Not sure where to post: Disney Visa points redemption question

[WDW4us2006]

I will have about 400 rewards points by the time I go in September. Can I use these ANYWHERE in the Parks and Restaurants? I want to use them for Water park passes, some meals and souvenirs. Does it just come on a Credit Card? Sorry, I know I could find this info somewhere, but not sure where to look.

 

[MaryPA]

Before you go - call and 'redeem' your rewards points, I have always done this at least a month before you go - just in case you have to call again if it does not come. It does come in credit card form. Use it anywhere in Disney. Note: the card does have an expiration date - so keep that in mind, it is usually many months before it expires - our worry was always if we didn't use it right away we would forget about it and then our points would expire. So for us we start using it up right away.

Hope this information helps. Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[Karnak]

Good advice Mary, and I would only add one bit of advice. Why not use the amount you have to "spend" on bonus points on your resort total? I have done this more than once, and it works very well. When I check in, I present the card and all the credit on the card is credited to my room account at once. That way, I don't have to carry the card around in the parks, etc.

Enjoy.

 

[LorieR]

Would also suggest that you call early for your card but not put all your rewards on at that time. (I believe you only need 20 to get the card.) I would then call a few days or so before I left for Disney or even call when I was down there to transfer the balance of the rewards to the card, just in case something happened and the trip had to be canceled. Hopefully that would not happen, but if it did you would only have 20 points on a card with an expiration date, not 400!!

Lorie

 

[angel's momma]

There are a very few places that won't accept it - they also don't accept credit cards or room keys. The one I know of is the Kaki Gori stand in Epcot.

 

[sadiwest]

I have to laugh at myself....

I read this thread, went onto my account to see how many reward dollars I have, and it said "31". I wasn't planning on using the credit card again until after I go (or, should I say, until after I pay off the trip?), so I ordered a card with 31 reward dollars on it.

Now that I did...explain this to me?....
Did I just 'order' a 'credit card' with $31 to spend at WDW? It's basically like a cash back thing, but you get kind of a gift card that works at Disney locations/stores?...is that it?

As you can see, I didn't exactly understand the whole plan when I signed up. LOL I was just happy to get a vacation with no interest payments for 6 months. LOL

TIA for the info.
Sandi

 

[madalex]

You can't use your Disney Reward dollars at the Swan or Dolphin restaurants, but you can use them at the gift shops at those hotels.

You can't use them at some of the Epcot street vendors (such as at the French place that sells the little parasols).

Couple other tidbits:

Expiration date of a card I got in Jan 2006 was Dec 2007, so there is lots of time to use the Reward dollars.

If you lose your card at WDW, call the regular 800 number on your credit card and they will turn the old card off (so no one can use your hard earned Reward dollars). You then have to go to guest services at Downtown Disney to get a new card. By calling the 800 number on that card, you can then have it activated with all your remaining Reward dollars. How do I know this? Because this is what happened to me during our Feb 2006 trip.

 

[madalex]

you get kind of a gift card that works at Disney locations/stores?...is that it?

Yes. That is exactly it.

 

[Leash]

I have to laugh at myself....

I read this thread, went onto my account to see how many reward dollars I have, and it said "31". I wasn't planning on using the credit card again until after I go (or, should I say, until after I pay off the trip?), so I ordered a card with 31 reward dollars on it.

Now that I did...explain this to me?....
Did I just 'order' a 'credit card' with $31 to spend at WDW? It's basically like a cash back thing, but you get kind of a gift card that works at Disney locations/stores?...is that it?

As you can see, I didn't exactly understand the whole plan when I signed up. LOL I was just happy to get a vacation with no interest payments for 6 months. LOL

TIA for the info.
Sandi

That is actually a good way to think of it, like it is a gift card for Disney. When you order your rewards card you will get a card with the amount of rewards dollars you requested. The card works like a gift card and is accepted at most places in WDW but as far as I have found there is not a listing of which locations will or won't take it. Since it is like a gift card be careful because anyone can use it (they do not need to check ID when you use it to pay). Also once you order the card it is good until the end of the next year, so if you order one today it will be good until the end of 2007 (as far as I was told by Chase) also you can add more rewards dollars to it once you have it, there is a minimum of $10 to transfer though.

 

[MDDisneyFan]

I'm going in December. I ordered a rewards card that I will use before my trip to pay my hotel bill. I made sure that I left at least $10 in reward dollars in my Chase account. Before I leave for WDW I'll transfer the remaining dollars to my reward card to use on vacation.

You can get more info at www.chase.com.