I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[disneymagicgirl]

I came across sneak peek photos of the new Grand Destino Tower on FB. Holy cow it is gorgeous! I'm sort of wishing now I had booked that for my July trip. It would be so fresh and new and beautiful. Found a sharable post on CSR thread that has them also... #9,826

 

[afan]

I have one. Word to the wise...don't put it in the dishwasher. Mine is now warped and doesn't sit quite right on my bowl. Otherwise, yes it works well.

Perfect, just what I was hoping to hear No worries on the dishwasher, Mom doesn't have one and has never wanted one, I don't get it. Someday I'll have one again but will remember to hand wash

 

[Mopedmom1]

The last time we were at DL was 1993! I was pregnant and hormonal and for some reason DD has never wanted to return. LOL Even though it's only a 2.5 hour flight he would rather fly all the way across the country to go to WDW. I think he prefers the open space and variety there. I am really mad at the mouse for his money grubbing ways and don't want to plan any more trips with him, so this quick 3 day trip after our cruise is kind of a compromise between us.

I am also not into planning the trip. We are older now and just want to go with the flow, so expert opinions are welcome here. Do you think we can see and do most everything If we have 3 1/2 days with Max Pass, Hopper, and no real plan? We aren't into the big crazy coaster rides any more, want to see TSL, SWGE, and California Adventure plus just soak in the ambiance. My biggest question is do you think I am crazy for not making a plan? (Sad MSEP won't still be there!)

 

[Lain]

It’s funny that you think the crowds at DL are worse. I feel like walking around on the weekends it definitely feels worse but I can get maxpass for things basically instantly or within a few hours. I’m tired of booking a WDW stay and not getting slinky dog until day 65. Also, I love Toy story midway mania and I can’t even ride it at WDW I can do that multiple times a day at DL with maxpass

For a $15/pp upcharge.

 

[Haley R]

I’m gonna do a short trip update:

We ate at whispering canyon cafe last night and the food was just okay. The atmosphere was really fun though! It was fun passing ketchup around from table to table. Villain dah was so much fun! I loved it! I danced a bunch in the hub right in front of the castle where the dj was. I wouldn’t do it again but for a one time thing it was fun.

Today we slept in and hung at the hotel. Then we ate dinner at the wave and omg was that good. Dh said it might have been his favorite at wdw. It’s probably in my top 3 restaurants here. We also played pinball in their arcade for over an hour. Spoiler: I’m kinda good at pinball and got to put my initials on the Star Wars pinball machine.

We’re doing rope drop at hs tomorrow. I’m trying to decide what time to get to the bus stop at wilderness lodge. It opens at 9, I want to get there at 8, so I’m thinking get to the bus stop at 7:20 ish.

 

[bernina]

Any tips or tricks for Hyatt MCO?
I can transfer 12k UR over to Hyatt. Cash price is $219. The stay is 2 weeks from tonight. Not seeing a better price on Priceline or Hotwire. Doesn't look like MRs work for Hyatt. Am I missing anything?

We’re staying there in August and transferred URs to Hyatt. The transfer is instant (log out and then back into Hyatt and they should be there). Unless you find a rate with tax below $180 (below $150 if you don’t have CSR) then the UR to Hyatt transfer is the best deal.

 

[Mopedmom1]

For sure need to get one of those guard things for my kitchenaid, had a bit of flour to clean up since I was doing a double batch. Only put in 1/2 cup at a time so it wasn't too bad but enough. Do any of you have one of those? Does it work well? I have a hinged mixer with a metal bowl.

I have a clear plastic guard on mine. I'm pretty sure I put mine in the dishwasher top shelf with no problems. But the last time I had a dishwasher was four years ago, before buying my parents house. My mother also doesn't use them and removed it when she remodeled her kitchen 10 years ago. She even built her new house without one!

 

[Mopedmom1]

I’m gonna do a short trip update:

We ate at whispering canyon cafe last night and the food was just okay. The atmosphere was really fun though! It was fun passing ketchup around from table to table. Villain dah was so much fun! I loved it! I danced a bunch in the hub right in front of the castle where the dj was. I wouldn’t do it again but for a one time thing it was fun.

Today we slept in and hung at the hotel. Then we ate dinner at the wave and omg was that good. Dh said it might have been his favorite at wdw. It’s probably in my top 3 restaurants here. We also played pinball in their arcade for over an hour. Spoiler: I’m kinda good at pinball and got to put my initials on the Star Wars pinball machine.

We’re doing rope drop at hs tomorrow. I’m trying to decide what time to get to the bus stop at wilderness lodge. It opens at 9, I want to get there at 8, so I’m thinking get to the bus stop at 7:20 ish.

That ride picture is hilarious. There must be a story there!

 

[Haley R]

That ride picture is hilarious. There must be a story there!

Lol nope we just like taking funny pictures

 

[gottalovepluto]

The last time we were at DL was 1993! I was pregnant and hormonal and for some reason DD has never wanted to return. LOL Even though it's only a 2.5 hour flight he would rather fly all the way across the country to go to WDW. I think he prefers the open space and variety there. I am really mad at the mouse for his money grubbing ways and don't want to plan any more trips with him, so this quick 3 day trip after our cruise is kind of a compromise between us.

I am also not into planning the trip. We are older now and just want to go with the flow, so expert opinions are welcome here. Do you think we can see and do most everything If we have 3 1/2 days with Max Pass, Hopper, and no real plan? We aren't into the big crazy coaster rides any more, want to see TSL, SWGE, and California Adventure plus just soak in the ambiance. My biggest question is do you think I am crazy for not making a plan? (Sad MSEP won't still be there!)

You’re not crazy You can easily DLR without a plan. Imho with MP you’ll be able to do what you want and soak in the atmosphere. If you want to dine at table service places do grab a reservation.

 

[mmmears]

Sure diet buster, baking cookies. I love cookie dough, though I didn't eat any of the chocolate chips because I kind of prefer the dough without them. And I made myself 3 cookies without the chips because that's all I want for a nibble anyway and I probably won't eat them all. But 92 cookies in all, thank goodness they are a quick bake so I got it all done in about an hour and a half.

For sure need to get one of those guard things for my kitchenaid, had a bit of flour to clean up since I was doing a double batch. Only put in 1/2 cup at a time so it wasn't too bad but enough. Do any of you have one of those? Does it work well? I have a hinged mixer with a metal bowl.

Mine came with one, and it just ended up being extra work and stuff still got everywhere. So I never use mine anymore. It just seemed like one more thing to deal with. I haven't been using mine much since we are all doing low carb stuff these days, and I miss baking.

 

[Happy814]

It's been so long since I've been able to catch up with this thread! I'm 300 pages behind! The news thread is super helpful, but I'm also very behind on that as well.

I wanted to share a cautionary tale since I inadvertently dropped my credit score 96 points in about 6 weeks. It started when I bought a new car in May. For some reason, the dealership ran my credit over 3 days, which makes no sense, considering I had the deal worked out and papers signed within 18 hours. This coupled with my recent CC inquiries dropped my score about 43 points. I wasn't too concerned.

Then the ignorance on my part comes in. I pretty routinely use our business cards to float business expenses for a few weeks until I have to pull off our line of credit for the business. This saves quite a bit of interest at the bank, not including the points I gain. In late May, in addition to our business cards, i also charged $16,000 to my SW personal card. I paid it off about a week later. Only to immediately charge another $11,000, which is due July 16. I had been letting this balance ride like I often do our business cards. Also, I had the down payment for the car riding on a different personal card. I've since paid it off.

Today, I logged in to check my score only to be completely shocked that it has dropped to 695! 96 points in about 6 weeks. The biggest factor impacting it was credit usage, about 72% utilization. Although I of course knew this impacted my score, I didn't realize a short term balance would impact it so drastically. I also got a little lax with using my business CC to float business debt that I started throwing in my personal cards as well.

I wanted to give a little warning, especially to those that are new to this. Especially for those that keep their CC limits low. A big home Reno, a car down payment, tuition, etc. that you let float until the statement due date could drastically impact your score.

I'm not too concerned, I'll just lay off CC apps for a while and keep my utilization low. I need to keep a strong score since our business borrows bank money every year.


In a semi-related note: if I have an ADR at California Grill at 9:45, can we go in at 9:00 to see the fireworks on the observation deck if the fireworks are at 9:15?

 

[amcc]

So an intriguing little piece of ROTR and DLR crowd gossip from the DLR side of things here. It’s friend of friend situation but still. Basically claiming ROTR situation is bad and very expensive. Lack of crowds has TDA “desperate” (so no, this light crowd thing was not Disney’s goal no matter how they PR spin it).

Let me begin by saying that Joe Rohde and the current Imagineers are geniuses but I think Pandora and maybe GE have tipped too far into the precious details. They spend so much money on funky, invented flowers and plants at Pandora (which are beautiful) but the land is way too small and it needs another ride - and not a shortened one like Navi! At the end of the day, people want rides that are fun, good, entertaining, and that you will pass on to your kids and grandkids. It seems that GE is going to suffer from a similar fate. Maybe instead of the worlds awesomest, bestest, coolest, ride ever (that seems to be an engineering nightmare), they could have done 2 heavily themed, innovative, “regular” rides instead.

 

[snugglebug]

Good plan? Assuming nothing runs out. I need to cancel my CIP, I can do that anytime now since it's over a year, right?

.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Quote isn’t working. Can’t remember who posted the original about the kitchen aid shield. I found it still made a mess so wasn’t worth it. Paid the $40 for it and used it twice. Not even sure where it is now. If you can turn it on stir or a little higher and just add in the dry slowly keeping it on helps.

 

[afan]

I have a clear plastic guard on mine. I'm pretty sure I put mine in the dishwasher top shelf with no problems. But the last time I had a dishwasher was four years ago, before buying my parents house. My mother also doesn't use them and removed it when she remodeled her kitchen 10 years ago. She even built her new house without one!

Crazy Mom's! I already know how I'd redo this kitchen to add in a dishwasher since there isn't room as is. The house was built in the 40's and has the original wood cabinets. They have been restained and have new hardware but I've never liked them, the look or the style. The counter is about 6 years old and is fine but again not my style or color. Well really the only room in the house that is my style is my bedroom I remodeled the kitchen in my NC house, when I was living there, because it was bad but usable for a bit. Stripped it to the walls, added a dishwasher and cabinets where the stove was because all they had was the stove on the wall. Now it's a nice eat in kitchen that hopefully someone rents in the next few days so I can start getting money from it again.

Mine came with one, and it just ended up being extra work and stuff still got everywhere. So I never use mine anymore. It just seemed like one more thing to deal with. I haven't been using mine much since we are all doing low carb stuff these days, and I miss baking.

Also good to know. I always make a mess when I bake, which is part of why I don't do it as much as I'd like along with the no dishwasher thing. But if it helps even a little, I'd only need it on when the flour goes in. I generally don't eat what I bake, I prefer the batter whether it's cookies, cake or brownies so I normally get my fix that way. Though there are certain cookies I will eat, I make sugar cookies so I can eat them, and will eat brownies and cupcakes/cake.

I don't have much reason to bake but we have a celebration of life tomorrow and I had her chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is the best, so I said we'd bring them. They are grilling burgers and stuff, having it at their lavender farm which is in bloom so it should be good. Just hoping the family that they weren't speaking to, that are also the one's that dis-familied (making it a word ) when my stepdad passed. Not in the mood for fakeness, rude looks or just people being rude. Taking Dude with us so he's not home for 8+ hours on his own and so I have a buffer/reason to wander away so he can potty It should be nice/fun and the weather will be good so I can take some pictures because all the lavender is pretty. Worst case Dude and I will go sit among the rows of plants and listen to the bee's buzzing because it's just amazing. The bee's make them lavender honey too.

 

[MrPTato]

Sure diet buster, baking cookies. I love cookie dough, though I didn't eat any of the chocolate chips because I kind of prefer the dough without them. And I made myself 3 cookies without the chips because that's all I want for a nibble anyway and I probably won't eat them all. But 92 cookies in all, thank goodness they are a quick bake so I got it all done in about an hour and a half.

For sure need to get one of those guard things for my kitchenaid, had a bit of flour to clean up since I was doing a double batch. Only put in 1/2 cup at a time so it wasn't too bad but enough. Do any of you have one of those? Does it work well? I have a hinged mixer with a metal bowl.

Mine came with a plastic guard that goes over the top. Mine is about 8 years old so not sure if that matters. I do need to get a new paddle because the paint is chipping off. Seems to be a common problem.

 

[mmmears]

Crazy Mom's! I already know how I'd redo this kitchen to add in a dishwasher since there isn't room as is. The house was built in the 40's and has the original wood cabinets. They have been restained and have new hardware but I've never liked them, the look or the style. The counter is about 6 years old and is fine but again not my style or color. Well really the only room in the house that is my style is my bedroom I remodeled the kitchen in my NC house, when I was living there, because it was bad but usable for a bit. Stripped it to the walls, added a dishwasher and cabinets where the stove was because all they had was the stove on the wall. Now it's a nice eat in kitchen that hopefully someone rents in the next few days so I can start getting money from it again.



Also good to know. I always make a mess when I bake, which is part of why I don't do it as much as I'd like along with the no dishwasher thing. But if it helps even a little, I'd only need it on when the flour goes in. I generally don't eat what I bake, I prefer the batter whether it's cookies, cake or brownies so I normally get my fix that way. Though there are certain cookies I will eat, I make sugar cookies so I can eat them, and will eat brownies and cupcakes/cake.

I don't have much reason to bake but we have a celebration of life tomorrow and I had her chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is the best, so I said we'd bring them. They are grilling burgers and stuff, having it at their lavender farm which is in bloom so it should be good. Just hoping the family that they weren't speaking to, that are also the one's that dis-familied (making it a word ) when my stepdad passed. Not in the mood for fakeness, rude looks or just people being rude. Taking Dude with us so he's not home for 8+ hours on his own and so I have a buffer/reason to wander away so he can potty It should be nice/fun and the weather will be good so I can take some pictures because all the lavender is pretty. Worst case Dude and I will go sit among the rows of plants and listen to the bee's buzzing because it's just amazing. The bee's make them lavender honey too.

Ooh yeah I totally agree that the batter is better than the final dessert. Another batter eater here. I hope your event goes well tomorrow, and nice of you to bring the cookies made with her recipe. We have an event on the 4th and are planning to bring banana bread. DH doesn't cook or bake much, but he has learned to make really, really good banana bread and wants to bring it. I know I'll end up caving in and having a bit.

 

[afan]

Quote isn’t working. Can’t remember who posted the original about the kitchen aid shield. I found it still made a mess so wasn’t worth it. Paid the $40 for it and used it twice. Not even sure where it is now. If you can turn it on stir or a little higher and just add in the dry slowly keeping it on helps.

I can't pour it in while it's moving without making a huge mess, I've tried. I can hand mix and make a mess Not uncommon for a dog to end up with flour on them along with myself It also isn't kept just to baking, I also have issues stirring on the stove and not making a mess.

Mine came with a plastic guard that goes over the top. Mine is about 8 years old so not sure if that matters. I do need to get a new paddle because the paint is chipping off. Seems to be a common problem.

That's what I need. I think mine's older but I'm not sure, it came from an estate sale. But the bowl size is the same as what's out now so I think as long as I get the size for the bowl I have I'll be ok. I'll look on amazon over the weekend.

Ooh yeah I totally agree that the batter is better than the final dessert. Another batter eater here. I hope your event goes well tomorrow, and nice of you to bring the cookies made with her recipe. We have an event on the 4th and are planning to bring banana bread. DH doesn't cook or bake much, but he has learned to make really, really good banana bread and wants to bring it. I know I'll end up caving in and having a bit.

I've been known to mix up a 1/4 recipe of betty crocker chocolate chippers without the egg and eat it with or without chips. I won't eat it all at once so I keep it in the fridge so I can eat on it for a few days. Been doing it forever, if only I'd known you could make a shop out of it and people would buy it like ice cream.

 

[Albort]

FT's reporting a massive amount of failed redemption on gift cards for Amex airline credit...(AA first, now DL and WN) could be the end of it...
would sit tight for another week to see what happens.