Use Year Question

[timelrod]

Hi!

My wife and I have been dreaming of being DVC owners for a few years now, but this year will be the year! We will be buying resale, and have most likely settled on buying in at the Wilderness Lodge. My question is this - How much does the use year matter? We typically go to WDW every September, and then if we get there any others months throughout the year, thats just a bonus. So, do we need to shoot for an Oct use year since that is right at 11 months out? Or does the borrowing points thing kind of negate that?

Thanks so much!

 

[Phonedave]

It really makes no difference if you have a single contract. When you book 11 months out, you book using the points for that year (unless you banked some)

For example, My use year is Feb. I have a reservation for Nov 2013 that I made 11 months out (in december of 2012). I had one 2012 point left over, so I banked the one 2012 point, and then used 2013 points for the balance. There are no restrictions on the 2013 points, such as would be if I had borrowed them to use prior to Feb 2013


-dave

 

[timelrod]

But after this purchase, if we purchase additional point later on, would you recommend purchasing the same use year month for the additional contract? Thanks!

 

[dreamfinder]

The difference will come up mostly if/when you need to cancel your trip. So if you have an Oct use year, then you need to bank any unused points by July 1st. (At least I think it's 3 months out) So if you plan on traveling during July/August/September, but then need to cancel/reschedule your trip, then you may not have a lot of flexibility. If you book for August and cancel, then you would need to either use your points by Oct 1, or find someone else who can.

When you are making reservations, it doesn't really matter when your use year comes up. Once again, if you have an Oct use year, your 2013 points would be valid from Oct 1 2013, to Sept 30th 2014. And you would need to use them during that period, borrow them prior to that, or bank them prior to July 1st.

If you do add ons, keeping the same use year will help to keep everything simplified. There is no real harm to having different use years, but you end up having to keep track of which points expire when, what points you have used, etc. It can just get confusing.

 

[rtiller]

This may be old information or I might be remembering it incorrectly but I was pretty sure that if you purchased addon points to an existing membership and the use year is the same they could/would combine them into a single contract. On the flip side I recall that two different use years would mean two different contracts, not that either outcome matters a lot but that's how I recall it.

 

[DVCOwner]

When adding points it means a lot. If you do not have the same use year then you will have two different contracts and can not combine points for one trip. I had two contracts for a while (combined them now) and had to actually transfer points from one contract to any other to make a reservation. Under the rules you can only do this once a year, so it could cause problems if you a going more than one in a single year.

 

[dreamfinder]

When adding points it means a lot. If you do not have the same use year then you will have two different contracts and can not combine points for one trip. I had two contracts for a while (combined them now) and had to actually transfer points from one contract to any other to make a reservation. Under the rules you can only do this once a year, so it could cause problems if you a going more than one in a single year.

In most cases having different use years can be handled in a few ways. Borrowing from one and then banking the other. So using 2012 & 2013 from Contract A to travel in 2012, and then 2012 and 2013 from Contract B to travel in 2013.

Alternatively, you can use both contacts at once, just as two separate bookings. So book days 1-4 using Contact A, and then then days 5-9 using Contract B. As long as they are both at the same resort, you wouldn't be affected by booking dates, and would only be limited by your banking/use deadlines.

 

[Phonedave]

In most cases having different use years can be handled in a few ways. Borrowing from one and then banking the other. So using 2012 & 2013 from Contract A to travel in 2012, and then 2012 and 2013 from Contract B to travel in 2013.

Alternatively, you can use both contacts at once, just as two separate bookings. So book days 1-4 using Contact A, and then then days 5-9 using Contract B. As long as they are both at the same resort, you wouldn't be affected by booking dates, and would only be limited by your banking/use deadlines.

Be aware though that when you do the second option you may have to change rooms. They try to make it so that you will not, but it can happen. Once I booked at 2BR lock off for 5 days, and then (because two people were leaving early) I changed it to a 1BR for 2 more days. They were very clear in stating that while they would TRY to keep me in the same 1BR for the second part of the trip, there was not guarentee that they could do so. (They ended up keeping me in the same room anyway)


-dave

 

[harryk]

We purchased additionl points several times at VWL and have had no problems. Our use year is August and we tend to visit in December (sometimes Oct or Nov) but usually December. We book over the telephone rather than on the DVC web-site and the cast member has always taken care to tell us what points were available to use and made sure that the 'banked' points were used first. Since we have only visited once a year we have had banked points increase and never had any difficulties. The cast members are great in assuring that you make the best use of your points. DVC is now alerting members on the web (I received an e-mail yesterday) telling members when their banking date is coming up so that you don't lose points.

 

[OldYeller]

This may be a little off topic for this thread but, my understanding is that when one buys resale points with the same use year as an existing DVC contract, all points are under one new contract for that use year. When one buys points in a different use year than an existing DVC contact, two contracts remain. If existing DVC points bought directly from Disney are merged with resale DVC points under one contract, are all points under the new merged contract considered resale? (If that makes any sense. Sorry for any popcicle headaches I caused with this post).

 

[dreamfinder]

This may be a little off topic for this thread but, my understanding is that when one buys resale points with the same use year as an existing DVC contract, all points are under one new contract for that use year. When one buys points in a different use year than an existing DVC contact, two contracts remain. If existing DVC points bought directly from Disney are merged with resale DVC points under one contract, are all points under the new merged contract considered resale? (If that makes any sense. Sorry for any popcicle headaches I caused with this post).

Any points purchased on the secondary market at this point are considered resale. Regardless of if they match existing use year or not. Any points bought direct from DVC should still maintain their special status.

 

[OldYeller]

Thanks for the info. It's appreciated.