Would multiple use years make sense

[Ford66]

Would multiple use years make sense for me?

We've been going to WDW twice a year pretty consistantly. Once at Easter and once at Thanksgiving. I currently own SSR with a December use year. This is perfect for Easter. If I need to cancel or don't use all points, I can bank whatever's left over.

However, it stinks for Thanksgiving. If I need to cancel or change a reservation, I lose the points. June would be better for this.

I know different use years make combining points very difficult. There is only one transfer per use year.

Any advice, or experiences doing this, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[colonialtinker]

I have 2 UY (April & Oct.). We orginally only had a Oct. UY. I bought a resale contract with an Apr. UY after I had to cancel a trip (darn Tropical storm) and I only had 3 weeks to use the points that went in holding I use my Apr UY for Sept. vacations and my Oct. UY for Jan. vacations. I haven't had any problems keeping track of the points and I haven't had to transfer any points yet. Both UY are for OKW.

 

[drusba]

Understand that to get that second use year you will either have to buy a new contract from Disney of at least 160 points or go into the resale market (likely the better option).

We have two use years and it is not a big issue. You can, if desired, use both for one trip simply by reserving some nights on one contract and the other nights on the other contract and linking the two.

Whether it actually makes sense for you is a personal choice and depends on such things as (a) how important is the cancellation/banking hedge to you, (b) will that usual trip practice really go on indefinitely or may it change soon, (c) are you going to use the extra points by adding days (or changing to larger room size) to the usual trips you do take.

 

[Ford66]

I didn't realize that you could use both contracts (use years) for one trip by reserving some nights on one contract and some nights on the other contract and linking the two. That would certainly give me more flexibility than I thought I would have.

I would most likely go resale. That's how I got into my current contract.

 

[disneynutz]

IMHO having more that one UY is a pain and doubles the possibility of a mistake by me or MS.

MS will admit that they can't process transfers well. Their computers system isn't programed correctly and it's confusing for the Cast Members. Our last transfer is still being corrected by MS and it's been over a month.

Last year MS took points from the wrong UY to fill a wait list.

In January the AKV Front Desk let our guests add the DDP to their reservation. They canceled the original reservation and the points went into holding, then they re-booked the reservation adding the DDP with points from our other UY and they had to borrow points to do it. It took someone from Team Line to fix that one. I complained to Disney Management and was told that they really can't fault the Cast Member for making a Guest happy by adding the DDP. I said great, but you made me unhappy by screwing up our points and causing me extra work.

And lastly... we added some additional BLT points and our Guide made a mistake and added them to the wrong UY even though we had discussed which UY to use. I caught the error when I saw on the website that Disney added the points to the wrong contract. The original contracts were canceled and new contracts issued. Yesterday I got a letter from Disney telling me to contact them because I hadn't signed and returned the incorrect contracts.

Having more than one UY really isn't worth it.

 

[Ford66]

Had I really thought this all out, I would have gotten a September UY. That way, I could cancel a Thanksgiving (November) ressie or an Easter (March or April) ressie and still bank the points. We really like Florida in the winter (it get's cold in Pennsylvania) so even in the future, that would work out great.

Now I have to decide whether to deal with the potential aggrevation of two use years, or buy September and sell my December. Unfortunately, I bought last year (with a two full years of points) and the price has come down quite a bit.