Is it worth getting the Disney Visa?

[utahkennedys]

I already get cash back for my Discover card, but are there enough other perks to make the Disney Visa worthwhile? I read the disclosures and it said the max per year you could get is $750 if you charged $75k (yikes!), so does everyone just use their disney points for food or are there other benefits I am missing?

 

[DisneyRose]

We try to put gas and food on it and sometimes big purchases that we are going to pay off as soon as the bill comes in. Last year we had nearly one hundred dollars in Disney dollars This year we won't have that many. You can also use it for bills and then pay it off when the statement comes in and you won't accrue any interest. Just gain Disney dollars!

 

[JimC]

It has a fairly high annual reward limit, so we can earn enough rewards dollars to pay for most of our Disney meals after our DDE discount with the rewards card.

DCL cruise vacations and DVC points purchases get some sort of special treatment when charged on the card. There are some other benefits but I don't remember what they are.

 

[Muushka]

I was hesitant to get another credit card. But when they offered us $25 to sign on, pay our DVC maint fees with them (another $9) and booking a DCL cruise on Disney Visa gets you a $50 on board credit. I would not have gotten any of these perks with my other cc.

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

One of the biggest benefits of the Disney Visa is 6 months no interest financing for ticket inclusive WDW packages and Disney Cruises. You can also get six months no interest on the down payment for DVC points.

 

[bbowers]

AND you can pay your annual DVC dues using Disney Reward dollars - like they're almost free!

 

[DisneyBill]

There was/is a recent perk for DVC membership downpayment or add-ons with a zero interest period also. They occasionally offer Disney/Disney Visa merchandise to the DV holders. There are some Disney pins that you have to use your DV to purchase in order to buy one.

If you're Disney obsessive like a bunch of us, you'll find yourself picking up dinner tabs and collecting cash so you can earn extra DV bucks.

Funny, this whole DV thing sounded like a good way to get a free meal or two, then I thought hey, I could save these rewards for a full 7 day PHP. Well now, I'm keeping them for a Disney cruise.

 

[ribbot]

I just spent my $441 of Disney points at WDW last week. I used them for priority seating meals. The only place that would not take them is Rainforest Cafe, I'm assuming because it's a franchise...but still, they're on Disney property??

I hate Discover, there's not enough cashback for me. I feel the Disney card is definitely worth it if you're gonna pay off your bill each month, which is what we did.

 

[Mike]

There are cards with much better rewards. I have a card from citibank that gives me 5% back on all gas, supermarket, and pharmacy purchases. I had this card for one month and I already got a check from them for $61 which went right into my Disney fund.

I also have an MBNA card that directly deposits 2% of all my purchases into my kids' 529B account for college.

I was one of the lucky ones that was offered 2% rewards from the Disney Visa for a whole year so I have been using it since July 1st of last year and will continue to use it for some purchases until June 30th. But once it goes back to 1% I will no longer use it.

As far as additional perks, I was able to get a good rate on a room at the WL last year with it, but after a couple of weeks that rate was available to the general public as well and then a few weeks later an even better AP rate became available. Other than that, there were no useful perks for me.

And to SpoonfulofSugar's comment about the 0% APR .... be very careful. This is the latest marketing trick being used by the credit card industry. The 0% is fine as long as you don't use the card for additional purchases. But if you read the fine print, any payment that you make goes to paying off the low promotional rate first. So if you charge a $5000 purchase at 0% and then go on to use the card for everyday purchases (let's assume you rack up $1000 of the billing cycle), when you get the bill at the end of the month and pay off the $1000, that is actually being deducted from the $5000 that you owe. So now you will have $4000 at 0% and you will be paying a very high finance charge on your new $1000 in purchases - this could be as high as 19%. So bottom line - if you take advantage of a 0% offer for new purchases or balance transfers, DO NOT use that card for additonal purchases until that balance is paid in full.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

Excellent advice!!!

 

[Rebd40]

Do the Disney Reward dollors expire after a certain amount of time? e.g. do you have to use them within a year?

 

[ribbot]

Mike,

I also "thought" I was one of those lucky ones that got offered 2% back on DV purchases----but that's only the case if the store, company, etc that you bought from marks it as "grocery, gas, etc."---whatever the 2% is for.
If they mark it generically--you don't get the 2%. Let's say you go to a well-named gas station and you're supposed to get 2% back on that purchase---if they mark it as "other" or "misc"---you don't get the 2%, but only 1%.

I noticed that I wasn't getting 2% back and called---they told me that there's nothing they can do about it, that the company you buy from HAS to mark it according to what Disney is considering a 2% back purchase. I also noticed that MOST companies were marking things as other or misc too.

 

[ribbot]

Rebd40,

My most recent points were good until 2008. But once you transfer the points to a Disney card for redeeming, they are only good until the end of the year. They also can't be put back into your account once you transfer them onto a card.

 

[Mike]

Mike,

I also "thought" I was one of those lucky ones that got offered 2% back on DV purchases----but that's only the case if the store, company, etc that you bought from marks it as "grocery, gas, etc."---whatever the 2% is for.
If they mark it generically--you don't get the 2%. Let's say you go to a well-named gas station and you're supposed to get 2% back on that purchase---if they mark it as "other" or "misc"---you don't get the 2%, but only 1%.

I noticed that I wasn't getting 2% back and called---they told me that there's nothing they can do about it, that the company you buy from HAS to mark it according to what Disney is considering a 2% back purchase. I also noticed that MOST companies were marking things as other or misc too.

Hi ribbot,
Yes I noticed that as well ...... but my post was already a mile long and I didn't want to get into that. I certainly have not gotten 2% back on everything like I was led to believe. I purchased some furniture and only got 1% for that purchase. When I called to question it I was told that furniture "among other things" was excluded from the bonus reward program. Whatever ..... It is just not a very good card from a rewards perspective. I am much happier with the Citibank and MBNA cards. The money I get from Citibank will go towards my vacations and the MBNA will be for college. My advice to folks is to not get so hung up on Disney Rewards points - cash is nice too . Especially when you can earn 5 times as much on the same purchase.


By the way, the limit on the Citibank is $300 per year but you can set up separate accounts for your spouse which will , in effect, make the limit $600. With the money spent on groceries and gas alone, this shouldn't be hard to reach.

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

There are cards with much better rewards. I have a card from citibank that gives me 5% back on all gas, supermarket, and pharmacy purchases. I had this card for one month and I already got a check from them for $61 which went right into my Disney fund.

I don't use the DV since I received the citibank MC with the 5% back, it also gives 1% back on all other purchases besides the gas, grocery and pharmacy. I'll take cash over Disney Rewards any day.

And to SpoonfulofSugar's comment about the 0% APR .... be very careful. This is the latest marketing trick being used by the credit card industry. The 0% is fine as long as you don't use the card for additional purchases. But if you read the fine print, any payment that you make goes to paying off the low promotional rate first

I didn't realize that they apply the payments to the promotional purchase first, I thought they only did that after the six months was up. I always pay off the balance every month so I didn't notice. Thanks for that.