Debt Dumpers - 2017

So I might be going to WDW for a few days next month. I have been nominated to be on the board of a large public health organization and I will know by December 20 whether or not I get elected. If I do get elected, then I need to go to their annual meeting the end of January, which happens to be in Orlando.

I mentioned this to my bestie and she told me that she just got an AP. Then we started dreaming of taking the weekend before my meeting to hang out at Disney. And then the dream started to feel like a plan. We both ran it past the SOs and they both said it would be fine! My airfare would be covered by work. I would cover the hotel with SPG points. I have enough money saved in gift cards to cover my ticket cost. I would mostly just have to worry about food and some souvenir money.

I have already booked the hotel, since I can cancel it if we don't end up going. And I started setting up dining reservations for us. I snagged a breakfast reservation to BOG!
 
So I might be going to WDW for a few days next month. I have been nominated to be on the board of a large public health organization and I will know by December 20 whether or not I get elected. If I do get elected, then I need to go to their annual meeting the end of January, which happens to be in Orlando.

I mentioned this to my bestie and she told me that she just got an AP. Then we started dreaming of taking the weekend before my meeting to hang out at Disney. And then the dream started to feel like a plan. We both ran it past the SOs and they both said it would be fine! My airfare would be covered by work. I would cover the hotel with SPG points. I have enough money saved in gift cards to cover my ticket cost. I would mostly just have to worry about food and some souvenir money.

I have already booked the hotel, since I can cancel it if we don't end up going. And I started setting up dining reservations for us. I snagged a breakfast reservation to BOG!


Jealous!! I keep pricing long weekends at Disney as if I'm actually able to take a trip anytime soon :rolleyes:
 
So I might be going to WDW for a few days next month. I have been nominated to be on the board of a large public health organization and I will know by December 20 whether or not I get elected. If I do get elected, then I need to go to their annual meeting the end of January, which happens to be in Orlando.

I mentioned this to my bestie and she told me that she just got an AP. Then we started dreaming of taking the weekend before my meeting to hang out at Disney. And then the dream started to feel like a plan. We both ran it past the SOs and they both said it would be fine! My airfare would be covered by work. I would cover the hotel with SPG points. I have enough money saved in gift cards to cover my ticket cost. I would mostly just have to worry about food and some souvenir money.

I have already booked the hotel, since I can cancel it if we don't end up going. And I started setting up dining reservations for us. I snagged a breakfast reservation to BOG!
Exciting! We will be there at the end of January :)
 


Good news on my car! The mechanic called today and said the popping noise my steering wheel was making is no big deal. He said basically it's a small plastic or vinyl part in my dashboard that has worn down and is making that noise, and he has seen it in my type of car several times. He said he could fix it if I wanted to, but that it posed no safety threat at all and wouldn't cause any problems. Since it would cost about $300 to fix (he would have to take my whole dashboard out to get to it), I told him I wasn't worried about it. And because he's the nice guy he is, he didn't charge me a dime to check it! I am thinking I should pick him up a gift card to a nearby restaurant for Christmas. He is always honest and fair priced, which is a trait that's hard to come by in many mechanics today!

I left work early today to run a couple errands. I was trying to return a couple of items to Old Navy from Black Friday shopping, but their entire computer system was down. :headache: DH and I will be in the house all day tomorrow with the snow here, so I'll have some time to wrap Christmas presents!
 
My DH thinks it is better to list as buy it now and not bid on eBay. Although he is constantly then checking for watchers. And usually when there are X # of them, it sells. I think he sold 4 items yesterday and, of course, shipping on one of them was cheaper through FedEx so I had to drop that off at lunch time and the others will go to our post office this afternoon.

I feel I need to say thank you again for posting about buy it now - when I switched the auctions to buy it now, that somehow also included a best price option (I'm sure I could have opted out but I didn't even notice). Anyway, today someone submitted a very reasonable offer, so one thing is now on its way to a new home! The amount of money is minimal but it still feels like an accomplishment. I'm thinking tomorrow I might be able to find a few more things to list.
 
DH's Chase Sapphire Preferred card was compromised. Over $1000 in charges made in the last two days. I caught all the charges before they actually posted to the account. They are sending him a new card in the next few days. Tis the season.
 


DH's Chase Sapphire Preferred card was compromised. Over $1000 in charges made in the last two days. I caught all the charges before they actually posted to the account. They are sending him a new card in the next few days. Tis the season.

UGH. People think I'm weird for checking my bank account and credit card every day, but it pays to be vigilant. Glad you caught it early!
 
UGH. People think I'm weird for checking my bank account and credit card every day, but it pays to be vigilant. Glad you caught it early!

I reconcile charges on Sunday morning before our weekly budget meeting, so I noticed them right away. I think it pays to stay on top of finances. YNAB really helps with that.
 
DH's Chase Sapphire Preferred card was compromised. Over $1000 in charges made in the last two days. I caught all the charges before they actually posted to the account. They are sending him a new card in the next few days. Tis the season.
Ugh, I am surprised Chase didn’t catch it. When my CSR was compromised, I got an email about the possible fraud within a very short time of the fraudulent transaction. Maybe because I had used it for breakfast and dinner in my area (East Coast) and the gas station transaction was in the Midwest.
 
Ugh, I am surprised Chase didn’t catch it. When my CSR was compromised, I got an email about the possible fraud within a very short time of the fraudulent transaction. Maybe because I had used it for breakfast and dinner in my area (East Coast) and the gas station transaction was in the Midwest.

The charges were all online transactions. We shop online a lot, so I could see how this activity might not trigger a fraud alert.
 
Well, my car insurance has gone up by 12%... I had just gotten it reduced because I don't drive more than 5,000 miles in a year, and now it's back up again. No accidents, claims, etc. Sigh.
 
Well, my car insurance has gone up by 12%... I had just gotten it reduced because I don't drive more than 5,000 miles in a year, and now it's back up again. No accidents, claims, etc. Sigh.

Ours went up a bunch and when I asked why, they said it went up across the board because of a high volume of claims due to hurricanes.
 
My cat had been feeling better after the whole UTI issue on Thanksgiving, but then last night she started showing the same symptoms again (frequently in and out of the litter box, only urinating small amounts) so I called the vet this morning and they were able to get me in 30 minutes later. Unfortunately she didn't have enough urine in her bladder to get a urine sample, so the vet asked if I could leave her there for awhile (which I did so I could go to work). Now i'm just waiting on a call from the vet. I'm sure it's probably going to be another $300 or so. *sigh*
 
Well, my car insurance has gone up by 12%... I had just gotten it reduced because I don't drive more than 5,000 miles in a year, and now it's back up again. No accidents, claims, etc. Sigh.
Ours went up a bunch and when I asked why, they said it went up across the board because of a high volume of claims due to hurricanes.

Our car insurance went up only a nominal amount- our homeowner's was what took the hit from hail claims around here. I actually need to call and check on upping my car insurance liability coverage since I talked with an insurance lawyer about it the other day and he claims it probably wouldn't be that expensive to increase liability coverage. We'll see.
 
@dayvewc what do you teach?

Sorry on the delay. End of semester crunch time means I haven't been online much. But I teach high school mathematics (Algebras I, II, & III; Geometry, Pre-Calculus with Trig, and Calculus)

On a completely unrelated note. I'm taking my mom to WDW for spring break this year. I've got most everything planned. Just not sure about one of the dining reservations. I have a 6:30 pm reservation for Be Our Guest. I ate there a couple of years ago right after it opened and while I thought the detail in the theme was outstanding, I was less impressed with the food. Pretty sure my mom will feel the same way, so trying to decide if it is worth the cost of the meal to just look at the interior of the restaurant. Some days I think "absolutely" and others I'm thinking "absolutely not". Any suggestions or other thoughts?

Second question. We will be there in March, and the other day DVC announced their "Disney After Dark" dates. We will be there for one of the Animal Kingdom nights. And it so happens that the date is the same as when I had planned to go to Animal Kingdom anyway. Just me, I would completely stay for the after hours in Pandora, but not sure I want to drag my mom along with me that late, and I'm also pretty certain I don't want to try to chaperone her back to the resort and then return. We did alter the arrival date to one day earlier, so I kind of have the option of us doing Animal Kingdom on the new 1st day, making a shorter day on the 21st, and I can go back on my own afterwards. Or am I just being a bad person contemplating leaving my mom alone in the resort.
 
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Sorry on the delay. End of semester crunch time means I haven't been online much. But I teach high school mathematics (Algebras I, II, & III; Geometry, Pre-Calculus with Trig, and Calculus)

On a completely unrelated note. I'm taking my mom to WDW for spring break this year. I've got most everything planned. Just not sure about one of the dining reservations. I have a 6:30 pm reservation for Be Our Guest. I ate there a couple of years ago right after it opened and while I thought the detail in the theme was outstanding, I was less impressed with the food. Pretty sure my mom will feel the same way, so trying to decide if it is worth the cost of the meal to just look at the interior of the restaurant. Some days I think "absolutely" and others I'm thinking "absolutely not". Any suggestions or other thoughts?

Second question. We will be there in March, and the other day DVC announced their "Disney After Dark" dates. We will be there for one of the Animal Kingdom nights. And it so happens that the date is the same as when I had planned to go to Animal Kingdom anyway. Just me, I would completely stay for the after hours in Pandora, but not sure I want to drag my mom along with me that late, and I'm also pretty certain I don't want to try to chaperone her back to the resort and then return. We did alter the arrival date to one day earlier, so I kind of have the option of us doing Animal Kingdom on the new 1st day, making a shorter day on the 21st, and I can go back on my own afterwards. Or am I just being a bad person contemplating leaving my mom alone in the resort.

On BOG, did you go for lunch or dinner? I've been for both and didn't think the lunch food was good at all. Certainly nothing better than what I could get at any other quick service restaurant. I've had dinner twice there now (once in 2015 and again this year) and both meals I've had have been excellent.

On AK, can you do a mid-day break and return to AK later that night for Disney After Dark? Maybe your mom could get a nap in and then be recharged for the evening. Pandora is pretty cool at night, so I would recommend seeing it!
 
On a completely unrelated note. I'm taking my mom to WDW for spring break this year. I've got most everything planned. Just not sure about one of the dining reservations. I have a 6:30 pm reservation for Be Our Guest. I ate there a couple of years ago right after it opened and while I thought the detail in the theme was outstanding, I was less impressed with the food. Pretty sure my mom will feel the same way, so trying to decide if it is worth the cost of the meal to just look at the interior of the restaurant. Some days I think "absolutely" and others I'm thinking "absolutely not". Any suggestions or other thoughts?
We had dinner at BOG just in September and really enjoyed the food. We did breakfast on the trip before and were only impressed by getting to ride 7DMT before the park opened :) I've stayed away from lunch because of mixed reviews and the pricing/general chaos it sounds like. I'd probably go back for dinner.
 
Our car insurance went up only a nominal amount- our homeowner's was what took the hit from hail claims around here. I actually need to call and check on upping my car insurance liability coverage since I talked with an insurance lawyer about it the other day and he claims it probably wouldn't be that expensive to increase liability coverage. We'll see.

We had a bad hail storm in the area this spring that damaged a lot of vehicles, luckily none in my area since the hail stones were smaller for us, but I wonder if that's why the rates went up.

On a completely unrelated note. I'm taking my mom to WDW for spring break this year. I've got most everything planned. Just not sure about one of the dining reservations. I have a 6:30 pm reservation for Be Our Guest. I ate there a couple of years ago right after it opened and while I thought the detail in the theme was outstanding, I was less impressed with the food. Pretty sure my mom will feel the same way, so trying to decide if it is worth the cost of the meal to just look at the interior of the restaurant. Some days I think "absolutely" and others I'm thinking "absolutely not". Any suggestions or other thoughts?

We had dinner at BOG once and probably wouldn't do it again. We thought it was overpriced. We enjoyed lunch much more.

Second question. We will be there in March, and the other day DVC announced their "Disney After Dark" dates. We will be there for one of the Animal Kingdom nights. And it so happens that the date is the same as when I had planned to go to Animal Kingdom anyway. Just me, I would completely stay for the after hours in Pandora, but not sure I want to drag my mom along with me that late, and I'm also pretty certain I don't want to try to chaperone her back to the resort and then return. We did alter the arrival date to one day earlier, so I kind of have the option of us doing Animal Kingdom on the new 1st day, making a shorter day on the 21st, and I can go back on my own afterwards. Or am I just being a bad person contemplating leaving my mom alone in the resort.

We did a DVC After Dark evening at AK during our Sept trip and I would highly recommend it!! No waits for most of the rides and half empty shows for Rivers of Light, plus a free mug was given out at the show, along with free hot dogs, chips, drinks and cookies at Flame Tree and free Mickey ice cream bars at another place. And Pandora is so stunning at night. We were able to walk right on the river journey ride and only waited 45 minutes for FoP, which beat the 2 hours we waited earlier in our trip!
 
On BOG, did you go for lunch or dinner? I've been for both and didn't think the lunch food was good at all. Certainly nothing better than what I could get at any other quick service restaurant. I've had dinner twice there now (once in 2015 and again this year) and both meals I've had have been excellent.

On AK, can you do a mid-day break and return to AK later that night for Disney After Dark? Maybe your mom could get a nap in and then be recharged for the evening. Pandora is pretty cool at night, so I would recommend seeing it!

The one time I went, it was dinner in 2013 I think.

We had dinner at BOG just in September and really enjoyed the food. We did breakfast on the trip before and were only impressed by getting to ride 7DMT before the park opened :) I've stayed away from lunch because of mixed reviews and the pricing/general chaos it sounds like. I'd probably go back for dinner.



We had dinner at BOG once and probably wouldn't do it again. We thought it was overpriced. We enjoyed lunch much more.



We did a DVC After Dark evening at AK during our Sept trip and I would highly recommend it!! No waits for most of the rides and half empty shows for Rivers of Light, plus a free mug was given out at the show, along with free hot dogs, chips, drinks and cookies at Flame Tree and free Mickey ice cream bars at another place. And Pandora is so stunning at night. We were able to walk right on the river journey ride and only waited 45 minutes for FoP, which beat the 2 hours we waited earlier in our trip!

I'll need to double check the tentative plans, but if I remember it all correctly, the AK day is after a morning at Disney Springs with a couple hours rest before heading to the park.

I guess I need to research it a bit more. My biggest concern is simply the late hours coupled with the time difference (WDW is an hour ahead of our internal clocks, so even if it ends at midnight that's 1 a.m.).

I didn't realize that Rivers of Light would show during the extra time. That might make it much more worthwhile. Take a few extra hours to nap before heading there.

Geez, I'm tired. I'm rambling. But I have ideas now. Thanks!
 

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