Saving Through Credit Card Rewards

The way I saved for Disney last time and the way I’ll be doing it this time is by purchasing Walt Disney Gift Cards. I buy them through ShopKick (to earn extra kicks back for my purchase), and I do that buy going to Online Kicks and then ShopDisney.com.

The minimum purchase is $25, so keep that in mind when cashing out your rewards via different apps. After you have purchased one gift card you can register it at http://www.disneygiftcard.com and make it your primary gift card. I named mine “Family Vacation” and then I put the card itself into our safe.

Disney Gift Cards can be used at any Disney Property, including paying for vacations and stays. They also NEVER expire, and they can each hold up to $1,000 USD. You can Manage Cards at DisneyGiftCard.com and add new card balances to your primary card (and secondary cards and so on and so forth).

Then you can use all of the cards together to pay for your trip and incidentals.

FREE Air Fare:

Now, how do you get there without paying for the plane tickets? You’re going to need a Mileage card like American Express’s Delta Card. Shameless plug here, I LOVE my SkyMiles card and have had a blue, gold, and now Platinum card. There is an annual fee on Gold and Platinum, but then your baggage is free, and with platinum you also get a BOGO free airline ticket once per calendar year. Blue has no fee, Gold has $95, and Platinum $195.

You can earn miles for every dollar spent, so I have the Amex App, and I pay almost all of our bills with Amex, then click “Pay It” in the app to pay off that charge with my bank account. My goal for going to Disney every 2-3 years is to spend $800 a month on Amex, earning me 800 miles. I’ll have to up my goal next time because I had a 30,000 signing bonus for the Platinum card that covered the rest of my miles needed. You need 25,000 miles PER person traveling to get to Orlando. Keep that in mind when budgeting, and try to get a sign-on promotion for your Amex account when opening one. Check your Amex offers because many times 2x-4x miles are offered when you spend on certain categories. From March-July, 2020, I was able to earn 14,000 miles because of these bonus offers.

I'm using Pay with Ibotta when grocery shopping at Walmart. I have it linked to my Amex account to earn an additional % back at Ibotta and airline miles on my card. I then pay off my card for whatever groceries I bought.

PARK Rewards:

Now, one final card to keep in mind is the Chase Disney Rewards Visa. It gives you 1-2% of purchases back as Disney Rewards dollars (spendable in the park) and lets you book a Disney Vacay with 6 months zero interest. Good if you need to spend a bit more on your trip than planned. Use the card in the park for a percent off all purchases over $50, and use the Disney Rewards Gift Cards on anything in the park, too. Win-win!

Your Disney Chase ALSO lets you get into Members-only character meets at the parks, save on Movie Tickets, Cruises, and Disney Shows and gives you special promotions for ShopDisney.com. Super!