No penalties, I have paid off two contracts that way, and am now in the process of paying off the third! When I finance, I set the pay-off for 10 years, so that my monthly is low in case I need the money one month. You just have to be disciplined to pay extra every month, but I pay them off in about 3-4 years. disney is great about this, mainly because they know you will probably want to buy an add-on next!