Use Year -- what is it good for?

[AllieV]

At some point in the near future, I'll be buying a resale contract and am trying to determine what use year would work best. From what I can see, there is one main reason and one minor reason to pick the right use year. Can those more experienced shed some light? Simply, please.

1) If I want to combine 3 years' of points for a whammy stay by banking and borrowing, I can only take that vacation in the month of my use year (the month that the banked will be expiring, the same month that the future can first be borrowed). So if I regularly take February vacations and want a cool villa every 3 years on a 150 point contract, I need a Feb UY.

2) I can cancel and bank 8 months out only, so if I regularly take February vacations, I should safely have a June UY

I'm sure you see my dilemma if I'm understanding this correctly. Thanks for any input

 

[Sandisw]

A few points to clarify. UY plays no role in when you can travel. Any trip can use banked, borrowed, and current UY points, no matter what month of the UY you are traveling. For example, say you want to travel in Feb 2012 with a Feb UY. You would be allowed to use banked 2011 UY points, 2012 UY points, and borrowed 2013 UY points because your Feb 2012 trip takes place in your 2012 UY. However, if you owned a Dec UY, then your Feb 2012 trip would take place in your Dec 2011 UY and thus you would be allowed to use banked 2010 points, 2011 points, and borrowed 2012 points.

Ideally, you want a UY that starts just prior to your typical time of travel as it allows the most flexibility in terms of what to do with points if you have to cancel a trip or change things to use less points.

When traveling during the beginning of a UY and you cancel a trip more than 31 days out (less than that and the rules are different), you still have time to reschedule the trip and/or bank your points.

With Feb travel, a Feb UY would be ideal. However, Oct and Dec UY would also be fine, especially if you plan to ever travel during the holidays.

Good luck!

 

[AllieV]

If I want to use 3 years of points (past, present, future) to book a trip, how many months of the year can I use those? I assumed it was just during the UY month.

 

[Sandisw]

If I want to use 3 years of points (past, present, future) to book a trip, how many months of the year can I use those? I assumed it was just during the UY month.

No, you can use them in all the months. Everything is simply based on the UY you are traveling. Once you know that, it can be booked with banked points from the prior UY, current UY points, and borrowed points from the UY prior.

Here are some examples: I own a June UY. Say I want to travel in Oct. 2011. That trip takes place in my June 2011 UY (which runs from June 1st, 2011 through May 31st, 2012) so I can use banked 2010 UY points, 2011 UY points, and borrowed 2012 UY points.

Now, say I want to travel in April 2012. Since this trip also takes place in my 2011 UY, I can use the same points--banked 2010, 2011 and borrowed 2012 points.

 

[AllieV]

These are very helpful explanations, thanks. So I guess I'm wondering what the heck a UY is even for. What was behind Disney's idea of creating varied years?

 

[disneynutz]

These are very helpful explanations, thanks. So I guess I'm wondering what the heck a UY is even for. What was behind Disney's idea of creating varied years?

Good question because historically their selling of points by UY makes no sense. For example DVD sold BLT February points more than any other. If you wanted BLT, they would tell you that only February was available.

Another question is why do they have a UY point forfeit rule. If I can't use my points this year and I didn't bank them, why are the points forfeited? I bought the points and pay the dues on them, why does Disney care other than to screw with the members. Why not have a auto bank rule where the points are automatically banked one time if not used?

Bill

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Many people don't even think about UY, but I'll give you a different perspective. UY can dictate if/when you travel, especially if you bank points and travel once per year. We like to travel in early Aug and purchased an Aug UY. Seemed ideal. Well, after using it for a few years, I just sold two contracts and repurchased, because I HATED my UY. When we banked points, those points had to be used by the end of July, or they expired. We changed travel plans several times because of this, and it was worth every penny to me to sell and repurchase to avoid the issue.

In hindsight, February would have been ideal. We travel during school holidays (spring break, June/July/Aug, and Thanksgiving/Christmas). With a Feb UY, banked points would expire at the end of January. That would have allowed us to book any one of these vacations mentioned above without even having to consider expiring points. Also, most of those vacations would have been safe since we would have had through the end Sept to bank points had we cancelled (which we never have).

In the end, we already had two other contracts with a Dec UY, so we repurchased new contracts with a December UY. One other thing we learned over the last few years is we didn't want multiple UYs! Dec will work fine, but it throws Christmas travel out as an option since any banked points expire on Nov 30th.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

...Another question is why do they have a UY point forfeit rule. If I can't use my points this year and I didn't bank them, why are the points forfeited? I bought the points and pay the dues on them, why does Disney care other than to screw with the members. Why not have a auto bank rule where the points are automatically banked one time if not used?

Ooooo! If I don't use and bank, every 3 years I could stay in a studio at OKW from Nov 1 - Feb 28!

All kidding aside (but that would be awesome!), do you think it's to keep people from stockpiling like that, and then using it all at once and throwing inventory into a tailspin? That's my theory, anyway.

 

[chalee94]

All kidding aside (but that would be awesome!), do you think it's to keep people from stockpiling like that, and then using it all at once and throwing inventory into a tailspin? That's my theory, anyway.

sounds like an accurate theory to me.

 

[AllieV]

With a Feb UY, banked points would expire at the end of January.

Ah, thanks for the info. I thought a Feb UY meant points expired at the end of Feb. So if I do a lot of Feb travel, I'd want a March UY then. That would allow me a nice December vaca or a Feb one (school vaca plus my son's bday).

 

[RobDoc]

Ah, thanks for the info. I thought a Feb UY meant points expired at the end of Feb. So if I do a lot of Feb travel, I'd want a March UY then. That would allow me a nice December vaca or a Feb one (school vaca plus my son's bday).

The problem with February trips and a March Use Year is that if you would need to cancel that trip after October 31, the points could no longer be banked and would still need to be used by February 28/29.

If cancelling a reservation is a possibility, it would be better to have a Use Year just before you will travel (ie- February for February trips, December for December trips.) For trips from November thru February an October Use Year would be best.

The issues regarding Use Year have nothing to do with when you can travel or make reservations. Use Year governs your banking window and sets the date each year when your points are renewed. If you are not likely to cancel reservations, Use Year won't matter at all.

 

[chalee94]

Ah, thanks for the info. I thought a Feb UY meant points expired at the end of Feb. So if I do a lot of Feb travel, I'd want a March UY then. That would allow me a nice December vaca or a Feb one (school vaca plus my son's bday).

as doc said, you want to travel as early in your UY as possible. also, you ideally never want to travel in the last 3 months or so of your UY (jun-jul-aug for a sept UY) - largely due to traveling after your banking window has closed, which limits your options for any current year pts used to book the stay.

all use years include 12 months of possible travel. again, use year month is only an issue if you need to cancel. it has nothing to do with when you can call to book a stay.

some examples to show how things might work with a use year just before or after travel:

if you have a june UY and a may 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window closed on jan 31, 2012 so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation before they expire on may 31, 2012.

if you have a june UY and a june 2012 trip and you need to cancel 60 days out, your banking window won't close until jan 31, 2013 so you'd have until then to decide whether to use current year (2012) pts for a reservation in that UY or else bank them to the next year. (you'd still need to use banked and borrowed pts by may 31, 2013.)

if you have a june UY and a may 2012 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but that won't matter since they expire on may 31...which is less than 60 days out.

if you have a june UY and a june 2012 trip and you need to cancel 5 days out, the pts would turn into "holding" pts so you'd have to use all of the pts in the reservation subject to a 60-day-out limitation - but at least you'd have 12 months before they expire on may 31, 2013 to decide what to do with them.

more info about UY is here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1942668

 

[AllieV]

Ah, ok. So if I plan to travel mostly in December or February, then my ideal UY would be December. I could travel early in the "year" or rebook if I needed to and have plenty of time to do it.

And as far as booking, so long as I WILL have the points upon travel, UY doesn't really matter. I can be at zero points when I call. I thought you had to wait till the UY came around and you had points again then book.

 

[Sandisw]

Ah, ok. So if I plan to travel mostly in December or February, then my ideal UY would be December. I could travel early in the "year" or rebook if I needed to and have plenty of time to do it.

And as far as booking, so long as I WILL have the points upon travel, UY doesn't really matter. I can be at zero points when I call. I thought you had to wait till the UY came around and you had points again then book.

If what you mean by zero points is that you have no points for the UY you are calling to make the reservation, but have them for the UY you are traveling, then yes.

Everything goes by date of travel. The easiest way to look at it, at least for me, is to first, figure out what UY I will travel. Once I know that, then I know that I can used banked points from previous UY, UY of travel, and borrow points from the UY after travel.

That is what MS does do--looks to see what will be in your account when you go.

And, yes, if you are going to go Dec and Feb, then Dec UY works. If you think you would ever want to start at the end of November, however, then I would go with an Oct UY as it also works well for Dec and Feb, but gives you a flexibility if your Dec trip starts a few days early.

Good luck!

 

[AllieV]

Thanks, Sandisw. Oct or Nov might be looking like a better UY; that's some good points. So here's what I've learned:

1. if I wanted to use 3 years' of points, I could do it any of the 12 months in the middle UY of those three years.
2. Use points early in the UY if possible
3. Disney loves forfeited points