Need help...thinking about VGC and VWL

[cpster]

Hi everyone,

First off I want to thank everyone in advance for their responses. I've been reading for awhile, but still have questions and want to make sure I understand things clearly.

We want to buy enough points to do a week in a one bedroom unit. The first resort we are looking at is VGC due to proximity to home. If we were to also get a contract for half the total number of points needed for a week's stay at a second home resort (VWL), would we not be able to book at VGC using the VWL points until 7 months? Please assume same use year. We would also be using the points from the VGC contract.

Also, is the deadline for banking points at 4 months before the use year?

Thanks!

 

[disneynutz]

Home resort points can only be used at the home resort at 11 months, all resorts at 7 months. You can bank and borrow to increase the available home resort points.

You are correct, you can only bank your points during the first 8 months of your UY.

 

[CarolMN]

Hi everyone,

First off I want to thank everyone in advance for their responses. I've been reading for awhile, but still have questions and want to make sure I understand things clearly.

We want to buy enough points to do a week in a one bedroom unit. The first resort we are looking at is VGC due to proximity to home. If we were to also get a contract for half the total number of points needed for a week's stay at a second home resort (VWL), would we not be able to book at VGC using the VWL points until 7 months? Please assume same use year. We would also be using the points from the VGC contract.

Also, is the deadline for banking points at 4 months before the use year?

Thanks!

Some members do as you propose - half the points at one resort and half at another. Then they alternate trips. For example:

In year 1, stay at VGC by using VGC current year points and borrowing the next year's points to get enough for the week in a one bedroom. This stay can be booked at the 11 month window. The VWL points are banked to the next use year.

In year 2, stay at the VWL using the banked points and the current use year points. This stay can be booked at the 11 month window. There are no VGC points to worry about because those were used for last year's VGC stay.

In year 3, repeat year 1. In year 4 repeat year 2. Etc.

Have fun deciding.

 

[DizDays]

We are doing what CarolMN suggested and it works really well for us. We have, at times, deviated from this plan and gotten creative, but it works well. For ease, just make sure you have same use year. Although you could pull it off if they were different use years, it would get sticky if you tried to combine points for a larger trip.

 

[bwvBound]

Do study up on Use Year and its implications on cancelations and banking points. We found that it didn't make sense, for us, to have DVC contracts from both WDW and Disneyland under the same UY as our travel patterns were very different.

For WDW, we visit in Fall/Winter (Oct-Feb) -- thus an Oct UY is a good fit for our points from DVC Saratoga Springs.

For Disneyland, we tend to visit Spring/Summer (Apr-Sept). If we used the Oct UY of our SSR points, we'd have to bank by May 31 ... which adds some risk to using points for DLR visits June, July, Aug and Sept. For us, an April UY would be the better UY for VGC. (We ended up not buying VGC because of the UY issues.)

 

[cpster]

Thanks for the thoughtful replies everyone!

Besides the annual maintenance fees calculated per point, are there any other costs we should be aware of? Do the maintenance fees include any property taxes owed?

I think I read on there before that the property tax portion of the maintenance fees may be tax deductible, is that correct? Are there any other potential tax benefits?

We have two young children and have been behind the ball setting up a trust and such. Do any of you hold title using your trust?

Thanks!