Just About to puchase at SSR BUT...

[Daffy41]

I hope someone out there can give me a little feedback:

I am just about to purchase 170 points at SSR from Disney - we normally go to disney once every 3 years - anywhere from Jan to Apr. So here's my question - what month should I take my points ? The disney rep suggested Dec be my use year - but I was wondering how that would be when banking points ?? Any Ideas or suggestions ????

Also if I bank points and suddenly decide to use them in the same year for a quick weekend say, can I do that - or once they are bank I need to wait for the following year to use them ??

Thanks for all your help - hopefully on Monday We'll call and start the process.

 

[RobDoc]

Welcome to the DIS!

December would be a good choice for the months you want to travel. Use Year is simply the month when your points are renewed each year. It does determine banking deadlines, but the timeframe is the same for all Use Years (100% may be banked for the first 6 months, 50% thru month 9, 25% thru month 10 and no banking during the last 60 days). Use Year does not determine when you can make reservations- that is based solely on the points you will have available at the time of the reservation dates.

If you have banked current points into the next Use Year and later want to travel during that Use Year, you'd need to borrow points from the following Use Year. Once banked (or borrowed) points cannot be returned to their original Use Year. Banking serves to preserve the use of points for an additional year.

Enjoy!

 

[dis-happy]

Doc is always a wealth of information. One thing I've learned about UY from him and others on this board is that it's good to have the points renew early on from when you would most likely travel---so that if your plans change at the last minute, you still have ample time to bank. So, basically, your Guide seems to be giving you good advice for your case. Have fun joining DVC!!!

 

[JustLoveDisney]

I've wondered this as well! Great question and thanks Doc

Debi

 

[tamu91]

I had little trouble understanding the UY concept when I was purchasing so let me see if I can shed some light on this subject BTW, we purchased a December contract @ VWL last year and we have a similar travel pattern you mentioned in your OP.

The banking deadline and when your points become available for you to use, Dean already covered in detail so I won't dwell on it. However, let me just reiterate what he posted. If you planning on visiting WDW between Jan-Apr, December contract is a PERFECT fit because.......

1) say you had a trip planned for 04/2005, you would've gotten your full 2004 pt. allocations on 12/1/2004 ready to be spent in April
2) if you have to cancel your trip, you're still within your 100% banking window so you'll not be losing any points

The only thing you might have to manage is the every 3 yr window you mentioned. Once December pts. are banked, you basically have until 11/30 of the following year (i.e. 2004 points you received on 12/1/04 banked 100%, before 5/30/05, will have to be used before 12/01/2006) before you lose it. If you plan on going every three years, depending on which month you plan your trip, you might run into a possibility of losing some of your points.
Unless you rent it out of course and I'm sure you won't have any trouble doing that

 

[murcor]

The guide said use year doesnt really matter but with our travel patterns of Jan, Feb or March.....the Oct is what we chose which is just about perfect.

Angela

 

[DrBond007]

We thought we wanted time after our vacation before our use year so if something fell through, we'd still have time to plan and use our points if they could not be banked for some reason.


"May god bless this wonderful day for democracy."

 

[Dean]

The guide said use year doesnt really matter but with our travel patterns of Jan, Feb or March.....the Oct is what we chose which is just about perfect.

Angela

I think you're guide was wrong or at least over simplified. IMO, it's more important for some than others but can be important for everyone at some time or another if you have to change or cancel your plans. Is it important enough to miss the right resale otherwise, likely not for most but still yes for some.

Daffy41, are you sure you're going to be OK at 170 points to use every 3 years. It would be easy to lose points in this situation. And use at non DVC is an option, it's not a reasonable one from a financial standpoint. Basically you'd have to use 510 points exactly every third year to make this work. Plus you couldn't change your visit time of year to go beyond your use year or you might lose an entire year of points. Of course you could rent out points or throw money away by using them on other options, that would be your choice. Your bio didn't say where you live but the once every 3 years makes me wonder if you're some distance. It seems that many people who live across the pond or on the other side of the continent end up traveling to WDW less than they expected.

DVC may be right for you but the info you've given thus far makes me concerned it isn't. You may want to consider less points, even a resale at another resort less than 150 points. Good luck, we wish you the best.