I love credit cards so much!

[PolyRob]

Thanks for your help. I tried posting on the Priceline thread and didn't hear back so I'll post here and on the resorts board. Here are our 4 options:
BW and BC (3/3 split) = $2482
Priceline deal and BC (3/3 split) = $1738
BW and CBR (3/3 split) = $1937
BW and CBR (4/2 split) = $2137

BC usually comes up under "magical" pricing if you check like @wendow mentioned.

Would you rather stay at CBR over AKL? Not sure what you look at for resort amenities, but AKL comes with the deluxe perks and one main bus stop rather than the CBR internal bus stops. If transportation is your main concern AKL and CBR aren't too different IMO. CBR is slightly closer to Epcot and HS. I've told myself Priceline would also be great for a last minute trip. With savings that high I have thought I would even be willing to pay for a Minnie Van back and forth from the resort and parks if I ended up getting AKL. Just an idea.

If you could get the deluxe for less than a moderate I think that would be a great deal. I attempt to follow the Priceline thread, but have never really had success in pulling anything up. If Hotel Canary is accurate you may even get one of the Epcot resorts you like.

The AK split would also fall during the possible DAH at AK so that could also be easier for transportation.

Sorry, not sure if any of that helped. Just ideas!

 

[Haley R]

BC usually comes up under "magical" pricing if you check like @wendow mentioned.

Would you rather stay at CBR over AKL? Not sure what you look at for resort amenities, but AKL comes with the deluxe perks and one main bus stop rather than the CBR internal bus stops. If transportation is your main concern AKL and CBR aren't too different IMO. CBR is slightly closer to Epcot and HS. I've told myself Priceline would also be great for a last minute trip. With savings that high I have thought I would even be willing to pay for a Minnie Van back and forth from the resort and parks if I ended up getting AKL. Just an idea.

If you could get the deluxe for less than a moderate I think that would be a great deal. I attempt to follow the Priceline thread, but have never really had success in pulling anything up. If Hotel Canary is accurate you may even get one of the Epcot resorts you like.

The AK split would also fall during the possible DAH at AK so that could also be easier for transportation.

Sorry, not sure if any of that helped. Just ideas!

That helped tons!!! Thank you! The only thing I'll mention is the AK DAH is actually on 1/31 so we would be checking into our new hotel that day. I'm not too worried about transportation honestly. The main thing is we would like to be near Epcot as much as possible, but taking a bus isn't the end of the world. We would have two days at the beginning of our trip that could be devoted solely to Epcot if we wanted so it would be nice for the first resort to be an Epcot resort.

 

[Haley R]

I made a thread on the Disney Resorts board with a vote if anyone is interested. I'm kind of obsessed with polls.

 

[PolyRob]

That helped tons!!! Thank you! The only thing I'll mention is the AK DAH is actually on 1/31 so we would be checking into our new hotel that day. I'm not too worried about transportation honestly. The main thing is we would like to be near Epcot as much as possible, but taking a bus isn't the end of the world. We would have two days at the beginning of our trip that could be devoted solely to Epcot if we wanted so it would be nice for the first resort to be an Epcot resort.

Oh sorry, IDK why I thought it was Tuesday that week. HAHA woops!

I was just looking at the Disney website and its showing me Florida resident rates. SO weird! I got all excited I saw BC for your dates for less than BWI. SMH Disney IT get it together!!

 

[Lain]

OMG I JUST GOT THE AMEX POP UP



2 business cards in the last 8 months, how is this happening to me?!?!

I’m so sorry... I had the exact same feeling when my wife got the pop up, also on the Rose Gold, also with only two Amex biz cards in her history, and decent spend post-MSR.

I don’t know what criteria Amex is using to evaluate their customers. I wondered if it’s because of my wife’s short history with Amex. She’s been an AU on my Gold card since ‘11, so that’s what appears as her Member Since, but she’s only had Amex cards in her own name since last year (the two biz cards). I also wondered if it was the lack of high or consistent spend. I’ve since put her cards into my wallet to rotate in some organic spend. I haven’t tried applying for another Amex for DW since the pop up, so I don’t know if the additional spend has helped any. I’m also aware of DPs where the bonus is denied even when there’s no pop up. A little wary about that. At this point, I’m having DW play the long game with Amex. I’ll have her keep the SPG Biz (hey, 35k FN cert!) and Hilton Biz (Gold status?) and build up some favorable history and ongoing spend for her. I’ve thought about referring DW to the BBP (instead of myself first) so she has a 2x MR card (welcome bonus or not, since it’s not a big bonus anyway and I’d still get the referral), that we can maybe throw some of our recurring spend/Plastiq payments on to buff up her spend with Amex. Meanwhile, DW drops to 0/24 next month, and Chase is her playground.

 

[Haley R]

Oh sorry, IDK why I thought it was Tuesday that week. HAHA woops!

I was just looking at the Disney website and its showing me Florida resident rates. SO weird! I got all excited I saw BC for your dates for less than BWI. SMH Disney IT get it together!!

We're seriously kicking ourselves for not getting APs last year. We went three different times and now this trip for another 6 nights. We could've gotten hotel discounts, merch discounts, and DAH discounts. It's a bummer, but oh well.

 

[miztressuz]

I got some random voicemail from a 1-800 earlier and I thought it had to be fake since it said it was "Chase with potential fraud on my account." I went to log-in to my account online and it said "due to recent account activity my online access was suspended for my protection" blah blah blah

I thought could this be a Chase shutdown? Called the number the app provided, waited on hold about 15 minutes and found out Chase wanted to ensure I had money from the sending bank that I submitted for transfer into my new savings account

All is corrected and I can log-in and see my cards and new accounts. What a scare! It actually really annoyed me that Chase thought I had insufficient funds submitted for transfer. SMH Now I won't feel so bad closing these accounts and opening a CIP next month for 80,000 URs.

Did you initiate the transfer from Chase? I heard they do that for large transfers, so bizarre locking everything down for that. I tend to push from where we hold the money into the new account and so far, knock wood, haven't had anything crazy happen. I'm curious if that's why.

 

[wendow]

The benefit to looking into MR>VS>ANA, is Amex periodically runs transfer bonuses when transferring MR to Virgin Atlantic (VS), giving you something like 30% bonus miles. (I can’t remember the last time Amex ran a transfer bonus to ANA, if ever.) Virgin Atlantic is partners with ANA and you can use VS miles to book ANA seats at a better redemption rate because of the transfer bonus. There are a ton of articles on the blogosphere that discuss how to do this (usually for biz and first class, but the principle applies to economy too).

ETA: I’d encourage staying on Amex’s good side as best you can if you want to do this, because with VS and ANA, those MRs are going to be clutch. As mentioned, the Hilton Tokyo Bay is on the monorail line so those Hilton points(/cards) are going to be useful. There are lots of Marriott, and a few IHG and Hyatt options in the greater Tokyo area that’ll put you about ~45 mins from the parks by train almost anywhere in the city center.

Ah, ok, that helps me understand what to look for when researching the VS option. I did see blogs discussing the bonus points from Amex. A lot of it is sailing over my head right now but I'll keep reading all the blogs.

I don't have any Hilton points. What about the Sheraton that @wanderlust7 mentioned? Is there a reason to go for the Hilton over the Sheraton? Only asking cause I already have a head start on the Marriott points

 

[PolyRob]

Did you initiate the transfer from Chase? I heard they do that for large transfers, so bizarre locking everything down for that. I tend to push from where we hold the money into the new account and so far, knock wood, haven't had anything crazy happen. I'm curious if that's why.

That is exactly what happened! It would not show me anything, completely disabled my online banking. I guess I am a DP lol

I am so hesitant of fake calls and phishing scams so I assumed it was a fake call. You'd think they could send me a push notification from the app to call or something?

IDK why I thought that seemed like a good idea at the time to transfer that way. I would have just been better off waiting a day and driving to the actual branch and depositing a check. Lesson learned.

 

[mmmears]

Just make sure you can understand the VA reps and they spell your names right on the tickets....

LOL. Was it different than a normal British accent? I called BA to hold our seats while booking with points and talked to a fun CSR with a cool accent. He was a huge Friends fan and we joked about "transponster!!!" while waiting for their system to grab our seats. He also did get our names right.

I love AKL, and would choose it over a moderate personally, but I understand the reluctance to book a hotel when you don't really know what you'll be getting.

 

[PolyRob]

We're seriously kicking ourselves for not getting APs last year. We went three different times and now this trip for another 6 nights. We could've gotten hotel discounts, merch discounts, and DAH discounts. It's a bummer, but oh well.

Its always a hard decision, you never know what the future will hold!

Not to make your decision any harder, but have you checked Orbitz? I see BC for $415 pre tax for 1/28 - 1/31. You can apply promo "booknow" and save $124.56. Rate comes to $373.50 pre-tax. Price seems comparable to your BWI rate and you could piece together an entire BC trip. Ebates is also 7% for Orbitz.

 

[Haley R]

LOL. Was it different than a normal British accent? I called BA to hold our seats while booking with points and talked to a fun CSR with a cool accent. He was a huge Friends fan and we joked about "transponster!!!" while waiting for their system to grab our seats. He also did get our names right.

I love AKL, and would choose it over a moderate personally, but I understand the reluctance to book a hotel when you don't really know what you'll be getting.

Different from what I'm used to lol. I've spoken to British people in person and this guy was so hard to understand. It didn't help that people were laughing and talking loudly in the background. They put Dh's first letter as an F instead of an S and it didn't even make sense as a name lol. Then they tried to say they might not be able to switch it so I sat on hold for an hour maybe? I can't remember exactly. They did end up fixing it, though.

I guess for me I'm actually wanting to do BW and BC, but of course it's the most expensive option.

 

[Albort]

I don't have any Hilton points. What about the Sheraton that @wanderlust7 mentioned? Is there a reason to go for the Hilton over the Sheraton? Only asking cause I already have a head start on the Marriott points

i believe hilton points are easier to earn due to a bigger multiplier(12x). I know one of the cards has a 6x on groceries that will also help make your hilton points grow. The only + thing over Marriott points is also that you can redeem suite with more points with hilton points but you wont be able to with marriott points. Like u can redeem overwater bungalow on Hilton points in the Maldives but the best u can do for marriott points are just garden/beach villas.
Marriott i feel like is so much harder to earn now. I barely put any spendings on my SPG/Marriott cards now. Although the points are more versatile due to the 40 partners u can transfer to.

 

[Haley R]

Its always a hard decision, you never know what the future will hold!

Not to make your decision any harder, but have you checked Orbitz? I see BC for $415 pre tax for 1/28 - 1/31. You can apply promo "booknow" and save $124.56. Rate comes to $373.50 pre-tax. Price seems comparable to your BWI rate and you could piece together an entire BC trip. Ebates is also 7% for Orbitz.

Damn...put all my 4 hours of work to waste lol. I'm just kidding, but I'll have to go look at Orbitz now. We definitely don't want BC the whole time since we just stayed there in October. We are split stay people because we really aim to try a new resort every time.

 

[mmmears]

Different from what I'm used to lol. I've spoken to British people in person and this guy was so hard to understand. It didn't help that people were laughing and talking loudly in the background. They put Dh's first letter as an F instead of an S and it didn't even make sense as a name lol. Then they tried to say they might not be able to switch it so I sat on hold for an hour maybe? I can't remember exactly. They did end up fixing it, though.

I guess for me I'm actually wanting to do BW and BC, but of course it's the most expensive option.

I remember the mess you had and how it took forever for them to fix it. I totally get it. I usually want something like that, too. I love the Epcot resorts.

 

[Haley R]

I remember the mess you had and how it took forever for them to fix it. I totally get it. I usually want something like that, too. I love the Epcot resorts.

We stayed in BC in October and that was our first Epcot resort. I think I fell in love right away lol. I wish we could get YC, but I'm not seeing any good deals.

 

[mmmears]

I love this thread. It's rare to see the sadness of something like not being able to use URs to book Disney turned around into seeing it as an opportunity to try new things, like go to Japan. You all are awesome!

 

[PolyRob]

Damn...put all my 4 hours of work to waste lol. I'm just kidding, but I'll have to go look at Orbitz now. We definitely don't want BC the whole time since we just stayed there in October. We are split stay people because we really aim to try a new resort every time.

Haha reserving Disney resorts is definitely and art, not a science! I peruse Orbitz and Cheap Tickets bc they have coupon codes and decent Ebates deals. I've booked there twice and then cancelled later on when finding different magical deals or direct AP rates. Good luck!

I also love split-stays so I completely understand. An MK and Epcot area resort and I am happy

 

[Haley R]

Haha reserving Disney resorts is definitely and art, not a science! I peruse Orbitz and Cheap Tickets bc they have coupon codes and decent Ebates deals. I've booked there twice and then cancelled later on when finding different magical deals or direct AP rates. Good luck!

I also love split-stays so I completely understand. An MK and Epcot area resort and I am happy

We've never gotten to do an MK resort. That would be amazing if we could! Can you use the promo code and an ebates deal? I'm assuming not.

 

[PolyRob]

We've never gotten to do an MK resort. That would be amazing if we could! Can you use the promo code and an ebates deal? I'm assuming not.

You can stack the Orbitz promo code and get the Ebates cash back! Sometimes the promor caps it at $150. It used to be higher.

Its going pretty far out past the CBR range, but GF was listed when I had looked.