I used my points from my Disney Visa Card on our vacation last month. It is very easy to do. There is a phone # on your statement for you to call to get your Disney Visa Rewards points. They will send you a card that looks like a credit card in the mail. It takes about 2 weeks (sometimes less) to get the card in the mail, so make sure that you order it early enough so that you have it when you leave for Disney. Once you have the card, you can transfer any new points that you earn on to the card that you have. So, if you order it today and put all of your points on it, you can then call the Disney Visa Rewards # right before you leave for vacation and have any points you accumulate from now until you go to WDW transferred onto the card. The card can be used all over WDW, at restaurants, gift shops, etc.. If you are staying on property, you can use the card at the front desk of your hotel to pay for your room or any charges you put on your room. You do not have to show any ID to use the card, so if you lose it, anyone can use your card, so treat it like a credit card and keep it safe.
As for using a
travel agent vs. planning your vacation on your own: you will find many people on these boards that swear by using a travel agent and many that do it themselves. Using a travel agent should not cost you any more $ than doing it yourself. Some will even watch for discount codes for you and apply them to your reservation to save you $ automatically. If you do it yourself, I recommend getting a good Disney travel book to start with. Planning can be the key to having a wonderful WDW vacation. There is so much to so and do there and a good WDW travel book lays it all out for you to see and understand. I love PassPorter Walt Disney World, by Jennifer Watson Marx and Dave Marx. They are not affiliated with Disney. I would also highly recommend using the websites that other posters gave - allearsnet.com and mousesavers.com . These sites post discount codes as soon as they are available. You can go ahead and book your room now even if there isn't a code available yet because you can have a code applied to your reservation later on if one becomes available. If you have a
AAA card, you can try and use that for a discount when you book. Then, check those two websites and this board frequently to see if any new discount codes have come out. You may start to see posts from other members who are waiting for codes to come out for the same time you are going. That is usually a sign that codes should be coming soon. It seems to be very important to call Disney as soon as a code becomes available to have it applied to your reservation because there are only a certain # of rooms available at the special rate with the code. When codes are released, expect to have long wait times on the phone with WDW reservations because everyone else is calling to get the code applied to their ressie too! Disney offers package deals which include airfare, but I always seem to get better prices when I book my airfare myself. Depending on what type of admission tickets you want, you can order them in advance and save $. There are packages that WDW offers that include length of stay passes. A good WDW travel book will give you all the info you need on this and will give you current prices on tickets so you can add things up to find out how you want to do things. If you have any questions along the way, post them here. There are a lot of people who can answer your questions and give you tips. For me, planning is half the fun of a WDW vacation. Have a great time!
