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

[Haley R]

This is worrying me. We are booked there for the end of March and after staying in a construction zone before...the poly...I do not want that again! I thought cbr was pretty much done as well. May have to rethink our plans

There are fences everywhere. There weren’t any by the main building but over here across the bridge is all construction again. I can honestly say I would never stay here again if they don’t upgrade the rooms. Everything is so dark and dingy

 

[Haley R]

Our last trip we went from 5 nights at BC to 4 nights at CS. The whole time at BC, I kept noticing that the room felt a little tired and furnishings were in need of an update. Then we moved to CS where the rooms were brand spanking new. That room really put BC to shame. But that is about the only time that has happened! Normally, I get bummed if we stay deluxe first and then move to a mod. We've only done it a couple times when it really did just work best for the rest of our plans.

We only booked here because there wasn’t hardly anything else. A bunch of cheer/dance groups showed up today and they are swarming everywhere. We even saw some checking in to CL at yc.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I would not be happy if I saw a mouse in my house.

Mice are my biggest fear. We found a dead one (that I think my cats caught/killed a week prior) in my daughter's room. I got to REALLY drive home the "Your room is so messy you have dead animals" message. My cats killed another one earlier in the fall. Last winter we found mouse poop in the kids bathroom. Traps caught 3 or 4. Needless to say, I've wanted to burn down this house! We didn't have ANY the first 13 years we lived here. My ex broke his leg and basically became a hermit in our room leaving food EVERYWHERE. I think that brought them to the house and 2nd floor of our house. We had sooooo many ants in our carpet too. It was disgusting. Needless to say, I moved out of the bedroom and into our office.

 

[1st*toright]

We definitely won’t ever do a deluxe and a moderate/value after again

Me neither, it is such a letdown! Hopefully the new room was an improvement in the olfactory department.

Oh yeah, always start at the lower tier. Otherwise a place that is fine to start off with will seem yuckier than it actually is. Last time we started at a fairfield inn off property (LO loved the bunkbed they had there) and ended at the Swan - everyone was fine. If we'd done the reverse the little Fairfield Inn would have seemed pokey instead of adequate. Next week we're going from the Grand Floridian to RPR at USO. Hoping they are more or less equivalent.

 

[Haley R]

Oh yeah, always start at the lower tier. Otherwise a place that is fine to start off with will seem yuckier than it actually is. Last time we started at a fairfield inn off property (LO loved the bunkbed they had there) and ended at the Swan - everyone was fine. If we'd done the reverse the little Fairfield Inn would have seemed pokey instead of adequate. Next week we're going from the Grand Floridian to RPR at USO. Hoping they are more or less equivalent.

We would’ve done it that way but we didn’t have a choice with what was available to book

 

[DisneyMandC]

Smells better but these rooms are so gross with all of the brown carpet and walls. The sidewalks also all have fences all around them from construction which I didn’t know coming in. I thought most of the construction was done at cbr except the gondola and DVC resort

I must've missed it sorry... what resort are you talking about? Not CBR?

 

[1st*toright]

We would’ve done it that way but we didn’t have a choice with what was available to book

As they say, a day at Disney is always better than a day at home - sounds like the meh room is not keeping you from having a good time!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

@amalone1013 @mmmears , I made a booking for Loews Royal Pacific to see if the amex offer will credit...I'll keep you updated!

Me too!! Going prez weekend!

I love this quote as a standalone! Made me chuckle!

haha! Well if you to six flags you get a $15 burger and GI distress. At least at Disney there are some places that are pretty decent!

 

[Oscar Madison]

Without an extra deal both BJ's and Sam's are just below Target at a 4% discount. Only the $150 multipack at Sam's Club online gets close at 4.7% discount so when you add on any other rewards from a CC on top, it edges out Target. But then you factor in that it's a 3pk of $50's so there's extra time involved consolidating and using them. I guess technically if you have a 1.5% card (or better) even the 4% comes out to 5.4% off. Very much a shame that I don't see any warehouse categories yet this year. If you had a 5% category even the 4% discount would come out ahead then.

Yes, I usually wait for DOSH at Sam's to move higher then pounce for Disney GCs. Last weekend it was 8%.

 

[mmmears]

@Lain sorry if you responded to me the other day -- I need a credit card for dd. Chase said that she has to be 18 to have her own, so I will have to add a card and add her as an authorized user. I was thinking of the Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. Thoughts?

Here's what I have -- though I think you may already know :

• CSR: October 2016
• CIP (business): July or August 2018
• Chase Hyatt: July 2018
  
• AmEx Hilton Aspire: December 2018
• AmEx Hilton (Business): January, 2019

I think this puts me at 2/24 (if I count the CIP as a business card). I need to be careful how I fill my slots!

I need to cap her spending at $500.00 / month so hoping Chase will issue a card with a nice low limit for her.

As an aside, if my referral bonus posts (I referred myself to the Hilton Business card) I should be just 22,000 points shy of being ready to book the Conrad Maldives for 4 nights (plus 1 free night) in April, 2020 !

I think I'm missing something. Are you concerned about her spending more than $500 a month? Mine had a virtually unlimited credit line (on the card, not with her parents LOL) and barely even used it. Maybe because if she did charge something on it, she knew she would have to pay for it when the bill arrived. We used it to teach responsible spending, but every kid is different and mine just isn't a spender.

Can you just set an internal/family limit with her? If you don't think she can follow that I'm not sure what to do other then capping the line at $500. Ironically that was DD's first limit (on her own Visa) but she had to wait until she was 18 to get that card. She applied at the credit union where she kept her savings account, so she wasn't a "new" name to them.

We definitely won’t ever do a deluxe and a moderate/value after again

I always try to move up in the "world" when we do split stays even within deluxes.

I can't believe how this day turned out. Just booked six tickets for round trip direct flights from RIC to MCO for 56,xxx points and $67.20 in fees!!!

Wow! That's fantastic! Congrats!

 

[Haley R]

I must've missed it sorry... what resort are you talking about? Not CBR?

Yeah I’m talking about cbr

 

[Oscar Madison]

@PolyRob, just to add to @miztressuz's post and what @Albort already mentioned -- assuming you have membership to Sam's Club, you can use your new CIP (and spend towards MSR) to buy Walmart gift cards from the Gyft app / Gyft .com, then use the Walmart GCs on SamsClub .com to buy the 4.7% discounted $150 Disney GCs pack(s). Gyft purchases earn 3x UR when paying with the CIP through PayPal checkout (so add the CIP to your PayPal wallet), and 5x UR on the CIC/CI+. Like I mentioned to you last week, when you first start using Gyft, start out small and slow to establish some purchase history for your account, because big purchases early on tend to get held up or canceled because of overly sensitive fraud prevention. This may be frustrating if you have to buy a lot of Disney GCs, but maybe you can use this method to buy some of what you need, work on your CIP's MSR, and start building some history on Gyft.

If you don't have a Sam's Club membership, just keep this tucked away for some future use. There are frequently stackable promotions that bring down the cost of a Sam's Club membership to almost nothing.

As for stackable promotions, Sam's Club often shows up on Amex Offers and Chase Offers, giving you an opportunity to get statement credit for buying discounted Disney GCs. What I love about Sam's Club is their checkout has a split tender function that allows you to pay with a mix of Walmart/Sam's Club GCs and credit cards, thus letting you maximize discount from various avenues. Before RMN banned me, I was able to shop through the app and got cash back on a pack of Disney GCs, even though GCs were excluded.





This is another avenue for discounted Disney GCs when you have the right cards. Take the above for example, @kidsfirsttrip and @DisneyMandC used an Amex Offer for 10% back at Staples to buy VGCs and/or MCGCs when Staples ran a no-fee deal on these cards recently. Even if there are no Amex Offers or Chase Offers going on, if you had the CIC then that card earns you 5x UR at office supply stores like Staples/Office Depot/Office Max all the time, and no-fee or discounted VGC/MCGC deals happen often enough. They'll then use the VGC/MCGC at Best Buy to purchase a $100 Disney GC each day and scanning the Swagbucks QR code each time at checkout (deal is limited to one per day). Swagbucks has a deal where if you spend $100+ in one trip in store, you'll receive a 750 SB points bonus (worth at least $7.50 cashed out), and you get usually 2x SB (currently 4x SB) for every dollar of your purchase. On a $100 Disney GC, you typically earn about $9.50 in SBs. GCs aren't supposed to count, but they do. And since you're paying cash for the Disney GCs, you're earning 1-2.5% in Best Buy Rewards, which count towards a reward certificate. So while a little tedious, because you have to hit two stores, and can only do $100/day at Best Buy, you're looking at a 15-20%+ savings on Disney GCs.

Target is the low hanging fruit. The 5% off is not bad, and very easy to save. But with a little bit of work, jumping on deals when they happen, you can pretty easily save 15% or better on Disney GCs. I try to shoot for over 20% off, so I'm buying Disney GCs throughout the year whenever I see a good deal/stack. The Disney Gift Cards Deal thread is excellent at reporting and discussing these opportunities.

Good luck!

All this cost saving info in one post.Truly amazing. Adding it to my spreadsheet. Thanks again!

 

[speedyfishy]

Yeah I’m talking about cbr

Stayed here on my first trip with my family years ago. The room was so bad they gave us a free upgrade to Saratoga springs which was brand new at the time. I never wanted to go back there, but I saw reports it was getting better so SO and I thought we would give it a try.... guess not lol

 

[speedyfishy]

Tried for money orders at the same locations as Monday when I got turned down. Had no problems today. This is very YMMV here depending on the cashiers. I think it helps to go later in the day.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

SO looks like I was the victim of an account hack. Got an email that my Walmart account was changed to a new email address. Couldn’t get into the account. Kind of freaking out because I have giftcards loaded on there. Called Walmart they gave me back my login and the email it was changed too. My address was still intact and no purchase were made. Store location was switched to Clarksville, WV. I changed my password and am going to change all other passwords (target, amazon, etc). It think my cc info is ok as they could only see last 4 digits WM requires the security code. Should I file a police report? All I have is an email and general location? Should i freeze my ccs? Now this person has my address. Ughh. Going to drain the gcs on Sams to be done with them

 

[Haley R]

Stayed here on my first trip with my family years ago. The room was so bad they gave us a free upgrade to Saratoga springs which was brand new at the time. I never wanted to go back there, but I saw reports it was getting better so SO and I thought we would give it a try.... guess not lol

We’re on our way to pofq!!! They moved us for free

 

[disneybirds]

@Lain sorry if you responded to me the other day -- I need a credit card for dd. Chase said that she has to be 18 to have her own, so I will have to add a card and add her as an authorized user. I was thinking of the Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. Thoughts?

Here's what I have -- though I think you may already know :

• CSR: October 2016
• CIP (business): July or August 2018
• Chase Hyatt: July 2018
  
• AmEx Hilton Aspire: December 2018
• AmEx Hilton (Business): January, 2019

I think this puts me at 2/24 (if I count the CIP as a business card). I need to be careful how I fill my slots!

I need to cap her spending at $500.00 / month so hoping Chase will issue a card with a nice low limit for her.

As an aside, if my referral bonus posts (I referred myself to the Hilton Business card) I should be just 22,000 points shy of being ready to book the Conrad Maldives for 4 nights (plus 1 free night) in April, 2020 !

I put our oldest DD as an AU on the Everyday Preferred when she was about 16. She only charged gas and items at the grocery I asked her to pick up, but she had it if she needed it. She also signed up for a checking account at Wells Fargo. Once she turned 18, she was able to get a Wells Fargo student credit card and she pays the bill every month. She will be 20 this spring and has a high enough credit score that she could definitely apply for another card, but she is hesitant to sign up for another one. Many on here suggested the CFU as her second card.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Crap I spoke too soon $150 drained from gcs. ***!!!!

 

[wendow]

I think I'm missing something. Are you concerned about her spending more than $500 a month? Mine had a virtually unlimited credit line (on the card, not with her parents LOL) and barely even used it. Maybe because if she did charge something on it, she knew she would have to pay for it when the bill arrived. We used it to teach responsible spending, but every kid is different and mine just isn't a spender.

This is the same for us. Both my dd’s are still AUers on our cards (each is on a chase and an Amex) and they know anything they spend that I’ve not approved, I’m transferring the money from their account. Both my girls have jobs and babysit a ton. They can afford their own makeup, Starbucks and movies!

 

[wendow]

Crap I spoke too soon $150 drained from gcs. ***!!!!

Ugh I’m so sorry. How completely