Using Marriott Points for Hoppers

[swanmom]

I'm new over here.....usually post on the community boards but I had some info that might be helpful to someone. On our last trip to WDW in July, we used Marriott Reward points to 'buy' all our tickets! In our case, I had some Marriott points but not enough for all the tickets we needed. Because there is an exchange program, I transferred some Amex Membership Reward points to Marriott and then ordered the tickets. It was a very smooth transaction. They arrived within days of my order. They were actual WDW Hopper tickets - same as you'd get at the parks - no differences or strings attached. So we got all our tickets without parting with any cash !!!! This may really help someone whose got some hotel or Amex points sitting in their account unused.


THEME PARKS
Reward Points Code
WALT DISNEY WORLD® Theme Parks - Orlando, Florida
Child 4-Day DISNEY PARK HOPPER® PLUS Pass 40,000 points
Child 5-Day DISNEY PARK HOPPER® PLUS Pass 45,000 points
Adult 4-Day DISNEY PARK HOPPER® PLUS Pass 50,000 points
Child 7-Day DISNEY PARK HOPPER® PLUS Pass 55,000 points
Adult 5-Day DISNEY PARK HOPPER® PLUS Pass 55,000 points
Adult 7-Day DISNEY PARK HOPPER® PLUS Pass 65,000 points
Discovery Cove - Orlando, Florida
1-day pass at Discovery Cove including Dolphin Swim 53,000 points

 

[NotTooGoofy]

swanmom,

It's good to hear you received prompt service in receiving your hopper passes from Marriott. I travel quite a bit for my job and have accrued almost enough Marriott reward points for the adult 5-day hopper pass that we'll use in Dec. Did you get your passes in less than a week? Do you know how many plus options come with the 5-day hopper?

Thanks!

 

[swanmom]

NotTooGoofy,
It was almost exactly one week. They do have a rush service via Fedex for an extra fee if you are worried about timing or want the ability to tract your tickets. The five day Hopper comes with two plus days. I transferred Amex points when we needed more.... but you may want to look at the Marriott site. If you are only a little short, you can buy Marriott points for $10/thousand points. Have a great trip!

 

[DeniseD]

Does anyone know of any other Disney related things we can get with our Marriott reward points? We already have UPH.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by DeniseD
Does anyone know of any other Disney related things we can get with our Marriott reward points? We already have UPH.

If you're going to Disneyland, you can also get passes for there.

And of course the obvious answer is using points for your hotel. It takes 55,000 points to get a 5-day parkhopper. Those same points (or less) would get you 4 nites at the Fairfield Inn, 3 nites at Courtyard, SpringHill Suites or Residence Inn, or 2 nites at JW Marriott Grande Lakes.

We haven't used our Marriott points for Disney trips. I find they go alot farther elsewhere since the point values for the Disney area hotels are inflated due to the location.

Steve

 

[prncess674]

Offsite Marriott Hotels (Frairfield, Spring Hill Suites, Courtyard) can all be had for very cheap and are not worth the value of a Marriott point. I also don't believe that using points for tickets is a very good value IMHO. Tranferring from AMEX to Marriott to Disney tickets is a huge dilution in value of the points. I am glad you are happy with the smoothness of the transaction but next time you should consider what else you could of have had for those points. Many high end Marriotts that go for a reasonable amount of points would be a better use of the value. If you want to learn more about using and earning frequent stay points check out the hotel forums at Flyertalk

 

[jgates]

Any suggestions for building Marriott points? Their credit card charges a fee after the first year. I don't use Amex so I can't transfer in from there.

My meager 22,000 points won't get me a ticket!

 

[Muffy]

I just redeemed for a 7 day PHP from Marriot and it came within days. I put it way to use at another time as we have 30 day passes bought for this trip. I think this is a great way to get free passes! It took us about 1 year to accure 65,000 points.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by jgates
Any suggestions for building Marriott points? Their credit card charges a fee after the first year. I don't use Amex so I can't transfer in from there.

My meager 22,000 points won't get me a ticket!

Go on more vacations to Marriott hotels!

Seriously, we use our Marriott Visa for absolutely everything we possibly can. Yes, there is a $30 annual fee but I don't mind paying it because the points I earn each year are worth way more than that.

Start charging gas, groceries, insurance bills, school tuition, gym membership, internet access, cable and phone bills, medical bills, newspaper and magazine subscriptions and anything else you can think of.

If you have any money available for savings/investing, you can purchase US savings bonds online with a credit card. If you time the purchase right, you only need to hold them for 10 months before you can cash them in (used to be 4 months - they changed it in Feb. because of people like me). Once you cash them in, you can turn around and buy another one with the same money and get more points. I've racked up thousands of points this way while also earning a pretty decent return (currently 4.66% on I-bonds).

Steve

 

[DisneyKidds]

Yes, if you can't find another use for the points and limiting your cash outlay is a high priority then the ability to get WDW passes with Marriott Rewards points is a nice option. I do agree, however, that it is generally not the most effective use of Marriott points.

For instance..........if I wanted to use my Marriott Rewards points to get park hopper tix for seven days for 2 adults and 2 children it would require 240,000 points. For those 240,00 points I'd get park hoppers worth about $1,100. As a comparison, for 230,000 I just got two airline tix to France and a 7 nights stay in category 6 Marriott (I just redeemed points for a trip to France next summer). The combined value there has got to be at least $3,000.....and most likely a whole lot more. If you wanted to keep points use confined to WDW, for 215,000 points you could get a travel package that would cover 4 airline tix and 7 nights in the Courtyard in DTD. That would have to be worth at least $1,600.......and potentially a whole lot more.

Individual circumstances will dictate what makes sense for different people, but make sure you invest the time to make sure you are getting the best value for your points. I spent 3 long years travelling 3 to 4 days a week on business to accumulate the half million Marriott points I accumulated and you can be darn sure I will put those points to the best possible use for my family (while thanking the Lord I don't have to travel that much any more ). If WDW park hoppers are the right choice for your family go for it!

 

[jgates]

I'm using the i-Card and getting cash via webcertificates. If I charge $65,000 - I will receive 1% back via webbies. It works out a lot better for me in that respect.

I do nearly always stay at Fairfields - however, at 10 pts per $, it still takes a considerable length of time to build up. When I go somewhere pricey like our work conventions - they are so big they are always at Hyatts.