Disney Visa Credit Card- Useful or Not?

[Kestryl]

[I realize there’s another recent thread on the Disney Visa Credit Card, but that seems to be more focused more generically using a credit card vs debit vs other. I also don’t want to get buried alive in the giant credit card thread, ha.]

I’m wondering if I would regret getting the Disney Visa credit card. I was sent an offer for the no-fee Disney Visa credit card- spend $500, get $200. I normally don’t consider these kinds of things, but this one I am. That’s a pretty nice sign-up bonus, and the occasional discounts would be nice, plus the random perks like the character meet and greets and packaging financing in the future.

The 1% back isn’t great. I have the Citi Double Cash card- basically 2% back on everything- that I use for pretty much everything cause it’s easy to remember. (I hate quarters and categories and points and miles- I prefer flat rates.) I also have two credit union credit cards from when I was just out of high school and college to help build my credit. And I have a Kohl’s, because who from my area doesn’t, ha

My newest card is the Citi Card, and that’s 5 years old- so I clearly don’t just churn through cards. The Disney card would only be used for the 10% discounts (and to get the sign up bonus). Otherwise it’ll mostly sit at home with my Kohl’s card until called into action.

Have any of you regretted getting the card? Or considered it but decided against? Or took the plunge and found out it was great?

 

[wendow]

It is great for the signup bonus and the other perks, like the special meet & greet, 10% off at Disney stores (including park merch) and package financing if you use that. Be aware that all the perks, other than package financing, are available with a Chase debit through Chase banking. So, if you really don't want another credit card, you can still gain some benefits.

As someone who does churn credit cards, I do not recommend the Disney visa because it uses up a 'spot' and there are far more lucrative bonuses I'd rather use my 'spots' to go after. But since you are not a churner and not into keeping track of all that, I think the Disney visa is a great little card for the bonus! You can even open and close the card every 24 mos to get the bonus again. It should never be your everyday card since your citi brings in 2x as much on those purchases but you seem to have that figured out already

 

[DLgal]

I have the Premier version, because it gets 2% on Disney, Groceries, Gas, and Restaurants. I use it primarily for gas and groceries and Disney purchases (we buy DL annual passes every year and get back $80 just on those). The annual fee is $69 which I make back VERY easily. I recommend the premier version. You could replace your other 2% back card with this one for most purchases.

I also have a Chase Sapphire Reserve that I use for dining and travel because that one gets 3% on those categories.

Whenever I am buying something that will only get me 1%, I use the Disney Visa because the Disney rewards are valuable to me since we are local DL AP holders and spend a LOT of money there. I don't know that I would keep the Disney Visa if we didn't have this specific set of circumstances.

 

[kaddjr]

If you go to Disney's website, you can get a $250 bonus.

 

[miztressuz]

If you go to Disney's website, you can get a $250 bonus.

Generally the $250 bonus is for the Premier card with the $49 annual fee. And actually, if I go to the Disney site I'm only seeing $200 for the same card right now, so worse than OP's offer. The public offer for the no fee card is showing $50 for me.

@Kestryl , if you're not into doing a lot of credit card sign ups, then I'd say go for it if you could use it. A 40% discount from the sign up bonus is tough to beat, if you're not looking for points/miles. I've had the Disney visa for a long time for the perks, no regrets. It has no annual fee so if I don't want to use it, it just sits in the drawer not hurting anything. (just remember to do some kind of activity on it at least once a year so Chase doesn't close it on you)
They would occasionally put out bonus offers, like 4% back on utility bills was the last one I got. But that was 2017, I haven't heard of one since then so it's not something to count on. Plus they used to put out advance notice of promos with special Visa card booking windows. Again, don't know how often they do that anymore but sometimes it was worthwhile. If you're not into CC churning, there's more upside to having one than downside, IMO.

 

[Mom24Princesses]

I took out the card in 2004 and paid it off every month after that, except once many years ago I tried to split a large item between two months. Interest killed me. One and done.

Anyway I used it for a number of Disney trips and the 6 mo the no interest was nice. I put as much as I could on it to build “Disney Dollars”. 1% isn’t much but over 15 years we earned thousands. Now I don't use it much. Only about $100-200 per month. I’m using the Capital One Venture and with the initial bonus I’m sitting on a huge future trip some where. And I use another card that pays 3% on gas and 2% on groceries. Every $100 I move it to savings.

I do like the FEW discounts you get with the card for shopping and dining with the Disney card.

For Disney spending I’m using the Target Red card to by Disney gifs Cards for - 5%
5 Beats 1!

 

[_19disnA]

The benefit of any credit card depends on: 1) how much you plan to charge annually and 2) how useful whatever 'benefit' you get from that card compared to their fees. Always lots of discussion on this topic, but not a one-size-fits-all type of answer. If you never travel on a certain airline or rarely fly or the miles expire before you accumulate enough to use them, for example, having an airline related card won't be of much value.

 

[Kestryl]

It is great for the signup bonus and the other perks, like the special meet & greet, 10% off at Disney stores (including park merch) and package financing if you use that. Be aware that all the perks, other than package financing, are available with a Chase debit through Chase banking. So, if you really don't want another credit card, you can still gain some benefits.

As someone who does churn credit cards, I do not recommend the Disney visa because it uses up a 'spot' and there are far more lucrative bonuses I'd rather use my 'spots' to go after. But since you are not a churner and not into keeping track of all that, I think the Disney visa is a great little card for the bonus! You can even open and close the card every 24 mos to get the bonus again. It should never be your everyday card since your citi brings in 2x as much on those purchases but you seem to have that figured out already

I’m a math person, but I’m also a lazy math person, so I like to maximize my rewards with minimal effort, ha. Hence my Citi card! It’s good to know about the twenty four month thing though- maybe that’s something I can do in the future.

I have the Premier version, because it gets 2% on Disney, Groceries, Gas, and Restaurants. I use it primarily for gas and groceries and Disney purchases (we buy DL annual passes every year and get back $80 just on those). The annual fee is $69 which I make back VERY easily. I recommend the premier version. You could replace your other 2% back card with this one for most purchases.

I also have a Chase Sapphire Reserve that I use for dining and travel because that one gets 3% on those categories.

Whenever I am buying something that will only get me 1%, I use the Disney Visa because the Disney rewards are valuable to me since we are local DL AP holders and spend a LOT of money there. I don't know that I would keep the Disney Visa if we didn't have this specific set of circumstances.

There doesn’t really seem to be any benefit for me to switch my everyday spending to the Disney Premier Visa- though it’s not as fun, I’d prefer to get 2% cash back vs 2% in Disney Rewards, that way it could be used for anything. It’s a nice idea though to have it if it makes saving for Disney easier!

If you go to Disney's website, you can get a $250 bonus.

Weirdly, I got the $200 offer in the mail, the Visa website is offering $50, and shopDisney was offering $100... so it seems like these offers vary!

 

[Kestryl]

Generally the $250 bonus is for the Premier card with the $49 annual fee. And actually, if I go to the Disney site I'm only seeing $200 for the same card right now, so worse than OP's offer. The public offer for the no fee card is showing $50 for me.

@Kestryl , if you're not into doing a lot of credit card sign ups, then I'd say go for it if you could use it. A 40% discount from the sign up bonus is tough to beat, if you're not looking for points/miles. I've had the Disney visa for a long time for the perks, no regrets. It has no annual fee so if I don't want to use it, it just sits in the drawer not hurting anything. (just remember to do some kind of activity on it at least once a year so Chase doesn't close it on you)
They would occasionally put out bonus offers, like 4% back on utility bills was the last one I got. But that was 2017, I haven't heard of one since then so it's not something to count on. Plus they used to put out advance notice of promos with special Visa card booking windows. Again, don't know how often they do that anymore but sometimes it was worthwhile. If you're not into CC churning, there's more upside to having one than downside, IMO.

Yeah, I never sign up for bonuses (cause it seems like it requires to spend thousands or may have a few), but this one caught my eye. That’s a good reminder to maintain activity. I have it in my planner to use my two credit union cards every six months, so I use them for some small purchase like $5 at the grocery store or something.

I took out the card in 2004 and paid it off every month after that, except once many years ago I tried to split a large item between two months. Interest killed me. One and done.

Anyway I used it for a number of Disney trips and the 6 mo the no interest was nice. I put as much as I could on it to build “Disney Dollars”. 1% isn’t much but over 15 years we earned thousands. Now I don't use it much. Only about $100-200 per month. I’m using the Capital One Venture and with the initial bonus I’m sitting on a huge future trip some where. And I use another card that pays 3% on gas and 2% on groceries. Every $100 I move it to savings.

I do like the FEW discounts you get with the card for shopping and dining with the Disney card.

For Disney spending I’m using the Target Red card to by Disney gifs Cards for - 5%
5 Beats 1!

I did briefly consider the Target gift card, but decided against it cause I don’t shop at Target that often and I figured buying gift cards from Kroger made up for that with fuel points. Maybe I should reconsider it now that I’m considering branching out!

The benefit of any credit card depends on: 1) how much you plan to charge annually and 2) how useful whatever 'benefit' you get from that card compared to their fees. Always lots of discussion on this topic, but not a one-size-fits-all type of answer. If you never travel on a certain airline or rarely fly or the miles expire before you accumulate enough to use them, for example, having an airline related card won't be of much value.

These are good points, and part of the reason I never signed up for a travel specific card before. If I lived in, say, Atlanta, I may want a Delta card. But it seems like every airport I’ve lived by has been a mix and not worth it to limit myself. Anyways, that’s why I asked for some first-hand experience stories on this particular card.

 

[agavegirl1]

Well, I currently have $1750 on mine for dining and have already used it for $800 of the package reservation. I charge everything from the phone bill to the construction projects, have the premier card for double points on routine stuff and pay it off monthly. So.. yes...worth it if used to its capacity and your life supports it.

 

[unrequited23]

We have a Chase Disney Visa, mainly for the $250 gc sign up bonus. After we had it 1.5 yrs they offered a free upgrade to Premier. The benefit we used was a statement credit for airfare on any airline. Our discount flight on Frontier was completely covered by Disney Reward Dollars and there were no blackout dates to consider.

 

[Kestryl]

UPDATE: So I applied and was immediately accepted. Apparently my limit is twice the limit of my highest card (Citi). I about fell off my chair. I’m also giving Citi some side-eye right now- maybe they should be giving me more, ha. (Not that I usually come close to the limit, but still!)

Card should be here in 7-10 days. Of course I picked the castle, ha.

 

[agavegirl1]

UPDATE: So I applied and was immediately accepted. Apparently my limit is twice the limit of my highest card (Citi). I about fell off my chair. I’m also giving Citi some side-eye right now- maybe they should be giving me more, ha. (Not that I usually come close to the limit, but still!)

Card should be here in 7-10 days. Of course I picked the castle, ha.

You have to do the math...If you can pay off in full, like I do, your interest is the fee for the “Premium Card”. Or $95 per year.

 

[Kestryl]

You have to do the math...If you can pay off in full, like I do, your interest is the fee for the “Premium Card”. Or $95 per year.

Right. The premium doesn’t make sense for me. The extra 1% back would require spending $9500, and there’s no reason to do that anyways when I get 2% from my Citi card.

Basically my plan is to use this card til I hit around $500, earn my $200 bonus (effectively 40% back), then use it for the extra discounts that would outpace my Citi card. (Example: 10% off on a $100 shopDisney purchase would make it $90 with 90 cents in Disney rewards, versus spending $100 with my Citi and getting $2 back.)

I pay my cards off every month (sometimes more often), so I’ve never paid any credit card interest.

 

[LizzyS]

I had the regular card at first, but then upgraded to Premier a few years ago. I find it useful and I outpace the annual fee, but I use the card for absolutely everything possible. The only thing I don't use it for is my electric bill and that's just because they don't accept credit cards for payment. I pay it off in full every month and spend a lot at Disney, so it's a decent deal for me personally.

The APR is terrible, so don't carry a balance, ever.

 

[Nick6300]

I'm not a churner either but I think that's a great bonus offer for the Disney no fee version that's typically $50. And tough to beat among other no fee cards, only spending $500. The Bank of America ones comes to mind.... they're typically $150 but I think they're currently $200 bonuses for many of the personal and 1-2 of the business no fee ones and offer higher rewards for select categories like groceries, dining, gas. The BOA ones also seem to be churnable and can get 2 in a month (so can apply for 2 same day) or something like that. I've had nearly all of the BOA cards since its about the only ones I can be accepted for. Newest one is the premium, ($99 annual fee), along with retirement assets at Merrill for the 3.50% off dining/travel and 2.63% on everything else, but most people not willing to move their investments over for that and the few other perks (lower loan rates, discount money exchange, checks, safe deposit, etc).

I did recently try for the Disney Premier and was denied for something like 8 apps in the past yr. We do have the no fee card that we rotate and refer back to each other for the $50 bonus and re-up sign up bonus $200. We do the meet and greet. But don't really use the shopping discount often and never the dining discount. So don't really utilize it well.

 

[leebee]

I'm not a heavy-duty churner, but I churn Southwest cards (for miles, and companion pass) and I have both Disney Visa cards. I keep the original card (1% rewards) because I got it when the program originally started; it says "Day One" on it and it makes me smile. I don't use this one too often; I think I have my EZpass account and my Nook account linked to it, so I do maybe $50 a month on this card. I also have the 2% rewards card and use this for EVERYTHING. I know it's not the best reward card out there, but I like that the dollars are "EAR"marked for Disney World. I bet I rack up $500-$800 a year in rewards, which is a tidy sum when going to Disney every other year (and it guarantees that trip, because I have the rewards saved up, hahaha!)

 

[olabren]

I'm considering getting the Disney Visa Premier because of the $250 reward. I have to purchase the Disney dining plan so reaching $1000 within three months is just easy. In addition to the $250 signing bonus (minus de $49), will that particular purchase also get the 1% or the 2%?

Another question, what are the utilities for which I can use the card? Can I use the card for my monthly car payment? I pay it with my Bank's debit card so the money's always there. I apologize if my questions sound dumb but if I can take full advantage of the card, then in my case it might be worth it.

 

[Kestryl]

I'm considering getting the Disney Visa Premier because of the $250 reward. I have to purchase the Disney dining plan so reaching $1000 within three months is just easy. In addition to the $250 signing bonus (minus de $49), will that particular purchase also get the 1% or the 2%?

Another question, what are the utilities for which I can use the card? Can I use the card for my monthly car payment? I pay it with my Bank's debit card so the money's always there. I apologize if my questions sound dumb but if I can take full advantage of the card, then in my case it might be worth it.

I believe you still get the 1/2% (depending on the card) for the purchases made towards the bonus.

If your utility takes Visa credit cards, you can use the card. I’ve had a mix over the years- some companies would take credit card, others would take it but charge an extra fee while debit was free, other will (frustratingly) only take a check. You’ll have to check with the specific utility.


I got my card and am already $200 in, so we’ll on my way to the $500 for the $200 bonus!

 

[Searc]

I had the regular card at first, but then upgraded to Premier a few years ago. I find it useful and I outpace the annual fee, but I use the card for absolutely everything possible. The only thing I don't use it for is my electric bill and that's just because they don't accept credit cards for payment. I pay it off in full every month and spend a lot at Disney, so it's a decent deal for me personally.

The APR is terrible, so don't carry a balance, ever.

It is currently 18.24%, so if you normally carry a balance, this card is not for you.