Little confused about Use Year

[peaches0313]

Just tentatively looking into buying DVC sometime in the future... kids will be in school so I think we would only go during the summer months (June, July, August) OR December (winter break). I'd probably stay away during spring break months (March/April) b/c I hear the crowds are the worst. So what would be the best Use Year(s) for me??? I hear you can't go the previous 4 months so I'm thinking a February Use Year would be no good (wouldn't be able to go Christmas) and an August Use Year also no good (couldn't go over summer).... but unfortunately I see a lot of those Use Years for sale. I'm thinking maybe a June Use Year would be good, as it would exclude us from going Feb-May which I am okay with.. Thanks for any tips!

 

[SugarLoaf]

I think your thoughts are spot on. I agree that June would be best for your intended travel months. May would even work too, if you thought there was ever a chance you'd like to go in May. I guess it's just a matter of protecting December and January, vs. December and May.

And you "can" go during those last four months, it's just a lot riskier in terms of time to use your points if you should need to cancel after your banking deadline.

 

[peaches0313]

Thank you, Sugarloaf! I think school typically goes through beginning-mid June...so I don't *think* we'd ever go in May.... whereas a winter vacation could be December and a bit of January. My kids are not quite school-age yet though so I have a lot to learn/ figure out! We will be enjoying our 1st stay at WDW renting points to stay at BLT this September- excited! Probably the last year we'll be able to go in September......

 

[Deb & Bill]

Just tentatively looking into buying DVC sometime in the future... kids will be in school so I think we would only go during the summer months (June, July, August) OR December (winter break). I'd probably stay away during spring break months (March/April) b/c I hear the crowds are the worst. So what would be the best Use Year(s) for me??? I hear you can't go the previous 4 months so I'm thinking a February Use Year would be no good (wouldn't be able to go Christmas) and an August Use Year also no good (couldn't go over summer).... but unfortunately I see a lot of those Use Years for sale. I'm thinking maybe a June Use Year would be good, as it would exclude us from going Feb-May which I am okay with.. Thanks for any tips!

You are thinking about the Rule of Four. If you buy directly from Disney or bought resale before March 21, 2011, you can use your points to book non-DVC Disney trips. But you can't book a trip and go on the trip during the last four months of your UY. DVC has to sell rooms to pay for your trip and that doesn't give them much time.

But you can book DVC trips any time during the year as long as you have the points to book the trip. It's just like Sugarloaf said, you don't want a UY where the majority of your trip will fall at the end of the UY. Because if you have to cancel, you are stuck with points you can't bank any more and they would expire at the end of the UY.

 

[supersnoop]

The other reason for not booking in the last four months of your use year is that you have to bank your points four months in advance if you aren't going to use them. If you book a trip but have to cancel, you run the risk of losing your points if you can't reschedule before the end of your use year.

 

[disneynutz]

The important thing about UY is what's posted above, you can not bank and save your points during the last 4 months of your UY.

Free insurance is what I call it, buying a UY that covers the majority of your stays.

Bill

 

[vicki_c]

You mentioned December and called it "winter break" so I'm guessing you are referring to the Christmas holidays. And you also mentioned not wanting to go during March/April spring break due to crowds. Christmas thru New Year's is more crowded than spring break times, even more crowded than Easter week (although they are close). Christmas/New Year's is the most crowded time of the whole year.

 

[Sandisw]

Because I am a teacher and we travel primarily in the summer, we opted for a June UY and it works very well for that time.

When we were deciding, we also knew we would want to travel in fall or the holidays once we retired and figured this would work out the best for that as well.

That really only left Spring as a vulnerable time. No one UY will cover it all but having one that fits most of your needs will give you the most flexibility if you ever have to cancel or change a trip.

Good luck!

 

[peaches0313]

Vicki- -Thank you. I had not realized that…adds fuel for thought. Although I still see us going that time period (Dec/ Jan) vs spring break. Just because I like going warm places when it's cold where we are And Sandi, thank you that helps as well b/c although I'm not a teacher, I would theoretically be wanting to travel to Disney the same times if I don't want to take my kids out of school….

 

[ngchiro]

I have that same confusion

 

[vicki_c]

In the big scheme of things, use year is not that critical if you're never going to cancel. My use year works well for the majority of our trips (probably 90%) and I got that use year just by dumb luck. But we have never cancelled a scheduled Disney trip ever, and it's pretty unlikely that we ever will barring something like a death in the family. We are serious planners and pretty much are set in stone 11 months out. So you should consider that as well.

 

[LisaS]

I'm very glad I learned about the importance of selecting a good UY before purchasing. We knew we would travel to WDW from Oct to May and would not want to go during the summer so we picked an Oct UY.

Back in 2012 we had a family emergency about 6 weeks prior to an Oct trip. We were able to delay our "go/no go" decision right up until the day before check in because we were traveling so early in our UY. We could gamble on letting our points go into the holding account since we would have nearly a full year to use them for another stay. I can't tell you what a relief that was. With so much going on, it was great that I didn't have to worry about the possibility of losing any points.

Everything turned out OK in the end and we went on the trip. Had we not had such a convenient UY, we probably would have cancelled 31 days out to avoid having the points go into holding and we would have missed out on a wonderful stay, a break which we really needed after everything we had been through!

We are planners who book our stays 11 months out, etc., etc. but unfortunately family emergencies just happen and often at the worst possible time. As disneynutz said, a good UY is free insurance and in our case it really was.

 

[buckeev]

You mentioned December and called it "winter break" so I'm guessing you are referring to the Christmas holidays. And you also mentioned not wanting to go during March/April spring break due to crowds. Christmas thru New Year's is more crowded than spring break times, even more crowded than Easter week (although they are close). Christmas/New Year's is the most crowded time of the whole year.

This!
We were shocked at the crowd levels this past holiday season...and we've made numerous Christmas/New Year's trips!...
That being said, we still love that time of year.