How Much Does Use Year Really Matter?

[msteddom]

I'm fairly sure I will be buying in to DVC within the next year, and I have pretty much decided what kind of contract I want except for the use year. How much does it really matter when your contract starts over for the year? By my thinking 12 month is 12 months, and it doesn't realy matter when they start and end, as long as you keep careful track of your points. Is there some wisdom that I am missing though? Please enlighten me!


Melissa

 

[Laurajean1014]

It matters. It's the date that you receive your points every year to plan future dates. The Use year also corresponds with ressies made to your owned location and others. Disney regulates points and use months, accordingly.

Whatever your use month is, you will be able to work with it and schedule your vacations without hassle.

 

[DVCLiz]

It would only matter because there are certain policies that are followed in the event of cancellations or the banking of unused points. For many people who vacation at a certain time each year, the use year can be helpful. If you always take a summer vacation, for example, you'd want a late winter or spring use year, so that if for some reason you had to change your plans, there would still be plenty of time in "your year" to either make another reservation or bank the points. You can bank 100% of your points during the first six months of your use year, then the percentage goes down.

Otherwise, it doesn't really matter - 12 months is always 12 months, as you say!!

 

[Disney Doll]

It matters if there is a specific time of year you like to travel.

For example, DH & I like to go to WDW for a week or so in the Fall, anywhere between the last week of September & the first week of November. We also like to go in January (Marathon) or in the Spring (NOT on Spring Break weeks though) before school lets out for the summer.

We have 2 contracts. One has a September and one has an October Use Year. That way, if we plan a trip during our "usual" times, & have to cancel or change it, we have time to reschedule it before we lose the points. A few years back we had a trip scheduled for the 1st week of May. My father needed eye surgery, and it was scheduled for the same time. I didn't want to be gone, because he was not able to drive for a couple of days, & my mother does not drive due to eye problems of her own. I was able to reschedule that trip to July, and still have plenty of tiem to get it in before my Use Year ended.

I guess my point is try and get a Use Year that falls as close to your "usual" travel times as possible.

 

[Dean]

Personally I think it is more important than most people realize. It only takes one cancellation with loss of points to prove it. But every situation is different and you should consider when you travel and the risk of having to change your plans late in the course.

 

[msteddom]

Okay, I think I'm starting to see the importance. So if I normally vacation in the late spring and summer what kind of use year should I be looking at? Thanks for the help!

Melissa

 

[gjw007]

I'm fairly sure I will be buying in to DVC within the next year, and I have pretty much decided what kind of contract I want except for the use year. How much does it really matter when your contract starts over for the year? By my thinking 12 month is 12 months, and it doesn't realy matter when they start and end, as long as you keep careful track of your points. Is there some wisdom that I am missing though? Please enlighten me!


Melissa

The use year becomes important because of how DVC handles banking. It will let you bank 100% into the next year but only if you tell DVC up to about 6 months before the expiration of points. After that, the amount of points that you are able to bank decreases.

Examples
If you have an August use year, like I have, plan a trip for late June but for some reason is forced to cancel, I will not be able to bank my points into the next year as I am past all banking deadlines.

Same situation, August use year. I make my reservation today for June 2006. In December I see that I'm going to be out-of-the-country for some job and will not be able to use my June 2006 reservation, I can cancel the reservation and bank all 100% of my points into the next year.

Same situation, August use year and a June 2006 reservation but I find in April that I must cancel the trip. Because I am past the 100% banking deadline, I can only bank 50% of my points. The other points I must figure out some other use - short trip or renting - or lose them.

Same situation, August use year and a June 2006 reservation but I find in May that I must cancel the trip. I am past both the 100% and 50% banking deadline. At this point, I can only bank 25% of of my points. I must use the 75% or lose them.

Hopefully this will help to understand the importance of the use year. In some systems, you can bank 100% of your unused points at any time - some automatically at the end of the year for unused points - but Disney has the banking restrictions that make the use year more important. At least Disney doesn't charge you to bank your points (Hilton's system charges $89 to bank your points).

 

[DVCLiz]

We vacation a lot in late spring and summer, too, so our March Use Year works really well. We know we have until August 31st to bank any points we haven't used or committed to a reservation later in the year.

 

[rocketriter]

Bottom line: your use year month should come right before the time when you think you'll most commonly travel. That way, if you have to cancel at the last minute, you'll have the longest possible window in which to try to reschedule your trip.

 

[Caskbill]

Use year has absolutely NOTHING to do with making a reservation. It only comes into play when you cancel a reservation. If you had a March UY and I had a December UY, and we both wanted to make a reservation for a certain date, then if it's at both of our home resorts we could both call at 11-months to the check-out date of the reservation. The fact that one has a March UY and one a December UY has absolutely no bearing on when you can make the reservation.

If you plan ahead and know when your vacations will be, use year is not important. You bank accordingly while you are still fully when your banking windows.

If you don't plan ahead, and don't know if you'll be making a reservation within a certain use year or not, and then wind up passing the 6-month banking window, then it could be a problem.