Use Years...? What is desireable & why?

[PKay]

Again, We are NEW to DVC. We bought at BCV (the only choice by Disney), then I realize there is a world of resales out there! Are people happy at BCV - the pool looks GREAT! (but I've read some complaints about the rooms). Our use year is December 2003. I'm trying to figure out if we had a choice - and if that is a good time for knowing of future vacations considering the banking schedule - this is all new to me and a little confusing. We usually vacation in the late spring time - maybe we will start in the fall too (but our two kids are getting harder to pull out of school for vacations)........................... Is there a more sought after use year time slot? and why? THANKS - I think this forum is so helpful!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Hi, PKay. The best use year usually falls shortly before you regularly vacation. This only becomes a factor if you have to cancell your trip. You will have more time to meet banking deadlines, as well as use holding account points (if you must cancell within 30 days) if you have a use year just prior to your planned vacation times.

Good luck....

 

[laceemouse]

PKay, we just bought BCV with a December use year also. Our oldest DD is finishing her first year of jr. high. Taking the kids out of school for a vacation is no longer an option for us. She is in gifted classes and the work load is so great that it would be real tough to make up the work. Our school system frowns upon missing for vacations, and the teachers do not want to help you get the missed work. Can you blame them? In elementary they have 25 to 30 kids in the class, in the older grades they have that many per period! When people say they can miss school and not miss anything, I would be seriously concerned about the quality of education they are getting. That being said, most of our trips will be spring break or summer. We may do Christmas when we get done with the "Santa" thing (our youngest is five.) We feel the December use year is great! We have the 3(is it 3?) months after that to schedule a vacation or bank our points if we are not going that year. We usually plan our summer vacation over Christmas anyway. As far as complaints about BCV, you can find lots of pros and cons about ANY resort, Disney or not. We plan to go with an open mind and ask for assisstance is we have problems. Location was a big deciding factor for us, 2 of our kids consider EPCOT their favorite. And, SAB will be as good as the water parks for us right now! As far as resales, you will see a lot of posters waiting to see if theirs will go through, will Disney do the RORF thing, etc. We just called, gave our Disney Visa card number to buy our points, and were told we could go ahead and make reservations WHENEVER we wanted to! The resale thing seems like way more hassle, although we might consider it for additional points. We have our first reservations for next spring already and are really looking forward to it!!! Only you can decide what is best for your family, but we do not feel that we made a mistake at all!!! Hope this helps you relax some...Lacee

 

[rwebbirish]

Pkay,
I would echo laceemouse's sentiments. Our use year is also December for the same reasons. Our children go to a private school and it is seriously frowned upon if you remove your children for vacation. Making up the work upon return is a nightmare. The DEC UY lets us still have time to bank if our plans change.
We have stayed at BC many times before and absolutely love SAB. Could spend vacation sitting by the pool and never enter the parks. Being within walking distance of Epcot and Boardwalk is a huge perk for us. There is a short boat ride to MGM. We avoid the busses at all costs. We will enter Epcot and walk to the front of the park to catch the monorail any time we can. Discussing problems - we had to move at WL over Easter b/c we were awakened every morning by the garbage trucks emptying the dumpsters.
Anyone can find problems on any trip, but we are thrilled to be at WDW and relax the moment we pull up to the front gate of our resort.
ENJOY!!!!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

A December use year is fine, especially for a spring break trip.
Let me explain why a use year shortly before you vacation is the best.

If you have a December use year, and in June you cancell your August trip, it will be too late to bank 100% of your points. Your 100% banking window ends May, 31. If you have already used half your points you would be fine, as you are in your 50% window. You will also be fine if you can rebook your trip prior to Dec, 1.

If you had to cancell your trip within 30 days of arrival, your points will go into a holding account. Again, not a big deal, but you will have only until December 1st to use them. Holding account points can not be banked, so even if you have used half your points already, the 50% banking window does you no good.

On the other hand, a use year closer to your vacation time, such as a March would give you more options. A March use year would keep you in the 100% banking window through Aug, 31 as well as let you use your holding account points through Feb, 28.

Again, a specific use year only matters in case of a late cancellation. A December use year will be great for spring trips.

Have fun.....

 

[PamOKW]

Don't worry too much about the Use Year. As mentioned, it only really matters when you have to cancel a reservation on short notice at the end of your Use Year (last 60 days). Even if you were to pick the "ideal" Use Year for your current vacations, in 10 years your pattern may change and that Use Year is no longer the ideal.

 

[dcfromva]

PKay,
Welcome Home!
When I first signed up for my points, I didn't totally understand UY (Maistre Gracey explained it very well).
In most cases, UY doesn't matter too much as long as you never have to cancel your vacation. Two things caused me to buy a different UY for our new contract. 1. From reading on this BB--it seems like sometimes things do come up over which you have no control and 2. We like to invite extended family along on trips (which seems to be the biggest variable). If we banked and borrowed for a Christmas vacation trip with a Feb UY and one of those things came up, we would only have the month of Jan to reschedule our vacation or would be out 3 years worth of points....
Historically, most of our vacations have been in the months of Nov, Dec and Jan., so we bought a new contract with an Oct UY to cover our winter vacations and we have the Feb Contract for our spring/summer vacations (we also take some vacations in Apr/May and Aug/Sept--especially now that DS is in High School). We had to get a waiver to do this because Disney is worried that it might be too confusing to keep track of two contracts. (I can see where it might be, but it gives me extra peace of mind, so I think it is going to be worth it).
-DC

 

[disneyberry]

Originally posted by PKay
Our use year is December 2003. I'm trying to figure out if we had a choice - and if that is a good time (snip) We usually vacation in the late spring time - maybe we will start in the fall too

PKay, yes you should've had the option of choosing from the Use Years that are still available. Disney is just actively promoting Dec UY right now.

of course, echoing the other replies: the only reason you might want to pick a particular UY is if you and your family are likely to cancel trips last minute.
otherwise, UY doesn't really matter.
and, your vacations patterns probably will change over time anyway.

a Dec UY is great for vacations during the months of Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, and early Jun.
as long as you cancelled any of those trips 31+ days in advance, you could still bank 100% of your points.

a Dec UY is worst for Nov trips because if you cancel a Nov trip last minute, you can't bank any of those points.

Is there a more sought after use year time slot? and why?

i don't think any UY is more sought after than another. it completely depends on when people vacation. and many people don't really care what UY they have because they know their vacation patterns will change over the next 39 years.

anyway, Welcome Home! and hope this helps.

 

[rrobalew]

Everyone explains Use Year in the context of when and whether you're likely to cancel a trip. But I read something in the DVC info I received that also sounds important. There was a statement that within the last 60 days of your Use Year you can't make a reservation within that last 60 days. This was printed on a single loose sheet with other summary info about DVC.

Has anyone else seen this? This could be very significant. If I understand this correctly, it means there's two whole months during which you can't make last minute reservations. For example, I live in California and sometimes go to Disneyland in April or May. If I had a June Use Year I couldn't use DVC points for a last minute trip.

 

[Pa@okw95]

PKay--I have been a member since 95 and the use year never entered my mind. I think once you get underway as a member you will find this to be the case. Your vacations will change as you go on in years, so I would not worry to much about it. The problem you might have is how to spend your points every year. You might find yourself going down to WDW 2 or 3 times a year, that is pretty neat stuff.

 

[WDWguru]

Originally posted by rrobalew
Everyone explains Use Year in the context of when and whether you're likely to cancel a trip. But I read something in the DVC info I received that also sounds important. There was a statement that within the last 60 days of your Use Year you can't make a reservation within that last 60 days.

This is only in the case of exchanging your points out to the Disney collection (not sure about adventure/concierge, etc). The reasoning is when you make one of these reservations, DVC is actually trading your points to Disney, then giving Disney DVC inventory to rent to the general public. The shorter the time before your points expire, the less time Disney has to turn that inventory around and get paid for it. It's a little complicated, but basically Disney has to follow the same rules as any other owner and your points retain their use year and status, just as if you had transferred them to another owner (essentially, you have).

This is how I understood it. If I'm wrong, somebody please jump in and correct me. I'm down to the last few days before our next trip, so I'm not thinking too clearly right now. My brain's already at BWV!!

 

[travelbug]

I also have a December use year, and I think that will continue to work well for me. I will mainly vacation at WDW between late December and late April. Now, I must say that when I first bought into DVC I was absolutely clueless about use year and what month might work best for me. My guide said that they only had Dec. use year left for BWV (the resort they were selling at the time), and I said "duh, sounds good." Fortunately, Dec. will be just fine for me.

Regarding BCV, I'm also an owner there. I've only stayed there twice so far, but have thoroughly enjoyed both stays. The only thing that is a little strange is that the A/C only works on a sensor when there is movement in the room. But that was really just a very minor inconvenience, nothing more. Otherwise, our experiences at BCV were very positive. Can't wait to go back next Feb.!

 

[rwebbirish]

Travelbug,
How does the sensor work at night? When I'm asleep, I'm not moving much. Just curious.
Thanks.

 

[rrobalew]

Thanks for the correction WDWguru. The "last two months" restriction is for non-DVC locations. Since, as I mentioned, I go to Disneyland at least once a year, this was a significant consideration for me.

But I think I've seen several posts here from people who use points for non-DVC Disney World hotels as well. So I was wondering why this issue wasn't brought up more often when people discuss the importance of Use Year.

It seems like being locked out of making a last minute reservation for two months is something worth considering. Maybe there's not that many DVC owners who are within "last minute" distance from Disney World or Disneyland.

 

[disneyberry]

rrobalew, you make a good point about the DC restriction.

i think mainly the reasons why when most of us talk about Use Year, we don't talk about this DC restriction is:
1) many of us feel that using points outside of the 6 DVC resorts is not the most economical use of points.
2) DVC really doesn't seem to be a good fit for those who like to book last-minute trips. it seems most members plan and book their trip 1 year or more in advance!

besides, the general advice if you really feel the need to try to choose an "ideal" Use Year is:

A) pick a Use Year that is 0 to 1 month before your normal dates of travel
and
B) don't pick a Use Year that is 1 to 2 months after your normal dates of travel. it is always worst to travel during the last 2 months of your Use Year (as in my example above about how Nov travel is bad when you have a Dec UY)

 

[Richyams]

I don't think anyone brings up that last two months thing because not that many people use those things. Outside trades are a poor value, if someone is making an outside trade, it is most likely that it will be planned for well in advance.

Use year is no big deal.

 

[CarolMN]

Keep in mind that you absolutely CAN stay at a non-DVC option within the last 60 days of your use year. What you can't do is make the reservation AND stay within the last 60 days of your use year. The reason for that was explained in an earlier post by WDWguru.

If you frequently reserve a Disneyland or other non-DVC vacation at the last minute (less than 60 days from arrival), then yes, use year will be an important consideration for you. However, I think most DVC members do not do that on a regular basis. As Rich posted, buying to regularly stay someplace other than the DVC resorts is not a good economic decision.

 

[travelbug]

Hi, rwebbirish! Your question is exactly the bone of contention for some people regarding the A/C at BCV being on a sensor. When you come back to the room on a warm day after being gone a long time, the room can be pretty stuffy at first. However it will cool down directly. The nighttime is when we noticed it because we'd wake up kind of sweaty since we weren't walking around going to and from the bathroom, etc. (I guess "dead to the world" would describe us. LOL)

Again, I want to stress that this was a very minor thing to us. I just thought it was a little strange that they selected a system like that for a new resort, and yet I have a healthy respect for every attempt to cut costs.

There are a number of threads that have gone around about the BCV A/C. In fact, a couple of them were kind of comical. You could do a search if you want to find out more.

 

[rwebbirish]

Travelbug,
Thanks for your response. We have never stayed at the villas before - just bought in April this year. We have always stayed at the BC and this is not a problem over there. Does DVC have nay plans to address this, or are we just stuck with it? I hate to be hot when I sleep.
Also, is this the case with any of the other DVC properties?
Thanks in advance!