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Why We Cancelled Our MoviePass Subscription

What I Pack in My Bathroom Bag for International Trips

Why We Cancelled Our MoviePass Subscription

Well, the day has finally come. I’m sad to tell you that we cancelled our MoviePass subscriptions earlier this week.

I held on to hope that maybe things were going to turn around, but it just kept getting worse. And we make the decision this week to cancel both of our accounts.

Since I strongly promoted MoviePass in January, I felt that it was only right for me to share why we decided to cancel our accounts. The reasons weren’t isolated to just one concern. It was a series of issues over the past two months that brought us to this decision.

First off, MoviePass changed their policy a few months ago to say you can only watch the same movie once per account.

As I told you all earlier:

This is kind of a big deal as this means that you can't actually see one movie every day… because most theaters don't show 30 different movies in one month! Of course, there's no way I could go to a movie every day, but I still am bothered that they are claiming that they are still offering "unlimited movies" for $10 per month. To me, that's deceptive marketing.

Then, their customer service had all sorts of issues. I heard from many of you that you had issues with your card and contacted them and hadn’t gotten a response. We contacted them about switching our card to another device and didn’t hear back from them for weeks.

Next, they introduced Peak Pricing — which meant that you had to pay extra for movies that were popular and/or showing at popular times. Again, if the whole reason that we signed up for MoviePass was so that we could see up to one movie per day for just $10, then this defeated the purpose. Because we could only choose movies that weren’t popular or weren’t showing at popular times. Otherwise, we had to pay a few dollars extra per movie on top of the $10 per month subscription.

We realized that we were beginning to only use the card a max of two times per month due to all of the changes — which meant that movies were costing us about $5 each. That’s not a bad deal, but it wasn’t at all as great of a deal as it had been when we first signed up and could go to ANY movie at ANY time — up to one movie per day.

The final straw for us was when they announced this week that they wouldn’t be allowing you to see big new releases and some show times wouldn’t be available at all for some movies.

Here’s what they said in the email they sent out:

In order to continue growing our service and maintaining a high level of financial discipline, we need to make some modifications:
We must reduce availability for big new-release titles, such as Mission: Impossible – Fallout and other popular new releases, at least for a while as we adjust the business model. We are working on making this more clear in the app so you know which titles are available.
Showtimes that are offered through our service will vary from day to day, and every showtime may not be available. We encourage you to check the MoviePass app for showtimes before you leave for the theater.

It just no longer makes sense for us to pay $10 per month per card (we have two cards) to only be able to see select movies at select times — and that you’ll never know until the day of whether a movie and showing will be available. Plus, you may have to pay extra to see it if it ends up being at a popular time.

Considering the fact that our AMC theater offers $5 Tuesdays (where tickets are just $5 each), it’s a better deal for us to just go on Tuesdays once or twice a month and be able to see the movie we want to see at the time we want to see it — and pay just $5.

So yes, we cancelled our MoviePass subscription and I no longer endorse or support them. If they ever decide to go back to the truly unlimited movies for $10 per month model, I’ll definitely consider signing up again. But for now, I’m out.

What I Pack in My Bathroom Bag for International Trips

Welcome to my two-week series all about our recent family trip to South Africa. I'm recounting some of our favorite experiences, lessons we learned, travel tips, and some of the most memorable stories and takeaways. To read all of the posts in this series, click here.
This post contains affiliate links and we may be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Read our disclosure policy here.

I shared a peek into my bathroom bag on Instagram Stories before we left for South Africa and so many of you asked if I could give links to the products and post more details. So, here you go…

(Note: This is only for a one or two-week trip. I’ve never done an international trip that was more than two weeks, so I’m not your girl if you’re looking for long-term international trip packing tips!)

(Psst! In case you missed it: What I Pack in My Backpack for International Trips)

I got this bag in my FabFitFun box when they sent me a box to unbox on Facebook and share my thoughts. It’s a really expensive bag if you buy it on its own, but Amazon has some Train Case Makeup Bags that are similar and much less expensive. For instance, this one, this one, or this one.

I love how much I can fit in this case! In the top section, I have my toothbrush, a nail file, makeup brush, tweezers, mascara (this is the one I love and have used for a long time), and eyebrow powder.

In the side pocket, I keep my contacts, Visine, floss, and essential oils.

I typically only bring three essential oils when I travel as these pretty much cover it all for me and they don’t take up a lot of space.

I bring Deep Relief (I adore this stuff!), Digize or Digestzen, and Germ Fighter or Thieves.

In the large section, I keep everything else! 🙂

I have toothpaste, my Mary Kay Timewise cleanser (in the squeeze tube) + SPF and moisturizer, deodorant, travel size shampoo and conditioner, hair spray, and then baggies with magnesium & probiotics, my Sinus Rinse packets, hair bands, earrings, hair pins, foundation, lip liner & lip stick, blush, and eyebrow pencil.

I also keep my glasses in here (not pictured). You could also keep a small comb or brush in here if you’re unlike me and can fix your hair on-the-go without using a brush.

I typically just pick up travel sized shampoo, conditioner, and hair spray at Target before a trip. You can also get small bottles and divvy up what you like to use into those bottles. But I find this to be simpler.

And there you have it! 🙂 I can keep enough in here to last me for a good two weeks.

I will put this bag into my backpack for international flights so that I have everything I need to brush my teeth, wash my face, put on makeup, take out my contacts, fix my hair, etc. (Note: We have TSA PreCheck so we’re never asked to take our liquids out of our bags or have them in a clear bag at security nor have I ever had an issue keeping everything in this case.)

If you enjoy posts on international travel, be sure to also check out the following posts I've written on the topic: