Use Year for Spring/December Travel

[ecefaratti]

My husband and I are seriously thinking about purchasing DVC, but I am not sure what use year would be best for us. I am a teacher so we typically travel over Spring Break (March/April) and December break (Spring Break more often than Christmas). We may go in June, but we don't prefer that time of year due to the heat. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[kes601]

My husband and I are seriously thinking about purchasing DVC, but I am not sure what use year would be best for us. I am a teacher so we typically travel over Spring Break (March/April) and December break (Spring Break more often than Christmas). We may go in June, but we don't prefer that time of year due to the heat. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

My wife and I work for schools as well. We have an October use year. It worked well for June this year, however no last minute changes with the banking window being May 31. It also seemed to work well for the Christmas season as we were able to book 2 weeks at our home resort while securing a different resort for the first week before trimming the home resort to a week. In other words, since we had "all" of our points available to us we could do some planning that otherwise would not have been possible.

 

[Sandisw]

The problem with June is the banking window is January 31st. That means if something happens that you have to cancel a Spring Break trip...think what happened to people during Covid...you will be at risk for losing points.

With your travel, I’d try for October or Dec UY as that puts all travel within first 8 months,

No UY is perfect for all times, but having a strategic one can insulate you a little.

 

[Beachmom0317]

maybe a April UY? Is there a March UY? We travel in May and late November/early December and April works for us. Points are fresh for our May trip, so plenty of flexibility if we need to cancel- and if our November/December trip doesn’t work out we always know we’ll in advance before our 11/30 banking deadline.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Dec UY if you don't think you'll ever go in Oct/Nov otherwise October UY.

 

[DebbieB]

When I bought in 1999, I typically planned May and December. I chose April and it has worked out. I travel typically in April more than May now, so still works.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I would go with an OCT UY for your proposed travel patterns. The summer months (July, August, September) will be the only three "high risk" months for booking (i.e., past your banking deadline in case you have to cancel).

An OCT UY will also give you the flexibility to travel in the fall without being past your banking deadline. DEC UY would mean that points for any fall travel would be at risk (past banking deadline) if you had to cancel.

You said that June is already too hot for you. July-September is like walking on the surface of the sun, so you would probably be miserable and not wish to book travel then anyway. Every other month of the year, you would have the peace of mind that you could still bank the points if you had to cancel (assuming you cancel 31 days out).

Going with an OCT UY aligns the three "risky" months with the least likely time that you would travel without sacrificing the option of "low risk" fall trips.

 

[emmymac17]

To be honest, we didn't think too deeply about use year - but we have a March Use Year. We like to travel in the Spring (May) and trips in December. The December trips are our 'riskier' trips because it is past the banking deadline, but still if canceled gives us a few more months to use the points before they expire (i.e., if we cancel December - we can probably get down in January or February at some point)

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

To be honest, we didn't think too deeply about use year - but we have a March Use Year. We like to travel in the Spring (May) and trips in December. The December trips are our 'riskier' trips because it is past the banking deadline, but still if canceled gives us a few more months to use the points before they expire (i.e., if we cancel December - we can probably get down in January or February at some point)

And UY will never make a difference if you never need to cancel late. We have - twice. It was huge to not have any additional thought about DVC because we had plenty of time to use the points.

 

[fumanchu2488]

Dec UY if you don't think you'll ever go in Oct/Nov otherwise October UY.

I would go with this. Also - depending on resort strongly consider trying to get a fixed week so you don't fight booking issues during those peak times.

 

[DSLRuser]

I have found use year means very little. as long as you are organized. and lets face it....when you become DVC....you will travel to WDW at all sorts of weird times...just because you can.

We are an august use year because we thought we went in march and April......well....throw in may, a jun, a September, and a December......so any time the mood strikes us.

 

[MonaMN]

We plan to mostly travel during spring break while kid is still in school, and otherwise generally in the winter because we are from Minnesota and want NOTHING to do with Florida in the summer… so we did October UY.