Pre-Purchase Question Regarding "Use Year" - *Need Some Clarity*

[jsrj21]

Finally considering purchasing a DVC contract after going to WDW for over 20 years. I understand that use year means the day that Disney deposits the points in ones account - but I am not sure if there is a better UY than another for every situation. For example, I am a teacher, so our trips are always in late July and August. We've gone during Christmas/New Year a few times but the vast majority of our trips are in August. Is there a "better" or ideal use year that I should be looking to get locked into? Any help getting some clarity on this would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[JeffjonesHfx]

Finally considering purchasing a DVC contract after going to WDW for over 20 years. I understand that use year means the day that Disney deposits the points in ones account - but I am not sure if there is a better UY than another for every situation. For example, I am a teacher, so our trips are always in late July and August. We've gone during Christmas/New Year a few times but the vast majority of our trips are in August. Is there a "better" or ideal use year that I should be looking to get locked into? Any help getting some clarity on this would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

My wife is a teacher and our yearly travel is the same, July and August trips only. In my research, I found that most people recomend that if you travel in the same time frame every year, it is best to have a use year that is a month or two prior to your yearly travel time. The reasoning I got from all I read/watched that, if you need to cancel your usual trip, this gives you the max amount of time to bank or otherwise use those points going forward for future travel.

As I said we usually travel in July/Auguest and I bought contracts with a June use year, so I can use the points in the same calendar year for travel (which I imagine will be the typical scenario) but will also allow me until February of the following year to bank those points for travel in the following year, if for some reason we choose not to travel in a given year.

Hopefully I have got that reasoning correct, but I am sure there are more seasoned DVC members that have a better explanation.

 

[JackosinDIS]

June would be ideal for you!

 

[Tatebeck]

You want a use year in the spring or early summer then. Any use year would work, but the general rule is that you want to use most of your points on vacations during the beginning and middle of your use year. Any trips that you plan for the last 4 months of your use year are after your banking deadline. So If you have to cancel one of those trips, you would have to plan a trip with a very quick turnaround (and low availability) in order to use your points before the end of the use year since they cannot be banked any longer.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I agree with the June UY recommendations.

 

[jsrj21]

I agree with the June UY recommendations.

Thank you!

 

[jsrj21]

You want a use year in the spring or early summer then. Any use year would work, but the general rule is that you want to use most of your points on vacations during the beginning and middle of your use year. Any trips that you plan for the last 4 months of your use year are after your banking deadline. So If you have to cancel one of those trips, you would have to plan a trip with a very quick turnaround (and low availability) in order to use your points before the end of the use year since they cannot be banked any longer.

Thank you so much!!

 

[jsrj21]

My wife is a teacher and our yearly travel is the same, July and August trips only. In my research, I found that most people recomend that if you travel in the same time frame every year, it is best to have a use year that is a month or two prior to your yearly travel time. The reasoning I got from all I read/watched that, if you need to cancel your usual trip, this gives you the max amount of time to bank or otherwise use those points going forward for future travel.

As I said we usually travel in July/Auguest and I bought contracts with a June use year, so I can use the points in the same calendar year for travel (which I imagine will be the typical scenario) but will also allow me until February of the following year to bank those points for travel in the following year, if for some reason we choose not to travel in a given year.

Hopefully I have got that reasoning correct, but I am sure there are more seasoned DVC members that have a better explanation.

Makes so much more sense now! Thank you!

 

[jsrj21]

You want a use year in the spring or early summer then. Any use year would work, but the general rule is that you want to use most of your points on vacations during the beginning and middle of your use year. Any trips that you plan for the last 4 months of your use year are after your banking deadline. So If you have to cancel one of those trips, you would have to plan a trip with a very quick turnaround (and low availability) in order to use your points before the end of the use year since they cannot be banked any longer.

I forgot to mention that I was going to purchase a contract with a Sept UY. Please correct me if I'm wrong but this goes against your rationale because it'd be very close to the 'end' of when we usually travel correct? Thanks again!

 

[Tatebeck]

I forgot to mention that I was going to purchase a contract with a Sept UY. Please correct me if I'm wrong but this goes against your rationale because it'd be very close to the 'end' of when we usually travel correct? Thanks again!

Yes, I actually have a September use year for my contracts. But we like going in the fall/spring. October, December, January through April. We don't like it during the hottest times at Disney world, so for us, any trips that we plan from September through April 30th are very safe because that is in our banking window. As long as it's at least 31 days out when we cancel, we can still bank our points for next use year. If we cancel a trip during the summer, we have to rebook, travel, and use all those points before September first or we lose them.

 

[aceshigh73]

I forgot to mention that I was going to purchase a contract with a Sept UY. Please correct me if I'm wrong but this goes against your rationale because it'd be very close to the 'end' of when we usually travel correct? Thanks again!

Correct, and if you ever wanted to borrow pts from the next UY, you'd be borrowing with only a few months to use them. I have June UY as well, and for the time being we have a daughter in High School, we are going to WDW this april, if we wanted to get a larger room with 2024 pts, we'd have to be absolutely sure we'd be going as pulling from 2024 UY into 2023 (in this case April would still be 2023 pts for June UY )is terrible planning.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I forgot to mention that I was going to purchase a contract with a Sept UY. Please correct me if I'm wrong but this goes against your rationale because it'd be very close to the 'end' of when we usually travel correct? Thanks again!

September would possibly be the worst UY you could get for your stated travel schedule.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Education schedule as well. We have June and February. June is optimal for our summer vacations but also covers up to and including Christmas if the fancy hits you one year. And February gets us February break, spring break, and still summer if those two breaks aren't a go. We're also a fan of split stays so we don't mind using the two contracts separately. Between the two though June is the way to go.

 

[CarolynFH]

I forgot to mention that I was going to purchase a contract with a Sept UY. Please correct me if I'm wrong but this goes against your rationale because it'd be very close to the 'end' of when we usually travel correct? Thanks again!

You might want to spend a little time reading this thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/understanding-use-year-updated-february-10-2021.1942668/

 

[chalee94]

I forgot to mention that I was going to purchase a contract with a Sept UY. Please correct me if I'm wrong but this goes against your rationale because it'd be very close to the 'end' of when we usually travel correct? Thanks again!

Yes that would be a bad idea.

As the Understanding UY thread addresses, your points don't actually drop into your account on the first day of your UY - they are already there. So you can call on Aug 1, 2024 with a June UY to book a stay on July 1, 2025 using points from your 2025 UY. You can even borrow 2026 UY pts when you call in 2024. No waiting for points to "drop."

 

[gmi3804]

If you'll know by the end of January (the banking deadline for June UY points) that you won't be traveling between March and May, then a June UY is good for you. Any trip from February - May will run you the risk of not being able to bank those points should you cancel. But if you rarely travel during that time, then you should be fine.

My UY is September, because I NEVER (well, almost never) travel to WDW from June-August. If I do, I try to use current points that can be banked into the next year if I cancel, because my expiration date is 8/31, and if those points have already been banked, then I only have until 8/31 to use them or lose them. My banking deadline is end of April, and by then I know if I'm going in May.

 

[Lorana]

As a teacher, I would ask yourself if you would ever travel over winter breaks (here in MA, that includes a week in February and a week in April). If so, I would buy, say, a February UY. But that puts Oct-Jan in your last 4 months, and banking on Sep 30, so knowing if you will travel in the fall is also important.

I have a SEP UY. SOmetimes I wish we had decided on an Aug UY, as our anniversary is in August and sometimes we go in August. However, we really dislike the heat, so those are rare, and it works well for us. Sometimes we wish to travel in early May, which is in the last 4 months, but we usually know for certain we're going by the time we're traveling, and we know that we can use it over the summer if needed if by chance we need to cancel last minute in May.

 

[jsrj21]

You might want to spend a little time reading this thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/understanding-use-year-updated-february-10-2021.1942668/

Thank you! Will certainly read!

 

[jsrj21]

If you'll know by the end of January (the banking deadline for June UY points) that you won't be traveling between March and May, then a June UY is good for you. Any trip from February - May will run you the risk of not being able to bank those points should you cancel. But if you rarely travel during that time, then you should be fine.

My UY is September, because I NEVER (well, almost never) travel to WDW from June-August. If I do, I try to use current points that can be banked into the next year if I cancel, because my expiration date is 8/31, and if those points have already been banked, then I only have until 8/31 to use them or lose them. My banking deadline is end of April, and by then I know if I'm going in May.

Great insight, thank you! I also wondered if an August UY would work for me. I have gone several times in December for Christmas but it is not the norm. We also have a Feb and April break but I have never gone during that time...maybe when I retire! Our usual trek down is in August with that wonderful heat and humidity!! Thanks again!

 

[jsrj21]

As a teacher, I would ask yourself if you would ever travel over winter breaks (here in MA, that includes a week in February and a week in April). If so, I would buy, say, a February UY. But that puts Oct-Jan in your last 4 months, and banking on Sep 30, so knowing if you will travel in the fall is also important.

I have a SEP UY. SOmetimes I wish we had decided on an Aug UY, as our anniversary is in August and sometimes we go in August. However, we really dislike the heat, so those are rare, and it works well for us. Sometimes we wish to travel in early May, which is in the last 4 months, but we usually know for certain we're going by the time we're traveling, and we know that we can use it over the summer if needed if by chance we need to cancel last minute in May.

Thank you for the info!