Disney Visa Rewards Question

[RachelEllen]

Total Newbie Question.
I just got the card because of the $200 gift card offer. We have a trip planned in late February. I'm going to charge everything I can (daycare, piano lessons, utilities, etc) for the next three months to try to build up a few hundred in rewards.

What and when do I need to do before our trip? Do I need to do something to convert the points into something I can use on our trip? Is there a deadline by which I should do this? I want to maximize my reward points but not be too late on redeeming! Am I able to use the rewards to pay off our hotel balance at the end? Meals?

 

[disneychrista]

In early January I would order a rewards card with $20 on it (this is the minimum you can transfer) that way you have the card in hand. Then right before your trip you can transfer the remainder to the card. The card will have an expiration date of 12/31/13

You can get the card on line at Chase.com or by calling them. You do the same for transfers.

 

[RachelEllen]

Ah, so you have to get a phyisical card which expires, but you can electronically transfer additional points to the card (before it expires?)

I wonder if the $200 sign up offer comes on a card that I can add more to.

 

[disneychrista]

There are so many different versions of bonuses that Disney Visa offers. Some are "bonus points" that are added to your rewards dollars, others are "gift cards" that come as seperate gift cards. Either way they pretty much work the same way.

 

[tzolkin]

Ah, so you have to get a phyisical card which expires, but you can electronically transfer additional points to the card (before it expires?)

Yes, the card expires in December of the year after you get it. This is why you don't want to redeem all your points before you're absolutely certain you're going to use them. The points in your account don't expire for 5 years, but once you transfer them to a card they will expire the date on the card.


You also can call and have points instantly transfered to the card.

This is what we did last trip to fully use our points. My closing date is the 1st of the month which was in the middle of our trip. I was able to call and have those new points added to the card I had in hand so we had a bit of extra spending money while we were there.

 

[RachelEllen]

Thanks so much!

SO, order the card in January so that it will be good for our Feb trip, and transfer over the other two months worth of points right before we go. Alas, with daycare, it won't be much trouble getting 200 points by January!