Fun money for vacation: Disney Rewards Visa or Discover?

[grrrlennyl]

So, I got a Disney Rewards Visa (not the Premiere one) a few months ago in order to get the $200 gift card (which I used to extend our stay this upcoming December a night ). I have only used it a few times (when a place didn't take Discover or when I'd get a % off for using it). However, I'm thinking of switching from using my Discover all the time to using the Disney Visa from now until our trip in the middle of December.

Disney Visa
+ 1% reward on all purchases
- reward can only be used for Disney stuff
- reward has to be sent to me in the form of what is basically a gift card
+ or I can grab a rewards card when I'm at WDW
+ after getting that initial card, it seems pretty easy to add new rewards to that card
+ Visa is accepted pretty much everywhere.

Discover
- only .5% cash back on most purchases
+ can get up to 5% cash-back sometimes
- but that 5% is only on certain things
+ no messing with picking stuff up or getting send a rewards card in the mail
+ is "regular money", so it can be used to pay my bill at the end of the month
- There are some places that won't accept Discover.

Any thoughts? I never carry a balance on my credit cards, so I don't have to worry about paying interest or any of that sort of stuff. It seems pretty obvious that I should just go with the Visa, at least until the trip, but let me know if I'm missing anything. Like I said, I'm new to the Disney Visa, so let me know if you have any thoughts on that, too.

Thanks!

 

[disneychrista]

If your goal is to maximize your rewards I would use the DV on all purchases, except those where your Discover gives 5%.

 

[grrrlennyl]

If your goal is to maximize your rewards I would use the DV on all purchases, except those where your Discover gives 5%.

You know, that's a good idea. I went ahead and made a note on my calendar to use my Discover for department store and online purchases from October through December (since that's Discover's 5% reward deal then), but I'll definitely be using my Disney Visa the rest of the time.

(The deal from now until then is, ironically, partly for theme parks. Ha!)

 

[prncess674]

Personally I would dump the Disney card now that you have received the bonus money. I would apply for the Chase Sapphire card which is very rewarding and doesn't tie up your points/awards in a single currency (Disney dollars.) They have a 40,000 point sign up which after spending $3K in 3 Months equates to $400 in FREE MONEY!

I have gotten my entire family in on this deal. First had BIL apply on his own. sister and BIL then spent the $3K on every day purchases and once the $40K posted then Sister applied for her own Sapphire card and they are doing the process all over again.

There is no annual fee for the first year. You can either keep the card after a year or call Chase and asked to be switched to some other no fee card if you don't want to close an open credit line.

 

[grrrlennyl]

Personally I would dump the Disney card now that you have received the bonus money. I would apply for the Chase Sapphire card which is very rewarding and doesn't tie up your points/awards in a single currency (Disney dollars.) They have a 40,000 point sign up which after spending $3K in 3 Months equates to $400 in FREE MONEY!

Eek! That sounds good, but I don't think I'd be able to spend anywhere near $3000 in 3 months. Whomp. It's a good thing to keep in mind if I see any big expenses coming up, though.

 

[disneychrista]

If you cancel the Disney Visa before you use the rewards points then your rewards card will also become in active/no good.

 

[prncess674]

Eek! That sounds good, but I don't think I'd be able to spend anywhere near $3000 in 3 months. Whomp. It's a good thing to keep in mind if I see any big expenses coming up, though.

Hmm, that is only a $1K per month. If you figure a $100 a week in groceries and another $50 a week in gas you get to $1800 in just two everyday purchases. Add in a trip to the hair salon, a few trips out to dinner and wham you are close. Also don't forget you can put your Disney tickets, airplane tickets, etc on the card

 

[grrrlennyl]

Hmm, that is only a $1K per month. If you figure a $100 a week in groceries and another $50 a week in gas you get to $1800 in just two everyday purchases. Add in a trip to the hair salon, a few trips out to dinner and wham you are close. Also don't forget you can put your Disney tickets, airplane tickets, etc on the card

Hmm...I'll need to do the math. I forgot about the balance on our vacation, so that'll be about $1400 in October. I don't have a car and I only buy groceries for me and one other person, so that all doesn't really add up. I'm going to go through my past credit card statements and see what they look like.

Thanks so much!

 

[alyssa810]

I'd hang onto both and look into the Chase Freedom card. They have promos that get you up to $300 cash back when you sign up and make your first purchase. They also have no annual fee. You get 1% cash back on everything, and each quarter different categories give you 5% cash back, similar to what Discover does, but the everyday cash back is better (1% over .5%)

I definitely use my Disney card less and less, but I keep it because of the discounts I can get, say, shopping at WOD (and because it's DISNEY LOL). I did just recently redeem Discover cash back for a RFC gift card - $45 for $50, so that was a terrific deal.

 

[grrrlennyl]

Oh, wait...can I only have one Chase Visa at a time? If so, I'll probably just stick with this one.

 

[bookgirl]

So, I got a Disney Rewards Visa (not the Premiere one) a few months ago in order to get the $200 gift card (which I used to extend our stay this upcoming December a night ). I have only used it a few times (when a place didn't take Discover or when I'd get a % off for using it). However, I'm thinking of switching from using my Discover all the time to using the Disney Visa from now until our trip in the middle of December.

Disney Visa
+ 1% reward on all purchases
- reward can only be used for Disney stuff
- reward has to be sent to me in the form of what is basically a gift card
+ or I can grab a rewards card when I'm at WDW
+ after getting that initial card, it seems pretty easy to add new rewards to that card
+ Visa is accepted pretty much everywhere.

Discover
- only .5% cash back on most purchases
+ can get up to 5% cash-back sometimes
- but that 5% is only on certain things
+ no messing with picking stuff up or getting send a rewards card in the mail
+ is "regular money", so it can be used to pay my bill at the end of the month
- There are some places that won't accept Discover.

Any thoughts? I never carry a balance on my credit cards, so I don't have to worry about paying interest or any of that sort of stuff. It seems pretty obvious that I should just go with the Visa, at least until the trip, but let me know if I'm missing anything. Like I said, I'm new to the Disney Visa, so let me know if you have any thoughts on that, too.

Thanks!

I have both but since I don't do packages, I figured out the Discover gave me more bang for my buck. (I usually just hang on to my rewards until I do something big). I never carry over a balance I just pay the points first then make my payment as usual. I don't do a ton of cc spending but last year was able to put about a hundred dollars towards my WDW "bill" when I came home.

I have looked at the gift card exchange and all that but I figure it's easier to just apply it towards the card itself. I use my Discover card 99% of the time.

(I do take the Visa to Disney.....the only charecter M&G I do is the Free Visa Holder one and you have to show the card.)

 

[scard192]

I have Discover, Chase Freedom and Disney Visa. I use the Chase Freedom for the 5% quarterly bonus category and the Disney Visa for any purchases that I am only going to get 1% cash back from any credit card. Discover I only use now when they have a special offer; I had an offer for 2% cash back for purchases 8/15 to 8/31.

I put the downpayment for my new car on the Disney Visa and went home and paid off the charge from my bank account.

I pay off my credit cards every month and try to maximize the cash rewards. Love when Chase Freedom has 5% cash back on groceries

 

[scard192]

Oh, wait...can I only have one Chase Visa at a time? If so, I'll probably just stick with this one.

Nope. I have Chase Freedom. Disney Visa and Amazon Visa through Chase. Wasn't going to get the Amazon one but one of the special offers on my Kindle was a $100 Amazon gift card if I signed up for their credit card. More free money and pretty much covered the cost of the Kindle.

 

[grrrlennyl]

The Chase Sapphire sounds like a great idea, but I think the timing will be bad, since I'm doing this for a little extra spending money for our trip and I might not have it in time. I think I'll stick with the Disney Visa for now and just use Discover when they have 5% cashback on things.

 

[budafam]

I have the Chase Freedom and love it. Since our trip in May (when I last cashed out), I have received over $150 in rewards just from the 5% bonus categories (gas mainly). I have a Disney Visa that I use to put our trip on but that's it. The perks aren't that great. I looked into Discover but it's not accepted in a LOT of places so I didn't even bother with that.

 

[MScott1851]

I have both, and use the Disney Visa exclusively while we are planning a trip, so as to be able to earn/use the rewards. I upgraded to Premier in May & really kicked it into high gear, I've earned well over $1000 rewards dollars since then. I opened a Chase SWA Visa at the same time to get the 50,000 mile sign up bonus (three free one way flights plus about 20,000 miles left over for next year!). Those two things have really helped put a big dent in our trip next week.

DH uses Discover exclusively, and usually uses the cash back option to put towards his balance, & takes advantage of the 5% bonus offers. Before I got my Disney Visa, I used the Discover exclusively & always redeemed my bonuses as gift cards. They used to have tons of options (prob still do) where you can redeem $40 worth of cash back bonus but get a $50 reward. I would use the gift cards as presents for Xmas & birthdays.

I am trying to decide what to do once we get home after this trip next week. We are planning a RCCL cruise next year, so the Discover might be a better option since I can get real cash to put towards that. But it is awfully tempting to just keep using the Disney card & sock away two years worth of rewards...might be the difference between a value or deluxe stay!

 

[grrrlennyl]

I am trying to decide what to do once we get home after this trip next week. We are planning a RCCL cruise next year, so the Discover might be a better option since I can get real cash to put towards that. But it is awfully tempting to just keep using the Disney card & sock away two years worth of rewards...might be the difference between a value or deluxe stay!

Ooo...that's a good idea. My partner and I are currently planning on not taking a trip in 2013 (whomp) and instead waiting until December 2014 after the whole FLE is done. However, I've been toying with the idea of seeing what the bounce back offer looks like when we're there for our upcoming trip and then maybe taking a shorter trip in 2013. We'll see...

 

[Sagginit]

i think it depends on your spending habits. like i rarely shop online and only get gas once or twice a month, and go on one vacation a year, so a lot of those bonus categories don't help me. i looked at my statement for last year to decide if i wanted to upgrade my disney visa. i decided instead to get a target card since i buy a lot of my household items and half my groceries there. that gets me 5% off instantly. i then use my disney visa for all other purchases. this fall will be two years since my last WDW trip. sad thought but i am just stashing the rewards as i want to go back next year when fantasyland is done.

one thing to keep in mind. disney visa gets you a discount when spending over $50 at disney giftshops. that can not be redeemed with a rewards card so i use the rewards towards the balance of my trip and then load up the rest when i get there for incidentals (usually only 20-$30 since its just one or two months).

no matter how good the rewards are if your spending habits don't match it will not be a good choice for you.