Pros and Cons of Two Different Use Years

[RweTHEREyet]

Can anyone tell me what might be the advantages and/or disadvantages to 2 different Use Years. We already have Sept at OKW and BCV, and am thinking about Dec for SSR. I know there would be a record keeping issue, but I use 2 of the wonderful tracking programs offered by members on this site for my two home resorts right now and they work wonderfully.

Do people only get different Use Years when they can't avoid it or are there instances when it might be an advantage?

 

[lat]

I have 3 different use years and I love it this way. The best part is that you can decide which use year's pts you want to use depending on your travel dates within the 7 month window.

Of course, it requires a little tracking. But it is not really a big deal if you are on top of it.

 

[wdwsos]

Originally posted by RweTHEREyet
Can anyone tell me what might be the advantages and/or disadvantages to 2 different Use Years.

For me, personally, it would be wondering if I could keep it all straight as I got older. Things that are simple right now may be pretty confusing in 20 years, and I'm hoping to be getting the full benefit of my DVC points when I'm 70.

RweTHEREyet, I think I met your son at SAB on my August trip! What a nice young man!

Dotti

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by RweTHEREyet
Do people only get different Use Years when they can't avoid it or are there instances when it might be an advantage?

I would try to avoid it if you can.It will make things much easier to keep track of everything. We have 300 at OKW and 300 at VB, all with Sept use yr.

 

[Disney Doll]

You just have to be on top of the bankingthing. You can bank points at certain times of the year etc, and if you have 3 different use years,that can get a little hairy.

We have 2 contracts, one with a September and one with an October use year, so it's not too bad,since the banking times are close.

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by wdwsos
For me, personally, it would be wondering if I could keep it all straight as I got older. Things that are simple right now may be pretty confusing in 20 years, and I'm hoping to be getting the full benefit of my DVC points when I'm 70.

I have 4 different Use Years and, thus far, I've had no problem tracking them ... and I'm older than dirt.

I use a checking program (MS Money) to track the points. Just set up each contract as an account. Works very well ... until Caskbill gets his tracking program added to the planner he's aleady done.

 

[Nana Sue]

We have 698 points divided in two use years- two months next to each other. If I had it to do over I'd buy all the points in one use year. I had a guide tell me once that there are thousands of DVC points that go unused, and I can see why. If you have points at several resorts with various use years it would be easy to let points slip away. I love Disney with all my heart but we have a life besides Disney. We travel a lot to other places besides Orlando, have five grandkids, etc. and I don't think of Disney every hour of every day as some of you must with all of your posts. I really have to make an effort to keep track of those points and I know it's going to get worse the older I get. Then there are always a few stray points in one contract that you haven't used that you have to deal with. I don't have my points in a computer program as some of you do, just keep track in a notebook. Maybe that's the secret but I tried one and found it more work than it was worth. IMHO I'd stick to one use year.

 

[Dean]

If all points were one use resort, it really simplifies things if it's all one use year. If they are different resorts, you still have to track them separately even if the same use year so the benefit is less. Actually, it sometimes prevents them from using the wrong points in some situations. If you travel different times of the year, you can sometimes chose which use year to use (if you have several) keeping you in the situation where you could easily bank or have far more time to plan other options if you cancel. This is what we do. If we go in the fall, we use the August use year. If we go in the winter, we use the Dec use year and for Spring we use the April use year.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

well, when we first bought, we used Magical Beginnings, and have never gotten into a banking situation since. I was thinking if we bought Dec Use Year at SSR, that might turn things around for us.

So, if banking is the only issue, I may not worry about it.

 

[Luvdisney]

Okay so now I think maybe I made a mistake. I just had my guide talk me into keeping the same use year for my SSR add on, June. Now I'm thinking I should have gone with the Dec. UY. and gotten SSR 03 points.

 

[DisneyMeMa]

We have points at the 4 WDW DVC resorts, all of them bought directly from Disney, and we have two different use years. So far, I don't see a problem with managing them.

All but the BCV points have a December use year. We bought February BCV points because we would have those points available when the resort opened (we took DGDs in August, 2002) and if we had gotten December points we wouldn't have them until December, 2002. Not really all that big of a deal since everyone could start making reservations at the same time for the opening of BCV and we had other points we could use. I do think BCV February use year is a good fit because we are most likely to use the BCV points in the Spring or Summer.

Another very unlikely consideration was if for some reason there was some huge assessment (for instance YC, BC & BCVdecided to/needed to make some major changes to SAB) and we decided not to participate that it could affect our other points. Again, I think this is highly unlikely and truly I am not concerned, but it was a consideration. My DH wants to be certain that nothing I do will affect our OKW vacations. LOL. I am not aware of anything like that for SSR.

Now thanks to all the knowledgeabe DISers who generously share on the site, if we had it to do over again, we would probably buy all 150 point contracts. It may be easier long term to give/will/sell them, even if it takes a little more bookkeeping along the way.

 

[Granny]

We've got two contracts and two use years. It's not a big deal, though it would be easier if all had the same use year month.

One of my use years is October. I don't care for the end of the year use years like that because we almost always use these points in a different calendar year than when we get them. Kind of confusing.

But I found Dave Frederick's tracking program to be excellent. And Caskbill's will be as well, I'm sure, when it's programmed.

 

[jag90]

Are there a minimum number of points to buy in order to get an additional use year? We were looking into the 100 - 150 range and this wasn't mentioned by my guide.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

to get a new Use Year, it must be a new contract, not an add-on, and minimum points for a new contract are 150 points.

 

[JimC]

Two contracts with two use years and no problem tracking them. We use Fredrickson's program to manage contracts and Caskbill's to plan trips. Here are links:

http://hometown.aol.com/dmfredrick/Download.html

http://web.nalu.net/~wneth/dvcplanner.htm