Disney Rewards Visa - Worth It?

[Sebby'sCollegeFund]

Anyone with a Disney Visa - do you find the rewards worth the trouble of spending on the card? How much have you had to charge on the card for the rewards to be worth it?

What about additional benefits of just being a card holder? I already have a few other cards and I only want to open a new account line on my credit if the rewards are absolutely worth it.

Anything "hidden" or obscure I should know about having the card?

Thanks!

 

[disney1990]

We are "Day one" Disney Visa Card holders. We put everything on our Disney Visa, groceries, gasoline, homeowners insurance, etc. Right now we are working towards our October vacation and have just over $200 in reward dollars. By the time we go, we will have added another $20 or $30.

We definitely think it is worth it -- but only if you have can pay off your credit card every single month. Carrying a balance negates any rewards that you might have received.

 

[Marionnette]

The percent back is lousy but theres no annual fee. Then theres the draw back of dealing with chase. If you dont pay your balance off every month then your paying higher interest rates than if it werent a reward card. Plus they dont give you incentives to buy disney products. They just make offers to select card holders for monthly purchases that go over a set amount in certain categories. I still have my card but I dont use it as much as I used to. Maybe I should now that I have a trip planned.

 

[Sebby'sCollegeFund]

Yes, absolutely I plan on paying off the credit card each month. In my younger years I was foolish and carried balances. I look back now and wince at how much was wasted on paying interest.

I primarily use my Discover card, which gives my cash back bonus. What I like about the rewards is that they give bonus cash back (usually 5%) on certain items for a few months. Right now I'm getting 5% back on all gas station charges for the next couple months.

The cash back through Discover will be used toward Disney. I guess I'll need to do a comparison between the two cards and see which one yields more.

As for the card, are there any additional perks for having it (without necessarily having to charge)?

 

[hibricc]

Just got my Disney Visa from Chase this week... only applied because I received the offer of 200 Reward Dollars. Probably won't use it for much else since I'm pretty sure our Discover cashback program is a higher percentage.

Other perks include 0% interest for 6 months on the purchase of a Disney vacation, and an exclusive character meet-and-greet with free 5x7 photo at Disney parks (it's at Epcot in WDW). Oh, and you save 10% on purchases of $50 or more at Disney Store locations and online.

 

[danielephant]

what is the 200 reward dollars through? my DH just applied for one, due to our trip we are planning...drat...missed out on something good? hate when that happens

 

[Sebby'sCollegeFund]

Just got my Disney Visa from Chase this week... only applied because I received the offer of 200 Reward Dollars. Probably won't use it for much else since I'm pretty sure our Discover cashback program is a higher percentage.

Other perks include 0% interest for 6 months on the purchase of a Disney vacation, and an exclusive character meet-and-greet with free 5x7 photo at Disney parks (it's at Epcot in WDW). Oh, and you save 10% on purchases of $50 or more at Disney Store locations and online.

How do the Reward Dollars work? Can I apply them toward the cost of the resort stay or is it for purchases at the parks?

The exclusive meet-n'-greet is an intrguing benefit. Thanks for sharing!

 

[hibricc]

what is the 200 reward dollars through? my DH just applied for one, due to our trip we are planning...drat...missed out on something good? hate when that happens

It was a direct mail offer I received. There's a thread on here somewhere that talks about the various offers people receive - anything from nothing up to the 200 Reward Dollars. Not sure why I received it, and it is non-transferable.

 

[hibricc]

How do the Reward Dollars work? Can I apply them toward the cost of the resort stay or is it for purchases at the parks?

The exclusive meet-n'-greet is an intrguing benefit. Thanks for sharing!

I read in another thread (maybe on the Disney Rewards board?) that you can receive Reward Dollars on the cost of your Disney vacation if you book through Disney. Then request a Disney Rewards card just before/during your trip, and apply those dollars to that card - which you can then use to pay part of your onsite balance for items charged to your KTTW card.

Hope I've got that right...

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We got the $100 gift card from the other thread, we will use it for purchases at the parks on our December trip. Otherwise, the card is pretty useless to me, except maybe for the character meet and greet. One other benefit is 20% off tours at the park.

Suzanne

 

[RumpleMom]

Discover has better rewards

 

[Ava]

How do the Reward Dollars work? Can I apply them toward the cost of the resort stay or is it for purchases at the parks?

The exclusive meet-n'-greet is an intrguing benefit. Thanks for sharing!

You can apply the Rewards to the cost of your resort stay. However, you'd probably be better off using the card to pay for your Disney package (or room-only booking) since that will be a large purchase & yield a good amount of rewards. Then use the Reward Dollars to pay for your food/souvenirs while on vacation. Any location in the parks/resorts that takes credit cards will take the Disney Rewards Card (so pretty much anywhere with the exception of a handful of snack carts that are cash only).

You can also transfer Dollars onto your existing Rewards Card by phone, so if your statement closes while you're on vacation you can just call & transfer the rest of your Dollars onto your card. You can also get a new Rewards Card at Guest Services at Downtown Disney. You need a minimum of $20 to order a new card, & a minimum of $10 to do a transfer to an existing card so just keep that in mind if you are planning to transfer points during your trip.

And to answer your original question, I think the card is worth it if you travel to Disney regularly. The % back is not as high as some other rewards cards, but there's no annual fee & for me its an easy way to save for a trip. We charge almost everything on our Disney card & have over $400 in rewards saved up to put towards our next trip.

The character meet & greet w/ free photo is a nice perk. The characters are usually Mickey & friends; on our last trip we got Minnie, Goofy, & Pluto.

 

[disneyfan55]

You can apply the Rewards to the cost of your resort stay. However, you'd probably be better off using the card to pay for your Disney package (or room-only booking) since that will be a large purchase & yield a good amount of rewards. Then use the Reward Dollars to pay for your food/souvenirs while on vacation. Any location in the parks/resorts that takes credit cards will take the Disney Rewards Card (so pretty much anywhere with the exception of a handful of snack carts that are cash only).

You can also transfer Dollars onto your existing Rewards Card by phone, so if your statement closes while you're on vacation you can just call & transfer the rest of your Dollars onto your card. You can also get a new Rewards Card at Guest Services at Downtown Disney. You need a minimum of $20 to order a new card, & a minimum of $10 to do a transfer to an existing card so just keep that in mind if you are planning to transfer points during your trip.

And to answer your original question, I think the card is worth it if you travel to Disney regularly. The % back is not as high as some other rewards cards, but there's no annual fee & for me its an easy way to save for a trip. We charge almost everything on our Disney card & have over $400 in rewards saved up to put towards our next trip.

The character meet & greet w/ free photo is a nice perk. The characters are usually Mickey & friends; on our last trip we got Minnie, Goofy, & Pluto.

Plus the zero interest on Disney vacations. That's pretty good as well. Sometimes the Disney Card offers 3 or 5 times the rewards as well, but just to those that have been selected (no rhyme or reason to who gets the offer) for 3 month timeframes. Good if you get it! We earned about 200 extra bonus dollars from Oct-Dec last year. The percentage off tours also is a nice perk. Sometimes there are offers (such as FD from Oct-Dec a year or 2 ago) that never go public. I'm pretty sure the 2008 FD from the end of Sept through Dec did not go public.

 

[BigTex71]

We use the Chase Disney Rewards Debit card. For every $200 we spend using the debit card, we earn $1 in Disney Dollars. Not bad considering we use our debit card for all our purchases anyway. And we set up our auto draft payments (like car, mortgage, etc) to use our debit card now instead of direct checking account information.) I prefer this to a credit card, but the Disney Visa card has better rewards. We may end up doing both.

 

[turnlisa]

I used to love my Disney Rewards card - then someone stole my husband's identity and purchased a e-gift certificate online. Dealing with Chase was a nightmare - and we still ended up eating the cost of the certificates and got 0 help from Chase. We cancelled the card and I did some searching. Capital One had the best deal and I can get the money at any time. We have had the card since November and built up over $350 - more than I would have had with Chase and I have had superb customer service.

 

[jms920]

Capital One had the best deal and I can get the money at any time. We have had the card since November and built up over $350 - more than I would have had with Chase and I have had superb customer service.[/QUOTE]


May I ask, which of the Capital One rewards cards you are referring to??? I see they have several.

Thanks
JoAnn

 

[Purseval]

Just remember that Capital One pulled one of the sleaziest stunts in cc history and didn't stop until lawsuits forced them to. You can bet they are looking for other ways to get at "what's in your wallet"

 

[Abbie]

I just got a direct mail offer too of $150 reward dollars if I open the account. I am considering it, but wonder if I have enough time to get the card and order the reward card? Our trip is late November and the info that came with the offer says to allow 6-8 weeks for the $150 points to show up on the statement. Then I'm guessing I still will have to wait to receive an actual card? Or is it one that you can print directly (like our hotel rewards card)?

 

[Purseval]

Once you have your reward dollars showing in your account you can get a reward card on Disney property within minutes and spend it right away.

 

[jms920]

Can the Disney Reward Card be used at restaurants in the Disney hotels?