I love credit cards so much!

[mhartman09]

Just took my break at work, so I called Chase at the new number they provided. The rep told me the Disney booking number would not be available until about 72 hours before our stay. When I told her that wouldn't work at all, she put me on hold to speak with a supervisor. She said I'd need the vendor confirmation number, which isn't available for her to see in her system, but if I could hold for a specialist at the help desk they could get the number for me. I didn't have time to wait, as she said the hold could be for a while, so I told her I'd call back when I take my lunch in about an hour. She made notes on my account and told me to tell whoever I speak to when I call back to check the notes on the account and put me through to the specialist at the help desk to get me the number I need. Will report back after I call them back.

 

[mhartman09]

Just got my UR portal booking linked in MDE. I called Chase back and was able to get what they called the "vendor conformation number" which was way different from the confirmation number on my email confirmation. Then I called Disney and was on hold for about 25 minutes for a CM. She told me she'd have to transfer me to the Internet Help Desk to see if they could convert my number over to a Disney number so I could link. She did say since I booked yesterday, the ressie might not be in their system yet so I might have to call back (she gave me the direct number to that dept). Was on hold for about another 7 minutes or so. Luckily the next CM I spoke with was able to locate the ressie and get everything linked up for me!! Now we're all set to start making our ADRs. I'm so glad I was able to get this resolved so quickly. Took several phone calls to get it done, but overall it wasn't too difficult.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Just got my UR portal booking linked in MDE. I called Chase back and was able to get what they called the "vendor conformation number" which was way different from the confirmation number on my email confirmation. Then I called Disney and was on hold for about 25 minutes for a CM. She told me she'd have to transfer me to the Internet Help Desk to see if they could convert my number over to a Disney number so I could link. She did say since I booked yesterday, the ressie might not be in their system yet so I might have to call back (she gave me the direct number to that dept). Was on hold for about another 7 minutes or so. Luckily the next CM I spoke with was able to locate the ressie and get everything linked up for me!! Now we're all set to start making our ADRs. I'm so glad I was able to get this resolved so quickly. Took several phone calls to get it done, but overall it wasn't too difficult.

So glad it was handled. I'm going to have to check my ressie booked thru UR portal. The airline showed right away, no issues with plane tickets but I'd be pretty upset if we showed up at hotel 9 pm & told no reservations

 

[mhartman09]

So glad it was handled. I'm going to have to check my ressie booked thru UR portal. The airline showed right away, no issues with plane tickets but I'd be pretty upset if we showed up at hotel 9 pm & told no reservations

I would imagine yours will be fine, but it probably wouldn't hurt to check just in case. I was told originally that the hotel would have my booking 72 hours prior to my arrival - but we all know with Disney that just won't work...LOL. I needed that number ASAP.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Anyone know if an e-gift card at Best Buy can be used to buy another gift card, like Starbucks?

I would imagine yours will be fine, but it probably wouldn't hurt to check just in case. I was told originally that the hotel would have my booking 72 hours prior to my arrival - but we all know with Disney that just won't work...LOL. I needed that number ASAP.

I need to contact the hotel to let them know we'll be checking in late anyway, so I can do both at once.

 

[Lain]

Anyone know if an e-gift card at Best Buy can be used to buy another gift card, like Starbucks?

YMMV by store, but usually yes. Some stores may have a policy not to allow it, but the in-store POS system allows it. Just let them know you'd like to pay with a gift card and they'll scan it if there's a barcode or type in the card number, then input the 4-digit PIN. I usually just screencap the egift cards and have them ready on my smartphone photo album to scan. FYI Best Buy also sells Disney gift cards.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

YMMV by store, but usually yes. Some stores may have a policy not to allow it, but the in-store POS system allows it. Just let them know you'd like to pay with a gift card and they'll scan it if there's a barcode or type in the card number, then input the 4-digit PIN. I usually just screencap the egift cards and have them ready on my smartphone photo album to scan. FYI Best Buy also sells Disney gift cards.

Thanks. I have some Disney GC but was looking for a Starbucks card & McDonalds for our DL trip. Not generally a McDs patron but their coffee is not bad & will be very close to our hotel. I'll keep in mind for Disney though.

 

[Albort]

YMMV by store, but usually yes. Some stores may have a policy not to allow it, but the in-store POS system allows it. Just let them know you'd like to pay with a gift card and they'll scan it if there's a barcode or type in the card number, then input the 4-digit PIN. I usually just screencap the egift cards and have them ready on my smartphone photo album to scan. FYI Best Buy also sells Disney gift cards.

dont suggest Best Buy though. Last time i bought something with a gift card, they took my number and had a manager check it for fraud. :\ waited 15 mins.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

dont suggest Best Buy though. Last time i bought something with a gift card, they took my number and had a manager check it for fraud. :\ waited 15 mins.

Darn. I do E-rewards and one of the choices is Best Buy card. I've always just done miles in the past but thought I could get Best Buy & buy McDonalds GC this time

 

[aprilchem]

Would you guys help me with a little strategy?

DH and I both got CSR cards when they were offering the 100k bonus. I currently have 114k points on my card, DH just met his $4k spend so he'll have 100k at the end of the billing cycle. He has another 25k on another Chase card that he is hoping to transfer to his CSR. We spend a reasonable amount on both of these cards on work-related travel expenses (DH travels about 25% of the time), so I'm expecting that we will have ~250k points total by June or so.

So here's the strategy help request - I would like to take my family of 5 from Virginia to Hawaii for two weeks in August, using these points as judiciously as possible while having a nice vacation. I have already purchased tickets from Seattle to Honolulu, because I got them for an awesome price ($310 each). We will be there for 14 days. I understand I'm going to have to pay for some of this trip & my points won't cover it all, but I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I'm wondering if anyone can offer some strategic advise on these questions:

• I need to get us to Seattle - is the best way to do that to go through the CSR portal, or transfer the points to another airline to do that?
• Would you prioritize using points to book flights first or book lodging? I know I will run out of points eventually - just not sure what gives me the best bang for my buck.
• I know I can use the points for other things, but it seems like paying for the actual travel/lodging (rather than using them for gift cards for food, etc) is the best use. That's correct, yes?

Thanks in advance for your help - I am definitely not a travel guru, and this process is confusing!

April

 

[momto4obkids]

Darn. I do E-rewards and one of the choices is Best Buy card. I've always just done miles in the past but thought I could get Best Buy & buy McDonalds GC this time

I go in to best buy with e-gift cards all of the time I get Disney cards, hotels.com, Starbucks and never had any issues with any of the cashiers, people having problems is very rare, so go for it!

 

[calypso726]

Would you guys help me with a little strategy?

DH and I both got CSR cards when they were offering the 100k bonus. I currently have 114k points on my card, DH just met his $4k spend so he'll have 100k at the end of the billing cycle. He has another 25k on another Chase card that he is hoping to transfer to his CSR. We spend a reasonable amount on both of these cards on work-related travel expenses (DH travels about 25% of the time), so I'm expecting that we will have ~250k points total by June or so.

So here's the strategy help request - I would like to take my family of 5 from Virginia to Hawaii for two weeks in August, using these points as judiciously as possible while having a nice vacation. I have already purchased tickets from Seattle to Honolulu, because I got them for an awesome price ($310 each). We will be there for 14 days. I understand I'm going to have to pay for some of this trip & my points won't cover it all, but I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I'm wondering if anyone can offer some strategic advise on these questions:

• I need to get us to Seattle - is the best way to do that to go through the CSR portal, or transfer the points to another airline to do that?
• Would you prioritize using points to book flights first or book lodging? I know I will run out of points eventually - just not sure what gives me the best bang for my buck.
• I know I can use the points for other things, but it seems like paying for the actual travel/lodging (rather than using them for gift cards for food, etc) is the best use. That's correct, yes?

Thanks in advance for your help - I am definitely not a travel guru, and this process is confusing!

April

First, congrats on the bonuses. Not sure if it is too late for you to change this but if you were going Seattle, I would have booked my Hawaii flights from Seattle. I would have transferred UR points to BA. BA Avios awards are distance based. Going to Hawaii from the west coast using Avios would have used the least amount of points.

Choosing to transfer UR points to to an airline or use the points as cash should depend on several factors. If there is award availability for all passengers and the number of points required is less than the number of points needed to purchase then I would transfer to miles. However, if the number of points required to pay for the flight is less than, equal to or very close to the amount required for an award ticket then I would pay with points. If I can earn butt in seat miles then I'd rather go that route.

I'd start checking flights from your local airport to get an idea on pricing, airlines and alliances for each airline. Hope this helps.

 

[hsmamato2]

Would you guys help me with a little strategy?

DH and I both got CSR cards when they were offering the 100k bonus. I currently have 114k points on my card, DH just met his $4k spend so he'll have 100k at the end of the billing cycle. He has another 25k on another Chase card that he is hoping to transfer to his CSR. We spend a reasonable amount on both of these cards on work-related travel expenses (DH travels about 25% of the time), so I'm expecting that we will have ~250k points total by June or so.

So here's the strategy help request - I would like to take my family of 5 from Virginia to Hawaii for two weeks in August, using these points as judiciously as possible while having a nice vacation. I have already purchased tickets from Seattle to Honolulu, because I got them for an awesome price ($310 each). We will be there for 14 days. I understand I'm going to have to pay for some of this trip & my points won't cover it all, but I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I'm wondering if anyone can offer some strategic advise on these questions:

• I need to get us to Seattle - is the best way to do that to go through the CSR portal, or transfer the points to another airline to do that?
• Would you prioritize using points to book flights first or book lodging? I know I will run out of points eventually - just not sure what gives me the best bang for my buck.
• I know I can use the points for other things, but it seems like paying for the actual travel/lodging (rather than using them for gift cards for food, etc) is the best use. That's correct, yes?

Thanks in advance for your help - I am definitely not a travel guru, and this process is confusing!

April

does Southwest run from your airport? You could use UR points transferred to Southwest to book flights from east-west coast.... an option is to compare hotels prices in HI - where do you want to stay? From my little reading, it seems like hotels are pricey,and might be a good use of points, if you can find them in the portal. If not, you could compare transferring to a hotel program for use that way.... compare which will save you more $ in the end,and use your points for the most $$ option - I think from your post,you've already bought tix to get there,so that's set right?

 

[afan]

Would you guys help me with a little strategy?

DH and I both got CSR cards when they were offering the 100k bonus. I currently have 114k points on my card, DH just met his $4k spend so he'll have 100k at the end of the billing cycle. He has another 25k on another Chase card that he is hoping to transfer to his CSR. We spend a reasonable amount on both of these cards on work-related travel expenses (DH travels about 25% of the time), so I'm expecting that we will have ~250k points total by June or so.

So here's the strategy help request - I would like to take my family of 5 from Virginia to Hawaii for two weeks in August, using these points as judiciously as possible while having a nice vacation. I have already purchased tickets from Seattle to Honolulu, because I got them for an awesome price ($310 each). We will be there for 14 days. I understand I'm going to have to pay for some of this trip & my points won't cover it all, but I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I'm wondering if anyone can offer some strategic advise on these questions:

• I need to get us to Seattle - is the best way to do that to go through the CSR portal, or transfer the points to another airline to do that?
• Would you prioritize using points to book flights first or book lodging? I know I will run out of points eventually - just not sure what gives me the best bang for my buck.
• I know I can use the points for other things, but it seems like paying for the actual travel/lodging (rather than using them for gift cards for food, etc) is the best use. That's correct, yes?

Thanks in advance for your help - I am definitely not a travel guru, and this process is confusing!

April

I would check Alaska flights out of Dulles. I was able to do a 1st class saver award for the day before memorial day for my flight home. I used aa miles to do it. It's also non stop.

Not sure where in VA you are but there are a lot of airport options and if you can get flights cheap enough I would think 14 nights hotel plus potentially 2 nights near the airport in Seattle would be better. Lodging in Hawaii isn't cheap.

 

[Aanna]

Would you guys help me with a little strategy?

DH and I both got CSR cards when they were offering the 100k bonus. I currently have 114k points on my card, DH just met his $4k spend so he'll have 100k at the end of the billing cycle. He has another 25k on another Chase card that he is hoping to transfer to his CSR. We spend a reasonable amount on both of these cards on work-related travel expenses (DH travels about 25% of the time), so I'm expecting that we will have ~250k points total by June or so.

So here's the strategy help request - I would like to take my family of 5 from Virginia to Hawaii for two weeks in August, using these points as judiciously as possible while having a nice vacation. I have already purchased tickets from Seattle to Honolulu, because I got them for an awesome price ($310 each). We will be there for 14 days. I understand I'm going to have to pay for some of this trip & my points won't cover it all, but I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I'm wondering if anyone can offer some strategic advise on these questions:

• I need to get us to Seattle - is the best way to do that to go through the CSR portal, or transfer the points to another airline to do that?
• Would you prioritize using points to book flights first or book lodging? I know I will run out of points eventually - just not sure what gives me the best bang for my buck.
• I know I can use the points for other things, but it seems like paying for the actual travel/lodging (rather than using them for gift cards for food, etc) is the best use. That's correct, yes?

Thanks in advance for your help - I am definitely not a travel guru, and this process is confusing!

April

Others know much more about the domestic airfare part, but I do have some experience with the Hawaii hotel side of things. I found that the best value was to do points and cash stays at Hyatt properties using UR points. Here is the article I used to accomplish that: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/03/16/hyatt-points-cash-availability-trick/

Of course, different priorities will lead to different strategies. On our Hawaii trip I had a limited amount of points and knew I would need to fill in the gaps with cash. On our upcoming DCL cruise trip out of Barcelona I am trying to pay for nearly everything on points. Even so, I would avoid trading UR points for gift cards: it's just not a good value at all.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Made a HUGE mistake this morning. Applied for Amex SPG card for DH and made a typo on his SS#
Of course that elicited a "call for more info" on his application. They proceeded to quiz DH for 30 minutes. Questioned our phone number (which we've had for 2 years but previously belonged to someone we still get debt collectors looking for) his employment history, etc. Apparently it opened a can of worms. They said they would email a form for more info, which we haven't received, so I'm going to guess that application is trashed.

 

[Albort]

Would you guys help me with a little strategy?

So here's the strategy help request - I would like to take my family of 5 from Virginia to Hawaii for two weeks in August, using these points as judiciously as possible while having a nice vacation. I have already purchased tickets from Seattle to Honolulu, because I got them for an awesome price ($310 each). We will be there for 14 days. I understand I'm going to have to pay for some of this trip & my points won't cover it all, but I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I'm wondering if anyone can offer some strategic advise on these questions:

• I need to get us to Seattle - is the best way to do that to go through the CSR portal, or transfer the points to another airline to do that?
• Would you prioritize using points to book flights first or book lodging? I know I will run out of points eventually - just not sure what gives me the best bang for my buck.
• I know I can use the points for other things, but it seems like paying for the actual travel/lodging (rather than using them for gift cards for food, etc) is the best use. That's correct, yes?

first question, you need to shop around. use the $.01 per point method. so say a flight is $310. thats 31k points. If you can find a flight on Chase portal for 31k less points, thats a better deal.
Seems like you got your air tickets in hand. I was told the best Hawaii redemption is to use Korean Air portal, its like 25k one way or roundtrip, im not sure which.
When it comes to flights and booking lodging and finding out whats the better deal, you need to convert the points to cents per point. So say 25k for round trip ticket. u said they were for $310. $310/25k = $.0124 per point. Now lets look at lodging. its 20k points for a night. Room goes for $250 a night. $250/20k = $.0125. Rooms should be booked first as a point is worth more.
Now there are complications that come with this. Say like, you are using your Amex Plat. this gives u 5x on airline but give u 1x on hotels. It might be better to buy your airline tickets with the Amex Plat... and use points for hotels.
As for the last question, if you can buy gift cards at a #x return, go that route. just keep in mind, if you do cancel, your gonna get it back in gc. Also your credit card insurance wont cover unreturnable $.

Made a HUGE mistake this morning. Applied for Amex SPG card for DH and made a typo on his SS#
Of course that elicited a "call for more info" on his application. They proceeded to quiz DH for 30 minutes. Questioned our phone number (which we've had for 2 years but previously belonged to someone we still get debt collectors looking for) his employment history, etc. Apparently it opened a can of worms. They said they would email a form for more info, which we haven't received, so I'm going to guess that application is trashed.

probably no hard pull if the SS num is wrong though... haha

 

[mistyinca]

Does anyone know what stores and restaurants at WDW get a discount when paying with the Chase Disney Visa? I can't find a list anywhere. Thanks!

 

[MrPTato]

Does anyone know what stores and restaurants at WDW get a discount when paying with the Chase Disney Visa? I can't find a list anywhere. Thanks!

https://disneyrewards.com/walt-disney-world-perks/

 

[mistyinca]

https://disneyrewards.com/walt-disney-world-perks/

Yes. It says select merchandise and select restaurants. I want to know which ones.

Thanks