Understanding Use Year - Updated February 10, 2021

[disneynutz]

Ok, so would March be ok for August & November or should I look more for July/August?

Ideally you would want a UY where the 1st 8 months covers the majority of the times that you will vacation.

We don't like the heat so we never vacation during the summer. We love the cooler months and Thanksgiving and Christmas at WDW. We have an Oct UY which covers Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May which works great for us.

Bill

 

[squirrel4569]

Ideally you would want a UY where the 1st 8 months covers the majority of the times that you will vacation. We don't like the heat so we never vacation during the summer. We love the cooler months and Thanksgiving and Christmas at WDW. We have an Oct UY which covers Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May which works great for us. Bill

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[chalee94]

Ok, so would March be ok for August & November or should I look more for July/August?

there is not a july UY but june or august would be better.

the other way to look at it is: what months would you never go to wdw? if you would rarely/never go to wdw in may/june/july, then august would be a good choice for UY.

 

[squirrel4569]

there is not a july UY but june or august would be better.

the other way to look at it is: what months would you never go to wdw? if you would rarely/never go to wdw in may/june/july, then august would be a good choice for UY.

Star Wars Weekends is on the bucket list, plus our spring break is in early March, not on Easter weekend when a lot of schools are out, so that is a consideration for a time we haven't yet gone. I can say we probably would never go in December, January or February due to Christmas and school schedules. My wife is a nanny for a couple who are both teachers so we are bound not only by our own children's school schedules, but by theirs as well.

Of course, anything can change in the next 43 years or so.

 

[chalee94]

Star Wars Weekends is on the bucket list, plus our spring break is in early March, not on Easter weekend when a lot of schools are out, so that is a consideration for a time we haven't yet gone. I can say we probably would never go in December, January or February due to Christmas and school schedules. My wife is a nanny for a couple who are both teachers so we are bound not only by our own children's school schedules, but by theirs as well.

Of course, anything can change in the next 43 years or so.

no UY covers everything but that does make sense that a march UY would be a good choice for you...

 

[dsnydaddy]

Ideally you would want a UY where the 1st 8 months covers the majority of the times that you will vacation.

We don't like the heat so we never vacation during the summer. We love the cooler months and Thanksgiving and Christmas at WDW. We have an Oct UY which covers Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May which works great for us.

Bill

Thanks for that Bill,

For some reason wrapping my head around Use Year and the months that affected was just not sitting right in my head. Your very simple explanation cleared that up for me. Looks like I lucked out with my Use Year since I, like you, dislike the heat. October will work nicely for us. We often travel to FL in October, February and ultimately would like to take in a Christmas season again with possible a Star Wars weekend.

 

[newfangled]

Well....I guess I didn't choose wisely, but I think we'll be ok.

In the process of purchasing VWL with Dec use year.

Pro
I think it's good for those December trips and we do love the lodge at that time of year.

Con
The only time of year we avoid WDW is a short time during spring break, and summer vacation (we have annual passes but tend to stay away during seasonal pass black out dates with occasional exceptions). Late June, July, August, and early September are times to avoid for us...so Sept or Oct UY would probably have made the most sense.


I'm new to this, but thinking we'll be ok because fall is flexible for us (And we are only an hour away). If we have to cancel a late Sept/early Oct trip, we can pick up a long weekend here and there to use the points before December (even if our resort selection may be limited). Anyone else do this???? Or am I missing something with my logic here?

 

[chalee94]

I'm new to this, but thinking we'll be ok because fall is flexible for us (And we are only an hour away). If we have to cancel a late Sept/early Oct trip, we can pick up a long weekend here and there to use the points before December (even if our resort selection may be limited). Anyone else do this???? Or am I missing something with my logic here?

if you are that close, you probably have more options than most of us. when you have to factor in a long drive or airfare, that increases the risk when you have to make last minute changes. but while last minute booking options can be pretty limited, you can probably find a night or 2 somewhere on property if you are very flexible...hopefully it won't come up very often.

 

[CarolMN]

Updated with 2015 example.

 

[Nolamom3]

I think 4 kids have melted my brains ability to function correctly. As much as I'm reading this, im still confused. The only thing I understand is my UY isn't a good one for us (IF our resale doesn't get taken. It hasn't passed ROFR yet) but I don't understand why. Lol! From what I'm reading, it becomes a problem if you have to cancel a reservation. Correct? It doesn't affect the ability to book our home resort. If our contract goes through, our UY is Feb. And of course, it's the worst possible UY since we tend to vacation any time between September-January.

 

[chalee94]

From what I'm reading, it becomes a problem if you have to cancel a reservation. Correct? It doesn't affect the ability to book our home resort. If our contract goes through, our UY is Feb. And of course, it's the worst possible UY since we tend to vacation any time between September-January.

no effect at all on booking times. that is all based on home resort. you can always book at 11 months out at your home resort using banked, current and borrowed pts (where "current UY" is based on the dates of your stay).

unfortunately, if you need to cancel, your UY will limit your options. a feb UY means you need to bank your current UY pts by sept 30 if you want to move them to the next use year. if you have a dec/jan stay and need to cancel in oct, you'd be past your banking deadline and have to scramble to use your pts in an alternate way before they expire on jan 31. (and any banked/borrowed pts will be stuck in their new UY, so they would be expiring as well.)

you would still have the option to try to rent your reservation for cash, but it might be tough to find a taker on short notice.

traveling early in your UY would give you more options and be less risky - but on the bright side, if you never need to cancel, UY won't be much of an issue.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I think 4 kids have melted my brains ability to function correctly. As much as I'm reading this, im still confused. The only thing I understand is my UY isn't a good one for us (IF our resale doesn't get taken. It hasn't passed ROFR yet) but I don't understand why. Lol! From what I'm reading, it becomes a problem if you have to cancel a reservation. Correct? It doesn't affect the ability to book our home resort. If our contract goes through, our UY is Feb. And of course, it's the worst possible UY since we tend to vacation any time between September-January.

As you understood it and Charles confirmed it's more so about ease of using points late in a UY if you have to cancel. Or if you look at it a different way by choosing a UY that you would travel early within (so for you a Sept UY) it becomes a sort of free insurance against last minute cancellations by giving you the most possible time to use the points since last minute bookings can be more difficult to make. So it's not catastrophic to have a less than optimum UY but if something unexpected happens you won't have as much time to plan new travel or to rent out the points if you could not reschedule for yourself.

 

[disneynutz]

I think 4 kids have melted my brains ability to function correctly. As much as I'm reading this, im still confused. The only thing I understand is my UY isn't a good one for us (IF our resale doesn't get taken. It hasn't passed ROFR yet) but I don't understand why. Lol! From what I'm reading, it becomes a problem if you have to cancel a reservation. Correct? It doesn't affect the ability to book our home resort. If our contract goes through, our UY is Feb. And of course, it's the worst possible UY since we tend to vacation any time between September-January.

Look at it as free insurance that may save you some points when you cancel a vacation.

Bill

 

[Nolamom3]

Okay! I understand now. Thanks for the replies!

 

[Ensusieasm]

If I always vacation in January, February, and March what are the best use years for me starting with the very best?

 

[disneynutz]

If I always vacation in January, February, and March what are the best use years for me starting with the very best?

December, but you really need to understand why. Check out post 261, maybe that will help.

Bill

 

[chalee94]

If I always vacation in January, February, and March what are the best use years for me starting with the very best?

or look at the rules for holding points and banking windows. then think your way through it using a dec stay for a dec UY and a jan stay for a dec UY.

you can read this to walk you through some of the details of traveling early in your UY compared to late in your UY:

http://disboards.com/threads/unders...-january-2-2015.1942668/page-13#post-52584249

 

[Ensusieasm]

December, but you really need to understand why. Check out post 261, maybe that will help.

Bill

Thank you, I will read post 261.

 

[Ensusieasm]

or look at the rules for holding points and banking windows. then think your way through it using a dec stay for a dec UY and a jan stay for a dec UY.

you can read this to walk you through some of the details of traveling early in your UY compared to late in your UY:

http://disboards.com/threads/unders...-january-2-2015.1942668/page-13#post-52584249

Thanks for the help. I'll go read your recommended post.

 

[alicia080979]

Okay, I have read through and *think* I get it now. Can you make sure I'm looking at the right UY. My brain is mush these days from little ones. We like to go down twice per year. We would go sometime between Sept-early Dec for one trip and May/June for the other for SWW.
I was initially thinking March would be the best but now I'm thinking April would be the best. If we had to cancel a Dec trip, we would still be in our banking window correct? If we went in Dec it would be the 1st two weeks and we would cancel in Nov. so I think we would still be good.

Am I understanding correctly that I need to start searching for an April UY?