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

[disneybirds]

I like to say with little kids it's not vacation - it's just parenting in a new location.

So true. I have a great friend that that says "it's not a vacation, but a relocation".

 

[DaveL]

Interesting. I closed my old SW card 2+ years ago and it still shows in my Chase account. I'd love to make ir go away!

Odd! I was hoping they would drop off. Just this weekend one of them went to this;

Then when you click on it you get;

The other one still has the SW logo and says current balance is $0.00.

In other news, My SW points just posted in the last hour!! So just 4 days delayed.

 

[DaveL]

@SouthFayetteFan - Only tagging you since I think you did a lot of research in this and I don't have the desire to read hundreds of pages to figure it out myself. For RoTR boarding groups, I know you have to enter the park then get in the app to request one... Does everyone in your party have to tag in first? Wondering if I can get up early head to DHS and grab a BG for myself and DD/DW while they sleep in.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

I forgot to share the good work/time off news I got last week!

Our office has always had these weird “floating holidays” where we’re off Presidents Day and Columbus Day, but we’re REQUIRED to take PTO for them. Every time I tried to get an explanation for it I was I told that a certain fraction of additional PTO was added to all of our time so that we weren’t actually “using” our PTO for this. I never saw that reflected anywhere and could never get a straight answer for it. So, unfortunately, I’ve been burning 16 hours of PTO every year to take off two days that I don’t want to take off to begin with.

Well, apparently my new boss also found this policy to be ridiculous, so she’s canceled that effectively immediately! Now I don’t have to take Presidents Day off, which means I’ll only be using 24 hours of PTO that week since I leave for FL that Tuesday night! I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to go to work But I effectively have two vacation days back now!!

Congrats on saving the vacation days.
it looks like we will be there about the same time.

 

[PolyRob]

@SouthFayetteFan - Only tagging you since I think you did a lot of research in this and I don't have the desire to read hundreds of pages to figure it out myself. For RoTR boarding groups, I know you have to enter the park then get in the app to request one... Does everyone in your party have to tag in first? Wondering if I can get up early head to DHS and grab a BG for myself and DD/DW while they sleep in.

Everyone needs to have tapped into DHS to join a RotR boarding group!

 

[LB002]

2 questions-

How long should it take for my new SW card to arrive? I was approved about 10 days ago and have several expenses I'm not-so-patiently waiting to pay.

For those who have done it - is it worth the $$$$ to take a helicopter to a glacier to dogsled??? 4 of us would be $2800 , which is insane. But this is also a "once in a lifetime" kind of thing. DH is all for it and I am gagging at the price tag. Kids will be 7 and 1p, if that factors into the assessment.

 

[DaveL]

Everyone needs to have tapped into DHS to join a RotR boarding group!

DOH! Okay there goes that plan. Hopefully they don't do 7AM openings the first week of June or it may just be me ridding.

 

[AmyAnne]

2 questions-

How long should it take for my new SW card to arrive? I was approved about 10 days ago and have several expenses I'm not-so-patiently waiting to pay.

For those who have done it - is it worth the $$$$ to take a helicopter to a glacier to dogsled??? 4 of us would be $2800 , which is insane. But this is also a "once in a lifetime" kind of thing. DH is all for it and I am gagging at the price tag. Kids will be 7 and 1p, if that factors into the assessment.

On our Alaska cruise we did a small plane tour of the glaciers and then a separate dog sled excursion. I was actually not a huge fan of the dog sled experience but I would do the plane tour again--the views were amazing. But I am quite sure we did not pay anything close to $600/person. Is this a Disney cruise? We booked their tours because of the possibility of weather cancellations, even though usually I prefer to use independent tour guides.

 

[jhoannam]

Some ramblings and questions...

My extended family is wanting to plan a trip for this summer to include my family, my sister's family and my mom. We did this 3 years ago and flew to Hawaii - did two nights at waikiki beach, took NCL's 7 night cruise around the islands and then spend 5 nights at Aulini. It was a great trip and we thought it would be the only time we did it because of kids getting older, etc.

Anyway, my mom is wanting to try it again. The biggest issue is my girls - one graduated from college last May. She is still looking for "her job", so hopefully will be working somewhere different by July when we would most likely travel. Therefore, her vacation time is questionable. DD2 will graduate this May, so she also is very up in the air about her summer schedule possibilities.

To make it more complicated, everyone is looking into an Alaskan cruise this time. We Love cruises, but they are probably the most difficult type of vacation to change after you've booked (at least as far as I know). So, here in lies my questions:

1. Is there any type of trip insurance that could be purchased that would cover one of both of my DD's not being able to go after rooms are booked? I looked at the CSR insurance because we could pay with points/ charge the rest on that card, but it doesn't seem like it would apply.

2. Wondering what other trips anyone has taken that worked well for multiple generations.

My mom will be 76 when we travel and is in pretty good health, but not an overly active person, so can't walk long distances without tiring, etc. That's part of the reason we think cruising would be good because she's familiar with them and it's easy to do things at varying paces.

My sister has two girls who will be the youngest at 11 and 15 at the time of the trip, so they are old enough that they don't need to be entertained the entire time, but still want to have something fun to do sometimes.

If anyone has any advice / knowledge about this, I would love any input!

FYI your girls can totally negotiate advanced vacation time. I know that’s becoming more popular and accepted. I work in local government, and since we can’t pay private industry salaries we advance vacation time more often than not. And if they can’t grant them advance paid leave most places will allow them to take unpaid time for prescheduled vacation.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Interesting. I closed my old SW card 2+ years ago and it still shows in my Chase account. I'd love to make ir go away!

You can hide it...when your logged in..click on”things you can do” by the closed account...then scroll down to....update settings and preferences...then click on hide account....you can then hit...hide it... next to the closed card

 

[LB002]

On our Alaska cruise we did a small plane tour of the glaciers and then a separate dog sled excursion. I was actually not a huge fan of the dog sled experience but I would do the plane tour again--the views were amazing. But I am quite sure we did not pay anything close to $600/person. Is this a Disney cruise? We booked their tours because of the possibility of weather cancellations, even though usually I prefer to use independent tour guides.

Norweigan cruise line. This is one of the most expensive excursions.

I have looked at the Chase portal and the 2 other (MUCH less expensive) excursions I likes at other ports are available, but not this one. I haven't looked yet at doing the excursion privately (just started research).

 

[LB002]

FYI your girls can totally negotiate advanced vacation time. I know that’s becoming more popular and accepted. I work in local government, and since we can’t pay private industry salaries we advance vacation time more often than not. And if they can’t grant them advance paid leave most places will allow them to take unpaid time for prescheduled vacation.

@ski_mom
I agree - when they get an offer they should bring it up as part of the hiring negotiations. If a company wants a candidate they aren't going to balk at a week or two of scheduled vacation (unless there is some business related conflict).

 

[afan]

@ski_mom
I agree - when they get an offer they should bring it up as part of the hiring negotiations. If a company wants a candidate they aren't going to balk at a week or two of scheduled vacation (unless there is some business related conflict).

I agree with this and if they do balk at it that may not be a place you actually want to work.

 

[ski_mom]

FYI your girls can totally negotiate advanced vacation time. I know that’s becoming more popular and accepted. I work in local government, and since we can’t pay private industry salaries we advance vacation time more often than not. And if they can’t grant them advance paid leave most places will allow them to take unpaid time for prescheduled vacation.

@ski_mom
I agree - when they get an offer they should bring it up as part of the hiring negotiations. If a company wants a candidate they aren't going to balk at a week or two of scheduled vacation (unless there is some business related conflict).

I agree with this and if they do balk at it that may not be a place you actually want to work.

I'm sure this is true! I just worry about them getting jobs lol! I know they are well prepared for them though

 

[PolyRob]

DOH! Okay there goes that plan. Hopefully they don't do 7AM openings the first week of June or it may just be me ridding.

There are so many unknowns right now! 7am opens until the last week of Jan, then 8am opens the last week of Jan. Feb forward still has 9am opens which I doubt will happen, but EMH have been changed from AM to PM through the end of March.

Disney is slowly changing the calendar so checking back 30 days prior to arrival is probably the best bet.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

We did a luau at Sea Life Park 4 years ago, back then it was called The Chief's Luau. I wonder if he is still there? We did find it entertaining, but like you don't have anything to compare it to.

I believe they are still there. 4 days/ wk. That is the same group that is at the Marriott Ko Olina next to Aluni on Tuesday’s and they have Saturday’s off. We saw them last month and enjoyed the show.

 

[smmco]

I agree with this and if they do balk at it that may not be a place you actually want to work.

Agreed. My boss at my last job had been a senior manager for 20 years. She, of course, had tons of PTO and loved to travel. She not only encouraged us to take time off but was excited for us. My new boss has been in her position for less than a year and is a stressed-out workaholic. Every PTO request is a cluster..............So far I've gotten everything approved, but not without some drama and screw-ups. She has also called me during my vacation. She has even called me to come into work when I've called in sick. I just put in my PTO request for the end of August beginning of September, which is the slowest time of the year. If I have any issues it will be the last straw that pushes me to a human resources visit.

I've turned down a couple of jobs that I think I'd really like and pay more then what I currently make because I couldn't get a clear cut answer on vacation time.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@SouthFayetteFan - Only tagging you since I think you did a lot of research in this and I don't have the desire to read hundreds of pages to figure it out myself. For RoTR boarding groups, I know you have to enter the park then get in the app to request one... Does everyone in your party have to tag in first? Wondering if I can get up early head to DHS and grab a BG for myself and DD/DW while they sleep in.

@PolyRob is right... and if you ask this question on the RotR thread you will get flamed

 

[magickingdomprincess]

@SouthFayetteFan and @gottalovepluto have been following the sAAga and might have better insight. This might be a discussion better had over in our secret place.

There was a post on r/churning about it this morning that pretty much addresses what @magickingdomprincess was asking:

• r/churning Thread

I'd recommend all who are interested in this topic give that a read.

Thanks for the reply and link.

 

[snugglebug]

I do this to my 14yo all the time. Esp when my hair is purple. And around her friends. LOL

I'm rocking purple hair right now (my daughter dyes my hair lol), I told her the other day that I was a cool mom and I got an eye roll.