HOW TO VISIT DISNEY WORLD FOR LESS WITH MILES AND POINTS
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HOW WE FLY FREE, STAY FREE AND SAVE UP TO $1,600 ON DISNEY TICKETS!
Let’s face it. Disney is expensive. My daughter is an all-star cheerleader and every year, for the past four years, we have had to go to Disney World in Orlando for her competitions. Every year I’m shocked by how expensive the tickets and hotels are so I decided to do a little research to see if I could offset some of the costs of our trip this year. I found that with these three cards I could eliminate the majority of the costs of our trip, flight, hotel and park tickets. Let’s break it down!
Traveling to Disney World every year means we need to get creative with using our miles and points!
For Flights: You can expect to pay around 7k-12.5k each way for a domestic flight. We like to fly AA (if you live a short distance from Orlando, consider searching on the British Airways site which has a distance based award chart and flights on AA can be found for less here) or flying Southwest. There are three different Southwest personal credit cards and each have a low minimum spend of just $1,000. I feel this is very attainable for most families. That’s just a little over $300 a month.
For Hotels: If you want to stay on Disney property and have all the benefits of doing so, you’ll want to look at the Disney Swan or Dolphin. They are Marriott properties. While redemptions vary wildly based on the time of you you’re visiting, you should be able to get three to five free nights from this card. Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card . Double that if you and your Player 2 both apply.
If you want to stretch your miles by staying off property, there are many choices outside of Disney property.
Some of our faves are:
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress - This off-Disney property books for just 15k Hyatt points a night. You can stay four free nights there by signing up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® card.
Orlando World Center Marriott - three free nights with the Marriott Boundless card above.
Gaylord Resort & Convention Center - three free nights with the Marriott Boundless card
For Disney Tickets:
FLIGHTS:
Just about every airline flies to Orlando (or Tampa) from within the United States.The average domestic round trip award flight with “The Big Three” is about 25k points. While Southwest Airlines doesn’t have an award chart, I’ve found one way flights from Dallas to Orlando for as little as 6,500 points. That’s half the price of American, Delta and United.
There are three personal Southwest credit cards that earn Rapid Rewards, the standard welcome bonus is 50K poins and has a low minimum spend of just $1,000 in three months. That’s doable for many families. Keep in mind that Chase limits applicants to one personal Southwest credit card at a time and you can only receive the bonus every 24 months. If you and your Player Two both apply for this card that will give you 100K Southwest Rapid Rewards which should be enough for four free flights to Orlando.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
Perks: Two Early Bird Check-In®In every year, earn 3k bonus points every anniversary
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Perks: Two Early Bird Check-In every year, earn 6k points every anniversary
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Perks: Four Upgraded Boardings per year, $75 Southwest travel credit each year, 7500 bonus points each anniversary.
HOTELS:
While there are dozens of points hotels near Disney World in Orlando, the only hotel on Disney World property that is bookable with points is the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin and the new Swan Reserve. The Swan and Dolphin are both Marriott properties that book for around 50k points a night. By staying here you’ll receive the same perks as staying at any other Disney Deluxe property like early (and late) park access, ability to select individual Lightning Lanes at 0700 and both properties are walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Keep in mind that although your lodging will be free, you will be charged a daily resort fee and parking fee (most big resorts in Orlando charge this).
Please note that Marriott recently transitioned to dynamic pricing on award stays. That means that award prices go up and down based on cash prices. You will find if you’re traveling during peak summer or holiday season, the award price may be higher than 50k points a night. The good news is that Marriott now allows us to top off free night certificates with up to 15k points. So, if the free night prices out at 55k points, you can use your free 50k night cert plus 5k points.
HOW TO EARN MARRIOTT POINTS:
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card: Limited time offer! Earn 5 Free Night Awards
(each night valued up to 50,000 points).
Perks: You’ll receive an annual 35k free night cert (we used ours to stay at the Springhill Suites Flamingo Crossing ten minutes from Disney World last year.)
Please note that the 5 free night certs must be used in the first twelve months of approval
If your partner gets the same card, you’ll have 10 free night certificates
DISNEY TICKETS:
Being able to offset the cost of Disney tickets with points is not new. For many years, we were able to do this with our Barclay Arrivals+ card (no longer available), so it’s great that we have two more options to bring that hefty price down. Let’s go over each option and how to book.
There are two Capital One Venture cards that come with travel statement credit perks. That means that you are able to “erase” any purchase that codes as travel (this is very important, the purchase must code as travel) with your miles at a rate of 1 cent per point (For example: 75k points = $750). If you purchase your tickets directly from Disney, the purchase will not code as travel and you will not be able to erase the cost with your miles.
Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. Annual Fee: $95.
After meeting the minimum spend you’ll have 83k miles which is equal to $830 (Venture miles earn 2x points on all purchases, so your $4k min spend would equal 8k miles)
Perks: Two annual complimentary visits to the Capital One Lounge
Capital One® Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Annual Fee: $395.
After meeting the minimum spend you’ll have 83k miles which is equal to $830 (Venture miles earn 2x points on all purchases, so your $4k min spend would equal 8k miles)
Unlimited complimentary access to over 1,400 airport lounges with Priority Pass Membership and unlimited access to Capital One Lounges
$300 statement credit with travel purchased through the portal - you could use this book a rental car through the Capital One travel portal
Hertz President’s Circle Status - means no more waiting in line to pick up your rental car
If you and your partner both apply for the card you’ll have double the amount of miles to erase off of your Disney Tickets. Remember, when you are playing in ‘Two Player’ mode, you are alternating applications (unless you can meet the spend in the required time). For example, I would apply for the Capital One Venture X, meet the minimum spend in three months and then my husband would apply for the Capital One Venture X, meet the minimum spend and earn the bonus. This method would take us about 5-6 months to earn two bonuses that would net us over $1600 to erase off the cost of Disney tickets.
HOW TO BUY DISNEY TICKETS WITH CAPITAL ONE MILES:
The most important thing to remember when purchasing your Disney tickets, is that the purchase must code as travel in order for you to use your miles. Buying your tickets directly from Disney will not code as travel (it codes as other or entertainment) and therefore you wouldn’t be able to erase the cost with miles.
In order to erase the cost of your Disney Tickets you must purchase them from a Third Party site that sells Disney World tickets like Undercover Tourist or Getaway Today. Both of these sites sell discounted, refundable tickets. They have been around forever and highly reliable. We have used Undercover Tourist before in the past and had no issues linking our tickets to the app as soon as purchase went through.
One credit card sign up bonus is almost enough to erase the cost of two adult three day park hopper tickets!
CITI PREMIER:
The other option we have to erase the cost of Disney Tickets is with points earned from the Citi Premier. This one takes a little more work because you have to call in to purchase the tickets. But it’s very simple and straightforward.
How to earn Citi ThankYou Points:
Citi Premier® Card: 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Annuel Fee: $95.
After meeting the minimum spend, you’ll have 64k points which is equal to $640 to use towards Disney Tickets
How to book Disney Tickets with Citi ThankYou points
Update: It appears as if you no longer have to call the 800 number to book your tickets. Now you can purchase your tickets through the third party vendors above and you’ll be able to redeem points for a statement credit in the app when the statement closes. This is good news!
In order to purchase tickets you have to call in to the Citi ThankYou Servicing Center at 1-800-842-6596. You will then follow a series of prompts:
Select Help with Travel Rewards
Enter last four digits of your card
Select ‘Travel Rewards’
Select ‘Cruises and Tours’
You’ll receive a confirmation email and be able to link your Disney tickets to the Disney app soon after. Just like above, if you and your partner both apply for the Citi Premier, you’ll be able to take over $1600 off the price of Disney tickets.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
We love using miles and points to erase the cost of flights and hotels when we travel. Being able to use miles and points to erase the cost of expenses such as theme park tickets is a game changer and a huge money saver for families making that Disney vacation just a little more magical!
Happy Travels!
Find out how your Family can Fly “Two for One” for Two Years with the Southwest Companion Pass here!
Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
