Question about use years

[labst60]

I guess I dont' fully understand the signficance of use years yet.

Let's hypothetically say you have 150pts - December use year and used all of your 2003 points.

So... you would get 150 points on December 2004.

Let's say you wanted to take a late December trip - does that mean you couldn't make the reservations before 12/1/04 or does that mean the stay couldn't start before 12/1/04?

And if you wanted to go in November 2005, you would just have to "borrow" (unless you had remaining 2004 points). Is this correct?

I guess what I dont' understand is why use year is a big deal if you get the same number of points at the same time every year.

What am I missing???

Someone please enlighten me

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

You can always call 11 months in advance for your home resort so you wouldn't have to wait until December 1 to call. For a December 1, 2005 reservation you could call on January 1, 2005. When you can make a reservation has nothing to do with use year.

The only time use year matters is when you have to cancel a reservation. If you make a reservation for November 1 and you have a December use year and end up canceling the trip on October 1, you have already passed all of the deadlines for banking points and unless you can re-arrange your trip to take place by the end of that November, you lose your points.

That's why you often hear people suggest to get a use year that falls just before you usually vacation at WDW. That way if you have to cancel, you have enough time to bank your points or the rest of the year to take your trip.

Good luck.

HBC

 

[tjkraz]

The main significance is the banking windows.

With a December Use Year, you can bank 100% of your annual points into the next Use Year if you do it by 5/31 (6 months before the end of the UY).

You then have until 3 months out to bank 50% (6/1 to 8/31).

And, from 9/1 to 9/30 you can bank 25% of your points.

There is no banking in those last two months of the Use Year.

To make a reservation, no, you do not have to have the points available at the time of the reservation. They just need to be available at the time of check-in.

But you are correct in your question about November '05--if your points become available on 12/1/05, you can borrow them into (what is technically) your 2004 Use Year for that November stay. But, just be warned that once the points are borrowed (which happens when the reservation is made), those 2005 points formally become 2004 points. They cannot be banked and must be used by 11/30/04 or they are lost.

If you plan on vacationing around the same time each year, it is best to choose a Use Year that immediately PRECEEDS your travel dates. Then, if you have to cancel a trip, you have pleanty of time left in the use year to bank the points to next year. On the other hand, if you often travel right around the end of your Use Year, and unexpected cancellation can mean that the points are simply forfeit.

Finally, if you travel at all different times of the year, the Use Year doesn't really matter a bit. You just need to keep track of those banking deadlines in case opportunities for banking occur.

 

[Richyams]

does that mean the stay couldn't start before 12/1/04?

Bingo

Use year has nothing at all to do with when you can make reservations.

The only significance use year has comes up when canceling.

Use year is not a big deal, you are not missing anything.

If you tend to cancel plans often, you should take a little care in picking a use year zero to five or six months before your usual vacation time. We have been members since '92, use year has never impacted us.