I love credit cards so much!

[Albort]

Still catching up on the thread. So Adventures by Disney released their dates and itinerary for the new Japan trip next year. Holy price tag Batman! I see many Disney gift cards and credit cards this year.

Can you believe that a significant part of the which dates to choose on booking day was influenced by when award flights would be released and my learning curve on figuring out what points/miles I need to get there. I tried entering mock flights on British Airways to see if I could book Cathay Pacific on that route with AA. I swear the website gave me side eye. This should be interesting.

if your looking for a decent tour, this tour group, although expensive but they really treat u well and put u up in the high places. Small groups. --> https://www.supervaluetours.com/
highly recommended, been on 2 of their tours.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

if your looking for a decent tour, this tour group, although expensive but they really treat u well and put u up in the high places. Small groups. --> https://www.supervaluetours.com/
highly recommended, been on 2 of their tours.

Not calypso but checked it out. When we go to China I’m debating a trip like this vs a trip to the specific area DS is from. With an add on to Shanghai and or Hong Kong of course.

 

[Calfan]

Have you tried the Escape Lounge at OAK with your Amex Plat?

I have indeed! Love it! I’ve been a few times. Packed once but other times were great.

I need to know where this lounge is! Doing a quickie trip to DL this weekend to get one more use out of APs for DH and kids before they expire May 12. Flying through OAK to SNA on SW. Not anticipating time for the lounge, but if we get delayed, it would be great to know where it is. Also for trips to Bay Area during football season if return flights get delayed.

 

[DisneyMandC]

There isn't a thread just pops up on questions in the theme park thread. We have had AP's since first upgrading tickets in 2013. Was staggering them but renewed this last fall. If you want to pm me I can try to answer your questions. I am an WDW AP addict. Sad but true.

Thank you! I'm getting off the computer right now to actually do my laundry for once, but I'm going to send you a message tomorrow morning!!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

On Chase Marriott, DoC says “upgrading should also not affect when you’ll be eligible for the bonus again...”

Thanks - I saw that too. I hope that is accurate as I could see one of those Marriott cards in my future (in the next 18ish months, lol).

Did we decide how often is considered too crazy when calling the Chase status line? Once an hour?

Once an Hour is the appropriate method...any less and you aren't doing it right

 

[disneymagicgirl]

@amalone I love the hotel reviews.

I think we should start dischurners threads with hotel reviews like that to some of our most popular travel hacking locations.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Is applying for a card every 3 months considered ‘fast’.

I would say no. I think the days of getting 30+ cards in a year are probably past us... But every 3 months is only 4 cards...That is basically an expected normal pace. If you're alternating between Chase cards and AMEX biz cards I'd say 5-7 cards in a year is easily doable (with 2-3 of those cards being AMEX biz).

If you're in 2 player mode I'd say you can easily target 10-12 cards a year alternating between players and putting some AMEX biz cards in there too.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Still catching up on the thread. So Adventures by Disney released their dates and itinerary for the new Japan trip next year. Holy price tag Batman! I see many Disney gift cards and credit cards this year.

Can you believe that a significant part of the which dates to choose on booking day was influenced by when award flights would be released and my learning curve on figuring out what points/miles I need to get there. I tried entering mock flights on British Airways to see if I could book Cathay Pacific on that route with AA. I swear the website gave me side eye. This should be interesting.

Right there with you except for x4! All I have to say is that the trip cost is going to earn some serious bonus points on my credit cards!

I need to know where this lounge is! Doing a quickie trip to DL this weekend to get one more use out of APs for DH and kids before they expire May 12. Flying through OAK to SNA on SW. Not anticipating time for the lounge, but if we get delayed, it would be great to know where it is. Also for trips to Bay Area during football season if return flights get delayed.

You've probably missed it because it's in terminal one. I've used it on Hawaiian Air flights and when the occasional SWA flight goes out of that terminal. http://www.escapelounges.com/escape-lounges/oakland-lounge/ BWT, water and sodas are under the coffee area.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

LOL so true: "Unlike DoC, none of the major travel websites are reporting the new Marriott card. I guess those affiliate links aren’t ready..."

I haven't seen any mention of the new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card on TPG, MMS, OMAAT, VFTW. DoC and FrequentMiler have articles up.

And this is a good indication of where you should get your info from I like my write-ups unbiased

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@amalone I love the hotel reviews.

I think we should start dischurners threads with hotel reviews like that to some of our most popular travel hacking locations.

The bummer on this one is reddit won't allow pictures. We could do something where you post it here and then you post there with the city, name of the property, and a link to your disboards comment?? Would that make sense? That way it can be posted here with pics.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Soooo... 80k sign up for CSP?

Also, @calypso726 next up is Dapper Day at Disneyland Paris, right?

Ouch. My initial impression is that it's not that great of a deal. It requires $20k/30k spend in the first year to get that extra 30k points. Assuming you're optimizing your spend by charging dining and travel to the CSP, the CSP still earns you only 2x UR, and you'd have to spend an additional $16k/$26k to get those extra 30k points that would've put you about where you would've been had you charged dining and travel to the CSR for a 3x UR return in the first place. Not to mention you'd might do better charging non-bonus categories on the CFU for 1.5x UR or the new 3x UR offer.

So I think I once told that story about the credit union which allowed $9k in CC funding (using a CC was subsequently shut down). That would be PERFECT for this offer!

Otherwise ummmm no thanks, haha!

 

[AmyAnne]

Not calypso but checked it out. When we go to China I’m debating a trip like this vs a trip to the specific area DS is from. With an add on to Shanghai and or Hong Kong of course.

You might also be able to do combination -- when we went to Taiwan a few years ago, none of the tour operators that I found offered the particular itinerary that we wanted, so I contacted a few and they were willing to put together a modified tour for us. We did about 5 days on our own and five days with a guide.

 

[AmyAnne]

@amalone I love the hotel reviews.

I think we should start dischurners threads with hotel reviews like that to some of our most popular travel hacking locations.

This is a great idea. I love reading trip reports!

 

[afan]

The bummer on this one is reddit won't allow pictures. We could do something where you post it here and then you post there with the city, name of the property, and a link to your disboards comment?? Would that make sense? That way it can be posted here with pics.

I seem to remember you saying that the threads have a shelf life there too and need to be moved every so often, having links would make that easier to do.

I didn't know reddit didn't allow pictures, I get notifications sometimes of the popular whatever of the day (too lazy to figure out how to turn it off on the app) and they often include a picture. So if I went to whatever it was there wouldn't actually be a picture? I still don't really get reddit but it's great for our purposes.

 

[Albort]

You might also be able to do combination -- when we went to Taiwan a few years ago, none of the tour operators that I found offered the particular itinerary that we wanted, so I contacted a few and they were willing to put together a modified tour for us. We did about 5 days on our own and five days with a guide.

my parents are native Taiwanese so if anyone needs help with Taiwan, let me know.

 

[AmyAnne]

my parents are native Taiwanese so if anyone needs help with Taiwan, let me know.

I wish I had known this a few years ago! We loved Taiwan and I hope to go back some day.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I'm not sure how this is even possible...our Marriott card, that I upgraded yesterday...that we haven't used at all since MAY 2016...has a fraudulent charge on it!

(and of course it's my wife's card so out comes the high voice...)

How is that possible, lol! And so I called in and got it straight. I HOPE my 20k points will track through but they put a note on my account in case they don't. Wow...just wow, lol!

 

[calypso726]

You’re targeted if you logged in thru DoC’s link. If you aren’t targeted it will say offer has expired or something like that.

I saw I was targeted on Doc’s link and was approved. I went for the higher bonus and spend since I should be able to make it with the pre and post trip hotels on the China ABD. We leave in less than 2 weeks!

Soooo... 80k sign up for CSP?

Also, @calypso726 next up is Dapper Day at Disneyland Paris, right?

I wish! Our friends that were with us on both Dapper trips are also traveling with us to China and Japan next month. They came up with the bright idea to go to Paris DL this year so we can say we did all the parks the same year. I’m thinking about it. But that might be too crazy even for me. LOL

Is it too early to start collecting miles for 2021 trip to China?

Never too early to start collecting miles for a specific trip.

if your looking for a decent tour, this tour group, although expensive but they really treat u well and put u up in the high places. Small groups. --> https://www.supervaluetours.com/
highly recommended, been on 2 of their tours.

Thanks! I will check them out. No secret that I am pretty addicted to ABD but always like to know about other options for when I am planning to visit somewhere that they don't.

 

[kmc8826]

The bummer on this one is reddit won't allow pictures. We could do something where you post it here and then you post there with the city, name of the property, and a link to your disboards comment?? Would that make sense? That way it can be posted here with pics.

Maybe we should just start another Budget Board thread on for travel hacking locations. It does not seem to me that there is a reason that couldn't be a regular Disboards post. That way this thread might not be as crazy long everyday.

 

[miztressuz]

The bummer on this one is reddit won't allow pictures. We could do something where you post it here and then you post there with the city, name of the property, and a link to your disboards comment?? Would that make sense? That way it can be posted here with pics.

I think that makes the most sense, that way Reddit is like an index to here since search on here sucks sometimes. Maybe a thread where there's a comment for the destination and then everyone can add sub comments/reply's with individual properties or tours or something related to that area with the link to their post or TR here.
How would it work when the thread becomes locked, though? Is there a way to duplicate the thread or copy all comments? I'm not very familiar with reddit, mostly a lurker, I only created a user ID to join our group