I love credit cards so much!

[wendow]

I think we had the same trip at CSR lol. We were in the ranchos too because we wanted a refurbished room. It was pretty far from the lobby. When we were there, there were lots of soccer groups around

We were there in sept 2017. We checked out the day everything was shutting down for Irma. Can't remember our dates but the resort was super quiet!

 

[Haley R]

That is with tax! The rate is $280 night, IIRC.

We have stayed at BC 3x and once the pool was quiet but there was a hurricane coming in lol!

Wow that’s ridiculous for a moderate! I wouldn’t pay that either. We are paying $153/night for cbr. I don’t wanna talk about what we’re paying for yc lol

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

The construction at CS is contained entirely to the area where the tower is going- it's not AT ALL like what Poly had going on! We saw that on our honeymoon in 4/15 and agreed that we would hate to stay at a hotel with that much construction going on everywhere.

We stayed in Casitas 3 and it was very quiet, I would venture to say perhaps even the quietest resort we've ever stayed at. I will admit that we didn't venture around the resort much at all, but I don't think you would see much of or hear anything from the construction staying in that area. We had our car the whole time we were there so I'm not sure how far the walk is from there to the lobby though.

Yes we stayed at Casitas too. It was SO convenient to the pool and like I said for some reason I loved that little pool snack shack. We ate there and went back to our room to use the bathroom it was so close. I think we only ventured to the lobby a few times but it was close

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Milk bread and toilet paper always seem to be the big thing. We needed bread Bc it was almost out.

Started snowing here at 4

Milk, eggs, TP. I can make bread so will do that tomorrow. Been snowing all day here but only a couple inches

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

I don't think I got the upgrade offer. Maybe cause I haven't even had the spg card for a year yet?

ETA: If we could use Marriott GC's at Swolphin, I would do that but last I read, that doesn't work yet.

Yeah I think you need the card for a year. DH? I’m pretty sure you can’t use a Marriott gc but I know for sure that it was a Marriott $60 off $300 amex offer that worked and the $300 credit came right away. So then you are paying $150 and you get a $50k night too at your anni. But it takes a slot etc so may not be ideal.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

You don't need to tell me...who do you think hid them there?? Good to know about the fee free. I will have the BBP out tomorrow so I may as well make a stop.

I have time to get the AP as the trip isn't until March 3rd but I wanted to get them sooner than later so I can try and snag a FP or two in Toy Story Land. I will probably just wait. I am not opposed to standing in lines for something new. Won't be overly warm during the day either. If they don't go on sale, I could just run to BJs and take them off the rack as there is still savings, which I didn't think of until you mentioned it. So thank you! I wanted to make FPs so bad that I was about to buy them off the site with a couple gift cards I had left plus putting it on the CC. I will wait and get my discounted cards!

Haha!! Busted hiding gcs

Not sure if in store the Disney gcs are discounted. Might be online only def double check beforehand

 

[GZanta77]

@MrPTato - my local Bjs has the visa gc back in stock. I’m not telling you where so you don’t deplete! A bunch was hidden behind a $200 one someone must be buying a lot and trying to “hide” some. Still fee free I got 2.

Also they rumor is on the 15th disney gcs online on bjs will be discounted so if you use your staples Visa cards might save you close to SB/BB deal and do it in less trips. Not sure if it’ll be in time for ur trip

Think it is more than a rumor....my BJs coupon book arrived today and it shows 'Up to 20% off select gift cards' - and the disney card is one of those pictured. So it definitely should be happening.

 

[wendow]

Wow that’s ridiculous for a moderate! I wouldn’t pay that either. We are paying $153/night for cbr. I don’t wanna talk about what we’re paying for yc lol

For our dates, CBR is $204/night, which seems really high to me. Pop is $156. CS is $203. All are standard rooms.

 

[wendow]

Yeah I think you need the card for a year. DH? I’m pretty sure you can’t use a Marriott gc but I know for sure that it was a Marriott $60 off $300 amex offer that worked and the $300 credit came right away. So then you are paying $150 and you get a $50k night too at your anni. But it takes a slot etc so may not be ideal.

My dh's spg pers is 1 year old this month. How would I check for an upgrade offer? If he upgrades, it would not take up a slot, right? I am not eligible to apply for the spg lux and get the bonus. I think some of the cards I currently hold exclude me from it.

 

[GZanta77]

My dh's spg pers is 1 year old this month. How would I check for an upgrade offer? If he upgrades, it would not take up a slot, right? I am not eligible to apply for the spg lux and get the bonus. I think some of the cards I currently hold exclude me from it.

If its anything like the hilton - you could get the upgrade offer...1) in a bar at the top of the screen 2) In the Amex offers section 3) By email 4) Some combination of all 3.

Upgrading does not take up a slot.

 

[LB002]

The Hilton Aspire is a great card. You definitely get your value back on the $450 AF, and you certainly seem to have plans for its benefits.

Just a few thoughts --

- Are you looking at the Aspire as a keeper card? If so, double dipping (or triple dipping) doesn't really matter. If you plan to hold it for only a year then cancel, then you could triple dip the $250 airline credit if you timed your application for mid-November through most of December.

- Amex has gotten a lot stricter against customers who sign up for a card just for its signup bonus but put little to no spend on it after meeting MSR, then cancel after their year is up. If Amex deems you a "gamer" based on your "history" with their cards, they may deny you bonuses on any future card applications. So whoever applies for the Aspire, make sure to keep the card in their wallet and continue to put spend on it.

- The CSR and Biz Plat already gets you Priority Pass access for the cardholder and 2 guests (at most PP lounges/restaurants).

- The Biz Plat already gets you Gold status at Hilton. Diamond is obviously better.

- Since both you and DH are still under 5/24, are you sure you wouldn't rather get a few more Chase cards first? If you're open to business cards, Chase's three Ink business cards can net you at least 180k UR per player. And you can use UR to book cash rates at Hiltons or any other hotels (but you likely won't earn points on that cash stay).

Thanks, you always have valuable insight! Sorry for the delay in responding. We were out and about all day.

Not sure we would keep the Apire long term. We are thinking to keep 1 platinum Amex, but not both, and the CSR long term. The only card we stopped using after meeting spend was the CSP. We did cancel some old cards and shifted spending to the new ones we got in 2018.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

My dh's spg pers is 1 year old this month. How would I check for an upgrade offer? If he upgrades, it would not take up a slot, right? I am not eligible to apply for the spg lux and get the bonus. I think some of the cards I currently hold exclude me from it.

No it wouldn’t take up a slot. I don’t think they are doing upgrade offers right now but his card would prob be eligible w/o the bonus points. They would prorate the af. I bet if you did a chat you could ask. If you could get some points out of it it’d totally be worth it. Otherwise I’m not so sure...

 

[MomoMama]

It was separate travel insurance (actually from Disney but provided by TravelGuard I believe). We cancelled flights booked with miles, plus Disney hotels, because my dad was diagnosed terminal 1 month before our trip. The insurance covered the $150 we were charged to redeposit miles. I can’t recall what else we had to have reimbursed because I’m pretty sure the Disney hotels were refundable at that point (or maybe not, it was 5 years ago, I may be remembering incorrectly but I do recall getting a check for $150 for the airline fee)

Sorry to hear about your father, but thank you for your reply. Much appreciated.
It seems 3rd party insurance is easier to deal with. I have read mixed reviews of people dealing with CSR insurance.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

They are definitely legit! I used them in July for our DL tickets. I had to call them to expedite the processing since I had ordered them very last minute. Oops!

I used them for DLR and had zero problems.

Definitely legit. They code as travel on the CIP/CSP/CSR too.

I used that site about 11/2 years ago, no issues. What name change? I just went to last minute travel dot com & it auto logged me in. They have been LMTClub or Last minute travel since I used them.

Thanks for the replies! Makes me feel much better. Now just to decide whether to pull the trigger or not...

The name change I was referring to is on their page at the top, it says lmtclub is now last minute travel club. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't like copycat website that was bogus or something. I'm a little paranoid...

 

[wendow]

Thanks for the replies! Makes me feel much better. Now just to decide whether to pull the trigger or not...

The name change I was referring to is on their page at the top, it says lmtclub is now last minute travel club. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't like copycat website that was bogus or something. I'm a little paranoid...

They have been known as both lmtclub and last minute travel club for years. You have nothing to worry about!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Dh booked his and my flights to Orlando end of March! We are staying the first two nights at Rosen Shingle Creek which is where his conference will be. It seems so far away from everything but the resort itself looks very nice! We will have a car until we get to WDW and then turn it in. I booked that already through UR's (much cheaper than either Costco or the conference discount rate).

Then we will stay three nights at WDW. I wasn't able to rent dvc points b/c no studios were available, and the deluxe rates are too high so I'm bummed. I really wanted to stay deluxe since we are kind of priced out of deluxe when we all go and need two rooms.

SO, I currently have three rooms booked: Pop, CS & CBR. We've never stayed at Pop or CBR. Pop is almost $200 less over the three nights. My question is for those of you who have stayed at these resorts, if you were just hanging out (though some of that hanging out will be at other resorts), which would you choose? We are definitely pool people so hoping it is warm enough to swim!

Dd19 and I did CSR for the first time in august. The new rooms are super nice. I’d stay there again.
I have CBR booked for the first time later this month. After watching some recent you tube videos I am getting more excited about it. I’d still prefer a deluxe at a great deal but am happy to try cbr if I can’t get one...which is looking unlikely at this point.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I have the points but I don't think I can spend 50k a night there I'll have to think on that one...

I’ve beenmpondering it for our Jan trip too, but don’t we still have to pay parking and resort fee on top of the 50k points? Uugghh.

 

[wendow]

Dd19 and I did CSR for the first time in august. The new rooms are super nice. I’d stay there again.
I have CBR booked for the first time later this month. After watching some recent you tube videos I am getting more excited about it. I’d still prefer a deluxe at a great deal but am happy to try cbr if I can’t get one...which is looking unlikely at this point.

I think we may go with CBR simply because we haven't stayed there yet and we do like to try new resorts. I also thought the CSR rooms were so nice! We did a split stay there and BC. We did BC first for 5 nights and then moved to CSR for 4 nights. I couldn't believe after we checked in at CSR. I thought the room was so much nicer than BC! Obviously the pool and resort in general isn't as nice as BC but the room was so beautifully updated! BC is looking a bit tired or at least it was when we were there last.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

The construction at CS is contained entirely to the area where the tower is going- it's not AT ALL like what Poly had going on! We saw that on our honeymoon in 4/15 and agreed that we would hate to stay at a hotel with that much construction going on everywhere.

We stayed in Casitas 3 and it was very quiet, I would venture to say perhaps even the quietest resort we've ever stayed at. I will admit that we didn't venture around the resort much at all, but I don't think you would see much of or hear anything from the construction staying in that area. We had our car the whole time we were there so I'm not sure how far the walk is from there to the lobby though.

I agree with this. The construction is just at the tower and didn’t bother me at all. We were in cabanas 8A.
I haven’t been to cbr but the construction there looks to be equivalent to csr....just the towers at both places.

 

[wendow]

I’ve beenmpondering it for our Jan trip too, but don’t we still have to pay parking and resort fee on top of the 50k points? Uugghh.

Yup, 50k points, which is just a lot in terms of Marriott points PLUS a $35 resort fee!?! I'm not sure I can do it. Like @kidsfirsttrip posted, if I was redeeming 50k a night for 4 nights and getting one free, I'd feel better about that.