I love credit cards so much!

[WVMomof3]

So this is silly... but I've still never done a PNC bonus. I want to do the $200 one on DH's new CSP. IS there anything specific I need to know in order to fund it with a CSP? I've never done that before. Can I lower my cash advance amount via SM?

I lowered mine via SM.

 

[mmmears]

Spending my New Years planning 2020 travel.
Looking at 2 Cali trips maybe. Disneyland/Universal in June. Northern Cal in July/August?

For Cali peeps, would it be reasonable to fly into Oakland, hit Yosemite & Sequoia NP, and fly home from Burbank in a 7-8 day trip? How is weather then? I generally avoid August travel because I hate hot/humid but is NoCal that bad?

You got some good advice upthread, but since it's in my backyard I thought I'd chime in as well. Summer can be really hot here, but it's not always all that hot, and it's rarely humid (and almost never ever FL/HI humid, which is why it rarely rains). NorCal isn't usually all that hot, SoCal can be like the surface of the sun (yeah, I've been to DL in August, but in my defense we had to be in LA for a wedding anyway so I couldn't really adjust the dates). August is not bad in SF, the peninsula, Carmel, Monterey, etc. The valley can get really hot though, but Yosemite and SNP are at a higher elevation which might help make it much better than the valley. And yeah, I do think you could do it in a week, depending on how long you want to stay in each park and if there is something you want to see before or after the 2 parks.

 

[schmass]

Nope. Nothing. I’m not ready to buy, just pricing but the UR portal is practically worthless.

ETA By searching LA, I can find Universal but no Disneyland.

Oh no, I just checked and couldn't find them either! I know they were there a few weeks ago because I bought ours then. This doesn't look good for the future of Disney redemptions via the UR portal

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I would try to fly into Sacramento instead of Oakland, it would be closer and the traffic in/around/out of the bay would be less. I don't know about the weather at the parks, but it gets hot in the valley which you would drive through if that's the plan to go south. I think it depends on how much time you want to spend between the two areas. I'd check to see how far the drive would be, it's probably an entire day to get to SoCal from where you'd be in NorCal since you're outside the Bay Area and it's already 6 hours from San Jose to Anaheim. You might be able to find a cheap flight on SW or Alaska between Sacramento and one of the SoCal airports to help with the timing.

Was thinking about taking about a week to drive from NorCal to LA area. So fly into NorCal, drive thru/stay in Yosemite, Sequoia and any where else interesting in between, then fly home from Burbank or LAX

 

[CyndiLouWho]

You got some good advice upthread, but since it's in my backyard I thought I'd chime in as well. Summer can be really hot here, but it's not always all that hot, and it's rarely humid (and almost never ever FL/HI humid, which is why it rarely rains). NorCal isn't usually all that hot, SoCal can be like the surface of the sun (yeah, I've been to DL in August, but in my defense we had to be in LA for a wedding anyway so I couldn't really adjust the dates). August is not bad in SF, the peninsula, Carmel, Monterey, etc. The valley can get really hot though, but Yosemite and SNP are at a higher elevation which might help make it much better than the valley. And yeah, I do think you could do it in a week, depending on how long you want to stay in each park and if there is something you want to see before or after the 2 parks.

Disneyland would be separate in June, right after school is out, then end of July or beginning of August for NorCal and National Parks. Just figured starting in NorCal, would be easier to fly home from LA area after heading south. Other option would be to do the NorCal part for Spring Break which is last week in March. Would Yosemite & SNP still have snow in March? I’m not particularly looking for snow (we generally get enough of that in Chicago and we don’t ski or anything).
Oh and I would love to spend a couple days in SF before heading south, because food. Although that may not be realistic

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Happy New Year!!

@Judique so sorry to hear about your daughter and her family. Thank god they are all ok but def sounds like a long road ahead. That’s scary the other driver fell asleep. I work the overnight shift and just Xmas eve morning I had to pull over into a shopping plaza to sleep for a half hour because I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I’m sure I looked crazy to people shopping but I don’t care if it makes me and others safer. I had to smile at her calling you from the hospital to use her platinum credits. Now that’s a true churner.

@MrPTato sorry about your grandmother - def sounds like it was peaceful.

@calypso726 amazing pics!

@Lain totally jealous of Hawaii for the New Year!!

@disneymagicgirl sorry about the illness and snafus on the cruise.

@DisneyMandC just got back from Marriott Marquis - loved it! Read your report thanks for that!

@wendow we are doing an RCLL in February so I’ll be sure to report back. My kiddos are 9&12 so similar ages I think to some of yours?

 

[mmmears]

Was thinking about taking about a week to drive from NorCal to LA area. So fly into NorCal, drive thru/stay in Yosemite, Sequoia and any where else interesting in between, then fly home from Burbank or LAX

When I was little my family did basically that same trip (plus a day at DL and US and driving back to NorCal) when we had relatives visit. It was a bit rushed with the addition of the LA stuff, but it was also really fun. I definitely think you can do what you are listing in a week.

 

[mmmears]

Disneyland would be separate in June, right after school is out, then end of July or beginning of August for NorCal and National Parks. Just figured starting in NorCal, would be easier to fly home from LA area after heading south. Other option would be to do the NorCal part for Spring Break which is last week in March. Would Yosemite & SNP still have snow in March? I’m not particularly looking for snow (we generally get enough of that in Chicago and we don’t ski or anything).
Oh and I would love to spend a couple days in SF before heading south, because food. Although that may not be realistic

Yes, I think there would be a very good chance of snow in Yosemite in March. And I do think it makes sense to do the drive one way. Yosemite is breathtakingly beautiful! And Sequoia is amazing, too. I think this sounds like a great trip. And I like that it's separate from DL, which will be much cooler in June.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Anyone had luck with Disney tix on UR portal? That portal is crap. Trying to search Anaheim things to do and I get Legoland and Knotts. Nothing for Universal or Disneyland

Oh no, I just checked and couldn't find them either! I know they were there a few weeks ago because I bought ours then. This doesn't look good for the future of Disney redemptions via the UR portal

I've been looking the last couple days also. I was unable to find them.

 

[afan]

Disneyland would be separate in June, right after school is out, then end of July or beginning of August for NorCal and National Parks. Just figured starting in NorCal, would be easier to fly home from LA area after heading south. Other option would be to do the NorCal part for Spring Break which is last week in March. Would Yosemite & SNP still have snow in March? I’m not particularly looking for snow (we generally get enough of that in Chicago and we don’t ski or anything).
Oh and I would love to spend a couple days in SF before heading south, because food. Although that may not be realistic

This makes so much more sense. I thought you were combining it with DLR. You could probably do a day or so in SF before Yosemite but it adds more driving unless you have to fly into the bay instead of Sacramento or if there's something between the two. It will just depend on how much time you want to spend in each place and then plan for traffic getting out of the bay unless you time it right. I don't think there's much to see in the central valley, though I have been to both Fresno and Bakersfield, it was for hockey games each time and we didn't do anything else. I've only ever driven through it to get to LA. The coast is better for places to stop but wouldn't work for the parks you want to hit. You could always look at flying out of Fresno which could give you more time in SF but you'd probably have to change planes where you wouldn't have to out of the LA area.

 

[DisneyMandC]

@DisneyMandC just got back from Marriott Marquis - loved it! Read your report thanks for that!

Glad it helped! Was it totally crowded up there?

 

[Alexle2007]

Alright, turning the experts here. I'm usually good with legalese, but I'm not wrapping my brain around this one from Marriott. I'm either overthinking it or it's just not as clear as they thought.

We made Platinum just a few weeks ago and won't be making it again anytime soon. I was thinking to use the 5 elite night credit from the Platinum Annual Credit Benefit to help keep Gold status for next year. We only need 10 nights on top of the CC so we may make it anyway, but this would guarantee it. Except I'm getting confused on the last bit of the T&C for the benefit:

Elite Nights that are awarded to an eligible Platinum Elite or Platinum Premier Elite Member as the Member's Annual Choice Benefit will be awarded in the Eligible Status Year for which the Elite Nights were earned, regardless of when the Member selects the Five Elite Night Credits as his/her Annual Choice Benefit. For the avoidance of doubt, the Eligible Calendar Year in which the Annual Choice Benefit is earned is the Eligible Calendar Year for which the Elite Nights will be credited toward earning Elite membership status.
​

Since we earned the 50 nights to make Platinum in 2018, does that last bit mean that they'd retroactively award the nights onto 2018?? That's how I'm reading it right now so that would mean we couldn't pick another benefit until another 50 nights are earned.

I wasn't in a rush to select anything as I thought it'd all apply to the calendar year you used it in. So since I had earned Platinum for next year (well, this year now, 2019) I could pick my benefit then and have it apply to that year. But it kinda sounds like that's not going to work. Anyone have any thoughts?

I was under the impression that this perk was limited to those who had 50 nights in an actual bed.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Glad it helped! Was it totally crowded up there?

Insane. We just went for Thursday night and it was totally doable but I can’t imagine the lunatics who brave it for NYE!!

 

[AmyAnne]

No UR cards (ok we have an old Freedom we don't use). I'm locked out of new Chase accounts. I'm probably the only person on this board that doesn't chase URs - I do MR via Amex instead.

Thanks for explaining. The CSR was my "gateway" card so I just assume everyone else has one!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Just got back from a few days in NYC. We did 2 nights at my sisters and one in Times Sq. The Marriott Marquis had huge rooms (for NYC, standard anywhere else). It was so cool. The elevators were mobbed at dinner time and after show times, it was huge but oddly very quiet once up to your room. We got tickets to the Rockettes. In hindsight, if I had waited I may have gotten them cheaper but with it being such a busy time there (the 27th) I didn’t risk it. I used the app Todays Tix. Highly recommend the prices were decent, great seats, low fee and they send you a detailed map and you pick up the tix right before the show. Three women were so nice waiting. She said they had 125 sets of tickets for that show that night! We got out of Times Sq for dinner my BiL works in Manhattan so sent us to a great bar less crowded away from the madness. Took a Lyft to the show. It was an amazing performance - don’t see us doing it yearly but def bucket list item. The Marquis was 50k points but well spent as rooms were up to $900/night that week between Xmas and NY.

In my wallet:
PGR - Dining out and grocery
CSR - any travel expenses have the $300 credit that just posted
CIC - office supply
Freedom- rotating cats
BBP - everything else

DH is consitently using his arrival +. After next month mortgage payment it will be at MSR. This should time perfectly with our trip fastly approaching and we can use the $700 travel credit . With this hobby was are taking a 10K+ trip for about 2K oop. Amazing. I’ll post details next

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

So this is silly... but I've still never done a PNC bonus. I want to do the $200 one on DH's new CSP. IS there anything specific I need to know in order to fund it with a CSP? I've never done that before. Can I lower my cash advance amount via SM?

I didnt lower and it worked fine. Did the full 1K

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Taking a 12 night trip next month:

1 night POP - discounted Disney gcs mostly free from SB
2 nights Swan - Marriott bonus points
4 2 day WDW tix - free and discounted cards
$500 gift card for food - BJS sale and freedom 5%
RCLL Oasis of the Seas out of Orlando - 7 nights it was $2300 for all four of us the cheapest stateroom - cashed out URs for cruise and tips prepaid with URs
Excursions and misc on cruise - will use arrival + credit and OOP
Drink package and WiFi - $900 on Black Friday OOP (to meet MSR)
Rental cars to and from port - hoping arrival + credit left
3 nights RPR - used URs
4 day park tix - URs (will upgrade to APs)
Uber to airport - OOP
Misc food - use PGR for 20% back

 

[calypso726]

Emporer penguins which is extremely rare in this area! One guide has been down 15 times and it’s the first time she has seen them. The obligatory Happy New Year selfie to you all from me and the Plane Princess and some nice scenery from today.

 

[Alexle2007]

Taking a 12 night trip next month:

1 night POP - discounted Disney gcs mostly free from SB
2 nights Swan - Marriott bonus points
4 2 day WDW tix - free and discounted cards
$500 gift card for food - BJS sale and freedom 5%
RCLL Oasis of the Seas out of Orlando - 7 nights it was $2300 for all four of us the cheapest stateroom - cashed out URs for cruise and tips prepaid with URs
Excursions and misc on cruise - will use arrival + credit and OOP
Drink package and WiFi - $900 on Black Friday OOP (to meet MSR)
Rental cars to and from port - hoping arrival + credit left
3 nights RPR - used URs
4 day park tix - URs (will upgrade to APs)
Uber to airport - OOP
Misc food - use PGR for 20% back

We did the Allure of the Seas for Sprink Break 2 years ago and had a very nice time. I will say it was sad when Disney was in the Falmouth the same day and we had to sit and stare at her all day. Have a terrific time! We’re going to try the Harmony or Symphony yet.

 

[Alexle2007]

So this is silly... but I've still never done a PNC bonus. I want to do the $200 one on DH's new CSP. IS there anything specific I need to know in order to fund it with a CSP? I've never done that before. Can I lower my cash advance amount via SM?

Curious why you are doing the $200 bonus instead of the $300? I had that on my to do list for tomorrow to do for DH and me.