Tons of questions

[Idaho Mouse]

After reading these forums I realize I am clueless about DVC. We recently purchased a direct contract at Aulani back in April. I see a lot of discussion about the use year being a big deal. I'm not really sure why. We plan to use our points at Aulani 60% of the time, but use them at Disney World the other 40%. After reading the forums that seems like it might be a problem, why? We looked at resale but decided to go direct for the additional perks. Again it appears these don't seem to be worth the extra cost.
I know these questions have been asked a bunch on here but I have not had a lot of success finding answers. Links to discussions and articles would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aokeefe]

Use Year is important if you have to cancel, which is why people recommend picking a UY that is right before your regular time you travel. Should you cancel, you would still have time to use the points elsewhere. Should you never have to cancel, then UY doesn't really matter.
Buying at Aulani only allows you to book WDW at 7 months- not really sure when you travel or what type of room but it is getting harder and harder to book at 7 months without flexibility.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If you're using the points at AUL 60% of the time, it's unlikely you'll get much use out of the perks, which focus pretty hard on use at WDW, and often require some luck to benefit from.

 

[Frederic Civish]

We recently purchased a direct contract at Aulani back in April. I see a lot of discussion about the use year being a big deal. I'm not really sure why. We plan to use our points at Aulani 60% of the time, but use them at Disney World the other 40%. After reading the forums that seems like it might be a problem, why? We looked at resale but decided to go direct for the additional perks. Again it appears these don't seem to be worth the extra cost.

As someone who has bought 5 contracts Direct from Disney, and 3 contracts on the resale market, I think the benefits of Direct CAN certainly be worth it. There are many potential reasons to buy direct, including speed of getting it done - hours to days, rather than ACTUAL MONTHS AND MONTHS - plus security and convenience, and if that was your decision then don’t feel bad or second guess yourself. I certainly recognize that my Direct points are worth somewhat more than my Secondary, in the way that I use them. To me, they were worth the cost, and I studied it carefully before every purchase.

Your biggest problem with using your Aulani points at Disney World is that you don’t have a home resort at Disney World, so you can only use them to book in the “7 months or less window.” Depending on the time of year, at 7 months there IS NOT full availability left, but there is still GOOD availability if you are willing to shift your resort choice or dates a bit to what IS available. I recently made 4 different reservations for my family at the 6 to 7 month window, and got what I wanted. But in other seasons, I would have needed to go with my 3rd or 4th choice. Sometimes you will also need to pick up 2 or 3 days at one resort, then 2 or 3 days at another, to get your full 3 to 7 day stay. That is not necessarily bad, and can be quite fun. Booking right at the 7 month window helps.

Use year is mostly important ONLY because it tells you when your current points expire, when you need to bank them, and when you are going to be getting NEW points. Use year only affects when you book because it will tell you if you will have the ‘new’ points before your check-in date.

Do remember that your points, whether standard, Banked, Borrowed or Transferred need to be IN THE USE YEAR WHEN YOUR RESERVATION TAKES PLACE, NOT IN THE YEAR WHEN YOU ARE MAKING THE RESERVATION. In other words, if your use year ends in January and you want to make a reservation for June, and you don’t have any points in your CURRENT Use Year, that is okay. YOU DONT NEED TO WAIT FOR JANUARY, WHEN YOUR NEW POINTS ‘ARRIVE’ before you can make your reservation. Just make the reservation now because your points will be in your account before the check-in date.

I hope this helps

 

[NewbieMom]

I also recently purchased my 1st contract and after researching the pros and cons decided to buy resale at a WDW resort. We looked at the value of the perks we would get buying direct and the biggest savings would come from the discount on the annual pass. However, we only plan to go every 2 years which would not make sense for us to get an annual pass.

UY didn't factor too much in our decision. Our vacation schedules will probably change in a few years so it's difficult to cover every possible time you intend to ever vacation. It probably only makes a difference if you anticipate having to cancel often.

At 7 months, all points are the same. It's probably not that big a deal to use your points at WDW if you're not picky about a specific resort and room type. There's a very helpful thread on the predictive availability of all the WDW resorts at 7 months. The main theme is that studios are generally not available outside SSR (and maybe the higher point value AKV?). But 1 br are typically available at many resorts so if you have enough points for and would like to book a 1 br, then you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[zavandor]

First of all, since you've purchased some time ago and cannot cancel the contract, do not worry too much and welcome home!
Sure, you could have saved some money buying resale but perks can have some value and you can certainly consider resale in the future if you'll want to add on.
Regarding using your points at WDW, the problem is in resort availability at 7 months. There are period of the year when you could be shut out completely. However those aren't many and with some patience, flexibility and clever use of waitlists you can probably find something anyway. If you want to stay at BWV during food and wine, then that is going to be difficult and the first two weeks of December and race week ends have very limited availability. But it's not impossible to find some availability at SSR, OKW or AKV even for those times. And if you've enough points to book a 1bedroom, then it'll be easier.

 

[Dean]

After reading these forums I realize I am clueless about DVC. We recently purchased a direct contract at Aulani back in April. I see a lot of discussion about the use year being a big deal. I'm not really sure why. We plan to use our points at Aulani 60% of the time, but use them at Disney World the other 40%. After reading the forums that seems like it might be a problem, why? We looked at resale but decided to go direct for the additional perks. Again it appears these don't seem to be worth the extra cost.
I know these questions have been asked a bunch on here but I have not had a lot of success finding answers. Links to discussions and articles would be greatly appreciated.

You are where you are, you should be fine. But for others reading, a good UY that starts shortly before your usual travel times gives you some options & insurance in case you have to change/adjust/cancel and when one doesn't have a set time where UY doesn't matter, they are simply taking more risk on the DVC side. Again, you're a member, enjoy, but for others who might read this and be considering Aulani, I'd go resale in this situation and try to find a subsidized contract even if it cost more up front (depending on the numbers of course).

 

[Idaho Mouse]

Thanks to everyone for the information. We just used this years points at SSR and really enjoyed it. We have not stayed at BCV, BWV or any of the other more desirable resorts, but hope to someday. The upgrade to a deluxe villa was enough for us to be happy. Our UY is December and we travel the first few months of the years so that sounds like we lucked into that.

 

[Matty B13]

Thanks to everyone for the information. We just used this years points at SSR and really enjoyed it. We have not stayed at BCV, BWV or any of the other more desirable resorts, but hope to someday. The upgrade to a deluxe villa was enough for us to be happy. Our UY is December and we travel the first few months of the years so that sounds like we lucked into that.

If your traveling the first few months of the year, a December UY will work out for you, you have till July 31st to bank your points if you won't use them in that UY. Also, remember if you cancel less than 30 days before your planned trip the points you used to make the reservation will become "HOLDING POINT" and can only be used to make reservation 60 days in advance which really limits where you can use them.

I'm not sure how many points you have, but if you have enough for 1 bedroom units, the availability at WDW resorts is a lot better than studio units.

 

[disneynutz]

I wish that you would have found us prior to buying. Aulani has subsidized resale contracts where Disney will pay part of the dues and the resale contracts are thousands of dollars cheaper. Also Aulani can have availability and you might not need the 11 month home advantage to book there. DVC is a numbers game, you need to collect information, understand what you are buying, find out what it will cost to take Disney vacations without DVC, then how much with DVC. Also you should look at the cost of renting a reservation from an owner which can also save you money. After a couple of Aulani stays and visits to WDW and using your new knowledge and numbers you can decide if owning Aulani is in your best interest. Don't be afraid to sell your Aulani contract and start over if the numbers justifying doing so.

We own several contracts that aren't in our best interest but we bought them so long ago that the numbers tell us to keep them and rent reservations if we have unused points. We have also sold several contract if the numbers told us to.

Bill

 

[kniquy]

We recently purchased a direct contract at Aulani back in April. I see a lot of discussion about the use year being a big deal. I'm not really sure why. We plan to use our points at Aulani 60% of the time, but use them at Disney World the other 40%. After reading the forums that seems like it might be a problem, why? We looked at resale but decided to go direct for the additional perks. Again it appears these don't seem to be worth the extra cost.

You will get a lot of different opinions. I will give you my 2 cents on your situation. UY really only matters IF you have to cancel a trip and are beyond your banking window so if you have an April UY and you have a trip planned for Dec and you have to cancel -- then you are stuck with using those points before they expire on March 31st. I would say many people buy with the intent on traveling at the same time every year but it changes over time which make the UY irrelevant. Still important but knowing how to use your points to avoid them expiring is very important. So you could have saved some money buying resale, but it is water under the bridge and can't change that fact. As long as you are using and enjoying your DVC contract then you are reaping the benefits. If you want to add on down the road then definitely look at resale.

The benefits of direct purchase seem to be more valuable for those visiting WDW in orlando. There could be some for Aulani but not as many as at WDW. So buying direct to mainly stay at Aulani probably didn't get you anything significant. Buying direct for anyone is a gamble because the benefits can change or be taken away, which is why you buy for the resort room you are staying in - that is the only concrete thing that can't be changed.

As for booking at WDW at 7 months -- it heavily depends on when you would travel there. If you are booking 7 months to get anywhere between January and the end of September then you should have pretty good availability as long as it isn't near the holidays or busy school vacation times. If looking at Oct - Jan marathon weekend then it will be slim pickings but you should be able to piece something together, but should be open to all types of resorts.