New member needs opinions - please help

[markd]

We just bought into DVC Animal Kingdom at Kidani. We have learned quite a bit over the past few weeks, but still have a question. We need to pick the month to get our points. Since we can't use any points til' May '09 we know this years do not matter, but not sure what would be best going forward. We have talked to our guide about June or September.

Are there advantages of having certain months? My concern was that if we did go with September, but wanted to go away in August, we would have to borrow ahead instead of just using our own points. I have been racking my brain trying to find an advantage of waiting til' September, but I have not any.

So, I turn to where the experts hang out and ask for advice.

While I am here I have one more question. We only purchased 160 points at this time so that we can purchase shares at other resorts as well. We see ourselves eventually owning about 250, but like the idea of adding later to have 2 home resorts available for booking 11 months out. My question is that when the time comes and we buy into our second resort, is it better to get our points reset in the same month or spread them 6 months apart?

Are there any advantages or disadvantages in either scenario aside of course it being easier to manage if they are the same.

 

[peacefrogdog]

Just curious - when you did your purchase, did they say what use years were available (i.e. the months you get your points)? Did they give you free choice of any month, or just certain ones?

 

[markd]

not sure, my finace actually made the call and asked me what I thought. I am going to talk with the guide tomorrow and will let you know, but I know they talked about June and September. From what I gathered he asked her when we like to vacation so it seemed like there may be a choice, but again I will find out tomorrow for sure

 

[spaceace510]

i think that an early month would be better. That way, if you decide to go earlier you have that option without the need to borrow

 

[Brian Noble]

Rather than optimize for just your first year, think about when you "normally go". You want your "typical trip" to fall earlier rather than later in your use year, so that if you have to cancel for some reason, you have the most possible flexibility.

 

[castleri]

If you think you will be doing mostly May or August/Sept trips you might ask about an April UY. That way if you ever have to cancel you have time to reschedule or bank the points as your banking date would be the end of Dec.
An August UY would have to be banked by the end of April so it might also work. I hve both of these UY and they have proven to be great. I did not get a choice when we bought but it worked out to be the best for when we typically vacation - The advice to plan around when you think you will usually vacation is very sound.

 

[chalee94]

We see ourselves eventually owning about 250, but like the idea of adding later to have 2 home resorts available for booking 11 months out.

when you say things like this, i just want to be sure you're clear that the 11 month window for each home resort is independent of the other one. if you add-on elsewhere, those pts can't be used to book AKV until 7 months out. (just making sure...)

My question is that when the time comes and we buy into our second resort, is it better to get our points reset in the same month or spread them 6 months apart?

if you add-on, the pts MUST come with the same UY month. if you want another UY month, you have to buy resale or else buy another 160 pt contract.

 

[Maribel]

My US month is august and it works great, since I have until end of march to decide if I want to bank points. I don't go to WDW during summer months, so for me this is great (no last minute cancelations on points that I can't bank), but it will depend on when you want to travel. Remember a June UY means it ends on May 31st and you will need to bank by jan 31st, whereas a sept UY means it ends on aug 31st and you need to bank by april 30th.

HIH

 

[FLYNZ4]

Rather than optimize for just your first year, think about when you "normally go". You want your "typical trip" to fall earlier rather than later in your use year, so that if you have to cancel for some reason, you have the most possible flexibility.

I think this is good advise.

I also think it makes sense to get a UY that is immediately following a "slow period". That way if you have to cancel a trip and the points go into holding... you can get a last minute reservation easier. I think some of the easiest months to book are September, and much of Jan/Feb.

I think that most people's travel patterns change at various phases of their lives. With school age, or even college age kids... Summer and mid-spring are often the best options. Some enjoy Christmas too. We optimized for summer/spring... because our kids were all school and/or college age... plus we knew that at some time, there would probably be grandkids that would start that cycle over again.

March seemed like the ideal use year for us... because it gave us good options all spring/summer... plus it gave us a fairly easy "last minute" booking option of Jan/Feb to recover from any unplanned cancellations that generated points in the holding account.

OTOH... March seems to be one of the hardest use years to buy resale... maybe for the exact reasons that I mention above.

/Jim

 

[TenThousandVolts]

Pick a use year month that would generally just preceed the months you would be most likely to travel OR figure out the 4 months out of the year you would be least likely to travel and then choose the next month as your UY month. In the scenario above- August travel with a Sept. Use Year- borrowing isn't so much of a problem. The big trouble would be if you had to last minute cancel the August trip- you would probably lose those points- you would have no window to rebook a trip or rent the points as they would be gone on Sept. 1st.

As for adding-on if you add-on and want the contract to be a sub-contract of your current SSR you will have to have the same Use Year. Buying directly from DVC, if you really want a different use year, you would have to buy a 160 minimum and it would be considered a new master contract. You could buy a smaller contract resale with a different UY- but it would be a separate contract.

Having 2 home resorts with the same UY in one account is easier for point management. You would lose some of that simplicity if choosing a separate UY.