I love credit cards so much!

[mhartman09]

[QUOTE="mhartman09, post: 57102678, member: 562349"As far as paying for annual passes or tickets, are there any cards that would be better for this than others? I have the CSR and several cash back cards (Discover IT, Citi Double Cash, BofA Cash Rewards). DH has his CSR, which we are currently working on meeting minimum spend on, and Discover IT. I'm not sure which route I should take to maximize savings/return on this purchase. My first thought is to just use DH's CSR to help with minimum spend, but wanted insight from y'all before just going that route.

only thing i can think of is using your discover it to buy Disney Gift Cards @ Sams Club, or Target red bird card. 5x return.
or a regular 2% cash back return card(fidelity, double cash). 1.5x if you have a Freedom Unlimited.(i prefer earning UR pts than cash back).

as for AP, your going to Disneyland right? Another factor with 7 day park hopper is magic hours. Might be worth considering over dining discounts. maybe one person get AP only to get discounts? but then that person would get to sleep in... lol.

We are actually doing Disneyworld. Sorry, should have been more specific. Are the EMH not included with an AP ticket?

 

[calypso726]

Now that DH has his CSR and will be getting the 100K bonus, I convinced him to do a Disney trip in late May/early June this year. We are also planning to go again next year, possibly for our son's Spring Break. Planning to book resorts for both trips using UR points. I know I can't redeem any points for park tickets, so I definitely want to try to maximize my savings and return on those.

I've read all over that tickets directly from Disney do not code as travel on most (if not all) cards, so I'm not sure which route we should go. I've also been checking into the benefits of annual passes, since we are planning to do 2 trips within 12 months of each other. Currently we can get 7 day park hopper tickets from UT for $1236.00 for the three of us. Three annual passes would be about $2,670.00. If I estimate tickets for our next trip to also be 7 day park hoppers at about the same $1236.00, even though I know the prices will increase by then, the estimated total for tickets for both trips would be $2,472.00. This is obviously cheaper than the annual passes by about $198.00, but I love memory maker and it's my understanding this is included with the annual passes, plus there are other benefits like the dining discounts which would close that price difference quickly. What would you pros do in this case? I'm thinking we should just go for the annual passes, but wanted to get your insight before pulling the trigger.

As far as paying for annual passes or tickets, are there any cards that would be better for this than others? I have the CSR and several cash back cards (Discover IT, Citi Double Cash, BofA Cash Rewards). DH has his CSR, which we are currently working on meeting minimum spend on, and Discover IT. I'm not sure which route I should take to maximize savings/return on this purchase. My first thought is to just use DH's CSR to help with minimum spend, but wanted insight from y'all before just going that route.

If it were me, I'd want to make the spend and get 3x per dollar and get some extra Disney money. I would open a DVA if you don't already have one. I'd load the money for the tickets with the CSR which will get 3x/$. Then I'd wait 120 and pay for the tickets using my DVA account. I will then receive an additional $20 Disney gift card for every $1000 I spend out of the account.

 

[mhartman09]

If it were me, I'd want to make the spend and get 3x per dollar and get some extra Disney money. I would open a DVA if you don't already have one. I'd load the money for the tickets with the CSR which will get 3x/$. Then I'd wait 120 and pay for the tickets using my DVA account. I will then receive an additional $20 Disney gift card for every $1000 I spend out of the account.

Thanks! Didn't think of it this way. We don't currently have a DVA, but I'd be fine with getting one if it will help. So you are saying to open a DVA and fund with his CSR for the 3x points, correct? Then we just have to wait 120 days to get our tickets? I don't really know much about DVA, but I'll look into this option.

I do have another question regarding booking Disney resorts through the Chase portal. For our very first Disneyworld trip, we had a close friend handle everything as she's a Disney TA. I told her we were looking into planning a couple of trips, but I wouldn't be able to have her book them because I'd be using my UR points for the resort. She said it may be possible to transfer the booking to her if it's not paid in full once it's booked. I told her I'd look into this, but I wouldn't think I could book through the UR portal without actually paying in full with points/case. Is this correct? I know you can put deposits down when booking through her, but I didn't think this was an option using the portal.

 

[calypso726]

DVA is used like a Disney gift card to pay for tickets and vacations. So you wil need your full number. Write it down after opening the account. When you call to pay for tickets just say your paying with a Disney gift card. In order to qualify for the $20 gift card per $1000 the account has to be open for 120 days. There are reports of people having issues with the DVA but we've never had a problem.

 

[mhartman09]

DVA is used like a Disney gift card to pay for tickets and vacations. So you wil need your full number. Write it down after opening the account. When you call to pay for tickets just say your paying with a Disney gift card. In order to qualify for the $20 gift card per $1000 the account has to be open for 120 days. There are reports of people having issues with the DVA but we've never had a problem.

Thanks so much for this info. I will definitely look into it.

 

[la la limon]

Also know that you can fund your DVA with the CSR $300 travel credit; it does code as travel.

 

[mhartman09]

Also know that you can fund your DVA with the CSR $300 travel credit; it does code as travel.

Thanks for this. We've both used our travel credits for this year, but it's definitely something I'll look into for next year.

 

[havaneselover]

Using CSR to fund DVA isn't optimal for me. I'd buy gift cards (Kroger/Amex Blue Preferred) and deposit in my DVA or buy tickets with CSR from Undercover Tourist.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Tickets from undercover tourist code as travel so 3x points on CSR. Tickets direct from Disney do not, including special events like Halloween party or Dessert parties, etc.

 

[mhartman09]

I've discussed this with DH tonight and we're trying to decode if we should go with the regular tickets or spring for APs. To my surprise, he actually was OK with the idea of getting APs and even mentioned maybe doing another trip around our sons fall break if we go that route. This is the main reason I think I should go for APs and get more trips in for less. The DVA does interest me so I will look more into that for sure. I'm just worried if we don't buy tickets/APs now, rather than later, we will end up spending more due to price increases. Guess I need to research our options a bit more to know which way to go. Either way, I'll probably end up using his CSR to finish up minimum spend.

 

[mistyinca]

Tickets from undercover tourist code as travel so 3x points on CSR. Tickets direct from Disney do not, including special events like Halloween party or Dessert parties, etc.

This is great to know. I wonder if they will on Amex. Funny my VRBO for Bonnet creek did not code as travel on CSR. I was suprised to get only 1x points on that. Anyone have any luck with calling and appealing for the points?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

This is great to know. I wonder if they will on Amex. Funny my VRBO for Bonnet creek did not code as travel on CSR. I was suprised to get only 1x points on that. Anyone have any luck with calling and appealing for the points?

I messaged them last week about Disney dining (WOC dessert party specifically) and was told Visa decides the category. In this case it coded Direct Merchant & they couldn't do anything.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I messaged them last week about Disney dining (WOC dessert party specifically)

 

[CyndiLouWho]

^ sorry about that iPad glitchy

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Ok I jumped in & applied for the Citi AA Business card with 60K miles bonus. I think next up will be Marriott card

 

[mistyinca]

I messaged them last week about Disney dining (WOC dessert party specifically) and was told Visa decides the category. In this case it coded Direct Merchant & they couldn't do anything.

Interesting you didn't get it for Disney dining. I did for our msep pacakge at Disneyland. Dinner was $280 for the 4 of us so that was a good chunk of points!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Interesting you didn't get it for Disney dining. I did for our msep pacakge at Disneyland. Dinner was $280 for the 4 of us so that was a good chunk of points!

I think Disney dining at the parks or maybe regular ADRs will qualify but the special stuff seems not to. I know neither WOC dessert party at DL nor WDW Halloween party got 3x points.

 

[Ngwira]

Applied and approved for the Amex green card which has a bonus of 25,000 points for only $1,000 spend. No annual fee for first year and $95 after, which I can live with. I'm hoping to find the no fee version of the everyday with 25,000 bonus points. Could only pull up 15,000 in incognito. But saw the spg 30,000 bonus and the 50,000 prg bonus. I've gotten both of those already, but 35k for the spg.
Now I can cancel my platinum and prg with no worries.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Applied and approved for the Amex green card which has a bonus of 25,000 points for only $1,000 spend. No annual fee for first year and $95 after, which I can live with. I'm hoping to find the no fee version of the everyday with 25,000 bonus points. Could only pull up 15,000 in incognito. But saw the spg 30,000 bonus and the 50,000 prg bonus. I've gotten both of those already, but 35k for the spg.
Now I can cancel my platinum and prg with no worries.

I got 35k SPG last year. Would do it again in DHs name if it comes up but I doubt it.

 

[mom2elal]

Is there any way to see prices on the UR website without having an UR earning card? I'm curious about the WDW hotel prices.