For Those Who Go During the 4 Months Before UY

[DisneyStarWisher]

Ok, so we really want to go to HHI during Spring Break 2019. I will need to book this May. We have a June UY. I have one point left in my 2018 UY, so I will have to borrow 51 points from my 2019 UY. I've never been during the last four months of my UY. It makes me VERY nervous. If I have to cancel last minute, there will be no way to use those points since they will expire May 31, 2019. How do those of you who go the last four months of your UY deal with the anxiety of possibly losing points? I've thought about travel insurance, but I'm not sure how that works.

 

[bobbiwoz]

March UY worked for us, until we decided to go every December! I had to cancel a PC cruise and a reservation at VGC which was booked with borrowed points. We were lucky, in October I think it was, we rented 95 of the 96 points, and quite fortunately I have used the extra point and borrowed more to go to Moonlight Magic later this month.

I HAD to cancel, had an operation, if we had lost the point usage, so be it.

 

[DenLo]

It is a risk, we had points go into holding for an April trip one year because of an emergency surgery for me. I didn't do well in the hospital and it wasn't until July that the doctor said I could travel. We have a February UY. I didn't think we would ever get those 12 days booked. We already had a trip scheduled for October but had to make a separate trip in August as nothing was available through the end of our use year without several moves which I was not really up to since I was still going through rehab to get me walking again. But that trip showed us how beautiful SSR is and really enjoyed our trip.

What I am trying to say you need to understand that you might have to eat the points. And just because the reservation is in the last 4 months of your use year not always a factor, you could have problems any time of year when points go into holding.

 

[Sandisw]

It is definitely a risk and so far, have been lucky for the few times we travel at the end. Of course, I now have 3 UYs...but each has quite a bit of points so I use them for different travel which helps me avoid traveling near the end of the UY. But, if an emergency happened, then what I would do is simply try and rent the reservation to someone else to at least recoup something. Or, offer to rent the points as last minute points and change it. If not comfortable with that, I would look into the insurance. It doesn't replace the points, but pays your a monetary value for them. Either that, go in with the "if it happens, it does!".

 

[CarolMN]

Travel insurance through DVC will return the MF on the points.

https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/vacation-planning/how-to-book/travel-insurance/

 

[Spartan86]

We have a June use year and travel often in May borrowing some portion of points. We travel enough that a particular use year was just not more appropriate than any other. We kinda figured that historically we had never cancelled other trips last minute, and if we found ourselves in that predicament that the loss of the points would be the least of our worries. But I understand and share your angst at the possibility.

 

[OKgirl]

Unfortunately, we always travel in the last 4 months of our use year. We always travel in the fall and our Guide told us they were only selling December use year when we bought.... I didn't have a problem with it until last fall when we had to cancel due to the hurricane. There was no availability left in the next 2 months for any trip at WDW or Disneyland for my family of 5 (across all resorts and room types!) Member services was nice enough to bank my points into the next use year but we had banked the previous use year's points for that particular trip which accounted for most of the points. They won't allow you to bank them twice, no matter the circumstances. My only recourse was to deposit them into RCI and so we will be taking a ski trip over spring break to Granby, CO (near Winter Park ski area). I'm sure it will be a great trip, but Granby, CO is no VGF! I usually buy trip insurance but didn't want to pay double the amount to cover 2 use year's points so I didn't buy any that time.... In the future, I will certainly buy trip insurance on already banked points. Although December use year doesn't work for our fall trips, we are taking a February and June trip this year which will work great. (No one can always plan to travel the same time of year forever!)

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Unfortunately, we always travel in the last 4 months of our use year. We always travel in the fall and our Guide told us they were only selling December use year when we bought.... I didn't have a problem with it until last fall when we had to cancel due to the hurricane. There was no availability left in the next 2 months for any trip at WDW or Disneyland for my family of 5 (across all resorts and room types!) Member services was nice enough to bank my points into the next use year but we had banked the previous use year's points for that particular trip which accounted for most of the points. They won't allow you to bank them twice, no matter the circumstances. My only recourse was to deposit them into RCI and so we will be taking a ski trip over spring break to Granby, CO (near Winter Park ski area). I'm sure it will be a great trip, but Granby, CO is no VGF! I usually buy trip insurance but didn't want to pay double the amount to cover 2 use year's points so I didn't buy any that time.... In the future, I will certainly buy trip insurance on already banked points. Although December use year doesn't work for our fall trips, we are taking a February and June trip this year which will work great. (No one can always plan to travel the same time of year forever!)

That's the thing about the insurance. Because of that one 2018 point, I would have to pay double for insurance. I think it would be worth it just to let that one point expire and borrow 52 points from 2019 instead of 51.

Travel insurance through DVC will return the MF on the points.

https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/vacation-planning/how-to-book/travel-insurance/

I would be fine just getting my dues back on them. I just don't want to lose them with nothing to show for it.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That time wouldn't concern me too much. It isn't like fall frenzy where changing a reservation close in is virtually impossible. I'd feel pretty comfortable about being able to rent out most or all of the points should a cancellation have to happen.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

That time wouldn't concern me too much. It isn't like fall frenzy where changing a reservation close in is virtually impossible. I'd feel pretty comfortable about being able to rent out most or all of the points should a cancellation have to happen.

That's good to know. I would guess it would be impossible to reschedule the trip to later in April or in May since studios and 1 BRs at HHI are so slim, so renting the points or the reservation would probably be the only way to go.

 

[cmarsh31]

Travel insurance through DVC will return the MF on the points.

https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/vacation-planning/how-to-book/travel-insurance/

Thank you so much for this! We're new DVC and have banked points to work with this year, which leaves us with a Nov 2018 trip and a Dec UY, plus a big DL trip after an Alaskan cruise... just many things that could go wrong and for $89, that's a lot of piece of mind!

 

[bumbershoot]

How do those of you who go the last four months of your UY deal with the anxiety of possibly losing points? I've thought about travel insurance, but I'm not sure how that works.

Our very first trip involved banked, current, and borrowed points, in December, with a February UY. We just...got over it. If something big and bad enough happened where we had to cancel, we wouldn't have been able to travel in January to use them anyway, so a cancellation would have been a total loss. But, again, it would have had to be a big NASTY reason, and while the points-loss would have been salt in the wound, it would be nothing to whatever caused us to cancel. That trip was like pulling off the bandage, and we've had other trips like that since then and we don't think twice about it.

Insurance covers the dues. Doesn't really make you whole. Just helps.


We also get really honest. What *would* cause cancellation? We're POA for my MIL, but the in laws know her wishes as well, and could take care of things. We know her final wishes, and so do they. If one of us got sick or very hurt, well that's happened to a certain extent. if we were on a trip and MIL had a problem we talk about if DH would go home or if we would all go home (it's always just DH with the family dynamic). etc Just brutal realism and big conversations. That way no real decisions would have to be made, and we feel prepared.

 

[castle1]

We've traveled many times during the last four months of our UY. We've only had to cancel once, and we were able to reschedule. I just don't worry about it.

 

[com_op_2000]

We have a June UY, we found that we like to travel in May once DD went away to college. That is why we bought another contract with a Feb UY.
Those times we have to use the June UY points for our May travel, we do not think about the trip just staying healthy and praying that the trip comes off as planned.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Well, we are wanting to buy a BRV contract in a few years. I am really going back and forth as to whether we should buy a different UY. I really think a September or October UY would be best for us since we have no intentions of ever going during the summer again. If we do that though, would it make sense to sell our AKV contract and buy another with the same UY as BRV? We also have two small HHI contracts, but we will just use those for summer or fall trips and only at HHI, so I don't think we would have a need to sell those and buy new contracts. I bought all these contracts direct, but I plan to buy BRV resale. If I sell AKV and buy again, I'll buy resale on that one, too. I would keep the HHI contracts to keep the incentives. Any suggestions for what I should do?

 

[Roxyfire]

I'm going to be doing that next summer, borrowing June 2019 points into the end of May. I figure it probably won't cause any huge problem but it does make me a little nervous of course. I'm planning to use the APs we'll get on June 1st through the next year, so we'll be getting three trips in one one AP which is a great savings if it all works out.

 

[TexasChick123]

My husband and I traveled to Europe when I had a broken wrist, and he had a broken foot. We looked at switching the trip, but to change the business first airfare we booked with award miles just wasn’t possible for almost a year. I broke my wrist by falling off of my bicycle when I hit a patch of mud 2 weeks before our trip, and he broke his foot playing basketball 5 weeks before me. We hiked all over Croatia and took that transatlantic flight where my wrist hurt and swelled like crazy. If we didn’t cancel in that situation, you can imagine what it will probably take for you to cancel a trip. We had an amazing time too despite all of that. Btw, we sometimes go to WDW in January, and we have a February UY. Don’t stress about it.