Use year opinions pls

[HFJohnson]

I have seen a possible contract come up for sale that I'm very interested in but I'm just trying to work out if the use year is right for me. It's December and currently I can see myself visiting mostly end of April into May, possibly June. I would want to avoid the peak summer months but might want to visit September/October time occasionally for F&W. Is this too risky with a December UY, as if I had to cancel those trips for any reason it would be too late to bank the points?

Are there other options if I can't go for any reason like renting it out as a pre booked reservation? I guess moving the reservation could be tricky if availability is limited.

Any thoughts welcome, thanks.

 

[kilik64]

Dec would be fine for April/May/June, banking deadline is 7/31 for dec, the Sept/Oct trip would be outside your deadline.

For both timeframes March or April would be better, deadline is 10/31 and 11/30.

 

[HFJohnson]

Thanks. Yes I was looking for March/April as a preference. Do people generally avoid booking after the banking deadline then or do it and accept the risk?

 

[Sandisw]

People do try to stay away from trips that would have them stuck after the banking deadline.

No one plans to cancel or change, but sometimes it happens for reasons not in your control.

The additional issue with Dec UY for fall trips is fall is a high demand DVC time.

If you did need to cancel, you not only wouldn’t have much time to use points, but finding something could be tricky.

We have 3 UYs for this purpose. We don’t mix points ans like split stays as well so it all works!!

 

[kilik64]

Thanks. Yes I was looking for March/April as a preference. Do people generally avoid booking after the banking deadline then or do it and accept the risk?

Pretty much. And your travel plans will most likely change over time. We dont go in the fall currently, but want to go for Christmas at least once which would be outside our banking deadline, but it is what it is.

Ours has already changed only owning a few years, started going for spring break in March, have shifted to end of May for the week after school lets out here, and might shift to end of June if oldest decides to try out for soccer in middle school next year since the tryouts are that last week in May.

Unless you plan to buy multiple use years, its hard to have just one that works for all your travels plan now or in the future.

 

[HFJohnson]

Thanks. My kids are almost grown up now so I don't feel like life is going to change too dramatically over the next few years. There's also a fair chance of me buying more points at a different home resort so I could add a different UY then.

 

[marmentrout85]

I guess I'd ask how often do you envision yourself making those fall trips?

If the answer is "probably every other year" or "it might even become an annual thing" then I'd look more for the spring UYs.

If the answer is "maybe every 3-5 years" then I probably wouldn't worry about December too much.

FWIW I didn't worry about UY too much for us as I knew we'd want to experience different seasons/times of year throughout our DVC ownership so we'll inevitably end up booking after our banking deadline at some point. Heck, as of right now we're currently considering Thanksgiving week (and likely the 1st week of December as well) for 2026 even though we have a December UY, so I just assume the risk in that case.