Disney Visa

[MaskedRose86]

Are the perks for this card worth it? We buy Disney store merchandise a few times throughout the year, will be doing a 3 day trip to DL in january and planning for WDW in about 2 years.

 

[Steven G]

the one with or without an annual fee?

 

[MaskedRose86]

I assume the one with the fee since that is the one that looks to have the most perks.... ($200 sign up bonus and 2% back on most purchases).

 

[Steven G]

It's hard to say because Disney can add or remove perks.
Also, if you have an annual pass, some of the benefits overlap.

Some of the stuff may not be interesting to you, do,you want to go on the tours? Does the Star Wars stuff interest you, etc.

 

[gottalovepluto]

The bonus might be. I believe there is a $200 Disney gift card after charging $500 to the card. As for perks, 10% off if you spend $50+. As for the 2% for a fee vs 1% no fee, you'll have to do the math on how much you'll charge to determine if it's worth it.

 

[Metalliman98]

All depends on what you value and other particulars. We started with the non annual fee one and after a year switched to the one with the fee. I travel extensively for work, so all those expenses go on the card, meaning we build rewards fast, so it's worth it for us. The merchant/food discounts are nice, and the meet and greets are cool, but if we didn't build the rewards so fast, we wouldn't be paying for the card.

YMMV.

 

[GrandBob]

the one with or without an annual fee?

Heh. I didn't even know there were two types. We only go to DLR once/year to take our DGD (now 13, yikes). I rarely use this card otherwise, so don't build up a lot of points. But since we're taking her next month, I bought 3 parkhoppers on it - $1000 worth of purchase. I didn't really know what bennies I had, so I was surprised to only get credited at 1%. So I called them. Said I had expected a purchase at Disney to credit at 2%.

Them: "I'm sorry sir, your card only accumulates points at 1%".
Me: "But I thought that a Disney purchase got 2%".
Them: "No, even Disney purchases only accumulate at 1% on this card. But I'll tell you what - for this purchase only, I'll give you the additional 1%"
Sometimes you find Disney magic at places other than Disneyland

Bob

 

[ClaraOswald]

How much is the annual fee on the one where you earn 2% on everything? I didn't even know that existed.

We've had the non-fee one for a few years. We only go to the parks every couple years so we just let rewards build up between trips. We basically put a few hundred dollars on there a month (bills like Directv, internet, and cell phone) so it adds up fairly slowly. But by the time we go on vacation we have a decent amount that we use on food and/or souvenirs on our trip. Sometimes we'll put more on the card if we feel like it. We just make sure we always pay the bill in full since the interest rate isn't fantastic.

 

[figment_jii]

I have the one without the annual fee, but I pretty much only use it for Disney purchases. As others have said, there is a 10% discount on purchases of $50 or more at select locations, a few dining discounts, access to the Visa character Meet & Greet, and a few other things. For the most part, since there is no fee, it seems like getting a small discount is worth having the card.

 

[Steven G]

It's not 2% on everything, btw for the fee card. The annual fee currently is $49.

It's 1% for everything, and 2% for some types of purchases, see their site.

Specifically,

Subject to credit approval. You will earn one percent (1%) in reward dollars for every dollar in Qualifying Purchases. You will earn an additional one percent (1%) in reward dollars for every dollar of Qualifying Purchases made at (i) Disney locations that are solely owned and operated by Disney and (ii) at any of the following types of merchants: restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations (for a total of 2% on these purchases

 

[SMD]

There are other cards that give up to 5% cash back on some categories. Depending on what type of purchases you make with the card, you may be better off with a non-Disney card and applying that cash back towards your trip. There is also a Disney Chase debit which currently has a lot of the same benefits. If you're paying off the card every month anyway (and really, that's the only way a cash back credit card makes sense) you can get a discount at Disney Store with that card currently, so using a debit vs. credit shouldn't matter much.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Ah. Thanks. Totally not worth it to me then. I'll stick with my card with no fee.

 

[Rabb it]

I have the one without an annual fee, 1% Disney bucks back on all purchases.. Which totally blows compared to my Bank of America cash rewards card which gets me 3% gas, 2% groceries and then 1% everything else, but it's actual cash not specifically Disney dollars.

Disney Visa also gets you a free picture each time you visit the park, it's like a 5x7 or something.. But, my annual pass gets me free photopass downloads now anyways.. The Visa card also gets you a discount at some locations, but my annual pass gets me a better one.. Oh well..

 

[sheetz]

I have a number of points earning credit cards and would never consider the Disney Visa because the value just isn't there. In fact, it's one of the worst earning cards I know of.

 

[SMD]

I have the one without an annual fee, 1% Disney bucks back on all purchases.. Which totally blows compared to my Bank of America cash rewards card which gets me 3% gas, 2% groceries and then 1% everything else, but it's actual cash not specifically Disney dollars.

Disney Visa also gets you a free picture each time you visit the park, it's like a 5x7 or something.. But, my annual pass gets me free photopass downloads now anyways.. The Visa card also gets you a discount at some locations, but my annual pass gets me a better one.. Oh well..

It's not even a print out anymore, it's downloads of your photos from the exclusive greet. I don't have the card or a Signature AP, but I have friends who do and I'd go with them to the greets. They would rather have the single print with the character signatures (only in DCA, there were no borders of add-ons for SW pictures) than downloads, which they're getting anyway. But, you can get a prints of any size fairly cheap elsewhere, and the semi-private interaction at the DCA meets is still worth it. Just not as often.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I have a number of points earning credit cards and would never consider the Disney Visa because the value just isn't there. In fact, it's one of the worst earning cards I know of.

What card do you recommend for the best (cash) rewards?

 

[RMOM352]

I just got the free card but considering the Premier card and charging my annual pass. That will e $200 toward that fee!

 

[Donathius]

This is very much "your mileage may vary". I had the free card for a long time - mainly signed up for the $200 gift card offer they were running at the time. I got another offer recently for the $49 per year card with another $200 gift card and went for it since we're heading to DL in a couple months anyway. I decided to go ahead and try using it for everything for a month. I set up a separate savings account and every time me or my wife use the card I transfer the amount (rounded up to the nearest dollar) into the savings account and then I pay it off weekly so I don't get tempted to keep the money lol - I setup account alerts so that every time there's a transaction I get an email. In one billing cycle we racked up $35 worth of rewards (not counting putting $1000 into a Disney vacation account which got us another $20 - plus when we spend the money in the DVA on DL tickets we'll get another $20 gift card). Most months will probably be closer to $20 for us, but so far it seems to be a decent deal. Plus we've got a deposit in on a Disney Cruise with no interest until May 2017 - gives us time to decide if we want to keep in (price locked in) without having to fork over the $600 AND not having to pay interest. The rewards won't make a serious dent in the cruise cost, but by the time we get to it there should be a few hundred dollars we can put towards tips or something.

 

[LizzyS]

I had the version with no fee for a few years, then a couple of years ago I upgraded to the $49 annual fee version. I put almost everything on this card and pay it off in full every month. It's not the greatest card as far as APR goes (if you don't pay off your statement balance in full every month) or the percentage that you accumulate, but I like it. My husband has a much better cash back card, but I like my Disney points and it works well for me. I know I have over $500 in rewards right now and I took a couple hundred out when we went to DLR last year.