Second contract purchase and UY?

[eeyoresmom]

We have owned 220 pts at OKW with a Dec UY for over 10 years. I am seriously considering buying a second contract to supplement this one. I find we are going to Disney so often, bringing family etc. that I am paying cash for regular resort rooms too often. We do not have a set time of year that we go. How important is it that I buy a contract with the same UY? I am actually not too concerned with resort because we are truly happy staying anywhere. Just wondering how messy it gets if you have 2 contracts with different UY if you plan a few unscheduled trips ( 6-12 weeks out), throughout the year. I would appreciate any and all advice since this is a pretty big purchase.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Since you don't seem to care which resort you end up at I think your best options are SSR, OKW, or AKV. There's no reason to pay for the higher priced resorts (BCV, VGF etc) since staying there is not as important as it is to others. Plus, owning there won't help you anyways if you are looking at booking 6 to 12 weeks out. If the 2042 expiry if OKW doesn't bother you that will probably be the most economical option. SSR is probably a close second and has a later expiry. AKV resale prices are a bit more expensive, but if you book during your home booking window the value and standard price per night can be some of the best values in the system. If I was in your shoes, I'd decide how many points I need and make a few offers on the low end of the spectrum and wait for someone to sell at your price. I think you are in the position to wait foe the right contract to come to you.

As far as use year, I think the general consensus is staying with the same use year is the way to go. While I've seen a few posts over the years of people with multiple use years making it work, i think it's so much easier to have everything in one membership number. You also have the benefit that December use year is the most common (18.8% of all points are DEC). DEC UY leads at both SSR (19.8%) and AKV (32.8%)...so finding a December contract that fits your needs should be doable.

Good luck either way!

 

[iheartglaciers]

If I were booking a lot after 7 months (which you said you do), I would definitely stick to one UY to make it easy to combine points when needed.

 

[zavandor]

Having two UY makes things difficult if you have to combine points from the two contracts. If the second contract will be big enough that you'll be able to use it independently, then having a second UY could even be beneficial, because you can book every time with the contract having the beginning of the UY near your travel date, for extra flexibility. If it's a small add-on, then better to stick with the same UY.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, I'll stick to looking only at Dec contracts. I can see how it would be doable to have different UY but much less confusing for me.

 

[ziravan]

I have 2 UYs and it’s not that difficult to make work.

If I need to book 200 points at 7 months and I only have 100 in each acct, you can book half on each.

Then. You can ask MS to link reservations. Or.

Here’s what I do: I book the smaller part first. For example, if I’m booking 6 nights and booking 2 on one acct and 4 on the other, i book the 2 nights first. Then, I’ll get deluxe dining on the 2 night trip which is good the third night (check out day of the first reservation). Then we front load our must do restaurants into the first part of the trip. If you do this, 1. DVC won’t combine the reservation automatically like they can on a single account. 2. I wait until check in to ask the room be linked because they won’t link reservations with dining plan on one part but not the other. Still, the resorts hate to do extra housekeeping so they almost always keep us in the same room.

Other advantages of multiple UY: multiple bites at the wait list and one time use points.

I can use 48 OTU points and keep 4 waitlists in play.

 

[Dean]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, I'll stick to looking only at Dec contracts. I can see how it would be doable to have different UY but much less confusing for me.

As a rule I recommend sticking with the same UY but there are reasons to do a different master contract/UY and there are situations where it doesn't matter too much. IF looking at less than 150 pts, I would not do a different UY unless you had a very specific plan to use those points separately. Reasons it won't matter as much or where it's advantageous to have a different UY include you want different names not the contract, need extra wait list spots, travel at random times consistently or have a different time of year planned for travel, larger contracts where you don't plan to combine points. Sometimes the difficulty finding the contract may drive the decision like VGF, VGC or subsidized contracts at VB or HI.

 

[ziravan]

As a rule I recommend sticking with the same UY but there are reasons to do a different master contract/UY and there are situations where it doesn't matter too much. IF looking at less than 150 pts, I would not do a different UY unless you had a very specific plan to use those points separately. Reasons it won't matter as much or where it's advantageous to have a different UY include you want different names not the contract, need extra wait list spots, travel at random times consistently or have a different time of year planned for travel, larger contracts where you don't plan to combine points. Sometimes the difficulty finding the contract may drive the decision like VGF, VGC or subsidized contracts at VB or HI.

My reason was silly in the long run but was on point at the time. I had already owned at BCV with April UY and was buying Poly in May, 2015.

I pushed the Poly contract to June UY in order to get 2014 points.

Poly went on sale in March. If we had pulled the trigger at the beginning, not only would we have gotten the $5 initial member discount, we could have kept our contracts together and still gotten original points. Oh, well.

 

[CarolMN]

I have 2 UYs and it’s not that difficult to make work.

If I need to book 200 points at 7 months and I only have 100 in each acct, you can book half on each. Then. You can ask MS to link reservations.

Not really that simple. You can only book whole nights. You can't take points from each contract to get enough points to book a night. So you'd need to call for for a transfer or perhaps get left with stranded points.

Or.

Here’s what I do: I book the smaller part first. For example, if I’m booking 6 nights and booking 2 on one acct and 4 on the other, i book the 2 nights first. Then, I’ll get deluxe dining on the 2 night trip which is good the third night (check out day of the first reservation). Then we front load our must do restaurants into the first part of the trip. If you do this, 1. DVC won’t combine the reservation automatically like they can on a single account. 2. I wait until check in to ask the room be linked because they won’t link reservations with dining plan on one part but not the other. Still, the resorts hate to do extra housekeeping so they almost always keep us in the same room.

Other advantages of multiple UY: multiple bites at the wait list and one time use points.

I can use 48 OTU points and keep 4 waitlists in play.

That works for you - but I don't think it's as simple or as easy as you made it sound, LOL. For one thing, you have two 7 month windows. So if you want something that goes very quickly at 7 months, there's a good chance you are going to be using those extra waitlists. If you've booked your home resort as a back up, that adds additional complications. If you use waitlists from more than one contract, don't you need to use the points from the contract that the waitlist came from? More to keep track of. I've been told to make sure you are completely checked out of the first resort/reservation, before checking into the second to be sure there are no issues with Magic Bands. That might complicate your use of the meal plan (but maybe they've fixed that issue now). At a minimum , it's more time out of your vacation spent at the front desk. You also need to involve MS in quite a bit of your plans. For me, the less I have to call, the better! (CMs are human and their work has not been error-free when they've touched my account. Online or email contact works best for me).

For experienced members who are comfortable with tracking all the nuances, multiple use years can definitely be an advantage. I would not recommend it for most - especially those who value easy booking and minimal tracking.

 

[ziravan]

Not really that simple. You can only book whole nights. You can't take points from each contract to get enough points to book a night. So you'd need to call for for a transfer or perhaps get left with stranded points.



That works for you - but I don't think it's as simple or as easy as you made it sound, LOL. For one thing, you have two 7 month windows. So if you want something that goes very quickly at 7 months, there's a good chance you are going to be using those extra waitlists. If you've booked your home resort as a back up, that adds additional complications. If you use waitlists from more than one contract, don't you need to use the points from the contract that the waitlist came from? More to keep track of. I've been told to make sure you are completely checked out of the first resort/reservation, before checking into the second to be sure there are no issues with Magic Bands. That might complicate your use of the meal plan (but maybe they've fixed that issue now). At a minimum , it's more time out of your vacation spent at the front desk. You also need to involve MS in quite a bit of your plans. For me, the less I have to call, the better! (CMs are human and their work has not been error-free when they've touched my account. Online or email contact works best for me).

For experienced members who are comfortable with tracking all the nuances, multiple use years can definitely be an advantage. I would not recommend it for most - especially those who value easy booking and minimal tracking.

I wouldn’t recommend it, but I wouldn’t avoid it like the plague, either. It’s doable.

I don’t leave points stranded because I have two sets of OTU points to complete nights.

The meal plan trick works, we’ve done it several times.

If we book at 11 and can’t consolidate at 7, then we end up with a split stay of BCV and Poly. We’re very OK with that. (Shhhhh! Don’t tell DW because she’d rather avoid split stays, but I prefer a BCV/Poly split.)

I don’t believe in waitlists. It’s only ever worked for me once. I’m a RAT stalker, LOL. But that works for me.

I’m a DVC/WDW super user. For me, working the system is part of the game. I just nailed down Be Our Guest for 11 people for less than 30 days out in a BCV 2BR I switched into at 2 months out (using a dining plan flip to avoid a $500 bill at BOG). How? I worked it. Maybe a slight brag but the point is that if you work the system, it works. True regardless of same or different UYs.

(By using a deluxe meal plan - and paying out of pocket for the youngest kid, for the same price as one BOG meal, we’ll also get another sit down for the 5 of us booked in our room and 10 snacks to eat around the World at Flower/Garden. Plus, we’re sliding in under the wire of BOG becoming a signature.)

 

[ziravan]

Bottom line, there are disadvantages to different UYs, but also some positives. On balance, the negatives outweigh the positives, but it’s really a 60/40 thing and not an ‘all or nothing’ thing.

Do I regret different UYs just to snag one extra year of Poly points? No way! Definitely was worth that extra 168 points.

 

[kboo]

If I were booking a lot after 7 months (which you said you do), I would definitely stick to one UY to make it easy to combine points when needed.

Other advantages of multiple UY: multiple bites at the wait list and one time use points.

I have 2 home resorts with 2 different UYs. I think the 2 points above kind of encapsulate this debate (for you, since you said you book in <7 mo often). We plan to use our points separately, for completely different trips, but we are thinking of adding an EP resort, if I can get DH to come around. IF we add an EP resort, then we may start doing MK/EP split stays, and multiple waitlists and OTU points will be a real added benefit. (though if we add a 3rd home resort, we are going to stick within 2 UY so it doesn't get too crazy)

I wouldn’t recommend it, but I wouldn’t avoid it like the plague, either. It’s doable.

I don’t leave points stranded because I have two sets of OTU points to complete nights.

The meal plan trick works, we’ve done it several times.

If we book at 11 and can’t consolidate at 7, then we end up with a split stay of BCV and Poly. We’re very OK with that. (Shhhhh! Don’t tell DW because she’d rather avoid split stays, but I prefer a BCV/Poly split.)

I don’t believe in waitlists. It’s only ever worked for me once. I’m a RAT stalker, LOL. But that works for me.

I’m a DVC/WDW super user. For me, working the system is part of the game. I just nailed down Be Our Guest for 11 people for less than 30 days out in a BCV 2BR I switched into at 2 months out (using a dining plan flip to avoid a $500 bill at BOG). How? I worked it. Maybe a slight brag but the point is that if you work the system, it works. True regardless of same or different UYs.

(By using a deluxe meal plan - and paying out of pocket for the youngest kid, for the same price as one BOG meal, we’ll also get another sit down for the 5 of us booked in our room and 10 snacks to eat around the World at Flower/Garden. Plus, we’re sliding in under the wire of BOG becoming a signature.)

I'm not quite the DVC superuser that @ziravan is, but I plan to keep trying. (Will be unlocking the Winter Holidays at WDW with MIL Badge later this year) But the advantage of a split stay and the meal plan trick is something that is very appealing.