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

[Judique]

Not an IRS expert but I believe they get processed separately just based on the fact that one year I had to pay, sent a check with the return forms, the check was cashed and I later received mailings that they needed my tax return since it wasn’t received. I will say I ignored this request and never resubmitted it since it’s not my fault they lost it and I had already paid what I owed.

ETA: And now you have me curious as to what we do at my agency so I have a question out to some people who should know.

Since I have some experience with the IRS, (where they owed me a refund) I will say they can take forever to contact you about anything - in my case 3 years - I really did forget about the refund in that time. So, to have something done in less than 2 weeks was really strange for me.

 

[elgerber]

8:20 am and we are heading out to Endgame. I have not had anything to drink yet in hopes that one coke during the movie won’t be enough to make me have to get up during the movie LOL.

 

[Alexle2007]

Since I have some experience with the IRS, (where they owed me a refund) I will say they can take forever to contact you about anything - in my case 3 years - I really did forget about the refund in that time. So, to have something done in less than 2 weeks was really strange for me.

I went back through and it looks like it consistently takes 2 weeks or less for the IRS to cash the check-
2018- check dated 4/14, cashed 4/26
2017- check dated 4/7, cashed 4/17

 

[Alexle2007]

8:20 am and we are heading out to Endgame. I have not had anything to drink yet in hopes that one coke during the movie won’t be enough to make me have to get up during the movie LOL.

We saw it yesertday and really enjoyed it. I made sure to use the restroom 10 min before the movie started since we had been sitting there for an hour.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Just thought I’d share a nice story about some friends who went to WDW last week with their little boy. This was their first time going, both parents had gone when they were kids, so over 30 years ago. I was really nervous for them when they told me they were going Easter week since I knew it would be packed and could potentially be a disaster for their first real trip. They asked DH and I a lot of questions about planning and what rides would be appropriate for their 5 year old and where to eat, etc. They also enlisted the help of a travel agent and researched FPs. They came home and said they had a blast!! They spent 2 days at MK and 1 day at AK and said they rode almost every single ride in those parks. Even got a FP for FOP and rode 7 Dwarves twice! Their little boy loved BTMR and they ended up riding it 5 times! It’s really nice to see someone who does their research and comes home having had a great time because they were prepared for the trip. They said they totally understand why we go so often now haha.

 

[Disneyonmymind]

I received my SUB on my Hilton biz with my second statement, which was the first full statement. Yay I hope it’s not too fast for them. I had a >1,000 tax bill to pay so it was easy for me.

I plan to continue to use both of my Amex Cards going forward, even though I am still working on my CIP MSR and planning for a CIP for DH next month. What amount of monthly spend on each card do you think is good enough to keep them happy?

 

[LynnTH]

Has anyone heard any updates about being able to use UR’s for cruises past 2019?

 

[Alexle2007]

I received my SUB on my Hilton biz with my second statement, which was the first full statement. Yay I hope it’s not too fast for them. I had a >1,000 tax bill to pay so it was easy for me.

I plan to continue to use both of my Amex Cards going forward, even though I am still working on my CIP MSR and planning for a CIP for DH next month. What amount of monthly spend on each card do you think is good enough to keep them happy?

Gosh, I hope not since I made the MSR with one tuition payment the same day I received it.

 

[miztressuz]

I received my SUB on my Hilton biz with my second statement, which was the first full statement. Yay I hope it’s not too fast for them. I had a >1,000 tax bill to pay so it was easy for me.

I plan to continue to use both of my Amex Cards going forward, even though I am still working on my CIP MSR and planning for a CIP for DH next month. What amount of monthly spend on each card do you think is good enough to keep them happy?

AmEx bonus posting dance party

I'm by no means an expert but I'd think if you had something every month and then made sure that at least in the few months before your next app had over $500 each statement, probably ok? There's a going theory on r/churning that $500 might be the magic number since there's so many reports of buying a $500 GC or other large purchase and then suddenly the pop up disappears. No hard evidence, could be a lot of coincidence. But when I tried to lift the SPG pop up I only got up to $300-400 as I got lazy/forgetful and never went out to BJ's to pick up the magical Present GC through self checkout (which is dead now). Still got the pop up. @Lain (or Lain's wife) also got the SPG pop up at the same time as me, spent over $500 (although by a lot) and managed to lift the pop up AND received the bonus.

Again no hard evidence but seems plausible.

 

[wendow]

Now that you've posted about it on here, you better book soon or others may get those rooms!

Was thinking the same after I went to bed last night!! I better get it booked.

 

[wendow]

Funny we did Pop (just one night) and Swan for 2 in Feb. I honestly couldn’t see us staying at Pop for more than a night or two. It totally met our needs (the DME was a plus!) and with the dining plan I bet it will meet yours. We tend to spend very little time in the room but something about the overall feel I just didn’t love. I LOVED the Swan. The area, the size of the rooms, the pool, the boat to DHS, I just really loved it all. I think the split is the way to go. The DDP will come in handy!

We’ve never stayed at Pop. Only value we’ve ever stayed at is ASMo. And we weren’t too impressed. Hoping Pop is a better experience.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I never thought I'd stay offsite, and while swolphin is more onsite than other resorts, it's still offsite to me. However, Disney pricing is just getting so ridiculous and it seems they cannot play nice with any of the points programs so this is where they are pushing us. Having said that, dh & I walked over to Swolphin when we stayed at BC last month and we were overall impressed.

What about it seems offsite? I totally feel on site when we stay at Swolphin. Our last stay was Swan and the only thing I preferred was the bed size (& view since we were upgraded) The Dolphin is bigger but has more of the restaurants, gift shop and quick serve options. The restaurant downstairs is 24/7 I think. Dolphin has the better pool, but you can use it from either Swan or Dolphin. I found the buses less filled (even during Spring Break) than when we stayed at other resorts. I have never stayed at a Dis value, so not sure how full they are but at the end of the night the mod buses were awful, filled to capacity with lots of people standing and pushing.

 

[speedyfishy]

I received my SUB on my Hilton biz with my second statement, which was the first full statement. Yay I hope it’s not too fast for them. I had a >1,000 tax bill to pay so it was easy for me.

I plan to continue to use both of my Amex Cards going forward, even though I am still working on my CIP MSR and planning for a CIP for DH next month. What amount of monthly spend on each card do you think is good enough to keep them happy?

I mostly just use my Amex cards when I have a Amex offer to use. But the Gold and BBP are my daily driver cards.

 

[miztressuz]

AMEX SELF-SUPPORT LINK WARNING:
I'm bringing this message to the group with information from @Lain - he's away having fun this weekend but the DISchurners mods consulted and we wanted to just put this out there...

@Lain noticed this DP from r/churning claiming that Amex clawed back a “support” bonus from a BGR and signup bonus on a BBP because of "self-support" click https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/bh7apz/data_points_central_thread_week_of_april_25_2019/elua2a4/

We aren't trying to freak anybody out, but this is something to monitor. The DP mentioned that all spend was organic, but it also seems like they hit the MSR very fast because the Signup Bonus posted a week after the referral bonus.

I noted that the AMEX RAT often works in mysterious ways and we often have skepticism towards random comments on r/churning. This may be an anomaly. @Albort also notes that it could be something else that they aren't sharing with us. @Lain is holding off on self-support clicks until we see if any other DPs come in.

IF you are playing in 2 player mode though, the easiest way to avoid this is to do a P1=>P2 or P2=>P1 support click vs a self-click. We should all continue to monitor the situation. Consider yourselves warned (in the least ominous way possible, haha!)

Also worth noting - the worst case scenario here is you lose your support points and potentially your sign up points. That's not the end of the world but I know many would be very upset to meet an MSR for nothing. AND if this were more widespread we'd have heard more about it by now.

It could be the opening shot but something seems weird on this one. I did read it, and it could be true, but has AmEx clawed back anything this fast before? There's always a first time for everything, but I thought clawbacks before took a little longer. In this case within a month they earned it and then lost it.

And I don't understand their attitude that they aren't going to "fight" it. Why would you not ask what happened to 25k MR points, churner or not??? If it was all organic as stated then there's nothing to hide! They want to transfer points to a partner, ok, transfer and then ask away! That actually screams "not normal" behavior to me if you don't even call in later to ask what's up.

 

[Haley R]

We’ve never stayed at Pop. Only value we’ve ever stayed at is ASMo. And we weren’t too impressed. Hoping Pop is a better experience.

Pop is pretty great. The new rooms are awesome and I love being able to walk to AoA. The skyliner will probably be a plus

 

[platamama]

8:20 am and we are heading out to Endgame. I have not had anything to drink yet in hopes that one coke during the movie won’t be enough to make me have to get up during the movie LOL.

Enjoy it!! My family saw it yesterday. I loved it.

 

[Judique]

8:20 am and we are heading out to Endgame. I have not had anything to drink yet in hopes that one coke during the movie won’t be enough to make me have to get up during the movie LOL.

youngest DD went this morning early. She was surprised I knew what the movie was! I also suggested since she is up and about and was going to the theater at Hoffman, that she drop by Trader Joes and surprise me with some groceries after the movie. She says since its Sunday it will be too busy. Excuses excuses...

edited to change Cameron Station as I reverted to a past life when using that name....

 

[DisneyMandC]

We’ve never stayed at Pop. Only value we’ve ever stayed at is ASMo. And we weren’t too impressed. Hoping Pop is a better experience.

Love Pop! It definitely has more of the kitchsy decorating of values, but we found the rooms to be very comfortable and nice even pre-refurbishment.

 

[wendow]

What about it seems offsite? I totally feel on site when we stay at Swolphin. Our last stay was Swan and the only thing I preferred was the bed size (& view since we were upgraded) The Dolphin is bigger but has more of the restaurants, gift shop and quick serve options. The restaurant downstairs is 24/7 I think. Dolphin has the better pool, but you can use it from either Swan or Dolphin. I found the buses less filled (even during Spring Break) than when we stayed at other resorts. I have never stayed at a Dis value, so not sure how full they are but at the end of the night the mod buses were awful, filled to capacity with lots of people standing and pushing.

Maybe we will feel onsite too while there. We ate there for a meal last month and it didn’t feel like a Disney QS but the food was good and prices were better than Disney. We did walk to the pool area which looked fun. But the lobby and grounds just felt like a regular hotel and not a Disney resort. I’m definitely excited to try it and maybe staying there and going to the parks, being able to walk to the boardwalk area, etc will give me that Disney feel.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

I know people say this a lot but I just wanted to say thank you again for everyone on here and all the positive energy. We have our share of real life bad news lately but notwithstanding the people on here are so overwhelming supportive. I was on the rest of the Board today and I have to say I am done. Just a couple posts trying to find out information on the upcoming AP events and then reading the DVC forums about put me over the edge. I will be on this thread and other than that it is just not worth the time/effort. If I have any questions I am off topic and posting them here!

As to my new plan of asking you smart people instead of reading elsewhere individual thoughts....the only DAH that works for us on our trip in May (just myself and D8) is the AK DAH. We would not do Flights of Passage (it makes me sick) and D8 can deal. Worth it? We would have the $95 ticket price instead of $125 and it is just two of us if that changes the calculation. I think some of you have done it but can’t remember precisely who. @Haley R?

Haven’t done it but can’t justify the cost. Not enough there to pay oop for it. Better off spending the money on an extra day.

So, update on us and the grAAvy train for our August trip...we had planned on staying at Pop for 5 nights followed by YC for 4 nights. Based on the sun & fun rates, when I first boarded the train, and the fact that values were available, this made sense and I thought I'd have the miles. But the AA situation has changed a lot in just a couple mos (why!?!?) and the current Disney promos are no longer reflected in AA rates and values are no longer an option. I'm guessing in that renegotiation of the contract with Disney, they are no longer able to offer promo rates or the values (since those are probably filling nicely for Disney direct). I'm super sad but have been working on a new plan.

Here is where I'm currently at:

first 5 nights at Pop paid OOP. One room booked with the Aug FD'ing promo (2 adults) and one room booked under the summer RO discount (3 'adults' and 1 child). I upgraded the dining to the DDP so we'd get 10 TS, 10 QS & 20 snacks. This would allow us to cover 2 character meals & pay OOP for the child at those meals.

last 4 nights at Swan. We've never stayed there but it's so cheap for our dates using AA miles. I can use 140k AA miles for BOTH rooms and those are upgraded rooms with a balcony. $135 per room due at the resort for the fees. That is something I can deal with. We wanted YC so badly for the location and the pool. We cannot get the pool by staying at Swan but we can get the location.

We will still have tons of AA miles left for our next trip. I never thought I'd stay offsite, and while swolphin is more onsite than other resorts, it's still offsite to me. However, Disney pricing is just getting so ridiculous and it seems they cannot play nice with any of the points programs so this is where they are pushing us. Having said that, dh & I walked over to Swolphin when we stayed at BC last month and we were overall impressed. I think we will be ok

I would do two nights at pop. Upgrade to deluxe dining plan. Do 1 adult 3 kids. Your dining credits only show ts credits it’s not divided into adults and kids. Unless it’s changed. As of October this was the case. It would give you three days to use all your credits. Then stay at the swan since you have the points. I’m not a fan of the value hotels for a couple of reasons. Bus wait is always longer than moderate and deluxe resorts. Rooms are small and we like bigger beds than full size. Plus I like having a fridge.
FYI Erin McKenna’s no longer participates with the dp. I miss using my snack credits there.