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

[disneybirds]

When you sit down to catch up at 3:30 pm and think there are only 2 pages to read, then to find out there is a new thread with 7 pages already! Y'all have been busy today!!

Goals for 2020:
Apply for CIP soon
Accumulate MRs and URs
Book hotels for our trips this year (Universal, Burbank/LA, Italy, Boston, ...)
Enjoy this year traveling with our girls (one graduating HS and the other college - both in May)
Plan our first empty nest trip (We already have a tentative trip planned for Sept to take advantage of Moonlight Magic)
Enjoy each moment!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Does anybody else love to look at New Years Day wait times??

Here are all the 3 digit wait times currently:

• 210 = 7DMT
• 190 = Test Track
• 180 = Soarin'
• 180 = BTMR
• 155 = FEA
• 150 = Splash
• 145 = Slinky
• 140 = FoP
• 135 = RnR
• 130 = PP
• 130 = Jungle Cruise
• 125 = Tower of Terror
• 120 = Haunted Mansion
• 105 = MF:SR
• 100 = SE
• 100 = Pirates
• 100 = Dumbo

(EDIT: I'm 8 for 8 on pages now!!)

 

[Jax1023]

Does anybody else love to look at New Years Day wait times??

Here are all the 3 digit wait times currently:

• 210 = 7DMT
• 190 = Test Track
• 180 = Soarin'
• 180 = BTMR
• 155 = FEA
• 150 = Splash
• 145 = Slinky
• 140 = FoP
• 135 = RnR
• 130 = PP
• 130 = Jungle Cruise
• 125 = Tower of Terror
• 120 = Haunted Mansion
• 105 = MF:SR
• 100 = SE
• 100 = Pirates
• 100 = Dumbo

Wait time ogling is a favorite holiday pastime of mine. While 100 min for dumbo is insane, some of these waits seem much shorter than in the past. I think once I say FoP at 270 min- 4 and a half hours. I can’t imagine waiting that long for basically anything

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

When you sit down to catch up at 3:30 pm and think there are only 2 pages to read, then to find out there is a new thread with 7 pages already! Y'all have been busy today!!

To be fair... I created like 47 stickies to start the thread...

 

[elgerber]

Does anybody else love to look at New Years Day wait times??

Here are all the 3 digit wait times currently:

• 210 = 7DMT
• 190 = Test Track
• 180 = Soarin'
• 180 = BTMR
• 155 = FEA
• 150 = Splash
• 145 = Slinky
• 140 = FoP
• 135 = RnR
• 130 = PP
• 130 = Jungle Cruise
• 125 = Tower of Terror
• 120 = Haunted Mansion
• 105 = MF:SR
• 100 = SE
• 100 = Pirates
• 100 = Dumbo

(EDIT: I'm 8 for 8 on pages now!!)

I was having fun with that earlier too!

I know cookware was discussed quite a while back, but I didn't pay enough attention. I need new pans, my frying pans are shot. I want a non-stick set, but I don't cook enough to spend $$ on the highest end sets. But don't want the cheapest either. Any thoughts?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Wait time ogling is a favorite holiday pastime of mine. While 100 min for dumbo is insane, some of these waits seem much shorter than in the past. I think once I say FoP at 270 min- 4 and a half hours. I can’t imagine waiting that long for basically anything

The Epcot waits are somewhat surprising to me. Normally on NYE you see 300+ on some of this stuff in the afternoon, right? I guess I'm not surprised at AK and DHS since they aren't the "big-time" NYE destinations.

 

[trenty]

So, this may be old news but I just noticed that Rakuten offers cash back for dining too. I just switched my CCs from United’s dining program to Rakuten’s. We don’t eat out often, but when we do I would rather have cash back over airline points.

 

[Haley R]

My dh has a Swissgear backpack he uses on the plane. He loves it.
And dear lord, I CANNOT go to ebags site, or money will simply fall out of my wallet.

I think I might try this one out:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SCN393G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_YF7cEb5GVZR46
It’s about half the price of the swissgear I was looking at with good reviews.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Pottery barn kids said they won’t replace the backpack after looking at my pictures. They agreed to noticing the damage but said there aren’t any recalls on the backpack and noticed some discoloration from me using it. So.....I need a new backpack.

My previous one from college was Eddie Bauer and Dh still uses it because it’s such good quality. I tried finding one like it on amazon and the majority of what they have is lightweight foldable ones. That’s not really what I’m looking for. I want something with a lot of pockets that I can take to Disney but also use for my personal item on planes. Does anyone have a backpack brand they love?

I also have an older Eddie Bauer backpack that I had used in the parks for years at Disney and as my personal item. Now that I’m pushing a wheelchair we have an OLD Mickey Mouse backpack we just leave on the wheelchair with expendable things in case it goes missing and I have downsized to a very small purse for cell phones, chargers and credit cards.

Does anybody else love to look at New Years Day wait times??

Here are all the 3 digit wait times currently:

• 210 = 7DMT
• 190 = Test Track
• 180 = Soarin'
• 180 = BTMR
• 155 = FEA
• 150 = Splash
• 145 = Slinky
• 140 = FoP
• 135 = RnR
• 130 = PP
• 130 = Jungle Cruise
• 125 = Tower of Terror
• 120 = Haunted Mansion
• 105 = MF:SR
• 100 = SE
• 100 = Pirates
• 100 = Dumbo

(EDIT: I'm 8 for 8 on pages now!!)

All I can say to that is

 

[Artygal90]

Does anybody else love to look at New Years Day wait times??

Here are all the 3 digit wait times currently:

• 210 = 7DMT
• 190 = Test Track
• 180 = Soarin'
• 180 = BTMR
• 155 = FEA
• 150 = Splash
• 145 = Slinky
• 140 = FoP
• 135 = RnR
• 130 = PP
• 130 = Jungle Cruise
• 125 = Tower of Terror
• 120 = Haunted Mansion
• 105 = MF:SR
• 100 = SE
• 100 = Pirates
• 100 = Dumbo

(EDIT: I'm 8 for 8 on pages now!!)

I do this all the time! It makes me relieved I'm at home lying down in my jammies and not in line And also makes me feel better if I do ever end up in a 60 minute line for something.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

2020 goals would probably be CP for myself, DM and DH.

I’m currently communicating with Marriott support on Twitter to get credit for the last 5 nights of our Oahu timeshare stay to get up to titanium and get a 40,000 point FNC.

 

[snugglebug]

My Churning 2020 New Years Resolution:

- stop ruining things for other DISchurners.

in 2019 I started collecting UR and Disney went off the portal. I get on the train and they shut the whole thing down.

Sorry guys. I’ll do better in 2020.

Same.

I don't know what my goals are for 2020.
- Continue to accumulate UR.
- Try to find a hotel chain that meets our needs, I like Springhill Suites, but don't care for Marriott.
- Keep at 4/24 or less so we can got for SW CP at the end of 2020, need to decide if I want to go for one or two again.
- Plan 1-2 WDW trips for fall/winter
- Look into Costa Rica possibly for 2021

That's all I have for now.

 

[Artygal90]

New thread yay!

I didn't post how my mom's Christmas/Mother's Day surprise went. I sneakily emailed her the hotel and flight confirmation and at the end of our round robin gift exchange and told her she needed to check her phone. She opened her email and said "Oh my gosh. What did you do? What did you do?!", which irritated my dad and sisters since they wanted to know what was going on too! She's very excited for our trip. I told her we could do a day at the hotel spa on Mother's Day proper and she said "No way! We can go to a spa anytime. We're going to do theme park rides!"

My 2020 goals are pretty short and sweet:
- Book ANA First Class to Tokyo for Jan or Feb 2021 - my BIL just did this for Labor Day weekend 2020, so I'm hoping availability will be okay for us
- Earn enough UR and Hilton points to book our Japan hotel stays at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, Park Hyatt Kyoto, and Hilton Tokyo Bay
- Use my Bonvoy biz free night to book a one-night staycation at the hotel in downtown Houston that has a lazy river on the roof....in the shape of Texas (this redemption is the only reason I even kept this stupid card)
- Make full use of my companion pass for the rest of the year

I feel like I "should" have more ambitious travel plans for next year but I am having trouble actually finding the time to take the trips. All we have on the books for next year is a week at WDW for January and then long weekends planned in Dallas in February, USO in May, and Michigan in September. I might go to Boulder for a week with my parents at some point, or visit WDW solo for fall events, but DH won't be able to join me. I also have plans bouncing around in my head to visit DC, NYC, and Maine/Vermont but those trips would need a week each and while I would have the PTO, DH wouldn't, and I hate to use up joint fun money on big trips only I get to take. Other vague overseas travel plans include Hawaii, the UK, Mexico, somewhere in South America....someday.

 

[marsh0013]

Mostly lurker here I haven’t posted in awhile. We took the upgrade offer on my husbands bonvoy whatever card (from the cheapo no longer available card to the $450 annual fee one) spend $5k get 125k points. I’ll double check the math when I get home but we met that spend last week. Should the points be showing as “earned this year” on his Amex account? Because they’re not. I thought those showed up on the Amex side as soon as minimum spend was met.

The date to meet the spend is Jan 2 and his next statement isn’t til Jan 11 so I’m a little nervous. I had chatted a few weeks ago and that’s when I got confirmation of the Jan 2 date and was told at that time we were at $49xx out of the $5k (and for sure have spent the balance). I will probably try to chat again tonight (I they even have anyone working) but I’m at work til 5pm.

Edit - I’m a moron. They already transferred to his Bonvoy account on Dec 13. Didn’t even think to look there. Duh. Add it to my idiotic move of purchasing child Disneyland tickets instead of adult yesterday - yes, seriously, and we don’t go until August so we’re gonna get hit with any increase since they won’t allow me to upgrade to adult until we’re there. Purchased direct from Disneyland online using discounted gift cards. I tried calling. I was balling on the phone, distraught over this move that was supposed to save me money but will end up costing more. My husband tried calling, no dice. My brother will be there Jan 23 but I’m sure prices go up before then. I’m really much smarter than this. Wow.

 

[georgina]

My 2020 goals are mostly about getting my house ready to sell in 2021. Planning to move to Northern VA to be close to DD and potential grandchildren. We'll likely have to pay 3X the value of our house here in SW PA though. We're retired already, no debt, so I am also looking at managing income as DH just got hit with the Medicare surtax because our 2018 income was above the limit. Perhaps a Chase business card each for more URs. They come in handy when he flies off on his dive trips.

it's funny how I discovered wealth front kept moving money around for .1% at a time after 4 accounts they seem to have the best rate

My DD has a Wealthfront investment account. They do tax minimization strategies so crazy number of transactions. I used to do her taxes by hand, just filled out the free fillable forms, but when I saw her 1099s last year I told her to switch to Turbotax!

 

[Artygal90]

Happy new thread!!!

@Haley R, ohhh a sweet boy, congratulation on finding out the gender. Super excited for you and DH

@Artygal90 a huge thank you again for all of the Universal info (and thank you to all the others who also provided info that I'm unable to pull over from the last thread). We fly out tomorrow and I'm so excited and feel better prepared.

What a fun way to start the New Year! Glad my info dump was helpful. Have a fabulous time!

 

[Oscar Madison]

I shared this on the DIS FIRE thread earlier this week but will share here now too! All of those cashed out URs...$15,000 to be exact... I used them to payoff my mortgage! It's a pretty nice way to end my year, and it's the culmination of an almost 5 year goal of mine!!

Amazing! Congrats...so huge!

 

[Psychodisney]

Wow - I’m sorry you’re dealing with all of that! I hope everything goes well and your trip is awesome. Any word on why it was cancelled??

“Weather”. Not the weather in Chicago although we had a little snow and wind last night. It seemed like a snowball effect. Other people on our flight were cancelled last night to MCO as well and SW didn’t pull there luggage out. They had to drive to MCO to get their bags!!! That would have got me fired up!

 

[Judique]

I was having fun with that earlier too!

I know cookware was discussed quite a while back, but I didn't pay enough attention. I need new pans, my frying pans are shot. I want a non-stick set, but I don't cook enough to spend $$ on the highest end sets. But don't want the cheapest either. Any thoughts?

There's probably many different opinions on this, but one set doesn't satisfy me

I have varying cookware needs and they go like this:

All Clad but not nonstick. Pots and pans that I might boil, braise or cook a steak in. I do have several expensive non stick all clad that are all scratched so I don't use.

Tramontina professional non stick for frying pans that I would do fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets, or some sauces. Reasonably priced and I got mine at Costco. Not the regular line. The Pro line. Highly recommended as non stick fry pans.

Le Creuset for various needs..

Mauviel big copper pot I love to use.

Cuisinart roasting pan with rack.

 

[Oscar Madison]

2020 Plans
-Finish MSR for CP (thankful for the fireside chat on Reddit @SouthFayetteFan )
-Start long range travel planning earlier
-Keep CIPPing