Making reservations for same month as Use Year

[Twilight Terror]

Hello.

I have a quick question about which points I can bank/use/borrow for our Dec/Jan 2017 trip. Before anyone says anything, I know I cannot book that trip yet, but which points I can bank/use/borrow will affect our September 2016 trip.

We are looking to book about three weeks at our home resorts (AKV and BLT) between 15th December 2017 until 8th January 2018, and will probably be using three years worth. (We did not go last year, so have banked points to cover us for the Sept 16 trip.) However, our use year is December. As I understand the points system, points released on 1st December are valid for one year. If you bank them, they are effectively valid for two years. Hopefully, I have worked this out correctly:

Use Year (Dec) Points Validity
2015 - 1st Dec 2015 until 30th Nov 2016 (or 1st Dec 2016 until 30th Nov 2017 if banked)
2016 - 1st Dec 2016 until 30th Nov 2017 (or 1st Dec 2017 until 30th Nov 2018 if banked)
2017 - 1st Dec 2017 until 30th Nov 2018 (or 1st Dec 2018 until 30th Nov 2019 if banked)
2018 - 1st Dec 2018 until 30th Nov 2019 (or 1st Dec 2019 until 30th Nov 2020 if banked; or 1st Dec 2017 until 30th Nov 2018 is borrowed early)

Question One: Because our trip falls in Dec 2017/Jan 2018, am I correct in thinking that we would need to use the following combination of points to book for this trip:
- Banked points from Use Year 2016
- Current points from Use Year 2017
- Borrowed points from 2018

Question Two: When booking for December 2017 trip, I would need to book at the 11-month window, and therefore would be calling in February 2017. However, will I, at this point, have access to the 2017 regular points, and be able to borrow from 2018 use year points?

I hope all that makes sense to everyone; I know I'm having a hard time working out which points to use from where and when to book this exciting holiday! If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer! Hoping someone can help here because trying to ring Members Services and speak to someone is nigh-on impossible, without having to get up at 3am to make the phone call!

Thanks everyone!

 

[kristenrice]

1) Yes...you've laid it out correctly. The points that you can use for a trip are the ones that will be valid at the time of travel, not the time of the reservation.

2) Yes...when you bought your contract, you received all of your points. You don't need to wait for them to be "loaded" into your account. You simply need to be aware of which ones are available for the dates of your planned travel. As you laid out in your first question, you have that all figured out.

I don't envy your December UY...I chose February to keep it easier to wrap my head around .

 

[drusba]

Dec 2016 points would need to be banked for the trip, Dec 2017 points would be the "current" use year points for that trip and Dec 2018 points can be borrowed for it. You can reserve 11 months out from arrival, which means between mid-Jan and early Feb 2017, and you can do the necessary banking just before reserving and the necessary borrowing when you reserve. Access to points is determined by when you will be at WDW not when you call to reserve.

 

[Twilight Terror]

1) Yes...you've laid it out correctly. The points that you can use for a trip are the ones that will be valid at the time of travel, not the time of the reservation.

2) Yes...when you bought your contract, you received all of your points. You don't need to wait for them to be "loaded" into your account. You simply need to be aware of which ones are available for the dates of your planned travel. As you laid out in your first question, you have that all figured out.

I don't envy your December UY...I chose February to keep it easier to wrap my head around .

Thank you for clearing that up. Everything now makes a bit more sense and I can now start to work out what room sizes and locations we can choose for 2016/2017/2018! My family are intrigued as to how you got to 'choose' your use year - we were never given the option, it was done as per our contract being finalised.

 

[disneynutz]

Leviton 50240-MSA

Hello.

I have a quick question about which points I can bank/use/borrow for our Dec/Jan 2017 trip. Before anyone says anything, I know I cannot book that trip yet, but which points I can bank/use/borrow will affect our September 2016 trip.

We are looking to book about three weeks at our home resorts (AKV and BLT) between 15th December 2017 until 8th January 2018, and will probably be using three years worth. (We did not go last year, so have banked points to cover us for the Sept 16 trip.) However, our use year is December. As I understand the points system, points released on 1st December are valid for one year. If you bank them, they are effectively valid for two years. Hopefully, I have worked this out correctly:

Use Year (Dec) Points Validity
2015 - 1st Dec 2015 until 30th Nov 2016 (or 1st Dec 2016 until 30th Nov 2017 if banked)
2016 - 1st Dec 2016 until 30th Nov 2017 (or 1st Dec 2017 until 30th Nov 2018 if banked)
2017 - 1st Dec 2017 until 30th Nov 2018 (or 1st Dec 2018 until 30th Nov 2019 if banked)
2018 - 1st Dec 2018 until 30th Nov 2019 (or 1st Dec 2019 until 30th Nov 2020 if banked; or 1st Dec 2017 until 30th Nov 2018 is borrowed early)

Question One: Because our trip falls in Dec 2017/Jan 2018, am I correct in thinking that we would need to use the following combination of points to book for this trip:
- Banked points from Use Year 2016
- Current points from Use Year 2017
- Borrowed points from 2018

Question Two: When booking for December 2017 trip, I would need to book at the 11-month window, and therefore would be calling in February 2017. However, will I, at this point, have access to the 2017 regular points, and be able to borrow from 2018 use year points?

I hope all that makes sense to everyone; I know I'm having a hard time working out which points to use from where and when to book this exciting holiday! If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer! Hoping someone can help here because trying to ring Members Services and speak to someone is nigh-on impossible, without having to get up at 3am to make the phone call!

Thanks everyone!

If that's your "quick" question, I'm looking forward for your detailed ones.

Bill

 

[DebbieB]

A lot of new members get confused with when points are added to your account. They are not "deposited" when your use year starts. They are already in your account years in advance. If you look at your account now online (under manage my points), you should see 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. On Dec 1, it will change to 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. Any points you could possibly use are there and can be booked based on date of stay.

 

[kristenrice]

My family are intrigued as to how you got to 'choose' your use year - we were never given the option, it was done as per our contract being finalised.

We bought resale so, since we have no regular plans to travel in Nov/Dec/Jan, we were looking for a Feb/Mar/Apr UY. We found an AKV contract with a Feb UY so we grabbed it. When we added on at HHI, we went direct (back when it was "only" $80/pt) and so they automatically added it to our Feb UY.

 

[Twilight Terror]

We bought resale so, since we have no regular plans to travel in Nov/Dec/Jan, we were looking for a Feb/Mar/Apr UY. We found an AKV contract with a Feb UY so we grabbed it. When we added on at HHI, we went direct (back when it was "only" $80/pt) and so they automatically added it to our Feb UY.

Ah, thanks for that! That explains a lot. Unfortunately, we usually go in September, so we bought on our holiday, and therefore our membership closed whenever all the paperwork went through and we were final.