).
in any case, you would be paying a bunch of dues on the points you are selling back.
to do MB, December UY would be your best choice. the others are pretty bad since you'd pay a bunch of 2003 dues and won't get points until 2004.
for a December UY, you would essentially be paying 7 mos of dues on points you sell back. (this is kind of confusing, ask again if you need clarification)

Which resorts (if any) currently have the MB incentive?

i believe BCV and VWL are offering $10/pt MB. VB and HH are offering $15/pt MB. some Use Years of all 4 of those resorts are supposedly sold out now though.
BWV might become available to first-time buyers on June 1st... only if current DVC Members don't buy up all the points first. my guide says there are only about 10,000 points per Use Year at BWV, and he thinks they will all be sold out very quickly as add-ons.
they're offering $10/pt MB on BWV to current members, so they might offer new buyers the same in June if there happen to be some points left.

 

[DebbieB]

you would pay maintenance prorated from the date you sign your Purchase Agreement. so, if you called today to buy, and sign your Purchase Agreement in 2 weeks, you would pay dues for 5/1/03 - 12/31/03? (i am not sure on the exact dates, if they go back to the beginning of the month you sign, or if their prorating is so detailed as to calculate actual days of dues).

It starts on the day you put your order in. So if you call today and place the order, your dues start today. You should also have the current points available tomorrow to call member services and make a reservation.

They are every detailed on the dates. If today is day 110 of 2003 (just a guess), there would be 255 days left in 2003, so they would use 255/365 or .699.

 

[lenshanem]

If your use year is December when do points becoem available? December 1st or December 31st?

Is it 2 months last oppotunity to bank before December 1st or December 31st?

At thsi point you could only bank 25% of your points, coorect?

 

[JOC]

Your points become available on December 1. I'm not sure I understand your other question.

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by lenshanem
If your use year is December when do points becoem available? December 1st or December 31st?

Is it 2 months last oppotunity to bank before December 1st or December 31st?

At thsi point you could only bank 25% of your points, coorect?

For all Use Years, the points are renewed on the first day of the month and must be used or banked by the last day of the prior month. For a Dec Use Year, points expire on Nov. 30.

Dec Use Year points may be banked until May 31 (up to 100%), August 31 (up to 50%) and Sep 30 (up to 25%). No Dec points may be banked in October or November.

Right now- you could still purchase a contract with an August Use Year and still bank up to 50% of the points by April 30.

 

[ArnyVee]

Originally posted by WebmasterDoc
For all Use Years, the points are renewed on the first day of the month and must be used or banked by the last day of the prior month. For a Dec Use Year, points expire on Nov. 30.

Dec Use Year points may be banked until May 31 (up to 100%), August 31 (up to 50%) and Sep 30 (up to 25%). No Dec points may be banked in October or November.

Right now- you could still purchase a contract with an August Use Year and still bank up to 50% of the points by April 30.

All this research that I've been doin' the last few weeks and I still don't have the 'use year' down. Sheesh.

From what Judy Kaufman told me last week, they are offering December use year right now. So, that means that I can bank 100% if I wanted to, right?

Now, I could do things such as 'sell back' or exercise my 'magical beginnings' option to, let's say, 1/2 of the points and then bank the other half, right?

Just want to make sure that I have answers to questions that I might have in the near future.

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by ArnyVee
All this research that I've been doin' the last few weeks and I still don't have the 'use year' down. Sheesh.

From what Judy Kaufman told me last week, they are offering December use year right now. So, that means that I can bank 100% if I wanted to, right?

Now, I could do things such as 'sell back' or exercise my 'magical beginnings' option to, let's say, 1/2 of the points and then bank the other half, right?

Just want to make sure that I have answers to questions that I might have in the near future.

Yep! You can still bank all of the points. If you use MB, you can keep as many points as you wish, use the rest for MB and still bank points if needed.

Enjoy!

 

[disneyberry]

Originally posted by DebbieB
You should also have the current points available tomorrow to call member services and make a reservation.

wow you can actually use your points for ressies that soon?!
my guide didn't mention that to me when i called to order my BWV add-on today.

does this apply even if you didn't put down any money/deposit yet? my guide said that since i was a current member paying cash for an add-on contract, that i didn't even have to put down any deposit now. i was pleasantly surprised by that.
but i wonder if that will impact whether the points will be avail to me tomorrow?



(btw, see my post edit above)

 

[DebbieB]

I'm not sure what happens on add-ons. I bought DVC over the phone (original purchase) and they took a $500 deposit. My guide said I could make reservations later that day (it was a weekday) as soon as my deposit was processed. If you want to make a reservation now, talk to your guide. Usually you can't use banked or borrowed points before closing, but your guide can sometimes get around that.