Will this plan work?

[amym2]

Just closed on our DVC membership, so I'm trying to make sure I understand how this works. Here's what we're thinking- any flaws in our plans?

We have 180 points at SSR with an April UY. So we have 180 current points for 2011 and will get 180 points in April 2012.

We're planning an October 2012 trip to Williamsburg and will likely need a 2-bedroom, so that's 270 points. We will transfer 2011's points to RCI and use 90 of 2012's points as well.

We're planning Aulani in October 2013, so we will bank the 90 points left from 2012, use 2013's 180 points, and potentially borrow points from 2014 if we need them for a better view or more nights.

I know that RCI isn't the best use of our points, but we don't need another Disney trip now, and DH wants to use the points if we have them. We really bought for Aulani and for the future, so we're okay with using them for RCI right now.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Have you banked your 2011 point? I believe you have until the end of Nov to bank April UY points.

Your plan seems fine but it can be very very hard to get RCI reservations. We have tryed on a number of occasions to book at various RCI locations such as New York, Washington DC, Florida and Tennessee and only had luck once with the Tennessee vacation.

 

[amym2]

No, we haven't banked them yet, I'm waiting to get our number (not sure what it's called, we have our member numbers but not the numbers you get when you close) in order to check RCI availability before we bank. We do have that end of Nov. date written down so we remember! If we can't get the Williamsburg reservation, we'll go to plan B, but I'm hopeful!

 

[disneynutz]

No, we haven't banked them yet, I'm waiting to get our number (not sure what it's called, we have our member numbers but not the numbers you get when you close) in order to check RCI availability before we bank. We do have that end of Nov. date written down so we remember! If we can't get the Williamsburg reservation, we'll go to plan B, but I'm hopeful!

If you have your membership number, I don't know what else you would need. Have you called MS for access to the member website?

Bill

 

[DenLo]

No, we haven't banked them yet, I'm waiting to get our number (not sure what it's called, we have our member numbers but not the numbers you get when you close) in order to check RCI availability before we bank. We do have that end of Nov. date written down so we remember! If we can't get the Williamsburg reservation, we'll go to plan B, but I'm hopeful!

If you have already closed, call members services to see if your points are in your account and ask MS to bank the 2011 points.

If you haven't closed call MS with a few days after closing and follow the instructions above. Hopefully you will close before the end of November so you will still be within your banking period. However, sometimes MS will bank recently purchased points.

In the future if you make another purchase I would ask the seller to bank the current points and make it part of the contract, unless you plan to use those points right away.

Good luck with the RCI exchange and getting Aulani later.

 

[amym2]

Thanks for the replies! We closed yesterday, but we haven't gotten the official email yet that they said we would be receiving with our number. I called MS last week to check availability but was told that I couldn't check RCI until we had closed. I'll try giving them a call again.

We don't want to bank the points until we're sure we can use them for next October, because if that doesn't work, we might squeeze in a trip between now and the end of March.

Assuming all goes as planned, though, does the plan I outlined make sense? Are we understanding the UY and when we can use points for what correctly?

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the replies! We closed yesterday, but we haven't gotten the official email yet that they said we would be receiving with our number. I called MS last week to check availability but was told that I couldn't check RCI until we had closed. I'll try giving them a call again.

We don't want to bank the points until we're sure we can use them for next October, because if that doesn't work, we might squeeze in a trip between now and the end of March.

Assuming all goes as planned, though, does the plan I outlined make sense? Are we understanding the UY and when we can use points for what correctly?

Unless there's a good chance you'll use the points in the 2011 UY, make sure you bank them ASAP. Don't wait on RCI to decide to do so. Do realize that RCI often isn't a great use of points and that's particularly true at Williamsburg which has lower overall demand and a lot of availability. After Branson and Orlando, it's likely the most available non AI location during higher demand times. There are quite a few options currently in RCI for June and July next year.