I love credit cards so much!

[wendow]

Well our TA got back to us and said WL is sold out. I wish they would know their availability beforehand so I don't get my hopes up. Also, the BW room I saw for our first 3 nights was $371/night and that one is gone from Disney's website, too. No idea what we will decide now.

What about back to one of your other options of CBR & BC?

 

[usakiwi]

Ugh @Andysol - Citi denied my match, lol. They said to send a copy of the offer I received.

I sent a separate new backdoor SM trying again saying I saw a higher offer here: https://creditcards.aa.com/citi-business-card-american-airlines-direct

Have you ever seen somebody get denied the match? Of course that would be my luck, lol!

I did mine around the same time but did it through the “contact us” button or something like that...it was at the bottom of the page. They didn’t give me an answer at the time but told me they would pass it to the correct department, and I have received the letter in the mail that I will be receiving the points. But again, mine was pers whereas I know yours was not.

 

[amalone1013]

I may just leave mine there, I am earning a ton of interest on it! Wouldn't it be more like $200 on the $20k?

I was going to try and move some in for that bonus but forgot. The $20k was already there before the promo because it's mostly our down payment fund.

 

[elgerber]

I was going to try and move some in for that bonus but forgot. The $20k was already there before the promo because it's mostly our down payment fund.

Ah, gotcha!

 

[Disneyonmymind]

That is so awesome! Glad you had a great trip! Of course we are all bummed about the Chase UR changes BUT many of us have just decided that it's still a great deal to cash out URs to pay for our Disney fix. We need to earn more URs to do this...but it's still FREE travel

Yes, I have been slowly trying to catch up and figure out what you all are talking about, lol. I have seen several mentions of cashing out URs which surprised me. Is that because there’s no other way to reduce Disney travel expense or because there’s nothing else good to spend URs on?

 

[Haley R]

What about back to one of your other options of CBR & BC?

We're going through all of our options again. It's just kind of time consuming. I have a whole document made up with all of our options lol. I'm going through Orbitz, Priceline, Undercover Tourist, Hotwire, and Disney to compare deals.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Yes, I have been slowly trying to catch up and figure out what you all are talking about, lol. I have seen several mentions of cashing out URs which surprised me. Is that because there’s no other way to reduce Disney travel expense or because there’s nothing else good to spend URs on?

Some of us have taken to buying discounted Disney gift cards from whatever source du jour is and then cash out URs to cover the cost of those. It is a way to get an extra discount but still pay with URs.

 

[Haley R]

@disneymagicgirl Would you rather do 3 nights at GF or 3 nights at YC with standard view club level? It's a difference of $10. We have MK DAH the first night and then the next two days will be Epcot/MK days.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We're going through all of our options again. It's just kind of time consuming. I have a whole document made up with all of our options lol. I'm going through Orbitz, Priceline, Undercover Tourist, Hotwire, and Disney to compare deals.

This has basically been my life since New Years as well. Just keep looking. Every time I look there is something different. Unfortunately, none of the options have been a Disney deluxe at under $250 a night.0

 

[disneymagicgirl]

@disneymagicgirl Would you rather do 3 nights at GF or 3 nights at YC with standard view club level? It's a difference of $10. We have MK DAH the first night and then the next two days will be Epcot/MK days.

Yc! And I have stayed at both, but not CL.

 

[GZanta77]

That’s great...I can pay ours with a cc, but there are fees so not worth it for us.

Ours have fees too - averages about 2.2%, but slight lower than that when you factor in the extra points gained. I have been happy to accept the charge recently - has helped me easily meet a few MSRs over the last six months. Obviously wouldn't do it if not working on an MSR, but oddly enough that has been a rare occurence since I found this board.

 

[Haley R]

Yc! And I have stayed at both, but not CL.

It says Standard View, Club View on Orbitz. Do you think that means Club level?

Our other two options are Copper Creek for $288 less or WL for $163 less.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Ours have fees too - averages about 2.2%, but slight lower than that when you factor in the extra points gained. I have been happy to accept the charge recently - has helped me easily meet a few MSRs over the last six months. Obviously wouldn't do it if not working on an MSR, but oddly enough that has been a rare occurence since I found this board.

Lol me too...ours does not take Amex and we never have a problem meeting MSR on our Chase cards with organic spend

 

[disneymagicgirl]

It says Standard View, Club View on Orbitz. Do you think that means Club level?

Our other two options are Copper Creek for $288 less or WL for $163 less.

Are those prices less per night or less for the whole stay? I'd imagine it means club level. If it is that price extra fro the whole stay I'd go for it since you will be spending alot of time at the resorts during the day to use the lounge.

 

[chattadisser]

Manhattan hotel recommendations please! We have an event and concert to attend at Carnegie Hall in mid-February. Dh would like to stay in that area, so south of Central Park/north of Times Square.

No points or free nights to be used yet, unfortunately. Not loyal to any chain, though dh does have WoH card. Just the two of us.

We have stayed at the Bernic on 47th (just a couple of blocks from 5th avenue and grand central) and at the Hampton on 54th (when you look it up online it comes up as Hampton Inn Central Park South). The Hampton was just a couple of blocks south of Central Park and close to broadway and the theatre district. I would stay at both again. Decent size rooms, clean and good locations to get around midtown easily. We have also stayed at the Millennium Hilton UN. While this hotel is nicer and has much larger rooms than the other two, its not really near anything unless you happen to be doing business at the UN! A side perk is since it is across the street from the UN, you can't beat the security at the hotel. Have fun in NYC!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I have those but was thinking I'd be all smart and use my staples 30% offer first.... you know, spent,and still nothing. I dislike jumping thru hoops to save a few bucks. the amex offers seem to refund almost immediately with no effort. OR am I the only one who doesn't like the chase offers so far? (I like the idea, but not the execution of them so far)

Chase takes a very long time to post. I SMd to complain I had gotten the 10% off Staples credit (10 days after purchase) when I also had the 30%. Clearly I prefer 30%. They replied to SM again in 10 biz days as it can take that long to post. Clearly they didn’t actually read my message (or understand it) as they didn’t actually answer the question. But they make it clear it can take a couple weeks to post.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

You'll be there the same time?! That's so funny! The TA ended up coming back and said WL is sold out for them so we are stuck looking for new options now. The BW rate I found from Disney last night is gone as well. I had looked at CBR because we had never stayed there either and the new refurbishments should be nice. I really wanted an Epcot one our first 3 nights since we will most likely have 2 days for the Festival of the Arts.

What about Swolphin? Do first and last night at a value to take advantage of ME and getting magic bands. Then you are in Epcot area.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

so tell me once again.... this is for P2 who's 4/24...... the CIP app...... how tough is this? I'm really leery about going for it,and him having to call and talk to people...... should we go for a lower offer like CIC or something instead if they approve those more easily? How hard is it to get instant biz approval?(other than the swa biz,that was instant for him) it's a 'biz' since all his side work is not official at all,but he does plenty of it.

The first time DH applied for CIC he was denied. We waited about 35 days, then he applied for CIP. He was approved after 48 hours or so. Not instantly but no calling in. If no instant approval, you can just let it ride. You don’t have to call in. FWIW, DH also just got approved for CIC (also not instant, took a few days)

 

[DisneyMandC]

Get it. The free night at Category 1-4 more than offsets the annual fee.

@DisneyMandC the Hyatt card is totally worth it as @Ngwira says. One free night I used at Hyatt Regency Maui and the last one at the Hyatt Regency MCO. Limited sign up bonus ends I think tomorrow. Although looks like referrals may last longer.

Thanks! I'll probably have to do it later this year. DH and I have both hit Chase recently, so I need to give them some down time, plus pick up a third business card for DH.

 

[mmmears]

Well, after being told that we aren't eligible, DH got the pay over time for 10K points on his PLAT again, and it looks like it worked this time...

Well we might not even do Priceline now. I just got quoted $1800 to stay all 6 nights at WL with a magical rate.

OMG I've always wanted to stay there. Just read further and see it's booked up. Sorry.

I would agree on the jet lag. I was fine going east to Paris but it was a bit rough coming home to Seattle. Doesn't help that I didn't want, not needed to sleep on the flight since I wanted to be able to go to bed at the normal time but that meant I'd been up around 24 hours by the time I got home. That may have also been part of the problem. But I can take a red eye with iffy sleep to the east coast and be fine until bed time. I would just try and sleep on the plane even if you think you shouldn't.

No jet lag here (yeah, I'm weird) in either direction, but I cannot sleep AT ALL when we fly, so I'm pretty miserable. Having a lie flat seat makes it bearable though when we go overseas. For cross country I mostly just deal with the discomfort and squeeze into coach. I'm hoping this little hobby will change that (well, it already has just a bit for our upcoming trip to the east coast).

I never had any jet lag from Hawaii but I was also a teen. I'm lots older now so I need to follow all the advice closely lol! I don't sleep on planes. Ever. On the way back from Hawaii, we flew overnight. I swear every single person on that plane was asleep but me :/

Me too! It's so boring... Even red eyes, even lay flat, just can't sleep at all.

Just read an article on all ears that Star Wars will probably open at DL in June. Am I crazy to be planning a trip there for the end of July?!? DH and I have been about eight years ago with DS20, but my little ones (5 and 7) haven't ever been. I thought it'd be a great use of my N/F cert, but I just wonder how crazy it's going to be. I like SW but am definitely not a fanatic about it.

So I want to be all "go for it, it'll be great" but realistically it's a tiny park and it's going to get slammed. Unless they do something (even more) to reduce the crowds I think it could be fun but really insanely packed. We are contemplating October and I'm even worried about it then.

We are Epcot Resort people too.

Us too! Love it there.

Thanks! I need to do mine on the Plat and Gold.

I do, too. We have 3 Plats and 2 Golds and I am struggling between AA which we have been using a lot lately and SW since I think I need to visit a friend (cancer has returned ) and I can only get to MDW from here on SW and O'Hare is such a mess and so far from her home.

Manhattan hotel recommendations please! We have an event and concert to attend at Carnegie Hall in mid-February. Dh would like to stay in that area, so south of Central Park/north of Times Square.

No points or free nights to be used yet, unfortunately. Not loyal to any chain, though dh does have WoH card. Just the two of us.

We've stayed at the Palace a few times through FHR (nice breakfast perk, and we were upgraded to the Towers). We just booked the Park Hyatt which is right across the street from Carnegie Hall, but I wouldn't stay there if not on points since it's just $$$$$$$$.

@disneymagicgirl Would you rather do 3 nights at GF or 3 nights at YC with standard view club level? It's a difference of $10. We have MK DAH the first night and then the next two days will be Epcot/MK days.

Not DMG, but I'll chime in since I've stayed both quite a few times. If you prefer Epcot area, and will be at the hotel a bunch to use the lounge (and all the food it comes with) then I'd stay at the YC. We love CL - we munch there and then spend less $$$ when eating in the parks. But GF is awesome, too, and a great place to relax for the day. It's quieter, has nice pool areas, lots of dining options (esp if you add in the monorail), etc. Honestly I'd be very happy with either option.