UY Month Designation Question

[WDWBOB1]

Last Sunday (Mother's Day) my wife and I became new members at AKV and were given a December use year. I just read about people who bought after us and received a June UY. How can this be? Should we ask to have ours changed to June or in the long run it doesn't really matter?

 

[dianeschlicht]

In the long run, it really doesn't matter. To change, you would have to have all new documents, because use year is connected to specific units, and your specific unit would need to be changed if you changed use years.

 

[browniemtb]

I agree with Diane...UY really doesn't much matter and to change would be very difficult especially if all the paper work is complete. Run with the December UY.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Last Sunday (Mother's Day) my wife and I became new members at AKV and were given a December use year. I just read about people who bought after us and received a June UY. How can this be? Should we ask to have ours changed to June or in the long run it doesn't really matter?

Think of when you'll be traveling most, when your points expire if you bank them, and what options you have when you bank your points. For example, we have an Aug UY. If we travel in Aug and we cancel, we still have 7 months to reschedule or bank the points. However, if we schedule a July vacation and cancel, we have no time to reschedule or bank, because we're in the last month of our UY.

If June works better for you, I'd call your guide back and tell him/her you want a different UY and it's a condition of the sale. Most people will say UY doesn't matter, but for us, it has. Because we're always traveling on banked points, and probably will for a while, it limits us. DH is a teacher and we travel mostly around school holidays and July/August. Last year, we wanted to go in early Aug and couldn't because our points were going to expire. We've bumped into this twice now. If I had it to do over again, I would have chosen a Dec UY. Dec allows us to bank up through July. Any trips that would be scheduled for Christmas break, spring break or summer would be within the first 8 months of our UY and allow us plenty of time to bank or reschedule the trip. I also would never have to worry about the date of expiring points. I will admit, our situation is a little unique because of DH's schedule.

With that said, the paperwork is easy to change. When we were purchasing our points, our guide said if we changed our minds on the number of points we wanted to purchase, it was no big deal. He'd just send us out new paperwork.

Last but not least, HOME!!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Think of when you'll be traveling most, when your points expire if you bank them, and what options you have when you bank your points. For example, we have an Aug UY. If we travel in Aug and we cancel, we still have 7 months to reschedule or bank the points. However, if we schedule a July vacation and cancel, we have no time to reschedule or bank, because we're in the last month of our UY.

If June works better for you, I'd call your guide back and tell him/her you want a different UY and it's a condition of the sale. Most people will say UY doesn't matter, but for us, it has. Because we're always traveling on banked points, and probably will for a while, it limits us. DH is a teacher and we travel mostly around school holidays and July/August. Last year, we wanted to go in early Aug and couldn't because our points were going to expire. We've bumped into this twice now. If I had it to do over again, I would have chosen a Dec UY. Dec allows us to bank up through July. Any trips that would be scheduled for Christmas break, spring break or summer would be within the first 8 months of our UY and allow us plenty of time to bank or reschedule the trip. I also would never have to worry about the date of expiring points. I will admit, our situation is a little unique because of DH's schedule.

With that said, the paperwork is easy to change. When we were purchasing our points, our guide said if we changed our minds on the number of points we wanted to purchase, it was no big deal. He'd just send us out new paperwork.

Last but not least, HOME!!!

Paperwork to add points is easy, but no so much to change use year. It requires buying a whole different unit.

 

[disneynutz]

Last Sunday (Mother's Day) my wife and I became new members at AKV and were given a December use year. I just read about people who bought after us and received a June UY. How can this be? Should we ask to have ours changed to June or in the long run it doesn't really matter?

You need to decide which UY is better for you. It's your choice and your money. The year you choose now, your will live with for 50 years. Better to change now for free than sell and purchase a different UY later.

 

[dianeschlicht]

You need to decide which UY is better for you. It's your choice and your money. The year you choose now, your will live with for 50 years. Better to change now for free than sell and purchase a different UY later.

I find it hard to understand why anyone would do that anyway. Over the course of 50 years, you travel plans are likely to change several times. What is a "good" (relative) month now might be exactly wrong 10 years from now. Only those who are retired and have preferences would know for sure what they want to do with their points long term. Those of you with school age children will find your preferences changing often over 10-15 years.

The only time it matters is if you are in the habit of canceling reservations late enough to lose points. That has never happened to us in 11 years of membership and multiple trips a year. That's not to say it never will, and certainly the new banking rules will make use year a bit more important than it used to be, but not enough to worry about selling and re-buying a different one.

 

[disneynutz]

I find it hard to understand why anyone would do that anyway. Over the course of 50 years, you travel plans are likely to change several times. What is a "good" (relative) month now might be exactly wrong 10 years from now. Only those who are retired and have preferences would know for sure what they want to do with their points long term. Those of you with school age children will find your preferences changing often over 10-15 years.

The only time it matters is if you are in the habit of canceling reservations late enough to lose points. That has never happened to us in 11 years of membership and multiple trips a year. That's not to say it never will, and certainly the new banking rules will make use year a bit more important than it used to be, but not enough to worry about selling and re-buying a different one.

Some people, like us, know for sure that we will never, never, never, vacation at WDW during the summer months. One last minute cancellation that causes you to lose you points is enough to make you pay attention to your UY. We have already had to cancel twice. Once due to illness and once due to a schedule change at work. If you can avoid the headache by choosing the better UY, why not do it, even if you can't control the future.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

The only time it matters is if you are in the habit of canceling reservations late enough to lose points.

We're probably in a unique situation, as DH is a teacher. So unfortunately (or fortunately to some maybe), we will be vacation the same time of year every year at least for the next 20 years!!! So much for that October cruise I'd LOVE to take.

I haven't had an issue with canceling a reservation, just when banked points expire. Two years in a row we've had to vacation in July instead of August because we were going to lose points if we waited till August. If I had a later UY, it wouldn't even be a consideration. Just wished I had found you guys BEFORE I purchased my contracts. I would have made a different decision.

 

[kimberh]

I am one that has 3 Uy's on 5 different contract at 4 resorts. I feel it does matter. It really depends when you are going to travel. If you have a Dec uy, which one of mine is , then be careful if you plan on traveling in Nov. We have Oct uy also and Nov is great for Oct Uy. We love traveling in Oct and Nov. We have a Apr uy, it's growing on me, I wanted BWV's so bad, this is what was available. My choice is Oct, this works best for us.

 

[DeeCee735]

When we first bought in 2000, we didn't think to look at UY or to question them. We took what ever was assigned. As it works out 8 years later, it's a good UY for us. We do not travel in the summer months, which is the end of our use year, but do travel October through early May. In my job I have alot of time off, mostly during school vacations, plus some personal time - I am fortunate there. DH is in his own business, and with me being the advance planner that I am, he has plently of time to work in vacations at any time of year. With the two combined, I make GREAT use of our points with this UY. I love the fact that we can go in October, November, February, April. We have never gone during Christmas break, and probably won't unless it's a "non-park" trip, but the option is there as it's a good time for my DH's business, and I'm off that week.

Besides, we just added on 50 points at AKV and I banked them for next year, banking adds such possibilities! However, if I had been more savvy with how DVC works, I'd have looked closer at the UY options, just as a matter of course. Since you have a better handle on it than we did, you should look at what your options are and what works best for your family.
December would not have worked for us, because that's too close to the October/November trips we like to take each year and if we ever had to cancel last minute there would be no time to use them.

Good luck and welcome home!