Free Disney Trip News Article

[lucigo]

http://www.richmondsavers.com/take-your-family-to-disney-world-for-free-step-by-step-instructions/

 

[Marionnette]

http://www.richmondsavers.com/take-your-family-to-disney-world-for-free-step-by-step-instructions/

That looks like the credit card churning that a lot of us already do. The "free" part only applies if you can avoid the annual fees on those cards.

• I know that the Chase Sapphire is $95/yr (often waived in the first year).
• The SWA card is $69-$99 per year, based on whether you get the "premier" card or not.
• The Starwood card will cost you $65 annually, again the first year is waived.
• The Barclay's card is going to cost you $89 with the first year's fee waived.

Yes, that translates to free travel for one year. Then it's going to cost you a lot for those cards. Sometimes, it's worth it to keep those cards for the other perks. The SWA adds points to your RR account every year on your anniversary. The Barclay's and Sapphire cards have no foreign transaction fees (for those who travel internationally or make overseas internet purchases).

And as is always the case with any of these promotions, you have to have excellent credit and the ability to meet their minimum spending limits within the given time period to get your reward.

 

[BradRVA]

Lucigo: Thanks for posting my article -- I really appreciate it!!

This concept worked out amazingly well for my family and we are going this November for essentially free (maybe $100-200 out of pocket before food costs, so of course "free" is a bit of a misnomer, but you get the point).

But as Marionnette so astutely pointed out in a great reply, this concept is not for everyone. If you don't have an excellent credit rating, or if you get into credit card debt or can't manage these cards in any manner, then this is not the greatest strategy and really can backfire.

I try to explain this in great detail to all the people I'm working with through my completely free travel rewards coaching program.

My wife and I are both CPAs who created a personal finance website to provide common-sense financial advice, so you can imagine that we carefully considered this strategy before we started and so far it has been excellent.

We're just regular people though, so I don't want you to think we're one of those big fancy bloggers making a ton of money. I just wanted to put this concept on paper so other families could potentially benefit from it too!

We're headed to Disney this year as well as Bermuda (again essentially for free), and next year Europe is the plan. And I just checked my credit rating and it has gone up 13 points since I started a few years ago!

This is my first post here and I can't wait to dig deeper and learn a ton of things that will benefit us for our trip.

Thanks!!

Brad

 

[OhMari]

Lucigo: Thanks for posting my article -- I really appreciate it!!

This concept worked out amazingly well for my family and we are going this November for essentially free (maybe $100-200 out of pocket before food costs, so of course "free" is a bit of a misnomer, but you get the point).

But as Marionnette so astutely pointed out in a great reply, this concept is not for everyone. If you don't have an excellent credit rating, or if you get into credit card debt or can't manage these cards in any manner, then this is not the greatest strategy and really can backfire.

I try to explain this in great detail to all the people I'm working with through my completely free travel rewards coaching program.

My wife and I are both CPAs who created a personal finance website to provide common-sense financial advice, so you can imagine that we carefully considered this strategy before we started and so far it has been excellent.

We're just regular people though, so I don't want you to think we're one of those big fancy bloggers making a ton of money. I just wanted to put this concept on paper so other families could potentially benefit from it too!

We're headed to Disney this year as well as Bermuda (again essentially for free), and next year Europe is the plan. And I just checked my credit rating and it has gone up 13 points since I started a few years ago!

This is my first post here and I can't wait to dig deeper and learn a ton of things that will benefit us for our trip.

Thanks!!

Brad

Welcome to the DISBoards.

 

[Judique]

Lucigo: Thanks for posting my article -- I really appreciate it!!

This concept worked out amazingly well for my family and we are going this November for essentially free (maybe $100-200 out of pocket before food costs, so of course "free" is a bit of a misnomer, but you get the point).

But as Marionnette so astutely pointed out in a great reply, this concept is not for everyone. If you don't have an excellent credit rating, or if you get into credit card debt or can't manage these cards in any manner, then this is not the greatest strategy and really can backfire.

I try to explain this in great detail to all the people I'm working with through my completely free travel rewards coaching program.

My wife and I are both CPAs who created a personal finance website to provide common-sense financial advice, so you can imagine that we carefully considered this strategy before we started and so far it has been excellent.

We're just regular people though, so I don't want you to think we're one of those big fancy bloggers making a ton of money. I just wanted to put this concept on paper so other families could potentially benefit from it too!

We're headed to Disney this year as well as Bermuda (again essentially for free), and next year Europe is the plan. And I just checked my credit rating and it has gone up 13 points since I started a few years ago!

This is my first post here and I can't wait to dig deeper and learn a ton of things that will benefit us for our trip.

Thanks!!

Brad

First, Welcome to Disboards! And also, welcome to the world of Rewards travel! Some of us have been doing this for many years. I've stayed at Swan and Dolphin many times over the last 15 years or so, much of it free. Swan used to have a Club floor. You could upgrade for 1000 points. I think that is gone now.

I did want to point out that Barclay has a 'no annual fee' card that gives 20K miles after a $1000 spend. You would get a $200 statement credit. This may be more risk free for a lot of people and easier to attain, without having to worry that the annual fee will kick in and eat up the credit.

 

[lucigo]

It seems like it would be a one time thing, as the big rewards are to entice you into their credit cards. So the question is, if you sign up for a card, use it for a year and then cancel...what does that do to your credit? Can you just reapply a few years later and do it all over again?

I have used $1400 in points toward a Carnival Cruise, and I have a cash back card that I cashed out $1000 when I wanted to buy something that was a total splurge (it barks....)

But I have only played with cards too much. I always hate the part where you have to call and cancel the card and listen to the guilt trip.

 

[lucigo]

Lucigo: Thanks for posting my article -- I really appreciate it!!


Thanks!!

Brad

Hi Brad! We moved from FL to VA 18 months ago and I'm all about spending my free time back in the sunshine state. Now if you find a way to get a free Disney cruise let us know!

 

[coastiewifern]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[junie18]

Such a great article. Thanks for the tips. I already use the Chase Southwest and Disney cards for rewards, but I too am curious about how it would effect our credit to close cards. I think I may try calling about the annual fees though because I have already paid those twice on the Southwest card! I just kind of accepted them because I figured they were less than what the flights would have costed me if I paid cash.

Now I'm interested in the Barclay card. Thanks again!

 

[BradRVA]

I just wanted to post two quick updates to this thread as I came across new information:

1) The Capital One Venture Rewards card also works the same way as the Barclaycard Arrival Plus does for buying Disney World tickets through UndercoverTourist.com!

You're able to redeem your miles to offset this 'travel' expense when the tickets are purchased through Undercover Tourist.

Capital One just doubled the bonus on this card to 40,000 points, which is worth $400 of flexible travel reimbursement. You have to spend $3k in the first 3 months to earn that bonus and with the 2x points on the $3k spend, you'll really have $460 off Disney World tickets.

A family like ours now has four credit card options (each adult could theoretically open the Arrival Plus and the Venture card) to save over $1,800 on tickets. Each card would be used to purchase a separate ticket and since they don't charge shipping fees, there's no additional expense.

2) The company ARes Travel (I found them through MouseSavers.com) can be used in the same manner as above for Disneyland tickets through the Arrival Plus or Venture card. I spoke with a number of their executives and we did a test charge on my cards and confirmed it showed up as a 'travel' expense.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[mommajo143]

Subbing - curious to explore this further. DH & I are nearly debt free and are always looking for ways to use our impeccable credit to our advantage.

 

[BradRVA]

@mommajo143 Definitely worth exploring further! It isn't for everyone of course, as credit cards can be dangerous for so many people, but if you're responsible and have great credit then this can definitely save you some money on a Disney trip or really any other trip for that matter.

It has worked really well for our family so far

 

[lucigo]

What does it do to your credit to open new cards and close old ones? Is this something you would do for a one time trip? What about addicts who like to vacation more often? It could lead to opening and closing cards yearly to take advantage of new deals. Would this hurt your credit?

 

[hsmamato2]

All of this is info posted anywhere on google.....none of it is new or earthshaking. As a pp mentioned...,.this does work...but it's temporary- then you have a pocketful of cards with various fees,cancellations,and other responsibilities. For those who think this might work,and who are ORGANIZED. enough to keep track,it works.
What this article doesn't make clear (enough) is that these methods work successfully if you have
1)the credit rating in the first place for all those approvals-
2)the ability to pay the card(s) off in FULL every month
3)the ability to meet the minimum spending within stated time to get the bonus points
4)keeping ALL of this organized

 

[BradRVA]

What does it do to your credit to open new cards and close old ones? Is this something you would do for a one time trip? What about addicts who like to vacation more often? It could lead to opening and closing cards yearly to take advantage of new deals. Would this hurt your credit?

These are great questions and something everyone absolutely should be aware of before they embark on a similar strategy.

People who really get into this definitely open and close a number of new credit cards every year. I know people who go all out and open ~20 per year to earn these massive bonuses.

My wife and I are both CPAs, and a little conservative financially, and that was just too much for us. So we just go card by card and don't juggle multiple cards at once. We probably open 6-8 new accounts per year, spread across the two of us (each person can open a distinct account for every card type).

So each of us probably open 3-4 new accounts per year. For people like us with ~800 credit ratings, a long credit history, and no major need for credit in the coming years, we decided it was worth it to go for this even if there was a negative impact. We personally thought it was worth a minor credit score hit that wouldn't impact us at all, in order to earn the free travel.

Not everyone would make the same decision and it is always based on your comfort level and your own life circumstances.

We've each seen our scores fluctuate down about 25 points or so temporarily, but right now they are both actually up from where we started about 4 years ago. So it hasn't impacted us negatively at all at this point, though at times it would have been slightly lower.

Could vacation addicts keep doing this? Yes, there is a large universe of at least 20-30 of these credit cards that have these huge bonuses and a couple like us could each open them, so we're talking 40-60 cards over a number of years before we'd ever have to double up on them. At that point you'd be eligible for many of the cards again, and you could start right back up.

It works for us, and I try to make it as stress-free as possible so this doesn't overwhelm my life. We've saved some considerable money and I think a lot of other people could as well