Just wanted to share my scheme for our upcoming Year of Orlando, largely brought to you by Air Miles. We had bought 7 day passes using a combo of Air Miles and giftcards from when you could cash out miles at Jean Coutu into Disney giftcards. I left the tickets sitting in my My Disney Experience account until Disney started selling annual passes again. Then I called and used up the rest of the Jean Coutu giftcards and some of our own money on annual passes.
We plan to head to Orlando 5x starting in May of next year. Flights paid through Aeroplan points and Westjet dollars from credit card sign-ups. Hotels paid through a combo of Marriott Bonvoy points redemptions, Scene+, and cash if under $100 per night (just found a booking for $82 a night at a Courtyard). I have hotel status at Marriott so we frequently get upgraded to suites.
We also got sucked in to the "buy 12 months get 15" annual passes at Universal Studios. Some family that will join us want to see Harry Potter, so we'll be going a few times anyhow. It was cheaper overall to get the lowest Annual Pass. That was cash out of pocket (ow). We did Year of Orlando two years ago mostly on points, and basically all at Universal except the Disney Halloween and Christmas parties.
We might use the Air Miles we're earning now to get the Personal Shopper to buy us Fun Cards and an Annual Pass (includes parking) at Sea World. They go on for super cheap during Black Friday, and their Christmas event is really wonderful. My son basically spent hours interrogating the elves about the North Pole last time we went. I'm so happy that the program seems to be back on the upswing. I'm loving the Max-o-Miles Dollarama special as every mile will be going toward this bonanza.
So we're super, super excited. We are pretty frugal in most other ways (including food on vacation - we do all our own). Planning this year ahead and collecting points is basically my hobby. My husband is a long covid survivor and just happened to find a miracle drug to fix what we thought were probably going to be lifelong symptoms. Now I have a bit more of a "YOLO" approach.
- and it posted. When this Dollarama one appeared I used it both cards and it only posted the bonus to the 2nd card. SO - maybe it's a one-time, "please try this new type of offer" Thing? Who knows, I opted-in if it works that's ok, if not I'm not overly upset
Guess I’ll switch to Esso / PC Optimum this month!
