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

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I have an internet hotspot through Sprint that we use for internet at home since our options are so limited out here in the country. I have a 50 GB/mo plan with them for $55/mo. I contacted them on chat today because our actual device has been messed up. They let me know that they have a new plan now of 100 GB/mo for $65!! Exciting stuff for us country folk as that means more ability to stream tv shows! I think we might even be able to buy something like Firestick and use that. I have a pretty sweet discount going with Directv right now ($38/mo) until November, but I'm hoping maybe I can cut it or at least seriously cut my package down then. DH loves tv and is the type to come home and turn it out for background noise, which I hate. I think having a streaming service only deal would make us (him) be much more deliberate in not just turning on reruns of Boston Legal for the 8th time. I've heard services like Sling are good for local channels. Any input here?

I really don't think you're going to do better than $38/month with DirecTV. It's been years since I've had them, but I was always able to negotiate further discounts whenever a promotion ran out - they would always discount deeply to avoid losing a customer. If that's still the case, that's your best bet.

We haven't used Sling in a while because it was far and away the worst streaming TV option - loads of buffering and disconnects. Hulu TV is ok, Playstation Vue is great, Youtube TV is quite good. All of those options are more than what you're paying for DirecTV, though. From what I recall, each streaming service had its own agreements with local channels, and I think PSVue was the only one we could get that had them all (and it was of course the most expensive). And also, a quick Google search tells me streaming services can range from 1 - 3 GB per hour of HD TV, so unless you are planning to stream in SD only, you'll eat through that 100 GB pretty fast.

I think your best bet is sticking with DirecTV and negotiating the best discount you can get by threatening to cancel so you don't risk racking up tons of overage charges if your DH really has the TV on all the time. If you do decide to switch to a streaming service, at least get an antenna. Antennas are a whole 'nother rabbit hole when it comes to cutting your TV service, and given you're out in the country you're probably gonna need a big antenna, but there are options. Check out TV Fool. It lets you put in your address and tells you exactly what kind of antenna you will need for the channels you want. You'll probably need a pretty high-powered antenna you can put in a high place, maybe in the attic or bonus points if you can mount it to your roof. You may or may not also need a signal amplifier - this takes some trial and error.

Oh yeah, this is taking me back. Good luck if you decide to go the streaming route! I can help if you have questions, I got way into this stuff. We are lucky right now because FiOS is included in our rent at our current apartment, but if/when we move the FiOS is getting dumped and we're going back to streaming/antenna.
 
Sounds like a rough trip :( I do hope your next one goes better. Glad you got some relief at Swan hotel ride but those crowds sound miserable. I’m intrigued by your good review of Pop. I’m at CSR for my first night next month but maybe I’ll look to switch and save some $$...
We’ve stayed at CS as well. It’s a really pretty resort but just huge. If you are just sleeping there and not planning on pool time or hanging out much at the resort, I’d switch to Pop and save some money. The outside of Pop still feels like a value but the rooms don’t. I’m picky about beds and the Pop bed was super comfy!
 
Was trying to find out who posted the AmTrak discount post, with no luck. Went to AmTrak.com, but didn't see any mention. Decided to check FaceBook to see what's going on. Digital Exhaust to the rescue ... An AmTrak ad about the discount. Don't know whether to be happy or worried? :D

Here you go! Amtrak is a little tricky with these sales. This one in particular applies only to travel during September, and many routes may have very spotty availability at this point. The lowest possible sale price - the "up to 50% off" they've got there - will represent as a Saver fare, if it's available. It looks like they moved some more expensive fares to the Saver bucket where they previously weren't available, and took a little more off. For anything higher than Coach class, Amtrak charges the Coach fare plus a surcharge. You'll only get the discount on the Coach portion of the fare - the upcharge is not discounted.
 
@wendow switching to Pop from CSR Tower for my first night next month! I recently decided to do DHS that night so I wasn’t going to get any real use out of that room anyway- thanks for inspiring me to take a look at other options! Excited to try a new hotel! :)
Oh yay! Read your other post first and then posted before seeing this so ignore that lol. Hope you like it as well!!
 


We noticed the same for a few rides but others were fine. Definitely a high crowd level. We were there on NYE last year and of course it wasn’t that bad but I think the FP lines were longer this time! And that heat and humidity. Wowza!! Yesterday was absolutely perfect though, especially after the rain passed. Zero humidity and a cool breeze. We were actually cool in the evening.

I’m glad your DS is doing well and thank you for the reviews of the resorts you visited.

OKW was fine but our villa didn’t have a view (tennis courts and road) but it was too hot to be out there anyway. We were lucky to get a DVC room as late as we booked so we were more than happy with it but it was several bus stops from the main buildings and way too hot to walk. When we stay there again we will definitely make sure it’s in the hospitality house category. That makes all the difference.

We visited our home resort at Wilderness twice and all agreed it’s still our favorite. So much going on but still a calm feeling. And that lobby smell :love:🌲
So glad you got a bit of a cool off!! We had a slight one on our last park day (the 14th) and it was just heavenly. It rained a lot though, at least at MK, so that helped. Crowds at MK ended up being an 8 again but the cooler temps made it easier to deal.
I love WL! We’ve never stayed there but hope to one day. Maybe we will get a chance now that we’re dvc 😁
 
Here you go! Amtrak is a little tricky with these sales. This one in particular applies only to travel during September, and many routes may have very spotty availability at this point. The lowest possible sale price - the "up to 50% off" they've got there - will represent as a Saver fare, if it's available. It looks like they moved some more expensive fares to the Saver bucket where they previously weren't available, and took a little more off. For anything higher than Coach class, Amtrak charges the Coach fare plus a surcharge. You'll only get the discount on the Coach portion of the fare - the upcharge is not discounted.

Thank you! I took a look at it, and was interested in the Auto Train, but not on sale. Thanks again!
 
Thanks y'all. I DM'd Southwest on Twitter, gave conf #, RR and KTN and we're all set. I'm so glad I can access my keypads on my phone as that is where RR and KTN are stored.

Pretty sure dh's CIP, that I'm working on msr, is in a trashcan at Pier 39. I guess that's better than the alternative. So far no charges on it.

It's been, um, an adventure, but we are loving the weather.
 


I've done much better with the IHG surveys than the Amtrak ones. I have 380 points from Amtrak surveys but I've gotten at least a thousand from IHG. I probably could do much better but I don't bother with it very often. I let the emails sit in my account and click one every so often, mostly to get 5 points.

Are there surveys for Southwest? Anybody know? I was afraid my points were ready to expire but they are good for another year, but without a Southwest card and if no one flies on them, easy to forget them. I've only got about 14K but that's at least one way to MCO from here. Right now I'm good until Oct 2020, but time flies.
I do erewards for SW too. Haven't cashed in for SW lately since I have been more focused on IHG. There is another site too. If you go into you RR account, somewhere in there it says something like more ways to earn. There is information there about both erewards and the other site.
 
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Not sure what cities you are looking at, but we just finished a stay in a family room at the Radisson Blu Edinburgh Royal Mile. We have a family of 4, and the room had a queen and two twins.

Thank you for the mention. Did you like the hotel and the location? I briefly looked at Edinburgh but I was only looking at Hilton and Hyatt as those are the points that we have the most of right now. I also didn't look at hotels through the UR portal yet. It might be that I need to explore the Radisson card to see if that would help with rooms. Edinburgh is one of the cities that we'd like to visit and its looking like it might be a 2021 trip so I have time to gather more points.
 
Thank you! I took a look at it, and was interested in the Auto Train, but not on sale. Thanks again!

The Auto Train isn't specifically excluded in this sale but it tends to have its own deals from time to time.


Valid for travel on all service except Pennsylvanian and Keystone service locally between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Capitol Corridor, Hiawatha, Pacific Surfliner, and 7000-8999 Thruways.
 
I’m trying to at least draft out a possible plan for which cards to open and in which order for a trip to WDW in about 18 months. I’m hoping to cover hotel for 5-6 nights and flights with points. Since I just got my CIP, I was playing around on the UR site and noticed there weren’t any Disney resorts on there. What’s the best option for earning points that can be used for Disney resorts or Swan/Dolphin right now. I looked at AA, but saw that Disney might not be available to book next year. I appreciate all the insight you have shared so far to help get me started in the CC game!
 
Alrighty, I've unpacked, done so many loads of laundry that my house smells of Tide and Bounce and I've had a very short but sweet nap and so I'm ready to share some thoughts on this last trip. The good, the bad and the not-so-pretty :crazy:...I apologize for the length of this post.

We stayed 10 nights - 1 Pop, 4 POR, 5 Swan - two rooms at each resort as we are a fam of 6. I booked Pop using an AP discount (yep, went for it!) even though we did not upgrade to AP's until the day we checked out of Pop. I booked POR & Swan using AA miles. I made connecting rooms my ONLY request at every resort.

We checked into Pop at 2am and received connecting rooms. We'd never stayed at Pop and we were very impressed. The refurbed rooms with queen beds are very nice. I cannot complain about a single thing. I don't love the values but if I was needing to save some cash, I could definitely stay there for a few nights. My family agreed. We liked it! We checked out at 11am and took our luggage down to Bell Services. Um, hello holy guacamole line! It wrapped around the building. Normally, baggage transfer line takes about 2 mins. This was the first of many long lines we would wait in. We left the luggage and caught a bus to Epcot so we could transfer to POR. Should have taken a Lyft but it's been a couple years since we've been at WDW and we have forgotten just how long everything takes :crazy2:

We are waiting for the POR bus at Epcot when I get the texts for our rooms at POR. Excitedly, I look at the room numbers and realize they are not connecting. In fact, they are not even next door. In fact, they are on different floors. I start to panic. My dh assures me that this is Disney and they will make it right. I remind dh about how our luck with room requests go at Disney. Basically, we usually don't get our room requests so we just ask for connecting. We've only not received that once and that time it was at the Poly. We had to be in non-connecting rooms for one night and then they moved us to the dvc studios and those were connecting. The Poly CM went out of her way to make things right. My dh assures me POR will do the same. WRONG! Ugh, most unmagical CM ever. She was a curmugeony CM. Not a single smile in the 30 mins we spent with her. Basically, it was all my fault because I booked two different room categories through "expedia". I booked a Q/Q and a K room both with the murphy bed (which I paid more points for). My paperwork did not show these being different room categories but she insisted they were and that there was no way they would have ever been connecting. I told her I called Disney and asked only for connecting rooms and she said that could never have happened. Why didn't Disney tell me this? She didn't know but it was my fault for booking through "expedia". I explained that we were traveling with 4 kids but one was an adult and we could be in adjoining rooms. Nope. I pleaded with her about how we packed 6 people's clothing in 5 suitcases and our things were all mixed up and it would be a huge chore to be spread far apart. Nope, your fault for booking with "expedia". I asked if we could be booked to a different resort. She told me we'd have to pay the difference and I asked her to call around. Only thing she could get was Pirates rooms at CBR (double beds) and we said no thanks. So we were given rooms on different floors and completely opposite sides of the building in the farthest building. I wanted to cry and then I did in the POR lobby. We were tired, it was raining on what was supposed to be a pool day, and now we are not in connecting rooms. I remind myself that nothing can steal my joy if I don't let it and that we will be okay. Once we get our luggage we unpack in dd's and ds10's room and then move it all to our room to unpack. Major hassle? yep.

Major take away. If you book with AA miles, I'd call to check on the room categories.

Bugs. I hate them, y'all. Some rank higher than others but we've never had much bug issues at Disney. We had a June bug in one POR and a bonafide **** roach in the other. I was disgusted by the **** roach.

This was our second stay at POR and I think we are done with them. The first time wasn't great but was years ago and I was really less than impressed this time. The only thing I will give them kudos for is an accident we had. We had tried to go to the pool and lightning closed the pool (this was almost daily) so once the storm moved on, my ds's were playing on the POR playground that is right by the pool. It was wet and ds10 was running. He slipped and fell on his back/side onto a step. I was standing a bit away from the playground b/c my dh was laying in the hammock. I heard the fall and it was hard. Heard my ds start screaming/wind knocked out sound and I ran over to him. He was deathly pale. I yelled to dh and he ran up the slide to the top where ds10 was. It was very obvious he had the wind knocked out of him but his pain and inability to breathe were not going away. After 30 mins or so, he was still in a lot of pain and not able to take a deep breath. A facilities CM drove by at about that time and asked if he was okay. Dh was still sitting with him at the top of the playground cause my ds was not able to move much. The facilities CM said to alert a lifeguard so we did. He put in a call and we had like 10 people from POR staff and management on us immediately. They called an ambulance so paramedics came to evaluate. It was nice to have such support in a scary time. The conclusion was that this was most likely bruised ribs vs. broken ribs and going to the hospital would be pointless as there isn't much for even broken ribs, especially for kids. We decided to see how ds did through the night, which was made even harder in separate rooms. POR arranged for a wheelchair should we need it for our park days. My ds is still pretty sore in his side and back but we made it through the parks. Some rides like SDD and space hurt but it never stopped him from wanting to ride.

Last resort was Swan. Went to check in and they also did not have our request for connecting rooms in their system (even though I called!!!!!) but could accommodate us in a variety of ways. We ultimately chose adjoining rooms because of the nice upgrade to resort views and bigger rooms. These rooms were great! We could see HS and EP fireworks from our room. Plenty of space. I loved the food options and even though we had to walk from Swan to Dolphin for everything, it was a teeny walk after being at POR. The only issues there was 1) housekeeping. We had declined it for 500 marriott rewards and were supposed to get it on the 3rd day. Well, we had our 'do not disturb' up for about 2 hours and they tried to come during that time and then just left a note saying 'sorry we missed you'. But then didn't come the next day either. So confused. Basically 5 nights and never any housekeeping. Problem 2) Spiders. I am phobic. Like super phobic and we found one in each room as well as one in the hall outside our room. My dh is good at not telling me cause he knows I get so scared but I saw 2 of the 3 and then couldn't sleep. I can deal with roaches and june bugs much better than spiders. Otherwise, Swan was lovely. Price is so much better than even a Disney value, for our time period, and we loved the location. Beware of the ducks though. They bite! One bit my ds8 in the lip. He's proud of that fact though so definitely not a knock on Swan lol.

Reason why I never ever want to go in August again - Surface of the sun hot and crowd level 8. When we first planned these dates, no day was higher than a 6 and there was only one of those. Instead this ended up being a 6-8 level trip. Between the heat and crowds, I felt like we were seeing the worst of humanity. Those things don't bring out the best in anyone. Me included. I got so tired of people pushing and shoving past us, cutting off my family entering a line and us graciously allowing them ahead of the three of us who were ahead of them only for them to then bring in 5 family members ahead of all of us. This happened more times than I can count. Just lots of pushy and rude people.

We are still looking forward to our next trip but hoping to go when it is cooler. I can do crowds or heat but not both and I think crowds are now ever present so we can only try to go in better weather :)

Glad to hear you enjoyed your night at Pop. We stayed there not long after the room refurb was done and we LOVED the new room design. I agree that the beds were comfy. I'm hoping to get a refurb room on our upcoming few nights at Movies since the design is basically the same.
We tend to lean toward mods. We haven't tried CBR yet, but have enjoyed CSR, POR and POFQ a lot. We actually like the how spread out POR and CSR are because it feels less busy and crowded to us, although having a room in a building super far from the main buildings can be a bit of a pain. Lots of times we have used the buses to get from our section of the resorts to the front for the food court or lobby. The PO resorts are our favs and I'm bummed to hear about your bad experiences at POR. That's where we have stayed the most and always had awesome experiences.

Sorry to hear about DS's accident, but it sounds like he was a real trooper. Thank goodness it was just bruised ribs rather than broken.

The spiders at Swan :oops:....OMG! I have a very irrational, but completely debilitating fear of spiders. I know there's a chance to see them anywhere since they are pretty much everywhere, but now I can't get this out of my head.:scared: Hope i can forget about it before we spend our 2 nights there in a few weeks.




So I bought tickets for the 8/30 MNSSHP for me and DH. We were going to choose something else since we wont have DS on this trip, but I'm actually kind of excited about doing the party as just adults as we were there with family last time so we had 3 kids in tow. The primary focus for them was the candy, then rides. I feel like we missed out on lots of party exclusive stuff that we will be able to focus on more this time around. We completely missed the fireworks show last time, so it's high on my list this time. Reading the new show is very projection heavy, so I really want a good viewing spot for it. Toying with the idea to spring for the dessert party with plaza garden viewing. Thoughts? Do y'all think that would be a waste of party time?

DH and I are trying to figure out how we want to get back to MCO on our Swan checkout day. We have a 7 pm flight so we want to hit DS that day. We thought about uber or lyft from Swan to MCO, but I'm not sure if Swan would hold our luggage while in DS. Also thought about renting a car 1 way and just driving it to DS for the day.
 
So the details of the Wells Fargo Bank deal don't look that good to me:

Consumer Checking Bonus $400, but requires 3x $3,000 direct deposits wi 150 days​
Eligible Savings Acct Bonus $250, but requires $15,000 average daily balance for 90 days​

But I do like the Fifth Third Bank deal:

Various accounts Bonus $250, but requires minimum balance of $500 for 60 days​
 
Glad to hear you enjoyed your night at Pop. We stayed there not long after the room refurb was done and we LOVED the new room design. I agree that the beds were comfy. I'm hoping to get a refurb room on our upcoming few nights at Movies since the design is basically the same.
We tend to lean toward mods. We haven't tried CBR yet, but have enjoyed CSR, POR and POFQ a lot. We actually like the how spread out POR and CSR are because it feels less busy and crowded to us, although having a room in a building super far from the main buildings can be a bit of a pain. Lots of times we have used the buses to get from our section of the resorts to the front for the food court or lobby. The PO resorts are our favs and I'm bummed to hear about your bad experiences at POR. That's where we have stayed the most and always had awesome experiences.

Sorry to hear about DS's accident, but it sounds like he was a real trooper. Thank goodness it was just bruised ribs rather than broken.

The spiders at Swan :oops:....OMG! I have a very irrational, but completely debilitating fear of spiders. I know there's a chance to see them anywhere since they are pretty much everywhere, but now I can't get this out of my head.:scared: Hope i can forget about it before we spend our 2 nights there in a few weeks.




So I bought tickets for the 8/30 MNSSHP for me and DH. We were going to choose something else since we wont have DS on this trip, but I'm actually kind of excited about doing the party as just adults as we were there with family last time so we had 3 kids in tow. The primary focus for them was the candy, then rides. I feel like we missed out on lots of party exclusive stuff that we will be able to focus on more this time around. We completely missed the fireworks show last time, so it's high on my list this time. Reading the new show is very projection heavy, so I really want a good viewing spot for it. Toying with the idea to spring for the dessert party with plaza garden viewing. Thoughts? Do y'all think that would be a waste of party time?

DH and I are trying to figure out how we want to get back to MCO on our Swan checkout day. We have a 7 pm flight so we want to hit DS that day. We thought about uber or lyft from Swan to MCO, but I'm not sure if Swan would hold our luggage while in DS. Also thought about renting a car 1 way and just driving it to DS for the day.

While I haven't stayed there I can't imagine they wouldn't hold your luggage. It's the type of place I'd expect it.
 
I'm getting ready to do the Hilton Biz card that ends on the 28th and trying to wait until almost then for spend reasons, and I'm now so afraid I'll get a popup. I just don't have enough spend to go around these days and I haven't had a card since March (wasn't an Amex). I've got 5 of Amex's cards and I'm not closing or haven't closed any, but spend is mostly on my gold card and that's for restaurants and some groceries. 3 SPG's (Marriotts) and a trickle of spend just mostly for offers. But two of my cards are about 20 years old, so I've got some kind of relationship. We'll see if they still love me.
I would love to get that card, but I can't do another MSR right now. I've done 6 MSR's since March with no MS. I have one more to complete by Oct 30th. Four of the cards had MSR's under 2k. It was pretty easy. I had a cruise, property taxes, income taxes and a trip to WDW to pay for. The Hilton Biz has a big MSR and I don't have any big spend items until January. That's when I start paying on next years trips, taxes etc. I'm hoping to find a good business card offer around Dec. In March I'll be 4/24. It will be time to try for my first CIP.

I'm also a P1, but I like it that way. My dh is really into the stock market and likes to day trade. This is my own little hobby. My teenagers have become my employees this Summer.
 
Glad to hear you enjoyed your night at Pop. We stayed there not long after the room refurb was done and we LOVED the new room design. I agree that the beds were comfy. I'm hoping to get a refurb room on our upcoming few nights at Movies since the design is basically the same.
We tend to lean toward mods. We haven't tried CBR yet, but have enjoyed CSR, POR and POFQ a lot. We actually like the how spread out POR and CSR are because it feels less busy and crowded to us, although having a room in a building super far from the main buildings can be a bit of a pain. Lots of times we have used the buses to get from our section of the resorts to the front for the food court or lobby. The PO resorts are our favs and I'm bummed to hear about your bad experiences at POR. That's where we have stayed the most and always had awesome experiences.

Sorry to hear about DS's accident, but it sounds like he was a real trooper. Thank goodness it was just bruised ribs rather than broken.

The spiders at Swan :oops:....OMG! I have a very irrational, but completely debilitating fear of spiders. I know there's a chance to see them anywhere since they are pretty much everywhere, but now I can't get this out of my head.:scared: Hope i can forget about it before we spend our 2 nights there in a few weeks.




So I bought tickets for the 8/30 MNSSHP for me and DH. We were going to choose something else since we wont have DS on this trip, but I'm actually kind of excited about doing the party as just adults as we were there with family last time so we had 3 kids in tow. The primary focus for them was the candy, then rides. I feel like we missed out on lots of party exclusive stuff that we will be able to focus on more this time around. We completely missed the fireworks show last time, so it's high on my list this time. Reading the new show is very projection heavy, so I really want a good viewing spot for it. Toying with the idea to spring for the dessert party with plaza garden viewing. Thoughts? Do y'all think that would be a waste of party time?

DH and I are trying to figure out how we want to get back to MCO on our Swan checkout day. We have a 7 pm flight so we want to hit DS that day. We thought about uber or lyft from Swan to MCO, but I'm not sure if Swan would hold our luggage while in DS. Also thought about renting a car 1 way and just driving it to DS for the day.
While I haven't stayed there I can't imagine they wouldn't hold your luggage. It's the type of place I'd expect it.

I agree with @afan . We're checking out of the swan tomorrow and will definitely be having them hold our bags while we're in the parks. Our flight is at 6pm. So I can be a positive DP for you tomorrow just to ease your mind :)
 
Thank you! I took a look at it, and was interested in the Auto Train, but not on sale. Thanks again!

I've been watching auto train fares - I would want a sleeper - and the cheap ones go fast. By the time I figure out what day, the higher prices are all that are left. They did have a buy 1 get one last month, but I didn't have a committed companion to book for, so I let it go. I have the boa amtrak card and have a nice bunch of points right now, and I'm hanging onto them, sort of hoarding them. The other 'problem' is the price of transporting the vehicle has jumped, kind of negating the savings over having a rental. The actual coach fare has remained pretty stable. Almost as easy/inexpensive to go out of Union Station and get a rental there. Or use Uber/Lyft. Amtrak is not a budget way to get to Florida at least on auto train. But if you don't like to fly and don't want to drive, it is definitely an option.
 
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