What useage month should I consider?

[tinkerbellrere]

Hello everyone~ I was a lurker here for many years and just decided to post. I have to say that reading your posts and doing my research from this board has saved us lots of loot and has helped us enjoy (mousing as we call it) more and more. We are thankful to all of you who share your insights!


My husband and I are in the talking phase of buying into DVC. Unfortunately we cannot buy at this time because we are saving for our first home and investing in DVC is a luxury. Makes sense right? Well, I have this overwhelming feeling that if I dont buy into SS right now we will miss out on such great savings and that kills me.

I took the tour of OKW years ago when it first opened and fell in love with it but I was 23 yrs old and just starting out in the world without a dime in my pocket. Ever since then I would pass the DVC counter on my subseqent visits and feel like I was missing out on things. We are going in Dec to take the tour on our next visit to WDW. We are not going to buy yet but are just looking at SS. We are also looking at all the DVC internet resale sites. I am still in love with OKW but my husband might like the others so I am up for looking at SS.

So after my looooong winded post here are my questions:

dant dant daaaaa


What usage year should I pick and why? Does it really make a difference. I read on one post that December is already sold out for new members of DVC SS? Why is December so popular?

We decided that December and May would probrably be the times we would travel to WDW in the future. One hot time a year and one cooler time of year. What usage month should we decide on and why?

Please share your thoughts and thanks in advance!

 

[Nink]

I would think that you would want a use year (UY) as close to the regular times you visit as possible.

Such as October (I don't think November is available at all) or April. That way, you have six months to decide if you want to bank 100% of your points or to use them at another time in the year. If you don't bank at 6 months, then your next opportunity for banking will only allow 50% of your points to be banked.

I usually travel at Thanksgiving. My UY is August. That way I have a new "stash" of points but then have until January 31 to decide what I want to bank.

 

[tixx]

I would save for a home and after that purchase then start to save for a luxury like Disney ... your home is a great tax saver and great peace of mind ... dont let the Disney hype keep you from your goal of getting a Home to call your own .. just my 2 cents ... as an example ... I was lucky enough to have bought my home in 1989 at age 28 for 300k ..on the beach ... its now worth 1.3 million ... Thank God at that young age I made the right choice ... My advice get your Home first ...im sure others here will agree

 

[tinkerbellrere]

Thanks for your post Tixx but whether to buy DVC now was not the intent of my original post. I know that buying a house is my first priority. Thats a given. I am just researching DVC right now so that when we go to WDW in December and take the tour I will be informed. My husband knows nothing about DVC and I want to educate him so that we are on the same page and then once we have our house and are confident that we can afford DVC then we will take another WDW vacation (hopefully rent points) for our stay and then buy into DVC if we like staying there.
Thanks.

 

[disneyberry]

tinkerbellrere,
actually a December UY would be the best UY if you really think that Dec and May are going to be when you travel.

this is because both Dec and May would fall within the first 6 mos of your UY. this means, if you cancel your trip, you are still able to bank 100% of your points allotment.

remember, UY only matters if you believe that your family is likely to cancel your trips last minute.

if you do decide on SSR, maybe you can get on the waitlist to see if any Dec UY points might come in.

if you don't want to wait, and want to buy SSR from Disney, then maybe go w/ Apr UY because you will get points earlier (4/04).
Oct UY you have to wait until 10/04.

actually, you might want to also think about which 2 months you are least likely to travel to WDW.
for example, you know you would never travel to WDW in July because it's way to hot and crowded.
pick a UY where July falls in the last month or 2 of the UY. this is when all your banking deadlines are past, and if you cancelled a trip, you can't bank anything plus your points would expire very fast.
so if you think you'll never travel July, then an Aug UY or Sep UY would be good.

just some food for thought. i've explained this better before, but i've been away from the boards for a bit, and am getting rusty

 

[tixx]

as you stated "missing out on the $10.00 saving would kill you ", I just think, you should worry about the most imortant purchase of you life a home, and then Disney ... dont forget we still all pay the maint fee of nearly $4.00 per point ..so the savings of $10.00 is a little lost on Me .. i did buy at SSR and i hope the value of buying early is not offset by the unkown factors like continued construction and noise factors that are still unkown ... but I am looking foward to it ...
fireworks at 12:45am every night lol...