Advice, please about Disney Visa

[B714210]

I need some advice from those of you familiar with Disney Visa. My DD is getting married in Disney, and next Wed., we need to send in a $9,000.00 payment for her wedding. We are planning to send a check, like we did for the deposit, but now I am wondering what the advantage might be if we opened a Disney Visa. Our entire family is traveling to Disney for the wedding in Oct. I checked the Chase website, but it wasn't too specific about how to redeem points and what the points could be used for. Also, how long do you have before said points expire. Can you use points to get park passes or rooms entirely paid for? How easy is it? We are trying to pay down our debt, so not sure if we want more credit, but I am thinking if it makes sense financially to put the 9G on the card, and then write a check and pay it off, maybe we should. Help!

 

[pixiewings71]

The points take quite a while to expire but I don't know how long they last after you put them on a card. If you can turn around and pay it off then do it, that would give you some good rewards, I was able to use our rewards basically anywhere in DL. I just gave them the card and that was it.

 

[loser1824]

I need some advice from those of you familiar with Disney Visa. My DD is getting married in Disney, and next Wed., we need to send in a $9,000.00 payment for her wedding. We are planning to send a check, like we did for the deposit, but now I am wondering what the advantage might be if we opened a Disney Visa. Our entire family is traveling to Disney for the wedding in Oct. I checked the Chase website, but it wasn't too specific about how to redeem points and what the points could be used for. Also, how long do you have before said points expire. Can you use points to get park passes or rooms entirely paid for? How easy is it? We are trying to pay down our debt, so not sure if we want more credit, but I am thinking if it makes sense financially to put the 9G on the card, and then write a check and pay it off, maybe we should. Help!

Yes you can use your points for you package or anything Disney basically. You get 1 point for every 100.00 dollars. I think you have a year or two to use them, I can't remember. But, if your payment is due by Wednesday I am not sure you would be able to open your account and have your card for use by Wednesday? Unless you paid for them to ship it quickly, which could cost a little bit of money and IMHO probably isn't worth it.

So here's the math - if you put 9,000.00 on your DV you would get 90 points, which is 90.00 Disney dollars. Plus you could use the card for other purchases for your DD Wedding trip in Oct. and earn even more points. For example if it costs your entire family 6,000.00 to go to Disney for the wedding and you charged it to the DV it would be another 60.00. Then you have 150.00 Disney dollars. That's a meal or two, gifts, souvenirs, snacks, whatever.

I think it would be worth it, but that's just me.

 

[mommalissa]

You have several years to use the points. If you happen to get close to them expiring move them over to the Disney rewards card - used just for the points. I did that last year when I was about to lose points and the reward card doesn't expire until the end of this year.

If you are staying on Disney property for the wedding, you can receive a discount on your stay, depending on what deal they are offering at the time. You can also book your Disney stay and then I believe they give you six months interest free.

Here's their website if you wanted to look around and see all of their offers.
http://disneyrewards.disney.go.com/index.html

 

[hhowe2003]

I have the rewards Visa and I received in the mail a code to add to the card, so I would get 5X the reward points for July August and Sept on purchases like grocerys and gas and disney trips. So instead of 90 points you would gets 450 points.. Of course I got the offer after I booked Disney Hope this helps, you might be able to apply online and get your Credit card number right away!!
Heather

 

[kjetjl]

If you decide to go with Disney Visa....I just applied a few months ago and got $100 Disney gift card after my first purchase. This is different and in addition to the rewards card I got later. And that was easy. After I accumulated $20 rewards dollars, I just ordered the card from my online account and it came in the mail in less than two weeks.
http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/web..._mickymont_100gc_altmed&page=cont&mkid=6HYQ01

 

[pixiewings71]

I checked my points tonight, I have points that are good until 2012, I got those points at least 2 years ago.

 

[Piecey]

Yes you can use your points for you package or anything Disney basically. You get 1 point for every 100.00 dollars. I think you have a year or two to use them, I can't remember. But, if your payment is due by Wednesday I am not sure you would be able to open your account and have your card for use by Wednesday? Unless you paid for them to ship it quickly, which could cost a little bit of money and IMHO probably isn't worth it.

So here's the math - if you put 9,000.00 on your DV you would get 90 points, which is 90.00 Disney dollars. Plus you could use the card for other purchases for your DD Wedding trip in Oct. and earn even more points. For example if it costs your entire family 6,000.00 to go to Disney for the wedding and you charged it to the DV it would be another 60.00. Then you have 150.00 Disney dollars. That's a meal or two, gifts, souvenirs, snacks, whatever.

I think it would be worth it, but that's just me.

Chase overnights credit cards at no cost, you just have to ask.

I've done this many a time with several different cards.

To me, it would be worth it. You could always shred the card after you make the purchase and pretend you never had it in the first place.

 

[CharacterFan]

Congratulations to your daughter. My fiance and I are getting married at Disney next September and he opened a Disney visa account so we'd have some spending money on our honeymoon. His information says something like you have 2 years to get the rewards card, and that the points expire 2 years are they are put on the card or something like that. You have a while to use them. We're already been saving points for the past few months.


eta:
If you or your daughter have any questions about Disney weddings and outside vendors we have a forum http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55 Congratulations again.

 

[B714210]

Thanks very much to everyone who posted. I think I will hop on down to my local Chase, where I have an account and see what they might offer. I'm not sure I want to get a card for $90, but if I can get a gift card or extra points, etc. then it would certainly be worth it! From reading the posts, I am assuming that when I transfer my points, the card works just like a gift card anywhere at Disney. If this is not correct, please let me know.

 

[princessbride6205]

You are correct that the rewards card they send when you redeem points works just like a Disney gift card. I always save up all my points until we take a trip to WDW. I've had no problems using the rewards in restaurants or gift shops.

 

[MScott1851]

I used my points for lots of stuff when we were in WDW in May. I paid the balance on our room, bought souvenirs, food, anything that I didn't want to carry cash around for. It was nice to pull out that little blue rewards card instead of cash or another credit card!

 

[kathyell]

The points I just accrued during my last billing cycle on my Disney VISA card don't expire until 2014. (My bill is sitting next to me on the table because I paid my bills this morning, weird timing!)

 

[Ava]

Points don't expire until 5 years after you earn them. (I got my card in 2006 and the earliest points expiration I have on my statement is 2011.) Once you transfer them to a Rewards Card (which is seperate from your credit card), they expire when the Rewards Card expires, which I think is one year from when it's issued.

So you could potentially rack up points for 6 years before using them. Just be careful and don't transfer any points onto a Rewards Card unless you know you will be able to use them within a year; once the points are on the Rewards Card they can't be transferred back onto the credit card and have to be used within a year. (Some people have reported being able to use their Rewards Card to purchase Disney giftcards at the Disney store or online, essentially making their points never expire, but I think the official line is that you can't use Rewards points to buy giftcards.)

Personally, I think it's worth it if you are able to pay off your balance every month and just use the card to get points.

 

[LaurieN]

I have the rewards Visa and I received in the mail a code to add to the card, so I would get 5X the reward points for July August and Sept on purchases like grocerys and gas and disney trips. So instead of 90 points you would gets 450 points.. Of course I got the offer after I booked Disney Hope this helps, you might be able to apply online and get your Credit card number right away!!
Heather

Did you get that code with your monthly bill or just via mail? I'm a card holder and haven't heard of this code I use my card for EVERYTHING I possibly can. Getting 5X the points would be awesome.
Thanks
Laurie

 

[Soon2B4]

Did you get that code with your monthly bill or just via mail? I'm a card holder and haven't heard of this code I use my card for EVERYTHING I possibly can. Getting 5X the points would be awesome.
Thanks
Laurie

I also got this offer in the mail in the form of a post card. Basically it is just like pins, who knows how they determine who gets them! Luck of the draw I guess.

 

[kaguilbeau]

I began accumulating Disney rewards dollars after my last trip 5 yrs ago (when I depleted what I already had earned). Over 5 years, I have charged lots of things - daily things as well as big items. I subtract the amount out of my check register and write the word 'visa' in the check number field. When I am ready to pay the bill, I highlight all 'visa' transactions and send in that one total. The next month, I use a different color highlighter than the prior month, so I can tell what charges made up that payment easily.

For my upcoming trip, I have over 1,200 dollars in rewards.

Many months I might have earned only 8 or 9 dollars. I remind myself, 'I just purchased on counterservice meal!'.

If we went to Disney more often than 5 years, I wouldn't nearly have as much in rewards saved.