I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[DaveL]

Finally got my two July 2020 reservations moved to June 2021 (Started out as June 2020)... That was a process! Glad its done now and got our park reservations moved to next year too. Now to watch for discounts as our package went up $675 with the loss of the 35% discount and ticket/room increases. :-(

Looks like they have done away with the $10/night Housekeeping gift card, my checkin process for 2021 just says I can have every other day, or decline. No mention of credit now. :-(

 

[ski_mom]

We did use it as a rental for the past 4 years. It’s a hot rental market down there for the winter, not so much during the summer. Decided to buy a home as we hope to retire next year! We love cruising and the islands too. The Naples/Marco Island area is awesome.

I'd be down there full time if I could. Maybe once my kids are out of school.

I'm excited to try it out for a week! Looking forward to some sun and relaxation!

If you have any favorite places to eat / things to do, let me know. We really have nothing planned. I did see a groupon for a comedy club in Naples that we might check out. You have to be 18+ and DS will turn 18 the night before we leave, so we are thinking of doing that on his birthday. I'm not sure if the comedian is super raunchy though - don't want to be embarrassed in front of my son lol!

 

[Hoosier John]

I'm excited to try it out for a week! Looking forward to some sun and relaxation!

If you have any favorite places to eat / things to do, let me know. We really have nothing planned. I did see a groupon for a comedy club in Naples that we might check out. You have to be 18+ and DS will turn 18 the night before we leave, so we are thinking of doing that on his birthday. I'm not sure if the comedian is super raunchy though - don't want to be embarrassed in front of my son lol!

If you laugh harder than him, he'll be the embarrassed one

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Has anyone used Sixt rental car company? What was your experience? I’m finding rental cars at FLL (fort lauderdale) to be outrageous. Sixt is a total of $50 less than Budget, but still not as cheap as some others like Ace and Fox, which I have not heard good things about, and Easirent, Right Cars, and Green Motion which I’ve never heard of at all.

 

[wendow]

I haven't been following too close, because we don't have Disney APs this year, but how is the new system working?

Need onsite lodging and tickets to guarantee the ability to apply for park reservations?
How far out can you make park reservations for a May 2021 stay?
Are restaurant reservations 6 month, and FP+ reservations at 60 days?
Is the Monday park reservation system opening the reason DVC is unavailable online and by phone?

Thanks

I've been dealing with all this the last few days. I'm honestly exhausted from it but we are going in less than 30 days so had to deal with it!

Yes, you need an onsite (or one of the hotels that received 60-day FP+ bookings) and tickets attached to MDE to be able to book park reservations.
You can make park reservations all the way through Sept 26, 2021. So, May 2021 is bookable once you have the resort and tickets.
As of last night, no dining, other than DS restaurants, were available for ADR's. The CM I spoke to last night said she thought ADR's would be returning soon.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

If you book a car rental at MCO with URs, can you "skip the counter" if the rental company offers it, like Alamo? Or, does that not apply since it's a 3rd party booking?

I have skipped the counter with Alamo Booking with URs. Keep in mind, Alamo has no “standard” aisle at MCO. if you book a standard vehicle you will choose from full size aisle.

 

[Psychodisney]

I'm excited to try it out for a week! Looking forward to some sun and relaxation!

If you have any favorite places to eat / things to do, let me know. We really have nothing planned. I did see a groupon for a comedy club in Naples that we might check out. You have to be 18+ and DS will turn 18 the night before we leave, so we are thinking of doing that on his birthday. I'm not sure if the comedian is super raunchy though - don't want to be embarrassed in front of my son lol!

If you're looking for a water based trip we love https://dolphin-study.com/ for dolphin watching. They also take you to the south end of Tiger tail beach for shelling. We've been pretty conservative on going out to eat lately. We enjoy the Snook Inn (decent size outdoor dining) and the Dolphin Tiki Bar. Also Island Gypsy on Isle of Capri. I think beach parking has been restricted, so you might need to research on that. I think Tiger Tail beach has some rentals of paddle boards etc. See if you can find a shuttle boat to Keywadin Island for the day.

 

[Psychodisney]

I'm excited to try it out for a week! Looking forward to some sun and relaxation!

If you have any favorite places to eat / things to do, let me know. We really have nothing planned. I did see a groupon for a comedy club in Naples that we might check out. You have to be 18+ and DS will turn 18 the night before we leave, so we are thinking of doing that on his birthday. I'm not sure if the comedian is super raunchy though - don't want to be embarrassed in front of my son lol!

Forgot about airboat ride...although there are less gators around in the summer. Corey Billie's isn't too far east on 41. Fun experience even if you don't get to see very many gators.

 

[Hoosier John]

I've been dealing with all this the last few days. I'm honestly exhausted from it but we are going in less than 30 days so had to deal with it!

Yes, you need an onsite (or one of the hotels that received 60-day FP+ bookings) and tickets attached to MDE to be able to book park reservations.
You can make park reservations all the way through Sept 26, 2021. So, May 2021 is bookable once you have the resort and tickets.
As of last night, no dining, other than DS restaurants, were available for ADR's. The CM I spoke to last night said she thought ADR's would be returning soon.

Thank you! Saved me a lot of digging!

 

[ski_mom]

If you laugh harder than him, he'll be the embarrassed one

Haha! He would definitely be embarrassed!

If you're looking for a water based trip we love https://dolphin-study.com/ for dolphin watching. They also take you to the south end of Tiger tail beach for shelling. We've been pretty conservative on going out to eat lately. We enjoy the Snook Inn (decent size outdoor dining) and the Dolphin Tiki Bar. Also Island Gypsy on Isle of Capri. I think beach parking has been restricted, so you might need to research on that. I think Tiger Tail beach has some rentals of paddle boards etc. See if you can find a shuttle boat to Keywadin Island for the day.

Forgot about airboat ride...although there are less gators around in the summer. Corey Billie's isn't too far east on 41. Fun experience even if you don't get to see very many gators.

Thank you for the suggestions. We will probably mostly be looking for water based activities and those sound great! We probably won't be eating out much other than outdoor dining. Although things have slowly started opening up up here and the indoor dining is very socially distanced, maybe even more than the outdoor. We'll have to check it out when we get there. I'm just ready to be out of here for awhile! DH and I have worked through all of this and we're just needing a break!

 

[GPC0321]

Hey guys.
I'm not new, but I'm infrequent, LOL.
I'll keep this short. What cards to help with Swolphin stays? I feel like I ask this at least once a year when I get it in my head that I'm going to ditch WDW resorts fro now on and stay somewhere that has a rewards program. I'm not willing to leave the bubble though, so Swolphin appeals to me.

That AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant caught my eye and has me thinking about AmEx. I'm typically a Chase girl, but now just use my UR to transfer to Southwest. I do have one MR-earner, just a plain Everyday card that sits unused because I never got into the MR scene.

Would it be wise to get into the MR/AmEx program a little more if I'm thinking about Swolphin in the future? Does anyone here stay there on points?

Thanks!

 

[hsmamato2]

I've been dealing with all this the last few days. I'm honestly exhausted from it but we are going in less than 30 days so had to deal with it!

Yes, you need an onsite (or one of the hotels that received 60-day FP+ bookings) and tickets attached to MDE to be able to book park reservations.
You can make park reservations all the way through Sept 26, 2021. So, May 2021 is bookable once you have the resort and tickets.
As of last night, no dining, other than DS restaurants, were available for ADR's. The CM I spoke to last night said she thought ADR's would be returning soon.

I'm so curious to see how this all shakes out over time....will this mean the beiginning of permanent changes like you're either onsite or no luck? Don't bother with 3rd party tickets? etc etc....

 

[amcc]

That was me! It's not a 2 year contract btw. You just can't do the offer for 2 years again.

It's not a 2 year contract persay. It's more that you can't get the offer for 2 years again. I mean I guess if you left, they can come after you for an ETF. But that said, I've been w/ ATT or whatever version it's been for 22+ years. So I'm all about jumping on the $450 offer. Currently I have 1 line we can use this offer on. And in October, 3 more open up. When the new iPhone is announced in the fall I plan on upgrading my phone. I'll either sell my XS (which is basically new since I just got it fixed/replaced last week), or I'll give it to my 15yo. My mom got an 8 when we added my mom's line to my account. I have a busted 7 and 5s (screens) that are currently our emergency back ups. So my daughter's 8+ will move into that spot I guess.

I need to upgrade my son's phone and I see his phone has an upgrade offer through ATT, $10/month for SE, $15/month for XS with a 30 month term. That seems ok for me, but it mentions an agreement to pay for those 30 months. Does that count as a (store) credit card and do they pull credit? Maybe I'm overthinking it.

 

[snugglebug]

I've been dealing with all this the last few days. I'm honestly exhausted from it but we are going in less than 30 days so had to deal with it!

Yes, you need an onsite (or one of the hotels that received 60-day FP+ bookings) and tickets attached to MDE to be able to book park reservations.
You can make park reservations all the way through Sept 26, 2021. So, May 2021 is bookable once you have the resort and tickets.
As of last night, no dining, other than DS restaurants, were available for ADR's. The CM I spoke to last night said she thought ADR's would be returning soon.

What she said. Once the bugs were worked out, reserving a park isn't too difficult for now. You do reserve one day at a time. So, for a 4 day trip you'll go through the process for day 1, once confirmed you are prompted if you want to make more so then you go through and reserve day 2, etc.

However, if you are in one of those off-site hotels you may run into issues. With Shades of Green I had issues linking my kids, once that was done via Disney chat I had no problem reserving parks. Yesterday I redeemed 2 Hilton FNCs for Hilton Bonnet Creek, I have those stays in MDE now and they should be eligible to reserve today. I was able to do 1 park reservation, I can't seem to get the 2nd one to go through. The issue I am experiencing currently (park pass limit reached) seems to be an AP issue. I thought this was fixed yesterday. I'm not calling. I'll wait until off-site AP opens on Friday and try to book then.

When ticket sales open, when purchasing via Disney you will do the process all at once- select your amount of days and reserve your parks all at the same time this way you know if you want 4 day ticket or 5 day ticket. I don't know how this would translate over to 3rd party sales. I think (I have no info to base this on) buying a ticket 3rd party would be a slight risk since you would need to purchase the ticket and put it into MDE before reserving parks, your desired park could fill up for your desired day. There is a calendar you can check though to see which parks have availability.

We are 15 days away from our first post-shut down stay and I have no dining booked. I have T-Rex booked for my daughter's b-day (her request) and I can book some Springs restaurants. We aren't big on TS anyway, but with only 4 of us I thought we'd do a bit more this trip. I need to pour over the lists of what will be open and what will be closed for our trip, but ADRs for parks/resorts are not available to me at this time. They did take, or are taking, ADR via phone up to the day I check-in, but that doesn't help my actual trip.

MDE is causing me anxiety. First, we have never had multiple trips booked at once so my MDE has, until this point, been only single trip based. I have 3 trips in there right now with 2 of them being split stay. Several park days reserved. It's so cluttered. I'm not used to this, but we have APs and we're making the best of it.

 

[wanderlust7]

@Killer Fish Did you get your Xbox GC alright? I didn't quite take my own advice to not cut it too close. Was hoping the cashback portals would go back up. I procrastinated and missed out when it was at 15%. Bought two $100 in one order on 6/21. Got 1 fine, today I get an e-mail that the order is delayed until July. Just chatted to cancel the one I didn't get and was told it needs to go through the back office. $200 charge is still pending on the biz plat. Hope they'll post the $100 in time. Going to go buy two $50 ones now - in separate orders this time!

A cautionary tale for anyone buying Xbox GC to use the Dell credit!

 

[havaneselover]

So in off-topic news, DD got a job at Chick Fil A. I'm so happy for her. Treating her to Thai takeout tonight to celebrate.

 

[elgerber]

I don’t have mine yet either. Opened account 5/21.

Are we ready to chalk up the HSBC bonus to nice try? How long do we have to keep this one open, it's quite awhile I think?

 

[georgina]

Are we ready to chalk up the HSBC bonus to nice try? How long do we have to keep this one open, it's quite awhile I think?

Sorry to hear that. You did fill out the form on the SD website with your paypal info I assume? I might suggest you try again with the form, since the offer was still up on their website when I checked last week.

It was 180 days or $25 account shut down fee.

 

[elgerber]

Sorry to hear that. You did fill out the form on the SD website with your paypal info I assume? I might suggest you try again with the form, since the offer was still up on their website when I checked last week.

It was 180 days or $25 account shut down fee.

Yes I filled it out and got the very brief response email titled HSBC savings bonus from Slickdeals with my slickdeals user name and my paypal email.

 

[wendow]

Are we ready to chalk up the HSBC bonus to nice try? How long do we have to keep this one open, it's quite awhile I think?

Just was gonna ask if you got yours. We opened same day. My aunt also opened that day. None of us have received ours but appears that date has been paid out already, according to slickdeals posts.
I think I’ll let mine sit open for now since the rebate said it could take 60 days or something like that.

ETA: additionalbonus@slickdeals.net
Email to check on rebate. I'll email once it's been 60 days.