Use year question - different resorts same use year?

[skier_pete]

I've read a lot on here over the past few months, and one thing I always see mentioned is "if you have two different use years you will have two different accounts". This is typically referring to owning two contracts at the same resort.

But what I haven't seen stated clearly - if I were to own at TWO different resorts but I had the same use year - Let's say for example BWV and AKV, both with December UY - would that mean I only have ONE DVC account? Or would I still have two DVC accounts?

Now, I would have though it obvious you would have two different accounts in this case, but some of the responses I've read on here make me feel like maybe I am wrong to assume that. Can someone clarify for me.

 

[chalee94]

But what I haven't seen stated clearly - if I were to own at TWO different resorts but I had the same use year - Let's say for example BWV and AKV, both with December UY - would that mean I only have ONE DVC account?

1 account. your contracts would still be numbered like:

xxxxx.01 and xxxxx.02

1 member number.

 

[supersnoop]

I've read a lot on here over the past few months, and one thing I always see mentioned is "if you have two different use years you will have two different accounts". This is typically referring to owning two contracts at the same resort.

But what I haven't seen stated clearly - if I were to own at TWO different resorts but I had the same use year - Let's say for example BWV and AKV, both with December UY - would that mean I only have ONE DVC account? Or would I still have two DVC accounts?

Now, I would have though it obvious you would have two different accounts in this case, but some of the responses I've read on here make me feel like maybe I am wrong to assume that. Can someone clarify for me.

In both scenarios, you'll have one login account, but two contract numbers. If your contracts share the same use year, they will all appear and can be combined seamlessly to book a single reservation, pursuant to home resort booking advantage rules. If you have two difference use years, you will have a drop-down menu to select which one to manage, and you'll have to use each contract to book separate reservations, potentially leaving some orphaned points to deal with.

The only time you'll have two separate DVC logins is if you are the owner on multiple contracts, but with different additional owners. For example, if Jim owes one contract, while Jim and Jane own a second, Jim will have two separate accounts. If he adds a third contract with his kids, so Jim, Jane, Jack, and Jill are listed on the deed, he'd get a third account.

 

[LisaS]

If you purchase another contract with the same UY but a different resort and you title it exactly the same as your existing contract, it will be "added on" to your existing membership. As already stated, at 7 months out you can combine the points from those two resorts to make a reservation.

If you purchase another contract with a different UY, or you purchase a contract with the same UY but title it differently, MS will create a second membership for you with it's own member number and assign that new contract to the new membership. You cannot combine points from your two memberships to make one reservation because as far as the system is concerned it's like you are two different people.

 

[skier_pete]

Thanks everyone, I knew that I'd get the answer here quickly! So that seems to make a definite advantage to buying in the same use year even at different resorts. Points can be combined at the 7-month mark, which is nice!

I was thinking there was some advantage to having two UY (on opposite ends of the calendar, say Dec and June) so that you can always use points that will be in the eight month window and then use the occasional annual transfer to move points around, but this is a nice option too.

 

[Tracy2014]

Speaking of use year- is there a "better" month to chose? I am looking at resales at BLT with December use years. Is that bad to be at the end of the year?

 

[skier_pete]

Speaking of use year- is there a "better" month to chose? I am looking at resales at BLT with December use years. Is that bad to be at the end of the year?

I can answer this one. The key to use year is that you can only bank your points for the first eight months of your use year. Therefore, if you typically travel at a certain time of year, you are better off with a use year that has your typical vacation window in the first eight months. This way, if you ever cancel a vacation, you would not lose your points.

For example, let's say you buy a December use year, and you want to travel in October. You book a vacation for October 2015 with your December 2014 UY points (that would be within the UY). However, you end up having to cancel on August 15th. Because you are already past your 8 month window, even though you canceled with more than 30 days before your trip, you can't bank the points to the next year. Now, if your UY started April 1st, and you canceled the same trip, then you would still have time to bank those points.

So, this is why its recommended to pick a UY based on that. Since October-January is the most popular DVC time, my guess is June-August is the more popular UY period, but there is a LOT of December UY available. (Somewhere I saw tables of each resort and how each point total is distributed by UY.)

However, for us, I didn't feel that we would travel definitively enough at a certain time of year, and changing bookings late in the game aren't my style, so I couldn't find a UY that had the most benefit. (The only time I like would never travel to WDW is June/July. We've been April, May, August, September, October, November, December, but will likely travel in February in the next few years as well.) However, that is why it occurred to me if I ever bought a second contract, it might be nice to have a June UY, so you could plan usage of points based on when in the year you were travelling.

 

[supersnoop]

Thanks everyone, I knew that I'd get the answer here quickly! So that seems to make a definite advantage to buying in the same use year even at different resorts. Points can be combined at the 7-month mark, which is nice!

I was thinking there was some advantage to having two UY (on opposite ends of the calendar, say Dec and June) so that you can always use points that will be in the eight month window and then use the occasional annual transfer to move points around, but this is a nice option too.

I'm under the impression that the 24 one-time purchase points are available once per use year, so that may be another advantage. If you have two contracts with the same use year, you can only purchase 24 points, but if you have two different use years, you could purchase 48 per year.

I think the best argument for different use years is if you use each contract for a specific vacation. For example, a March use year at AKV for spring break, an October use year at BCV for the Food & Wine festival, and a December use year at VWL for Christmas. If you'll only ever use that contract's points for a single purpose, multiple use years could make sense.

 

[disneynutz]

UY's on the original direct contracts was dictated for the most part by DVD. For reasons that only they know, some resorts were sold with a disproportionate number of certain months.

BLT was sold as a February resort and for many months only February UY's were sold. When we bought BLT we wanted to match our October UY but for many first time buyers, they didn't know anything about UY's.

Resales for BLT will of course favor February UY's.

Bill

 

[skier_pete]

I'm under the impression that the 24 one-time purchase points are available once per use year, so that may be another advantage. If you have two contracts with the same use year, you can only purchase 24 points, but if you have two different use years, you could purchase 48 per year.

I think the best argument for different use years is if you use each contract for a specific vacation. For example, a March use year at AKV for spring break, an October use year at BCV for the Food & Wine festival, and a December use year at VWL for Christmas. If you'll only ever use that contract's points for a single purpose, multiple use years could make sense.

That's an interesting point also. However, I would think that would have to be an unusual situation. If you are purchasing 48 points at $15 a point every year, you better get yourself a bigger contract!

And your second point was the same as what I was trying to say. Two contracts with different UY, and even to bank and borrow to get what you want. (We just got our first contract, and are a long way from getting a second - I would say at earliest 4-5 years.)

 

[Dean]

And your second point was the same as what I was trying to say. Two contracts with different UY, and even to bank and borrow to get what you want. (We just got our first contract, and are a long way from getting a second - I would say at earliest 4-5 years.)

There are some who fit into that situation but not a high % I do not believe. There are some other advantages of separate masters like multiple wait lists and transfers but for most people, esp if we're not talking large numbers, having them together is best. I think the best/most common reason isn't to get 2 UY per se but when the UY you have already is a poor one for your travel situation. IMO UY can be worth as much as a years worth of points or more for many people, far less for others.

 

[skier_pete]

There are some who fit into that situation but not a high % I do not believe. There are some other advantages of separate masters like multiple wait lists and transfers but for most people, esp if we're not talking large numbers, having them together is best. I think the best/most common reason isn't to get 2 UY per se but when the UY you have already is a poor one for your travel situation. IMO UY can be worth as much as a years worth of points or more for many people, far less for others.

Yeah, my problem is right now we are most likely to use the points in February as we are in August, which means that I supposed an August 1st UY would have been the best, but seemed very hard to find.

And while I like going in the fall for F&W, my long-term (10+ year) plan is to use the points mostly in the winter-time (Jan-March) with some fall trips sprinkled in, so I think for us the December UY really works out OK.

I also tend to think based on the information in this thread I would probably prefer to have a single UY even if we were to buy at a second resort. I really like the idea of being able to combine points at 7-months if necessary.

Here's another question, how does Disney decide which points to take from in this case: I have 100 pts at AKV and 100 pts at BWV, same UY and I'm booking at the 7-month mark at OKW using 140 points. In that case, do I get to specify WHERE I'm taking the points from?

 

[disneynutz]

Yeah, my problem is right now we are most likely to use the points in February as we are in August, which means that I supposed an August 1st UY would have been the best, but seemed very hard to find.

And while I like going in the fall for F&W, my long-term (10+ year) plan is to use the points mostly in the winter-time (Jan-March) with some fall trips sprinkled in, so I think for us the December UY really works out OK.

I also tend to think based on the information in this thread I would probably prefer to have a single UY even if we were to buy at a second resort. I really like the idea of being able to combine points at 7-months if necessary.

Here's another question, how does Disney decide which points to take from in this case: I have 100 pts at AKV and 100 pts at BWV, same UY and I'm booking at the 7-month mark at OKW using 140 points. In that case, do I get to specify WHERE I'm taking the points from?

1 UY makes life simple, you specify which contract to pull points from when booking. You will probably be booking online and you select which contract to use in which order.

Bill

 

[skier_pete]

1 UY makes life simple, you specify which contract to pull points from when booking. You will probably be booking online and you select which contract to use in which order.

Bill

Thanks Bill! As you can see, I'm pretty obsessive about understanding exactly how it all works.

 

[disneynutz]

Thanks Bill! As you can see, I'm pretty obsessive about understanding exactly how it all works.

I studied DVC for a couple of years before we bought our first resale contract. I had the basics but didn't understand the DVC/DVD/Disney/owner relationship.

We also made the mistake of getting caught up in the excitement of being a member and buying before staying at the resorts a couple of times.

Bill

 

[skier_pete]

I studied DVC for a couple of years before we bought our first resale contract. I had the basics but didn't understand the DVC/DVD/Disney/owner relationship.

We also made the mistake of getting caught up in the excitement of being a member and buying before staying at the resorts a couple of times.

Bill

I looked at it broadly for a couple of years, understood the basics, and rented points once in 2010 at AKV. Really never took it seriously because of the direct buy cost, until I really stumbled into looking at the resale boards and realized the price advantage when using resale brought it into realistic financial means. I researched for about a month, and was going to watch for a few more when I saw what I thought was a good deal (and still feel it was a very good deal) and so bought. Since then I've continued to learn. I think I was about 85 % there when we bought, but I keep learning new things. However, so far nothing has made me feel I made a mistake with buying where and when we did at AKV, even following the arguments that SSR would be a smarter buy. Now I feel I know probably 95% of what I need to, but still want to learn the rest.

Anyways, we have 160 pts, and I think I would eventually like to have roughly twice that, but for now I want to try as many resorts as I can before I do a second purchase, as I probably would make a 2nd purchase at a different resort.

Admittedly we haven't even STAYED using our DVC points, but the first one is booked next month, and we are planning on an August 2015 and April 2016 stay to take advantage of DVC price APs.

The only negative I have right now with our contract December UY is that our contract is not full loaded, as we only have 64 points for the 2014 UY (which in our case is mostly 2015). Therefore I have to borrow for both the 2015 and 2016 trips. No biggie, but I would prefer to mostly use my points during the actual UY as opposed to borrowing, because the problem is if you change the trips to use less points, the points STAY in that borrowed year, so you have to be very careful. Whereas, if you use points in your actual UY, and change the booking, you can always bank them later (first 8 months I know).

It's funny, since discovering Disney timeshare resale, I've also started looking into other timeshares as we don't just vacation at Disney World, and while I've been able to grasp the Disney system pretty quickly I find most timeshare systems almost unfathomable, at least from the outside. So far I have not convinced myself to go into any other system. With Disney, we pretty much know we want to vacation there once a year minimum. Elsewhere, we would not necessary want to go to the same location over and over, so would need to have something that is easily swapped, and I haven't been convinced what that is.

 

[disneynutz]

I looked at it broadly for a couple of years, understood the basics, and rented points once in 2010 at AKV. Really never took it seriously because of the direct buy cost, until I really stumbled into looking at the resale boards and realized the price advantage when using resale brought it into realistic financial means. I researched for about a month, and was going to watch for a few more when I saw what I thought was a good deal (and still feel it was a very good deal) and so bought. Since then I've continued to learn. I think I was about 85 % there when we bought, but I keep learning new things. However, so far nothing has made me feel I made a mistake with buying where and when we did at AKV, even following the arguments that SSR would be a smarter buy. Now I feel I know probably 95% of what I need to, but still want to learn the rest.

Anyways, we have 160 pts, and I think I would eventually like to have roughly twice that, but for now I want to try as many resorts as I can before I do a second purchase, as I probably would make a 2nd purchase at a different resort.

Admittedly we haven't even STAYED using our DVC points, but the first one is booked next month, and we are planning on an August 2015 and April 2016 stay to take advantage of DVC price APs.

The only negative I have right now with our contract December UY is that our contract is not full loaded, as we only have 64 points for the 2014 UY (which in our case is mostly 2015). Therefore I have to borrow for both the 2015 and 2016 trips. No biggie, but I would prefer to mostly use my points during the actual UY as opposed to borrowing, because the problem is if you change the trips to use less points, the points STAY in that borrowed year, so you have to be very careful. Whereas, if you use points in your actual UY, and change the booking, you can always bank them later (first 8 months I know).

It's funny, since discovering Disney timeshare resale, I've also started looking into other timeshares as we don't just vacation at Disney World, and while I've been able to grasp the Disney system pretty quickly I find most timeshare systems almost unfathomable, at least from the outside. So far I have not convinced myself to go into any other system. With Disney, we pretty much know we want to vacation there once a year minimum. Elsewhere, we would not necessary want to go to the same location over and over, so would need to have something that is easily swapped, and I haven't been convinced what that is.

Smart to take your time, as I have mentioned we bought resorts that have not become our favorites. Staying there first a couple of times would have saved us some money.

Our biggest disappointment is the DVC business plan. IMO, 95% of DVC is focused on selling, 5% on the members almost as a required after thought. I was once very involved with DVC, met several managers and CM's, ate lunch with some, saw behind the curtain.

Getting a discounted room by owning a DVC interest still makes sense but DVC really isn't a club.

Bill

 

[skier_pete]

Our biggest disappointment is the DVC business plan. IMO, 95% of DVC is focused on selling, 5% on the members almost as a required after thought. I was once very involved with DVC, met several managers and CM's, ate lunch with some, saw behind the curtain.

Getting a discounted room by owning a DVC interest still makes sense but DVC really isn't a club.

Bill

That was the impression that we got staying DVC by renting points, at least I assumed that's why we felt we were getting less than top class service. At the time, it was a bit upsetting, but in hindsight I found it not surprising. Disney has your money. Even if you get fed up and sell your share, they STILL have you money and continue to collect the maintenance fee.

I think having experienced it once, it won't bother us as much - though my wife is not happy that we won't have someone making the bed. I told her I would do it for the money we save!

 

[Dean]

Here's another question, how does Disney decide which points to take from in this case: I have 100 pts at AKV and 100 pts at BWV, same UY and I'm booking at the 7-month mark at OKW using 140 points. In that case, do I get to specify WHERE I'm taking the points from?

You tell them which points to use, it's easy to do online. You even pick which contract when they're the same UY. For example, I have 4*25 pt for AKV and if I book anything, I have to tell them exactly which contract to use points from and to borrow from.

 

[Tracy2014]

I can answer this one. The key to use year is that you can only bank your points for the first eight months of your use year. Therefore, if you typically travel at a certain time of year, you are better off with a use year that has your typical vacation window in the first eight months. This way, if you ever cancel a vacation, you would not lose your points. For example, let's say you buy a December use year, and you want to travel in October. You book a vacation for October 2015 with your December 2014 UY points (that would be within the UY). However, you end up having to cancel on August 15th. Because you are already past your 8 month window, even though you canceled with more than 30 days before your trip, you can't bank the points to the next year. Now, if your UY started April 1st, and you canceled the same trip, then you would still have time to bank those points. So, this is why its recommended to pick a UY based on that. Since October-January is the most popular DVC time, my guess is June-August is the more popular UY period, but there is a LOT of December UY available. (Somewhere I saw tables of each resort and how each point total is distributed by UY.) However, for us, I didn't feel that we would travel definitively enough at a certain time of year, and changing bookings late in the game aren't my style, so I couldn't find a UY that had the most benefit. (The only time I like would never travel to WDW is June/July. We've been April, May, August, September, October, November, December, but will likely travel in February in the next few years as well.) However, that is why it occurred to me if I ever bought a second contract, it might be nice to have a June UY, so you could plan usage of points based on when in the year you were travelling.

Thank you so much! I think I'm starting to wrap my head around it!