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

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I was flipping and refreshing and I saw many opportunities for Space, Big Mountain and pretty much all the MK attractions for tomorrow. I wanted specific times 6,7, and 8pm so I can arrive by 7 and leave right after I do the 8pm or line up if I feel like it. Then I'll do some dinner and back to the ranch.

I was also doing the same with DHS and could have gotten Alien Saucers, RnR, Tower of Terror, Toy Story and almost all the older attractions by flipping around. I did see Slinky once. I was trying to fit either Indiana Jones or B and the Beast in a particular time frame and finally realized they don't exist at that time!

I've yet to book anything for Wednesday or Thursday, and Friday I'm supposed to leave, depending on weather up north. I may extend for a few more days off site at the 'free' points options - maybe go to the beach for a day. I don't want to go back to Maryland just yet. We will see how I feel about it in a couple of days, lol!
We usually go down the first week in March and the crowds are not too bad. I am hoping it isn't too crazy when we are there 3/14-3/18. I do have FP for every day - I can always relax by the pool if I need to get away from the crowds.
Glad you were able to get the FP you wanted.
 
Thanks for replying! I am planning to mostly stick with UR cards, as it seems those rewards can't be beat. Just trying to look to the future!
Dh just got the southwest card as my P2, so we are working on the spend for that (should take about 2 months). Then my next move is to apply for CSP. Once I meet that spend Dh will join as P2 and we will make that spend. Then I'm unsure which card we will go with after that. I was considering either the CFU or the Bonvoy boundless. Whichever I go with, hubby will follow suit as P2. So my "spend" is tied up for the next 6-8 months, probably as it is all our regular bills/spending.
By saying the bolded, you mean DH will get his own card not add as AU, correct? If you mean adding DH as an AU, don’t do that. It counts against 5/24 and can limit the sign up bonuses you can get. If he needs a card, you can order one online from your account by choosing replace card as damaged (not lost) This is one advantage to biz cards as you can add employee cards which do not count towards 5/24 (at least on Amex and Chase)
 
I’m not a Marriott expert so I’ll leave that to others....but you may be better off applying for Chase UR cards like the CIP, CSR or CSP since URs are more flexible, and could be transferred to Marriott if you held one of these cards

URs transfer to Marriott 1000:1000. Transferring UR to Marriott is generally a BAD IDEA, except if you had a big stash of Marriott points already and you needed to "top off" that stash to make a redemption -- preferably for a 5 night stay to get one of those nights free and stretch the value of your redemption, or you knew you could get better than 1.5 cent per point value once your URs are Marriott points.

For a quick point of comparison, UR are worth 1.5 cpp with a CSR through the Chase travel portal, or 1.25 cpp with a CSP or CIP. Most people would peg the value of a Marriott point somewhere around 0.7 cent per point, maybe less with the upcoming category changes (i.e., devaluation).

As a real world example, Marriott recently announced that among the 1,600+ hotels increasing in category (therefore, points required per night) effective 3/4/20, the COURTYARD across from Disneyland will be jumping from Category 6 to 7. A Category 7 hotel requires 60k Marriott points/night on a standard night, 50k/night off peak and 70k/night peak! The average cost for a room even on a busy weekend like 4th of July is only $359. This means if you were to use 60k-70k Marriott points on a room at this hotel, your Marriott points are worth barely 0.5 cents per point! Or you can book the cash rate at a fixed 1.5 cents per UR point through the Chase travel portal for 24k UR/night on your CSR.

Now, if you were to transfer UR to Marriott, you'd transfer 60k-70k URs to book one night. What a terrible value! You could book the same room, same night through Chase with your URs for only 24k UR/night.
 
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Well, looks like DH will have to get another SW Biz card this year to extend his CP one more year, we don't have any plans to use SW next year, because we have one big trip to Europe but it's always nice to have just in case.

This is from referrals and the 7,500 for this Priority.
View attachment 474465

I know 2 of those are from friends, but I'm not sure where the other 3 came from and I'm wondering if he had more than 5 referrals.
I'm secretly hoping DH will fly a lot again this year. Last year he earned about 100k from work trips, but last year I had gotten him CP at the beginning of the year. So I'm kinda hoping he flies a lot again and maybe I can just get him a card to extend one more year...
 
By saying the bolded, you mean DH will get his own card not add as AU, correct? If you mean adding DH as an AU, don’t do that. It counts against 5/24 and can limit the sign up bonuses you can get. If he needs a card, you can order one online from your account by choosing replace card as damaged (not lost) This is one advantage to biz cards as you can add employee cards which do not count towards 5/24 (at least on Amex and Chase)

Right, he will get his own account. I learned from here that AU is generally not a good choice. Thanks for looking out! :)
 


2. I haven't seen a lot of chatter re: Bonvoy rewards program, and what I do see tends to not be great. The current offer I'm seeing is for 100,000 points with min spend, which looks like I could get a free week (or close to it) at a hotel. Is there any reason to avoid this card/program?

All points are not created equal. Don’t see 100,000 Marriott points and think that’s the same as 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Amex Membership Rewards points, Citi Thank You Points, Alaska Mileage Plan miles, Southwest Rapid Rewards points, etc. These are each their own currency with their own rules how you can use them and varying degrees of usefulness and value.

I'm a little concerned that you think 100k Marriott points will get you a free week at a hotel. Perhaps at a Category 3 or lower hotel? See Marriott's points chart here. Are you factoring in the Free Night Certificate as well? You won't get that until your cardmember anniversary, after you've held the card for a year. A lot of us struggle with just finding a decent place to redeem these 35k point FNCs at a hotel and on dates that actually work with our schedules and Marriott's peak/standard/off peak calendars.

The reason you probably don't see much discussion of Marriott's cards is because the halcyon days of churning through the "Starriott Gauntlet" of Marriott and SPG cards ended about a year and a half ago. Nowadays, Marriott points are hard to earn from credit card signups and spend even though both Chase and Amex issue them, because Marriott has placed onerous restrictions on who qualifies for the bonuses, when and how; so applying for or holding a Marriott card from Chase could make you ineligible for a bonus on a Marriott card from Amex, and vice versa. Add to that the fact Marriott has made at least a half dozen rounds of changes to their Bonvoy program, credit cards, and hotel categories in the past year+ (e.g., nerfing the earning rate of their credit cards, hotel category changes -- mostly up, peak/off peak points pricing, how fifth night free works, how points advance works, loss of elite nights from cards, loss of elite night qualifications from meetings, loss of mid-tier elite benefits, increase in credit card annual fees, etc.) that have resulted in many of their hotels costing more points than they did a year ago, their fixed value Free Night Certificates that come with their credit cards losing value as they become harder to redeem (not to mention the months it takes to actually receive them after an Amex Bonvoy card anniversary), and generally a poorer guest experience if you have only mid-tier elite status.

Marriott is interesting because after their merger with SPG, they have a lot of properties everywhere, and Marriott has a lot of unique, high-end aspirational properties. However, a lot of us have moved our business over to Hilton and Hyatt, which provide generally better guest benefits and value.

You should not start signing up for a hotel program's credit cards unless you have a plan for the points, know how many points you'll need for where and when you want to redeem them, as well as understand the restrictions that these cards may have for earning a signup bonus and what effect signing up for one of these cards will have on your broader strategy.
 
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We usually go down the first week in March and the crowds are not too bad. I am hoping it isn't too crazy when we are there 3/14-3/18. I do have FP for every day - I can always relax by the pool if I need to get away from the crowds.
Glad you were able to get the FP you wanted.
I sure hope the crowds aren't horrible that week! I'll be hanging out our Kidani balcony every afternoon :drinking1
 
All points are not created equal. Don’t see 100,000 Marriott points and think that’s the same as 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Amex Membership Rewards points, Citi Thank You Points, Alaska Mileage Plan points, Southwest Rapid Rewards points, etc. These are each their own currency with their own rules how you can use them and varying degrees of usefulness and value.

I'm a little concerned that you think 100k Marriott points will get you a free week at a hotel. Perhaps at a Category 3 or lower hotel? Are you factoring in the Free Night Certificate as well? You won't get that until your cardmember anniversary, after you've held the card for a year. A lot of us struggle with just finding a decent place to redeem these 35k point FNCs at a hotel and date that actually works for us and with Marriott's peak/standard/off peak calendars.

The reason you probably don't see much discussion of Marriott's cards is because the halcyon days of churning through the "Starriott Gauntlet" of Marriott and SPG cards ended about a year and a half ago. Nowadays, Marriott points are hard to earn from credit card signups even though both Chase and Amex issue them, because Marriott has placed onerous restrictions on who qualifies for the bonuses, when and how; so applying for or holding a Marriott card from Chase could make you ineligible for a bonus on a Marriott card from Amex, and vice versa. Add to that the fact Marriott has made at least a half dozen rounds of changes to their Bonvoy program and hotel categories in the past year+ (e.g., category changes -- mostly up, peak/off peak points pricing, how fifth night free works, how points advance works, loss of elite nights from cards, loss of elite night qualifications from meetings, loss of mid-tier elite benefits, increase in credit card annual fees, etc.) that have resulted in many of their hotels costing more points than they did a year ago, their fixed value Free Night Certificates that come with their credit cards losing value as they become harder to redeem (not to mention the months it takes to actually receive them after an Amex Bonvoy card anniversary), and generally a poorer guest experience if you have only mid-tier elite status.

Marriott is interesting because after their merger with SPG, they have a lot of properties everywhere, and Marriott has a lot of unique, high-end aspirational properties. However, a lot of us have moved our business over to Hilton and Hyatt, which provide generally better guest benefits and value.

You should not start signing up for a hotel program's credit cards unless you have a plan for the points, know how many points you'll need for where and when you want to redeem them, as well as understand the restrictions that these cards may have for earning a signup bonus and what effect signing up for one of these cards will have on your broader strategy.
Thank you for the detailed explanation! I was looking at a category 3/4. I haven't researched it enough yet and I wouldn't be signing up until late this year. Just as an example I put in Charleston, SC as a destination as hubby is interested in visiting there, and I put in a Sunday-Friday stay and was getting hotels with good reviews for 67,500 Points. So that is where my interest stemmed from. That was for a week in early November. But again, I was just plugging in things to get ideas of how many points were required. I did see higher categories for the same stay were as much as 210,000 points, and both were factoring in the free night.
Thanks again for the explanation. Like I said, definitely not something I'm planning on jumping right into, but was curious about it. It showed the bonus was a limited time, so I wondered how good it actually was.
 
Looks like we are headed to Waikoloa for Christmas! Just purchased a 6 day/5 night Hilton Vacation Package for $699. I confirmed that there is no upcharge for the holidays or blackout dates. We can upgraded to a 2 bedroom for $300 more and that will include a rental car and parking. After the 2 hr preview, I’ll receive 75k points. Ok, Hilton Vacation Package purchased. It is $699 for 6 days/5 nights Waikoloa. I verified that there are no blackout dates or upcharge for the holidays. Our options are Kings’ Land, Kohala Suites, The Bay Club and Ocean Tower. Any thoughts on what we should book for those who have been? We could have done Honolulu but DH and I have been there so wanted to try some place different.
 
The Caribe Hilton is very nice.

The food at the resort restaurants is quite good and astronomically expensive, so plan ahead for that. We spent $250 for two adults across two meals with 4 alcoholic drinks total.
hey hey now this is a Disney thread...... astronomical compared to Disney food? :rotfl2: it's funny, but after years of Disney visits, wherever we go DH and I compare the food prices as higher or lower than Disney...:rotfl: example, last weekend was our big NYC/Josh Groban concert weekend.... DH got a bottle of beer at dinner that cost $10:scared: and I pointed out that his previous cost threshold had always been "I'm not paying $8 for a beer at WDW!":rolleyes1 We both laughed when we realized that he paid it without blinking an eye (or complaining about the price lol) I'm still debating, but I do think Disney is the most overpriced for food etc.
 
Some of you might have seen me mention that my 15 yo got invited to go to DL with his best friend for the friend's birthday this weekend. The friend REALLY wanted to get on ROTR so, as I am the comparative expert, I went over to their house last weekend and spent an HOUR making sure that both boys and the dad, who was taking them, knew all the details.

My son texts me this morning and said they didn't get on because they "didn't know we had to be in the park" (through the turnstiles and scanned in).

Wow. Just wow.
story of my life..... I spent over 3 hours advising some friends on the ins and outs at WDW and getting the most out of your day...... they ended up not liking the park that much b/c it was 'too crowded and we didn't get to ride much'... they decided to show up at NOON on their one MK day! so much for the advice....:sad2: just this week, my DMom went to WDW without mentioning anything to me..... and then spent a fair bit of time complaining about not getting to ride ROTR etc etc. At that point I just smile and say dumb things like "well, at least you can just hang out in the park and enjoy the atmosphere..." (as IF!!!!)
 
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Ok - this is totally off topic but I need to vent...

sitting here watching the end of A New Hope and it’s always bugged me... WHY DOESN’T CHEWBACCA GET A MEDAL??? Do we not value the contributions of Wookiees???

(ok back to credit cards)...
don't even get me started on the attitude toward droids in the movies lol
 
Thank you for the detailed explanation! I was looking at a category 3/4. I haven't researched it enough yet and I wouldn't be signing up until late this year. Just as an example I put in Charleston, SC as a destination as hubby is interested in visiting there, and I put in a Sunday-Friday stay and was getting hotels with good reviews for 67,500 Points. So that is where my interest stemmed from. That was for a week in early November. But again, I was just plugging in things to get ideas of how many points were required. I did see higher categories for the same stay were as much as 210,000 points, and both were factoring in the free night.
Thanks again for the explanation. Like I said, definitely not something I'm planning on jumping right into, but was curious about it. It showed the bonus was a limited time, so I wondered how good it actually was.

The good news is it looks like the category changes that I mentioned earlier, will result in many Marriott hotels in Charleston dropping a category after 3/4/20 and you may end up needing fewer points than your initial search. You can search for the category changes here: https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change/marriott-bonvoy And how many points are needed for each category here: https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/pointsGridPopUp.mi

Both Chase and Amex issue Marriott cards. Chase issues the Bold (a no fee, low end personal card), and the Boundless (a $95 annual fee personal card). Amex issues the Bonvoy Business (a $125 annual fee business card) and the Brilliant (a $450 annual fee premium personal card). However, like I mentioned, Marriott has restrictions on these cards that limit your eligibility for their bonuses, depending on which other Marriott cards you have or applied for, and when you last got a Marriott bonus. Generally, getting a Marriott card/bonus from Chase will affect your ability to get a card/bonus from Amex, and vice versa. So before you dive in and apply, let us know and we can try to help you navigate the rules.

An elevated 100k Marriott points signup bonus comes around periodically on both Chase's Boundless and Amex's Bonvoy Business and Brilliant cards. I think some people even expect Amex to raise the Brilliant's SUB to 125k eventually given Marriott's devaluations (previously, Amex had a targeted offer of 125k on the Brilliant). You'll see this kind of elevated offer again.
 
New look coming to Cinderella Castle at WDW. Thankfully it will NOT be a giant birthday cake 🤣

https://blogmickey.com/2020/02/brea...w-look-for-cinderella-castle-at-magic-kingdom
I'm just disgusted with more construction+higher ticket prices at the *same time*..... I do not understand WHY prices continue to rise steeply while lessening the overall experience? Am I the only one who feels this way? If I'm going to pay premium experience prices, I expect a fully developed premium experience! I know there's always some little thing to update or work on, but my last visits (for years now) have been marred by construction closures,walls,cranes and other things I have to actively avoid looking at... I don't even know how to get what I want really, but I'm still holding my breath for a year or two from now and seeing something closer to what I'm thinking. Ok I'll stop now. Old person rant over.
 
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