I am confused.....Can anyone help me?

[amccu18007]

My husband and I have just bought into Poly. We already have a trip booked for this year so we wont be using our points but don't want to lose them. We have a Dec. use year and have 150 points. If I am understanding everything correctly, I can bank the 150 that I already received before July 31, 2016. I will get another 150 points on Dec. 1, 2016. I am planning on booking two studios for Oct 2017. When can I book this trip? Do I have to bank the points before booking or does it just pull them from my account? I have read everything I can get my hands on lately and have only managed to confuse myself...lol. Thank you in advance for any and all help!

 

[jerseyduke]

From what you are stating, You have 150 points in your current UY (2015). These must be banked by July 31st (or used by 11/30/16). If you do neither they expire (this is refereed to as breakage)

You do not "get" another 150 points on 12/1/16...they are already there. Your 2050 points are already in your account for that matter. It is really 'when you get access to the points'

If you are booking 2 studios in October 2017, and that will be your first trip, what you want to do is:

Bank your 2015 points "into" 2016 by end of July.

11 Months before your desired trip, which is November of this year, make your reservations. Your banked points will be used first. Then your current points.

If any of the 150 2016 points are left over, you must use them by 11/30/17, or bank them by 7/31/17.


More on UY:

If you want to book a vacation in your 2020 UY...say 12/1/20 - 12/8/20, the first day you can book this is 1/1/20 (your 11 month window). SINCE THE DATE OF THE RESERVATION is in your 2020 UY, you can borrow 2021 points if needed.

So, in essence, you "get" your points 1 year and 11 months prior to the start of the UY they are in, because that is technically the first day you can make a reservation that can use those points.

 

[BillPA]

Yes, you must bank them yourself. You can do it on line or call MS. Those banked points will then expire Nov 30 2017, if not used. You can only bank for 1 year. Also banking, like borrowing, can not be reversed.

 

[suebeelin]

Yes, do the following:
1. Bank points by calling or doing online by end of July 2016.
2. In November 2016, 11 mo to the date of your prospective trip, you can book your October 2017 trip. Online starts at 8am. Phones are at 9am.
3. You can also "borrow" an additional 150pts from your next use year if you need more points to get the rooms you want.
4. Alternatively, if you do not use all 150 points from your 2016 use year, these will be "leftover" points that need to be banked by July 2017, or you lose them. In other words, in November, book your trip then see how many points you still have in your account. Bank those remaining points by July 2017.

Did you buy your poly contract within the last 10 days? Do you do most of your trips in October or the latter half of the year?

If so, you might want to call and ask for a new contract so that you have a summer or September use year. This way if you cancel your vacation for unforeseen reasons, you won't lose your points. The best use year would be the few preceding months before your usual trip dates.

We have a February use year. This works best for trips in March-August If we need to cancel, we have until end of September to cancel and bank out points.

If we are using banked points which will expire the following February, we have until February to rebook our trip or rent out points! Hope this makes sense....

 

[drusba]

Conceptual rule to remember: points you use and whether you need to bank or can borrow depends solely on when you will be at WDW, and thus in determining the issue wipe from your mind the time when you will be calling to reserve and look only to the dates you will be at WDW. An Oct 2017 trip is during your Dec 2016 to Nov 2017 use year. Thus, Dec 2015 points must be banked to book that trip (and you must personally do the banking by no later than July 31, 2016), Dec 2016 points are the "current" use year points for that trip, and, if needed, you can borrow Dec 2017 points. That all remains exactly the same regardless of when you try to make the reservation which you can always do up to 11 months out from home resort and 7 at others.

 

[CarolMN]

When you have a few minutes, check out this thread:

Understanding Use Year

December use years take a bit of getting used to - but if you make yourself the chart suggested in the thread, you'll be a pro very soon.

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome home!

 

[princessfionasmom]

I just wanted to say congratulations and Home. I don't own at Poly but we are staying there in Oct, can't wait to check it out.

 

[msmith07101]

We just bought at the Poly last week, so have the same points situation. Glad to have stumbled upon this question, as we are still learning how it all works.

 

[chalee94]

Did you buy your poly contract within the last 10 days? Do you do most of your trips in October or the latter half of the year?

If so, you might want to call and ask for a new contract so that you have a summer or September use year. This way if you cancel your vacation for unforeseen reasons, you won't lose your points. The best use year would be the few preceding months before your usual trip dates.

We have a February use year. This works best for trips in March-August If we need to cancel, we have until end of September to cancel and bank out points.

If we are using banked points which will expire the following February, we have until February to rebook our trip or rent out points! Hope this makes sense....

just wanted to echo this. traveling in Oct and Nov with a Dec UY can be a bit risky - ideally, you would prefer to travel early in your UY (i have an Oct UY for trips primarily in Nov/Dec).

if you travel to wdw in sept/oct/november on a regular basis and can rescind the contract, you might save some headaches down the road...

 

[suebeelin]

We just bought at the Poly last week, so have the same points situation. Glad to have stumbled upon this question, as we are still learning how it all works.

The op was past his recession period (you can cancel your contract within 10 days), but called and requested a new use year month. Although Disney wasn't required to, they very nicely changed the use year for the OP!

you're both well within your recession period, so now is the time to research! Is poly really right for you? Is the current U/Y the best one? Feel free the ask away!! The ppl on the board know dvc like the back of their hands!!

 

[msmith07101]

We don't really have a set time we like to travel. It depends on where we are going. We've been to WDW different times of the year...summer is now my least favorite, as it is just too hot. Just came back from our Star Wars run weekend...I liked this time of year down there. Currently considering running in February for the Princess 10k. So I think December is ok for us...I am not sure what we would change it to, if we did try to change, since we don't have a set time of year that we travel.

 

[chalee94]

We don't really have a set time we like to travel. It depends on where we are going. We've been to WDW different times of the year...summer is now my least favorite, as it is just too hot.

that's the other side of why i chose october as a UY - i will (virtually) never choose to go to central FL in july/august/sept.

but it is true that no UY protects every month of travel if you really go at many different times.

 

[Dean]

We don't really have a set time we like to travel. It depends on where we are going. We've been to WDW different times of the year...summer is now my least favorite, as it is just too hot. Just came back from our Star Wars run weekend...I liked this time of year down there. Currently considering running in February for the Princess 10k. So I think December is ok for us...I am not sure what we would change it to, if we did try to change, since we don't have a set time of year that we travel.

If there's truly no BETTER UY for you then it may not matter. Usually there are some better than others for most people. If there's truly no helpful UY then I'd do 2 things, realize DVC respresents more risk in that situation (how much depends on other factors) and that for retail, getting the oldest UY where you can have 2015 points is the best $$$ value, currently June. This is for retail, the thought process for resale is similar but a little different.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We don't really have a set time we like to travel. It depends on where we are going. We've been to WDW different times of the year...summer is now my least favorite, as it is just too hot. Just came back from our Star Wars run weekend...I liked this time of year down there. Currently considering running in February for the Princess 10k. So I think December is ok for us...I am not sure what we would change it to, if we did try to change, since we don't have a set time of year that we travel.

Do you have a time that you know you won't travel there? Or are the least likely? For us, that's summer which sounds like it may be yours also and while it's not 100% it's by far the least likely so getting a UY that starts just after the time does provide some benefit even if we have multiple times of the year we do travel. So a Sept or Oct UY at least keeps you in a banking window for anything but a very last minute Apr or May trip. The last minute cancellation for a late spring won't leave a lot of time to use holding points but it is easier to book something more last minute during the summer than some other times of the year so you'd likely be able to use it or to rent out the points before they expired.

 

[ColonialMouse]

I'm not sure people have that much insight into the best use year over a ~40 year contract. We got September expecting that we try to go in the offseason whenever possible. Which is (or at least was) true. But as the kids are getting older and our schools start after labor day we're now looking at our vacations starting end of August into September, and maybe going in summer in the future once they're in high school. So for the next few years maybe it won't be the best, or maybe it will be fine b/c we'll be doing spring break. I don't know. And in 15 years maybe we'll be back to offseason but have too many points b/c we no longer need 2BRs, or maybe DD9 will be taking her family there. I have no clue, I just plan on being around to enjoy it, whatever it is.

Get what makes sense for you, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Bruce