Multiple UY owners, tell me when and why you chose your UY's.

[intamin]

Started with an April.. added a March use year just because I wanted a sub dues Aulani contract. Not an ideal split but unfortunately didn't have that many options with sub dues Aulani. In hindsight like I've said on here multiple times I would've gotten the sub dues Aulani and then bought RIV direct. I don't really mind it though because each membership can easily function on their own with 300+ points in each. I also am glad it's given me a better understanding of use year and what it looks like on the dashboard but I wish my use years maybe were spaced out a little better.

I now pretty much use it to help me keep track of my direct points and my resale points without having to look at the point breakdowns of each contract. I'm planning to add direct Poly to my direct RIV UY and if I add more resale down the line it'll probably be to the March UY.

 

[Genie+]

Over 90% of our trips (we average about 2.5 trips per year) will be within the 7 months Oct-April. Less than 10% in Sept & May. 0% in June/July/August. So far we have 2 Sept UY. I might be persuaded to buy Aug or Oct UY if the right contract came along. I was tempted by a very sweet Mar UY resale but it was gone before I could even consider it!

 

[tx911]

Proudly 100% February

 

[ehh]

Started with an April.. added a March use year just because I wanted a sub dues Aulani contract. Not an ideal split but unfortunately didn't have that many options with sub dues Aulani. In hindsight like I've said on here multiple times I would've gotten the sub dues Aulani and then bought RIV direct. I don't really mind it though because each membership can easily function on their own with 300+ points in each. I also am glad it's given me a better understanding of use year and what it looks like on the dashboard but I wish my use years maybe were spaced out a little better.

I now pretty much use it to help me keep track of my direct points and my resale points without having to look at the point breakdowns of each contract. I'm planning to add direct Poly to my direct RIV UY and if I add more resale down the line it'll probably be to the March UY.

Those March AUL-S are so much more common than the other UYs...

 

[atthebeachclub]

I know nobody asked this question, but here to answer for those of us with just one use year: I only have December use year. I was open to September, October, or December since we travel only in winter and those months made the most sense.

Since my first contract was December (because that was what I found availability wise), I debated about adding a second use year when I saw some excellent availability and deals in other use years, but I listened to the prevailing wisdom on the board and elsewhere to stick to one use year if you only travel at one time of year. So that’s what I have done! It cost me a bit more effort and money to find contracts all in the same use year, but I think I will be happier with the choice down the road, and I know my family would not want to deal with multiple use years if they ever have to plan for us.

Sometimes I think October would be even better for winter travel, but I do like December and I am unlikely to travel in the fall before December anyway.

 

[TCRAIG]

In nearly 100% of the cases it’s about price and then mentally looking for confirmation bias to justify the actions.

If Disney offered a low cost way to switch UYs most people would put them all in the same year.

Not me! Having multiple UYs is almost a must for those - like me - that travel to Disney multiple times and at different times of the year…

 

[AstroBlasters]

Not me! Having multiple UYs is almost a must for those - like me - that travel to Disney multiple times and at different times of the year…

I’ll put you in the “nearly” category.

 

[TCRAIG]

I’ll put you in the “nearly” category.

Yup that’s me - marching to my own tube player

 

[Moneypenny]

We started with October because we traveled at Thanksgiving and in January when our daughter had school breaks. She's in college now, so DH and I take more trips just the two of us (currently 5-6 nights while we both work full-time) and found we like to go in September and May, and bring her with in January when she's on break. We've decided when we retire in 5-10 years we'd like to do 3 trips/year of maybe 10-ish days (maybe a bit longer in January or February to escape the cold, gray winters we have at home). We added September UY.

So we use:
October UY for January and May
September UY for September and January

If our daughter, who loves Disney as much as we do, has children, I'm guessing this schedule might change a bit to accommodate the grandkids' schools schedules, but a couple of different UYs gives us some flexibility on timing.

An important note is that DH and I did a couple of trips just the two of us before we added more points to be sure that we actually enjoy Disney without a kid along. Turns out we love it! We also love bringing our daughter (and her boyfriend if he's available). They are two different kinds of trips, but both wonderful in their own ways.

 

[RWeThereYetJJ]

I am very happy with having 2 different UYs. I bought my initial contract resale. My first choice was an Oct UY because my family wanted to visit WDW during fall, winter, and spring breaks; however, I could not come to terms on the Oct UY contract I was targeting. I ended up settling on a Feb UY contract. The Feb UY can cover the same periods, but if I have to cancel the fall break trip, I run the risk of losing the points due to having to rebook during the busy holiday season at the end of my UY. Therefore, I decided to add on an Oct UY contract to cover the fall break and leave me with plenty of time to rebook if I have to cancel.

I have about 70% of my points in a Feb UY and 30% in the Oct UY. The nice thing is the Oct UY banking window overlaps the first 4 months of the Feb UY. I can either bank my Oct UY points or transfer them to the Feb UY. If I have to call MS for something else, I usually ask to transfer the points. Then I can combine them with the fresh Feb UY points for a larger accommodation or longer stay during winter or spring.

Having 2 UYs gives me greater flexibility to use my points and reduces the risk I may lose the points.

 

[bakerworld]

We have a Dec UY. When we originally joined DVC we told DVC that we traveled in March and October. They said Dec UY was what they had. For us it wasn't an issue until two years ago and now I wish we had points specifically for Fall usage but that ship has sailed. IMO, if you travel in two disparate seasons - like March and December - definitely purchase in 2 different UYs to not lose any points. We've been close but we've always managed to not lose our points.

 

[NVDISFamily]

We have somewhat large buckets of points in a June and Dec UY split between WDW and DLR. Gives us solid coverage for all of the year with options on both coasts for visiting. Looking forward to lots of fun in the early retirement years