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- Aug 18, 1999
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Use year is the month your points are renewed each year. You have one year to use your points before they expire (unless you bank them).
Use year determines your banking deadline, but it has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation. You can always call (or book online) 11 months prior to your desired check in day for a reservation at your home resort and 7 months prior to your desired check in day if you want to reserve something at a non-home resort. You do NOT have to wait until your use year begins to make a reservation - actually all of your points are already in your account. You just have to have points available that will be valid for your desired stay.
For example:
Let's say you buy 200 points on February 1, 2021 and you get an October use year.
Your 2021 points are valid for stays between 10/1/2021 and 9/30/2022. Those would be considered your current use year points for any stays that occur during that time period.
If you buy directly from Disney before 10/1/2021 and get an October use year, you will also get 2020 use year points with your purchase. (This may not be the case for a new resort that isn't open for occupancy when you purchase). Contracts purchased via resale may or may not come with banked and/or current use year points. The 2020 points would be valid to pay for stays between 10/1/2020 and 9/30/2021. You will be allowed to bank the 2020 points even if you are past the banking deadline. This is a courtesy Disney has been extending only to those who purchase directly through them.
If you don't plan to take a trip before 9/30/2021, you'll want to bank your 2020 points so that they do not expire. As long as you call before the end of May 2021 (the banking deadline for October 2020 use years), you can bank all 200 of the 2020 points. You may not bank at all in June, July August or September if you have an October use year.
For example:
Let's say you want to stay in April of 2021 and your stay will cost 500 points. April 2021 falls within your 2020 use year. (See the chart above). So for an April 2021 vacation, the current use year is 2020. For that reservation, you may use the current use year points from the 2020 use year, any banked points originally from your 2019 use year and you may borrow points from your 2021 use year.
If you plan to stay at your home resort, you can call to make the reservation for April 2021 in May of 2020 even though your 2020 use year doesn't begin until October 1, 2020. Again, use year has nothing to do with WHEN you can make the reservation.
Banking and borrowing are final transactions. If you cancel a reservation made with banked or borrowed points, the points will not be returned to their original use year. So they would expire at the end of the current use year unless they were used before then. You may not bank or borrow the same points more than once.
Let's say you do have to cancel that April, 2021 vacation and you call to cancel it at least 31 days prior to arrival. To make the reservation, you used 200 current use year points (from 2020 use year), 200 banked points (originally from 2019) and borrowed 100 points from 2021.
After you cancel, you would have 300 points to use before 9/30/2021, the end of the current use year (2020) for that vacation - i.e., the 200 that were banked (from 2019) and the 100 that were borrowed (from 2021). Remember, banked and borrowed points cannot be returned to their original use year. If you do not use those points before 9/30/2021, they expire and are lost to you.
If you call MS (or go online) to bank points before May 31, 2021 (the banking deadline for an October 2020 use year), you could bank all 200 of the 2020 use year points used for that cancelled April 2021 vacation. After banking, those points will be valid for stays between 10/1/2021 and 9/30/2022. They will expire on 9/30/2022 if not used before then - remember, you cannot bank the same points more than once.
If you didn't bank the 2020 points before May 31, 2021, all 500 of the returned points from that April 2021 cancelled vacation would have to be used before 9/30/2021 (the end of your 2020 use year).
If you cancel any reservation 30 days or less prior to arrival, the points go into the holding account. Holding points cannot be banked. In addition to expiring at the end of the use year, holding points may only be used to make a reservation that will begin no more than 60 days in the future. Since availability is often very limited 60 days or less prior to arrival, it can be very difficult to use holding points. It is not unusual for holding points to expire without being used.
Use year only matters if you have to cancel a vacation that was scheduled to occur late in your use year - i.e., during the last three months of your use year. That's because banking is not allowed during the last four months of your use year and so you don't have much time to reschedule before the points expire. Many owners never have to cancel a vacation (lucky them) so they don't worry about use year.
ADVICE: If you travel about the same time of the year on a regular basis, it's best to choose a use year that falls no more than 7 or 8 months prior to that time. Keep in mind that your travel pattern may change over the course of your ownership. What starts out as a "perfect" use year may end up to be not so perfect.
Remember, use year has nothing to do with when you may make a reservation. All of your points are actually "in your account". You don't have to wait until your use year begins to have access to your points - you just have to match your vacation dates to the use year (find the use year that will be the current use year for that vacation), and then make sure you have enough points in that use year to make the desired reservation.
Use year determines your banking deadline, but it has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation. You can always call (or book online) 11 months prior to your desired check in day for a reservation at your home resort and 7 months prior to your desired check in day if you want to reserve something at a non-home resort. You do NOT have to wait until your use year begins to make a reservation - actually all of your points are already in your account. You just have to have points available that will be valid for your desired stay.
For example:
Let's say you buy 200 points on February 1, 2021 and you get an October use year.
Your 2021 points are valid for stays between 10/1/2021 and 9/30/2022. Those would be considered your current use year points for any stays that occur during that time period.
If you buy directly from Disney before 10/1/2021 and get an October use year, you will also get 2020 use year points with your purchase. (This may not be the case for a new resort that isn't open for occupancy when you purchase). Contracts purchased via resale may or may not come with banked and/or current use year points. The 2020 points would be valid to pay for stays between 10/1/2020 and 9/30/2021. You will be allowed to bank the 2020 points even if you are past the banking deadline. This is a courtesy Disney has been extending only to those who purchase directly through them.
If you don't plan to take a trip before 9/30/2021, you'll want to bank your 2020 points so that they do not expire. As long as you call before the end of May 2021 (the banking deadline for October 2020 use years), you can bank all 200 of the 2020 points. You may not bank at all in June, July August or September if you have an October use year.
- Your 2020 use year points are good for stays between 10/1/2020 and 9/30/2021.
- Your 2021 use year points are good for stays between 10/1/2021 and 9/30/2022.
- Your 2022 use year points are good for stays between 10/1/2022 and 9/30/2023.
- Your 2023 use year points are good for stays between 10/1/2023 and 9/30/2024.
- etc.
For example:
Let's say you want to stay in April of 2021 and your stay will cost 500 points. April 2021 falls within your 2020 use year. (See the chart above). So for an April 2021 vacation, the current use year is 2020. For that reservation, you may use the current use year points from the 2020 use year, any banked points originally from your 2019 use year and you may borrow points from your 2021 use year.
If you plan to stay at your home resort, you can call to make the reservation for April 2021 in May of 2020 even though your 2020 use year doesn't begin until October 1, 2020. Again, use year has nothing to do with WHEN you can make the reservation.
Banking and borrowing are final transactions. If you cancel a reservation made with banked or borrowed points, the points will not be returned to their original use year. So they would expire at the end of the current use year unless they were used before then. You may not bank or borrow the same points more than once.
Let's say you do have to cancel that April, 2021 vacation and you call to cancel it at least 31 days prior to arrival. To make the reservation, you used 200 current use year points (from 2020 use year), 200 banked points (originally from 2019) and borrowed 100 points from 2021.
After you cancel, you would have 300 points to use before 9/30/2021, the end of the current use year (2020) for that vacation - i.e., the 200 that were banked (from 2019) and the 100 that were borrowed (from 2021). Remember, banked and borrowed points cannot be returned to their original use year. If you do not use those points before 9/30/2021, they expire and are lost to you.
If you call MS (or go online) to bank points before May 31, 2021 (the banking deadline for an October 2020 use year), you could bank all 200 of the 2020 use year points used for that cancelled April 2021 vacation. After banking, those points will be valid for stays between 10/1/2021 and 9/30/2022. They will expire on 9/30/2022 if not used before then - remember, you cannot bank the same points more than once.
If you didn't bank the 2020 points before May 31, 2021, all 500 of the returned points from that April 2021 cancelled vacation would have to be used before 9/30/2021 (the end of your 2020 use year).
If you cancel any reservation 30 days or less prior to arrival, the points go into the holding account. Holding points cannot be banked. In addition to expiring at the end of the use year, holding points may only be used to make a reservation that will begin no more than 60 days in the future. Since availability is often very limited 60 days or less prior to arrival, it can be very difficult to use holding points. It is not unusual for holding points to expire without being used.
Use year only matters if you have to cancel a vacation that was scheduled to occur late in your use year - i.e., during the last three months of your use year. That's because banking is not allowed during the last four months of your use year and so you don't have much time to reschedule before the points expire. Many owners never have to cancel a vacation (lucky them) so they don't worry about use year.
ADVICE: If you travel about the same time of the year on a regular basis, it's best to choose a use year that falls no more than 7 or 8 months prior to that time. Keep in mind that your travel pattern may change over the course of your ownership. What starts out as a "perfect" use year may end up to be not so perfect.
Remember, use year has nothing to do with when you may make a reservation. All of your points are actually "in your account". You don't have to wait until your use year begins to have access to your points - you just have to match your vacation dates to the use year (find the use year that will be the current use year for that vacation), and then make sure you have enough points in that use year to make the desired reservation.
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points???
