Free WDW Trip!? (on Miles & Points)

[Friendly Frog]

Not completely free here either but not bad:

-Initial fillup-Speedway using points, will cost nothing.
Kroger fillup in Macon, GA, $1.00 off/gallon, around $30 for that fill.
-Orlando fill will be full price.
Same in reverse.

Chase rewards points gave us enough dollars this year for 7 nights at POFQ with Disney discount and paid for the Halloween Party tickets. My wife and I each have a card to max the 5x points. It also paid $400 toward our YES tickets, leaving $400 for us to pay.
We also have food costs.

If we want to stay coming home, we have enough Hilton points for several properties in the Atlanta area.

We get 2 "extra" pays a year, the extra pay will cover all food, souvies, and the remaining ticket price, with some left over.

We are using nothing from our budget to make the 8 day trip in October.

How do you get 5x rewards with Chase? Is that a card that has a yearly fee?

 

[MinnieForMe]

How do you get 5x rewards with Chase? Is that a card that has a yearly fee?

Not the above poster but I believe it would be the Freedom card. It gives back 5x rewards up to $1500 a quarter on certain categories. I believe it's fee free.

 

[Syzygy]

I came across two “Miles & Points” bloggers who have posted credit card strategies to earn nearly-free trips to WDW:

1) http://millionmilesecrets.com/2013/08/21/2-cards-5-nights-airfare-for-2-to-disney/
2) http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2012/09/churning-challenge-disney-world-for-4.html

It looks like that second link I originally posted provides a way to get Park Hopper tickets with points (by using Ultimate Rewards points as statement credits at mousesavers.com).

Therefore, it looks like you can obtain:

-Flights
-Rental Car (if interested)
-Hotel
-Park Tickets

… all by utilizing credit card miles/points at WDW!

If food (+ any other optional events/souvenirs) is the only out of pocket expense for a visit to WDW, that sounds pretty good!

 

[crisi]

For most of these deals, you spend money to earn points. So, yes, it works, but it really helps if you push a lot of dollars through a credit card and fly for work on someone else's dime (and get to keep your FF miles and hotel points - AND the company is consistent in a preferred hotel and airline - or lets you pick) if you are thinking about it to pay for a whole family and/or regular vacations. There will be deals for free bonus points (sometimes enough for a ticket for signing up for a credit card), which will get you a long way to the first trip for one person.

Years ago there was someone on here who traveled enough for work that she always had plenty of points for her hotel and airfare at Disney for her family. And I have a girlfriend who is really good at this, she travels a LOT for free and all over the world - but to get there she travels a LOT for business, is single and has expensive taste in clothes, shoes and purses .

 

[NotUrsula]

For most of these deals, you spend money to earn points. So, yes, it works, but it really helps if you push a lot of dollars through a credit card and fly for work on someone else's dime (and get to keep your FF miles and hotel points - AND the company is consistent in a preferred hotel and airline - or lets you pick) if you are thinking about it to pay for a whole family and/or regular vacations. There will be deals for free bonus points (sometimes enough for a ticket for signing up for a credit card), which will get you a long way to the first trip for one person.

Years ago there was someone on here who traveled enough for work that she always had plenty of points for her hotel and airfare at Disney for her family. And I have a girlfriend who is really good at this, she travels a LOT for free and all over the world - but to get there she travels a LOT for business, is single and has expensive taste in clothes, shoes and purses .

Yep. As a general rule, the only sort of person who earns enough points to cover an entire trip for a family on points as often as once every 24 months is a bona-fide road warrior; someone who has a job that keeps him/her on the road at least 40 weeks per year on someone else's dime.

While it is possible to do partner programs to maximize points, the spend doing that for enough points to finance a trip for a family of 4 that way is huge, both in terms of cash outlay and in terms of time spent working the points options. As time is money, for most people, financing a family trip that way actually costs more than it saves. If manipulating points consumes as much time as a full-time job, you are better off using that time on jobs-skills courses to maximize your regular earning power instead.

With points/miles programs, always look at what it takes to earn them, and be careful not to get carried away with the thrill of the bargain. Obsessive pursuit of points almost always costs in other ways.

 

[NHTikiBeckie]

I've never once spent any extra to earn points...I am sure others have, but for me, that is not necessary. I earn about 2 flights alone each year by doing e-rewards and e-miles. I will say, however, flights from NH to FL are really cheap and do not use a lot of points. We put all our bills on automatic payments on our credit cards to earn points, too.

 

[fac]

For most of these deals, you spend money to earn points. So, yes, it works, but it really helps if you push a lot of dollars through a credit card and fly for work on someone else's dime (and get to keep your FF miles and hotel points - AND the company is consistent in a preferred hotel and airline - or lets you pick) if you are thinking about it to pay for a whole family and/or regular vacations. There will be deals for free bonus points (sometimes enough for a ticket for signing up for a credit card), which will get you a long way to the first trip for one person.

Years ago there was someone on here who traveled enough for work that she always had plenty of points for her hotel and airfare at Disney for her family. And I have a girlfriend who is really good at this, she travels a LOT for free and all over the world - but to get there she travels a LOT for business, is single and has expensive taste in clothes, shoes and purses .

not exactly... I read both sites frequently and haven't been paying for air tickets for a long time and I don't have work related travel for more than 5 years.

the critical asset is good credit score and not in the immediate need to need any financing. Most of them earn points by signing up new credit cards...Obviously, the person will have the ability to complete the sign up spending requirements, say $3000 in 3 or 4 months and have the ability to pay in full each month... there is also a page to discuss how to meet the spending commitment without actually spending a lot.

I began to actively applying cards within the last 7 months, my credit score fluctuates within a 10 points range.

 

[fac]

DH and I signed up for the SW 50,000 points cards. So we had 100,000+ points. We flew to CA this summer on those points and had over 30,000 left. I am on e-Rewards and earn 500-1000 points per month on that. We are charging things for our house addition to the SW card too. We should be able to fly to FL next year too on our points if we take a vacation.

DH has his own semi so he charges $50-60,000 in fuel each year on a card he gets 2% on. So that gives us over $1000 to put toward vacation. When you can fly for free and have $1000 cashback to use, that makes a big difference in your vacation cost.

Now once all the SW bonus points are gone, it will be tough to have enough points to fly on. What I could do is have DH switch to buying fuel on the SW card.

If we had figured it out better, we could have tried to get DH a personal and a business SW card, and qualify for the companion pass. But I didn't read about that until later.

if your spending were from this year and even you have used the points for travel... you may still have to time to qualify for CP...even they may not be as easy (likes getting 50,000 just from sign up)...those points, even you have already used for travel, they still count for CP calculation....I assume you know you can use the CP, if qualified, for this year and next year.