Questioning my preferred UY

[deangeka]

Hi DVC Experts & Fans!

Can you help me make sure I am making a good decision about the best use year for my family?

We do see not ourselves ever taking a trip to WDW/HHI/VB anytime from June through August because of the heat. Our trips to WDW in the past have always been in April/May/October (but mostly May). We would love to take some more trips in the fall and around the winter holidays, and as the kiddo grows will likely transition to more Nov/Dec/April trips. This has always made me think an October UY would be best--since the banking deadline would be May 31st.

Any thoughts on this? Am I failing to consider anything important?? Thanks!

 

[airjay75]

That's pretty much why I picked October UY. For me, September and August are the 2 months I am least likely to ever visit Disney - September is the first month of school and peak hurricane season; School usually starts last week of August here, it is hot, and still pretty peak hurricane season. I am actually ok with June and July trips to Disney, but because they would be summer break trips (and my wife and I both work for companies where summer time off is rarely an issue), it is highly unlikely I'd have to cancel. I much prefer the flexibility for cancellation for trips from Oct-May.

For me, the only downside with an October UY is that it is less common - not an issue if you're purchasing direct from Disney, but if you're on the hunt for resale contracts, it can be difficult, particularly at some resorts (BLT, I'm looking at you!). Pretty good article here: https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-men...ty-of-disney-vacation-club-points-by-use-year. Note that the data there is out of date, and my understanding is that it has become pretty difficult to track it, so there are unlikely to be further updates - but, if you're not buying one of the newer resorts, one would have to think those percentages have remained pretty stable.

 

[deangeka]

Well that definitely corresponds to my experience hunting for October UY contracts. And thank you for taking a look at my reasoning. I don't have any contracts yet so I'm finding it easy to second guess myself about basically everything.

 

[Spinster Travel]

Yes - I agree with your logic. I specifically picked my September UY based on both when I planned to travel and when I'd actually be doing the planning. For me, I do find myself going in May each year. My banking deadline is 4/30 and my logic was that I'd always have any May trips booked long before the end of April so the September UY worked. When I was shopping I was looking at Sept/Oct and the right contract popped up in September. Once I closed I realized that I like going in September too. Even though its hotter than the sun - the week of labor day is great crowd wise and we just end up going to the parks in the late afternoon evening and its quite nice. Paying attention to the banking deadline is just as important when picking a UY

 

[airjay75]

Well that definitely corresponds to my experience hunting for October UY contracts. And thank you for taking a look at my reasoning. I don't have any contracts yet so I'm finding it easy to second guess myself about basically everything.

I totally understand. I don't know how many times I changed my mind about how many points, which resort, UY, timing, etc. before making my first purchase at the end of April - and that was just within the course of 1 week! Haha.

I'm honestly surprised there aren't more people with Oct UYs. Unless you live within reasonable driving distance of DW, I would worry so much about having to cancel and reschedule a trip in August or September on account of hurricane season. We actually went to DW in August last year, and, as I recall, a hurricane came through a week earlier than our flights were - I remember seeing flights cancelled and delayed for days - had our trip been that week, we would have been lucky to get down there for half of it. June and July are still technically hurricane season, but not generally as active as Aug/Sept/Oct.

I probably could have been ok with a Dec UY (and that was initially what I was going to go with because our guide offered it up). But, then I learned about just how difficult late November and early December bookings can be, and having a December UY decreases some of the flexibility with booking during that time.

 

[Sandisw]

Sept or Oct UY will work fine! Because of the holding penalty for changes and cancels within 31 days, any May trip would still be covered.

 

[LittleBitGoofy]

We like to go Oct through May, so Oct UY works perfectly for us. Of course we went in August last year on a cash stay but doing points this August since it wasn't as bad as I expected. But our least likely to travel there months are June, July, Aug, and Sept which makes an Oct UY ideal for us and might work well for you too.

Last time we did a Sept trip it was down to the morning of before we knew if MCO would be open so we could fly down. I'll skip that excitement from now on with hurricane season in Florida. So that scratched the Sept UY for our needs.

 

[CarolynFH]

I'm honestly surprised there aren't more people with Oct UYs

I think that UY is more often given rather than requested. Most direct buyers aren’t as educated as you are so don’t understand how UY can impact their points usage if they have to cancel a reservation. And unfortunately not all guides realize that either. In any case, it’s clear that at any given time, they’re instructed to sell a specific UY, and that’s what they do unless the buyer is informed enough to request a different one. Most buyers aren’t.

And to add, why the UY are so unevenly distributed has been a mystery for as long as I’ve been around here.

 

[deangeka]

Sept or Oct UY will work fine! Because of the holding penalty for changes and cancels within 31 days, any May trip would still be covered.

Ah ha! Now that is something I was not accounting for--I just reread how holding works and had forgotten it apples to ANY cancellation within 31 days. So yeah, September would totally work too.

 

[LittleBitGoofy]

Ah ha! Now that is something I was not accounting for--I just reread how holding works and had forgotten it apples to ANY cancellation within 31 days. So yeah, September would totally work too.

Unless you're planning Sept trips it wouldn't help over an Oct UY and you'd then be applying that same holding risk to your April trips too with a Sept UY.

 

[Sandisw]

Unless you're planning Sept trips it wouldn't help over an Oct UY and you'd then be applying that same holding risk to your April trips too with a Sept UY.

Since the banking deadline for a Sept UY is April 30th, any May trip can be canceled within April at least 31 days in advance and those points can be banked.

Even with an Oct UY, a May trip still needs to be canceled in April to avoid holding. So, having an end of April or May banking deadline will work.

By considering Sept UY and Oct UY, it opens up options.

 

[LittleBitGoofy]

Since the banking deadline for a Sept UY is April 30th, any May trip can be canceled within April at least 31 days in advance and those points can be banked.

Even with an Oct UY, a May trip still needs to be canceled in April to avoid holding. So, having an end of April or May banking deadline will work.

By considering Sept UY and Oct UY, it opens up options.

But they're traveling through May, right? With a Sept UY then you couldn't do the same with your last month trips as with an Oct UY. So unless they want Sept trips it's just adding an extra restriction to the times they do travel to add on a window to when they're not.

 

[deangeka]

Since the banking deadline for a Sept UY is April 30th, any May trip can be canceled within April at least 31 days in advance and those points can be banked.

Even with an Oct UY, a May trip still needs to be canceled in April to avoid holding. So, having an end of April or May banking deadline will work.

By considering Sept UY and Oct UY, it opens up options.

Right! This is what I hadn’t considered before. I made another offer on a Sept UY. The hunt continues.

 

[Sandisw]

But they're traveling through May, right? With a Sept UY then you couldn't do the same with your last month trips as with an Oct UY. So unless they want Sept trips it's just adding an extra restriction to the times they do travel to add on a window to when they're not.

It’s the holding penalty that comes into play here and why the May trip is protected with a Sept UY and a banking deadline end of April.


To protect May points and being able to bank them, the trip has to be canceled at least 31 days in advance….which means the owner has to cancel their May trip in April, which is before the banking deadline for Sept UY.

If they have an October UY and cancel a May trip in May, those points go into holding…which means the owner can’t bank to them, regardless of whether they are still in the banking window.

This applies no matter what UY you own. If you cancel lesss than 31 days from check in, none of those points can still be banked.