I actually booked in September for next August so that was 11 months. We are using 128 points to stay at GCH for 4 weeknights in a std view room. It would have been $1700 or $1900 with tax, I don't remember which, in cash. That makes it a good use of points for us as I count points as $10 each when making a comparison.
I'm happy to hear about upgrades for people who book standard rooms, too! Maybe we'll be lucky.