I don't compare this card straight up to the disney club, I compare it to Disney Club + American Express. When AMEX was the official card, you could turn in those points for tickets, breakfasts, etc., you got discounts on things like water craft rental, dining, and 20% at world of disney. I haven't seen anything that begins to suggest that this card is better than that combination.
I recently posted my thoughts on the Disney Visa vs. The AmEx/DC combination on the DVC Forum, and I thought I'd repeat them here, for the sake of discussion:
Most important, I think, is the fact that, depending on how you use your rewards, AmEx's Membership Rewards works out to roughly 1% (or less) in most cases, making the rewards value equal to (or less than) the Disney Visa's earnings. It's true that the Disney Visa earns you only one Dream Reward point per $100 spent, while AmEx earns you one Membership Rewards point for every $1, but the DR points are each worth $1, while the MR points are essentially each worth only a penny! (again, this depends on how you spend them, but a $50 Gap gift card costs 5000 MR points. That's a penny per point! And some rewards work out to even less.) So in both cases, $100 of spending earns you basically $1 of reward. At the risk of oversimplifying, the Disney Visa points are worth $1 each, while the AmEx MR points are worth $0.01 (or less) each. One has to keep this in mind when comparing the programs. Also, while the MR points could be used for only a select few rewards at WDW from a pre-set list, and the DC discount was basically good only at Downtown Disney, and only in a few stores, the Visa rewards, as I understand them, can be used for anything anywhere at WDW.
Second, in comparing that 1% reward to a 20% discount on the DC, I think you may be comparing apples to oranges. Look at it like this: let's say that BEFORE, you spent $52000 per year on your AmEx, paid it in full every statement, and you had a DC card; and NOW instead you will spend $52000 per year on your Disney Visa and pay it in full every statement. BEFORE, you would earn 52000 MR points, which you could trade for a six-day Park Hopper Plus (a $308 value, for a 0.6% reward value, just over one-HALF a percent) with 2000 MR points left over (call it a $20 gift card for the store of your choice at the going 1% rate) and you could use your Disney Club to save 20% on your Downtown Disney Shopping (say $200 off of $1000 worth of shopping). All told you've gotten $508 of "free" stuff out of your DC and MR, assuming you'd spend $1000 at DD or save the $200 in some other form of DC discount. And you are spending $120 in membership fees for these programs, if I am correct. ($50 AmEx, $30 MR, $40 DC). NOW, spending the $52000 on your Disney Visa gives you $520 Dream Reward dollars, which will BUY you a Premium Annual Pass outright. That is, 100% OFF your PAP, just for spending money you were spending anyway. Also that's $52000 expediture for a $520 reward -- a full 1%, while you only got 0.6% when you used the MR points for a 6-day PHP. And there are no fees as long as you pay your balance each statement.
So, to summarize:
AmEx/DC combo:
annual spending: $52000 (for example)
reward value: $508 (assuming you can get $200 in discounts out of DC in a year; you might have to spend another $800 to "save" this $200!)
fees: $120
net benefit: $388
Disney Visa:
annual spending: $52000 (for example)
reward value: $520 (no matter what you use it for at WDW!)
fees: $0
net benefit: $520
Now granted most of us don't spend $52000 a year on our credit card, but in that case the $120 in fees for the AmEx/DC option just weighs heavier against its benefits! For instance, if you spent only $4000 per year on either option, the AmEx/DC option would get you a $25 character breakfast for 3500 of your MR points with 500 left over towards $5 worth of a gift card, and, say, $50 savings on a $250 shopping spree, but you still would have spent $120 in fees, so you are DOWN $40 on the deal. Spending the same $4000 on your Disney Visa, you'd get $40 in Dream Reward dollars to spend as you'd like at WDW. $40 benefit, no fees.
So to some, a 1% "reward" can be better than a 20% discount.
I am by no means THRILLED with the Disney Visa's offerings, but I think that many will find that, for them, the overall benefit is AT LEAST as good as the old AmEx/DC combo!
) and (b) I thought that there might be some (like myself, I am hoping) who might get equal or more value out of the Disney Visa than the AmEx just by virtue of the way they already spend at WDW. HOWEVER, I certainly need to agree with you here...
You would think someone who spends that much money with Disney and stays in their deluxe hotels with a $1500 room key limit each time would be worthy of one of their credit cards, even with a small limit or something. Well two people can play at this game. From now on, I will no longer get any cash advances from the ATMs inside Disney World, so Bank One will no longer get any ATM fees from me (all the ATMs now say Bank One and are $2 per use, and I usually use them once or twice per trip, and go to Disney at least every month or two, so they were getting quite a little bundle from me, but no longer). Needless to say, I won't ever be having anything to do with Bank One ever again, and I think someone at Disney should be hearing about cases like mine, although I don't know who that should be. Goodbye Bank One!
