Disney Visa Rewards will expire 12/31/04

[Tara8595]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but Disney Rewards dollars for many of us will expire as of 12/04. If your rewards card has 12/2004 on it, all the reward dollars you've transferred are only good until December 31. You have to use them or you'll lose them!

The reward dollars are good for 5 years ONLY if you don't transfer them to the card, once they're on the card, they expire with the card.

This is the full text from the 'help' part of the website:
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Reward Dollars Expiration
Your Disney Dream Reward DollarsSM are good for a full five years (60 billing cycles) from the time they're earned, while included in your Program Rewards Balance. There are no block-out dates. Please refer to the Guide to the Disney RewardsSM Program for complete program details, including Terms and Conditions.

Once reward dollars are transferred to your Disney RewardsSM Card, the reward dollars are available for redemption until the expiration date on the rewards card. Rewards cards, and the reward dollars remaining on them, expire December 31st of the year after the year when the card was first ordered. For example:

A card ordered October 1, 2003, will expire on December 2004.
A card ordered January 1, 2004, will expire on December 2005.
When the card expires, any remaining reward dollars on the card will be forfeited. You will then need to request a new card. Replacement cards are not automatically sent to you.

Once reward dollars have been transferred to a rewards card, you cannot transfer them back into your Program Rewards Balance. Therefore, we recommend that you transfer only the number of reward dollars you plan to redeem prior to the expiration date of the rewards card.
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Looks like I'll be heading to the Disney Store tonight to buy Disney dollars or a park hopper.

 

[grumpygrandma]

I was told when I got my one and only rewards card to keep it, load it and use it. You would not receive another card that this was permanent. Well i guess it wasn't. And Disney doesn't care that so many people are obviously very upset about this. I thought maybe I was the only one who didn't read all the tiny tiny print. When they first brought out the disney cards, they obviously didn't have enough info to give their customer service who told us different information than the fine print. They are going to lose a lot of customers, but they probably don't care about that either. Unhappy Grandma

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

It's really only Disney's name on the card. BankOne will be the one losing customers.

For those with rewards dollards that will expire December of this year, you can use the card to purchase Disney Dollars at your local Disney Store. At least Disney Dollars never expire!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Excellent idea about the Disney Dollars!! Thanks!

 

[WolfpackFan]

So the bottom line is, you just need to be carefull when you transfer points from you Disney Visa card to your rewards card. Think about when you might use the points and don't transfer them if your use is after your current card expires and then order a new rewards card when you're close to when you might use it. Doesn't seem like that big a deal to me. As far as the five year limit on the points themselves, if you're not going to be using your points within five years, why are you even using the card?

Personally, I absolutely love my Disney Visa card and I use it for everything. So far, it has rewarded me at least $300 to use at WDW.

 

[cinderella97]

Where can I get my rewards from the visa card, once I'm down there? We leave in 3 days and this is the one thing I forgot to do!

 

[my3princes]

You can get your rewards card at the Downtown Disney CRO office. They have the cards there, then you call the 1-800 number and transfer your rewards points. It doesn't take long.

 

[bjakmom]

cinderella97 - call bank one immediately and see what they can tell you - I believe that you have to order the card in advance and have it sent to you. They require a minimum transfer of (I think) $20- onto the card initially. I never move any more than that over to my card until I know I need it - I charge to my room and then call the # on the back of the card to move my rewards points over the day before I check out - then contact the front desk and have them credit my room account with the rewards points. - I agree that bank one did not make this clear enough from the beginning, I was surprised when I got my rewards card last year and it had an expiration date on it!

 

[kimmar067]

...my3princes, that's good to know! I was told that, when I ordered my Disney Rewards card last week, that, once at WDW, you could add more points to your card, but you had to have one in the first place (that they were NOT available at WDW!!)....I sure hope you are correct, 'cuz' we are leaving in 11 days [hopefully! ] and my DH hasn't redeemed his yet! (he has almost 700 points saved)

 

[my3princes]

My DM definately got a reward card at Customer Relations in Downtown Disney. That was last July, so unless they have made changes you should be able to.