Summer travel: is august use Year terrible?

[Disney73]

Sorry to all but no matter how much I've read about use Year, I can't seem to grasp whether August use year would work for us. Looking to buy a 50 point contract, hoping to go to Disney every two years. Figure I will bank points once a year and then the following year take the trip. Found a contract for use year of August. If I travel typically in July or August, would this work for us? Could I bank let's say August 2017 points which would be coming and then take a trip in August of 2018 using the banked points and the points that would be coming in August of 18? What about if I took a July trip? Could I use the banked points and then borrow from August? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated... thanks so much.

 

[supersnoop]

Travelling in July would be a bad idea with an August use year.

Choosing the right use year essentially provides free "insurance" in case you have to cancel. Think of it this way; you book a July trip and have to cancel three months out. Well, you're past your banking deadline, so you only have those three months to reschedule. So, you're short on time and short on availability. Now, an even worse case; you have to cancel less than 31 days out. Now your points go into "holding" and you only have until the end of the month before you lose them.

On the other hand, lets say you have a June use year. You cancel that July trip a few months out, and you've got a full 11 months to find a use for your points, and you can even bank them into the next year. Or, you cancel with less than 31 days notice. Points go into holding, but you still have 11 months to plan and find a use for them.

Basically, the right use year will buy you time and mitigate risk. If you'd never cancel, it's not a big deal. But you never know when an illness or death in the family might happen. Don't jump on a contract just because it's the only 50-point contract available. Wait for the right use year.

 

[Disney73]

Thanks so much. That makes a lot of sense! I'll wait for a better use year because of your explanation. Thank you again

 

[Nie0214]

Know that your habits will likely change over the course of DVC ownership.. we have put in on an October UY because we usually travel in the fall/winter (Oct - Feb). But once kiddo is in school, we'll probably have to switch to summer (ick) vacations which aren't ideal with an Oct UY. We don't mind taking him out of school but there will obviously be a point where that's not going to be ok.

 

[msjprincess]

Know that your habits will likely change over the course of DVC ownership.. we have put in on an October UY because we usually travel in the fall/winter (Oct - Feb). But once kiddo is in school, we'll probably have to switch to summer (ick) vacations which aren't ideal with an Oct UY. We don't mind taking him out of school but there will obviously be a point where that's not going to be ok.

That's the situation we're in. Our use year is September. Our favorite time to visit is in Fall. Now that the kids are in middle and high school we can't take them out for vacations. So we go the week before Labor Day and cross our fingers.

 

[Nie0214]

That's the situation we're in. Our use year is September. Our favorite time to visit is in Fall. Now that the kids are in middle and high school we can't take them out for vacations. So we go the week before Labor Day and cross our fingers.

I think that's where we will be in middle/high school, too. The last week of August with trip insurance, haha. I've visited enough times in September to not want to worry about dodging hurricanes. But it wasn't enough reason for us to forgo the Oct UY, it's like 6 years out of a 40+ year contract, ya know? I'm pretty sure we'll always prefer escaping to Florida during the cold winter!

 

[Disney73]

So after speaking with my brother in law he seems to think I should get a feb use year or even a few months earlier if possible because of my summer travel. Does that make sense? He says that will help with booking airfare early in too. Anyone else agree with this? Once again I'm confused.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So after speaking with my brother in law he seems to think I should get a feb use year or even a few months earlier if possible because of my summer travel. Does that make sense? He says that will help with booking airfare early in too. Anyone else agree with this? Once again I'm confused.

It sounds like he thinks you have to wait until your UY starts to be able to book which is incorrect. No matter what the UY is you always can book either 11 months ahead of check in at your home resort or 7 months ahead for all other resorts. Booking airfare won't be affected unless you choose to not book until later.

If you always travel in July or August then June is the "best" UY. If you might travel at other times then the recommendation might change. Feb isn't terrible (like an August UY would be) but only because the banking window is Sept 30th and not because of any reasons your BIL outlined. Any UY's earlier than that would get worse and worse. UY's in order of preference for your stated travel patterns - June, April, Mar, Feb. I'd probably only consider June, April and March.

 

[Disney73]

Thank you so much! Very helpful.

QUOTE="KAT4DISNEY, post: 57199168, member: 185777"]It sounds like he thinks you have to wait until your UY starts to be able to book which is incorrect. No matter what the UY is you always can book either 11 months ahead of check in at your home resort or 7 months ahead for all other resorts. Booking airfare won't be affected unless you choose to not book until later.

If you always travel in July or August then June is the "best" UY. If you might travel at other times then the recommendation might change. Feb isn't terrible (like an August UY would be) but only because the banking window is Sept 30th and not because of any reasons your BIL outlined. Any UY's earlier than that would get worse and worse. UY's in order of preference for your stated travel patterns - June, April, Mar, Feb. I'd probably only consider June, April and March.[/QUOTE]

 

[bobbiwoz]

And then, when you retire and travel in every other month, nothing really works! We have not used our one time exclusion and hope if we ever gave to cancel and loose a great number of points we will get a CM who understands. We have March UY and had an over 700 point Maui/ Aulani vacation planned in February, I was worried a bit, but things worked out perfectly!!

 

[CarolMN]

If you haven't already, spend some time with this thread -

Understanding Use Year

Make yourself a chart for the use year you are considering. Practice figuring out when you book (always the same windows no matter what use year you choose) and figuring out which points are valid for a particular vacation. You'll soon feel comfortable with use year! It's important to understand this before you buy. Good luck!

 

[disneymath]

I have an Aug UY. I teach, so I'm tied to school calendars. I also live in an area where winter can start as early as October and stick around til the end of April. With AUG, I can cancel trips (and bank the points) that I might plan over winter months and also have time to use holding points when I'm off in July if needed. A June UY would require banking before any March Break trips, and using holding points before summer break starts, so that's why I opted against it.

 

[Disney73]

So if you bank points are you not able to use them before the following year? For example if I have June use and I bank whenever the deadline is but then I decide to go the following month am I able to use them or do I need to wait until the following year? So confusing. Thx

QUOTE="disneymath, post: 57208379, member: 117764"]I have an Aug UY. I teach, so I'm tied to school calendars. I also live in an area where winter can start as early as October and stick around til the end of April. With AUG, I can cancel trips (and bank the points) that I might plan over winter months and also have time to use holding points when I'm off in July if needed. A June UY would require banking before any March Break trips, and using holding points before summer break starts, so that's why I opted against it.[/QUOTE]

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So if you bank points are you not able to use them before the following year? For example if I have June use and I bank whenever the deadline is but then I decide to go the following month am I able to use them or do I need to wait until the following year? So confusing. Thx

QUOTE="disneymath, post: 57208379, member: 117764"]I have an Aug UY. I teach, so I'm tied to school calendars. I also live in an area where winter can start as early as October and stick around til the end of April. With AUG, I can cancel trips (and bank the points) that I might plan over winter months and also have time to use holding points when I'm off in July if needed. A June UY would require banking before any March Break trips, and using holding points before summer break starts, so that's why I opted against it.

Both banking points and borrowing points are final transactions and once the points are moved into a different use year they will stay there. Should the occurrence happen that you had banked when thinking you wouldn't be booking any trips in that use year but then changed your mind what can be done is to borrow some of the next UYs points back to make the reservation. Also you can do banking transactions multiple times so you don't have to bank all at once, you could keep some aside if you are thinking you might make a last-minute trip. And you are allowed to bank anytime within the first eight months of your UY so you can wait until the end of that time period before banking if you think that a last minute trip might happen.

Availability for last-minute trips can be minimal or virtually non existent though and most members generally book much further in advance.

 

[disneymath]

@Disney73 ... @KAT4DISNEY explained it better than I could have.

When choosing a UY, you should consider when you are most likely to travel (currently and in the future) and then choose a UY that works for the majority of those scenarios.

Even though I currently travel mostly in the summer, having a UY that gives me some "point security" for trips planned during winter weather months was important to me when I bought in. (Still is to an extent.)

That said, last summer and this summer my trips cover the end of July into August ... and the end of July is the worst possible time to travel with an Aug UY ... if we need to cancel anytime from April on, the options are very limited as the banking deadline has passed and, an even worse result, there is virtually no time to use holding points. I did not anticipate July trips when I bought in, and am hoping these two trips are just a blip in our travel habits and not the new norm.

 

[Disney73]

@Disney73 ... @KAT4DISNEY explained it better than I could have.

When choosing a UY, you should consider when you are most likely to travel (currently and in the future) and then choose a UY that works for the majority of those scenarios.

Even though I currently travel mostly in the summer, having a UY that gives me some "point security" for trips planned during winter weather months was important to me when I bought in. (Still is to an extent.)

That said, last summer and this summer my trips cover the end of July into August ... and the end of July is the worst possible time to travel with an Aug UY ... if we need to cancel anytime from April on, the options are very limited as the banking deadline has passed and, an even worse result, there is virtually no time to use holding points. I did not anticipate July trips when I bought in, and am hoping these two trips are just a blip in our travel habits and not the new norm.

what use year do you have? With holding points, when do they expire? Had no idea about holding points until yesterday. Just when I think I get it all something new comes my way. If you could do it over now what use year would you choose?

 

[disneymath]

what use year do you have? With holding points, when do they expire? Had no idea about holding points until yesterday. Just when I think I get it all something new comes my way. If you could do it over now what use year would you choose?

My UY is August. Holding points happen when you cancel a DVC resort stay within 30 days of travel. Those points cannot be banked or borrowed, expire at the end of the current use year, and can only be used to book DVC stays for arrivals within 60 days of booking. So getting into a holding points situation late in your use year is not recommended.

If I were to do it over again, I would still go for an Aug UY as it gives me "point security" for the times of the year when weather would most impact my travel plans while still working with my current ties to the school year calendar. Going forward, I hope I'll be able to avoid late July stays! . And I don't ever expect spring / early summer to become regular travel times.