Understanding Use Year - Updated February 10, 2021

[LisaS]

Thanks so much. I guess I still have zero understanding of use year. I thought use year had no bearing on when I made reservations.

Your Use Year has no bearing on when you can make a reservation. You can reserve a resort with home resort points starting 11 months from check-in regardless of your UY. You can reserve a resort with any points starting 7 months from check-in. Your Use Year determines which points can be USED for that reservation. Post #1 in this thread describes how this works so be sure to read through that post a few times until things start to click.

In your particular example, with a March UY, the 2016 points are valid for stays from 3/1/2016 - 2/28/2017. To use them for a stay in Dec 2017, they would have needed to be banked into their March 2017 UY making them usable for stays from 3/1/2017 - 2/28/2018. The banking deadline for those March 2016 points was Oct 31, 2016 so it's too late to bank them. That means those unbanked points can be used for stays from now until 2/28/2017. Any that are not used will expire after 2/28/2017.

 

[TinkerBellLiz]

Your Use Year has no bearing on when you can make a reservation. You can reserve a resort with home resort points starting 11 months from check-in regardless of your UY. You can reserve a resort with any points starting 7 months from check-in. Your Use Year determines which points can be USED for that reservation. Post #1 in this thread describes how this works so be sure to read through that post a few times until things start to click.

In your particular example, with a March UY, the 2016 points are valid for stays from 3/1/2016 - 2/28/2017. To use them for a stay in Dec 2017, they would have needed to be banked into their March 2017 UY making them usable for stays from 3/1/2017 - 2/28/2018. The banking deadline for those March 2016 points was Oct 31, 2016 so it's too late to bank them. That means those unbanked points can be used for stays from now until 2/28/2017. Any that are not used will expire after 2/28/2017.

Thanks for helping me understand! I think I am am seeing SOME light.

If I am looking at a contract with a use year of March/April with UNBANKED 2016 points it isn't such a great deal assuming I won't be going to Disney until April. If those points are BANKED into 2017 use year it would be ok or look for a contract with a later use year.

I am also thinking I should immediately bank any points for 2016 and borrow from 2017 for any 2016 trips I make, sort of swapping years. Once I have a full year to actually use points things should smooth out.

Reservation = have points in that use year available in my account regardless of calendar year. Use year = period to use THAT year's points or bank. I should plan to bank in my 8th month if I have leftovers. March = October, April = November, October = June.

I've been concentrating on the $$ factor too much. This isn't easy to wrap your head around!

Thank you again!

Liz

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Hi, stumbled across something today I didn't see answered directly (many apologies if it is answered and I missed it). I have a February use year. I have always made the assumption that upcoming point borrowing ability would "roll in" on February 1 (in this example, talking about February 2018 use points available for borrowing for DVC property reservations). I was thinking I needed to wait until tomorrow (Feb 1) to book some big 2017 year end trips at home resorts since I needed some 2018 borrowed points, but was pleasantly surprised to see my 2018 use year was already available. Does this also mean that in another 1.5 months I would in theory be able to borrow 2019 UY points for a February 2018 trip?

I've never borrowed this far ahead before, and frankly never even thought about how that would work....

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hi, stumbled across something today I didn't see answered directly (many apologies if it is answered and I missed it). I have a February use year. I have always made the assumption that upcoming point borrowing ability would "roll in" on February 1 (in this example, talking about February 2018 use points available for borrowing for DVC property reservations). I was thinking I needed to wait until tomorrow (Feb 1) to book some big 2017 year end trips at home resorts since I needed some 2018 borrowed points, but was pleasantly surprised to see my 2018 use year was already available. Does this also mean that in another 1.5 months I would in theory be able to borrow 2019 UY points for a February 2018 trip?

I've never borrowed this far ahead before, and frankly never even thought about how that would work....

Yes. UY has zero meaning for when you can call to book a reservation. That is always 11 months out for a home resort or 7 months for a non-home resort. The dates of the stay just change what UY the points come from depending on what your UY is - ie, both a Feb UY and a June UY can call to book their home resort for a stay Feb 1, 2018 and use banked or borrowed points and both can make that reservation on March 1, 2017. But the Feb UY would be able to use banked 2017 points, current 2018 points or borrow 2019 points for that stay as it falls in their 2018 UY. But for the June UY that stay falls in their 2017 UY so they could use banked 2016 points, current 2017 points for borrow 2018 points.

 

[TinkerBellLiz]

My idea of use year is about reservation date rather than when my use year is. In your example Feb use year, today is the last day of 2016 and tomorrow starts 2017. Any reservation (reservation meaning check in date at resort) made between Feb 1 and January 31 (assuming in the 11 month window) could use 2017 or borrow 2018 points. Once the 11 month window opens for February 1 of 2018 (I think it's March) you could book a reservation for Feb 1 2018 with borrowed 2019 points.

So long way to answer your question, you could borrow 2019 points but only for a reservation check in date on or AFTER Feb 1 2018.

Hope this helps! I'm sure if I"m mistaken (and I frequently am) someone will pop in and correct me!

Liz

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Perfect, thank you both!

 

[Ronferr80]

For December and April vacations, any use year except February, March or June will work just fine.

There are no use years for January, May, July or November.

Don't know the answer to your BLT points question, but I think it depends on which use year you purchase. You'll get more and better opinions on that if you post that question separately.

I was under the thought process that if I traveled April a lot then Jan, Feb, or March would be good use years??? I thought by having a use year lets say Feb it would allow any points that I previously banked the year before to become available, I would have that years points available, and the ability to borrow from the next year if need be to book a bigger room or longer vacation if wanted. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks in advance

 

[CarolMN]

I was under the thought process that if I traveled April a lot then Jan, Feb, or March would be good use years??? I thought by having a use year lets say Feb it would allow any points that I previously banked the year before to become available, I would have that years points available, and the ability to borrow from the next year if need be to book a bigger room or longer vacation if wanted. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks in advance

There is no January use year. Feb or March would be good use years for April travel, but that's because if you cancelled the April vacation, you would have until the end of the following September (for Feb use year) or October (for March use year) to bank them into the next use year, If you didn't bank, you'd have to use them before the following January 31 (Feb) or February 28 (for March) or they would expire.

If you had a June use year and had to cancel an April vacation, you'd only have until the end of May to use the points before they expire. You'd be past your banking deadline (which was the previous January 31).

By banking or borrowing, you can always have up to 3 use years worth of points to use on a vacation. That's true no matter what use year you may have.

For example, Let's say you had a June use year and wanted to vacation in April of 2018. That vacation falls within your 2017 June use year (6/1/2017 through 5/31/2018). To pay for it, you can use points you banked from your 2016 use year, points from the current use year (2107) and you may borrow points from your 2018 use year if you need more to pay for the vacation. (The dates of your vacation determine the current use year for that vacation. If you were vacationing in July of 2018, the current use year would be 2018 (6/1/2018 -5/31/2019) ).

Try to spend some time going through the examples in the linked thread, Make yourself the charts for the use year you are considering and assume the dates of a typical vacation to see what would happen if you cancelled it. Again, all use years allow you to have up to 3 years of points to use for any particular vacation.

HTH.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I was under the thought process that if I traveled April a lot then Jan, Feb, or March would be good use years??? I thought by having a use year lets say Feb it would allow any points that I previously banked the year before to become available, I would have that years points available, and the ability to borrow from the next year if need be to book a bigger room or longer vacation if wanted. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks in advance

The response you quoted seemed to be to someone who was going to travel in both Dec and Apr which means a different recommendation than you looking to travel in April. If April is your time to travel then a March or even April or Feb UY would work.

 

[cepmom]

Hi all
new to DVC - we just purchased a BCV resale and now just waiting to get our member info from DVC. Just want to be sure I am understanding the Use Year correctly. We have a FEB use year. This is what I think I understand - please correct me if I am wrong!!

• banking must be done 4 months prior to the next UY start date
• any points not banked or used within the 4 month time frame before next UY start date, are lost/expired
• borrowing can done any time from next UY only
• once borrowed, they can not be put back to original UY and must be used by in UY they are borrowed to or they will expire when next UY begins - or can these be banked if I borrow then can't use them??

2018 UY

• 2/1/18 - 1/31/19
• last day to bank 2018 UY points 9/30/18

2019 UY

• 2/1/19 - 1/31/20
• last day to bank 2019 UY points - 9/30/19

 

[chalee94]

• once borrowed, they can not be put back to original UY and must be used by in UY they are borrowed to or they will expire

This is correct. Once you bank or borrow pts, they are stuck in their new UY and cannot be moved again.

UY is based on when you use the pts for a stay - nothing to do with when you can call to book. So when we say you have to "use" the pts by the end of the UY, that means that you have to complete your stay (just to be clear.)

The rest of your post looked fine to me.

 

[mustinjourney]

Hi all
new to DVC - we just purchased a BCV resale and now just waiting to get our member info from DVC. Just want to be sure I am understanding the Use Year correctly. We have a FEB use year. This is what I think I understand - please correct me if I am wrong!!

• banking must be done 4 months prior to the next UY start date
• any points not banked or used within the 4 month time frame before next UY start date, are lost/expired
• borrowing can done any time from next UY only
• once borrowed, they can not be put back to original UY and must be used by in UY they are borrowed to or they will expire when next UY begins - or can these be banked if I borrow then can't use them??

2018 UY

• 2/1/18 - 1/31/19
• last day to bank 2018 UY points 9/30/18

2019 UY

• 2/1/19 - 1/31/20
• last day to bank 2019 UY points - 9/30/19

FYI -- if you're ever in doubt on your banking deadline -- log in to your DVC account and click on the "my vacation points from the "my dvc membership" tab top left. It will tell you how many points you have available in the current UY, as well as when your banking deadline is.

 

[Josh125]

Hi, looking at a waitlist BLT and believe I have the UY down...give it a look please. We generally travel the 2nd week in Sept but could go as late as March. A July would work but August or even Sept are more ideal. Correct?

 

[mustinjourney]

Hi, looking at a waitlist BLT and believe I have the UY down...give it a look please. We generally travel the 2nd week in Sept but could go as late as March. A July would work but August or even Sept are more ideal. Correct?

That is correct. September would be your best bet. Followed by august and then July.

 

[CarolMN]

There is no July use year - no January, May or November, either.

 

[jvattes]

My head hurts. LOL

If our family will typically travel in April, what UY would be most advantageous for us to look for?

 

[disneynutz]

My head hurts. LOL

If our family will typically travel in April, what UY would be most advantageous for us to look for?

You can bank during the first 8 months of your UY. Pick a UY where the most vacations times are in a UY 8 month period.

Bill

 

[supersnoop]

My head hurts. LOL

If our family will typically travel in April, what UY would be most advantageous for us to look for?

April.

Can you identify any three consecutive months when you will never travel to Disney?

 

[jvattes]

You can bank during the first 8 months of your UY. Pick a UY where the most vacations times are in a UY 8 month period.

Bill

Oh my gosh! Thanks for saying it so simply!!!

 

[jvattes]

April.

Can you identify any three consecutive months when you will never travel to Disney?

Probably Dec and Jan for sure. Possibly Nov or Feb.