Understanding Use Year - Updated 5/31/2012

[chalee94]

If we usually travel in late August, our September UY is not good, right?

if you have to cancel in june (for example), you'd be past your banking window and would risk the pts expiring unused.

What months would be better?

when else do you travel? if you never travel in jan-feb-march, then an april UY might be best. if you always travel in august, then an august UY would be best...but things can change over several decades regardless...

If we get an August UY, or the February UY that we were originally offered, our 2009 points will expire before we can use them for our August 2011 visit. In that case, are we better off renting the points, or just living with the September UY so that we can use them for our August 2011 visit?

if you never have to cancel, then UY is a non-issue. the tradeoffs just depend on your individual situation...

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by chalee94

If we usually travel in late August, our September UY is not good, right?

if you have to cancel in june (for example), you'd be past your banking window and would risk the pts expiring unused.

What months would be better?

when else do you travel? if you never travel in jan-feb-march, then an april UY might be best. if you always travel in august, then an august UY would be best...but things can change over several decades regardless...

If we get an August UY, or the February UY that we were originally offered, our 2009 points will expire before we can use them for our August 2011 visit. In that case, are we better off renting the points, or just living with the September UY so that we can use them for our August 2011 visit?

if you never have to cancel, then UY is a non-issue. the tradeoffs just depend on your individual situation...

We have one child who is 13 years old. We don't like to take him out of school, so as long as he is going with us, we'd generally only be travelling during the February school break, the April school break, or the summer.

Although we just got back from a February visit (during school break), we usually travel in late August right before school starts.

I was thinking that a February UY might be best.

[chalee94]

Originally Posted by Corwin

...we'd generally only be travelling during the February school break, the April school break, or the summer.

Although we just got back from a February visit (during school break), we usually travel in late August right before school starts.

I was thinking that a February UY might be best.

no UY covers every month of the year. a feb UY would work well if you primarily travel feb through august.

but if you do eventually travel in nov or dec, try not to use banked/borrowed pts and hope you don't need to cancel...

[KBoopaloo]

Thank you for this thread, it answered a lot of questions for me. I do just want to ask a specific question to be sure I understand everything properly.

First things first...we have 160 points with a December Use Year.

We are planning a large family vacation for 2011 using banked 2009 points(available to us 12/1/09), current 2010 points(available 12/1/10) and some borrowed 2011 points (available 12/1/11).

Our original plan was to travel in April 2011 but thanks to the way Easter falls that year, we are considering traveling at the end of February instead. If I were to book the February dates now and then we decided to change to April, when I called to cancel the February dates, I would still be able to use the banked and borrowed points as long as I rebooked for dates before 11/30/11, correct?

I think much of my confusion comes from the December Use Year which makes our points always seem like they are being used a year late.

[Sandisw]

Originally Posted by KBoopaloo

Thank you for this thread, it answered a lot of questions for me. I do just want to ask a specific question to be sure I understand everything properly.

First things first...we have 160 points with a December Use Year.

We are planning a large family vacation for 2011 using banked 2009 points(available to us 12/1/09), current 2010 points(available 12/1/10) and some borrowed 2011 points (available 12/1/11).

Our original plan was to travel in April 2011 but thanks to the way Easter falls that year, we are considering traveling at the end of February instead. If I were to book the February dates now and then we decided to change to April, when I called to cancel the February dates, I would still be able to use the banked and borrowed points as long as I rebooked for dates before 11/30/11, correct?

I think much of my confusion comes from the December Use Year which makes our points always seem like they are being used a year late.

Yes, both the February and April 2011 trips fall in your 2010 UY. That means you can used banked 2009 points, current 2010 points, and borrowed 2011 points to pay for either of these trips. And, your 2009 banked points do indeed expire by 11/30/11.

I do agree with you that with a Dec UY, the majority of your travel happens in the next calendar year. But, if you simply remember to first figure out the UY you are traveling, then figuring out the points that can be used becomes easier--ie: If you travel in your 2012 UY, than you can use banked 2011, 2012 and borrowed 2013 points.

Have a great time!

[KBoopaloo]

Thank you so much! I thought I had it figured out but wanted to be sure.

[NJ2Boardwalk]

I hope June is good. We have gone mostly over summer but also late October and early November. Can we make a reservation as soon as we close or do we have to wait until June 1st. Listen to me - like we own already, we still have to pass ROFR, I pray :-) It is Disney though I can dream BIG

[5forDiz]

Originally Posted by NJ2Boardwalk

I hope June is good. We have gone mostly over summer but also late October and early November. Can we make a reservation as soon as we close or do we have to wait until June 1st. Listen to me - like we own already, we still have to pass ROFR, I pray :-) It is Disney though I can dream BIG

You do not wait for your Use Year month to come around to make a DVC reservation; you can make a reservation at your Home Resort as early as 11 months before the check-in date you would like (ie to reserve at your Home Resort for check-in on Feb 20 2011 you may call on Mar 20 2010).
For non-Home Resorts you can make a reservation as early as 7 months before check-in date you'd like.

June is good UY if you travel summer through December/January: banking deadline for June UY is January 31 so based upon what you say are your travel habits, June UY would work well.

Sending lots of pixie dust your way that you'll hear you've passed ROFR real soon

[DVCGeek]

Originally Posted by NJ2Boardwalk

Can we make a reservation as soon as we close

Since this sounds like a resale I believe it may take another few weeks after you close with the seller before Disney has you in the system, but as others said you do NOT have to wait until your use month, just the 11/7 month ressie rules.

FYI, if you buy directly from the Mouse you don't even have to wait until you close; you can make a ressie the day you pay your deposit in many cases - for my add-ons the points were showing online before I even got the paperwork to sign!

[johnsbelt]

Originally Posted by Illini Al

Potential "future owner" question. After reading the OP multiple times, I may be getting the hang of this, but if I ever become an owner, I can see using Excel to manage all of my current, banked, and borrowed points several years out. Has anyone ever created a detailed Excel spreadsheet to track and manage point usage?

I built one as I'm also looking into ownership as well. What I did was attempting to accomplish with the spreadsheet was to look at payback on a resale for a small number of points (40-50) since the wife and I would be interested in going to WDW every other year usually in the fall, and for about 5 days in a studio. Columns were labeled Month, Trans Type (purchase, interest, amount of transaction, Balance, Points available (past, cur, future), MF per point (adjusted for 3.5% inflation), Value per point (rack rate of a studio discounted 50%, adjusted for 5% annual inflation). When I used points I subtracted them from the columns beginning with past, then current, then future). At the beginning of my use year (used Feb since there seemed to be a lot of those on the resale mkt for BLT), I shifted the points from Current to Past, from Future to Current, and then added my new points into the Future.

All in all, using an interest rate of 1.35% (what I would get if the money were in a savings account at Discover Bank online), the payback was 4 trips over a 9 year period.

Hope this helps,
John

[chrisatl]

Hi everyone, thanks for the good information on the usage year. I just wanted to verify that I had this stuff figured out correctly. We are about to buy a contract from Disney for BLT and our primary travel months would be March-July, and sometimes December (X-mas time). I am thinking that a December usage year would be a good choice - am I right? Thanks in advance!!

[Sandisw]

Originally Posted by chrisatl

Hi everyone, thanks for the good information on the usage year. I just wanted to verify that I had this stuff figured out correctly. We are about to buy a contract from Disney for BLT and our primary travel months would be March-July, and sometimes December (X-mas time). I am thinking that a December usage year would be a good choice - am I right? Thanks in advance!!

Yes, December works well for those times of travel! Good luck!!!

[AimeeMichele]

I have a meeting with a DVC guy when I'm in the World next month (looking to buy at BLT). He told me that they contracts currently have a use year of February. As we usually travel at the end of November, beginning of December and occassionally October I'm thinking a UY of February isn't ideal for me. What would the ideal UY be? Sorry, it's been a long day and I just can't seem to wrap my head around this. Thank you so much in advance!

[Sandisw]

Originally Posted by AimeeMichele

I have a meeting with a DVC guy when I'm in the World next month (looking to buy at BLT). He told me that they contracts currently have a use year of February. As we usually travel at the end of November, beginning of December and occassionally October I'm thinking a UY of February isn't ideal for me. What would the ideal UY be? Sorry, it's been a long day and I just can't seem to wrap my head around this. Thank you so much in advance!

With Oct, Nov, and Dec travel most of the time, I would ask for an Oct UY. Having a UY that starts just prior to your typical vacation offers the most flexibility if you have to change or cancel a trip.

[lisaann1170]

This is incredibly helpful! Thank you!