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

[disneymagicgirl]

Whats the most recent DP of SW GC working for personal amex plat airline credit? Just making sure before I blow $200.

 

[amalone1013]

When we were on the Rhine River Cruise ABD we spent Christmas night at Phantasmialand. It's near Cologne and was pretty quirky and cute. I don't think it's open year round though. That's my extent of German themepark knowledge.

That's one on his list. I was just looking at times, it looks like it's only open April through November, plus the Christmas thing. Another one doesn't open until March, one is weekends starting mid-February, and one is open year round. I was kind of hoping to plan this trip before my Marriott Plat status expired since I'll probably never have it again, but as long as the hotels are free that's most important

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Another question...what if I have a positive balance in a category...can it carry over? So if I cash out $75 from dosh and put it in my may disney trip category, can it just hang out there each month until I have a charge against it?

@amalone1013 can you answer this?

 

[Judique]

VA has the same dumb law which only applies to the large school districts. But SOLs have to be taken in May as do high school IB exams (not sure about AP). Puts our students at a major disadvantage and the last several weeks are wasted. As a parent, though, I like it because I generally like to vacation the week before Labor Day.

As a retiree I wish they were in school the 2 weeks before labor day as then prices would drop for those weeks as they used to. But, at least I have points!

 

[elgerber]

.

 

[Judique]

yeah, it is ridiculous, I totally agree. However, with multiple trips this year, if I could get a week there with my cert I'd take it, because it is still cheaper than booking a wdw resort of similar quality. I doubt I will stay there otherwise, unless they were on PL super cheap.

I have DVC so they have to be super cheap before I do them. I did them a lot more in the early years when I just had 160 points but after a couple of years, I bought more points. Also back then I would get either the government or teacher's rate of $129 a night (no resort fee until much later and no parking fee until they expanded parking) plus with taxes it was still under $150 a night, and with points sometimes I upgraded (my cash room) to club level at Swann when they had it for 1000 points a night - this gave a little continental breakfast and a bit of cheese and crackers in the evenings. The room would be empty except for a few convention guys. Then everybody discovered it and they shut down club level. Don't know if they've ever brought it back as I don't keep up. I know with Marriott we will never see that kind of bargain.

Later on DVC and Disney upped their game with concierge at AK and I used to book the least expensive AP or whatever rate and they would let me upgrade for a nominal fee on checkin, before the Jambo and Kidani days. AK was usually pretty empty which is why DVC was able to slide in. I was sorry for that to end, because I got in on under $200 rates and then for $60 bucks they'd give me a 5th floor room with a view and a 6th floor elevator key. I'd do 3 nights there and then do DVC.

 

[Judique]

Back to cats - the two year old is down for her nap and my orange tabby is trying to snuggle with me! He hides when she is awake and jumps on the bed after she goes to sleep! He's a baby, lol.

My Persian, Phoebe, is not afraid and stalks the 2 year old, staying just out of reach. If the 2 year old reaches for her she swats her, but will allow her to pet her when she feels like it. Orange tabby is just plain scared of her.

 

[Lvsdisney]

Prob

Can you hit an $8,000 MSR in 115 days? You could even look to do a modified double dip (discussed on DISchurners). If you can’t entertain the $8k MSR though, it won’t work.

Probably not. We only average about $2k - $2.5k per month on the CCs and I've looked into other ways to maximize our spending to no avail!! Thanks though!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Prob

Probably not. We only average about $2k - $2.5k per month on the CCs and I've looked into other ways to maximize our spending to no avail!! Thanks though!

No worries - then going for either CSP or CSR is a fine move

 

[Judique]

nah, all my kids have missed 5-7 days each year for disney...and oldest DD was accepted to her #1 college pic with some scholarship money and is now doing DCP. (you can see I take school attendance very seriously)

We were the same especially for the early years. We did a ski week no matter what when I was married. Later I followed the school calendar for quite some time as I was an employee as well as having kids. Then when my job changed I only had a few times, school start and school end, when it was not easy to take off.

 

[amalone1013]

@amalone1013 can you answer this?

I missed this! Yup, you can carry it over like that.

 

[Judique]

We do get the whole Thanksgiving week off. Which is silly to me, between Election day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving they are hardly in school November. Then half of December off. They got Martin Luther King day off in January but not another day off until Easter. Seems like they should spread the days off more. We start mid August and then don't end until we get 180 days, so will add on every snow day to the end. We have never got off on the stated end day so our calendars are pretty useless I feel. Last year we had a lot of snow days plus the teacher strike. I think we ended up making up about 9 days, which was not as many as we had out, but the Governor forgave some for the strike. Already talk of another strike this year, so we shall see what happens.

No Presidents Day in February?

 

[wendow]

Whats the most recent DP of SW GC working for personal amex plat airline credit? Just making sure before I blow $200.

I asked this a couple weeks ago and DPs were that it was still working. I never bought mine but plan to soon as well.

 

[wendow]

As a retiree I wish they were in school the 2 weeks before labor day as then prices would drop for those weeks as they used to. But, at least I have points!

Kids here in CO start back to school mid-August. Of course, we homeschool so that time is our preferred time to head to wdw. Now that I have one in college though (will have two this fall cause dd16 is starting early) I’m gonna have to be more careful with how much we miss.

 

[wendow]

We do get the whole Thanksgiving week off. Which is silly to me, between Election day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving they are hardly in school November. Then half of December off. They got Martin Luther King day off in January but not another day off until Easter. Seems like they should spread the days off more. We start mid August and then don't end until we get 180 days, so will add on every snow day to the end. We have never got off on the stated end day so our calendars are pretty useless I feel. Last year we had a lot of snow days plus the teacher strike. I think we ended up making up about 9 days, which was not as many as we had out, but the Governor forgave some for the strike. Already talk of another strike this year, so we shall see what happens.

Our kids get Presidents’ Day in feb and then spring break in March. No time off or recognition of Easter.

 

[Judique]

Our kids get Presidents’ Day in feb and then spring break in March. No time off or recognition of Easter.

The Monday after Easter Sunday is somehow state mandated so the school honors it here. Then Good Friday gets put in for religious observances. I've never seen school on either of these days here.

 

[AmyAnne]

Our cats won't do anything but hiss at each other! One is a Persian - she won't have anything to do with my rescue kitty that I took from the woods at work almost 5 years ago!

And, he can't be left alone for more than a day as he will gorge on the food and throw up so all Disney trips require a cat sitter. I've had other cats and was able to leave food and water and someone checking in every few days. This one has also had the 'crystals' problem or had it in the past before vet and new food.

Also, the litter box has to be kept pristine or they won't use it. So, I've devised a system. I've tried every kind of box, self cleaning etc - useless! But, now I have a large and shallow plastic litter box from Petco plus inside it I have a disposable cardboard litter box from Petco. I then cover the whole thing with a plastic liner that Petco sells and then add some litter. Every 3 days or so I pick up the plastic liner and litter and dispose of it. I then replace with a new liner and litter - fresh start litter - 10.50 for 40lbs from Costco. This keeps odor to a minimum and somehow the cardboard litter box stays clean, and because the liner is like a garbage bag with a pull string, I don't really have any contact with the litter and the box itself is still clean. I get the huge puppy pads from Chewy to put under my litter pan, for the litter that gets out, but that is minimal with these two cats.

I tried my system with my daughters cats and they tore it up, but it was still better than just the pan with litter. They are also much bigger cats than mine.

Our two cats track litter everywhere -- I just assumed that was a cat thing. I am about to try to switch them to the Tidy Cat pellet system. I've mixed some of the pellets in with their litter and so far they are fine with it.

 

[amalone1013]

Ok one more trip insurance question, if anyone can help. Since we are using SW points for flights, does it sound like we are screwed for trip interruption...? For one policy Trip Interruption seems to say they will reimburse for airfare less the value of applied credit from unused ticket. Well, we wouldn't have a credit from the unused ticket.

Or maybe one like this would cover us?

Spoiler: Policy

TRIP INTERRUPTION BENEFIT

If your arrival on your Trip is delayed beyond your Scheduled Departure Date, or if you are unable to continue the Trip due to one of the unforeseeable Covered Events listed below that occur during your Trip dates to you or your Traveling Companion, we will reimburse you for the unused, non-refundable land or water arrangements prepaid to the Travel Supplier prior to departing on your Trip, less any refunds paid or payable, plus one of the following:

b. Additional transportation expenses incurred for you to reach the final return destination of your Trip; or

Or this?

Spoiler: Policy 2

TRIP INTERRUPTION

Benefits will be paid, up to the lesser of a) the Maximum Benefit Amount shown in the Confirmation of Benefits; or b) 100% of the total amount of coverage You purchased, to reimburse You for the Prepaid Payments for unused non-refundable Travel Arrangements plus the Additional Transportation Cost paid:
a) to join Your Trip if You must depart after Your Scheduled Departure Date or travel via alternate travel arrangements by the most direct route possible to reach Your Trip destination (Airfare limited to the cost of one-way airfare using the same class of fare as the original travel ticket); or
b) to rejoin Your Trip or transport You to Your originally scheduled return destination, if You must interrupt Your Trip after departure, each by the most direct route possible. (Airfare limited to the cost of one-way airfare using the same class of fare as the original travel ticket)

I'll probably try some phone calls tomorrow, but thought I'd see if anyone had any insight.

 

[Alexle2007]

Ours came out for discussion dec/jan and now the 'draft' is up. It will be solid in a couple of weeks but the draft indicates the week prior to Easter as spring break. We always have it by March.

Our governor - Larry Hogan - messed with our whole state's school calendar. No school until after Labor Day. Someone is trying to reverse that and I'm sure if next election comes, it will be reversed or at least relaxed. The biggest impact was that everything had to be squeezed in between Labor Day and early June, so all the planning days got shorted and became early dismissal instead of full days off. Before retirement, I hated this change, as the 'no school' days were my catch up days at work. And the early dismissal days were still full days for me with more work added in. I ended up doing much more overtime because of it, which was great for cashflow but I preferred time off.

At one time we had a whole week at Thanksgiving which was phenomenal! Loved it! Now it's just 3 days. It gets hot here and school going later impacts a few schools that are still not completely ac'd. Some school buses are also not ac'ed - about half the fleet - but each year that number gets smaller. School not only gets canceled for snow here, it has also gotten canceled for heat. But as the buildings and vehicles get upgraded, that is becoming fairly rare.

Ha, this is worst thing I think Governor Hogan has done for the state as it had nothing to do with our children’s education but rather trying to get attendance up at the State Fair and Ocean City. Besides Christmas, there is no other time the entire school year in our county, the kids have a week off. Thanksgiving in my county is 2 1/2 days and Spring Break is a whopping Fri and Mon at Easter. And those are the 2 times that they have 2 days off.

We didn’t mind pulling DS out during elementary school but it is much more difficult in middle to miss more than a day or two at max. Being in all honors classes the pace is just so fast for the amount of material they cover and all of the tests.

Definitely looking forward to private school in the fall where they will have actual breaks. DS has already requested that we go back to our Christmas tradition of spending the holiday in Punta Cana and then he’ll have a week in March (or at least it was this year) to plan something. Now to see if I can find their 2019-2020 calendar.

ETA: OMG, just checked they have 3/13-20 which is PERFECT! DS will be 13 on the 13th! Now to find an awesome way to celebrate! And they have off 12/19-1/3 for Christmas break. Sweet 2 weeks! Too bad our CP expires on 12/31 so we’ll have to make it home before DS turns into a pumpkin without it. Or suck it up and purchase a return flight for him.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

About to apply for a CIP but ran into a snag... we’re currently renting about a mile from our current residence since we’re remodeling and we have our mail forwarded. I’m hesitant to put our primary address since we’re not there and I’m not sure if there would be an issue with the forwarding (DH’s W2 was actually returned to HR because the house was determined to be “vacant”). We’ve also been having mail/package theft issues in our neighborhood lately. Then again, I’m hesitant to put our rental address since we’ll only be here until mid-late summer. I guess it should be ok to do that as long as I remember to go in and change it when we move back. Thoughts?

When we were in a rental while the house was being built I just used the rental address. I didn't have a problem getting applying for a card or a loan.