What is the use year everyone wants?

[Matty B13]

Wife and I are thinking about making a purchase this coming Friday. Purchase will be direct. Will my UY be the month I purchased the contract, or can the back date it to a different month. We typically like going in the fall September to October so what would be the ideal UY for those dates of travel?

Unless you are buying CCV, I would suggest looking into resale contracts at the resort you are looking to buy, and then just buying a 75 point direct add-on contract after you go through the resale contract process.

But, if you are going direct, I would get a August or September UY if your travel habits having you going to WDW in the fall. Don't take any "Use Year" that they are just selling, demand the UY that you want when buying direct.

 

[hetzeltj]

Unless you are buying CCV, I would suggest looking into resale contracts at the resort you are looking to buy, and then just buying a 75 point direct add-on contract after you go through the resale contract process.

But, if you are going direct, I would get a August or September UY if your travel habits having you going to WDW in the fall. Don't take any "Use Year" that they are just selling, demand the UY that you want when buying direct.

We are buying CCV. Our plan is to get a small contract and then add on via Resale.

 

[Matty B13]

We are buying CCV. Our plan is to get a small contract and then add on via Resale.

I think the minimum is 75 points for non-members currently, it might be 100 points. Ask about DVC's current specials on direct purchases.

 

[Matty B13]

https://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-p...nts-or-free-points-with-copper-creek-purchase

 

[lovin'fl]

Wife and I are thinking about making a purchase this coming Friday. Purchase will be direct. Will my UY be the month I purchased the contract, or can the back date it to a different month. We typically like going in the fall September to October so what would be the ideal UY for those dates of travel?

Food for thought...if you get Dec UY you will get 2017 points as well as 2018. If you get any other UY, you just get 2018 and forward.

 

[D-Trick]

Food for thought...if you get Dec UY you will get 2017 points as well as 2018. If you get any other UY, you just get 2018 and forward.

Agreed. This is one of the advantages of having a late UY.

Annual Maintenance Fees are also tied to the calendar year and NOT the UY, so technically you save a little bit on costs since MFs are prorated-- Purchasing a Dec UY later in the calendar year (through Nov) you still get all of last years points while only being on the hook for 1-2 months of prorated annual dues for 2018 points! Any other UY and you'd be on the hook for more months of prorated dues, or not receive last year points!

 

[CarolynFH]

Food for thought...if you get Dec UY you will get 2017 points as well as 2018. If you get any other UY, you just get 2018 and forward.

But if you (@hetzeltj) like to travel in September & October, a December UY would not be good! If you had a reservation for September or October and had to cancel it in August, for example, you’d have to use those points by November 30 or lose them.

 

[zavandor]

I bought whatever gave me the best deal initially via resale (February) and have added on the same in subsequent contracts. There's so many pros and cons to any option that it doesn't matter much in most cases IMHO. For instance, we go in the fall so theoretically February would be bad. But BCV is super popular so if we couldn't use a F&W or NYE booking, for instance, I could just rent it out instead as a name transfer. And February has the most inventory at BCV meaning easier to find matching add-ons.

Overall, the best price is my #1 concern, but everyone's situation is different.

This is me as well.
I didn't have a strong preference at the time and found a December UY contract at a good price so I bought it. It works well for my January stays, less so for my September stays, but I can make it work.

 

[lovin'fl]

We bought our initial contract resale in 2006. We went with best deal and most points we could get for our buy in money....that was 200 OKW June UY. We had little kids in year round school at the time and planned to do Sept trips (during their intercession). So June worked okay but we didn't even really consider the uY and went for the best deal.

Then we moved in 2007 and went to traditional schedule schools. And then my DDs began playing competitive travel ball and DH got busier and busier in his career and we moved 5 hours farther from Disney. So plans altered. And we did try all different times...spring break (too crowded), July 4th (crowded and HOT), Xmas (best if week before Xmas but kids didn't get out until close to Xmas...closer you get to Xmas- the busier the parks get...and point cost was high), August (HOT HOT HOT), end of Jan winter break (chilly and worries of flight delays due to snow at home...also possible break would be cancelled due to too many snow days already).

Now with kids in college we have been continuing our adults only Oct F&W trip (started when kids in HS) and we do Dec-Jan family trips when they are on break (last year WDW...cruise this year...WDW next year). And lat year had to do March (DDs' spring break) due to them playing college ball down there then. But they quit playing ball and we weren't going to go to WDW this spring break since we didn't have to...but then couldn't figure out a better time when DDs could join us so we booked it again (1st week in March so not too crowded but was chilly last year). And I've been doing May at HHI with my mom (it's her Bday month and she loves HHI).

So our new vacation schedule is: Dec-Jan....March...May...late Sept/Oct/early Nov (fall). One trip will be a cruise and one HHI and 2 Disney trips. DS-22 is working and can't join as often. He is actually joining the F&W trip in 2019. Probably will do this until 2021 and then change up again.

So best UY changes over time. It really only matters if you will cancel frequently. I modified a lot over the past year while trying to get a feel for what we can and can't do with all our kids in college (DDs are in 2nd year) AND having 2 parents who are now having lots of medical issues (our moms...who are in their 70s). But never lost points or was at risk for losing. I have been able to find a way to modify (had Xmas booked and moved it to the March spring break trip). We also only dropped a couple nights in the 30 day window (where points go into holding) once and found a way to use those holding points.