What reward programs do you use?

[mcmom]

What reward programs does everyone use to earn extra GC or money for their disney trip? We are going to Disney for my son's MAW in February and they are letting us extend our trip we just pay for those days out of pocket.

This will be our first family vacation ever! My husband is in the military so this is the first time he is going to be home for a few months with no deployments or field outing scheduled (command already ok'd the trip) We are so excited and want to make the most of our trip for our family but still fit into a military budget. (if that is possible) We are already doing the change jar and have a separate savings account I put my coupon money in.

Any other ideas? I do mypoints but I don't see where to cash in for Disney dollars. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Lori
mom to three Disney Veteran wantabes

 

[RobinMarie]

Here is how I earn 'extras'

ING account
My Points for Rainforest Cafe GC
Marriott rewards for park passes (have credit card)
Upromise
Memolink (they sent me TWO prizes recently!)
Disney Rewards Card
erewards has been pretty good about providing us with Blockbuster rentals.
Pinecone research and others (did a drug company one for 250 dollar cash!)

 

[got2lovedisney]

Goldpoints for offsite nights when not doing Disney
creationsrewards will be getting me $10 Disney Dollars soon
Upromise
DisneyVisa
Universal Studios Mastercard
Discovercard
ING account
Memolink although I haven't accrued enough yet
SurveySpot none that pay $ yet

 

[luvdisney14]

I remember reading about the ING account months ago, does anyone have a thread that I can read about it.

 

[fac]

Originally posted by luvdisney14
I remember reading about the ING account months ago, does anyone have a thread that I can read about it.

top of this board or following this link
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=611740

 

[mad4themouse]

I do

• MyPoints - RFC GCs, Target GCs, Webcertificates & HHonors Points
• CreationsRewards - Disney Dollars and Webcertificates
• ClubMom- restaurant GCs
• Startsampling - free samples for traveling
• PCHPoints - Walmart GCs
• LuckyPoints - Walmart GCs
• Milesource - restaurants GCs
• ClicktotheMagic - Disney Dollars
• SearchCactus - Cash
• Ebates - Cash
• Upromise - Cash
• Pinecone Surveys - Cash
• Vividence Surveys - Amazon.com GCs
• HiPoints Surveys - restaurant GCs
• e-Rewards - HHonors Points

I dropped Memolink about 6 months ago when they let members know that they would basically get their rewards whenever Memolink felt like sending them. Apparently they are not financially solvent. They owe me a Webcertificate from July 2003 and an Olive Garden GC from Dec. 2003. Until I get them, I will no long click on their banners. I do the trivia once a week to keep my account "active" so that they don't close it.

I also belong to Points.com, where I can exchange points from various programs like AAdvantage miles from American Airlines for GCs or points in other programs. I don't fly American but I cut the 100 Mile certificates from the Kellogg's cereal boxes so that I can get miles to exchange. This summer, I got a $100 Supercertificate from Giftcertificates.com in exchange for the miles I "saved" thru the year.

I have the Disney VISA and a Chase-i MasterCard which rewards 1% every month in Webcertificates. DH uses a Chase business MasterCard and Diner's Club card, both of which offer rewards like hotel GCs, restaurant GCs, rental cars and free flights or exchange your points into FF miles for the airline of your choice.

I also have an ING account and referred DH and both kids as well as a few DISers (Thanks!)

Rewards programs aren't as lucrative as they were in the '90s but you can still do pretty good with them if you keep up with them. I estimate that I earned close to $1000 in "rewards" of one form or another last year. Not bad for a few minutes of work each day.

 

[mcmom]

Thank you all for your input. I will have to try them out. How do you get Disney Dollars from Mypoints?

 

[mad4themouse]

MyPoints doesn't offer Disney Dollars as a reward. People who want them usually order a Webcertificate from MyPoints and then use the webbie to buy the Disney Dollars at their local store.

 

[ncbyrne]

I do many of the ones mentioned, but also do freeride.com which works much like Mypoints.
As far as getting Disney Dollars for Mypoints - first you have to use your points to buy a webcertificate ($25 minimum), then use the webcertificate to purchase a Disney Store Gift Card. Then take the gift card to your Disney Store to purchase Disney Dollars. The thing is that the Disney shipping charges eat up point dollars. So, it's best to watch and wait for a free shipping code before cashing in. It takes some doing, but it can be done.

 

[jennz]

mcmom - what we do with mypoints is use the points for a gas card and then put that amount in our ING savings (or change jar, whatever you might be using). Hope that helps!

 

[canwegosoon]

I am not as brave as everyone else, due to the volumes of spam and phone calls...but I have Charter One Bank, and use my debit card like a credit card, and get points. They have gift cards that you can use almost any where including Disney and also they have $$ off air line tickets or a 5 day park hopper as a reward. I like the gift cards, and can buy my passes or whatever with the GC's. There are certain incentives which you can earn double points. It is faster, and easier to use than the Disney Visa...which I have basically given up on.

 

[jennz]

canwegosoon - We have Charter One too and I LOVE the debit card rewards program when you use it as a credit card! No balance plus the rewards really add up fast!! I've been pleasantly surprised with it. Glad to hear your comparison to the Disney Visa, which I've been tempted to get but haven't since I KNOW I would end up carrying a balance (bad for me, good for Bank One).

 

[lovelyk68]

I totally agree about Charter One! I cash in my points for their Master Card Gift Card and you can use it anywhere I want. I use my card a lot (to say the least) and have received about $350 worth of gc this year!

 

[disneysteve]

We have 2 reward credit cards, an AOL VISA which earns us free online access (haven't paid for AOL for about 8 years) and a Marriott VISA which earns us free hotel stays. I especially like the Marriott card because the points earned with our charges are added to the points earned by staying at Marriott hotels. Ironically, however, we never stay at a Marriott property when we go to Disney, but we do stay at Marriotts almost everywhere else we travel. so the points add up pretty well.

I also do the Harris Polls online. I redeemed points for a $10 Marriott GC not too long ago.

I also do a bunch of different online medical surveys but those are only available to doctors. Sorry.

 

[rockin_rep]

QUOTE]I also do a bunch of different online medical surveys but those are only available to doctors. Sorry.[/QUOTE]

Hey DisneySteve, are you a physician, RN, MA, tech? Just curious....always wondered who actually filled out those surveys!

 

[Trixiezzz]

* Quick Rewards ~ can cashout in Disney Dollars
* Creations Rewards ~ can cashout in Disney Dollars
* My Points ~ gas cards for the drive down
* ING Acct ~ earned $465 in bonuses & referrals

* Hotwire Savings Club or other Dealpass clubs ~bought discounted Disney tickets; discounted meal vouchers and discount restaurant cards for meals on road: Pay just $20 for each $25 card: (they offer Burger King, KFC, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bennigans, Planet Hollywood & more)

* Discover Platinum ~ 1% cashback on buying tickets, reserving hotel, buying meal vouchers. They send you a check and I park it in my ING account and earn interest until the trip.(but am going to switch to another card after this year's Disney, because they don't give you the 1% until you reach a certain spending level)

 

[luvdisney14]

What is quick rewards and creations rewards? We also so have discover and it does stink that you have to first spend a certain amount and then get the 1%. I wish I could find another card giving 1% with no annual fee.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by rockin_rep
QUOTE]I also do a bunch of different online medical surveys but those are only available to doctors. Sorry.

Hey DisneySteve, are you a physician, RN, MA, tech? Just curious....always wondered who actually filled out those surveys! [/QUOTE]

I'm a family practice doc. Trust me. Some of those surveys are quite lucrative. Not at all unusual to get $25 for 10 minutes worth of work or $100 for 25-30 minutes. That stuff adds up nicely over the course of the year.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by luvdisney14
I wish I could find another card giving 1% with no annual fee.

There are various reward cards that pay 1%, just not in cash like Discover. The trick is to find one that has a reward you know you will use. That's why we like the Marriott card. We travel a lot and definitely use the free nites. That card was only free the first year, though. After that it is $30/year but I think that's fine because we earn enough points each year for at least 4 free nites. So I consider $30 for 4 nites at a hotel a pretty good deal.

 

[fac]

Originally posted by luvdisney14
I wish I could find another card giving 1% with no annual fee.

Citibank Divident Platinum Select card pays 5% on purchases at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations, plus 1% on all other purchases. There is no annual fee.
The maximum is $300 per year for my card.