Question about use month/year

[WDWalways]

I am *hopefully* (praying as we speak!!) going to be a member by August -- do I get to pick a month or does Disney pick for me?? Will it be August automatically if that's the month it all goes through?? How does this work exactly?? Thanks!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Disney assigns the use month, and it will be fixed so that you will have the option of using or banking 100% of this years points if you so choose.

 

[Lew]

Unless it has changed since we purchased, there are usually three or four use years to select from. I may be wrong (I'm sure I'll be corrected if I am), but last I knew Disney does not simply assign the use year.

 

[WDWguruDH]

When we bought from Disney, not that long ago, we asked what use years were still available and then picked one that matched our other contracts...unless it changed, you should be able to pick.

 

[Granny]

WDWalways....

Looking at the numerous vacation visits under your signature, I can't really see that one use month will be much better than another for you. You seem to vacation at various times of the year.....so since you don't usually vacation at a particular time of the year, you can't really pick a use month that will help you out of last minute cancellations.

If you vacationed during the summer each year, then you would want to avoid a mid-summer or end of summer use year because you would have so little time to use any cancelled points.

Hopefully, I haven't confused you. I think what I'm trying to say is that I think it doesn't matter much what your use month is if your vacation pattern is at various times of the year. For us, we go often in the summer so our February use month is fine. However, it won't be so good if we later on decide to go mainly on December/January trips.

 

[DebbieB]

If you buy in August, you probably could go back as far as March. They usually don't go back farther than the 100% banking deadline for new members, March is August 31. I bought in September 1999 and got April. So I got April 1999 points, sold some back via Magical Beginnings ($10 then) and then got a full allotment of points in April 2000.

 

[WDWalways]

Even though it doesn't really look like it the time of year I usually go is Sept/Oct so what month should I choose if I have a choice?? I'm very confused!!

 

[wdeversole]

August would be a good use year, then.
If you go during a certain period evey year, then a use year just before you go is best.

You only have the first six months of your use year in which to bank all of that year's points until the next use year. So if you had a February use year - you could bank all of your points until July 31st, and 50% until October 31st. If you had to cancel an October trip after July 31st in this case, you would have to use at least half of your points before January 31st or lose them.

Hope this made sense.