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

[PolyRob]

Yeah - I think the relaxing trip you describe is what our Captiva trip is. This could change, but for now, when we go to Disney, we are doing Disney (which means rope drop, lots of activity, all day at parks, etc.) We'll see if our preferences change over time

This is exactly how I am with my family! It just feels wrong not to get everything we possibly can in. I will say we do not let ourselves get burnt out. We build in later mornings, but will stay out late. I will even change things if it seems like we've done too much or not enough. It really varies, but I try to make sure everyone is satisfied.

I had the same struggle with CL. I've always wanted to try it, but based on my touring and ADRs, it would have never really been that beneficial for the price. I got some great AP rates for my upcoming trip and ended up upgrading both my BC and GF reservations to CL for less than $200 additional total for 7 nights. I jumped on $28.50 a day. The planner I am had to build lounge time in. I will see how it works out!

 

[PolyRob]

And I had these on the bulletin board at my old job:

If I could run this on a loop all day I would:

I love your flair! Were there 37 pieces?!

 

[amalone1013]

I love your flair! Were there 37 pieces?!

It was this kit: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/home-gift-office-space-box-of-flair/22645095

There's 15 - you know, because Jennifer Anniston's character only had the bare minimum of 15 so this kit would have helped her!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

So funny that we will both be in Toronto in June. We are at the Doubletree Downtown for one night, then the Sheraton On the Falls in Niagara. Back to Toronto at the Hyatt Regency. All hotels booked on points which allowed us to spend money on activities such as the Royal Ontario Museum and Ripley's Aquarium. We may also do the Toronto Islands.

@Ngwira if you are going to Niagara Falls you should stop and spend a day (if possible) in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It's very quaint and also has some great wineries / bike trails (you can rent bikes). There are a lot of good restaurants as well. I prefer this to Niagara Falls. There's also the Butterfly Gardens (I think that's what it's called) close to the falls -- I've never been but heard it's nice.

@Jen and Ashwin -- Ripley's Aquarium -- highly recommend this! It's good for all ages! LOVE the Toronto Zoo -- I worked there for 4 summers when I was a teenager and I had an annual pass for 6 years after dd was born -- a lot of fond memories were made there. I know it like the back of my hand. Have you been to the St. Lawrence Market and had a back bacon sandwich -- so yummy! If you go back in the summer Centre Island is a lot of fun with little ones. Science Centre would be good for your little one (that is very close to our house in Toronto!); the ROM if you like art -- with the added benefit of some serious retail therapy within a 3 minute walk! Not sure where you are staying, but I LOVE Yorkdale -- it is shopping nirvana for me and it also has GREAT restaurants (try the Restoration Hardware restaurant -- it's amazing!). The Danforth for the best Greek food. A minor attraction (and it's a bit out of the way) is Casa Loma -- they opened an amazing restaurant inside the "castle" last year called Blue Bloods (I went for my b-day dinner in 2017 and can tell you it's incredible).

Can't believe I forgot Canada's Wonderland. It's nowhere near the scale of WDW, but it does have a cute area for kids (had a seasons pass when dd was little) and a few decent shows!

Dd is applying to University of Toronto (my alma mater!) for engineering sciences -- it's her top choice, but a very difficult school to get into, so we'll see.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

I emailed Plastiq (from another email address I have) to say a "friend" sent me a link with the promo but that I already had a personal account, could I also have a business account and use the promo? Their answer was no. Whether or not they are truly strict about that I don't know, but I didn't want to sink in $250 of fees without a guarantee. And I've already referred DH so that's out. Does your DH have a Plastiq account?

He does. Bummer. So doesn’t seem to be an option

 

[MKTokyo]

I feel you. I had a major blowout with my boss yesterday.

I got told off earlier in the week for making a flyer in Photoshop. Boss apparently wanted me to use clip art from 1992, print it out, paste it onto the flyer, then have color copies made. It's for a children's program the museum is doing this summer & my Photoshop flyer "wasn't friendly enough"

 

[Judique]

I think I'm inclined to agree with DoC since Chase does have a new Marriott card coming out soon. They probably just cribbed the promo from the Hyatt card to make it easy and consistent. However, since Marriott wanted to get away from categories (although kept them ) I'm not sure why it'd be promoted that way.

What I saw didn't mention the 30K/45K. I still have the image of the email open, didn't realize that until now:
Spend just $15,000 on your Hotel Rewards Credit Card during your Cardmember anniversary year and you'll earn:
1 extra free night [at any Category 4 for being a Hotel Rewards Cardholder ($250 value)] + Up to 3 free nights [at any Category 1 hotel from the points you earn on purchases ($250 value)]

So really, my email says 1 free night up to Cat 4 and you can use the points you earn on up to 3 free nights at Cat 1.

A 15k night at Hyatt is category 4 and 3 free nights at Hyatt for 15K would be Category 1 at 5K per night.

This 'math' is what was pushing me to Hyatt. DOC probably has more info than me, I would think, lol!

 

[amalone1013]

I got told off earlier in the week for making a flyer in Photoshop. Boss apparently wanted me to use clip art from 1992, print it out, paste it onto the flyer, then have color copies made. It's for a children's program the museum is doing this summer & my Photoshop flyer "wasn't friendly enough"

#bossesbecrazy

 

[Haley R]

We all loved it, and DH is so over Marvel movies. The cat was a character in the comics, so not thrown in just for fun. Some cat facts if you are interested LOL … https://www.slashfilm.com/captain-marvel-cat/

Thank you! We were so confused. I love reading comics but I’m more of a dc person (NOT when it comes to movies though).

 

[Haley R]

We are taking the kids this weekend. We don't usually go to movies anymore because they are just too expensive with a family our size. They are going to be super excited. I think we will buy movie gift cards at Fred Meyer for 4x fuel points. It's just too bad Amex doesn't count Fred Meyer as a grocery store.

Our theater offers $5 tuesdays and $6 student Thursdays. The student discount covers basically everyone because it says students and faculty and they never check that you actually are one of those two things. We also have cheap movies if you go before noon I think

 

[jhoannam]

I just logged in to our Marriott account and noticed that one of the rooms we have reserved jumped from 35K/night to 50K/night... WTH? I thought that you were looked in if you made reservations before the point change?

 

[elgerber]

Our theater offers $5 tuesdays and $6 student Thursdays. The student discount covers basically everyone because it says students and faculty and they never check that you actually are one of those two things. We also have cheap movies if you go before noon I think

Our theater is only $5.95 every day for matinees, $2 more for evening, in leather reserved recliners.

 

[Tikitoi]

So I'm in a quandary. I sent my check payment to Chase last Monday. Nothing received yet. Payment is due tomorrow so will be doing an electronic payment to them. The thing is with M&T bank wants a $35 stop payment fee for that check otherwise that money can only sit in my account until maybe one day the check is found and cashed...I just don't feel like paying m*t this money to stop a check payment. And yes can't undo the paper check use and snail mail. But definitely will rethink it for future.

Just quoting myself to say I'm very happy that my bank waived the stop payment fee.

 

[afan]

So funny that we will both be in Toronto in June. We are at the Doubletree Downtown for one night, then the Sheraton On the Falls in Niagara. Back to Toronto at the Hyatt Regency. All hotels booked on points which allowed us to spend money on activities such as the Royal Ontario Museum and Ripley's Aquarium. We may also do the Toronto Islands.

I visited a friend in 2010, one of my free vacations when I worked for the race team. We did the harbour cruise, which she hasn't done before. We both really enjoyed it. Also the CN tower was fun too.

We did the maid of the mist too, so cool. I'm not sure if it's the same name or not. My two recs for their, bring your own raincoat, their ponchos were cheap. If you plan on taking pictures cut a hole for your camera lense in a ziploc bag and put thr camera in the bag. I used a gallon size for my dslr. This way I only had to wipe thr lense and my hands and camera were dry.

I always have to have boston pizza when I go to Canada. It's one of my favs, just love the crust.

There's also a Lauderee, that has the best macarons. It's the place that started macarons in Paris.

As a hockey fan the hall of fame was a must do. I was a bit disappointed. The entrance is inside a mall ans there just wasn't as much stuff as I thought there would be. It's kinda small.

 

[havaneselover]

I just logged in to our Marriott account and noticed that one of the rooms we have reserved jumped from 35K/night to 50K/night... WTH? I thought that you were looked in if you made reservations before the point change?

Mine for Chicago is all screwed up. I booked in December. It was a 25,000 point/night property. It's now 35,000. I applied a 25,000 point free night certificate and should have a 35,000 certificate before my state from my spg biz anniversary. Now it says it's 70,000 points. I'm on the phone with Bonvoy as we speak.

 

[amalone1013]

Just to make sure I'm looking at this right... The Plastiq Biz deal. Your business must spend $10k through Plastiq by 5/31, then the business account AND the personal account that made the referral each get $10k FFDs? So if you can spend $30k through Plastiq it's like paying ~0.083% in fees? 2.5%/3?

DH also has the referral email so I'm thinking I could refer from his account to myself in new name, $5k on his new CIP, I'd need another $5k in biz card MSR before 5/31. Not sure where I would get that right off but AA crosses my mind...

After, I wonder if I would need to use a biz card to use the $10k in FFDs I would have.

 

[jhoannam]

Mine for Chicago is all screwed up. I booked in December. It was a 25,000 point/night property. It's now 35,000. I applied a 25,000 point free night certificate and should have a 35,000 certificate before my state from my spg biz anniversary. Now it says it's 70,000 points. I'm on the phone with Bonvoy as we speak.

Wow!! Let us know how it goes.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I just logged in to our Marriott account and noticed that one of the rooms we have reserved jumped from 35K/night to 50K/night... WTH? I thought that you were looked in if you made reservations before the point change?

Mine for Chicago is all screwed up. I booked in December. It was a 25,000 point/night property. It's now 35,000. I applied a 25,000 point free night certificate and should have a 35,000 certificate before my state from my spg biz anniversary. Now it says it's 70,000 points. I'm on the phone with Bonvoy as we speak.

Sounds like you've been #bonvoyed

 

[havaneselover]

Wow!! Let us know how it goes.

So basically they claim it looks weird but is fine. But now they are saying I can't apply my 35,000 point certificate which I will get soon (just had my SPG biz anniversary) because then it's basically a new reservation so the 25,000 point certificate won't cover a night. I hate Marriott right now. I'm sure I'll recover in an hour.

 

[miztressuz]

I just logged in to our Marriott account and noticed that one of the rooms we have reserved jumped from 35K/night to 50K/night... WTH? I thought that you were looked in if you made reservations before the point change?

Did you pay the 35k at the time of reservation or was it a points advance? If you paid it already then I didn't think it'd even show the higher fee so there must be a glitch going on (shocking) If it was a points advance you'd have to call in to have the eCert issued at the previous rate. They are supposed to be honoring the previous rates for point advance bookings but it takes extra legwork to make it happen it seems.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I just laughed out loud at this comment on DoC's page about the fee-free MCGCs at Staples next week.