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

[StephPlum]

Today is sort of bummer town... should be packing up the van for Myrtle. Instead, I’m scheduling loan closings for next week...

It doesn’t exactly help that the portion of our family still going have elected to continue using the family text to discuss the trip...

I’m in bummer town with you.

Even though I had to cancel a May trip, this one hurts the most. Today we should be boating across the lakes in Many Glacier and then hiking to Grinnell Glacier Overlook.

I’m not sure if this is good to do but I’ve looked at the web cams and a bunch of you tube videos of the park today. That will have to suffice for this year.

 

[WVMomof3]

I’m in bummer town with you.

Even though I had to cancel a May trip, this one hurts the most. Today we should be boating across the lakes in Many Glacier and then hiking to Grinnell Glacier Overlook.

I’m not sure if this is good to do but I’ve looked at the web cams and a bunch of you tube videos of the park today. That will have to suffice for this year.

My nephew was just at Glacier last week. His pictures were so beautiful. Definitely adding that one to the list soon.

 

[wanderlust7]

Used up my Dell credits on a biz plat today. Xbox GC is 10% off and Top Cashback is at 9%. The cashback has gone higher, but I haven't seen the GC discount before. Had the 10% and 4x MR Amex Offers too, those are expiring soon. Made sure to buy extra to account for the 10% Amex Offer to avoid claw back.

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

My nephew was just at Glacier last week. His pictures were so beautiful. Definitely adding that one to the list soon.

We went to Glacier last week and it really was fantastic. It was definitely a bummer to only have the West portions open but we had an amazing time. And we kept our active periods to early in the morning/later in the evening, which meant low crowds and gorgeous pictures. At one point we had an evening Going-to-the-Sun bike ride in the rain from Avalanche to The Loop with literally no other human soul on the whole 8-mile stretch. It was a truly magical experience. It gave me hope that there are still amazing, safe travel experiences to be had.

 

[hlhlaw07]

If your view on COVID doesn’t line up with my family who is going I would think it might not be of much value.

You are laughing at this, and I can’t help but laugh at this. How did we get here?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

You are laughing at this, and I can’t help but laugh at this. How did we get here?

I know, LOL! Truthfully though, I basically don't have an opinion (on the virus) at this point. I've found that holding an opinion is almost counterproductive as that opinion doesn't necessarily dictate the ultimate decision. Maybe deep down I have one...but I don't even think about it enough to know what it is. And I guarantee if I did figure out what my opinion was, half the people here would probably think I'm crazy!

We're making our travel decisions (and many life decisions) based on the amount of hassle involved and whether the value is worth the hassle. And in many cases, outside circumstances are actually dictating the decision so that I never have to weigh the risks. We aren't in Myrtle because a portion of our travel party opted out and it was easier to cancel and get a refund than sink more money into a mediocre trip. Once that was leading me towards canceling, I also weighed the value and quality of the trip if we proceeded to travel, and I don't think the value proposition was there.

Whether it was lonely time spent in our condo (I can do that at home for free), skipping restaurants due to wait times (or risk...), trying to deal with the hassle of keeping our distance on an overcrowded beach (the beach is always hopping), skipping favorite shopping destinations, or even something as simple as having to eat meals in the car while traveling there and back - All of this further backed up my decision to just walk away. I'm sad we're not there...but it was the right decision. My wallet is certainly thanking me!

Perhaps it was easier for us to decide this because we literally just visited paradise less than 3 weeks ago. Captiva is a can't miss, every year trip for us. Myrtle is that place we go with the in-laws. I enjoy it, but it's not Captiva. And so I understand why some of our family went... We have been to UOR in Nov, WDW in Jan, Captiva in Jun - so we're not exactly "vacation starved". If Captiva is our last trip for a year or so... we went out on an extremely high note!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

FYI - I have moved the "SW Fireside Chat" into the OTHER Advanced Strategies and Loopholes Discussion Thread on DISchurners. Due to current conditions and being the back half of the year, I'd imagine that the SW CP is just not a huge topic for us right now. The old fireside chat thread was archived so I did this rather than refreshing it. Once CP season rolls around (and especially if Chase increases the SW bonuses), I'll be sure to reactivate a thread on the topic.

 

[IFlossU]

We're making our travel decisions (and many life decisions) based on the amount of hassle involved and whether the value is worth the hassle.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. DH and I decided to cancel all 2020 travel for this exact reason. The value isn’t there for us with all the possible restrictions and modifications. Here’s hoping 2021 will be better for all us travel starved folks

 

[snugglebug]

Southwest is boarding in groups of 10 at a time. Middle seats are empty, you are welcome to use them for your party, but plane is empty enough for them to be left free. Once everyone is on board they ask some people to move to the back to balance out the load so to speak. You can say no. We were fine to move, but once we go to the back (last row from the back) there were not 2 rows near each other. I was a little frustrated, we are fine to be separated (parent + teen per row), but we do prefer to stick together. Flight attendant felt terrible, apologized multiple times and advised us to decline next time. Anyhow, she kept shifting people and moved us back to mid-plane in rows across from each other. I love SW.

A good day at MK is a walk on at Space Mountain and Peter Pan. We did wait for 7DMT, but it wasn't bad. I feel they are doing a pretty good job trying to distance people, then it turns into relying on others to do their part. Can't blame Disney for that. I loved today's touring, we just walked around Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and did whatever we wanted. Worst part of the day was the walk from/to the car through the parking lot. I've been back and forth on the castle, it is beautiful in person. I love it. I'm really enjoying the characters, I don't miss the parades at all.

Lunch was a Cosmic Ray's. I can not mobile order due to allergies. It took awhile to place our order. Once we did, we waited and waited. The non-gluten free items came out and we waited and waited. They discovered allergen orders weren't making it to the kitchen. By this point the non-GF stuff was cold. No complaining on our part, out entire meal was comp'd and the non-GF stuff was re-made. I was not expecting that at all, that manager was awesome. I want to leave her compliment, is there a way to do that? Email?

I think one of the MK ducks was flirting with my daughter lol I have the best photo I will share later.

Stopped at Walmart for water. I swear it felt like hurricane prep. So many people, so much chaos. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

T-Rex for dinner. I absolutely can not recommend that for a gluten free option right now. I don't think my son's pasta was gluten free (thankfully he is g-free not due to allergy), my burger just fell apart. Then, I do not have my Landry's card, but I do have the app. The manger could not "find me in the system" to apply my welcome reward. I will contact Landry's when I get home and either ask for my money back for the program or ask for a $25 GC for the welcome reward. We have Saltgrass at home we could use it on, I don't care for Joe's Crabshack and have no plans to head to Houston any time soon where there are several options.

 

[ten6mom]

Some months ago (well, OK it was last year some time), someone was kind enough to point me in the direction of a WDW planning organization (can I say that here???). Unfortunately I ended up tossing that idea and now that it's potentially on for November I am wondering if someone can help me out with pointing me in the right direction

I will, however, say that, sadly, in no way is the Polynesian going to be an option, financially. It's like trying to stay at the Grand Californian... there is no way I am paying $600+ a night for a hotel room! Unless someone here can convince me it's "worth it." (and even if it were, I still don't have that kind of money). You may recall that I am strictly a Best Western kinda girl and since I can't use points of any sort... I guess we're gonna have to stay cheap. (Side note.. the BW I was looking at previously is currently "closed indefinitely" so that has me worried. I HOPE it's just until the entire park reopens fully...)

Also, I have some planning related questions.

• So, I will have a bunch of miles on Virgin that i would like to (try to) use before they potentially go out of business. If I were to cancel my ANA flights and get the Virgin miles back, how do I go about booking a Delta flight with those miles? I would love to fly 1st if possible, and I know there will be a plane change between PHX and MCO (too bad about that.).
  • Side note... why are prices between LAX and MCO so much less expensive than between PHX and MCO??? Maybe I'll fly SW to LAX first... my goodness.
• I would be traveling from Phoenix. What do I need to know about jetlag, time change, etc? If I arrived at MCO (I think that's the right one) at say, 8 pm, would it be reasonable to have the next morning be a park day?
• Right how park hopping isn't an option anyway, but does anyone know what the approximate cost difference WOULD be between 5 days 1 park per day and 5 days PHs? I don't necessarily think we will want to hop because it's not as convenient as DL, but I also don't want to feel "stuck" in a certain park if there isn't anything else there I want to see or do. Do you, the experts, feel as though each park is a "full day" park, considering I am a first time visitor?

What else do I need to know about traveling to Florida, in November (weather considerations), transportation once we land, all that? I'm sure there's a ton of things I haven't thought of.

And I haven't even LOOKED at what my UR balance would be after I cancel the Tokyo hotel I have currently booked (although it won't be a ton since most of those URs got transferred to Virgin for the ANA flight). ***EDIT: I just looked and I have about 100,000 URs right now, and that's before canceling the hotel I have booked.**

Sorry to ramble. I'm just trying to see if this is even feasible, and trying to reallocate my points where I can to minimize new spending but still have an amazing trip.

 

[wendow]

Some months ago (well, OK it was last year some time), someone was kind enough to point me in the direction of a WDW planning organization (can I say that here???). Unfortunately I ended up tossing that idea and now that it's potentially on for November I am wondering if someone can help me out with pointing me in the right direction

I will, however, say that, sadly, in no way is the Polynesian going to be an option, financially. It's like trying to stay at the Grand Californian... there is no way I am paying $600+ a night for a hotel room! Unless someone here can convince me it's "worth it." (and even if it were, I still don't have that kind of money). You may recall that I am strictly a Best Western kinda girl and since I can't use points of any sort... I guess we're gonna have to stay cheap. (Side note.. the BW I was looking at previously is currently "closed indefinitely" so that has me worried. I HOPE it's just until the entire park reopens fully...)

Also, I have some planning related questions.

• So, I will have a bunch of miles on Virgin that i would like to (try to) use before they potentially go out of business. If I were to cancel my ANA flights and get the Virgin miles back, how do I go about booking a Delta flight with those miles? I would love to fly 1st if possible, and I know there will be a plane change between PHX and MCO (too bad about that.).
  • Side note... why are prices between LAX and MCO so much less expensive than between PHX and MCO??? Maybe I'll fly SW to LAX first... my goodness.
• I would be traveling from Phoenix. What do I need to know about jetlag, time change, etc? If I arrived at MCO (I think that's the right one) at say, 8 pm, would it be reasonable to have the next morning be a park day?
• Right how park hopping isn't an option anyway, but does anyone know what the approximate cost difference WOULD be between 5 days 1 park per day and 5 days PHs? I don't necessarily think we will want to hop because it's not as convenient as DL, but I also don't want to feel "stuck" in a certain park if there isn't anything else there I want to see or do. Do you, the experts, feel as though each park is a "full day" park, considering I am a first time visitor?

What else do I need to know about traveling to Florida, in November (weather considerations), transportation once we land, all that? I'm sure there's a ton of things I haven't thought of.

And I haven't even LOOKED at what my UR balance would be after I cancel the Tokyo hotel I have currently booked (although it won't be a ton since most of those URs got transferred to Virgin for the ANA flight). ***EDIT: I just looked and I have about 100,000 URs right now, and that's before canceling the hotel I have booked.**

Sorry to ramble. I'm just trying to see if this is even feasible, and trying to reallocate my points where I can to minimize new spending but still have an amazing trip.

How fun! I love that this is your first trip to wdw! I grew up on wdw and have grown my family up there but we took our first DLR trip a couple of years ago and had the best time. So great a time that we are hoping to go back in 2021.
A lot of us can help with your planning so you are in luck! I would suggest a value resort if looking for a good price for the resort. They will not be as close as DLR's offsite resorts but wdw is so huge and the perks of being onsite make it nice to stay onsite. Especially for a first visit! Pop Century is a fav and should be open for your dates. Extra bonus is that it is on the Skyliner.

As to your questions, we travel from Denver. We typically take first flight out (we leave in 10 days at 6am) and other than being tired from getting up so early, there is no jet lag. We've taken flights all times of the day tbh and there is no jet lag. The first full day is always a park day for us and we're fine!

We don't know if park hopping will be back by November or not. Since it's not available now, I cannot pull up pricing but someone else may remember old pricing. We have never bought hoppers in all our years of going to wdw. We did buy hoppers at DLR because it was so easy. At wdw, it's far from easy to 'hop'. It is usually about an hour minimum. I wouldn't say each park is a full day but they are all getting close to that will so many new attractions. A lot will depend on the capacity of the parks in Nov. How long are lines, are they still cleaning as frequently, etc. You can always go back to swim or go to DS if you finish up early.

I can't think of any weather - it is the end of hurricane season and the beginning of fall there. Temps are cooling some but it's still warm. It's pretty much an amazing time!

 

[ten6mom]

How fun! I love that this is your first trip to wdw! I grew up on wdw and have grown my family up there but we took our first DLR trip a couple of years ago and had the best time. So great a time that we are hoping to go back in 2021.
A lot of us can help with your planning so you are in luck! I would suggest a value resort if looking for a good price for the resort. They will not be as close as DLR's offsite resorts but wdw is so huge and the perks of being onsite make it nice to stay onsite. Especially for a first visit! Pop Century is a fav and should be open for your dates. Extra bonus is that it is on the Skyliner.

As to your questions, we travel from Denver. We typically take first flight out (we leave in 10 days at 6am) and other than being tired from getting up so early, there is no jet lag. We've taken flights all times of the day tbh and there is no jet lag. The first full day is always a park day for us and we're fine!

We don't know if park hopping will be back by November or not. Since it's not available now, I cannot pull up pricing but someone else may remember old pricing. We have never bought hoppers in all our years of going to wdw. We did buy hoppers at DLR because it was so easy. At wdw, it's far from easy to 'hop'. It is usually about an hour minimum. I wouldn't say each park is a full day but they are all getting close to that will so many new attractions. A lot will depend on the capacity of the parks in Nov. How long are lines, are they still cleaning as frequently, etc. You can always go back to swim or go to DS if you finish up early.

I can't think of any weather - it is the end of hurricane season and the beginning of fall there. Temps are cooling some but it's still warm. It's pretty much an amazing time!

Thanks so much! All very helpful thoughts.
I just pulled up Google maps of the whole resort and at how truly spread out it is! I see Pop Century is closer to where MK and DHS are (did I get those acronyms right???) and the other two parks seem a zillion miles away. Man oh man. Robert is amused at the thought of a "computer pool" at Pop Century! (He's an IT guy). And to be quite honest I am looking at pictures and it looks cute and fun.

So While I never stay on site at DL (except for my once annual ladies' trip), I am intimately familiar with walking to each of the 3 hotels to enjoy their lounges and lobbies. Am I correct in thinking that there is pretty much no "walkable" resort hotel from any of the parks? Everything looks sooooo far away from everything else! I've read that park hopping is not as easy but wow, an hour... that's... yeah. Wow.

So the Skyliner seems to go to Epcot and to Animal Kingdom... how does one travel to MK and DHS?

Do you feel like 5 one park per day tickets is sufficient to really see what we want to see? I am the kind of person who likes to go even on rides that are "clones" of others because I like to compare them to the ones in DL. So I am imagining the first four days in one park each and then making a decision on which park to go into on the 5th day. Is 5 enough? I know I am going to stress about not being able to experience everything! Should I do 6? I mean, we already have the time off so it's just about the money at this point.

Food: We are usually more QS type of people, but I can see us trying to take in a couple of nice table service meals to mark our first trip. Any recommendations? I suppose dining reservations must be made waaaaaaay in advance.

We might want to visit other resort hotels just to see what their ambiance (ambiances?) is/are like and perhaps enjoy a tasty beverage. For example, we love the lobby of the Grand Californian and having a drink at the Napa Rose Lounge or Hearthstone, and I particularly enjoy the newly remodeled Trader Sam's with its outside walkup bar. Is that reasonable, time-wise? Should we have an extra night just so we have another day to do this? If so, which resort hotesl would you most recommend visiting?

I am waiting on Virgin Atlantic to text me back with an approximate time frame on how soon my miles would be returned to my account after cancellation. Then I would have to see if there are any reward flights even available for the dates we are looking at before I can make any WDW reservations. I guess it's still being recommended to book a room with tickets "package" for now, since we don't really know how full park reservations would be.

So very very many things to think of.

OH! Does anyone know when Christmas decorations go up? I know at DL it's Veteran's Day weekend (which would be amazing, as we'd be looking at November 15th or thereabouts) but I'm not sure if it's the same at WDW.

Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Judique]

@ten6mom - I'm going to address walkability to hotels for having a cocktail for you.

If you are in Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary Resort is walkable from there. It's about a 10 minute walk. If the monorail and boats are running, you can reach Grand Floridian, Polynesian and Wilderness Lodge (boat only) this way.

If you are in Epcot or Disney's Hollywood Studios, you can walk or boat to Boardwalk Inn and Boardwalk Villas and the Boardwalk area, plus Yacht and Beach Club, plus the Swan and Dolphin Hotels. You can also walk between Epcot and DHS, but most people just take the boat or Skyliner as it is faster and you will have already walked miles in the parks.

There are no walkable hotels from Animal Kingdom park, which is the furthest park out, but Animal Kingdom Lodge is worth a visit and has 2 good restaurants, Boma and Jiko plus the Victoria Falls bar. Since it's your first visit, save this one for another time as 5-6 days can be filled so easily with other things to do.

November is a great time to go. The weather is usually beautiful with low seventies to low eighties.

Xmas decor will be going up. The schedule changes year to year on who gets decorated first, and it is all gorgeous.

Adding park hopping to a 5 day ticket is roughly around $85, unless they've changed it. It doesn't look like anyone will be able to park hop by November so it's sort of moot right now. So, I think you will be fine with one park a day for your first visit. I've got my park reservations in place already for November, even though I'm possibly canceling. So as soon as you can book, also make your park reservations - this isn't going away this year and is a new necessity. Also, since the price of tickets is front loaded, adding a day to your 5 day ticket is quite inexpensive at $15 to $20. (not using exact to the penny numbers as I can't pull up the website right now and ticket prices vary slightly based on the day chosen.)

I wish I could describe WDW to you as it was. But now, it's going to be different. A friend was in MK yesterday for the passholder preview and loved it as they walked onto everything. @snugglebug is also there now. Although no crowds sound optimal for touring, part of the vibe is families having fun - I think I like a certain crowd level, even though it means waits for rides and attractions.

 

[ten6mom]

@ten6mom - I'm going to address walkability to hotels for having a cocktail for you.

If you are in Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary Resort is walkable from there. It's about a 10 minute walk. If the monorail and boats are running, you can reach Grand Floridian, Polynesian and Wilderness Lodge (boat only) this way.

If you are in Epcot or Disney's Hollywood Studios, you can walk or boat to Boardwalk Inn and Boardwalk Villas and the Boardwalk area, plus Yacht and Beach Club, plus the Swan and Dolphin Hotels. You can also walk between Epcot and DHS, but most people just take the boat or Skyliner as it is faster and you will have already walked miles in the parks.

There are no walkable hotels from Animal Kingdom park, which is the furthest park out, but Animal Kingdom Lodge is worth a visit and has 2 good restaurants, Boma and Jiko plus the Victoria Falls bar. Since it's your first visit, save this one for another time as 5-6 days can be filled so easily with other things to do.

November is a great time to go. The weather is usually beautiful with low seventies to low eighties.

Xmas decor will be going up. The schedule changes year to year on who gets decorated first, and it is all gorgeous.

Adding park hopping to a 5 day ticket is roughly around $85, unless they've changed it. It doesn't look like anyone will be able to park hop by November so it's sort of moot right now. So, I think you will be fine with one park a day for your first visit. I've got my park reservations in place already for November, even though I'm possibly canceling. So as soon as you can book, also make your park reservations - this isn't going away this year and is a new necessity. Also, since the price of tickets is front loaded, adding a day to your 5 day ticket is quite inexpensive at $15 to $20. (not using exact to the penny numbers as I can't pull up the website right now and ticket prices vary slightly based on the day chosen.)

I wish I could describe WDW to you as it was. But now, it's going to be different. A friend was in MK yesterday for the passholder preview and loved it as they walked onto everything. @snugglebug is also there now. Although no crowds sound optimal for touring, part of the vibe is families having fun - I think I like a certain crowd level, even though it means waits for rides and attractions.

I looked up every single resort you mentioned on the map (I hadn't zoomed in far enough to see them all!) Thank you so much!

I will talk to Robert. Perhaps 6 days is better since we have the time and it might be quite a while before we can go back again. I don't want to leave feeling like I missed a TON. (I know I'll miss a ton!)

Hooray for the Christmas decorations! Our tradition is to go at least once during Christmas and we HAVE to get a Christmas ornament. It would be lovely to have a WDW one this year!

 

[Haley R]

Thanks so much! All very helpful thoughts.
I just pulled up Google maps of the whole resort and at how truly spread out it is! I see Pop Century is closer to where MK and DHS are (did I get those acronyms right???) and the other two parks seem a zillion miles away. Man oh man. Robert is amused at the thought of a "computer pool" at Pop Century! (He's an IT guy). And to be quite honest I am looking at pictures and it looks cute and fun.

So While I never stay on site at DL (except for my once annual ladies' trip), I am intimately familiar with walking to each of the 3 hotels to enjoy their lounges and lobbies. Am I correct in thinking that there is pretty much no "walkable" resort hotel from any of the parks? Everything looks sooooo far away from everything else! I've read that park hopping is not as easy but wow, an hour... that's... yeah. Wow.

So the Skyliner seems to go to Epcot and to Animal Kingdom... how does one travel to MK and DHS?

Do you feel like 5 one park per day tickets is sufficient to really see what we want to see? I am the kind of person who likes to go even on rides that are "clones" of others because I like to compare them to the ones in DL. So I am imagining the first four days in one park each and then making a decision on which park to go into on the 5th day. Is 5 enough? I know I am going to stress about not being able to experience everything! Should I do 6? I mean, we already have the time off so it's just about the money at this point.

Food: We are usually more QS type of people, but I can see us trying to take in a couple of nice table service meals to mark our first trip. Any recommendations? I suppose dining reservations must be made waaaaaaay in advance.

We might want to visit other resort hotels just to see what their ambiance (ambiances?) is/are like and perhaps enjoy a tasty beverage. For example, we love the lobby of the Grand Californian and having a drink at the Napa Rose Lounge or Hearthstone, and I particularly enjoy the newly remodeled Trader Sam's with its outside walkup bar. Is that reasonable, time-wise? Should we have an extra night just so we have another day to do this? If so, which resort hotesl would you most recommend visiting?

I am waiting on Virgin Atlantic to text me back with an approximate time frame on how soon my miles would be returned to my account after cancellation. Then I would have to see if there are any reward flights even available for the dates we are looking at before I can make any WDW reservations. I guess it's still being recommended to book a room with tickets "package" for now, since we don't really know how full park reservations would be.

So very very many things to think of.

OH! Does anyone know when Christmas decorations go up? I know at DL it's Veteran's Day weekend (which would be amazing, as we'd be looking at November 15th or thereabouts) but I'm not sure if it's the same at WDW.

Any advice is much appreciated!

I don’t think anyone answered this but the skyliner does NOT go to Animal kingdom. It only goes to Hollywood studios and Epcot. If you want to go to AK you’ll have to take a bus. For magic kingdom you most likely will take a bus unless you stay at one of the resorts right there. If you do that then you can take the monorail or a boat. It just depends which resort you decide to stay at.

 

[Judique]

I looked up every single resort you mentioned on the map (I hadn't zoomed in far enough to see them all!) Thank you so much!

I will talk to Robert. Perhaps 6 days is better since we have the time and it might be quite a while before we can go back again. I don't want to leave feeling like I missed a TON. (I know I'll miss a ton!)

Hooray for the Christmas decorations! Our tradition is to go at least once during Christmas and we HAVE to get a Christmas ornament. It would be lovely to have a WDW one this year!

You might want to consider a split stay. After 2 to 3 days most people need a little down time anyway. This is a way to adjust your budget. Perhaps stay at Pop for 2-3 nights and then move to Poly or any MK resort for the rest of your visit - or - if your focus is Star Wars at DHS and Epcot - to a Boardwalk area resort, which include Y & B, S & D, and the BW's. Stay at Pop first and end on a high note.

Swan and Dolphin are Marriott properties so can be booked with Marriott points. The Swan has the larger rooms and bigger (queen) beds. The Dolphin is quite a bit larger in number of rooms. Both have a number of food options, ranging from buffet to quick service to a sushi bar to fine dining - Blue Zoo for fish, Shula's for extravagant steak and an Italian option whose name escapes me right now. Blue Zoo is a hit for me, but it's a couple of years since I've eaten there. Maybe next time.

Considering the Pandemic, staying at a walkable resort has an extra appeal. More space and better transportation options. I think this may be especially true if this is meant to be a 'once and done for a number of years'.

I'm also not getting whether it is just you and Robert, or if you have other family members that will be going.

$600 is a starting point for the Polynesian. There should be discounts. Someone else may be aware - seems to me I've already read of something but since I didn't need I skipped over it. The hotels are all nice. None of them are the Ritz, but they are all certainly comfortable, some with better amenities and more space than others and a price tag that is high usually denotes some sort of proximity or convenience.

And as a cash price, Swan has a rate of $237 AAA rate plus tax and $30 resort fee for Nov 15. Under $300 for it all. I would do that so fast before I would pay $200 for Pop, but that's me. That's location, location. Dolphin starts at $203 for that date, plus tax and resort fee. Sign up for a Marriott card and maybe get some points to pay for a couple of nights - not too much time left to get this done.

And, MK has a Xmas shop plus I 'think' there is a store in Disney Springs that sells ornaments all year long. I'm not a huge shopper so unless I've just been there to a particular store, I don't retain a lot of shopping info.

 

[hsmamato2]

And another bummer... because we had our little niece and nephew over on Tuesday (visiting from SC), my family who is also sitting out the Myrtle trip have asked that we wait 2 weeks to get together. So our plan of spending the week with them: cookouts, movie nights, video games, etc is now off too...

I'm sorry...I feel ya there..... waiting in between visits is the hardest right now

 

[Hoosier John]

Regarding Judique's split stay idea, I'm pretty sure Disney bell hop service will transfer your bags from one hotel to the next, so it has less disruption on your day. The split stay would give you the chance to take an "off-day" for Disney Springs, pool, and/or resort viewing (assuming tickets are still mandatory length of stay, meaning if you are in a Disney resort for 6 days, you must buy a 6 day ticket). Now I'm questioning this: Would 3 days at one resort, followed by 3 days at another allow for an unticketed day in between?

There will be at least two forms of complimentary transportation from any Disney Resort (except Animal Kingdom, which has only bus): Monorail, Skyliner, boat, bus, and/or walk. Disney also provides free Magical Express to/from the airport to Disney resorts. You must reserve this, and currently you must gather all your checked bags yourself. In the past (and hopefully in the future) Disney would collect your checked luggage, and they would magically appear in your room. It is easy to get by completely on Disney transportation, unless you want to go off-site for shopping/dinner, then you could Uber/Lyft.

 

[wisconsinmom]

I'm loving the AmEx small business credit! $5 off dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant last night and $5 off a dozen donuts this morning!

 

[elgerber]

question on Cap One Ventures miles, do they credit as you earn, or at statement? I have 3300 coming from a purchase, but I want to use it on that purchase LOL. If it's not till after statement, then I either don't pay in full and pay interest, which I NEVER EVER do, or I can't use that credit amount.