Understanding Use Year - Updated February 10, 2021

[Sammie]

I really don't understand why?

Use year does not at all determine when we book trips, in fact that would be the last thing to influence us.

In fact most all of our trips have been in your red area. In over 15 years of having DVC we have only taken two trips in the green area.

With DVC ownership being 50 years or more, there is no way anyone will know that far in advance when their travel plans will be. Ours have changed over the years as we and our family have aged, school has changed and so have jobs.

Just my opinion but I think people worry too much about something that has little affect on using your DVC for the long term.

 

[MousekeTom]

I really don't understand why?

One man's opinion, if you are a planner.

 

[luv2sleep]

I really don't understand why?

Use year does not at all determine when we book trips, in fact that would be the last thing to influence us.

In fact most all of our trips have been in your red area. In over 15 years of having DVC we have only taken two trips in the green area.

With DVC ownership being 50 years or more, there is no way anyone will know that far in advance when their travel plans will be. Ours have changed over the years as we and our family have aged, school has changed and so have jobs.

Just my opinion but I think people worry too much about something that has little affect on using your DVC for the long term.

What happens to your points if you book in the red area and heed to cancel at the last minute?

 

[ELMC]

I really don't understand why?

Use year does not at all determine when we book trips, in fact that would be the last thing to influence us.

In fact most all of our trips have been in your red area. In over 15 years of having DVC we have only taken two trips in the green area.

With DVC ownership being 50 years or more, there is no way anyone will know that far in advance when their travel plans will be. Ours have changed over the years as we and our family have aged, school has changed and so have jobs.

Just my opinion but I think people worry too much about something that has little affect on using your DVC for the long term.

Without debating the importance of use year, I wanted to point out that I think you may be misinterpreting the graphic. Of course, I may be misinterpreting it as well, but I think I looked at it differently than you did. Please let me explain. When looking at the graphic, I did not assign numbers to the months based on the order in which they appear in the calendar (2 does not mean February and 12 does not mean December). Instead, I looked at my personal vacation habits and then placed them on the graphic. For example, the most likely four month period for us to vacation is August to November (so that would be the green section) followed by December to March (the yellow section). April to July is least likely for us (so that would be in the red). So based on that (and this graphic), our most optimal use year is August, because it is at the beginning of the 8 month period where we are most likely to vacation. Furthermore, the red months fall after the banking window has closed, so by structuring it this way I would stand the least chance of having to cancel a vacation and lose the points.

Again, there is validity to both sides of the argument as to how important this is, but I just thought I'd offer my interpretation of what the poster was trying to do.

 

[MousekeTom]

Without debating the importance of use year, I wanted to point out that I think you may be misinterpreting the graphic. Of course, I may be misinterpreting it as well, but I think I looked at it differently than you did. Please let me explain. When looking at the graphic, I did not assign numbers to the months based on the order in which they appear in the calendar (2 does not mean February and 12 does not mean December). Instead, I looked at my personal vacation habits and then placed them on the graphic. For example, the most likely four month period for us to vacation is August to November (so that would be the green section) followed by December to March (the yellow section). April to July is least likely for us (so that would be in the red). So based on that (and this graphic), our most optimal use year is August, because it is at the beginning of the 8 month period where we are most likely to vacation. Furthermore, the red months fall after the banking window has closed, so by structuring it this way I would stand the least chance of having to cancel a vacation and lose the points.

Again, there is validity to both sides of the argument as to how important this is, but I just thought I'd offer my interpretation of what the poster was trying to do.

Well put.

It's just a graph for those who are struggling to decide which use year to pick when they are purchasing DVC. I certainly wouldn't recommend you plan your vacation around the graph. It is really meant to help those purchasers who would never travel during a certain season of the year.

 

[chalee94]

My DH and I are planning to buy BCV points with an Oct UY we usually travel Oct-Jan maybe a few times in the spring or summer. Is Oct a good UY for us? We will probably bank and borrow depending on what size rooms we get.

oct sounds good - no use year covers everything, so if you book a reservation in july or august, be aware that it's more complicated if you need to cancel after your booking window closes at the end of may.

picking a good use year mostly helps you protect current UY pts, so if you cancel early enough, you can bank them. but if you are using a lot of banked and borrowed pts, traveling early in your UY still allows you more time to figure out what to do with your pts if you cancel.

again, if you never have to cancel, UY month will probably never be much of an issue...

 

[Sammie]

Well put.

It's just a graph for those who are struggling to decide which use year to pick when they are purchasing DVC. I certainly wouldn't recommend you plan your vacation around the graph. It is really meant to help those purchasers who would never travel during a certain season of the year.

I understand that, and I do understand that the graph is what works right now for you, but my point is that truly no one knows what will work for 50 years or more.

So my point was that while the graph works right now for you, I think others need to realize that there truly is no reason to over analyze trying to decide what use year to get when they purchase.

There will be so many things to change over the years as to when you will go and not go.

And of course for us old timers we had the option when we bought of banking our points on a % system that Jim Lewis took away and replaced it with the must bank 4 months out which I personally do not like.

Tom it is pretty though,

 

[Sammie]

What happens to your points if you book in the red area and heed to cancel at the last minute?

They go into holding just like anyone else's would. And of course that is something one would like to avoid, but honestly and maybe this comes from having DVC for over 15 years there are many things simply out of your control.

Personally for us cancelling would only be due to a very serious emergency and if that happens worrying about my DVC points would be the least of my concerns.

 

[luv2sleep]

They go into holding just like anyone else's would. And of course that is something one would like to avoid, but honestly and maybe this comes from having DVC for over 15 years there are many things simply out of your control.

Personally for us cancelling would only be due to a very serious emergency and if that happens worrying about my DVC points would be the least of my concerns.

I pretty much would only cancel if there was a serious emergency also. Given that I have a young child anything could come up. Sometimes kids get sick suddenly and you have no choice but to cancel.

I just read about cancellations and holding. I didn't realize that you could lose your points even if it's before the last 4 months in your use year if you cancel sooner within 31 days before the trip. Given that I have to make vacation requests at work a few months out, there's no way I could necessarily just reschedule a trip within 60 days. Gives me more to think about.

 

[disneynutz]

I pretty much would only cancel if there was a serious emergency also. Given that I have a young child anything could come up. Sometimes kids get sick suddenly and you have no choice but to cancel.

I just read about cancellations and holding. I didn't realize that you could lose your points even if it's before the last 4 months in your use year if you cancel sooner within 31 days before the trip. Given that I have to make vacation requests at work a few months out, there's no way I could necessarily just reschedule a trip within 60 days. Gives me more to think about.

Bad things can happen. We have had to cancel due to a death in the family, a forced job relocation, and we all came down with the flu. Thankfully we had the correct UY and we banked 2 of the 3 vacations worth of points. The Flu vacation we rescheduled for later in the year, still within our banking window.

Bill

 

[luv2sleep]

Bad things can happen. We have had to cancel due to a death in the family, a forced job relocation, and we all came down with the flu. Thankfully we had the correct UY and we banked 2 of the 3 vacations worth of points. The Flu vacation we rescheduled for later in the year, still within our banking window.

Bill

Ok, I'm confused. If you cancel within 31 days from the start of your trip, and you are in the first 8 months of your use year, you can still bank those points into the next year? If so, that makes me feel better. I thought I read that you would have to use them within 60 days or lose them and couldn't bank them in the above scenario.

 

[disneynutz]

Ok, I'm confused. If you cancel within 31 days from the start of your trip, and you are in the first 8 months of your use year, you can still bank those points into the next year? If so, that makes me feel better. I thought I read that you would have to use them within 60 days or lose them and couldn't bank them in the above scenario.

You are correct, our cancellations were prior to 30 days. We probably could have kept the flu vacation but after having 5 people sick, we decided to postpone.

Having the correct UY is just some added insurance that doesn't cost anything except for a understanding of Disney's rules.

We did have one other cancellation within the 30 day window and it was a pain to find something 60 days prior, (another Disney rule). Fortunately that's why they built SSR.

Bill

 

[CarolMN]

To clarify -

If you cancel a vacation 30 days or less prior to arrivall, the returned points go into the holding account. That means those points expire at the end of the use year, cannot be banked and can only be used to book a new vacation that occurs no more than 60 days in the future. If you cancel late, it doesn't matter where you are in your use year, except that the earlier you are, the more time you will have to try to use them However, the points will be restricted as described above - no banking allowed, reservations can only be made 60 days or less in advance.

If you cancel at least 31 days prior to arrival, the points are returned to your account in the same status they had just before the reservation was made (banked, borrowed, current, holding, one-time use, etc.). If your banking deadline has not yet passed, you can bank the current use year points. All of the other points (those that are not current use year points), will expire at the end of the use year.

So if you cancel on-time, but you are past the banking deadline, you only have until the end of the use year to use the points. If you can't use them, they expire and are forfeited.

 

[luv2sleep]

To clarify -

If you cancel a vacation 30 days or less prior to arrivall, the returned points go into the holding account. That means those points expire at the end of the use year, cannot be banked and can only be used to book a new vacation that occurs no more than 60 days in the future. If you cancel late, it doesn't matter where you are in your use year, except that the earlier you are, the more time you will have to try to use them However, the points will be restricted as described above - no banking allowed, reservations can only be made 60 days or less in advance.

If you cancel at least 31 days prior to arrival, the points are returned to your account in the same status they had just before the reservation was made (banked, borrowed, current, holding, one-time use, etc.). If your banking deadline has not yet passed, you can bank the current use year points. All of the other points (those that are not current use year points), will expire at the end of the use year.

So if you cancel on-time, but you are past the banking deadline, you only have until the end of the use year to use the points. If you can't use them, they expire and are forfeited.

Thank you! This really clears up any confusion.

Why the 'booking no more than 60 days in advance rule? What is the reason behind that? Booking a trip no more than 2 months in advance does not leave much room for planning.

Also, from what I read, holding points CAN be used for the Disneyland Resort hotels. Is that correct? What about for the hotels in WDW like the Polynesian? Can they be used there too?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thank you! This really clears up any confusion.

Why the 'booking no more than 60 days in advance rule? What is the reason behind that? Booking a trip no more than 2 months in advance does not leave much room for planning.

Also, from what I read, holding points CAN be used for the Disneyland Resort hotels. Is that correct? What about for the hotels in WDW like the Polynesian? Can they be used there too?

When you are cancelling less than 30 days out your are leaving DVC with a room last minute that they may or may not fill. The price you pay for that cancellation is that you will then be restricted to booking a room that similarly has not been booked and is close to the equivalent of what you cancelled.

As far as using points for DLR hotels or WDW hotels first depends on any resale restrictions on your points. If they can be used for those options then yes, you can use holding points to book those options but they are still held to the 60 day from check-in restriction.

 

[luv2sleep]

When you are cancelling less than 30 days out your are leaving DVC with a room last minute that they may or may not fill. The price you pay for that cancellation is that you will then be restricted to booking a room that similarly has not been booked and is close to the equivalent of what you cancelled.

As far as using points for DLR hotels or WDW hotels first depends on any resale restrictions on your points. If they can be used for those options then yes, you can use holding points to book those options but they are still held to the 60 day from check-in restriction.

Thank you!

 

[cz4ever]

Without debating the importance of use year, I wanted to point out that I think you may be misinterpreting the graphic. Of course, I may be misinterpreting it as well, but I think I looked at it differently than you did. Please let me explain. When looking at the graphic, I did not assign numbers to the months based on the order in which they appear in the calendar (2 does not mean February and 12 does not mean December). Instead, I looked at my personal vacation habits and then placed them on the graphic. For example, the most likely four month period for us to vacation is August to November (so that would be the green section) followed by December to March (the yellow section). April to July is least likely for us (so that would be in the red). So based on that (and this graphic), our most optimal use year is August, because it is at the beginning of the 8 month period where we are most likely to vacation. Furthermore, the red months fall after the banking window has closed, so by structuring it this way I would stand the least chance of having to cancel a vacation and lose the points.

Again, there is validity to both sides of the argument as to how important this is, but I just thought I'd offer my interpretation of what the poster was trying to do.

Thanks for the clarification, and in general to all on the thread for all the info.

 

[dmband]

so i have (once again) been reading up and thinking about dvc
if you travel to disney in july 99% of the time...
the best use yr would be like may/june???
that way if you had to cancel you still have 1 yr to use the points and/or bank them
tia

 

[luv2sleep]

I thought this chart was really helpful.

I bought June because I travel mostly during the months of July through December. I also travel in the Spring but that's just one trip vs the 3 potential trips in the last half of the year. My bank by date is January 31st of every year.

 

[chalee94]

if you travel to disney in july 99% of the time...
the best use yr would be like may/june???
that way if you had to cancel you still have 1 yr to use the points and/or bank them
tia

for july trips, a june UY is ideal...

a june UY will be risky if you travel in march-april-may.