Please help: Use year, banking, booking 7 month window with banked?

[Robindianne]

Hi,

My use year is Feb. My banking window is September I think. My 7-month reservation window for the May trip we are taking is October. I do not understand how to coordinate this. I'm of average intelligence but cannot figure it out.

I graduate from USC May 16, 2013. We want to stay about a week around that at (pref) Grand Californian. But if we don't bank our current points in September, we lose them right? But if we bank them, we can't use them until February right? Which is probably too late to get a reservation right? What's a DVC bumpkin to do?

Thank you in advance for slogging through this with me

 

[cvjw]

Bank your points, and make your reservation like you want in October. You do not have to wait until Feb to make a reservation for 2014.

 

[LisaS]

My use year is Feb. My banking window is September I think.

Your banking window closes on Sep 30 but you can bank your points any time within the first 8 months of your UY. You could bank your Feb 2013 points today if you wanted to do so. Once banked, they will be good for stays from Feb 1, 2014 through Jan 31, 2015. If you do not bank them, they can be used for stays from now through Jan 31, 2014 and any unused Feb 2013 points will expire at that time.

My 7-month reservation window for the May trip we are taking is October. ... I graduate from USC May 16, 2013. We want to stay about a week around that at (pref) Grand Californian.

As you said, your 7-month window for a stay in May 2014 opens in Oct 2013. You can use Feb 2013 points that you have banked into your 2014 UY, and/or Feb 2014 points and you can also borrow Feb 2015 points if you need them to complete the reservation. Banking your Feb 2013 points can be done any time between now and Sep 30. Once banked, they are good for stays from Feb 1, 2014 until Jan 31, 2015 but you can always book a stay 11 months out when using home resort points and 7 months out when using non-home points regardless of your UY and regardless of whether the points are current UY points or banked or borrowed.

 

[com_op_2000]

OP just a note:
It is not when you book the reservation that the points need to be available it is when you are going to travel that they need to be available.

 

[drusba]

Step 1: Contact MS and bank points into Feb 2014 use year. Do that between now and end of Sep.

Step 2: In mid-Oct, exactly 7 months out from date of arrival at 8 a.m. eastern time (5 a.m. USC time) go on-line and book the reservation you want for May if VGC is available (it may not be and you might have to wait list for some of the nights). When making that reservation in Oct, you will be able to use any points that will be available at the time of your trip: banked 2013 points and Feb 2014 points, and, if needed, you can borrow from Feb 2015 points.

 

[chalee94]

Hi,

My use year is Feb. My banking window is September I think. My 7-month reservation window for the May trip we are taking is October. I do not understand how to coordinate this. I'm of average intelligence but cannot figure it out.

I graduate from USC May 16, 2013. We want to stay about a week around that at (pref) Grand Californian. But if we don't bank our current points in September, we lose them right? But if we bank them, we can't use them until February right? Which is probably too late to get a reservation right? What's a DVC bumpkin to do?

Thank you in advance for slogging through this with me

UY has nothing at all to do with the booking window. Oct is 7 months from a May trip no matter when your UY starts.

Even if you only had Feb 2015 UY pts available to borrow for a May 2014 stay, you could still book your home resort at 11 months out and other resorts at 7 months out.

The big issue is availability for VGC at 7 months out. Good luck.

 

[Robindianne]

I just realized I hadn't set up to received replies so I never saw these! Thank you all so much for the help. We are good to go then.