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Using your DVC Points: What is a “Use Year” and How Does It Work?

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As a Member of the Disney Vacation Club, you’ll get Vacation Points every year. One thing a lot of members often get confused about is the “Use Year”. In this blog post, we’ll clear any confusions or misconceptions about the Use Year so you can use your Vacation Points wisely.

What is a Use Year?

Essentially, the Use Year serves two main functions:

1) It marks the time of the year when you receive a new allocation of Vacation Points

2) It serves as a deadline for when you can bank, borrow, or make other vacation-related decisions.

Let’s say your Use Year is December, you will get a full allocation of points on December 1st 2017.  If you want to use your points to take a vacation in June 2018, you can use your 2017 points for the June 2018 vacation. You can book up to 11 months in advance at your Home Resort (booking July 2017 for June 2018), or 7 months in advance (December 2017 for June of 2018) at any DVC location, as well as anytime before of your upcoming vacation plans. Disney will apply your December “Use Year” points towards your trip.

 

Do members have the same Use Years?

Members have different Use Years – When purchasing direct, Disney will assign you a Use Year at time of closing. With a Resale purchase, you can choose any Use Year you’d like. The Use Year really doesn’t make much difference when buying, unless you always travel the same time each year or if you are an existing DVC Member and want to match your existing Use Year.

What happens to the points I’m unable to use in a certain Use Year?

The Vacation Points that you weren’t able to use in a given Use Year will expire. You can, however, save them by either:

1) Banking to the next Use Year,

2) Transferring to another DVC Member / membership, or

3) Transfer the points into RCI Exchange Network

 

  • Banking Vacation Points to the next Use Year

 

If you want to take advantage of your unused Vacation Points for the next Use Year, the best course of action is to bank them. It’s important to take note of the Use Year, since banking Vacation Points is not allowed in the last four months of a Use Year.

Let’s go back to our example: the 2017 Use Year of December (December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018). You can bank unused Vacation Points from this Use Year to your next Use Year within the first eight (8) months of the 2017 Use Year. So that’s anytime between December 1st 2017 and July 31st 2018.

It also important to remember that banked Vacation Points can’t be unbanked to their original Use Year.

 

  • Transferring points to another DVC member or membership

 

If you’re not planning on taking any vacations with your Disney Vacation Club points within 2 to 3 years and you don’t want your Vacation Points to go to waste, you can choose to transfer the points to another DVC member. If the DVC points are transferred they would still need to be used within their original Use Year or can be banked as normal.

 

  • Transferring points into RCI

 

Transferring points into the RCI Exchange network can extend the life of your Vacation Points. There are over 2,000 resort options available in RCI and you will have an additional 2 years to use the points.  Once you transfer points into RCI, you’ll be unable to use them for the  Disney Vacation Club resorts and must use them in RCI.

I’m out of Vacation Points but want to take a vacation soon. Can I borrow Vacation Points from my next User Year?

Yes. Just remember that, like banking Vacation Points, this transaction is irreversible. Borrowed Vacation Points from your next Use Year can’t be returned, so only borrow the number of Vacation Points you need upon reservation.

Being a Member of the Disney Vacation Club is ultimately a rewarding and a wise investment into your future vacations.  To learn more, contact us today.