Disney Visa Card - Is it worth it?

[NYPrincess422]

Hey DIS! I've been looking into signing up for the Disney Visa card - mainly for the incentive of getting the $1 Disney Dollar for every $100 spent. We're looking to go back to WDW in December 2012 - so I would have some time to rack up some $$$. My question is, once I redeem the $$$, can I use that when booking through Expedia or does it have to be directly through Disney? Also, if you have any other general thoughts on the card, please share!

TIA

 

[dzorn]

Hey DIS! I've been looking into signing up for the Disney Visa card - mainly for the incentive of getting the $1 Disney Dollar for every $100 spent. We're looking to go back to WDW in December 2012 - so I would have some time to rack up some $$$. My question is, once I redeem the $$$, can I use that when booking through Expedia or does it have to be directly through Disney? Also, if you have any other general thoughts on the card, please share!

TIA

You would need to book directly with Disney to use your rewards.

For us it is worth it but only get it if you can pay it off every month. If you cannot then it is actually costing you money.

Denise in MI

 

[nanni]

As far as I know, you can only use it for purchases directly through Disney. However, it can be used towards tips and merchandise purchased while there. If you pay off your credit card every month it's just a matter of what you want your cc rewards to go towards. I like having mine go towards Disney because I feel like it keeps my vacation costs down a bit, but it's not really any different than if I were to get a card that gives me cash back.

The only other perk is the special meet & greet at Epcot and I think sometimes the big store in DTD has an offer for Disney Visa holders (like the option to buy a tote bag or blanket or something).

 

[NYPrincess422]

You would need to book directly with Disney to use your rewards.

For us it is worth it but only get it if you can pay it off every month. If you cannot then it is actually costing you money.

Denise in MI

Definitely plan to pay off each month - I figured for a December 2012 trip I will have some time to build up the dollars so I guess I]'ll have to do the math to see if its worth it. We typically book through Expedia (flight/resort/car) at a great rate. If I have to book direct through Disney - I want to make sure the rewards are worth it since it won't be "packaged".

Thanks!

 

[d2egsc]

How much do you think you can earn in a Year? One month of interest charges would wipe out any gains you made. Should like a bad reason to open and account.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Definitely plan to pay off each month - I figured for a December 2012 trip I will have some time to build up the dollars so I guess I]'ll have to do the math to see if its worth it. We typically book through Expedia (flight/resort/car) at a great rate. If I have to book direct through Disney - I want to make sure the rewards are worth it since it won't be "packaged".

Thanks!

There are lots of other credit cards out there with a better return rate if you just want rewards.That being said I just like having the Disney Visa (to match my Disney wallet and purse of course) and am ok with getting less rewards $ back b/c I like that I can only use them at WDW so it's kinda like a special savings account for me.

You don't have to use it to book a package, you can use it anywhere at WDW so you could book your package w/ a regular CC and use your rewards to pay for food, souvineers, any general expenses you have in the parks.

 

[vettegirl]

i love my Disney Visa, but pay it off each month and have never paid interest. I have $200 on my rewards for my F&W trip and that took me 6 months to get. Not bad IMO.

 

[NYPrincess422]

How much do you think you can earn in a Year? One month of interest charges would wipe out any gains you made. Should like a bad reason to open and account.

Well - depends on how much a person spends per month would determine how much one could earn in rewards in a year.

 

[hops&dreams]

I didn't realize it was $1/$100 spent.

So, if I were to get a card, pay the balance of my booked WDW vacation with it, would I be able to use the reward money to pay for tips and/or souvenirs?

How often are these reward dollars doled out? How quickly can I access them?

(we pay off our cc each month, so interest rates don't really qualify.)

We do our banking through Chase. Don't they have some kind of Disney thing too?

Maybe I should really look into this. I am about to spend a huge chunk of change on the vaca, I guess I should see if there's anything else I can squeeze out of it!

 

[dzorn]

I didn't realize it was $1/$100 spent.

So, if I were to get a card, pay the balance of my booked WDW vacation with it, would I be able to use the reward money to pay for tips and/or souvenirs?

How often are these reward dollars doled out? How quickly can I access them?

(we pay off our cc each month, so interest rates don't really qualify.)

We do our banking through Chase. Don't they have some kind of Disney thing too?

Maybe I should really look into this. I am about to spend a huge chunk of change on the vaca, I guess I should see if there's anything else I can squeeze out of it!

The Disney visa is through Chase. You also get 6 months no interest financing if you book a package through Disney.

Denise in MI

 

[autismmom1]

Listen, I had been waiting and waiting to get this card for the special $200 Disney reward card after the first purchase deal. There were several other offers for signing up for the Disney card, but I was holding out for this specific one...it didn't happen before my trip in October and I was disappointed.

However, going through my mail AFTER the trip, guess what application I received in the mail??? Yep! $200 Disney Reward!! Just think of how many tips that will take care of, all for just signing up! And I pay my card off every month as well, so this is just the icing on the cake...can't wait to go back and I smile everytime I use it. So glad I didn't cave for the $100 offer that was in my resort room...

 

[shoney]

I just got my rewards card in the mail. I haven't cashed in reward points in almost 5 years. I just put $2040.00 towards our trip in February! The total cost of the package was 3200.00 ... 7nights @por, free dining, 2 adults and 2 disney adult children, 6 day park hoppers and insurance. So that wasn't so bad!

For me, it was worth it.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I didn't realize it was $1/$100 spent.

1) So, if I were to get a card, pay the balance of my booked WDW vacation with it, would I be able to use the reward money to pay for tips and/or souvenirs?

2) How often are these reward dollars doled out? How quickly can I access them?

(we pay off our cc each month, so interest rates don't really qualify.)

3) We do our banking through Chase. Don't they have some kind of Disney thing too?

Maybe I should really look into this. I am about to spend a huge chunk of change on the vaca, I guess I should see if there's anything else I can squeeze out of it!

1) yes
2) the rewards dollars are tallied up at the end of your bill cycle and as long as your account is up to date they are available once the cycle ends and your bill is cut (typicall 2-3 days after cycle end date)
3) they did offer a debit card for a while but it was less than $1/100 and wasn't that popular. I want to say I read somewhere in the past month or so it has been discontinued.


Here is how we got the best deal on paying our vacation off:
Sams Club has $100 disney gift cards for $98 plus you get a $10 disneystore gift card. So I went to Walmart bought 5 $500 gift cards using my Disney vis (aka $25 disney visa rewards dollars earned), went to Sam's Club used the WM gift cards to buy $25 $100 WDW gift cards and got $250 in $10 disney gift cards to use later. This is the best deal I've found to save anything substantial on our WDW trips on top of the discount special offers WDW has.

Took me about 45 minutes to do both WM and Sams transactions (ours are about 1/4 of a mile apart), mostly b/c it took WM clerk a while to figure out thier GC limit and I made $275 to be used on Disney stuff (most at disney store) and saved $50 on $2500 worth of Disney gift cards.

Some buy disney gift cards at thier grocery stories and get gas discounts or something like that and it helps too but we dont have any around that participate in that so I don't know much about it. The budget board has a lot of threads on it.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

I love mine. I signed up with the $200 free deal and then charged everything I could from April to September (of course paying it off each month). We also charged our $7100 trip so that right there was $71 from Visa.

I ended up with $179 from points and $200 free, I used it all to pay for my 2 DD's to do BBB and BBB ended up costing me 52cents.

We wont go back for several years, so I will just keep paying for my gas and groceries and such with my Disney Visa and hopefully have several hundred dollars when the time comes to go back!

 

[vettegirl]

I just got my rewards card in the mail. I haven't cashed in reward points in almost 5 years. I just put $2040.00 towards our trip in February! The total cost of the package was 3200.00 ... 7nights @por, free dining, 2 adults and 2 disney adult children, 6 day park hoppers and insurance. So that wasn't so bad!

For me, it was worth it.

That is awesome and so worth it!

 

[DisneySarah80]

I read a post from someone on allears.net facebook that they had racked up $2,500 in rewards dollars using their card!!! If you want a *free vacation to Disney, go for it!!!


*Meaning your able to put money on the card, pay it off, and get the rewards.

 

[kaybird]

The Disney visa is through Chase. You also get 6 months no interest financing if you book a package through Disney.

Denise in MI

That's what I was remembering, and the main reason I wanted to get one. Interest free for 6 months on a package would be huge for us!

 

[DVCMikey]

We have had it for many years now. Basically we use it for trips to disney world. Than we pay it off right away and use the point either in disney or we use them at the disney store during Christmas for gifts for our nieces and nephews.

They do give you some good offers on tours and sometimes room offers that are pretty good.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We have the card and it worked out great for us

We signed up earlier this year when they were offering a $200 gift card with your first purchase.

I then used the card for most purchases (always paying it off) and accumulated another $129 prior to our trip we took a few weeks ago. Those two gift cards covered meals for 3 adults and 1 child at Raglan Road, Akershus, Rose and Crown and a few Food and Wine kiosk items.

Plus at Downtown Disney at most of the merchandise stores you save 10% on all purchases over $50, so we probably saved another $20 or so there

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We have had it for many years now. Basically we use it for trips to disney world. Than we pay it off right away and use the point either in disney or we use them at the disney store during Christmas for gifts for our nieces and nephews.

They do give you some good offers on tours and sometimes room offers that are pretty good.

I recently got an e-mail about room offers (like 35% off deluxe, less off other levels) from having the card.