Would love help from the experts!

[kmccl]

I have been reading the forums almost daily since becoming a dvc member 1 year ago. I greatly appreciate all of the information provided by all of you out there who know so much. I have never posted, as I could usually get my questions answered without having to ask. So here goes my first post.

We own at BLT and have a Feb. use year. Our vacation habits include a trip to Disney World each summer (Kidani was awesome), but also would like to make a trip each year to HH during the last week of March (did this last year and it was fantastic). I am considering buying a HH resale contract. Big Question - should I buy a contract with a Feb. use year (I thought for sure I should considering all I have read about owing at multiple resorts), or should I look more toward an Oct. use year because of the March travel time? Or are both options wrong??? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[wildernessDad]

I have been reading the forums almost daily since becoming a dvc member 1 year ago. I greatly appreciate all of the information provided by all of you out there who know so much. I have never posted, as I could usually get my questions answered without having to ask. So here goes my first post.

We own at BLT and have a Feb. use year. Our vacation habits include a trip to Disney World each summer (Kidani was awesome), but also would like to make a trip each year to HH during the last week of March (did this last year and it was fantastic). I am considering buying a HH resale contract. Big Question - should I buy a contract with a Feb. use year (I thought for sure I should considering all I have read about owing at multiple resorts), or should I look more toward an Oct. use year because of the March travel time? Or are both options wrong??? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

One typically wants a UY that starts just before one vacations, so in your case, the February UY is very good for a March vacation.

 

[kmccl]

Thanks for the reply. I think I completely goofed on my question. I was for some reason thinking I would be vacationing a month or so before my use year (I have no idea why). I was worried about cancellation issues. I would still love any responses anyone would be willing to give. Since I will primarily be using my HH points for HH, is it a big deal if I have different use years?

 

[princessbride6205]

Different use years are not a problem if you can keep them straight!
Here are 2 issues people can run into with different use years:
- If you want a new use year and are buying direct through Disney, you will need to purchase the minimum amount of points as if you were a new member. This will not be an add-on that you could do as little as 25 points. (You said you'd buy resale, so this wouldn't be a problem for you.)
- If you ever want to combine points from your BLT contract and HHI contract for a vacation, you can, but you cannot use points from different use years to cover a single night. So, for example, you could do 3 nights from the BLT points and 3 nights from the HHI points, but you couldn't combine them for a night.

Having a Feb UY for March travel to HHI is great. If you think you may want to travel to HHI at another time of year sometimes, let us know, and then we can recommend other UYs.

 

[oldkey1]

...and have purchased a number of additional contracts since then - all with the same use year. I honestly do not know how we would keep it straight if we had multiple use years. During the honeymoon phase it's pretty easy as you are always on top of things. After a few years it becomes work.

I would strongly suggest having all contracts the same use year.

 

[Daddio]

If you don't have a specific reason to have two different use years, stick with one. It will allow you the opportunity to pool your points for reservations inside the 7 month window.

As others have said, February is the best use year if your vacations take place in March.

David

 

[kmccl]

Thank you all for your help! I will stick with my same use year.

 

[Sandisw]

Thank you all for your help! I will stick with my same use year.

I owned 2 UY's for different resorts for a short time and ended up selling one and rebuying everything under the same UY.

While you will be using HH points for HH and BLT points for WDW most of the time, at least if you own the same UY (titled the same way) the points will be under the same membership and therefore, you will be combine them at 7 months for a single nights reservation.

There may come a time down the road that you want to extend your HH or WDW trip at 7 months and at least can easily use the other points.

With the different UY, you would have to complete a transfer in order to do this. This was our problem. We owned 130 at BLT but only 50 at VWL. The 50 points were enough for 1 night but not two without borrowing. Our 130 points were enough for 3 nights but not 4. Therefore, at I could only book 4 nights for my typically 5 or 6 night summer trip, unless I transferred points between the two at the 7 month mark.

I now own all 210 points at BLT in the same UY and it works so much better!

 

[kmccl]

Thank you all so much for your replies!

 

[mikeandkarla]

I owned 2 UY's for different resorts for a short time and ended up selling one and rebuying everything under the same UY.

While you will be using HH points for HH and BLT points for WDW most of the time, at least if you own the same UY (titled the same way) the points will be under the same membership and therefore, you will be combine them at 7 months for a single nights reservation.

There may come a time down the road that you want to extend your HH or WDW trip at 7 months and at least can easily use the other points.o

With the different UY, you would have to complete a transfer in order to do this. This was our problem. We owned 130 at BLT but only 50 at VWL. The 50 points were enough for 1 night but not two without borrowing. Our 130 points were enough for 3 nights but not 4. Therefore, at I could only book 4 nights for my typically 5 or 6 night summer trip, unless I transferred points between the two at the 7 month mark.

I now own all 210 points at BLT in the same UY and it works so much better!

I thought transferred points retain original uy. So if you transferred an April uy into a December uy, how can those points be combined at 7 months?

 

[castleri]

I thought transferred points retain original uy. So if you transferred an April uy into a December uy, how can those points be combined at 7 months?

the points must be available for the time they will be used - the 7 month issue is 7 months from the date of check in. You could use all the points to make a reservation at 7 months or less from check in as long as they are all available to be used for that reservation.

 

[Plutofan]

I would not take a use year that is close to the end of my vacation time due to the cancellation deadlines. You should get a use year that begins just prior to your typical vactioning time periods.