I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

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I have an 18 screen theater about 5 miles from my house. Most, but not all of the screens are reserved recliners. The few that they didn't remodel they call retro screens LOL, and are $1 cheaper. Recliners are $5.95 matinee, $7.95 evening and $5 Tuesdays. They have a giant monster screen that is $2 more. They also have a great loyalty program where I earn free tix and popcorn and get $1 off all pop and popcorn that I buy. DD and I always take blankets because it's always freezing!!! I have a really hard time watching in a non recliner now. The same chain 10 miles in the other direction just did another remodel and they have the heated recliners, but frankly, I had a hard time figuring out the controls and couldn't really feel anything. Both serve alcohol, one has some regular food took, the closer one just pizza and a few basic foods. The newer remodeled one has a full bar with seating and Axe throwing LOL.
 


This is awful for everyone involved. I would never take my 2yo to the theater; at this age, he's just not ready. I have been thinking about taking my 4yo for her 1st theater experience, but maybe I'll hold off a little longer...
I think many 4yo's are ready to go to the theater BUT it needs to be the right movie. Toy Story 4 could keep most 4yo's attention but The Lion King is much slower, darker and intense. I'd start with a movie more like Toy Story and see how it goes :)
 
I have an 18 screen theater about 5 miles from my house. Most, but not all of the screens are reserved recliners. The few that they didn't remodel they call retro screens LOL, and are $1 cheaper. Recliners are $5.95 matinee, $7.95 evening and $5 Tuesdays. They have a giant monster screen that is $2 more. They also have a great loyalty program where I earn free tix and popcorn and get $1 off all pop and popcorn that I buy. DD and I always take blankets because it's always freezing!!! I have a really hard time watching in a non recliner now. The same chain 10 miles in the other direction just did another remodel and they have the heated recliners, but frankly, I had a hard time figuring out the controls and couldn't really feel anything. Both serve alcohol, one has some regular food took, the closer one just pizza and a few basic foods. The newer remodeled one has a full bar with seating and Axe throwing LOL.
Our matinees are $11. $13 if you want to buy online (which if you don’t you can almost be assured you drove 15 mins for nothing).

WHAT is with the Axe throwing?! I keep seeing that pop up on Groupon for a few cities!
 
I wish ours were that cheap. Base is the cheapest but it’s a lecture hall seating. Even then it’s a 25 min drive. Plus they only show one movie a day basically
The 2 theaters closest to us are AMC. Most movies are $5.25 before noon. Occasionally a new release will be more on opening weekend, I just wait until the following weekend and the price will drop. Regular prices are $11-16 but we never go in the evening. Both theaters have recliner seats and wait service. One theater totally eliminated their snack bar, you can only order from your seat to be delivered by wait staff. It is really annoying as the servers walk back and forth in front of you, delivering food and drinks throughout the movie. I try to avoid that one. Both theaters have full premium bars.
 


I'm trying to catch up and I'm sure I'm just saying what everyone else is, but thank you @Lain for the heartfelt and detailed response to the AmEx clawbacks. Please don't feel bad about advice that you may give. I know you spend an incredible amount of time looking at these things and are kind enough to bring them here for all of us. I remember shortly after I started here was when the Sapphire DD died and how bad @SouthFayetteFan felt. I don't think anyone here would feel any ill will toward either of you for actions they take on advice from you. The reality is a great majority of us are taking advantage of loopholes in the system and don't have anyone to blame but ourselves when they don't work out. We know the risk involved and are willing to take it. Thank you @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan for all you both do for this community!!
 
I'm doing it now to funnel through Serve to hit my MSR on cards.
I'm just now starting to understand how Serve works so it makes more sense to me now. We probably won't open a new card after we finish Dh's CIP3 that we're working on so I might not worry about the fee free cards right now. It's good to know for the future, though.
 
Even for those without an easy, low/no cost MS liquidation method available to them, buying discounted or fee free VGCs and MCGCs can be a good way to maximize bonus categories or meet MSR by shifting spend.

Maximizing bonus categories - If you have a credit card that earns you a high bonus at supermarkets or office supply stores (e.g., the Amex Gold for 4x MR, BCP for 6% cash back, Hilton Surpass for 6x Hilton Honors points at supermarkets; or the CIC/Ink+ for 5x UR at office supply stores), then you’d use those cards to earn the high bonus multiplier on your VGC/MCGC purchases when these stores run one of these deals.

MSR - If you have to hit an MSR within a certain amount of time, you can buy VGC/MCGC and have the purchases possibly count towards your MSR. WARNING: Do not buy GC/VGC/MCGC at office supply stores with Amex cards while working on their MSR. At grocery stores should be fine as long as you throw in other items with your purchase.

Once you purchase the VGC/MCGC, you’ve shifted your spend in the sense that you made a purchase that you have to pay for, but you still have that money in the form of a VGC/MCGC. So if you’re doing this for the category bonus points, you made a purchase on your credit card that’ll get you the bonus multiplier (e.g., 4x MR or 5x UR) on your money, and shifted your money into the VGC/MCGC so that however or wherever you use up the VGC/MCGC you’re carrying over that bonus spend. If you’re doing this to meet MSR, you’ll have gotten whatever the earn rate was for the card you used at the supermarket or office supply store, and a purchase towards the MSR, but you’ve moved your money into the VGC/MCGC that you can spend at any time now or past the MSR period. (But it’s usually not advisable to be holding onto gift or prepaid cards for too long because they can be prone to hacking.)

If you have an easy liquidation method, you can use up the VGC/MCGC quickly and have the money back into a bank account to pay your credit card bill. If MS is not easily accessible to you, then you’re floating the money in VGC/MCGCs because you still have to pay your credit card bill for the purchases of those prepaid cards, but you’re likely then spending down those prepaid cards organically over a longer period of time.
This makes so much more sense!! Thank you! We currently don't have any cards that earn us extra at office stores or supermarkets so that was the main reason I was confused. We also don't usually have any issues meeting an MSR, but I could see why that would work for others who want to meet an MSR quickly. I'm thinking after DH's CIP3 I might go for a CIC so we can take advantage of the 5x at office supply stores.
 
OMG! My theater is $16 for matinee and $19 for evening shows. I miss movie pass. lol

Do you have any AMCs? Can you join the "A-List" program? You would basically break even with one movie a month!

I was gonna suggest the same thing. They don't have axe-throwing, but they have McGuffins Bar (and frequent AMC gift card deals)
 
OMG. Axe throwing has been pretty popular here for a while. Not that I've done it, but I hear it's very stress relieving to hurl an axe at a target and fun to do as a group.

I had no idea! I'm clearly not "hip" enough for this crowd. :rotfl:

Also, for the Safeway GCs, can I ask again what the deal is right now? And are both MC and Visa ok if I'm not trying to MS them? Oh, and do I still need to worry about MSRs there (with AMEX)?
 
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