To anyone who thinks use year does not matter.

[pinnocchiosdad]

My wife and I enjoyed a great as usual WDW trip last month. We decided to take the kids the summer. The last week in July is the only week that we can both get off our jobs. We are out of 2012 points so we would have to borrow 2013 points for this trip. Due to our sons Pre college class summer requirements, there is a chance we may not be able to go and have to cancel. Our use year is August. This means that the borrowed 2013 points would expire July 31st and we would lose them. This is a risky proposition so we have decided not to take the trip. Use year most definitely matters.

 

[Pootle]

Yes I agree that UYs definitely matter, but circumstances change also.

When we first became members, Easter was our usual vacation time, and so our April UY worked well. Now in semi-retirement, we like January and February, and so that UY is not so good. When it came to an add-on, I deliberately selected a new contract and an October UY. Takes some working out and juggling (we often visit twice a year), but I have the time to do it

 

[bobbiwoz]

DVC changed the rules. When we bought, with a March UY, I could have even banked 25% of my points by the end of December, so if our December trip ever was cancelled, we would have been OK.

I've since decided that January weather is MUCH better in Florida, than in Ohio, so I've begun taking "all January" vacations.

Unlike Pootle, I've kept the March UY for a recent purchase. I do not want to deal with another UY. We're taking our chances.

Bobbi

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

If I ad on again, it will be a tough decision whether or not to keep the same use year.

 

[JenLyn1620]

It is hard to select a use year....however we chose one based on when we typically travel. I am pretty happy with our use year choice of October. Talk with your DVC guide, to help you figure out the best use year for your needs.

 

[Kidanifan08]

I think that for most DVC owners, there will come a time when the UY is not ideal for a planned trip. Over 40-50 years of ownership, the likelihood is fairly high that there will be a time when it just does not work. I do think that many DVC owners can choose a UY that works best for their usual travel plans to minimize the times when they may have a trip that is "risky" from a UY standpoint. This is particularly true for folks who never will travel during the warm summer months (mid-May through late Sept).

But for those of us will children, I think it is hard to have a "perfect" UY, but not impossible to have an "ideal" one.

 

[DVC-Don]

Yes I agree that UYs definitely matter, but circumstances change also.

When we first became members, Easter was our usual vacation time, and so our April UY worked well. Now in semi-retirement, we like January and February, and so that UY is not so good. ............

Excactly! Back in 2000 when we joined we only vacationed at WDW in January. Then when the kids got into middle/high school it was late August. Now we do WDW stays all over the year.

 

[tjkraz]

Yes I agree that UYs definitely matter, but circumstances change also.

Agree.

In our years of owning we've taken trips in January, February, March, May, June, August, September, October, November and December. And we still have 45 years left before contracts expire.

Choosing a "best" Use Year would have been an exercise in futility.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Agree.

In our years of owning we've taken trips in January, February, March, May, June, August, September, October, November and December. And we still have 45 years left before contracts expire.

Choosing a "best" Use Year would have been an exercise in futility.

The only month we haven't stayed in is February. Actually, we bought direct in January one year and they didn't let us bank those points! (Now they do.) We wound up giving a stay to a Give the Kids the World volunteer. So, we have use points in all months!

 

[Anal Annie]

We have a December UY and generally travel over spring break and in the summer. So far it's worked out just fine for us. We had 1 year where we'd banked a small amount of points & due to our Europe DCL or something we weren't going to be able to use all of them but rather than let them waste we were able to book a few nights in a standard studio at AKV for my BIL & SIL. We couldn't use them ourselves but it was fun to treat them to a few nights and they loved AKV. (He is Army so most of their trips are usually at SOG.)

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We didn't know what we were doing when we got a February UY.

We like to travel in December and January,

We still travel in December and January taking our chances.

We can reschedule pretty easily and USUALLY don't have emergencies that wreck our plans. We did have to cancel a Thanksgiving trip to Hilton Head and turn it into a MLK Jr. Weekend. We went on the trip even though it was 17 degrees.

We've now travelled in March, April, July, September, November (Hilton Head) December and January (WDW and HH).

 

[spiceycat]

got a June use year - and it is okay - since never had kids would have preferred Sept or Oct - since traveled in Dec even then - but we were not given a choice.

also don't like the change - cancel a few days in Oct and since had already banked points - it told me could not bank????? realize now should have called MS - but it is only 4 points - but this are the first points can't use ever.

 

[Sandisw]

We bought a June UY because our typical time of travel is summer because I teach and figured that fall trips and January would be the pattern when we retire.

And, for the most part this will be the plan. However, last year, I decided in March to take a last minute Memorial Day trip because we didn't use all of our snow days and we were getting a 5 day weekend. Obviously, the June UY was the worst for that.

Good thing that when I added on BWV points in 2010 I decided to get a Dec UY...LOL And, the new BLT points I just bought are Dec UY too.

So, I agree, one UY can work for most of the time but there could always be times when its just not going to work. Now that we own both June and Dec, and have 180 BLT in one UY and 100 in the other UY, I have most of what I want covered for the times that we go, but every other year, we do plan on hitting F & W so those Dec UY BWV points are not going to be ideal but we won't worry about that...

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

We have June and a few years we traveled the end of April. But we were not given a choice of use years. But our vacations are all over the place too now. We used to go in Feb, then April and now we just went last week (March), going again in Oct and Dec.

Now that we live 100 miles from Disney we could book a last minute trip if we needed to, but I think that we all will run into use year problems because Dvc is so flexible and having 40-50 years of vacations in the future I know my vacation dates will definitely change from what they are now. The kids school pretty much dictates when we go, but I would LOVE a trip when the crowds are a 4 or 5.

 

[michelleiada]

Use year is a crap shoot! Your vacation habits change over time.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

If I ad on again, it will be a tough decision whether or not to keep the same use year.

That brings up an interesting question, at least to me.

You said "add on" which to me means a direct purchase from DVD. That being the case, I have always heard that any add-on from Disney direct would automatically be with the same UY you already owned. The implication has always been that you couldn't request a UY for your "add on" purchase.

So... I had always assumed that the only way you could have varying UYs would be to purchase resale, in such case, DVD has no choice except to grant you the UY in which your resale purchase was tagged, even if it means granting you multiple UYs (Granted, as completely seperate contracts.).

So, the question. Can you purchase a different UY from DVD if you already own? Yes or no?

 

[chalee94]

You said "add on" which to me means a direct purchase from DVD. That being the case, I have always heard that any add-on from Disney direct would automatically be with the same UY you already owned.

an "add-on" means you are "adding on" to your current master contract, which means that it MUST have the same UY month.

back when DVC required 160 pts minimum for new purchases, it made more of a difference. you could "add-on" as few as 25 pts (same UY) or you could buy a new master contract (new UY) for 160 pts or more.

at this point, with DVC allowing new purchasers to start with 50 pts or so, the language gets a little sloppy, but the concept is the same. people talk about "adding on" when what they really mean is "adding more pts."

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

When we bought in 2000, we liked to travel in December or January so got a December use year. Years later, May became the preferred time, which was still fine with the December UY. Now, October has become the preferred time, which isn't as optimal. I'm sure travel habits will change again, so maybe we'll be back to December being the best bet.

 

[tjkraz]

So, the question. Can you purchase a different UY from DVD if you already own? Yes or no?

In the past, if a buyer really put his/her foot down and insisted on adding with a different Use Year, they would do it. However, the owner had to purchase a full 160-pt starter contract in the new Use Year. That may not be true today with DVC allowing lower initial purchase quantities.

But it WILL be a separate Master Contract, which impacts overall point management.

 

[disfanforlife]

DVC changed the rules. When we bought, with a March UY, I could have even banked 25% of my points by the end of December, so if our December trip ever was cancelled, we would have been OK.

I've since decided that January weather is MUCH better in Florida, than in Ohio, so I've begun taking "all January" vacations.

Unlike Pootle, I've kept the March UY for a recent purchase. I do not want to deal with another UY. We're taking our chances.

Bobbi

Ii agree about weather being better in Florida in January. Question for you though. We are thinking of January or march next year because of our two daughters having time off at those times from college. Worried January too cold and march too busy. Which do you prefer?