I'mmmmm back! Bet you thought i had forgotten about you. Not a chance! Gonna see if I can get caught up a bit....
I hear you on the inability to save unless you stash a few dollars here and there out of reach. Those Disney gift cards are ideal for that. All of my GCs ordered from Disney have come in an envelope so I can't imagine why yours have arrived in different manners. I guess the good thing is that you received them! As for the Disney Visa Debit with an annual fee.... that's just WRONG! At least you have a way to offset the fee this time around. Now the $75 that you have accumulated in Disney GCs on the other hand... that sounds like a bit of good news. That should go a good ways towards paying for your meals as long as you are not having to pay for anyone else. Those Disney Visa rewards cards should work well too!
So far I have 4 gift cards stashed so they are going to be looking at me funny too when I go to cash them all in. Instead of Disney GCs I decided that I would start making any deposits I could into Paypal so next time I can just buy one BIG Disney gift card or just withdraw the cash so it can be used at places like the carts that have stopped taking GCs or even for use outside of DL. I have been making sure to give myself an allowance each month to purchase GCs with so that we will have a good amount saved by then. Last GC purchase from Disneyshopping.com I went through QuickRewards. They credited me 3.5%. Plus I put the purchase on my Disney Visa so I received the 1 point per dollar. So as a little added bonus I ended up with $15.50 back on the last $500 GC I purchased to put back into funds for DL.
Which reminds me, Sherry.... after that little boost I have decided that Quickrewards is pretty darn good too! In about a month I have a $28 balance. Obviously, part of that was from shopping but apparently they do credit well on their surveys. I think I am getting the hang of their site so who knows.... the rewards may even improve! After I cashed out my Sunshine Rewards I started doing most of the surveys on QR instead to see how it compared. I made a list of all the ones both sites offered and think I have figured out who pays better for which survey so now my plan is to go down a checklist each day and try to optimize my pay outs. My Sunshine account is already back up to $4.70 too.
I must have shopped through them too. So whatever you do it can add up and help fund your trip to DL.
bumbershoot offers some good survey tips, especially about taking your time doing surveys. I read somewhere that they actually have timers on the pages. If you go too fast you could be disqualified because they assume you are not paying attention to the content of the survey. I should take her advice and get over there and read on the forums but like you say.... who has the time?
Whats funny about you mentioning this is I got one from a "Disney co-sponsor" that is what they called themselves, asking me to do surveys. I think it is because I did the survey on the
Disneyland website and they asked if I would do a live survey with their rep. I did and then the other day I got an email asking me to regularly do them.
I declined.
GASP! I'm with Sherry on this one! I would have taken them right up on that offer! I love to talk Disneyland so I might as well offer my opinion any chance I get. Plus it would be great if I just happened to luck into an award or some sort of special offer.
I think that your trip or trips to DL are a wonderful reward/celebration for your birthday! I wish I could do mine there too! Good luck putting your plans in motion. I am beginning to think that a solo trip is starting to appeal to you more all the time. Now if you can just get past not wanting to go to Goofy's alone you would be all set. Sounds like a prime location to set up a meet with someone else who's going to be at the park. Yoo-hoo! Oh Disers! Anyone out there????
I haven't fully decided what my take on Facebook is. I enjoy talking to some people I would never talk to otherwise. On the other hand, sometimes it's easy to be sucked into less than ideal situations or you find out things you might have been better off not knowing. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! Around here on the DIS, while we may tend to stray here and there with topics for the most part all roads lead back to Disneyland and things related so we at least have a common bond and an air of happiness is usually in the air. Safer here. MUCH safer!
Sherry, I did notice that I could not check on my Disneyshopping account for a few days. Perhaps they are working out some of the issues that have been giving you so much trouble. It would be nice if all the Disney sites were linked somehow. In the meantime I just keep trying user names and passwords until I get it right! I prefer using the same one everywhere too but we are supposed to know that it is not safe to do that. Guess they are just looking out for us.
If I'd known how it worked ahead of time, I would have sent you a referral bonus. The surveys pay small amounts but it adds up! I've gotten some fun ones, like reviewing new movies based only on the trailer and answering questions about vacation clubs. A few boring ones too (financial products anyone?). Disney gift card in my future as well. 
Hi Sherry!!! We're still planning on going to the Farmer's Market on July 31.....late afternoon/dinnerish time. Hoping you'll be able to stop by & meet up!! That would be awesome!
