Orphaned points?

[mike314]

Throwing out a general question, I just got DVC and booked a few trips for 2023, but I literally have only 2 points left for 2023. I will bank those to 2024 but what happens if you already banked those points and its literally not enough points for 1 night, talking like under 9 points for the use year. What do you do with them?

 

[CarolMN]

Unless you are willing to borrow enough points to make a one night (or longer) reservation to use or rent, you kiss them good bye. They expire at the end of your use year.

 

[DVCKing]

If you don’t want to borrow next years points you can buy one time use points from Disney to make it enough for a one or two night stay.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Throwing out a general question, I just got DVC and booked a few trips for 2023, but I literally have only 2 points left for 2023. I will bank those to 2024 but what happens if you already banked those points and its literally not enough points for 1 night, talking like under 9 points for the use year. What do you do with them?

You can buy up to 24 One-Time-Use points, at $19 per point, to add to your few leftover points. You would do this at the time you make a reservation by phone. This reservation would have to be made 7 months or less before your trip even for your home resort.

 

[Narcoossee11]

think of it as spilled milk. You will get in the situation several times during membership.
You have to weight the cost of factors.

 

[CarolMN]

If you don’t want to borrow next years points you can buy one time use points from Disney to make it enough for a one or two night stay.

You can buy up to 24 One-Time-Use points, at $19 per point, to add to your few leftover points. You would do this at the time you make a reservation by phone. This reservation would have to be made 7 months or less before your trip even for your home resort.

Certainly an option. That said, how many would be willing to spend more than $100 to save less than $20? Not me. Even if I rent the one night reservation, it's a lot of work to save 2 points. JMHO. YMMV.

 

[js]

think of it as spilled milk. You will get in the situation several times during membership.
You have to weight the cost of factors.

I must be lucky!
I have owned for 14 years and NEVER had one point go to waste LOL
Although I'm always in the borrow mode LOL

 

[Simba's Mom]

I have this dream that we could donate these "orphaned points" to a special fund that would be used for needy and/or ill children/adults. Points donated to this fund would lose any UY or end date. Then, although you might lose those few points, you'd have the good feeling that they are going to a good cause and not just getting wasted.

 

[mickeymom629]

I have never let points go to waste. I bank them into the next year, or buy points to use them. Or, I buy points so that I can bank more Well, I'm not sure that I really ever did that, but I would consider that. I won't let the points go to waste.

 

[TCRAIG]

I must be lucky!
I have owned for 14 years and NEVER had one point go to waste LOL
Although I'm always in the borrow mode LOL

I know what you mean - I have over 1000 points and I think I’ve had 1 time where I had 2 points that didn’t get used…

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

I have this dream that we could donate these "orphaned points" to a special fund that would be used for needy and/or ill children/adults. Points donated to this fund would lose any UY or end date. Then, although you might lose those few points, you'd have the good feeling that they are going to a good cause and not just getting wasted.

Give Kids The World accepted such donations years ago.
Not sure what their policy is now though.

 

[CarolMN]

Give Kids The World accepted such donations years ago.
Not sure what their policy is now though.

AFAIK, you had to make a reservation and donate that. You couldn't just donate points.

You can still donate reservations. Not sure who accepts them.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

I'm remembering way back mid-90s OKW pts when I thought it was possible. But you may be right.

 

[mamaofsix]

Likely the only time there are truly orphaned points are when a member is traveling to Disney every 3 years. If you go every year or two, the extra points can always be banked into the next trip. This is probably why there are posters above who have never had leftover points.

We travel every 3 years, so there will be a couple points we can't use. Our next trip will be using banked, current and borrowed points. We'll have 675 available, and our trip will work out to 670. The leftover 5 points we won't be able to use because our next trip will be 3 years later. Doesn't bother me at all to lose a few.

 

[sndral]

Likely the only time there are truly orphaned points are when a member is traveling to Disney every 3 years. If you go every year or two, the extra points can always be banked into the next trip. This is probably why there are posters above who have never had leftover points.

We travel every 3 years, so there will be a couple points we can't use. Our next trip will be using banked, current and borrowed points. We'll have 675 available, and our trip will work out to 670. The leftover 5 points we won't be able to use because our next trip will be 3 years later. Doesn't bother me at all to lose a few.

We go every year & I’m going to have 4 ‘orphan’ points at the end of this use year because my next trip doesn’t use all the banked points I had.

 

[undchefreak]

The two points from UY23 don't need to be used alone when banked to UY 24, so if you have a 100 point contract, next year you'll have 102, then maybe you'll have 104 in UY25. Eventually the points will get used, but as mentioned above, this may not work if you don't go annually or every other year.

With every other year you typically borrow some points from the next use year, so you would borrow exactly the number you need then bank the rest for the next trip two year out, then repeat, only borrowing what you need. You could run into issues if for some reason you decreased the number of points you use that year after borrowing.

 

[anricat]

This year we are left with one point that won't get used that was banked previously. Part of me is sort of annoyed about it, but it is what it is. It just happens that we are cruising twice this year and won't be using any of our points. We're banking everything else to next year to save up for an Aulani trip for 2024.

 

[Pigletpal40]

Throwing out a general question, I just got DVC and booked a few trips for 2023, but I literally have only 2 points left for 2023. I will bank those to 2024 but what happens if you already banked those points and its literally not enough points for 1 night, talking like under 9 points for the use year. What do you do with them?

Have a Party on the Eve of your use year and watch them fade into the night