Did you pay for you vacation with Chase points?

[cheshireqt]

So sounds like it is technically possible but most people do cash out in increments instead?
I also cashed out $200 on our last Disney trip and $100 at Christmas for presents for my nephews; but now it is accumulating again and the first points won't expire until 2014. Got me to thinking that if we saved them someday we might be able to take a free Disney vacation! How cool would that be!
Princess Teacup, on being able to hold off and use $1600 at once You are my inspiration!

 

[cheshireqt]

how do you get a disney visa card?

Go to this website and click on the credit card, it also says save $40
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/

 

[cheshireqt]

It never paid for the wole trip but sure does help when we check in at the Polynesian.

I'll bet that's true!

 

[AZMermaid]

The most I ever had was $350 in points but I cash them in every year or so, usually before a quick DL trip to cover food for a few days. But, we got married and put all the wedding stuff we could on the Disney Visa and then just paid it off as well as when we bought a house and had lots of little expenses with that. Add that too 5x reward dollars during those pre-wedding months, we got about $350 in a little over a year! We used them to buy tickets to MNSSHP and the Photopass CD. After that, we used the rest for souvies. It was great!

We are about to go to DL in May and we had to replace the AC in the house, so that went on the Disney Visa. I agree the 1% isn't great and we don't tend to use it as the main card because of that. But, we do try to put big purchases on it and use it as the main card if I get a bonus offer. I have 3x rewards now so it is the main card for the next 3 months.

 

[housemouse]

Raising my hand here. Yes, I have enough to pay for a week at POP with tickets and QSDP for 2 people. However, I ended up booking AKL for the week for a total OOP cost of $1200 after rewards. I figured since over half the cost of the deluxe vacation was "free" money I'd stay at my favorite place and cough up the difference. That was accumulated over 3 1/2 years. However, I had some MAJOR purchases during that time also. New roof, new heat/air unit, remodeled den, etc.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I've never done vacations but I paid for alot of our Christmas last year using Chase points. I got gift cards which were either given as gifts or used to buy gifts.

I just put alot of our normal bills on it and pay it off monthly.

 

[housemouse]

So sounds like it is technically possible but most people do cash out in increments instead?
I also cashed out $200 on our last Disney trip and $100 at Christmas for presents for my nephews; but now it is accumulating again and the first points won't expire until 2014. Got me to thinking that if we saved them someday we might be able to take a free Disney vacation! How cool would that be!
Princess Teacup, on being able to hold off and use $1600 at once You are my inspiration!

What I do with mine is everytime I get $100 in points I transfer that to the rewards card. I then use the rewards card and purchase a $100 Disney gift card and then just save them. This way they're completely out of Chase's control and I don't have to worry about them changing the rewards program or just suddenly removing them,(while I've got a large balance sitting there) just because they can. It's a funny economy these days. I don't trust any credit card company.

 

[meriface11]

we had close to $800 accumulated for our first trip in 2005, but that took us a few years to build up. since then we have had about $300-400 to use for our annual trip. we put everything possible on the card (including my grad school tuition), and make sure we pay the bill in full monthly to avoid interest, otherwise, it's not worth it.

 

[Marionnette]

So sounds like it is technically possible but most people do cash out in increments instead?
I also cashed out $200 on our last Disney trip and $100 at Christmas for presents for my nephews; but now it is accumulating again and the first points won't expire until 2014. Got me to thinking that if we saved them someday we might be able to take a free Disney vacation! How cool would that be!
Princess Teacup, on being able to hold off and use $1600 at once You are my inspiration!

Think about how much you would need to charge on the card to received $1600 in rewards...it's $160,000 without any bonus rewards! Holy Cow, that's a lot of money! $40K per year for 4 years. More that $3300/month. I'm not saying that it's impossible but to be able to do that and not incur any interest charges, you would have to have a nice income to begin with or you are making purchases for multiple family members and friends.

What I do with mine is everytime I get $100 in points I transfer that to the rewards card. I then use the rewards card and purchase a $100 Disney gift card and then just save them. This way they're completely out of Chase's control and I don't have to worry about them changing the rewards program or just suddenly removing them,(while I've got a large balance sitting there) just because they can. It's a funny economy these days. I don't trust any credit card company.

I do the same thing. I've been burned a few times with online rewards programs. I don't want to risk Chase changing the terms of the rewards while I sit on hundreds in rewards points. Even once you move the points to a rewards card, Chase retains control. So I buy the Disney gift cards on from the disneyshopping.com website as soon as the points transfer.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I have $300 for our trip this December (saved from August 2009). So far that's enough for one of our park tickets. I'll probably get another $100-$150 before we go. My Mom usually has about $800-$1,000. We both pay off our cards every month but she has a lot more available to put on the card than I do. I only put groceries, gas, and other little misc. things as I can't put my car insurance or personal property taxes on it without a charge .

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

We don't have Chase or Disney Visa but we do get rewards from USAA when we use our debit card as a credit card. We have had the account since I think June and have $100 so far. BUT... we use cash a lot (Dave Ramsey envelope system). Otherwise, we would have more. We will probably have $125-150 by the time our June trip rolls around. Will add that to our change jar ("found money" goes in there too) and My Points and Sunshine Rewards gift cards to pay for meals and souvenirs. Also will get probably about $75 or so back from Costco right before the trip. (We get 2% back on everything we purchase there.)

 

[Tosie]

We have paid for our park tickets but never our room. Last year we paid for a Beachcomber Shack at TL. This year we'll apply the $ to our very first APs.

 

[budafam]

I just started with my card in May of last year and have 275 racked up already... we weren't PLANNING on going for another 2 years but since our taxes came back and it was quite a bit more, we've decided to go in May so I think I'll be using it for a few meals while we're there.

 

[AZMermaid]

What I do with mine is everytime I get $100 in points I transfer that to the rewards card. I then use the rewards card and purchase a $100 Disney gift card and then just save them. This way they're completely out of Chase's control and I don't have to worry about them changing the rewards program or just suddenly removing them,(while I've got a large balance sitting there) just because they can. It's a funny economy these days. I don't trust any credit card company.

That is a good idea that I never even considered. I think I will do that. Thanks!

 

[cheshireqt]

Raising my hand here. Yes, I have enough to pay for a week at POP with tickets and QSDP for 2 people. However, I ended up booking AKL for the week for a total OOP cost of $1200 after rewards. I figured since over half the cost of the deluxe vacation was "free" money I'd stay at my favorite place and cough up the difference. That was accumulated over 3 1/2 years. However, I had some MAJOR purchases during that time also. New roof, new heat/air unit, remodeled den, etc.

Love it!

Love the idea of cashing out onto cards that you control. Great thinking