Ins and Outs of Use Year for a Newbie

[Rileygirl]

Hi there

I have been lurking here on this board for a couple of days, because my DH and I are considering purchasing DVC. (Yippee for us!)

I dont think I quite have a good understanding of Use year, and why it matters if its Feb or another month.

I think what we plan to do is eventually aquire two contracts of about 200 pts. I really want to get a BCV contract first-- after reading several threads, I think its important to buy into a resort that you want to stay in the most.

Ok, so the questions I hope the experts can answer

1. Is it important to have the same month as the 'use year' for both contracts? If so, why? (pros and cons?)

2. If the contract has say a March use year, and it has 250 pts available for 2009, am I correct in assuming I can book 11 months in advance for my home resort at any time, and not that I can only start booking on Mar 1? ( I think its a stupid question, but had to ask anyways).

Can anyone give me a 'primer' on what you need to know about use years, and how to make them work for me?

Also, I should state that I think we will mostly Vacation during mid to late August, with perhaps one big trip during christmas season sometime in the forseeable future. We will likely travel every other year to disney for the first few years, until we aquire the second contract anyways.

Thanks in Advance!!!

~A

 

[shortypots]

Ok, so the questions I hope the experts can answer

1. Is it important to have the same month as the 'use year' for both contracts? If so, why? (pros and cons?) -- I don't think so. We have 2 contracts 2 different UY's. However, this also means two different member #'s and you can't combine the contracts if you are shy on points without a transfer between the two and you are only allowed 1 transfer per UY per membership.

2. If the contract has say a March use year, and it has 250 pts available for 2009, am I correct in assuming I can book 11 months in advance for my home resort at any time, and not that I can only start booking on Mar 1? ( I think its a stupid question, but had to ask anyways).Yes, you can book 11months out, for 250 pts. If your UY is June, and you want to make a reservation for July 2009, you would actually use your June 2009 points, not 2008 unless you bank them.

Can anyone give me a 'primer' on what you need to know about use years, and how to make them work for me?

Also, I should state that I think we will mostly Vacation during mid to late August, with perhaps one big trip during christmas season sometime in the forseeable future. We will likely travel every other year to disney for the first few years, until we aquire the second contract anyways. Some will argue that UY is not really that important since over the course of your contract (til 2042 for most resorts, 2054 for SSR, and 2057 for AKV) your vacation habits will change. At this time a June or August UY seems like it would work the best for you. June UY's can bank their points through Jan 31 the following year, and August is March 31. Consequently, both of my contracts are June and August. If you plan well ahead, you should be able to work with the banking deadlines. The only problem comes in when you have to cancel last minute, although if it is for an unforeseen major illness or death or something serious, Disney will usually work with you to help you out.

Thanks in Advance!!!

~A

Hope this helps.

 

[Rileygirl]

Thank You Shortypots

 

[Caskbill]

1. Is it important to have the same month as the 'use year' for both contracts? If so, why? (pros and cons?)

It's better to have the same use year month, and that way you have a Master Contract and an Add-On Contract, and both are under the same membership number. At the 7-month date you can combine the points in any manner you want to make a reservation at any DVC resort, or any of the other collections. If you get two different UY's, they are two Master contracts, each with it's own membership number. You cannot combine points directly, and even if you transfer from one contract to the other, they'll retain their same use years, so you would only be able to combine points for a vacation that occurs during the 'overlap' dates of the two use years.

2. If the contract has say a March use year, and it has 250 pts available for 2009, am I correct in assuming I can book 11 months in advance for my home resort at any time, and not that I can only start booking on Mar 1? ( I think its a stupid question, but had to ask anyways).

Not a stupid question as it's important to understand. Just keep in mind that your use year has absolutely nothing to do with when you can book a vacation. You book 11-months ahead of your vacation dates, regardless of use year. The only difference is what 'year' the points come from.

Suppose you had a March UY and I have a September UY. It's now August and we both want to book next July. We both call today. The only difference is you would use March 2009 points while I would be using September 2008 points. This is because a 2009 March UY goes 3/1/2009 thru 2/28/2010 while a 2008 September UY goes 9/1/2008 thru 8/31/2009. You'll see that July 2009 falls in a March 2009 UY while it falls into a 2008 September UY.

Can anyone give me a 'primer' on what you need to know about use years, and how to make them work for me?

Use year is simply when your annual point allocation is scheduled. The only thing that is ever applicable is if you ever cancel a reservation, you may or may not be within a banking window to bank those returned points. In the example above suppose we both had that July reservation and we cancelled it in May. You would be able to bank your March UY points because the banking window for March 2009 points goes to the end of October 2009. On the other hand I would not be able to bank my returned September UY points because the banking window for September 2008 points only went to the end of April 2009, so cancelling in May 2009 I would be past my banking window.

If you don't cancel a reservation, then Use Year month is not applicable at all.

Also, I should state that I think we will mostly Vacation during mid to late August, with perhaps one big trip during christmas season sometime in the forseeable future. We will likely travel every other year to disney for the first few years, until we aquire the second contract anyways.

As explained above, UY doesn't matter unless you cancel. In your case if you ever think you'd have to cancel, then a June or August UY would fit because in both cases if you cancelled an August vacation or a Christmas vacation, you'd still be within your banking window. (June banking window is June 1 thru Jan 31, August window is Aug 1 thru Mar 31)

Hope this helps

~A[/QUOTE]

 

[Cap]

Ok, so the questions I hope the experts can answer

1. Is it important to have the same month as the 'use year' for both contracts? If so, why? (pros and cons?)You've gotten two different answers to this question. One says "I don't think it's important", while the other says "It's better to have the same use year". I think IT IS IMPORTANT to have the same use year, so you don't have to go through transfers, can avoid confusion with Member Services when booking reservations, get one consolidated annual statement, and can easily understand banking deadlines.

Also, I should state that I think we will mostly Vacation during mid to late August, with perhaps one big trip during christmas season sometime in the forseeable future. We will likely travel every other year to disney for the first few years, until we aquire the second contract anyways. CaskBill's comment is a very good point. Try to get a use year that is the shortest period of time before you normally vacation. This is so any unexpected cancellation, as long as it is more than 31 days before your vacation start date, would allow the points to go back into your account while you still have the option to bank the points.

As an example, we normally vacation in October. I've got an October use year. If we have to cancel an October vacation (made with that year's points), then I've still got many months to either use the points or bank them.
~A

Hope this helps.

 

[Rileygirl]

Thank you Caskill and Cap!!!!

I knew there were factors I wasent understanding!

The combining of points is very important to me, and I now see how come 'when' you typically vacation is a factor on the use year regarding cancellation. I also see the value of having a 'master' and 'add on contract vs two seperate contracts. I think in my particular situation, the master contract is the way to go. (I want to visit my 'home' during peak times (maybe a christmas or two, and will want to try a few of the other properties during less popular times like the middle/end of august, so the 7 month window will maybe be ok for me)

Another question if I may,,,, If I purchase two resell contracts, (first one, and then the other say one year later) if they have the same use year, can I get them under the same membership number? That is, can I make the second contract an add -on to my first purchase?

Thanks again for everyones help!!!

 

[shortypots]

Well, in my case, I really don't feel it is that big of a deal to have 2 different UY's. It will actually work better for us considering our vacation patterns with those points.

The purpose of our June contract (300 pts AKV) is to take our family (12 total right now, always possible to increase) during the school holiday every other year, so this vacation would be in around the end of June or sometime in July or early August. Then our Aug UY points (150 pts at VWL) will be mainly used for the two of us to go on trips in Oct and Dec. So to me, I do not care that the contracts are separate. The only trouble I might have is if I want to take one of the big Adventures by Disney trips (we've been talking about the safari) and most of those are a lot of points.

I figure if I keep the points separate, then there will be no confusion as to which points I am using when. Yes it means that instead of combining points for a reservation I will be banking and borrowing, but with proper planning, I don't think it will be a big deal. It is a personal choice and I am one of the ones that do not feel it matters.

 

[Cap]

Thank you Caskill and Cap!!!!

Another question if I may,,,, If I purchase two resell contracts, (first one, and then the other say one year later) if they have the same use year, can I get them under the same membership number? That is, can I make the second contract an add -on to my first purchase?

Thanks again for everyones help!!!

When I purchased a resale contract that had the same use year as my initial contract, Disney and/or The Timeshare Store had it added as a subcontract under my master contract. I don't think there should be an issue, but you should probably ask Member Services after you have the initial contract.

 

[Rileygirl]

I understand shortypots!

Just like any type of Disney travel and planning, its really about what works for the individual family.

But, by your post, caskbills, and caps ,, I now understand use year (I think,:>) ), and then can figure out how to best set it up for our family. Before, I was fuzzy on the whys, and knew there was info that I was not considering.

Sort of like, I understood that you get the certain number of points available on that month for your 'use year', thats the main fact. But how it impacts on long term compiling, borrowing, banking, and trading, I did not understand at all.

Now, with everyones comments on this thread (and if anyone can think of other pros and cons please let me know) I can look beyond the basic 'fact' and try and figure out what will work optimally on a longer term basis. So thank you everyone!

(Edited to correct shortypots name,,, so sorry I misspelled it!)

~A