Just bought AKV tonight, did I do the right thing?

[pinnocchiosdad]

I did it. I finaly bit the bullet tonight and said "I'll take it". But I am not sure if I did the right thing. I have been confused about your user year and its impact on being able to bank points for cancelled vacations. Please tell me if I will be okay. I bought a user year of AUGUST and my family usualy vacations in July or AUGUST. What do you think?

 

[disney dumbo]

I did it. I finaly bit the bullet tonight and said "I'll take it". But I am not sure if I did the right thing. I have been confused about your user year and its impact on being able to bank points for cancelled vacations. Please tell me if I will be okay. I bought a user year of AUGUST and my family usualy vacations in July or AUGUST. What do you think?

Congratulations!!!!

I'm not an expert... IMHO, August vacations will be great timing. I think July vacations will be trouble if you need to cancel. The points will expire at the end of July... so you'll have no time to rebook.

 

[Nikisha421]

Congrats

I bought about three weeks ago...I am still wondering if I made the right choice, but I am getting the hang of things.

Did you buy direct from Disney? I bought an got an October UY.

 

[Greysword]

We have an August use year at SSR, and we like it a lot. The six month window for banking all points expires in February, so you can make plans for the holidays and if they don't come through, you have time to bank the points. It also allows full point availability for holiday stays.

The use year is pretty simple, just don't think of things as a calendar year, rather as a use year, August to July. As mentioned above, you can bank all your current year points up to six months from your use year, so if you cancel a vacation between August 1 and February 1, you can bank all of them. The percentage of allowed banking drops after that.

 

[wildernessDad]

August UY and August vacation = good
August UY and July vacation = bad

Can't cancel close to July vacation and bank unused points with an August UY.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

Congrats

I bought about three weeks ago...I am still wondering if I made the right choice, but I am getting the hang of things.

Did you buy direct from Disney? I bought an got an October UY.

Thanks. I dis buy through Disney. I hope you got the same incentives as me. They were pretty good. They were up to DECEMBER UY, I aske for an earlier UY and I am hoping I did not mess things up. We like to travel in late Augut and I was told to try to get a UY prior to your travel dates. Congrats to you too.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

August UY and August vacation = good
August UY and July vacation = bad

Can't cancel close to July vacation and bank unused points with an August UY.

So lets suppose I bought a DECEMBER UY and like to travel in JULY and AUGUST, would DECEMBER or AUGUST UY be better? Thanks.

 

[zalansky]

I am glad you made the decision, now don't over think it. WELCOME HOME!
We have an August UY and have never had any problems.

 

[RLRDA]

August UY and August vacation = good
August UY and July vacation = bad

Can't cancel close to July vacation and bank unused points with an August UY.

So if you usually go in July or August.....I'd switch to all August vacations from now on as wildernessDAD said. It's just a matter of what happens to your points if you have to cancel a reservation. You have until 4 months before the end of your use year to bank any unused points. So I think you have until March 31 (correct me if I'm mistaken) of any given year to bank points. If you have a trip planned in July and have to cancel it in June you're past the banking deadline for that UY. If you have a trip planned in August and cancel you have until the following March to potentially bank and/or more breathing room to re-book your trip within your current UY.

Congrats on your new purchase...it's overwhelming but addictive!

 

[TenThousandVolts]

So lets suppose I bought a DECEMBER UY and like to travel in JULY and AUGUST, would DECEMBER or AUGUST UY be better? Thanks.

I would say December would be better. Ask your guide if they have any June. That would be really good.

The only time it would be a problem is if you have to cancel a July trip. You would have less than a month to use or rent the points from the cancelled trip. After Jul 31st they would expire

 

[Nikisha421]

well sounds good. I got what I thought were some pretty good incentives. 160 2007 points and $8 per point incentive. Did you get anything else. I did get the October UY though.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

well sounds good. I got what I thought were some pretty good incentives. 160 2007 points and $8 per point incentive. Did you get anything else. I did get the October UY though.

All of the above plus 100 developer points.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

We, too, have an Aug UY. With the new banking rules, you'll have through the end of March to bank 100% of your points if you choose to bank. DH is a teacher, so we travel July/August as well.

The only trouble we have with an Aug UY is July trips, which we do almost EVERY year! If anything ever happens to that trip, we'll end up losing the points. If we bank points, they have to be used by 7/31 or they expire. If we are using current UY points and need to cancel, we're way beyond the banking window and they also expire on 7/31. If we borrow, those points also expire on 7/31, as borrowing is a final transaction and expires at the end of the current UY. So all around...it's risky for us.

Bottom line, if I'd known then what I know now, I would have chosen a different UY (probably December) because of our travel habits. With DH teaching and 2 kids in school, that won't change for a REALLY long time. If you purchased through Dis, call them back and see if you can change. Since you just purchased, my guess is you may have some flexibility.

Good luck and CONGRATULATIONS!!! WELCOME HOME!!!

 

[AKV707]

Congratulations and welcome home!

In terms of UY, I am no expert. I have a June UY. We normally go in June or July and for F&W in Oct/Nov. I hadn't been to the Dis before we purchased, so I simply either got lucky or our guide was looking out for us.

I would say that your August would work except for in the unlikely case of a cancellation of a July trip. December would likely be better, June would be even better. But even with August, you have made a great purchase at a tremendous resort AKV neighbor!

 

[SanDeeKath]

So lets suppose I bought a DECEMBER UY and like to travel in JULY and AUGUST, would DECEMBER or AUGUST UY be better? Thanks.

December! Don't have your UY around the time you travel. We travel off season, in the late fall to early Spring. So everyone we talked to said get a UY a few months before we travel so we have a new infusion of points before our vacation. We have a Sept UY and we love it.

I'd ask them to change your UY. You'd have to do Dec since it's unlikely that they can find you Aril or May. BUT, if you call back and say your sale hinges on your UY, they may work miracles!

Katherine

 

[wildernessDad]

If you are always going on vacation in a certain month, then it's best to have a UY that is that month or just BEFORE that month. That will allow you more time to cancel and bank your points.

If you are 'pretty sure' that when you plan a vacation that you will go on it, then UY doesn't really matter, because it is unlikely that you will be canceling and needing to bank points.

 

[PIERCEDRN]

WELCOME HOME!
You made the right choice. AKV is our favorite DVC so far. The theming is amazing and the best restaurants IMHO. It will only get better when the Kidani pool is built, it is rumored to try to rival Beach Club's. I would be happy just staying there for the next 40 years.
BOB

 

[buckeyebill1995]

Hi! I'm new to the board! Our DVC rep, who was wonderful, recommended having our UY in June if we were going to be typically on vacation in October. Not entirely clear as to why, but it seemed to work out well because we banked our 2007 points right after we purchased.

 

[sznk]

I did it. I finaly bit the bullet tonight and said "I'll take it". But I am not sure if I did the right thing. I have been confused about your user year and its impact on being able to bank points for cancelled vacations. Please tell me if I will be okay. I bought a user year of AUGUST and my family usualy vacations in July or AUGUST. What do you think?

congrats - you're going to love DVC once all the initial panic subsides!
I believe you have 10 days to cancel / change your DVC purchase with Disney. If you want to change your Use Year, you have the right to call your Guide and tell them so. Sometimes they try to resist because they're told to get rid of certain UYs even tho others may still be available. While they may not have all UYs available, they may very well have one that's better for your July vacation concerns.

 

[Inkmahm]

Welcome home! I'd change your UY to June, if that's still possible. We have an October UY which is perfect for us because we travel to Disney only in December and March/April. We have to bank by May 31 which is perfect because I'll never travel to Disney in June-Sept timeframe. It's just WAY too hot for me.