Thinking about Joining AKL???

[Pats1fan]

Hello,
I have been looking into joining the Disney Vacation club but I have a question...My wife is a teacher so that will limit us to mostly to traveling from R.I on dream, magic or Premier season. If I were to buy in September, My use month would be Semptember , Correct? Does that mean if we plan our first trip next year, we won't receive our pts until September 09? We would likely be planning on going in June, July, possibly August.

 

[drusba]

Buying in September does not mean your use year will be September. They are usually selling a use year that is a different month than the month you buy and there is flexibility for you to choose a different one than the one they are selling at any particular time.

 

[castleri]

Hello fellow Rhode Islander-
When you purchase has nothing to do with you UY. We purchased in Sept and have an August UY. There are several threads about when you vacation and how that may affect the UY you want. It usually is suggested to try to get one where you will be vacationing at the beginning of it. We have been taking a trip in Sept for years and it works well since if we ever need to cancel close to the trip we still have the res of the year to use the points or bank them if we cancel more than 31 days out. You might want to ask for an April or June UY if you will be vacationing in the summer. You can make reservations for any time you have points available. You can make them at your home resort 11 months out and at any other resort 7 months out. If you got June 2009 points at AKV you could make reservations for trips starting after the opening date at Kidani in May 2009 right now. If you took a trip before June 1, 2009 you would be borrowing your 2009 points. Good luck with your decision.

 

[helenk]

I just bought points for the AKV and my use year will be December.

 

[chalee94]

if you prefer to travel in the summer most of the time, ask for a UY month of march or april (march is better if you'd also try to sneak in a spring break or 2 - april is a little better if you'd prefer to sneak in some travel over christmas break.)

if you're not in a big hurry, waitlist if you have to.

 

[Pats1fan]

Thanks for all the input, Clears things up for me. So basically ask for a month where I will likely do the bulk of my traveling?

 

[chalee94]

Thanks for all the input, Clears things up for me. So basically ask for a month where I will likely do the bulk of my traveling?

at or shortly before, preferably yes.

the only area where UY month is a factor is if you have to cancel. you will have issues trying to cancel a reservation in the last 3 months or so of your UY - even if you cancel more than a month in advance, you are at risk of being past your banking window.

also, if you have to cancel a typical reservation for the summer, you'd like as much time as possible left in your UY to decide what to do with it. if you cancel more than a month before travel, you can still bank the pts into the next UY if you choose. if you cancel on shorter notice than that, you cannot bank the pts, but will have a longer period to use them or rent them before they expire at the end of the UY.