Please explain the Disney Visa!

[wiccan92]

I was in the Disney store yesterday and was offered to apply for the card and was told about the annual fee... I went today to do some research on it but didn't find where it said there was an annual fee and I found that there are two different cards (Premiere & Rewards)?!

I'd like to know all the ins and outs of the Disney Visas before I decide to dump my current credit card and get a knew one.

 

[disneylove69]

I was in the Disney store yesterday and was offered to apply for the card and was told about the annual fee... I went today to do some research on it but didn't find where it said there was an annual fee and I found that there are two different cards (Premiere & Rewards)?!

I'd like to know all the ins and outs of the Disney Visas before I decide to dump my current credit card and get a knew one.

Premiere has the fee and you get more points.

I have the rewards with no fee and less points. Points can be used for Disney store, parks, etc. You basically have the points put on a gift card. You also get discounts if you spend more then $50 in a transaction at various Disney stores, park stores, etc. At DL and WDW you get a free character photo for your family at designated stops and times. Both cards gets you special discounts and advance purchases for hotels, dining plans, and special events.

I also have the chase debit card that gets no points but the discounts and phots.

 

[FiggieFan]

Premiere has the fee and you get more points.

I have the rewards with no fee and less points. Points can be used for Disney store, parks, etc. You basically have the points put on a gift card. You also get discounts if you spend more then $50 in a transaction at various Disney stores, park stores, etc. At DL and WDW you get a free character photo for your family at designated stops and times. Both cards gets you special discounts and advance purchases for hotels, dining plans, and special events.

I also have the rewards card with no fee. I find it a very good card, but I do not see the value (for me) in paying the extra annual fee for the premium. I am very happy with the rewards card, I have had it about a year. You can rack your rewards dollars up and I believe my first dollars expire in 2017 - you can transfer to a gift card at any time. One thing to note - you also get discounts at the parks for purchases over $50 (or $75?). I was accidently charging to my room (Keys to the World card), until I remembered to start using my actual Disney Visa in the parks. I found it was always good to remind the cast members too.

 

[disneylove69]

I also have the rewards card with no fee. I find it a very good card, but I do not see the value (for me) in paying the extra annual fee for the premium. I am very happy with the rewards card, I have had it about a year. You can rack your rewards dollars up and I believe my first dollars expire in 2017 - you can transfer to a gift card at any time. One thing to note - you also get discounts at the parks for purchases over $50 (or $75?). I was accidently charging to my room (Keys to the World card), until I remembered to start using my actual Disney Visa in the parks. I found it was always good to remind the cast members too.

$50

 

[buzz2400]

I have the regular one with no annual fee. Before you do sign up, they have promotions for first timers where you can get different amount of money after you use the card (see link below for current one). I used to use it to redeem points at the parks but now switched to a card where I get actual cash. I kept the disney visa for the perks, i.e. free picture at epcot, 10% of disneystore.

http://disneyrewards.com/cards-overview-apply?CELL=608L11

 

[MichelleVW]

I have the one with the annual fee and we make up enough in rewards to easily set off the fee. We use it for everything and pay it off every month. I cashed out for about $700 or so in January for our cruise and just last week I cashed out $300 to use for our Disneyland tickets.

 

[Zhoen]

Hehe, Michelle, I was just logging in to post the same thing.

The no-fee card gets you 1% of your purchases back as "dream dollars". You can get these put on a rewards card and spend them like a gift card at the parks and at Disneystore.

The Premier card is the same idea, but I believe it's 2% and sometimes promos-- I have the no-fee, so Michelle, can you confirm/deny?

Now, ALLL of that said...

If you have a no-fee 1% card with no balance/paid off monthly that sometimes runs the 5% specials (example, I have plain ol' Discover, but I think BoA does something similar), then you're not going to come out ahead with the Disney cards...

So I use my Disney card for places that don't accept Discover, and I use my Discover everywhere else, because I'd rather have US dollars than Disney Dollars... that said, when we are saving for a trip? Heck yeah, put it all on the Disney, and then that's money that CAN'T be redirected.

One thing I didn't see the others mention-- your Disney rewards dollars are earned monthly, and are good for 5 years... so if you earn in July 2013, you have to *TRANSFER* them by July of 2018... then once they are transferred to your rewards card, that is good for an additional year.

I have heard of people spending the rewards card at Disney Store to buy "real" GCs that never expire, but I think that is a "mileage may vary" thing.

Bottom line-- if you have a no-fee card that gives you 1% or better, then the only advantage to the Disney card is that you get the special photo thing and the discounts if you spend $50 or more at Disney stores.

**BUT**!!
They sometimes send out big-time bait... We got our Disney card when they offered us a $200 gift card if we signed up... I've also heard of $50. So, if you have a good card already, then try poking around the different sites, to include buying something from Disneystore.com to see if you can get targeted for one of those offers...

Good luck!

 

[chrystalc77]

Premiere has the fee and you get more points.

I have the rewards with no fee and less points. Points can be used for Disney store, parks, etc. You basically have the points put on a gift card. You also get discounts if you spend more then $50 in a transaction at various Disney stores, park stores, etc. At DL and WDW you get a free character photo for your family at designated stops and times. Both cards gets you special discounts and advance purchases for hotels, dining plans, and special events.

I also have the chase debit card that gets no points but the discounts and phots.

What kind of discounts and photos do you get with the Chase debit card? We are in our last year of bankruptcy so credit cards are a no go for us but the Chase debit card sounds intriguing.

 

[MichelleVW]

Hehe, Michelle, I was just logging in to post the same thing.

The no-fee card gets you 1% of your purchases back as "dream dollars". You can get these put on a rewards card and spend them like a gift card at the parks and at Disneystore.

The Premier card is the same idea, but I believe it's 2% and sometimes promos-- I have the no-fee, so Michelle, can you confirm/deny?

Now, ALLL of that said...

If you have a no-fee 1% card with no balance/paid off monthly that sometimes runs the 5% specials (example, I have plain ol' Discover, but I think BoA does something similar), then you're not going to come out ahead with the Disney cards...

So I use my Disney card for places that don't accept Discover, and I use my Discover everywhere else, because I'd rather have US dollars than Disney Dollars... that said, when we are saving for a trip? Heck yeah, put it all on the Disney, and then that's money that CAN'T be redirected.

One thing I didn't see the others mention-- your Disney rewards dollars are earned monthly, and are good for 5 years... so if you earn in July 2013, you have to *TRANSFER* them by July of 2018... then once they are transferred to your rewards card, that is good for an additional year.

I have heard of people spending the rewards card at Disney Store to buy "real" GCs that never expire, but I think that is a "mileage may vary" thing.

Bottom line-- if you have a no-fee card that gives you 1% or better, then the only advantage to the Disney card is that you get the special photo thing and the discounts if you spend $50 or more at Disney stores.

**BUT**!!
They sometimes send out big-time bait... We got our Disney card when they offered us a $200 gift card if we signed up... I've also heard of $50. So, if you have a good card already, then try poking around the different sites, to include buying something from Disneystore.com to see if you can get targeted for one of those offers...

Good luck!

I get 2% back on Disney, restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores. Last month with my 2% I got $20.43 reward dollars in grocery stores alone. We did the math and it really works for us. Plus, when we signed up we had 5% cash back on those categories for 3 months.

I have a Discover that we use for the 5% promos and the shop Discover. I cash out the Discover bonus for gift cards for vacations. One thing I like about the Disney Dollars is that you don't have to wait for a specific amount to cash out. If you have $359 you can put $359 on your Rewards card.

 

[Sadie22]

I have the no-fee card. I'm opposed to annual fees. I don't charge much on the Disney card since I get more rewards with another card. Chase canceled my first one on me due to non-use but then offered me $200 to $300 to get a new one the following year, and I still have that. When they first came out with the fee card, I got several offers of $200 to upgrade. When I went to do online check-in an offer popped up to get the fee card with a statement credit after a minimum purchase, saying I could use the new account immediately. As I said, I'm opposed to annual fees, and I don't need another card, so I didn't apply for that, but that's the first I had heard of something like that happening.

 

[heartsy77]

I have the fee one but it pays for itself very quickly pays for itself.

I got my card in July 2012 cashed out for Oct 2012 trip and had 500$$$.

Cashed out in Feb for DL trip w/ 500$$ again.

I currently have almost 500$ in rewards and I am saving them for DD's grad trip in April 2014.

I charge everything I can if it is over 20$. It just works for me!

 

[Narnia_girl]

Is there any benefit to me opening a Disney Visa--either the basic or fee version-- to pay for our Disney cruise?

 

[RunnerMomO]

Is there any benefit to me opening a Disney Visa--either the basic or fee version-- to pay for our Disney cruise?

Sometimes they have special offers with having a credit card. For example in some shops at WDW, you can get the same discount as if you were an annual pass holder or DVC member. Too bad they wont let you combine discounts! We save our Disney rewards dollars towards cruise as well. This last one I used about $480 Disney dollars towards the shore excursions, tips, dinner at Remy's. Not a bad deal.

 

[wannagoback]

Is there any benefit to me opening a Disney Visa--either the basic or fee version-- to pay for our Disney cruise?

This is how we earned a huge chunk of our reward dollars. I upgraded to the premium account which was running a promotion where you get 5% on the categories that are usually 2%. I used it to put down a deposit on a cruise and an additional payment and got 5% rewards on that. Without the promotion you could still get 2% rewards on your cruise payment which is still significant! You'd be be able to redeem them to use on your cruise.

 

[lilmenley]

You get 6 months 0% financing when you put a Disney vacation on the Visa (premium, for sure. Not sure about no-fee). I found that super helpful when we booked our cruise. And then got 2% in rewards on it, too.

 

[Scottiesmommy08]

I've been following this for a couple of days and I want to make sure I have it straight. We just booked a cruise for Jan 14'. If we were to get the paid version of this card, we could use it (grocery, gas, ect) up until our final cruise payment is due, cash in the rewards to go toward the final payment, then put the rest of the total on the card to earn more rewards then use those as extra spending on board in Jan? Plus getting the $50 on board credit for paying with Disney Visa?

 

[MichelleVW]

I've been following this for a couple of days and I want to make sure I have it straight. We just booked a cruise for Jan 14'. If we were to get the paid version of this card, we could use it (grocery, gas, ect) up until our final cruise payment is due, cash in the rewards to go toward the final payment, then put the rest of the total on the card to earn more rewards then use those as extra spending on board in Jan? Plus getting the $50 on board credit for paying with Disney Visa?

I think to get the onboard credit you have to put the whole thing on the card, so I wouldn't use rewards towards the payment. I would just use those to use on the cruise.

 

[cllrn]

Don't mean to hijack thread but does anyone know how to get one of those $200 gift card offers? Is anyone willing to give out the code? In the last few months I have bought APs for the family, requested the free Disney trip planning DVD, booked a resort reservation, several ADRs and spent a ton on several DisneyStore.com orders and have excellent credit--yet I have not received one of these. I want to get the Disney Premier Visa card and am waiting for one of these offers. I even tried to call Chase, asked if I could use my neighbor's (if a neighbor received one) and she said she would just need the code. Frustrated here.

 

[MissVeronica]

Don't mean to hijack thread but does anyone know how to get one of those $200 gift card offers? Is anyone willing to give out the code? In the last few months I have bought APs for the family, requested the free Disney trip planning DVD, booked a resort reservation, several ADRs and spent a ton on several DisneyStore.com orders and have excellent credit--yet I have not received one of these. I want to get the Disney Premier Visa card and am waiting for one of these offers. I even tried to call Chase, asked if I could use my neighbor's (if a neighbor received one) and she said she would just need the code. Frustrated here.

Me too. I really don't want to go ahead and apply when $100 is the best offer.

 

[honeybunches]

Don't mean to hijack thread but does anyone know how to get one of those $200 gift card offers? Is anyone willing to give out the code? In the last few months I have bought APs for the family, requested the free Disney trip planning DVD, booked a resort reservation, several ADRs and spent a ton on several DisneyStore.com orders and have excellent credit--yet I have not received one of these. I want to get the Disney Premier Visa card and am waiting for one of these offers. I even tried to call Chase, asked if I could use my neighbor's (if a neighbor received one) and she said she would just need the code. Frustrated here.

I got one in the mail last year shortly after reading about it on the DIS. Do you get other CC offers? Sometimes Lifelock or other companies like that can block your name from getting on cc mailing lists I think.