Now that the US Dollar is expensive ...

[mermaid&cinderella]

Yes it sucks! I need to buy my AP to do my FP+ selection but the dollar is so low

 

[pigletto]

Thanks for the reminder. In March '09 we were down there with a $0.79 dollar. $0.84 seems much better in comparison. I'm just praying it doesn't drop another nickel before we go...

Royal Bank (who we bank with ) is only giving .81 cents on the Dollar. I bought our flight home on Jetblue for $444 for all four of us today. The charge to my RBC Visa was $547.

I'll make up for it in other areas but we'll be limiting most of our eating to offsite locations and more counter service type places. It's a last minute trip and I'll have to cut corners where I can. I would even drop the rental car and just use a car service but then we aren't able to go offsite to eat and offset the food budget.
We're staying at Cabana Bay and were going to do one night at RPR for the benefits of front of the line access for two days but I think that's probably out.

It is what it is and we'll still have a great time, but it really does make a tight budget much tighter.

 

[Misha72683]

I definitely felt it today when I paid our deposit (yay!) and paid an extra $30 in exchange. Ugh.

 

[Belle599]

Seeing some recent trends in economic data, I strongly feel like we aren't at the bottom yet. I hate to say it, but even at these rates I feel the need to buy FX forwards. Let's hope I am very wrong!

 

[KNovacovschi]

$150 US cost me $182.55 last night, definitely high at this point and only seems to be going up. 2 weeks ago I paid $178 for $150 US. Just wondering when it's going to stop.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Seeing some recent trends in economic data, I strongly feel like we aren't at the bottom yet.

I work for two financial advisors, and that's their prediction as well.

For the first time since our very first trip in 2009, we're considering flying from Toronto for our October and December trips (it pains me to say that....I am no fan of Pearson). If Jetblue adds baggage fees AND we have a 20% added cost for exchange and conversion fees, flying from Syracuse may no longer be the best option .

Every time we see the dollar drop just a little more, we just keep repeating to ourselves....this is good for the company DH works for, this is good for the company DH works for.

 

[Skjhjb]

We leave next week. It won't change anything for us. We are driving though so we are very pleased with the way gas prices are going.

Yep! DH's parents rented a condo in Myrtle Beach for two months, so the two of us are going in February for a few days (leaving the kiddos home alone).

We don't have to pay for accommodations, so just gas & food. And while gas prices are awesome, I was a tad concerned with the dollar. But we are still going - can't wait!

 

[keltiesmom]

We have a US dollar bank account and buy the money as we go along, so some of it was bought at a better rate. We are getting a US dollar credit card to pay forever urging while we are there and will pay it off with the U.S. Cash bought at the better rate. In the end it's worth the extra cost and still less than when I went in 2000.

 

[minnie56]

Fortunately,..I get paid a lot in USD ..just as well. My DD lives in NYC and I pay her utilities still. Ouch..those could add up!

 

[DougEMG]

The exchange rate doesn't impact our plans. I can remember when the dollar was a lot lower than this and we still went.

 

[minnie56]

It's painful today!!

 

[Phoenixrising]

I know as I bought $110USD this morning and it cost me just over $138 CDN OUCH! And unfortunately for me I'm at the mercy of the USD as I'm saving for a trip and have to buy USD every month, for the next 18 months for our trip to WDW in Jan/17. It's becoming harder and harder to come up with the extra money to get the amt of USD I need to get every month.

 

[Belle599]

Seeing some recent trends in economic data, I strongly feel like we aren't at the bottom yet. I hate to say it, but even at these rates I feel the need to buy FX forwards. Let's hope I am very wrong!

Ugh sorry guys for calling this one

I'm not surprised with the rate decrease this morning, given Northern Alberta softening up so quickly but I must say I was taken aback by the timing. I didn't expect the rate decrease so quickly.

Obviously BoC is trying to weaken the CAD to strengthen exports.

I have mixed feelings on this one because I can see both sides to the decision.....

 

[xlxo]

The slide continues...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=52939542#post52939542

Time for bitcoin? Ouch....

I remember when Canadian 65 cents in 2002.

 

[PensFan]

Yeah I'm a little mad at myself .. when I booked our trip for Aug 2015 the dollar was at $1.06 and only paid the depoit when I could have easily paid it off in full! After waiting and seeing it just keep dropping, I finally caved and paid it off yesterday! Master Card exchange rate was 1.21

$480 gamble that I lost ..

Ahh well at least its done and I can use the next few months to decide to buy my spending cash now or wait and lose again!

 

[TheZue]

We've started putting any savings from lower gas prices into our US account. That should help take some of the sting out of this. But next time we go to Disneyland we won't be staying onsite and we'll probably drive. Luckily we paid off our cruise right before Christmas when oil really started crashing hard.

 

[wendyt_ca]

I am considering calling and paying off our upcoming hotel for feb/March before it drops more...And wondering if I should get a wack of US money before it drops even more :S (I have a girl's trip to Vegas in Oct as well)...It won't affect our plans but it would be nice to pay less.

 

[minnie mum]

I'm just really thankful we opened our US$ account when we did. Kept adding to it while our dollar was at or near par. I don't want to pay the annual fee for the US$ CC, so it looks like we'll just make this a mostly cash trip, taking a good sized chunk out of that account. Doubt we'll be putting any more money into it for some time to come.

 

[redrosesix]

The exchange rate not so much (although I have put off paying out our room reservation in case there is an improvement)...

But the airline prices plus the extra baggage fees! And that was in US$ too! That definitely cut into our vacation budget. We are definitely being more careful with our spending (double checking rental car rates, cutting back on expensive meals, and booking a cheaper hotel for our non-disney days in southern FL)

I have a US$ bank account and I try to tuck away some funds whenever the exchange rate has a better day. Plus I put more of our charges on a CC since they don't charge as high of fees for conversion, and get a better rate than I could get myself.

 

[MegaSilver]

I'm strongly considering paying in full today my Disney trip for 3 months from now.

Couple of questions. If I pay off the balance in full, and then new discounts come out, what happens to that credit? Can I keep the credit it and use it against meal tips and extras?