Point usage question

[lovinwdw]

Hi everyone! We are still in our ROFR time period, but I have a question. This is our first contract and we purchased 180 points at SSR. We plan on going the first week of November 2015. We are bringing my 20 year old niece with is and we are a family of 5 (3 little boys), so we will be getting a 2 bedroom villa this time around. I plan on borrowing points from 2016. So here's my question, are we crazy to continually borrow from the following year? Our plans after 2015 are to hopefully get a 1 bedroom at AKV for our family. So each year I would have to borrow less & less.

 

[disneynutz]

If the number of points needed for your vacations change all of the time then I wouldn't worry about it. If you find that you are always short I would think about a small add on.

IMO it's too early in your ownership to worry about that, I would be more concerned that you purchased the resort that you fall in love with and that you took advantage of the best UY.

Bill

 

[lovinwdw]

I don't quite get the importance of the UY yet. Ours is December, which works well for us since we will get 180 points starting December 2014. We only go 1x per year.

 

[crisi]

Eventually there will be a time when you run out of points in a year - and that's fine - if its a small number of points you are borrowing each year, it will take a while - the year you run out of points - rent points from someone else, or go somewhere else, or stay on cash, or stay offsite. You might want to do a little math and figure out when its likely for that point in time to be - if its really soon, then you might be looking at an add on - but if its five or ten years out, its quite possible you'll want a Disney break for a year (or do something else - like pay cash for a cruise). You can cross that bridge when you come to it.

 

[lovinwdw]

Great! Thank you so much! I actually did the math and it would be about 6-7 years out.

 

[eporter66]

Here is my story

We purchased DVC back in the fall of 2003 after a vacation to Wilderness Lodge. My wife and I had gone to WDW 3x as a couple, and we were in the process of adopting our daughter at the time. We loved WDW before having a child, so we knew WDW would be a place we knew we would continue to vacation at for years to come.

At the time, SSR was being offered (and built), and I think we got a great price at $79 a point. We purchased 150 points based on what we thought at the time would be our vacation cycle, and moved forward. Our plan was to go every other year, which would allow us to bank and use 300 points give our take.

Well - our good intentions were trumped by our enjoyment of WDW. As you can see from my signature, we have continued to go back almost yearly. I have successfully managed my points, and have been in a "borrow" cycle over the last 10 years. We always book a 1 bedroom.

Our upcoming trip is for 5 nights, at 140 points, leaving us with 57 points for 2015 (based on our transactions over the years). So - I may be borrowing, but I am still in a decent place for the next few trips if I can continue to balance it out. At some point, we will probably decide to skip a year, or we may have to pay cash for part of a trip to get the points back, but we have managed quite well up until now. I am probably overly conservative, but I did not want to get to a point where we may lose or not use our points. I just dont want the hassle or worry, so for us it has worked out great. Borrowing to me makes more sense than over doing it.

As another poster mentioned, give yourself a few trips, and you will see what your habits and preferences are, and then based on that you may want to purchase additional points, but give it time and learn how you vacation before getting more.

 

[RescueRanger]

I don't quite get the importance of the UY yet. Ours is December, which works well for us since we will get 180 points starting December 2014. We only go 1x per year.

UY is important because of banking deadlines. I see you are going in Nov. If you always plan to travel in Nov, then a Dec UY is a bad idea. When you cancel a trip, if you are in the last 4 months of your UY your points cannot be banked. They will expire on the last day of your use year. If you have a Dec use year, that would mean your points would expire after Nov 30. So lets say you have a trip reserved the first week of Nov. In Sept, you find out you have to cancel your trip for some unforeseen reason. Because you are past your banking deadline, you would have to use those points before Nov 30 or lose them. However, if you had a Nov UY and had to cancel, you could still bank those points to be used the next year. I hope that is not too confusing.

 

[disneynutz]

I don't quite get the importance of the UY yet. Ours is December, which works well for us since we will get 180 points starting December 2014. We only go 1x per year.

UY is less about when you get your points and more about having to bank your points before August each year.

If you take a vacation in August, September, October, or November and have to cancel due to illness, job issues, airline issue or any reason, you have to re-schedule and use your points before December or you lose them.

The correct UY based on when you usually travel is free banking insurance. For many it's not a deal breaker but for some it saved a years worth of points.

Bill

 

[lovinwdw]

Here is my story We purchased DVC back in the fall of 2003 after a vacation to Wilderness Lodge. My wife and I had gone to WDW 3x as a couple, and we were in the process of adopting our daughter at the time. We loved WDW before having a child, so we knew WDW would be a place we knew we would continue to vacation at for years to come. At the time, SSR was being offered (and built), and I think we got a great price at $79 a point. We purchased 150 points based on what we thought at the time would be our vacation cycle, and moved forward. Our plan was to go every other year, which would allow us to bank and use 300 points give our take. Well - our good intentions were trumped by our enjoyment of WDW. As you can see from my signature, we have continued to go back almost yearly. I have successfully managed my points, and have been in a "borrow" cycle over the last 10 years. We always book a 1 bedroom. Our upcoming trip is for 5 nights, at 140 points, leaving us with 57 points for 2015 (based on our transactions over the years). So - I may be borrowing, but I am still in a decent place for the next few trips if I can continue to balance it out. At some point, we will probably decide to skip a year, or we may have to pay cash for part of a trip to get the points back, but we have managed quite well up until now. I am probably overly conservative, but I did not want to get to a point where we may lose or not use our points. I just dont want the hassle or worry, so for us it has worked out great. Borrowing to me makes more sense than over doing it. As another poster mentioned, give yourself a few trips, and you will see what your habits and preferences are, and then based on that you may want to purchase additional points, but give it time and learn how you vacation before getting more.

Thank you for sharing! Definitely gives me hope!

 

[lovinwdw]

Thank you for the UY info. If I have to cancel for whatever reason, can I sell those points if I can't use them by 11/30?

 

[DebbieB]

Use year can also have an affect on borrowing power. I have a friend who had an August use year and was always in a state of borrowing. Her kids got older and were both in school and she preferred to go in June. She couldn't borrow when she wanted. So she had to do August vacations so that the next year would be available to borrow.

 

[lovinwdw]

Wait...so the points aren't always readily available to borrow?? Would I be able to borrow points from December in November?

 

[Minniesgal]

We bought our contract intending to be in a borrowing situation, I like it as it saves me worrying about points expiring. I don't have to used the exact number before the end of my UY as I am using some borrowed points. However, every so often we will skip a trip to catch up.

 

[lovinwdw]

I was really worried about borrowing every year, but you're all making me feel better about it! Thank you!!

 

[chalee94]

Thank you for the UY info. If I have to cancel for whatever reason, can I sell those points if I can't use them by 11/30?

dec UY means you have to bank by july 31. so if you cancel after july 31, any current pts in a november reservation will expire on nov 30. (any banked or borrowed pts will expire on nov 30 also - they cannot be moved again.)

you can't really "sell pts." but you could rent the reservation if you could find a taker but if you are canceling in oct and need to re-book a reservation that takes place before nov 30, you will find your options limited both on the renter side and in terms of what you can book on such short notice.

there is a definite risk of losing pts if you travel at the end of your UY and need to cancel...

Wait...so the points aren't always readily available to borrow?? Would I be able to borrow points from December in November?

you can borrow dec 2015 UY pts for use in booking a nov 2015 stay, yes. the nov 2015 stay is in your 2014 UY so that would work. just depends on what month you are talking about.

the biggest thing to keep in mind about UY is that it has nothing at all to do with when you can book.

if i own an oct UY and you own a dec UY, we can both book our home resort at 11 months out. the big difference is that if i need to cancel a nov reservation at 35 days out, i still have 12 months to decide what to do with my pts and can still bank those pts to the next UY. with a dec UY for a nov stay, your options would be a lot more limited.

here is a recent thread with more UY discussion:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3297033

 

[lovinwdw]

Thank you for that info!

 

[DebbieB]

Wait...so the points aren't always readily available to borrow?? Would I be able to borrow points from December in November?

Here's an example:

December use year:

December 2014 stay: 2014 would be current, you could borrow 2015
November 2014 stay: 2013 would be current, you could borrow 2014

Say you want to book a stay in November 2014 and you have already used your 2013 & 2014 points. You could not borrow 2015. You could borrow 2015 if your stay starts 12-1-14 or after. So the disadvantage comes if you regularly want to book stays in the fall before 12/1 and need to borrow. In that case, a September or October use year would be better, 2015 would be available to borrow earlier and you would have more time to use them if you cancelled.