I love credit cards so much!

[GlamMistress]

Everyone was talking about their 2019 travel plans earlier this week and I'm already onto 2020.

DH and I just decided we're for sure doing Hawaii (again, our favorite place) in January 2020 and F&W in October 2020, at AKL our first stay as DVC members!
I'm pretty sure we'll head back to Big Island but we might also pop over to Oahu to check out Aulani for a couple nights. I'm hoping we can get some good coupon deals from Amex FHR for Big Island (we like the Fairmont Orchid).

I guess now I have a goal I can figure out what miles currency to target to get to Hawaii again. I tend to like United for Hawaii.

(I also want to work in another Disney cruise because I'll be buying a bounceback placeholder on our cruise next month. Don't tell DH! #DiscountedGiftcards)

 

[Judique]

It was 63 degrees yesterday and today is only going up to 51 degrees. Going to Florida 2 weeks from today.

Staying at Vistana Villages for 4 nights, then Clearwater Sand Key, then back to Boardwalk Villas.

Hopefully the weather will be nice at least during the day while I'm down there. 75 or so will be fine.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm irritated with Jetblue at the moment... I booked flights using points last spring,and now they're making chase the 10% rebate..... ugh. gotta call again but I figure I'll wait till next week sometime,I just don't feel like doing it!

 

[pillow]

Oh where oh where oh where is my SPG Business free night??? This is taking forever.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

It was 63 degrees yesterday and today is only going up to 51 degrees. Going to Florida 2 weeks from today.

Staying at Vistana Villages for 4 nights, then Clearwater Sand Key, then back to Boardwalk Villas.

Hopefully the weather will be nice at least during the day while I'm down there. 75 or so will be fine.

Sounds like a nice trip.....I hope the weather is better for you than it’s been for us this week... chilly and rainy for this time of year...but we managed to do everything we wanted to so far...DH and DS are golfing this morning and tomorrow...so I get to relax at the resort....DH asked if I wanted the keys to my sons car to go outlet shopping ......on the Saturday before Christmas.....think I’ll pass as much as I’d like to check out the Character Warehouse.

We stayed at Vistana Villages in April and really liked the resort.

 

[afan]

So for those of you who saw Mary Poppins Returns, I’m curious as to whether you’ve read the books. I promise I’m not trying to be that judgy person that’s saying “read the books,” because I read several of the books last year, and, uh... Mary Poppins isn’t exactly a nice lady lol. I could understand why PL Travers was mad at what Walt Disney did with her stories, even though I think Disney vastly improved the character of Mary Poppins from a cold, narcissistic woman to someone who’s fun. My impression was that the new movie more closely follows the books, which is why I haven’t been interested in seeing it.

I haven't and don't really want to because I've never been interested in knowing more. But I also didn't think she was as bad as @wendow I agree that she was a bit more than the original but it had also been like 30 years or so since the last so I would expect in her line of work and being the 2nd time essentially with this family and the same problem she'd be a bit annoyed and not as sweet. I'll stop at that and say Emily was a lovely Mary amd I still want one of her umbrellas but not for the 75 disney store has it at unless it also talked with me.

 

[wendow]

I'm on your side with this kind of stuff

I know you are!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Oh where oh where oh where is my SPG Business free night??? This is taking forever.

How long ago did you pay the annual fee? Your comment is making me glad I just cancelled LOL.

 

[GlamMistress]

Hilton must be having some sort of tech meltdown right now. I tried three times to transfer a few MR points to Hilton from Amex. Failure.
Can't see my Hilton balance on Amex. Failure.
Tried making another reward booking on Hilton - got to last page - failure. So beware if you're trying to do a booking today. Nothing I needed urgently so I will wait it out I guess. I feel for people trying to get last minute holiday rooms tho.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

I needed a stress relief tonight so I did my SW Biz app. Needed to smile about something. Instant Approval. You're up!

Congratulations always love a reason for another dance party

 

[happ]

I’d probably transfer URs to book the flight with RR points my reasoning is if the flight goes down the points go back into your account vs paying cash you have to use the credit 12 month from your booking date

That makes sense. Thanks. I forgot about the voucher thing.

 

[MrsAlexis]

Everyone was talking about their 2019 travel plans earlier this week and I'm already onto 2020.

DH and I just decided we're for sure doing Hawaii (again, our favorite place) in January 2020 and F&W in October 2020, at AKL our first stay as DVC members!
I'm pretty sure we'll head back to Big Island but we might also pop over to Oahu to check out Aulani for a couple nights. I'm hoping we can get some good coupon deals from Amex FHR for Big Island (we like the Fairmont Orchid).

I guess now I have a goal I can figure out what miles currency to target to get to Hawaii again. I tend to like United for Hawaii.

(I also want to work in another Disney cruise because I'll be buying a bounceback placeholder on our cruise next month. Don't tell DH! #DiscountedGiftcards)

I'm thinking about 2020 also! DH has very little vacation in 2019 and I've already used it up with 9 nights at WDW, split stay between AS Sports and AKL (our first deluxe stay!) DS and I may go somewhere together without DH during 2019 but nothing major. But for 2020 I am having wild thoughts about Hawaii! Been looking at routes and point costs trying to determine logistics of it. Would be PNS to either HNL or OGG. I don't mind coach for leg from PNS to gateway city but want business for flight into Hawaii. I was thinking AA would be our best bet but I am having a hard time reading Award Hacker and figuring out if/when business would be available. Looks like we may also need to look at United. Would probably be looking at June 2020. I only have UR at this time but open to expanding our currencies! Any tips on getting there would be appreciated!

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

So anyone want to chime in again on what might be the best CC for the BF to get next? We believe he's 3/24. As far as "incentive" credit cards, he has the AA Aviator Barclay, and the Amex Everyday. He's looking for stuff w/ a low spend requirement as he can't do the crazy $7k+ spend I can do with 2 kids, LOL.

 

[afan]

PC'd my csr to csp and the lady was super nice and what I expected last night. @Lain so you can update your spreadsheet

 

[Judique]

Sounds like a nice trip.....I hope the weather is better for you than it’s been for us this week... chilly and rainy for this time of year...but we managed to do everything we wanted to so far...DH and DS are golfing this morning and tomorrow...so I get to relax at the resort....DH asked if I wanted the keys to my sons car to go outlet shopping ......on the Saturday before Christmas.....think I’ll pass as much as I’d like to check out the Character Warehouse.

We stayed at Vistana Villages in April and really liked the resort.

Yes, I noted they were 53 to my 51 this morning. I stayed at VV when it was new many years ago and I enjoyed it and it's location is okay with me. I still have an active annual pass but if the weather is warm I may just do some lazing in the sun! If it's cool I'll go shopping and to the parks!

This would be the time I'd spring for the valet parking if I was truly interested in shopping, but I'm not a huge fan of that outlet. I would rather go somewhere that had better options for lunch or dinner so that I could park once and be done with it.

There's a you tube video done by someone named Liz Linen who takes you through what is at Character Warehouse, if you can stand watching it.

 

[GlamMistress]

I'm thinking about 2020 also! DH has very little vacation in 2019 and I've already used it up with 9 nights at WDW, split stay between AS Sports and AKL (our first deluxe stay!) DS and I may go somewhere together without DH during 2019 but nothing major. But for 2020 I am having wild thoughts about Hawaii! Been looking at routes and point costs trying to determine logistics of it. Would be PNS to either HNL or OGG. I don't mind coach for leg from PNS to gateway city but want business for flight into Hawaii. I was thinking AA would be our best bet but I am having a hard time reading Award Hacker and figuring out if/when business would be available. Looks like we may also need to look at United. Would probably be looking at June 2020. I only have UR at this time but open to expanding our currencies! Any tips on getting there would be appreciated!

if you've never been to Hawaii, visit Maui. Truly magical!

Sorry for TPG link but this is a pretty good article on getting to paradise with points.
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/points-and-miles-to-hawaii/

I've flown to Hawaii in coach, business and lie flat first. I'll be honest, nothing made the time go by faster. I still couldn't sleep in lie flat but I did drink more than normal, lol.

If you can get coach plus and sit in the front row it isn't bad and will save lots of miles.

I've long considered an Alaska card just for the sole purpose of Hawaii because of the companion fare.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

I'm trying. I had to pay for everything very early on and we've never had any grandparent/parent help for anything. While I do not mind helping my kids, I do expect they 'own' their activities and work to cover part of the cost. I know that isn't popular on this board based on a thread I posted before lol

I definitely applaud you for this. I would say this is the one area where I may have failed DD2. She always got good grades in high school and college, has an amazing work ethic, is a bit of a perfectionist, truly an amazing mother and anyone would be proud of her. She milked cows with her father after school, she did 10 years of dishes to pay for her first horse (the last 2 years she paid her sister to do them). The horse showing was very expensive and I just picked up the extra shifts I needed to cover the costs. Anything she was paid for milking chores was hers to spend. I expected her to work, I failed to teach her to save or cover any of her own expenses for her hobbies. If I had the chance to do anything over again it would be to teach her more financial responsibility. I could be wrong but I'm afraid she will always struggle financially.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Yes, I noted they were 53 to my 51 this morning. I stayed at VV when it was new many years ago and I enjoyed it and it's location is okay with me. I still have an active annual pass but if the weather is warm I may just do some lazing in the sun! If it's cool I'll go shopping and to the parks!

This would be the time I'd spring for the valet parking if I was truly interested in shopping, but I'm not a huge fan of that outlet. I would rather go somewhere that had better options for lunch or dinner so that I could park once and be done with it.

There's a you tube video done by someone named Liz Linen who takes you through what is at Character Warehouse, if you can stand watching it.

Thanks for the info....if there was something I really needed I’d venture out....Thursday it rained pretty much all day so we did visited the WDW resorts that offer valet parking ..and took full advantage.....looked at Christmas decorations, had lunch and shopped, since the APs we have started the black out dates 12/20.

Have you ever stayed at any of the Marriott Vacation Clubs ?.....we were looking at Royal Palms for March since it’s closer to Disney that the Grand Vista our friends recommended...

 

[palhockeymomof2]

So anyone want to chime in again on what might be the best CC for the BF to get next? We believe he's 3/24. As far as "incentive" credit cards, he has the AA Aviator Barclay, and the Amex Everyday. He's looking for stuff w/ a low spend requirement as he can't do the crazy $7k+ spend I can do with 2 kids, LOL.

If he wants to look at credit karma to see when accounts were opened he can get an accurate count.
I’d start with Chase cards since he’s under 5/24...could me meet the $5,000 MSR on a CIP....for the 80,000 URs assuming he’d apply for a business card ?

 

[Judique]

Thanks for the info....if there was something I really needed I’d venture out....Thursday it rained pretty much all day so we did visited the WDW resorts that offer valet parking ..and took full advantage.....looked at Christmas decorations, had lunch and shopped, since the APs we have started the black out dates 12/20.

Have you ever stayed at any of the Marriott Vacation Clubs ?.....we were looking at Royal Palms for March since it’s closer to Disney that the Grand Vista our friends recommended...

No. I have stayed at The Marriott World Center which is in the same immediate area, same access road, but not any of their vacation clubs. The World Center has a very nice pool area (which may be available to the timeshare units) and it used to have an excellent sunday brunch. I do think that location is excellent for WDW access. I would stay there again.