What are advantages/disadvantages to your Use Year?

[BWV Dreamin]

My use year is March at BWV. The Disney rep at SSR said there wasn't any advantage to any one month since you get 11 mos. priority at home resort. But I can't help but think there must be better months than others. Any thoughts?

 

[DVCLiz]

It's not really a question of "better", just what suits your vacation style.

My Use Year is March, too, which is perfect for us, because we take most of our trips during spring break and in the summer. If we have to cancel a Spring Break trip, it will be during the first 2 months of our Use Year, when I am still in the 6 month period of being able to bank 100% of my points. Same for our summer trips - I have until August 31 of each year to bank all of my points. By August I always know if I've been able to use all of my points or not, so I have plenty of time to bank them or plan a fall or Christmas trip.

If my Use Year were in the fall - say September or October - I wouldn't be able to bank my points as easily if a summer trip fell through.

Banking points is the only reason I know of that your Use Year matters.

 

[dznymom1]

I agree that the advantages or disadvantages to a use year depend on your particular vacation habits. When we bought way back when, we got a December use year which was fine because we traveled mostly in winter & spring. A few years later we started going to F&W annually, and the Dec UY has been less than optimum as I had to cancel a once and it was a scramble to not lose the points. But over 40 plus years, I would imagine most of our vacation styles will change some, so I wouldn't sweat it too much.

 

[HockeyKat]

Definitely depends on your vacation style. We will likely always vacation In September and January, so a September use year worked great for us because we would get the points back if we have to cancel. It was also attached to a very attractive resale, which only made it better

 

[mikesmom]

Here's another vote for depends on your vacation style. We go every year in October and we have a February use year. Twice now we have had folks cancel a trip with us, throwing points into holding. That's a real problem with a February use year as you have to use the points in a 60 day window of the new reservation. Trying to get a reservation in October, November, December or first week of January is nearly impossible at 60 days. That leaves us about 3 weeks in January to use the points and that's a real problem.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

That is something to consider. So if you cancel within 30 days of your ressie, you have to use the points up before your UY? If you cancel within that 30 day period the points go into holding (have to use within 60 days?). Please correct me if I'm wrong....which I probably am!

 

[abbysmema]

We have a March use year which works for us most of the time. This will be the 4th year my girls have run in the half or full marathon which is in January. It always makes me a bit nervous using all those points and then having them go into holding if we need to cancel. In fact, I'm stilling putting off reserving our rooms for 1/08 because I'm going to be using the rest of my 2008 points when I do. I don't know why I worry though we've never needed to cancel yet. Marie

 

[mikesmom]

That is something to consider. So if you cancel within 30 days of your ressie, you have to use the points up before your UY? If you cancel within that 30 day period the points go into holding (have to use within 60 days?). Please correct me if I'm wrong....which I probably am!

Nope, that's the deal. Use 'em or lose 'em.

 

[Mtnman44]

Ours is Oct which I was pretty happy with since most of our WDW trips will be in January, Dec, and maybe occasionally in Oct.

The down side is we might want to try a Sept trip (crowd avoidance) but that is risky since if plans change we won't have much time to use the points. Sept is going to be vary rare for us however due to the heat....

 

[Anal Annie]

We're new members & have a Dec UY. I didn't know that Jan. was such popular time for members calling in for Dec. ressies - until I tried to call in during Jan. for a 7 mo. ressie in Aug. at a resort other than our home resort! I would say that the MS phone lines (or lack of) are my biggest problem with having a Dec UY and trying to call in Jan - along with all of the 11 mo. competition as MS just doesn't have the amt. of lines or staff to handle the volume that they should have. But I like Dec. in that we mostly travel in the summer - so if we decide to book outside our home resort for a June, July or Aug ressie, our 7 mo. window would let us be able to call in Nov, Dec or Jan - and I think that works well for us for planning at work & for getting a summer ressie when we want it.

 

[JimC]

Right now there is little importance for booking, but if you need to cancel you will prefer your use year to be just before your trip -- giving you the most time to bank or use your points.

At the end of the contract things might change. I also have a contract with a December year-end. Our last allotment of points will come with only two months to use them. My current strategy is to be fully borrowed on that contract well before then to release some of the reservation pressure I suspect will exist.

 

[Mtnman44]

Use year has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation.

We're new members & have a Dec UY. I didn't know that Jan. was such popular time for members calling in for Dec. ressies - until I tried to call in during Jan. for a 7 mo. ressie in Aug. at a resort other than our home resort! I would say that the MS phone lines (or lack of) are my biggest problem with having a Dec UY and trying to call in Jan - along with all of the 11 mo. competition as MS just doesn't have the amt. of lines or staff to handle the volume that they should have. But I like Dec. in that we mostly travel in the summer - so if we decide to book outside our home resort for a June, July or Aug ressie, our 7 mo. window would let us be able to call in Nov, Dec or Jan - and I think that works well for us for planning at work & for getting a summer ressie when we want it.

 

[Anal Annie]

Use year has nothing to do with when you can make a reservation.

Doesn't that play a role in determining your 7 month and 11 month booking window(s) if you're trying to book that far out...

 

[Mtnman44]

Nope. The dates you want to make the reservation for determine when the 7 and 11 month windows are, UY has nothing to do with it.

UY only determines what year's points allotment a particular reservation will use points from. If I want to make a reservation for Sept 2007 and I have an August Use year, that means the points will be coming from my 2007 year's points. However if I have an Oct User year, the reservation will be at the end of my 2006 year, thus it will be using 2006 points. This becomes a factor if you have to cancel or change your travel plans. Having your trips near the beginning of your use year means you'll have time to bank them if you cancel the rip. With an Oct use year, if you need to cancel the Sept trip, you'll only have to the end of Sept to use those points and banking is not possible. Thus, with UY the main suggestion is normally that it is best to have it somewhere near the beginning of your normal travel season if possbile.

 

[dznymom1]

Right now there is little importance for booking, but if you need to cancel you will prefer your use year to be just before your trip -- giving you the most time to bank or use your points.

At the end of the contract things might change. I also have a contract with a December year-end. Our last allotment of points will come with only two months to use them. My current strategy is to be fully borrowed on that contract well before then to release some of the reservation pressure I suspect will exist.

Wow Jim, I guess I didn't realize that I was on track for our final year! As a constant borrower, I always thought it was poor planning, but now I realize it is good solid long term strategic planning

 

[DebbieB]

Doesn't that play a role in determining your 7 month and 11 month booking window(s) if you're trying to book that far out...

A big misconception among new members is that points cannot be used for a reservation until your use year starts. That is not correct. If you have a December use year and want to make a reservation for August, you can call in September at the 11 month mark and use points that are applicable on your date of stay. For example, if you want to make a reservation for August 2007, you could have called in September 2006 for your home resort. Your December 2006 points would be considered current year for that reservation because your date of stay is within your December 2006 use year (12/01/06 to 11/30/07). You could also use banked 2005 points and borrowed 2007 points because 2006 use year points are current year for that date of stay.

The only time use year could affect availability of points is if you want to borrow for a stay late in your use year. For example, if you have an August use year and are planning a stay for July 2007, you could borrow August 2007 points, not 2008 because your date of stay is in your 2006 use year (8/1/06 to 7/31/07).

 

[Nadine&Scott]

We have a Dec. UY and that fits us because we usually go to WDW in January, although we have also gone in Dec. and are going this March. But everyone knows about the best laid plans.

We hope to treat friends to a trip in Jan. 2009. Our friends asked if we could do the trip in Nov. 2008 instead. But since our UY is Dec. and we will have no points available at that time we would have to borrow the points from the upcoming UY. Would not be a problem except the ressie uses more points than we have coming on Dec 1, 2008 and you can't borrow points 2 years ahead, so our vacation has to take place after Dec. 1, 2008 in order to have enough points for our stay or we would have to shorten the stay to make the Nov. 2008 vacation work. So we have yet to decide what to do, just hope we can convince our friends that Jan. 2009 will be ok, since that would be best for us anyways.

Scott

 

[hsmamato2]

head spinning,so the ideal UY would BEGIN about 1-2 months before you normally vacation?

 

[Mtnman44]

Ideally, On or as close to before your normal travel time as possilbe. So, if you MOSTLY travel in Sept, then an Aug or Sept use year would be best. Or if you Mostly travel in January, then a January or Dec use year would be best, and so on.

Keep in mind that not every trip will likely be in the same month every year and vacation habits may change so one shouldn't overly stress about use year choice. The best you can do it try to get the one the best fits your travel patterns for now and into the forseeable future.

I have Oct use year so if I had to make "last minute" cancellations (at least 31 days prior), then I could cancel any res in OCT, NOV, DEC, Jan, Feb, or March and still be able to bank ALL my points by the 100% banking deadline. This is my best coverage based on our travel plans. Now, we may wish to use points occassionally in Sept and when we do, if we have to cancel we will be under pressure to get them used or they will expire.

head spinning,so the ideal UY would BEGIN about 1-2 months before you normally vacation?

 

[Jessie's Girl]

I can honestly say the use year has no bearing whatsoever. But that is just my opinion.