IMHO June is the best UY

[pinnocchiosdad]

I truely believe UY selection is underrated. It is importaint. Of course everyone has different vacation habits, but while keeping in mind that most DVC'ers vacation in the summer and enjoy Holidays at DVC, June would be the best UY. A June UY gets you your points each year right before summer vacation time. It allows you to bank your points without penalty and avoids losing them if you have to cancel a JUNE JULY or AUGUST summer vacation. A JUNE UY also still gives you time to bank your points if you have to cancel a Christmas or New Years vacation. Again, this is JMHO. Some say UY doesn't matter, I believe it does.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I believe it does matter, but we have changed our habits and go to WDW much more often than planned and there wouldn't be a UY that didn't see us vacationing beyond the banking period. My spring break is always in March, so June UY wouldn't work...that's why we picked March UY. Well, when DVC changed banking, that just blew our idea that our December vacation points were "safe," bankable with the otherwise very convenient March UY. Now we also find that we will love going over NYE for a few years and those are major vacations, but so are our March ones and then we have June major VB vacations. DDiL thought of doing the 1/2 marathon in January, we have a huge point trip planned. There isn't any time for us that's "safe."

Bobbi

 

[Chuck S]

My June use year works well for me, and my current vacation habits. But travel schedules and priorities can change over time.

I have occasionally traveled in May. If I would've needed to cancel or change those reservations, my June use year would have been a disadvantage, as it would be to any travel dates in the February to May time frame.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I agree. I also think March is a great UY. That's why I have points under both! I have the whole year covered except for February where I can still bank points.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

keeping in mind that most DVC'ers vacation in the summer and enjoy Holidays at DVC

I think this is a faulty assumption. While capacity is generally maxed whenever school is out, there are several times of the year where securing a ressie is difficult (BWV and BCV around Food & Wine comes to mind as one of those times).

 

[silmarg]

June will make spring break trips difficult.

We are going for Aug UY as we normally do summer trips in Aug (never been/nor plan to ever go in June or Jul). Aug UY works for Food and Wine and Christmas. It also makes Presidents Week avail with some of the spring too...

Actually, if you dont have school age kids and cant stand the heart, Sept/Oct UYs would be ideal - IMHO.

I guess that is why there are choices in the world. For those that think UY matters, they have a reason to think theirs is best.

Enjoy.

 

[silmarg]

I think this is a faulty assumption. While capacity is generally maxed whenever school is out, there are several times of the year where securing a ressie is difficult (BWV and BCV around Food & Wine comes to mind as one of those times).

Indeed, I am looking to rent points for Presidents week and it appears as if Feb 14 is sold out at all DVC resorts.

 

[vicki_c]

Who says most travel in the summer? We have only had 1 DVC trip in the summer and it was to use up some developer points, and this year we did mid-June because of the 4/3. I never had a summer trip before 2008 -- even when I was a Florida resident -- I HATE Florida in the summer!

And we've had one holiday trip and while we loved it -- that will be a rare occurrence for us as well.

We usually travel in January and February.

 

[rigsby25]

Thanks to DVC, we NEVER go in the summer, and hopefully, we never will have to. We have a June use year also. Right now our favorite times to go are October and February. We are always in borrowing mode, so I guess use year is not important to us.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

I think this is a faulty assumption. While capacity is generally maxed whenever school is out, there are several times of the year where securing a ressie is difficult (BWV and BCV around Food & Wine comes to mind as one of those times).

Point charts clearly show that Christmas week and summer months are the most demanded travel dates, thats why DVC charges more points for those times.

 

[DebbieB]

Point charts clearly show that Christmas week and summer months are the most demanded travel dates, thats why DVC charges more points for those times.

Not necessarily. One of the 2 hardest weeks to get is the first 2 weeks of December which is adventure season. My friends & I have had no problems getting June reservations at 7 months the last 2 years, including AKV conceirge. Another popular time is October for Food & Wine and Halloween parties and that is choice season.

I typically travel April, May, October, December and my April use year has worked fine for 10 years.

 

[pearlieq]

Point charts clearly show that Christmas week and summer months are the most demanded travel dates, thats why DVC charges more points for those times.

Not exactly. It's more of a win-win for DVD. If they rent them to owners, they sell/get a large amount of points. If the amount of points is phohibitive, they get to rent those rooms to non-members at premium prices. Higher point costs don't automatically equate to highest demand for DVC members.

Regardless, the important thing is that you have found what you feel is best for you. Why does it need to be declared "the best" for everyone?

 

[Jason@dvcstore]

I truely believe UY selection is underrated. It is importaint. Of course everyone has different vacation habits, but while keeping in mind that most DVC'ers vacation in the summer and enjoy Holidays at DVC, June would be the best UY. A June UY gets you your points each year right before summer vacation time. It allows you to bank your points without penalty and avoids losing them if you have to cancel a JUNE JULY or AUGUST summer vacation. A JUNE UY also still gives you time to bank your points if you have to cancel a Christmas or New Years vacation. Again, this is JMHO. Some say UY doesn't matter, I believe it does.

I think all use years have equal value. I also think "the best use year" is up to each family and how they vacation.

Jason

 

[bobbiwoz]

I agree. I also think March is a great UY. That's why I have points under both! I have the whole year covered except for February where I can still bank points.

Good planning!
Bobbi

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

I think all use years have equal value. I also think "the best use year" is up to each family and how they vacation.

Jason

Exactly, thats why depending on your usage, some UY's are more beneficial than others. I just made this post to point out to newbies that it should be considered when making a purchase.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

Not exactly. It's more of a win-win for DVD. If they rent them to owners, they sell/get a large amount of points. If the amount of points is phohibitive, they get to rent those rooms to non-members at premium prices. Higher point costs don't automatically equate to highest demand for DVC members.

Regardless, the important thing is that you have found what you feel is best for you. Why does it need to be declared "the best" for everyone?

If you re-read my original post you will see that I never said JUNE UY is the best for me. My multiple contracts have AUGUST UY's. I stated that if you vacation in the summer and the Holidays (Christmas), June UY would have multiple benefits. I stick to me opinion that most people vacation in JULY and AUGUST. Thats why they call it summer vacation, kids are out of school for two months. Sure there are spring breaks, but most people I know travel when their kids are out of school.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

If you re-read my original post you will see that I never said JUNE UY is the best for me. My multiple contracts have AUGUST UY's. I stated that if you vacation in the summer and the Holidays (Christmas), June UY would have multiple benefits. I stick to me opinion that most people vacation in JULY and AUGUST. Thats why they call it summer vacation, kids are out of school for two months. Sure there are spring breaks, but most people I know travel when their kids are out of school.

The point of the different point requirements for different points of the year is to spread DVC usage evenly across the whole year, thereby ensuring that no period is under-utilized.

Your initial premise assumed that most people who vacation have school-aged children or that those that do only vacation during times when school is out. I still believe this to be incorrect.

Finally, a December use year would offer similar benefits for your now-clarified target group.

 

[babbalooey]

The point of the different point requirements for different points of the year is to spread DVC usage evenly across the whole year, thereby ensuring that no period is under-utilized.

Your initial premise assumed that most people who vacation have school-aged children or that those that do only vacation during times when school is out. I still believe this to be incorrect.

Finally, a December use year would offer similar benefits for your now-clarified target group.

I didn't pay much attention to use year when I bought recently, but my Dec use year looks like it will work well for me especially for the holidays and the cooler, less crowded winter and spring months. Having the opportunity to vacation multiple times each year at DW, I'm not locked into just the "summer vacation", but even with a Dec UY, banking can still be done in July so I can work within the confines of my UY pretty comfortably...but honestly I could probably say the same no matter what UY I had, so really, UY still doesn't matter that much to me....

 

[jekjones1558]

We did not consider use year at all when we bought. We were just dumb. October was for sale at the time apparently, because that is what we got. It has turned out great for us--a stroke of luck. We NEVER would consider a summer trip, so June would be a poor choice for us. We like to go in Oct., Dec., Feb., and April. We can cancel any of those trips and still have plenty of time to bank points with our October use year.

 

[wdrl]

Another way to look at UY and banking rules is whether they "prevent" you from traveling during certain times of the year. My wife and I can travel any time of year, and no single UY could accommodate all of the different times we would like to travel to WDW. But when we bought into DVC, we knew we wanted to take family members that have school age kids who can travel best in March, June, July, August, and December. Our February UY lets us plan family trips during most of those months, and gives us time to bank points in case there are any last minute changes. One day, my wife and I will plan a December trip for ourselves, even though its outside our banking window. But we will never plan a family trip for December for two reasons: One, the premier season points are too expensive (we couldn't go in early December because the kids are still in school); and two, if we canceled a December family trip, we might have only one month to use those points before they expired.