I love credit cards so much! v7.0 - 2025 (see first page for add'l details)

[palhockeymomof2]

I just submitted my vacation request for Thanksgiving week. Dh and I are both essential workers. I work Thanksgiving every other year and every third week. Dh does Thanksgiving every third year and weekends every fourth week. This is the first time in years we have aligned with no weekends and no holiday that week. I have never taken the week off, so I have a good shot of getting it.

That means Thanksgiving at WDW! JetBlue prices are close to $800 a person. No one else has flights available. Thinking about possibly getting the JetBlue card and maybe a SW card. Looking at SW the bonuses seem low right now? They have historically gotten higher right?
JetBlue seems about the same as always, around 50,000. I’m not interested in super high annual fees. Maybe $99 but not the premier cards.

For the JB plus card, the bonus increases to 80,000 sometimes…I applied over the summer when it increased since JB came to ISP, it was also up at some point in the fall. Waiting for it to go up again and have DH apply.
I have noticed JB prices jump around, we were at our son’s over Christmas, I had booked a SW flight home, while we were there I checked JB again since the flight time was mid day and the price had dropped a lot, so I booked it about 4 days before the flight. I don’t like that the travel bank credits expire and I can’t figure out why they don’t use the ones expiring first when booking a flight.

The SW cards seem to be the usual bonus right now…I have seen them increase a bit from time to time

 

[becauseimnew]

I just submitted my vacation request for Thanksgiving week. Dh and I are both essential workers. I work Thanksgiving every other year and every third week. Dh does Thanksgiving every third year and weekends every fourth week. This is the first time in years we have aligned with no weekends and no holiday that week. I have never taken the week off, so I have a good shot of getting it.

That means Thanksgiving at WDW! JetBlue prices are close to $800 a person. No one else has flights available. Thinking about possibly getting the JetBlue card and maybe a SW card. Looking at SW the bonuses seem low right now? They have historically gotten higher right?
JetBlue seems about the same as always, around 50,000. I’m not interested in super high annual fees. Maybe $99 but not the premier cards.

For those prices I would look a Disneyland Paris over Thanksgiving.

 

[ahself]

I have an upcoming family trip to Hawaii and will be staying at a couple Hiltons in May. I lost my HH Gold status at the end of 2024 (after cancelling the AMEX Biz Plat) and am looking for the simplest/cheapest/best way to get status back before these stays. I received the Surpass SUB a few years ago, and the Aspire AF seems a little too rich for this purpose, especially since I mostly stay with Hyatt. Does that leave me with the AMEX HH Biz as the next best option, or is there another that I'm missing?

I'm looking for a new SUB anyway, as my last one was in September and I'm just putting all spend on my Hyatt Biz.

I currently have 2 AMEX personal cards, but no AMEX biz cards.

 

[becauseimnew]

I went through a phase of that, approvals usually rolled in within 24 hours.

Was approved, was hoping I could get the card number, but I guess I'll wait a week to get the card.

 

[mmmears]

For those prices I would look a Disneyland Paris over Thanksgiving.

I love the way you think. It's a great idea, too.

 

[havaneselover]

My cvs in store purchases of Disney gift cards are still pending in Rakuten. Does anyone have these marked “confirmed?”

 

[newski_mom]

Oddball question - I booked Southwest flights for DH and 3 of his coworkers for a business trip. I booked them all on one reservation, so there is just one confirmation number. I assume DH can just check in and it will check all of them in?

We always have separate confirmation numbers because we have a companion pass, so not really sure how it works when they are on the same reservation.

Also, the other 3 guys don't have RR accounts - will they need to create one to get their boarding pass? Or can they just print at the airport with the confirmation number and their name?

 

[ahself]

Oddball question - I booked Southwest flights for DH and 3 of his coworkers for a business trip. I booked them all on one reservation, so there is just one confirmation number. I assume DH can just check in and it will check all of them in?

We always have separate confirmation numbers because we have a companion pass, so not really sure how it works when they are on the same reservation.

Also, the other 3 guys don't have RR accounts - will they need to create one to get their boarding pass? Or can they just print at the airport with the confirmation number and their name?

Yes, DH can check in and it will check all of them in. In addition, they can print their boarding passes at the airport with the confirmation number.

We use a CP too, but it's typically me and my two DD's, with my DW on a separate confirmation b/c of the CP. So, I check in for myself and DD's on one confirmation, and I print all 3 of our boarding passes at the airport using the same.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Thanks. DH is over 60, but kiddo is still in HS so definitely not planning on retirement yet.
So no one thinks AutoSlash will refund immediately? It's a pay now rate, so the reservation I made in November has been fully paid, I'd make a new one, pay in full and cancel the old one.

Every time I booked w/ AutoSlash it was "direct" for me to cancel. But I don't think I prepaid. Sorry about your husband's job. I'm over here still trying to figure out what my "retirement" plan is. Luckily I have savings and a BF who's helping out. I'd think 26 years teacher and experience w/ CAD it wouldn't be this hard!

A $17,000 stay for 480k Hilton points

So just back from Hermitage Bay in Antigua, an SLH hotel that recently became available through Hilton. I booked within hours of availability being released and used 2 FNCs and 120k Hilton pts/nt x2nts. We were booked during hurricane season, but then they had some renovations go long and bumped our stay. I negotiated peak January dates and an upgrade to a Hillside Pool Suite, plus Hilton provided me with a Be Our Guest certificate (more on that soon).

OOOOH you're giving me somewhere new to look for using our FNC, or my Hilton "employee" rate, LOL! But it sound like it was pretty low-key? My BF gets bored easily....so maybe just 2-3 nights, LOL

 

[babyready]

My cvs in store purchases of Disney gift cards are still pending in Rakuten. Does anyone have these marked “confirmed?”

Mine from 12/2 is still pending. I have a couple others from that time that are still pending as well, including a referral bonus.

 

[NewbieMom]

I have an upcoming family trip to Hawaii and will be staying at a couple Hiltons in May. I lost my HH Gold status at the end of 2024 (after cancelling the AMEX Biz Plat) and am looking for the simplest/cheapest/best way to get status back before these stays. I received the Surpass SUB a few years ago, and the Aspire AF seems a little too rich for this purpose, especially since I mostly stay with Hyatt. Does that leave me with the AMEX HH Biz as the next best option, or is there another that I'm missing?

I'm looking for a new SUB anyway, as my last one was in September and I'm just putting all spend on my Hyatt Biz.

I currently have 2 AMEX personal cards, but no AMEX biz cards.

It depends on your usage. Are any of the Hiltons you're staying at part of the resort credit list? If so, the Aspire has $200 resort credit per half year. The FNC alone is usually worth it for me to keep the card. Is there wide availability where you're using to use the cert? It takes about 8 weeks after approval to get so may be cutting it close if you're staying in May. There's also a $200 flight credit (in $50/quarter increments). If you won't use these then the Amex biz card is probably better for your usage.

My cvs in store purchases of Disney gift cards are still pending in Rakuten. Does anyone have these marked “confirmed?”

Mine is still pending and says 3-14 weeks to go to confirm. It's been about 2 weeks since my purchase.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

We were at WDW a few days before Christmas, and while it was an expensive time of year to go... we just loved it. We stayed at the Poly through DVC Rental Store in a Lake View room, which had the perfect view of Cinderella's castle and fireworks. We paid $691 a night, but compared with cash rates, I guess that's a steal over $1550/nt cash rate through Disney.

2 day park hoppers cost us an eye-watering $444/pp!

But it was our kids fav trip of the year. I'd like to go again, but we'd really need to target a low cost time of year to go.

 

[Best Aunt]

My suggestion would be to reach out to LinkedIn connections. My husband doesn’t do any social media except for LinkedIn. Sometimes people can help you with postings. My husband’s current ‘unicorn’ job was gotten that way. He reached out to the one person he knew at the company & it turned out to be the hiring manager. That guy liked him so he was a shoe in for the job.

For the person whose husband lost his job (earlier in the week, I'm just catching up here):

Regarding LinkedIn:

If your husband has an account, I'm pretty sure there is a setting where he can show that he is interested in hearing about job opportunities.

The thing about LinkedIn is, it's mentally helpful if you don't really have the energy to pursue a new job, but you want to feel like you're doing something useful. I think of it as "constructive procrastination." If he has an account, he can try to increase his followers. Has he sent invites to everybody he knows? Also, does he need to update it? (It's like updating a resume.) And if he doesn't have an account, he can set one up and then start sending out invites. Some people also make a post explaining that they were laid off, and what they are looking for.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

We were at WDW a few days before Christmas, and while it was an expensive time of year to go... we just loved it. We stayed at the Poly through DVC Rental Store in a Lake View room, which had the perfect view of Cinderella's castle and fireworks. We paid $691 a night, but compared with cash rates, I guess that's a steal over $1550/nt cash rate through Disney.

2 day park hoppers cost us an eye-watering $444/pp!

But it was our kids fav trip of the year. I'd like to go again, but we'd really need to target a low cost time of year to go.

Has anyone narrowed it down to when is a low cost time to go? September was the slow time of year way back when. I'm not sure if there even is one now. I desperately need a Disney trip. Even if it's a last minute Disney trip.

 

[Haley R]

Has anyone narrowed it down to when is a low cost time to go? September was the slow time of year way back when. I'm not sure if there even is one now. I desperately need a Disney trip. Even if it's a last minute Disney trip.

I’m not sure there’s really a slow season anymore but I feel like beginning of May is a good time to go. We’ll be there end of February but doing a resort only stay.

 

[ahself]

Has anyone narrowed it down to when is a low cost time to go? September was the slow time of year way back when. I'm not sure if there even is one now. I desperately need a Disney trip. Even if it's a last minute Disney trip.

Not sure if you're planning on using DVC points, like FreeDiningFanatic, but the 2025/2026 DVC points charts are broken down (sorted) by point value (cost) and time of year, e.g. low to high...and I'm sure they're sorted based on Disney's expectations of traveler volume.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Has anyone narrowed it down to when is a low cost time to go? September was the slow time of year way back when. I'm not sure if there even is one now. I desperately need a Disney trip. Even if it's a last minute Disney trip.

Agree with @Haley R, I don't think there's really a "slow" time anymore, just a slower time in relation to the busier times, which can still be pretty busy LOL!

We went the last week of April last year, and I felt it was a pretty good time, crowds weren't bad at all, Flower & Garden was going on, and the weather was beautiful. I would go again at that time in a heartbeat!
We'll be there this weekend for Festival of the Arts... hoping crowds aren't terrible. At least the weather is better this week though!
And then we'll be there the first week of September as well. We try to pick times when kids are in school, not too many events going on that'll draw crowds, etc.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Not sure if you're planning on using DVC points, like FreeDiningFanatic, but the 2025/2026 DVC points charts are broken down (sorted) by point value (cost) and time of year, e.g. low to high...and I'm sure they're sorted based on Disney's expectations of traveler volume.

The DVC point charts are done to spread out demand for DVC rooms and keep them booked year round.
They aren’t based on park attendance, so they may or may correlate to low or high attendance in the parks.
Think a good way to gauge when Disney thinks the parks will be less busy is to look at the date based ticket prices

 

[Judique]

Not sure if you're planning on using DVC points, like FreeDiningFanatic, but the 2025/2026 DVC points charts are broken down (sorted) by point value (cost) and time of year, e.g. low to high...and I'm sure they're sorted based on Disney's expectations of traveler volume.

I think they are based on what books fastest in DVC. The parks may be empty but DVC members book it's cheapest rooms. That tends to be the lower amount of DVC points. Early December has been a popular season as long as I can remember and I've owned for 25 years. Lower amount of points needed are early December to Dec 23, then the whole month of January, first half of February, most of May, all of September and that's it right now.

DVC can only rearrange point values once for each year by a very low percentage. We are seeing changes gradually in the point charts from season to season, but the points can never exceed the initial amount of points allocated to the resort.

An example is standard view studio at Boardwalk Villas. January 2025 is 9 points. This had been reduced to 9. This room evaporated so fast that it has gone up to 10 for 2026 and Feb 1 to Feb 15 has come down from 12 to 11 points to balance. Right now instead of just January being sought after, now it's Jan 1 to Feb 15, so expect to see 2027 charts reflecting an upward trend for that time and another time period reduced.

Not all DVC has so many changes. At BW it is the immense popularity of really low point rooms and the many companies out to make a buck. Ordinary members who offer points for rent on Disboards rent as low as $14 and high up to $20-22. The companies rent the same rooms for $30 to $40 per point, and this has become much more noticeable in the last 5ish years. They are still cheaper than when Disney rents their DVC rooms (breakage, per cent they are required to own and points traded out by members).

edit: agree with everything @palhockeymomof2 wrote.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Has anyone narrowed it down to when is a low cost time to go? September was the slow time of year way back when. I'm not sure if there even is one now. I desperately need a Disney trip. Even if it's a last minute Disney trip.

Labor Day, first half Sept has lowish crowds and cheapish prices. It’s been a go-to time for me for a few years now. Hot, stormy, peak hurricane season though. Weather combined with so many kids going back to school seems to have kept this time a bit quieter. (Seriously on the weather though- my MNSSHP got so rained/thunder-stormed out last year Disney gave everyone refunds, or a 1 day park ticket if they didn’t buy party tickets direct, automatically around 11pm party night.)