What should be my use year?

[DisOrBust]

Just starting my research so be patient. My employer has us submit vacation requests in October and are decided by December for the following year. So what would be a good UY for this situation?

Lets say I have booked a stay for April but don't get the vacation time approved. What are my options for cancelling?

Thanks!

 

[MrInfinity]

I don't think UY is going to matter that much. The challenge is how to make DVC work in a situation where you don't know when you'll have off till Dec. Look at a couple scenarios:

April UY:
Ideal for an April trip. You'd be booking An April 2018 trip in May 2017, blind, on the hope that you get it off work, which you won't know till Dec. If you get that time, great. If you don't, you have to reschedule. What dates you are likely to get instead matter. If you can get Oct-Dec as a backup, then that's fine since you have 11 mo to book a backup Nov trip. Jul-Sep is ok too since it's under 11 but still over 7 mo.

Oct UY:
You'd still book a spring 2018 trip in May 2017, using Oct 2017 points. If you don't get the time off work, you'd have to book your new trip to occur before the end of September, so maybe Jul-Sep range. If you can get those dates off as your backup, you go then. If not, you'd just bank your points into Oct 2018. Then you can take that Oct-Nov-Dec trip just the same.

April is better, I think. But the real dilemma is not the UY, it's the 7 and 11 month booking windows. What time of year were your recent vacations? How often do you get your 1st choice of time off, or what do you tend to get instead? And how often do you think you'll go?

 

[Matty B13]

Do you have kids that need to travel during school vacations? February or April? A December or February UY make since in that situation.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

UY is really about when you travel.

My question with your vacation setup is if you'd be able to plan 11/7 months ahead. If not, DVC might not be a good fit.

 

[S.J.G.]

I think that you should just consider months in which you never plan on vacationing. Specifically, pick up a 4 month block of no vacationing. If your use year is February, you will receive your allotted points on Feb. 1st of each year. From that date, you will have up to 8 months to bank your points if you do not plan on using them that year. If you haven't banked your points by Sept. 30th, the end of the 8th month, you will have the remaining 4 months Oct. thru January to use those unbanked points. If you do not use those unbanked points, you will lose them. If you traditionally vacation in April, then getting a use year of Feb, March or April would probably be best because if those plans fall through for whatever reason, you will have the following 8 months to reschedule and still go that year. Personally, I don't care for later use years. Although the use year will dictate what your 12 month period is, you are still receiving those points in an actual year. If you choose a Sept, Oct or Dec use year, you will have to wait almost all of, for example, 2017 to receive your 2017 points. I find that being a year behind in points, but that's just me. I like February because I will have until Sept to either go on vacation or bank for the following years. My wife is a teacher so we can't really go outside of the summer, so that timeframe works for me.

Another personal opinion:
I find it's always best to bank your points once your deadline approaches unless you know that you are going to definitely use them. Let's say your deadline is September 30. You are cautious and book your points but then Oct comes around and you decide that you want to sneak in a mini-vacation sometime in that 4 month timeframe. Although you cannot borrow those banked points, you can borrow from the following year. Then, come the beginning of your use year, you will once again have access to the points that you banked from the year before. When you book your vacation for that year, you will first use those banked points and then, if necessary, use the current years points. Always use up your banked points once they are available before you use your current years points because your banked points are only good for one year. Quick example and then I'll stop talking haha We'll use the current year. So you have banked 2016 u.y. points, you have your current 2017 u.y. points and then you have points you could borrow from 2018 u.y.. Once 2017 u.y. ends, if you haven't used the banked 2016 points, they will be gone forever. It's a three year timeframe and keeps moving each year. You can always bank the current years points, but you can not bank already banked points from the previous year.

I hope this helped and made sense at the same time haha

Good luck in the future

 

[DisOrBust]

See this why my head hurts ever time I try to consider DVC,lol!

I have one child left in school for the next four years, then college, it will be pretty much summer and/or Easter break. In theory I should be able to get some vacation time over summer and maybe spring break at least once in the next four years.

Here is my Grand plan: I have 3 daughters and on our last vacation we basically all admitted to the fact that YBC is really the only place we will stay. The kids are disney fans, past CPs etc so I'm thinking towards the future. My husband and I never considered DVc for us until out 10th trip and now I'm kicking myself we didn't pull the trigger then. Well now I'm considering a plan for 3 100 pt contracts( as they become available) to BCV that I could "gift" to my kids in a couple of years. I hope in the future that they can get together ever three years or so once they have their own lives. I know many of you will say don't plan on things for your kids but we come from a different situation and my kids are incredibly close.

PLanning on 100 pts each so they don't get "taxed" and I'll manage point and pay dues etc...

I think that you should just consider months in which you never plan on vacationing. Specifically, pick up a 4 month block of no vacationing. If your use year is February, you will receive your allotted points on Feb. 1st of each year. From that date, you will have up to 8 months to bank your points if you do not plan on using them that year. If you haven't banked your points by Sept. 30th, the end of the 8th month, you will have the remaining 4 months Oct. thru January to use those unbanked points. I

T.

This was what I was thinking but I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the whole bank and borrow carousel which has been a roadblock for me in the past

 

[S.J.G.]

I think that a March or April use year would be perfect for you. You will receive those points on the 1st of either March or April, and then you will have until Oct 31 or Nov 30 (respectively) to use those points before you'll need to bank them. If you don't plan on vacationing from Nov - Feb or Dec - March then you will be fine.

I come from a close family, as does my wife, so doing what you're doing does not sound strange. I will, however, add that you should definitely find the same use year for the three separate contracts. Also, considering you are all only interested in BCV, having that be your home resort is the best option for you because that resort does not usually see the 7 month booking window. (if you don't know what I'm talking about...you can book at your home resort 11 months before your trip. If you stay at a resort that is not your home resort, you will have a 7 month booking window)

It sounds like you're planning on purchasing via resale. Good choice if that's the plan. I will let you in on a little not so secret haha. Once you are a member, even if it's via resale, you can purchase a minimum of 25 points through Disney. Doing that will give you access to the discounts. In case you didn't know, Disney cut the discounts from people that buy via resale last year. Meaning, no discounted park passes or discounts on merchandise, etc. So, buy your three 100 point contracts and if you want those DVC discounts and benefits, buy 25 points through Disney. If you don't care about any of that, don't buy 25 from Disney. lol It's that simple.

Again, when buying your contracts, be patient and wait for the same use year. Buying different use years will make your life more complicated and it could possibly limit their ability to vacation together in the future.

Don't worry about missing a vacation one summer, bank those points and make your following vacation an even bigger one!

Keep doing your research and look up the points charts online. Typically you can stay in a deluxe studio, a one bedroom villa, a two bedroom villa or a three bedroom villa. Summer is a peak season which result in higher points per night. Once you figure out the kind of room you want and then amount of nights you want to stay, you'll have a better insight as to how many points you'll actually want.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So when is the time that you will eventually be planning on trying to travel?

And if your vacation doesn't get approved for the time you submit what happens then?

 

[DisOrBust]

It will probably be summers we would reserve and if my vacation does not get approved I can Bank then correct? So if I understand right ..Let say I plan on a week in July 18 So I can make the reservation at my home resort in August 2017. If my vacation does not get approved in December and I have a February UY I can cancel the reservation and "bank" the points.

 

[MrInfinity]

If you want to travel in July, I would get a June UY. Then you could bank and rebook the following summer with those banked points. If you have to cancel that trip too, those banked points can't be banked again. So if you bank and reschedule for July '19, but then find out you don't get the time off again, you'd want to be ready to go that fall / winter.

But if you want to go in the spring like you said initially, a June UY is the worst. Even rescheduling into Spring if you miss your July trip would be possible, but then you're on a different time-off year, and you won't know if you'll get that time off. So spring trips are just going to be bad for you. July-Dec trips seem better, since you can predict these months in December when you know your time off in time to plan them in a useful way.

So if your summer trip doesn't get the time off, are you more likely to reschedule for the fall/winter, or just cancel and not go that year?

 

[BillPA]

It will probably be summers we would reserve and if my vacation does not get approved I can Bank then correct? So if I understand right ..Let say I plan on a week in July 18 So I can make the reservation at my home resort in August 2017. If my vacation does not get approved in December and I have a February UY I can cancel the reservation and "bank" the points.

No, your banking dead line for a Feb UY is Sept 30th. If you don't know until Dec, don't pick a UY before June if you need to bank the points.

 

[chalee94]

No, your banking dead line for a Feb UY is Sept 30th. If you don't know until Dec, don't pick a UY before June if you need to bank the points.

This post is not correct.

If you book a stay in July 18 with Feb 18 UY pts, then you have until Sept 2018 to decide whether to bank those 2018 UY pts.

So if you found out in Dec 2017 that your plans wouldn't work, you could bank 2018 UY pts into 2019. But any banked or borrowed pts used in the 2018 UY would be stranded in that UY.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

It will probably be summers we would reserve and if my vacation does not get approved I can Bank then correct? So if I understand right ..Let say I plan on a week in July 18 So I can make the reservation at my home resort in August 2017. If my vacation does not get approved in December and I have a February UY I can cancel the reservation and "bank" the points.

Yes, that would be correct but if summer is going to be your main travel time now and going forward I'd do a UY that is closer to it - either June if you didn't think you'd travel in May or else April. You'll be covered with either.

So, if you don't get your choice you don't get vacation? I'm confused by that one. What if you bank ahead and then can't go that next year? You'd need to rent out or those points would expire if you couldn't reschedule.

No, your banking dead line for a Feb UY is Sept 30th. If you don't know until Dec, don't pick a UY before June if you need to bank the points.

I believe you're thinking a year behind. For example - they would book July 2018 with Feb 2018 points in August 2017. They put in for their vacation time and would hear in Dec 2017 if they could go that upcoming July. If not then the banking deadline for the Feb 2018 points would be Sept 30, 2018 - well after they would hear in Dec 2017 if they could go or not and after their planned trip in July 2018.

 

[BillPA]

Since they don't own points now, I assumed they were looking to buy Feb 2018 points, so for a July 2018 trip, canceling in Dec is too late to bank those points.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Since they don't own points now, I assumed they were looking to buy Feb 2018 points, so for a July 2018 trip, canceling in Dec is too late to bank those points.

This is still incorrect. Feb 18 points can be banked thru Sept 30, 2018. They would have been cancelling in Dec 2017, before their planned trip, not Dec 2018 which would be after their planned trip.

 

[BillPA]

Thanks for the correction, you would think that after owning for 24 years I would have this straight. I guess because I never had cancel a trip in 57 visits and never really thought about it too much.

 

[Dean]

See this why my head hurts ever time I try to consider DVC,lol!

I have one child left in school for the next four years, then college, it will be pretty much summer and/or Easter break. In theory I should be able to get some vacation time over summer and maybe spring break at least once in the next four years.

Here is my Grand plan: I have 3 daughters and on our last vacation we basically all admitted to the fact that YBC is really the only place we will stay. The kids are disney fans, past CPs etc so I'm thinking towards the future. My husband and I never considered DVc for us until out 10th trip and now I'm kicking myself we didn't pull the trigger then. Well now I'm considering a plan for 3 100 pt contracts( as they become available) to BCV that I could "gift" to my kids in a couple of years. I hope in the future that they can get together ever three years or so once they have their own lives. I know many of you will say don't plan on things for your kids but we come from a different situation and my kids are incredibly close.

PLanning on 100 pts each so they don't get "taxed" and I'll manage point and pay dues etc...



This was what I was thinking but I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the whole bank and borrow carousel which has been a roadblock for me in the past

The best UY is related to when you usually travel, it sounds like March may be best but Feb OK if you're traveling Easter for a few years. I'd discourage the buy to legacy plan, it raises your costs significantly (likely around $3K on 300 points) and will be difficult and aggravating to fulfill at BCV if I'm reading correctly that's where you want to stay routinely. Plus there's a good chance they won't all want or be in a situation to own DVC when the time comes anyway. I'd just buy what you want to use and let the legacy issue be taken care of otherwise.

 

[DisOrBust]

OK let me start over. I am assuming most of our travel will be in summer, july or August since it very difficult to get vacation time over spring break. So if I don't find out if my vacation is approved until December and would need to Bank points what would my best UY be. Our vacat on request at work go by first choice and if denied we get second choice so could I in theory make two reservations, borrowing points from the next year and then bank those points if I cancel?

Thanks again!

 

[BillPA]

Once borrowed, the points must remain in the 'new' UY. You could however bank the current year points. I would go with a June UY. You can bank by Jan 31, after you know if you were approved.

 

[chalee94]

As I wrote above, any pts moved by banking or borrowing will be stranded in their new UY so don't make the decision lightly whether to move pts to a new UY.