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Disney Untangled - DVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Points

Primer: To understand some of the concepts used with your points, I find it easier to think of the points being in several "pools". I break them down as follows. These are my own terms. You may want to check out the definition of Use Year below first if you are unfamiliar with it. Each Use Year will have a set of these pools, although they may not contain any points. The first two pools combined are often referred to as your "Vacation points".

Active
This is the pool of points in the Use Year that have not been moved into other pools. Unused points in the Active pool will expire at the end of the Use Year. These points can be Banked or Borrowed. Your annual allocation of points start in the Active pool for the appropriate Use Year.
Banked/Borrowed
These are the points in the Use Year that were Banked from the previous Use Year, or Borrowed from the next Use Year. These should always be used before Active points for reservations in the desired Use Year, and will expire at the end of the Use Year. They cannot be Banked into the following Use Year, and cannot be Borrowed back into the previous Use Year.
Holding
These points are in a special pool because they came from a reservation in the Use Year that was cancelled 30 days or less prior to the check-in date. They can be used only in restricted situations, and will expire at the end of the Use Year. They cannot be banked into the next Use Year.
Reservation
These are points that are used for reservations outside of the Disney Vacation Club resorts, including other Disney resorts, exchanges with other timeshare systems like Interval International, and various Collections. Once points are in the Reservation pool, they cannot be banked. Also, if a reservation is cancelled which uses Reservation points, they do not return to the Active pool and thus can only be used for non-DVC reservations, and can no longer be used for Interval International exchanges. They expire at the end of the Use Year. Cancellations within a certain time period may result in other penalties, like point forfeiture.

For example, you make a reservation for a Disney Cruise Line voyage, and it is cancelled 60 days out (per 2007 restrictions), you would lose 24 points per person (you could pay a $200 cash penalty instead), and the remainder of the points would return to the Reservation pool, which could be used for another cruise, or something else like a stay at the Grand Californian, but not at a DVC resort.

In addition, any information below assumes no outside sources of points, such as renting or transferring. This is only based on points you receive as part of your annual allotment as a DVC member.

Lastly, references to "Current Use Year", "Next Use Year", etc. are relative to the Use Year in which you are making a reservation or doing your banking, not necessarily the Use Year the current day falls in.

Use Year

What is a Use Year?

The use of the term "Use Year" can be confusing, as it can refer to a specific year, and also a month.

When you purchase your points, you are assigned a Use Year which refers to a particular month. For example, you may have a Use Year of March. What that means is that you receive your points for the year into your account on the first day of that month, March 1st.

It also refers to a year in which you get points. When talking about your 2007 points, those are the points you receive in 2007, so with a March Use Year you receive your allotment of points for 2007 on March 1st, 2007. Remember that you can borrow against the next Use Year's points, so you may have already used some of the points.

Your Use Year also affects certain deadlines with regards to banking and certain types of reservations.

You may have some flexibility in choosing your Use Year month when you purchase, depending on availability. Note that January, May, July, and November are not available for Use Year.

If I can choose, what month should I choose?

In general it shouldn't matter, but if you think you may be making reservations frequently for the same time each year, you should choose a Use Year that comes before then, but not too far before. Why? Well, if you find yourself in the situation that you have to cancel a reservation, you'll have a better chance of being able to bank all the points for a later time. See the next item about "Holding" points as well as the Banking and Borrowing section.

I cancelled a reservation and my points went into a "holding" account. What is that?

If you cancel a reservation more than 30 days prior to check-in, then all the points used for the reservation go back into that Use Year's Active pool and can be used for a new reservation or be banked or borrowed (assuming they were not banked or borrowed previously - see the Banking and Borrowing section for more information).

If you cancel within 30 days up until the day before check-in, then the points do not return to the normal pool, but into a "Holding" pool. You cannot bank points in Holding - they are tied to the Use Year in which they were originally reserved. You can only use them to make a new reservation in the Use Year they are tied to, and ONLY if the check-in date of the reservation is within 60 days. You can exchange the points through one of the exchange programs, but only if the check-in date is within 60 days AND more than 60 days from the end of the Use Year. If you do not use the points by the end of the Use Year, they will expire. Thus, you should avoid needing to cancel a reservation late in your Use Year.

Home Resort

Why do I have a Home Resort? I thought I could book at any DVC resort?

You can book any resort, subject to availability, 7 months before your check-in date. However, your points are tied to a "home resort", where you can reserve as much as 11 months in advance. ONLY owners with that home resort can book within the 11-7 month window. This can be an important advantage at some of the smaller, more popular resorts like Disney's Boardwalk Villas and Disney's Beach Club Villas, especially at popular times such as events at Epcot like the Food and Wine Festival.

What if I have points at more than one resort?

That gets very complex. You can only use the points that belong to that resort during the 11-7 month window. Within 7 months, you can use points from any resort.

So, if you have 50 points available at Beach Club Villas, and 100 points at Villas at Wilderness Lodge, you can only use the 50 points to book a room at the Beach Club Villas in the 11-7 month window. At the 7 month window, you can then use you Wilderness Lodge points as well, IF the room is still available.

Remember that through Banking and Borrowing you could have more points at a particular resort than you might think, if you handle them correctly.

A favorite tactic among DVC members is to book a "split stay", where you book BOTH resorts at the 11 month window, where you would switch resorts part way through your stay, and be put on a "wait list" for the remaining days as the resort of choice once the 7 month window opens (assuming it is not available to begin with). If you don't get it, oh well - you still have another room booked for the inconvenience of switching part way through your stay.

Banking and Borrowing

First, know that both Banking and Borrowing are one way, irreversable transactions. Once you bank or borrow points, they belong to the appropriate Use Year and cannot be returned to the Use Year they came from. For example, if you Bank 100 points from the current Use Year into the next Use Year, you cannot cancel that transaction, and you cannot Borrow from those points (they are in a special Banked pool as explained above), although if available you could borrow points from the next Use Year's Active pool instead. If you Borrow points from the next Use Year, you MUST use them in the current Use Year or face losing them.

How many points can I bank?

As of January 2008, the banking rules have been simplified. Instead of the confusing rules where you could only bank 50% of your points at 9 months, etc., the following is in place.

Within the first 8 months of your Use Year, you can bank all of the available points for the current Use Year into the next Use Year. After 8 months, you may not bank any additional points.

So, if you have an August Use Year, you have until the end of March to decide whether to bank your current Use Year points into the next year.

How long can I bank them?

Points placed into the next Use Year's Banked pool MUST be used in that Use Year, or expire at the end of that Use Year. You cannot re-Bank points into the following Use Year. Basically, you cannot keep accumulating points year after year. Using only Banking, you cannot have more than 2 years worth of points for use in any Use Year (one year in the Banked pool, and one year in the Active pool).

How many points can I borrow?

You can borrow up to all of your annual allotment of points from the next Use Year into your current Use Year. However, like points in the Banked pool you MUST use them in the current Use Year as they cannot be Banked back into the next Use Year.

How far in advance can I borrow?

You can only borrow from the next Use Year, and no futher. Using only Borrowing, you can have no more than 2 years worth of points for use in any Use Year.

What is the maximum number of points I can use in any Use Year with Banking/Borrowing?

If you Bank 100% of your points from one Use Year into the next, and then Borrow 100% of the points from the following Use Year, you can at most have 3 years worth of points available in any Use Year.

Just how many points can you have?

Something most of us can only dream of...

The current limits are 2000 points at any one resort, and 5000 total points.

That's probably enough for one night in Cinderella's Castle, but point charts for that haven't been published yet.


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