I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[wendow]

This is insAAnity! I wonder what their threshold will be for stopping? Are new accounts getting locked or are they still just going through previously locked ones to now shut down?

Off topic but this made me think of it @SouthFayetteFan and others who do this- if I bring disney GCs for our trip would it be easiest to charge to our room for the onsite portion of the stay and then pay the room balance nightly with GC? Or would you recommend paying with the GC itself? Also do all snack places/restaurants take GC on property?

We used to charge to our MB and then go by the front desk every couple days to pay the balance with a GC. But between the long walks to the front for some resorts and the really long lines for front desk, I’ve gotten to where I just use a GC to pay in the parks. And yes, the snack carts do take GCs.

Anyone remember years ago (like 2012 and before) when they would let you ‘load’ a GC to your account at the resort and just work off that? That was really so nice!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I was thinking I would combine them all on one of my other empty cards, and not put them with any of my other cards with balances, so at least if they managed to do something, that my other cards would still be safe.

I feel like that's for the best. I don't think you're gonna get caught up in this and your trip is obviously in good shape now and that's what mattered most! I wouldn't sweat this one (not that you were going to!)

 

[becauseimnew]

Planning ahead:
It will be my turn to get the CP for 2021/2022 so this is in preparation of that. This will keep both players under 5/24.
The plan is to do a MDD in November.

The plan:
End Feb P2 : Delta Biz - $2K MSR
March P1 : Barclay Aviator - $1 MSR
April P1 -- Hyatt - $6K MSR - hoping for better SUB, might be able to hold off until May.
April P2 -- Hyatt $6K MSR - hoping for better SUB, might be able to hold off until May.
July P2 - Chase Biz Card - still trying to decide if he should go for a SW Performance card. He has 27K qualifying RR, meaning he's 100K from extending the CP. If he goes for the Performance card, he'll be 25K RR from the CP, we can't spend the $25K in 6 months I just can't bring myself to MS that much money. Depending on the referral SUBs when I go to apply we might be able to pull it off, +20K RR from my 2 referrals.
August P1 - Chase Biz card - $5K MSR
October P2 - Chase Biz card $5K MSR
November P1 - MDD 2 SW Cards - $4K MSR

That's $33,001 of MSR from Feb to Jan 2021. Let's see how far off we veer from the plan.

 

[elgerber]

I feel like that's for the best. I don't think you're gonna get caught up in this and your trip is obviously in good shape now and that's what mattered most! I wouldn't sweat this one (not that you were going to!)

Yeah, I'm not super concerned about this

 

[StephPlum]

Not sure if this helps. I've ridden it, and it's very nice. At the top, there's a little museum/cafe and observation deck with view of the whole city. There are also several trails to hike San Jacinto park. We went in July so it was nice to get out of the 110 degree heat (it's about 75 degrees up the peak). But if you're short on time and not even visiting Palm Springs, I'm not sure if it's worth a special drive over from Joshua Tree.

Thanks, it does help. I think it will stay plan B. My spreadsheet for trips has all my plans in priority order. Most times I don't know exactly how long something will take (we might see wildlife and stop and observe for 1/2 hour or even more or a hike takes longer/shorter than expected). So I always have something on the list for if we finish top priority items and have free time. Palm Springs will be on there only if we have time but not a must do.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

This is insAAnity! I wonder what their threshold will be for stopping? Are new accounts getting locked or are they still just going through previously locked ones to now shut down?

Off topic but this made me think of it @SouthFayetteFan and others who do this- if I bring disney GCs for our trip would it be easiest to charge to our room for the onsite portion of the stay and then pay the room balance nightly with GC? Or would you recommend paying with the GC itself? Also do all snack places/restaurants take GC on property?

I am typically in the pay with the GC as you go camp. As @wendow said, it can be a nuissance to pay at the desk, especially if there's a line of people checking in or not a lot of people working the desk.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

It features 2 comedic actors who do a pretty hilarious retelling of the story (poking fun at the plot at times). The hardest I will laugh on a Disney trip will be in this show guaranteed. I recommend the show to everybody. I think even my parents go see it when they’re traveling alone to Disney!

I’m not saying you have to see it, but it’s a great way to spend 30 minutes in a comfy seat, air conditioned theater and be entertained

DH and I love this show as well...it did take a few years for us to see it since we assumed it was for kids like the Disney Jr dance party

 

[momtoprincesslauren]

Hi. Thanks for all the helpful information in this thread. I've learned so much just reading little bits of it.

 

[elgerber]

I am typically in the pay with the GC as you go camp. As @wendow said, it can be a nuissance to pay at the desk, especially if there's a line of people checking in or not a lot of people working the desk.

I always pay with my magic band, then go to the front desk every few days. I go on the way back from the parks in the afternoon, and it's usually not very busy. I love the convenience of the bands, so I go that way.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

This is insAAnity! I wonder what their threshold will be for stopping? Are new accounts getting locked or are they still just going through previously locked ones to now shut down?

Off topic but this made me think of it @SouthFayetteFan and others who do this- if I bring disney GCs for our trip would it be easiest to charge to our room for the onsite portion of the stay and then pay the room balance nightly with GC? Or would you recommend paying with the GC itself? Also do all snack places/restaurants take GC on property?

We use our magic bands for room charges and I pay the balance each night at the front desk....I like having the print out of all charges

 

[mhartman09]

I am typically in the pay with the GC as you go camp. As @wendow said, it can be a nuissance to pay at the desk, especially if there's a line of people checking in or not a lot of people working the desk.

We use bands for pretty much everything and stop by the desk each evening or at least every other evening to pay down the account with GCs. I typically do this pretty late in the evening and found the front desk isn't super busy so it doesn't take long at all.

 

[snugglebug]

I always pay with my magic band, then go to the front desk every few days. I go on the way back from the parks in the afternoon, and it's usually not very busy. I love the convenience of the bands, so I go that way.

When on site we use bands then I pay every few days. I tend to go after settling the kids down in the evening so it's a bit late and empty so no lines to worry about.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

We use bands for pretty much everything and stop by the desk each evening or at least every other evening to pay down the account with GCs. I typically do this pretty late in the evening and found the front desk isn't super busy so it doesn't take long at all.

I tried that on my recent trip (later in the evening after all the parks had closed and such) but they only had 2 people working the desk and I stood there for 30 minutes. I was sooooo frustrated since what I wanted to do should have only taken like 3 minuets. One woman in front of me was trying to coordinate picking up some packages and the other guy was checking in and had a million questions about RotR BGs... and the cast member was giving them so much wrong information. I just bit my tongue because I was ready to flip out, lol!

This is the second straight trip where I had that experience (it seems they are really cutting down on staffing at the desks) so I'm all in on paying as I go now, lol! I'm glad your experience has been different though I miss the days when there were a bunch of CMs at the desk waiting to greet you at all times of day!

EDIT: I wonder if there's a difference here at the convention resorts (since my experiences are at YC and CR) where more "business type" people are checking in later in the evenings and aren't skipping the desk vs. other resorts where there's more people doing online check-in. Food for thought...

 

[apollodi]

Slightly off topic: I mentioned before not being able to book Christmas and New Years period for Hilton Bonnet Creek while everything else was open, well you can as of a few days ago. Less than 11 months out but I got my 5 nights with one night free all set. aspire card makes this deal sweet. 250 resort credit on my 240k point stay. Sprinkle in some pixie dust for a diamond member upgrade possibility, my kid will love this!

You reminded me to check this hotel for award availability again. A couple weeks ago, there were only a couple of 5 night reservations available for standard room rewards. Today, there is one in late Feb 2020... and every 5 night reservation in Jan 2021 is also available. Nothing in between. Maybe they are releasing a few rooms for standard awards in monthly batches?

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Shutdowns have reached a NEW LOW today... Somebody who had cashed out for gift cards via Points.com and had the gift cards in hand and had even used some of them had all of their gift card balances wiped to ZERO today.

So if you think you're a potential shutdown target and you made it out with some gift cards...USE THEM...NOW!!! This is getting ridiculous...what next, will they come siphon the gas from his car for the guy bought using his gas station gift cards????

Thanks for the heads up. I blinked a short while back and cashed out for Disney Gift cards. I got them all entered in the MyDisneyGift card site yesterday. Today I went and got a few more to transfer the balances off any card they might have access to.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So just to double back to the gift cards and shutdown thing...

Keep in mind that I feel like the vast majority of you here are safe! We did not have many people who were getting 4+ Citi AA bonuses in 2018/2019. I don't want to cause panic here among people who likely are out of the scope of the issue!

 

[wendow]

I tried that on my recent trip (later in the evening after all the parks had closed and such) but they only had 2 people working the desk and I stood there for 30 minutes. I was sooooo frustrated since what I wanted to do should have only taken like 3 minuets. One woman in front of me was trying to coordinate picking up some packages and the other guy was checking in and had a million questions about RotR BGs... and the cast member was giving them so much wrong information. I just bit my tongue because I was ready to flip out, lol!

This is the second straight trip where I had that experience (it seems they are really cutting down on staffing at the desks) so I'm all in on paying as I go now, lol! I'm glad your experience has been different though I miss the days when there were a bunch of CMs at the desk waiting to greet you at all times of day!

EDIT: I wonder if there's a difference here at the convention resorts (since my experiences are at YC and CR) where more "business type" people are checking in later in the evenings and aren't skipping the desk vs. other resorts where there's more people doing online check-in. Food for thought...

On our aug trip, every time I went by the front desk at POR, it took 30 mins. Same at poly in Dec. Didn’t help that done entitled family decided to cut me Then just stayed at ASMo. Had to go by front desk 3 times. Every time was a long wait. There were a decent amount of CMs working but it seemed like everyone had problems.

 

[disfanforlife]

I have found it easier just to pay with my DGC as I go along. That way like others mentioned you don’t have to wait in line or worry about forgetting and have it charged to your credit card.

 

[disneybirds]

Off topic but this made me think of it @SouthFayetteFan and others who do this- if I bring disney GCs for our trip would it be easiest to charge to our room for the onsite portion of the stay and then pay the room balance nightly with GC? Or would you recommend paying with the GC itself? Also do all snack places/restaurants take GC on property?

We just use the GC as we go. We rarely have any issues with the GC and the receipt shows the balance so I can keep up with how much we have left.

 

[GlamMistress]

Friends, what is the best strategy for reduced (free) WDW tickets? Is it still a card like Cap One and purchase through Undercover Tourist to erase? We are doing Food and Wine in September so I need to get on the ball, planning for the tickets.

DH could get the Barclays Arrival+ but I can't.

The price on hoppers went up today in addition to the passes.