I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[georgina]

I am guessing after 2 weeks of "the status of your application is not yet available" that it's likely going to be a denial. My BoA is already met, and we need another card for property taxes. Back to the drawing board, for my next option, if Chase doesn't respond by mid next week or so.

Sorry! That was for a CIP, I think? Going to try to refer DH for one next week, recent reports make me a bit nervous. Have to pay off our 14 day cruise by Oct 31, so have time to get a backup plan.

 

[elgerber]

Sorry! That was for a CIP, I think? Going to try to refer DH for one next week, recent reports make me a bit nervous. Have to pay off our 14 day cruise by Oct 31, so have time to get a backup plan.

Yup. CIP. I thought I would be safer and take a break from CIC and CIU. maybe that was a mistake.

 

[mmmears]

Friends, I booked a trip to DL for a long weekend. It's been 10 years since we ventured into the parks. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Never used Genie or Lightning Lanes or any of this stuff (yes we will pay for them).

 

[mmmears]

I used this link to see if I was pre-approved 1st. I also unfroze all 3 bureaus before doing the pre-approval, because I know historically they do a soft pull for pre-approvals. Once it said I was pre-approved I applied through the 90k link on DOC. And crossed my fingers.

https://www.capitalone.com/credit-
cards/preapprove/venture-x/

Thanks so much for your help with this one. Somehow your info hit DH at the right moment and he took the chance and applied and was approved for the 90k offer!

 

[LynnTH]

the link on DoC says only up to $200? what am I missing

The referrals that were still working were 40,000 URs. The SUB was then still 75,000. The new links are for 90,000-so was able to match to the 90,000 but DH still got the 40,000 for referral. Haven’t looked to see if the changed the referral points with the higher SUB. (Last time it was 90,000 - I think the referrals were 20,000).

 

[IFlossU]

Thanks so much for your help with this one. Somehow your info hit DH at the right moment and he took the chance and applied and was approved for the 90k offer!

This made me smile!! Thank you for letting me know

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Oh wow! I had no idea about the characters. That’s awesome! We have DVC, but we are pretty much using all our points for Aulani next year. Not sure if we would want to borrow any or if it’s even possible at 7 months at DL resorts. So I’m glad to know that there’s hotels across the street as an option. We know absolutely nothing about DL so thanks for the tips. Would 2 DL days be enough to do close to everything?

You can do a lot in 2 days but definitely would get Genie + and expect to pay for Lightening Lane. Our absolute fave is Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racers ride. Its basically Test Track with Lightning McQueen and friends as the cars and racing through a canyon. We like to do it day and night as it looks so different but it's super popular and lines are long so definitely Lightening Lane. As for hotel, we have never stayed on property there. With the exception of Grand Californian resort, the DR resorts are a farther walk than the local hotels which are across the street (and can be booked through the UR portal). Grand Californian is $$$$ and beautiful but not being rich, I've never been able to afford it.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

We plan to go to Aulani sometime next September and need help on figuring out where and when to start looking for flights. It’ll be myself and DH. My 25 year old son that will pay for himself, his g/f and their 4 year old. And probably my 18 year old daughter with possibly her b/f and their 1 year old, which will pay for themselves also. Must be budget friendly for my kids as they will be paying OOP. We always fly strictly SWA, but I’m thinking that won’t be very comfortable for the duration of the flight. We want to fly as much nonstop as we can. So far I have gathered that we will need to fly and position somewhere on the west coast. Is that accurate? Where would be the best airport to fly to from MEM? When I earned CP this year, I received a 30% off promo code for SWA that we could at least use for the positioning flight. What would be the best airline that’s cost friendly, but with comfortable seats from the west coast to HNL?

Thanks for the reassurance because I really wanna fly SWA since I have tons of RR points and DH is my companion, so we could ideally fly for free, but I don’t want to put my kid’s budgets in a bind either. And since I have that 30% off promo, that would help my kids a lot on their flight cost. We are also toying with the idea of taking a day or two to go to Disneyland since none of us have ever been, since we will be in the neighborhood. I see a lot of complaints about Hawaiian airlines lately changing up people’s seats they paid for and things of that nature, so I’m hesitant about them.

Ive flown from the midwest to Hawaii on SW and it was fine. I would do it again, especially since you have that promo and CP.
I would for sure price out DL before getting too far down that rabbit hole. I recall someone recently posting that one or two days in the park was cost prohibitive for them. Hawaii food can be so, so expensive. Could be two expensive trips in one...

 

[djmeredith]

Friends, I booked a trip to DL for a long weekend. It's been 10 years since we ventured into the parks. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Never used Genie or Lightning Lanes or any of this stuff (yes we will pay for them).

Definitely check out the Disneyland forum on here; it was very helpful. Hotel situation is very different from WDW, as you probably already know. Onsite hotels are very expensive (at least for my budget). However, I am picky about hotels, so I haven't tried any of the motel style places closest to the parks. We stayed at the JW Marriott 2 years ago, which was brand new at the time. We loved it and it's only about a 15 min walk to the parks. Although, I did Uber a few times to save the steps. Last week I stayed at the Westin, which is also about a 15 minute walk. However, from the opposite side of the resort because you enter through Downtown Disney. I preferred the Westin over the JW.

Plan to rope drop, be at security by 7:30 am at the latest. You will definitely need Genie+ and purchase ILL for Cars since you've never done it. I skipped Rise since I have done it several times at both parks, but purchase the ILL if you want to do it. That will free up your rope drop and night's end time to do some of the others with longer waits.

Prioritize your must dos in each park and then research over on the DL forum. That will allow you to have a plan going in, but be prepared to be flexible in case of unforeseen issues. I would recommend park hopper for max flexibility. Sometimes the wait times are significantly lower in one or the other. Everything I read said slow season had begun, but it was packed Sat-Mon last week (weekend after Labor Day), with Mon being the most crowded.

 

[djmeredith]

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for me. I spent 9 out of 12 days in parks: 1 night at HHN Orlando, 4 days in WDW, 3 days home, then 3 days at DLR, and last but not least Universal Orlando. My WDW trip was already planned when a work trip in Anaheim popped up. I couldn't pass up the chance to do DL. My plan was to do a couple of full park days and a few evenings spread over 8 days. However, my conference got moved from Anaheim to LA 3 weeks before the event. So that caused me to scramble and cram all my park days in before the conference.

For the first time ever, I splurged on a VIP group tour at Universal Hollywood. My main goal was Super Nintendo World, and the price for the VIP was not much more than the reg ticket with Express Pass and early entry added on. Overall it was a good experience. The park was only open 9:00-6:00 and my tour was 10:45. If I had it to do over again, I definitely would have taken the first tour of the day so I had more time on my own at the end of the day. I am not a gamer and have only played Mario Kart years ago on the Wii, but I still had a great time exploring SNW. the ride, Bowser's Challenge is really cool. I am now looking even more forward to Epic Universe's opening.

 

[newski_mom]

I used this link to see if I was pre-approved 1st. I also unfroze all 3 bureaus before doing the pre-approval, because I know historically they do a soft pull for pre-approvals. Once it said I was pre-approved I applied through the 90k link on DOC. And crossed my fingers.

https://www.capitalone.com/credit-
cards/preapprove/venture-x/

ETA: 90k link from DOC
https://applynow.capitalone.com/?productId=24504

Wait what?

So, if you follow the preapproval link and it tell you that you are preapproved, then you go click through the DOC link for the 90,000 point offer?

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I used this link to see if I was pre-approved 1st. I also unfroze all 3 bureaus before doing the pre-approval, because I know historically they do a soft pull for pre-approvals. Once it said I was pre-approved I applied through the 90k link on DOC. And crossed my fingers.

https://www.capitalone.com/credit-
cards/preapprove/venture-x/

ETA: 90k link from DOC
https://applynow.capitalone.com/?productId=24504

Wait what?

Pre-approved! Very tempted... Wasn't in the plans so will need to think on it tomorrow. Already have two $15K spends to meet! But one is within 9 months, another 12 months, so I could probably squeeze this in...

 

[pinkxray]

We are headed to Aulani in Nov. I’d like to do a tour at Kuoloa Ranch. I noticed I can book it using Chase URs. Has anyone booked activities through the Chase portal? The cost is a bit more but since the point are worth 50% more it comes out better. It looks like booking through Chase is the same as booking through Trip advisor, whoever that is, Expedia?

My vacation spending is so high this year but I’ve only really been cashing in Chase points using PYB because most of my expenses aren’t in Chase. Would love to knock something out for 50% vs the 25% pyb.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Has anyone booked activities through the Chase portal? The cost is a bit more but since the point are worth 50% more it comes out better.

I booked a few things through Chase portal in August for our San Diego trip for the same reason. (That 50% more on points was a big savings!)

SD zoo two day tickets: Weirdly, for months leading up to our trip, I couldn't put these in my cart on the Chase portal. Even called customer service but their answer was, "We can't sell it to you either. It must be sold out." I kept checking because the savings was so good and one day I was finally able to add to cart. I don't know if the 3rd party processor has run out of inventory on those tickets and finally reupped?? Actual ticket experience was fine, no problems, scanned at the gate as expected.

La Jolla Kayak: Had to move it a day because of the tropical storm. No availability on Chase, so I called the tour operator directly and they were able to change the date in their system without is having to cancel/rebook or anything.

Slot Canyon Tour: Description said private tour, watch for texts from tour guide in the days before with possible changes. No texts, so we arrive at location and there are two other families there. I am surprised, since the description said private, but it's not. He says he's had a few people say that before, it's listed on some site wrong, but he's tried talking to the places that list it and hasn't been able to figure out how to correct. He asks for our phone number to check against his confirm, but the number is wrong. Name is right but the phone is the 800 number for the 3rd party booking site that does the tours, not our cell. That's why we didn't get confirm texts, either: he was texting their 800 number. I honestly don't know if this is the portals fault or if this is a small company that maybe doesn't understand how to use the system. Tour itself was amazing, we never would have hiked a tenth of the places he brought us if he hadn't been there to show the way.

So, definitely mixed reviews on using the portal, but the savings, especially since we were booking for a family of 5, was significant. We have 2 more tours booked through the portal for a couple of post cruise days in San Juan in November. Closer to the date, I do plan on calling the tour operator directly to make sure everything is set, given my experience with the hike.

 

[calypso726]

We plan on 5 nights at Aulani and maybe 1-2 nights at DL. Is that going to be doable? Some of my family only has limited vacation days so we can’t go any longer than that. We frequently visit WDW so as far as going to DL, we’d mostly only want to do and see the things/rides that WDW doesn’t offer?

Yes. This is absolutely doable. As previously mentioned, there are some attractions in DL with the same name as one in WDW but quite different in experience. POTC has a completely different scene at the end in DL that WDW does not have. The beginning is a different experience as well. It's a must do for us when we head to the left coast parks.

Oh wow! I had no idea about the characters. That’s awesome! We have DVC, but we are pretty much using all our points for Aulani next year. Not sure if we would want to borrow any or if it’s even possible at 7 months at DL resorts. So I’m glad to know that there’s hotels across the street as an option. We know absolutely nothing about DL so thanks for the tips. Would 2 DL days be enough to do close to everything?

We have mostly used DVC to try and snag GC at the 7 month mark and have been successful more often than not. Plenty of hotels to choose from nearby. Hyatt and Marriott properties that can be had with points.

I think 2 days using Genie Plus and Lightning Lanes is a fair amount of time to make it worthwhile. The majority of our DL trips have been for 2 days in the parks.

Recently we made an impromptu trip to DL for just a few hours due to a long layover in LAX. We didn't get to the park until after 11 am. DH said he didn't think we would be able to do much. I said to DH if we can get on Mission Breakout and nothing else, I would be happy. We left around 6 pm. We still managed to do Radiator Springs Racers as single riders, Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Incredicoaster, Webslingers and watch a few shows in Avengers Campus. This was on a Sunday in June. We also wound up meeting up with some FB friends we'd met on a cruise some years back and saw we were there and chit chatted with them for a while as well. We ate lunch at Flo's. Our pace was very leisurely and we had no real plans. I was kind of surprised at how much we were able to do.

 

[StephPlum]

He asks for our phone number to check against his confirm, but the number is wrong. Name is right but the phone is the 800 number for the 3rd party booking site that does the tours, not our cell. That's why we didn't get confirm texts, either: he was texting their 800 number. I honestly don't know if this is the portals fault or if this is a small company that maybe doesn't understand how to use the system

I think it is the portal. I've booked hotels through the portal and at checkin they ask me if this is my phone number - 800-xxx-xxxx and I say no. Definitely think directly contacting the company after booking is a good thing.

 

[StephPlum]

Has anyone booked activities through the Chase portal? The cost is a bit more but since the point are worth 50% more it comes out better.

I've booked universal ticket, City Pass for Seattle, Tours through the portal. No problems so far. Like you I compare the cost after the discount to make the decision on which way to go.

 

[StephPlum]

I am finally out of Pop-up Jail. I've been avoiding AMEX since they don't seem to like me. I did use a DOC link for a HH card that was approved. Just applied for Business Gold and instant approval. I'm at 5/24 until next month so taking a break from Chase. Now I just have to figure out how to spend 10K in 3 months. Harder with AMEX with not being able to get VGC at Staples. I see myself paying way ahead on all the utilities!

 

[becauseimnew]

We are headed to Aulani in Nov. I’d like to do a tour at Kuoloa Ranch. I noticed I can book it using Chase URs. Has anyone booked activities through the Chase portal? The cost is a bit more but since the point are worth 50% more it comes out better. It looks like booking through Chase is the same as booking through Trip advisor, whoever that is, Expedia?

My vacation spending is so high this year but I’ve only really been cashing in Chase points using PYB because most of my expenses aren’t in Chase. Would love to knock something out for 50% vs the 25% pyb.

We booked activities through the portal for almost every trip, I’ve never had an issue but I always contact the company directly to give them my contact information.

 

[IFlossU]

So, if you follow the preapproval link and it tell you that you are preapproved, then you go click through the DOC link for the 90,000 point offer?

Yes, exactly this. I was nervous that the 90k offer wouldn’t work since I clicked out of the pre-approval, but it did.

Pre-approved! Very tempted... Wasn't in the plans so will need to think on it tomorrow. Already have two $15K spends to meet! But one is within 9 months, another 12 months, so I could probably squeeze this in...

I know the feeling! I’m still working on $4k for a CIP. I was just approved for the Biz Gold, and now this. So that’s $18k in 3 months. Sure no problem but I’m attracted to shiny objects, which occasionally leads to foolishness. Hopefully the 90k will hang around for a while, and maybe you can pick it up when you have a little more breathing room.