Use year .. does it matter ?

[kiingor]

I'm new at this...
Does it matter what use year to purchase? The way i see is... wouldn't it be better to purchase one with earlier use year than december. Otherwise i can't use it till December and would mean I have to Bank it every year in order to go anytime before december.
Ex: If i purchase one now with December use year, and want to go every January, i would have to bank it every year so I can go between january and November.
Does it make sense?

 

[*elaine*]

Your points are good from December to the end of November. So, the points you get in December of '06 are good until November 30, '07 (unless you bank them) so, you can use them to travel in January of '07.

If you buy a loaded contract with a December UY, but aren't going to travel until January '07 after you get your second allotment of points, you are left with the choice of banking your '05-'06 points and then travelling on THOSE in the '06-'07 year, OR you could rent them to someone else to use before 11/30/06 and travel on your '06-07 allotment of points.

 

[bobbiwoz]

If you purchased a December UY, you could use your December '06 points anytime between December 1, '06 and November 30, '07. You would not have to bank them for them to be usable then. If you banked them, then they could be used between December 1, 07 and Nov. 30th, '08.

Bobbi

 

[kiingor]

ok.. i see how it works now.. so i have 1 year to use the points. Can i bank the points anytime thru out the year... If i receive my points in Dec. 06, can i wait till Nov. 07 to bank them ?

 

[LisaS]

First of all, your Use Year has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation or your dates of travel. You can book a reservation at your home resort 11 months prior to your check-out date regardless of your Use Year. The only thing that matters is that you have enough points in the same Use Year as your dates of travel. If you didn't have enough points in that Use Year, you could bank points from the previous UY and/or borrow points from the next UY.

If you have a December Use Year (Dec 1 - Nov 30) then your points work as follows:

Your 2005 UY points are valid for stays from Dec 1, 2005 - Nov 30, 2006
Your 2006 UY points are valid for stays from Dec 1, 2006 - Nov 30, 2007
Your 2007 UY points are valid for stays from Dec 1, 2007 - Nov 30, 2008
etc.

Your Use Year also dictates your banking deadlines. With a December UY:

You can bank 100% of your points by May 31st
You can bank 50% of your points by Aug 31st
You can bank 25% of your points by Sep 30th
You cannot bank any points between Oct 1st and Nov 30th (end of UY)

Banking is cumulative. For example, if you already banked 50% or more of your points by May 31st, you cannot bank any more points after that date. If you had banked 40% of your points by May 31st, you could bank another 10% between May 31st and Aug 31st.

Where Use Year really becomes important is if you have fairly regular travel dates and if you think you might ever have to cancel a trip. If you have a Dec UY and book a trip for Jan '07 and then have to cancel it, you will have 11 more months to use those points for something else before they expire (on Nov 30, 2007). You are also well within your 100% banking deadline and could bank those points into the next UY. However if you normally go in January and had a February UY, then canceling a January trip is a huge problem -- your points would expire on Jan 31st so you would have no time to use them for another trip and you are past all banking deadlines.

One more thing. If you are purchasing from Disney, you get current Use Year points with your purchase. So if you purchased a Use Year Month where you are still in your 2005 UY (Aug, Sep, Oct, Dec) then Disney starts your contract with 2005 UY points. If you purchased an earlier Use Year Month (Feb, Mar, Apr, Jun) you are in your 2006 UY, so Disney starts you out with 2006 UY points. So by purchasing a later Use Year, you get an extra year's points allocation with your purchase.

 

[kiingor]

now I got it.... that was very clear
Thanks Lisa

 

[erikthewise]

ok.. i see how it works now.. so i have 1 year to use the points. Can i bank the points anytime thru out the year... If i receive my points in Dec. 06, can i wait till Nov. 07 to bank them ?

Not quite. You can bank all of them until May 31, 07. If you only want to bank 50% or less, you have until Aug 31, 07. 25% or less, Sept 30, 2007.

In the best of all worlds, use year doesn't matter. In practice an inconvenient use year can be a nuisance. The good news is that Dec is the best choice for someone who usually/always goes in January.