Different User Years

[skim]

I've had no luck getting info from Disney in regard to my questions, so hopefully someone here can help me out. I called their 800 #'s, tried on line chat, etc. I tried searching this site as well but wasn't able to locate the answers.

1. If I purchase 2 contracts with different user years (getting Adonitis and I haven't even heard back regarding ROFR from the first one yet), what are the challenges? I know that they will be assigned to separate accounts.
2. If in one of my contracts I make a booking and then have, say 8 points left, how do I use them up? Do I have to combine them with points from the following year?
3. Banking points can be done just once a year per account, correct? How about borrowing?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Suzanne

[Carol]

Originally Posted by skim

I've had no luck getting info from Disney in regard to my questions, so hopefully someone here can help me out. I called their 800 #'s, tried on line chat, etc. I tried searching this site as well but wasn't able to locate the answers.

1. If I purchase 2 contracts with different user years (getting Adonitis and I haven't even heard back regarding ROFR from the first one yet), what are the challenges? I know that they will be assigned to separate accounts.
2. If in one of my contracts I make a booking and then have, say 8 points left, how do I use them up? Do I have to combine them with points from the following year?
3. Banking points can be done just once a year per account, correct? How about borrowing?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Suzanne

It will be like having two completely separate and unrelated contracts. Each contract will have its own banking deadline, depending on the use year. You can bank as many times as you want, the only rule is that you have to do it before the end of the 8th month. You can't bank any points during the last 4 months of your use year. That is the banking rule for everyone, so it probably isn't a huge issue for your decision. You just have to remember that you will have different banking deadlines if the use years are different.

You can book only whole nights from each contract. You can get MS to link the nights if you want to stay in the same room. If you want to combine points from the two contracts to make a single night reservation, you would have to do a transfer between the contracts. Such a transfer would use up the limit of one per use year for both contracts. That would be true even if your two contracts had the same home resort.

Borrowing can only happen when you are making a reservation that needs the borrowed points. That's the rule no matter what so I don't think you need to consider borrowing when making your decision.

[skim]

Originally Posted by Carol

It will be like having two completely separate and unrelated contracts. Each contract will have its own banking deadline, depending on the use year. You can bank as many times as you want, the only rule is that you have to do it before the end of the 8th month. You can't bank any points during the last 4 months of your use year. That is the banking rule for everyone, so it probably isn't a huge issue for your decision. You just have to remember that you will have different banking deadlines if the use years are different.

You can book only whole nights from each contract. You can get MS to link the nights if you want to stay in the same room. If you want to combine points from the two contracts to make a single night reservation, you would have to do a transfer between the contracts. Such a transfer would use up the limit of one per use year for both contracts. That would be true even if your two contracts had the same home resort.

Borrowing can only happen when you are making a reservation that needs the borrowed points. That's the rule no matter what so I don't think you need to consider borrowing when making your decision.

Thanks, I really appreciate your help!

[broganmc]

It helps to think of the different use year as a contract for a different purpose.

For instance, I own 120pts at SSR with an Oct Use Year and 430 pts with a December use year. My 120 pts are for Spring stays. My 430 pts are for Autumn and December stays.

I also treat my other home resorts (BWV and BLT) as dedicated accounts. All my stays for those resorts are done with those points and a combination of banking and borrowing.

[skim]

Originally Posted by broganmc

It helps to think of the different use year as a contract for a different purpose.

For instance, I own 120pts at SSR with an Oct Use Year and 430 pts with a December use year. My 120 pts are for Spring stays. My 430 pts are for Autumn and December stays.

I also treat my other home resorts (BWV and BLT) as dedicated accounts. All my stays for those resorts are done with those points and a combination of banking and borrowing.

Sounds easy enough. Any hassles you run into by having separate accounts? The resale agent just made it sound like it was such a big deal. What happens if you do have a few points left over in an account. Do you just make sure to bank them before the deadline? Otherwise, it seems like there would usually be a few points left over after a booking and not enough at times to pay for a full night's reservation.

Also, since you own at multiple places, was your motivation to purchase at places you would want to stay? It's just so hard to pass up some of the prices for SSR right now, especially since it has a relatively late expiration date. I'd like to be at WDW again for Christmas someday, but I mostly would be traveling off-season. Just need to get away from the snow...

[Carol]

Originally Posted by skim

Also, since you own at multiple places, was your motivation to purchase at places you would want to stay? It's just so hard to pass up some of the prices for SSR right now, especially since it has a relatively late expiration date. I'd like to be at WDW again for Christmas someday, but I mostly would be traveling off-season. Just need to get away from the snow...

Off season for the parks is not necessarily off season for getting a villa at a DVC resort. For example, early December is off season for the parks, but most DVC resorts fill very quickly for that time. Many of us call as soon as Member Services opens on the day our 11 month window opens to make sure we get what we prefer.

Individual DVC resorts can have different busy times. Some examples: EPCOT resorts can be tough to get during Food & Wine Festival, OKW Grand Villas, AKV concierge & value and BLT Magic Kingdom view and standard view are hard most times of the year. Christmas - New Year's is hard everywhere at 7 months. There are more, mostly for specific room types or views.

Notice I said, hard, not impossible. Sometimes you will be the lucky caller or a waitlist will work. But you can't count on it 100% of the time. If you have to coordinate with airfares, waitlists are a pain!

So it can be difficult to get into other DVC resorts at the 7 month window. Depends on what you want & when. Sometimes you have to change resorts or rooms in the middle of your stay,but that is mostly for short notice trips. That's why most own at multiple resorts. They want to be able to book at 11 months for a particular trip and don't want to take a chance on the waitlist working.

If you would be happy staying at your home resort if your 7 month attempt doesn't work, then home resort doesn't matter. If you can't make reservations more than 7 months in advance, then home resort doesn't matter. At 7 months, all points are equal.

There are some good prices for SSR right now. If you wouldn't mind staying there if you can't get into another resort, then buy there. If you would be disappointed to stay there, then don't. You will soon regret the savings if you are always wishing to be somewhere else. Sometimes, vacations are about more than the money.

[cvjw]

We own 3 contracts with March use years. That use year is great for our normal May and September visits. It is not so great for a Christmas visit. We are trying to add on an additional contract with a September use year for Christmas visits. I hope it won't be too hard to manage 2 separate memberships. If we are able to purchase the September contract, I plan on always borrowing into the next year a few points so that I am not left with a handful of points that I can't do anything with.

[skim]

Thank you both for your input. I didn't realize that the beginning of December could possibly be a tough time to book. Food for thought. In the future I wouldn't mind staying at SSR, but where my son is only 1 now, I'd much prefer to stay at BLT for the monorail.

If you're on a wait list, can you make another back up reservation in case the wait list doesn't pan out? Also, what happens if you have to cancel a reservation, can you? Perhaps you can't and that's why I see people trying to rent out a booked week.

The questions I had about transferring and banking were answered, but how often can you borrow within an account? Any limit other than the max of your points? In 2010, can I borrow from both 2011 and 2012? Thanks for your answers and I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

[DVCByResale]

Originally Posted by skim

Thank you both for your input. I didn't realize that the beginning of December could possibly be a tough time to book. Food for thought. In the future I wouldn't mind staying at SSR, but where my son is only 1 now, I'd much prefer to stay at BLT for the monorail.

If you're on a wait list, can you make another back up reservation in case the wait list doesn't pan out? Also, what happens if you have to cancel a reservation, can you? Perhaps you can't and that's why I see people trying to rent out a booked week.

The questions I had about transferring and banking were answered, but how often can you borrow within an account? Any limit other than the max of your points? In 2010, can I borrow from both 2011 and 2012? Thanks for your answers and I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

Yes, you can definitely make a reservation while you are on the waitlist, it happens all the time.
Reservations may be canceled without penalty if done 31 days or greater from your check-in date. If you cancel within 30 days the points go into "holding status" and may only be booked 60 days or less in advance and will expire at the end of that use year, without exception.

You may borrow as many times as you like as long as you have the points in the next use year to do so....but only one full year's allotment of points. The most you can ever have in your account is 3 times your annual allocation by banking last year, being in the current year and borrowing next year.

Everyone has given some great, objective advice on different use years. Welcome to Mouseowners!

All the best,
Shontell

[skim]

Thanks for your help!