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

[Haley R]

Sorry I haven’t been super active on here today. I wanted to add to everyone’s comments for @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan. Dh and I understand the risks of churning and never fault anyone on here for any previous advice. Everyone on here is so welcoming and friendly. Dh thinks it’s weird but you guys are my friends even if we’ve never met lol. We had zero idea how to churn just last year and now we have come so far with the help from all of you guys (and yes I said you guys ).

We talked tonight and decided I will not be going for CIP3, at least not right now. We’ve been hitting it hard lately and think we should slow down a bit. I’m not sure if we’ll get a new card or not. I want to always have an MSR but we also could try category spending for awhile. We don’t have any big plans in the works for trips so right now we’re just kind of winging it and saving chase points

 

[ten6mom]

Adding to what the others have said about @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan - (and the countless others here who have helped me start this journey and put up with all the newbie and "oh yes I forgot you already told me that four times" questions)- please please don't feel responsible for what we, as adults, decide to undertake! If I get only even a single free hotel night out of anything, it's still more than I had before I "met" you all! As with anything around here, whether Swagbucks or Disney Gift Card Deals, it's always been YMMV and there is always the knowledge that things can change at any moment!

Thank you ALL so much for all the help you're willing to provide!!!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Sorry I haven’t been super active on here today. I wanted to add to everyone’s comments for @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan. Dh and I understand the risks of churning and never fault anyone on here for any previous advice. Everyone on here is so welcoming and friendly. Dh thinks it’s weird but you guys are my friends even if we’ve never met lol. We had zero idea how to churn just last year and now we have come so far with the help from all of you guys (and yes I said you guys ).

We talked tonight and decided I will not be going for CIP3, at least not right now. We’ve been hitting it hard lately and think we should slow down a bit. I’m not sure if we’ll get a new card or not. I want to always have an MSR but we also could try category spending for awhile. We don’t have any big plans in the works for trips so right now we’re just kind of winging it and saving chase points

@Haley R - my favorite churning memory with you was when we tried to manipulate your statement date to get you your points sooner and failed miserably!! I was so worried you were going to write us off as crazy with that being one of your initial experiences! So glad you've stuck with it - you guys have accomplished some amazing things in your short time playing the game!!

 

[Haley R]

On an unrelated note, we talked about travel options again for November and have come up with some different ideas. I’m on the fence about Japan because I’d like to try somewhere new. Since it’s so soon it would have to be a place we wouldn’t need a lot of planning to visit and it would only be for a week so we’ll have to save the UK for another time.

What I’m thinking right now is Iceland, a Disney cruise (hopefully with a Florida resident discount), or Hawaii. I would like to use chase points and I guess it would be okay even if we cashed points out. What do you guys think/recommend for a last minute trip? We’ve also never been to DL so that could be an option.

 

[Haley R]

@Haley R - my favorite churning memory with you was when we tried to manipulate your statement date to get you your points sooner and failed miserably!! I was so worried you were going to write us off as crazy with that being one of your initial experiences! So glad you've stuck with it - you guys have accomplished some amazing things in your short time playing the game!!

That whole situation was kind of a fail but not any one person’s fault lol. We couldn’t have gone to japan if it weren’t for you guys. I remember when we first looked on the ABD board and I was like how the heck to people pay for these trips? Japan will probably be one of the best trips I have ever and will ever take and a lot of that is in part to the advice I was given here. I want to continue to travel and stay connected with everyone on this thread.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

.

 

[smmco]

Replying to myself here...been thinking about this all evening. The 50k MR for the gold SUB just isn’t doing much for me. I’m leaning towards the Aspire. All those perks...

Made reservations today also for 3 nights at the Hotel Indigo in Venice next June. Reserved two rooms. One with UR’s, and one room with IHG points for 2 nights, and 1 night cash for the refundable price. P2’s IHG Premier anniversary is next month and I’m hoping his free night posts in time to switch that cash night over to a free night.

For Disneyland Paris I’m debating whether to save up hotels.com gift cards or just pay out of pocket for it through P2’s new Cap1 Venture. From what I can see, doing it that way would pay back 10x miles. Seems like it would be easier than gift cards and possibly close to the same return. Anyone ever try that before?

I got both. I met my MSR on the Gold and I'm 110.00 away from meeting MSR on the Aspire. A grocery shopping trip tomorrow will seal the deal on the Aspire. Provided the hotel I want to say at in New York is still available and I can use the free night cert in London I will get about 2100 dollars out of the SUB and 250 resort credit. I plan on keeping this card. The resort credit and free night make the AF worthwhile and the benefits from the diamond are a big plus.

I'm not really sure what I'll do with Gold card points yet, but the points add up fast and it's a really pretty medal card.

I paid for my last WDW trip with Capital one card points. I never took advantage of hotels.com because it was cheaper for me to book direct with the hotels using my AAA card.

I still think Hyatt points are the most valuable for hotel stays. I can't wait unitl I'm under 5/24.

I haven't researched IHG and I don't see it talked about that much.

 

[miztressuz]

Did someone post recently that you could buy Universal tickets with MRs? I have tried finding them on Amex website but don’t really know where to look. Maybe I am just making this up or confusing it with URs?

Yes, they are in the Redeem for Gift Card section. Options for both Orlando and Hollywood. From what I remember it's not a 1 cpp redemption but it's better than taking a statement credit.

 

[Mopedmom1]

On an unrelated note, we talked about travel options again for November and have come up with some different ideas. I’m on the fence about Japan because I’d like to try somewhere new. Since it’s so soon it would have to be a place we wouldn’t need a lot of planning to visit and it would only be for a week so we’ll have to save the UK for another time.

What I’m thinking right now is Iceland, a Disney cruise (hopefully with a Florida resident discount), or Hawaii. I would like to use chase points and I guess it would be okay even if we cashed points out. What do you guys think/recommend for a last minute trip? We’ve also never been to DL so that could be an option.

If you're still thinking of a November trip, I'm not sure I would pick Iceland! JMHO but of the remaining two I personally would pick Hawaii. It's so beautiful and romantic.

 

[Haley R]

If you're still thinking of a November trip, I'm not sure I would pick Iceland! JMHO but of the remaining two I personally would pick Hawaii. It's so beautiful and romantic.

Haha I’m guessing it would be cold then? I didn’t even look up the temps. I just looked it up and it says it could be 40 F so yeah that’s not happening lol. That’s probably better as a summer trip.

I’ve seen talk about using southwest to get to Hawaii. Are there any other options using chase points? I’ve always been told that when going to Hawaii we need to do more than one island but for a week I don’t know if that’s possible. What do you think?

 

[afan]

Haha I’m guessing it would be cold then? I didn’t even look up the temps. I just looked it up and it says it could be 40 F so yeah that’s not happening lol. That’s probably better as a summer trip.

I’ve seen talk about using southwest to get to Hawaii. Are there any other options using chase points? I’ve always been told that when going to Hawaii we need to do more than one island but for a week I don’t know if that’s possible. What do you think?

You can get a similar outer island experienceenxe by doing oahu and leaving waikiki. I think there's a bunch of stuff on reddit that @Lain put there a month or two ago the last time hawaii was discussed. There was a lot of good info that should be easy to access rather than everyone going through the generalities of it all again. Then come back with specific questions

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

DISchurners Announcement #2:
It's time for everybody's favorite event...the semi-annual refresh of the SUPPORT Link Threads.
As a reminder - ANYBODY is welcome to share their support links in these threads. The instructions are at the top of each one.

For those that have previously posted, the easiest way to move them over is:

1) Go to your OLD comment in the OLD thread (you'll see the old threads listed near the bottom of the DISchurners feed)​

2) Click EDIT​

3) COPY the entire comment text in the edit box​

4) PASTE the comment text as a NEW comment in the NEW thread (you'll find the new threads near the top of the feed)​

5) CHECK all links to make sure they are active and working​

You do NOT need to delete your old comment when done, you can just leave it in that thread.​

This process will help you not have to re-do all your formatting.
Side note: It is best to access DISchurners in old reddit. (https://old.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/)

I added a comment in each thread that 1099s may be issued for the value of any points as a warning. I also edited the language about self-support in the AMEX thread to warn people against doing it (vs. encouraging them to do it).

I will post reminders for this over the next week or so and will then remove the old threads with only the new threads remaining.

 

[Mopedmom1]

Haha I’m guessing it would be cold then? I didn’t even look up the temps. I just looked it up and it says it could be 40 F so yeah that’s not happening lol. That’s probably better as a summer trip.

I’ve seen talk about using southwest to get to Hawaii. Are there any other options using chase points? I’ve always been told that when going to Hawaii we need to do more than one island but for a week I don’t know if that’s possible. What do you think?

You are young and will have many more opportunities to revisit. Pick two this trip and plan on going back to catch a few more for your 10th anniversary. (By then the kids will be old enough to leave with Grammy! )

 

[afan]

DISchurners Announcement #2:
It's time for everybody's favorite event...the semi-annual refresh of the SUPPORT Link Threads.
As a reminder - ANYBODY is welcome to share their support links in these threads. The instructions are at the top of each one.

For those that have previously posted, the easiest way to move them over is:

1) Go to your OLD comment in the OLD thread (you'll see the old threads listed near the bottom of the DISchurners feed)​

2) Click EDIT​

3) COPY the entire comment text in the edit box​

4) PASTE the comment text as a NEW comment in the NEW thread (you'll find the new threads near the top of the feed)​

5) CHECK all links to make sure they are active and working​

You do NOT need to delete your old comment when done, you can just leave it in that thread.​

This process will help you not have to re-do all your formatting.
Side note: It is best to access DISchurners in old reddit. (https://old.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/)

I added a comment in each thread that 1099s may be issued for the value of any points as a warning. I also edited the language about self-support in the AMEX thread to warn people against doing it (vs. encouraging them to do it).

I will post reminders for this over the next week or so and will then remove the old threads with only the new threads remaining.

Proof I don't read everything when it says dischurners update. I thought the 1st post was about updating links.

Though I do have a site to add to the fp thread or whatever it's called that may help some.

 

[snugglebug]

San Francisco Day (Saturday), thoughts...

8am leave hotel (Springhill Suites OAK or Hyatt Emoryville as backup)
8:40 Alamo Square
9:30 Lombard Street
10 Park at Pier 39 Garage (book this online for $30, have never done this before, assuming prepaying and booking a spot is a good idea)
11 Blue & Gold Cruise around Alcatraz (1.5hr) then lunch OR Lunch then 1pm B&G Cruise
Wander around Fisherman's Wharf, visit Ghirardelli and then wing it from there

Or, at least that's as far as I got. This is assuming we get the Bridge, Disney museum and Tonga Room done on Friday.

The cruise will be 15332 UR for all of us. Or, I get the Go Explorer card which covers the cruise, 1 Day Muni pass for 23598 UR or add an attraction to that for 28800 UR. Leaning toward the card so we have the MUNI pass because after Lombard, I was considering following this: https://www.tripsavvy.com/san-francisco-in-a-day-1479082 I like the idea of tossing in Chinatown. I'm just not sure how long this will take, assuming I need to book the B&G cruise very soon rather than day of.

 

[Lain]

San Francisco Day (Saturday), thoughts...

8am leave hotel (Springhill Suites OAK or Hyatt Emoryville as backup)
8:40 Alamo Square
9:30 Lombard Street
10 Park at Pier 39 Garage (book this online for $30, have never done this before, assuming prepaying and booking a spot is a good idea)
11 Blue & Gold Cruise around Alcatraz (1.5hr) then lunch OR Lunch then 1pm B&G Cruise
Wander around Fisherman's Wharf, visit Ghirardelli and then wing it from there

Or, at least that's as far as I got. This is assuming we get the Bridge, Disney museum and Tonga Room done on Friday.

The cruise will be 15332 UR for all of us. Or, I get the Go Explorer card which covers the cruise, 1 Day Muni pass for 23598 UR or add an attraction to that for 28800 UR. Leaning toward the card so we have the MUNI pass because after Lombard, I was considering following this: https://www.tripsavvy.com/san-francisco-in-a-day-1479082 I like the idea of tossing in Chinatown. I'm just not sure how long this will take, assuming I need to book the B&G cruise very soon rather than day of.

I haven’t forgotten to get you more tips! It’s just been a very busy day (and week in general). I’ll circle back around to this, but since you’ve been talking about visiting Alamo Square, I wonder if you’re interested in adding a stop at the Full House house to fit in with that whole theme. By the way, we drove by Alamo Square this afternoon and it was packed. The Painted Ladies at Alamo Square make for a nice backdrop, but the Tanner home used in the b rolls is about 5-10 minutes drive north in Lower Pac[ific] Heights. Jeff Franklin, who created Full House, purchased the home a few years ago, dropped a pretty penny restoring the original look of the house as seen on screen, and recently relisted it for sale. It should be a very quick stop since there’s not much parking around Broderick Street and it is an active thoroughfare (which doesn’t stop tourists though).

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

DISchurners Announcement #3: (I've been a busy boy tonight!!)
I have refreshed the DISchurners - Walt Disney World Tips! thread.

As a reminder, this thread has defined subcategories. Our goal is for YOU and others to add details pertinent to each subcategory to make this relevant and helpful to the community. I went through the old thread and posted links and details from most of the discussion (and grave credit back to those that shared the info).

The categories are as follows:

• AAdvantage Miles
• Touring Strategies
• Using Cash Back to offset costs
• Renting DVC points
• Chase Ultimate Rewards (URs)
• AMEX Membership Rewards (MRs)
• Citi Thank Points (TY)
• US Bank Altitude Reserve points
• Disney Gift Card discounts
• Swan & Dolphin
• Other Off-site Hotel recommendations and ideas
• Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit
• Using Bank Bonuses to offset costs
• Other Ticket Discussion (i.e. Undercover Tourist, upgrading to APs, etc.)
• Travel Agents
• Finding discounted Disney Resorts on 3rd party sites

If you click on any of those links, it will take you to ONLY that subcategory. To go to the full thread, use the link at the top of my comment here.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok - I think I am finally done with all the DISchurners updates for the night! Whew - that was a lot of updates! But our main feed is in great shape now. Whenever somebody joins, I have a standard welcome message I share. I'll post it here for all the veterans to see what I mention in there. Thanks everybody for supporting our community both here and over on r/DISchurners!

Welcome to DISchurners!​

​

You're approved and all set! Access the main page here.​

​

You may find this thread: DISchurners - Walt Disney World Tips! to be pretty interesting if you're planning a Disney World trip!​

​

This is a thread we have that highlights the major news events on the main thread: DISchurners - NEWS Thread! This can be especially helpful if you can't keep up with all the comments here on the DIS!​

​

As a reminder most of the discussion does happen here on the boards. On r/DISchurners you can post your own support links and/or use others' support links here:​

• Chase
• American Express
• Other/Misc

And of course there's other info there too including some of our best tips from the thread that you might want to explore! Welcome, thanks for joining! ​

 

[mmmears]

Haha I’m guessing it would be cold then? I didn’t even look up the temps. I just looked it up and it says it could be 40 F so yeah that’s not happening lol. That’s probably better as a summer trip.

I’ve seen talk about using southwest to get to Hawaii. Are there any other options using chase points? I’ve always been told that when going to Hawaii we need to do more than one island but for a week I don’t know if that’s possible. What do you think?

Iceland would be freezing in November, but then you'd probably get to see the Northern Lights. I think Iceland is amazing, but it wasn't exactly warm when we were there last August. So it's really a trade-off in my opinion. I would love to see the Northern Lights, but would pick summer if I return. YMMV

As for Hawaii, Nov. would be a nice time to go. If you do a long week (both weekends plus the 5 weekdays) you can definitely visit a couple of islands. You could also do it in a week if necessary. We've split Kauai & Maui a few times, also the big island (Hawaii) & Maui. But all of them are truly beautiful. I'm not up to speed on using awards points for flights, but I have done so in the past - many US airlines fly there, including AA, UA, Delta, Hawaiian (of course), Alaska, and others, so you don't have to fly SW. I'm sure other people here can help you with that, but there are tons of options and also lots of Marriotts, Hiltons, and Hyatts if you want to stay at a larger hotel chain on points.

 

[havaneselover]

On an unrelated note, we talked about travel options again for November and have come up with some different ideas. I’m on the fence about Japan because I’d like to try somewhere new. Since it’s so soon it would have to be a place we wouldn’t need a lot of planning to visit and it would only be for a week so we’ll have to save the UK for another time.

What I’m thinking right now is Iceland, a Disney cruise (hopefully with a Florida resident discount), or Hawaii. I would like to use chase points and I guess it would be okay even if we cashed points out. What do you guys think/recommend for a last minute trip? We’ve also never been to DL so that could be an option.

Do they do FL discounts on European cruises? I've only seen them on cruises leaving out of FL.