Question/Advice about UY's......Need help

[Disney Devoted Daddy]

I am learning more and more, but I still need some advice on what UY I will need to establish when I purchase my DVC.

We will be going to WDW in Oct. each year and then might mix in a 2nd trip as we are able during different times of the year depending on what other "special" themes are going on at WDW.

Considering this, what is my best UY month and what is the break down for making ressies for October or making sure I don't lose points year by year.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rodserry]

I would get an August or Sept UY. We have a Sept UY so on Sept 1, we get a new "infusion" of points. That allows us to travel in the fall comfortably. You CAN make reservations now for a fall trip though (which was a bit confusing for me) so don't think just because your points are coming in Sept, you can only book after Sept. For example, I have no 2007 points left but I just booked a fall trip to OKW for Oct 1-7. I Know I will have new points come Sept 1 so I didn't need to bank or borrow or anything. I will just be using my 08 points, which come on Sept 1.

The only time a Sept UY is bad is if you plan to travel in the mid to late summer. Then if you have to cancel the last minute, you only have about a month to use up your points or else you lose them. We don't travel in the summer though (heat, crowds...) so for us, that doesn't matter. We love traveling Oct through about April -- that's why Sept UY is perfect.

You may not be able to pick your UY though. Many are wait listed or are sold out completely. Last I heard they were offering Dec UY, which I would NOT recommend if you travel in Oct.

Katherine

 

[LisaS]

As rodserry/Katherine said, your Use Year has nothing to do with when you can make reservations. You can book 11 months prior to your check-out date at your home resort and 7 months prior to check-out at other resorts regardless of your Use Year. Your UY determines when your annual allotment of points is renewed each year and also determines your banking deadlines. Your banking deadlines can be an issue if you travel late in your UY and have to cancel the trip. You could find yourself unable to bank or re-use the points that had been used for that reservation.

The general advice is to get a UY that begins just prior to your usual travel dates. For instance, if you will normally travel in October than an Oct UY would be good provided your other travel dates would not be July, August or September!

Again, as rod/Katherine said, if you are purchasing directly from Disney they may not have all Use Years available but even if offer you a December UY, they may have points available in other Use Years as well so be sure to ask.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I'm not a big believer in the overall importance of use years since they have no bearing on when you can make a reservation and vacation patterns change over the years. You really have to ask yourself whether your vacation pattern will be the same in 10, 20, or 30 years? It probably won't be so the use year you get now may not make sense in only a few years.

That being said I agree with LisaS that an October use year would be best for you now. It also would be best if you forsee winter vacations in your future. If you see summer vacations, it wouldn't be.

HBC

 

[drusba]

Which use year makes no difference except for a hedge on the interaction between banking and the risk of cancellation. The real issue is what use year you don't want if you usually go in October and want to be able to still bank if you need to cancel. In your case the only one you should definitely avoid is December (there is no Nov or Jan use year). Having any other use year protects you from the risk of not been able to bank points if you have to cancel. Ideal would be Oct, Sep, August, or June.