Which use year would be best?

[taylordemon]

We normally visit twice a year, once in the fall/winter (either sep, oct, Dec, or jan) and in the spring (mar or May). Hoping to have just one use year even if buying multiple contracts. Would august be the best in this scenario? Or would you all recommend a different month? Thanks for the help!

 

[CarolMN]

I'd suggest September.

Understanding Use Year

 

[Sandisw]

I agree that September sounds like the best one!

 

[DaveNan]

Agree with Sept. In general you want all your travel to occur early in your UY, but you want to avoid reservations in the 3-4 months before your UY starts (ends). When it comes to cancelling reservations there are 3 things to consider:
A. For all points cancelling in the last 30 days puts the points in holding - means you can just book villas 60 days from the time of booking. These reservations can be tough to find, so if you end up with points in holding close to end of your UY, they are at risk of being lost.
B. The banking window is 4 months before the end of the UY. If you had a reservation in the last month of your UY, and you cancelled it just before the holding window (31 days early), you still would be hard pressed to use the points. For Sept UY you need to bank by 4/30, so you would need to cancel by 4/30 to be able to bank current UY points. So if you had a 5/29 reservation you cancelled by 4/28... The points would not go into holding and you could bank the points.
C. You can only bank once and you can't unborrow points. So, even if you cancelled that May reservation in April... For current UY points - you are fine, they can still be banked, however if you were using banked or borrowed points for that reservation, you still have to use those by 8/31 when they expire. That's why it is best to book early in the window. Say you still had Sept UY and you had a trip planned for Sept/Oct using banked and/or borrowed points. If you cancelled that trip before the 30 day holding window in July/August, you have all the way till the next 8/31 to use the points. You can still take advantage of the 7-11 month booking window and plan your trip replacement for the next April-August.

Since you travel from in Jan, March, May, Sept, Oct and Dec.. the only 4 month gap is May to Sept....

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This might help.

You want to minimize the number of red Xs. That means September or October. A September UY would put May trips outside of your banking window, while an October UY would put September trips outside of your banking window.

 

[CarolMN]

A September UY would put May trips outside of your banking window,

No, it really would not.

As you know, if you don't cancel the a reservation at least 31 days prior to arrival, the returned points go into holding status. Holding points cannot be banked and expire at the end of the use year. If the May reservation is cancelled to avoid holding, any returned current use year points could still be banked.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

No, it really would not.

As you know, if you don't cancel the a reservation at least 31 days prior to arrival, the returned points go into holding status. Holding points cannot be banked and expire at the end of the use year. If the May reservation is cancelled to avoid holding, any returned current use year points could still be banked.

That's a distinction without a difference. If you cancel a May reservation in May, you can't bank them, period. Whether that's because they're in Holding or because the banking deadline was April 30, you can't bank them.

 

[CarolMN]

That's a distinction without a difference. If you cancel a May reservation in May, you can't bank them, period. Whether that's because they're in Holding or because the banking deadline was April 30, you can't bank them.

We will have to agree to disagree. If you cancel any reservation in the same month that it occurs, the points go into holding. Use year doesn't much matter. Holding status is something we should all try to avoid.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Holding status is something we should all try to avoid.

 

[Lumpy1106]

This might help.

You want to minimize the number of red Xs. That means September or October. A September UY would put May trips outside of your banking window, while an October UY would put September trips outside of your banking window.

View attachment 694153

This is very useful - thanks. I got lucky, but I really wish I had seen this before we purchased. UY really didn't seem to matter. Bank this year, borrow the next - who cares as long as you have points to book your trip? Well, COVID taught us all it DOES matter! We normally travel in Aug and bought Feb. WDW was closed but we had out Aug trip planned. We had faith and kept our plans (SOOO glad we did!), but if we had bought Dec we would have had to make the decision in July while the park was still closed. Sept or Oct would have been even worse. Disney was flexible with a lot of things, banking and borrowing deadlines was not one of them.

 

[Spinster Travel]

For what it's worth, I travel the same times that you do and have a September UY. I specifically bought September not just because of my travel plans but also when I make those plans. I almost never go to WDW in the summer, but would certainly know by April 30th (banking deadline for Sept UY) what my summer plans are. Sure it's possible I might want to travel in May and that would run the risk of points going into holding should I have to cancel last minute, but for me if I have to cancel at the last minute; something pretty major must be going on for me, so I view it as a very small risk, but thats just my perspective.

I gave some consideration to an October UY but was so glad I got Sept because I now go each Sept for a short trip and have loved being able to do so on the cheap points for that month. So I guess you have to think which of the two "border months" are more important to you; September (to have your new allottment of points) or May (to have a banking deadline that doesn't jeopardize this).

Good luck!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Think about which trip you are most likely to cancel every year and plan around that one. For example, if you buy an August UY and your May trip is your up in the air trip, bad move. Because on the years you cancel your May trip, you have 2 months to use those points.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Same time I went - I had Sept worked great

 

[taylordemon]

Thank you so much everyone! This is super helpful. Definitely looking at September, and very glad I asked!!

 

[BLTAaron]

This might help.

You want to minimize the number of red Xs. That means September or October. A September UY would put May trips outside of your banking window, while an October UY would put September trips outside of your banking window.

View attachment 694153

I like this chart, but why would June UY have 6 red travel months whereas all others have 4? Is that an error? Thanks for sharing.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I like this chart, but why would June UY have 6 red travel months whereas all others have 4? Is that an error? Thanks for sharing.

Yeah June and July should be green on that row.