two use years

[LorieDisneyLover]

Hi all

Just got back from our very first DVC stay after years of staying at the Polynesian.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the BLT. Had a 2-bedroom on the outer side very last room on the north -- Lake view but we could see the MK on the left and the fireworks from balcony. Perfect! :good vibes

We purchased resale 2 contracts last Fall and have a February UY for each.

But now we have the itch for more points.

Every few years we are able to manage a 'winter' getaway for a few days usually in early December timeframe.

And I'm thinking our current set up with a February UY isn't so great for that b/c sometimes we plan the winter getaway but find in November or so that we can't go and must cancel. With February UY that doesn't work so well.

However, the Feb UY works perfectly for the majority of our Disney stays which are always in June/July.

So….. I know I've heard all about the confusion of having 2 UY's but really … if we were able to get a June or Sept UY wouldn't that be perfect for what we like to do? That is, a summer vacation every year with our Feb points, and adding another contract for UY June or September to use those points for when we do go in the winter every few years?

Adding another February contract doesn't seem to make sense … or am I missing something?

Thanks!

 

[chalee94]

So….. I know I've heard all about the confusion of having 2 UY's but really … if we were able to get a June or Sept UY wouldn't that be perfect for what we like to do? That is, a summer vacation every year with our Feb points, and adding another contract for UY June or September to use those points for when we do go in the winter every few years?

so long as:

1) you have good organizational skills, and

2) you intend to use both contracts separately

i agree that this is a good idea.

but if you forget that some of your pts need to be banked on one schedule while the others have a different banking window, that can turn into a problem.

sometimes it can be a challenge to use two different memberships' points together for one reservation (mainly since you cannot borrow transferred pts or transfer borrowed pts) but that's not usually too bad either if you are organized.

 

[disneynutz]

Hi all

Just got back from our very first DVC stay after years of staying at the Polynesian.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the BLT. Had a 2-bedroom on the outer side very last room on the north -- Lake view but we could see the MK on the left and the fireworks from balcony. Perfect! :good vibes

We purchased resale 2 contracts last Fall and have a February UY for each.

But now we have the itch for more points.

Every few years we are able to manage a 'winter' getaway for a few days usually in early December timeframe.

And I'm thinking our current set up with a February UY isn't so great for that b/c sometimes we plan the winter getaway but find in November or so that we can't go and must cancel. With February UY that doesn't work so well.

However, the Feb UY works perfectly for the majority of our Disney stays which are always in June/July.

So….. I know I've heard all about the confusion of having 2 UY's but really … if we were able to get a June or Sept UY wouldn't that be perfect for what we like to do? That is, a summer vacation every year with our Feb points, and adding another contract for UY June or September to use those points for when we do go in the winter every few years?

Adding another February contract doesn't seem to make sense … or am I missing something?

Thanks!

Based on your travel dates a June UY would have been a better choice. Vacations June through January if canceled, the points can be banked if needed.

You can either buy more February UY points and deal with the points issue should you have to cancel or buy a different UY and deal with maintaining 2 UY's.

If you buy a second UY, titling the deeds exactly the same as your other contracts will allow one login to the member website which makes things easier.

Bill

 

[CarolMN]

.........(snip).........Every few years we are able to manage a 'winter' getaway for a few days usually in early December timeframe.

And I'm thinking our current set up with a February UY isn't so great for that b/c sometimes we plan the winter getaway but find in November or so that we can't go and must cancel. With February UY that doesn't work so well..........

February use year for the early December trips may not be much worse than any other use year.

If you do not cancel at least 31 days prior to arrival, the points go into "holding status". Holding points cannot be used to book a stay that is more than 60 days away from the day you call to make the reservation. Since availability is often very limited when you get that close to arrival, you may not be able to use the points before they expire, anyway. Cancelling in "November or so", for an early December trip is almost certainly going to result in holding points.

Instead of getting a second use year contract, consider trip insurance for those every-so-often early December trips - that time of the year needs to be booked 11 months in advance to ensure you get what you want because availability for the near park resorts (BLT, VGF, BCV, VWL & BWV) is very spotty even at 7 months for that time of the year. If you have to cancel, at last you will get your dues back.

If you do decide on the second use year, I agree with Bill - make sure it's titled exactly the same so that you can use the same log-in ID & password for access to online booking.

 

[LorieDisneyLover]

Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[DenLo]

You didn't ask this question, but I would consider an October (for F&W) or December UY for your 2nd UY to extend the banking period out as far as possible.
However the problem with UYs far apart is that the February UY could be in a different UY than the October or December UY. And transferring points can only be done into the same UY.

When we purchased our Aulani points we started to have that contract be an October UY since we would travel more in the fall and winter to Aulani. However, that turned out to be a mistake. We immediately realized after signing the contract and driving away, that the current points needed to be used for our WDW reservations and we wanted to combine the points via transfer. But found that since our February UY was already in 2013 and the new Aulani October UY was currently in it's 2012 UY, the points could not be transferred to the other contract. We could transfer Aulani's 2013 UY points but not the 2012. That meant we had a high chance of having dangling points that were not enough to cover a night. Sure we could have always resolved the problem with one-time-use points, if we had not already used them for that UY. But the two UYs already seemed too complicated to us. So we had the guide change the contract to a February UY like our others.

 

[BestDadEver]

UY is only an issue if you cancel trips .

 

[supersnoop]

UY is only an issue if you cancel trips .

That's true as long as you plan every vacation more than four mounts out. If you ever plan closer than that, and if there's ever a risk of canceling a trip (which there always is if you have family or a job), choosing the right use year is free insurance.

 

[BestDadEver]

That's true as long as you plan every vacation more than four mounts out. If you ever plan closer than that, and if there's ever a risk of canceling a trip (which there always is if you have family or a job), choosing the right use year is free insurance.

Yeah but she already has the UY she needs to work within . Not much she can do now about the UY . If you get in a renting points would be an option

 

[DenLo]

UY is only an issue if you cancel trips .

Which happens when you least expect it, no matter how hard you try to control everything. Life or worse death happens.

 

[JimC]

Have two use years and multiple resorts in each. Managing the two has not been difficult.

 

[LonghornDisney]

We had the same decision. Decided that April AKL points were purchased for family trips, which has worked great, and then bought August BWV points for just the two of us. April is good for summer or Christmas family trips (both worked well), and August is good for Food & Wine and winter/spring when we would want a couples trip. If August points are not used by spring, we could then combine them with April points for a longer or upgraded summer. Or still bank them.

A hassle, or good flexibility - depends on your perspective.