Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline for Pixie Dust PhD! When you're purchasing
Disney Vacation Club there will be three main things that you specify: your home
resort, the number of annual points you'll receive, and your use year.
Use year's kind of a weird concept; in my opinion, a little bit at least because of
the nomenclature. So let's try to break use year down into an understandable term.
Very simply put: use year is a 12-month period of time where you'll get
your annual allotment of points. It'll start on the first day of your given
use year month. Why is it called a use year when it's really specified by the
first day in a month? And on top of that your use year really is referred to by
its month. This is what I mean by I think the nomenclature is a little bit
confusing of use "year", when really we're talking about the month. But this is the
system we have to live with, so I'm just going to try to explain it in an
understandable way. So when you buy a DVC contract it will come with a use year:
this is specified in a month. For example, you could have a February use year
contract--this means that your annual allotment of points are replenished on
February 1st of each year. Now your "year" not the calendar year. Your use year
doesn't run then from February through December; it'll run from February 1st
until January 31st. So it's just this 12 month period of time.
DVC does not offer contracts with every month for use years. Notably missing are
January, May, July, and November. Meaning you won't be able to get a contract with
a January use year. Each contract is assigned at use year at the time of
purchase, and this use year cannot be changed at any point throughout the life
of the contract. While you own it you cannot change the use year to a different
month that suits your needs better, and if you put it on the resale market
whoever that buyer is is also not permitted to change the use year on that
contract. Note that using your points during your use year is separate from
booking a reservation. You absolutely can book a reservation outside of your
use year using that use years points. For example, if I want to do a DVC vacation
at my home resort in June of 2020 my booking window for my home resort then
opens 11 months in advance, July of 2019. So let's say I have that February
use year. In July of 2019 I'm in the use year from February of 2019 until the end of
January 2020. Now my proposed June 2020 trip is actually in the next use year. That
being said you absolutely can book a reservation in July of 2019 for June of
2020 in a separate use year. So long as by your next use year, within
that use year, you'll have enough points to cover that reservation. So I
want to emphasize this for clarity: your use year and your booking window are
separate. You do not have to be within your use year to book a reservation.
Another note that can be a little confusing due to the nomenclature is how
your annual dues relate to your use year. Long story short is they don't. Your
annual dues are based on a calendar year, whereas your use year is just that
12-month period of time. So you don't need to factor in which month of the
year your use year is going to start if you're thinking about your annual dues.
Your annual dues are not at all based on your use year. So why might your use year
matter? It really depends on the type of vacationer that you are. If you travel
to Walt Disney World sort of spontaneously throughout the year, or
just in general throughout different times of the year, your use year probably
isn't going to be a big deal for you. However, if you travel to Walt Disney World
approximately the same time of every year you really are going to want to
consider your use year, especially when you think about the DVC short term
cancellation policy. We'll talk more about canceling DVC reservations in
another video, but the gist of it is if you cancel a DVC reservation within 30
days of your arrival, but also prior to your arrival date, your points will then
go into a "holding account"; they won't go back into your normal DVC vacation point
account. But essentially, this holding account has far more restrictions on
your points. Not only can you not bank them, you also can't use these points to
make a reservation that's more than 60 days in advance. I did a separate
video covering banking and borrowing points, so if you need to know more about
banking go ahead and click this card. So here's how this plays out in practical
terms. Let's say you generally head to Walt Disney World in July. If that's the
case you probably want to avoid in August use year. This is because if
you have to cancel your July vacation for any reason within 30 days of that
trip now those points are going into a holding account, and because your use
year starts over on August 1st you're actually gonna have to use those points
ASAP: before August 1st. Because you can't bank them, if you don't use those points
before your next use year starts over they're just gone. In contrast, if you
have a June use year for your yearly scheduled July Walt Disney World vacation,
and you end up having to cancel your July vacation within 30 days for any
reason... well guess what? Now you have until your next use year, so before
June 1st of *next year* to use those points in your holding account. So rather
than having a scramble to figure out how to use your points before the next use year
and your points expire, as if you had an August use year, with this
June use year you'll have plenty of time to figure out a better time for you to
use those points and visit Walt Disney World. Another big factor to consider
when thinking about use year is the deadline for baking your points. This is
4 months before your use year starts over. So if you have a February use year
that starts on February 1st, the last day to bank your points is for months before
that or at September 30th. If you have an August use year the last day to bank
your points is 4 months before that, so March 31st; and so on and so forth. For
the various use years. So let's go back to the example of your yearly July Walt
Disney World trip. And again let's say you have to cancel for some reason, but
this time you have more of a heads up and you can do this before the 30 day
short-term penalty kicks in. In this case your points don't go into that super
restrictive holding account, they just go back to your general account which is
great. That being said, your use year does still
apply to those points. So let's say your planned arrival date was July 20th, but you
end up having to cancel on June 5th. Well this is more than 30 days in advance so
your points will go back into your normal account, and not into that holding
account. But the use year for those points still applies. Now if you have an
August use year, you are past the deadline for banking your points which
was March 31st. So even though your points aren't in that holding account,
you're still going to be in a bit of a scramble to use those points. However, if
you had a June use year, effectively your annual allotment of points was just
given to you on June 1st-- today's June 5th remember--so if you
cancel on June 5th for points that you're going to use in July, well you
still have plenty of time to bank them! You have until four months before the
next June 1st. So you can either use these points as normal, or if you simply
won't be able to make it to Walt Disney World this year you'll be able to
bank them normally. So while on the surface use year might not seem like a
big deal, putting a little bit of thought into it can really save you some
headaches down the line. Another note to consider when thinking about banking and
your use year is just your general overall life. For example, if you have an
April use year then your deadlines to bank points is November 30th. Now if you and
your family go on a cruise every Thanksgiving and you're generally gone
during this time without great internet access, maybe an April use year isn't for you
just because you'll have to deal with the logistics of banking your points
before you leave for your family cruise over Thanksgiving. And if you forget
it'll be quite a panic. Be sure to take into account how your use year and that
banking deadline may or may not be compatible with your work schedule,
your vacation schedule, or any other yearly life events. That's a general
overview of use year. Essentially if you travel around the same time of year for
the most part you'll probably want to put some thought into the use year you
consider buying on your DVC contract. I hope this video has helped you make
sense of use year, and can help you figure out which use year may make the
most sense for you and your party. If you found this information helpful please
consider liking the video and subscribing to the channel;
turn the bell icon on to receive notifications whenever I upload new
videos. And if you want to chat in more casual and constant ways you can find me
on Twitter and Instagram @PixieDustPhD. For you current DVC owners let us
know in the comments down below if you paid any attention to your use year when
you bought your first contract. Was this an important factor for your first
contract, or not? Do you regret not paying attention to it, or has everything worked
out totally fine? Until next time, we'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD!