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I'll state this upfront: I'm a Disney fanatic. While I like to travel to faraway destinations with the help of points and miles, I enjoy a few trips a year to the Disney parks to see what's new, experience my favorite attractions, and enjoy the company of my family and friends. But if one thing is pretty obvious about Disney, it's not necessarily cheap!
This guide is designed to teach you how to save money at Disney World. While Walt Disney World features some amazingly themed resorts owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company, many points options are available that include the same or similar benefits as those on Disney property. Credit card rewards, frequent flyer miles, and discounted Disney gift cards are also options.
The more strategies you can apply against your trip budget, the better your overall time at The Happiest Place on Earth.
Page Contents
- Purchase Discounted Disney Gift Cards — Or Leverage Credit Card Bonus Categories
- Compare Booking Park Tickets Directly With Disney to Third-Party Options
- Stay Close to the Parks for Early Access — Or Save Money by Staying Further Away
- Manage Stress and Added Expenses by Choosing Your Flights Carefully
- Bottom Line
Purchase Discounted Disney Gift Cards — Or Leverage Credit Card Bonus Categories
Disney Gift cards can be used for anything on Walt Disney World property, including tickets, Lightning Lanes, food, souvenirs, and room costs at all Disney resorts and properties. This would be my top tip on how to save money at Disney World. Disney has a site to combine multiple gift cards, up to $1,000 per card, with the ability to store up to six cards. This makes it easier to keep track of them.
An easy place to start is Target — especially if you have a Target Circle™️ Card. This gives you an easy 5% discount on every purchase. You also can buy from wholesale clubs at a discount, who will occasionally run additional sales on Disney cards, further extending your savings. Chase Offers frequently feature 5%–25% savings at stores that sell Disney gift cards, including CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Office Depot, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowe’s.
Everyday spending bonuses on your credit cards can provide savings as well. For instance, you can use the U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card to get 5% cash back when shopping at Best Buy if you select electronic stores as a bonus category.
Additionally, buying Disney gift cards at grocery stores while using credit cards with bonus earnings at grocery stores is an excellent way to quickly accumulate rewards. Furthermore, you can get quality returns (in the form of rewards) by purchasing gift cards at Office Depot and Staples with a card that offers office supply bonuses, CVS or Walgreens with a card that offers drugstore bonus earnings, or at Home Depot and Lowe's with a card with bonus earnings at home improvement stores.
Some downsides to the gift card payment method are losing out on any purchase protection benefits with your credit card while on vacation, and physically losing the gift cards. Pro tip: hang onto all your gift cards until after your trip, in case there are any refunds. Those refunds would return to the original form of purchase, which could be your Disney Gift Card.
Compare Booking Park Tickets Directly With Disney to Third-Party Options
Tickets are a necessity and one of the biggest expenses at Walt Disney World. For each day you want to enter a park, you need a ticket for each person. A typical Disney World vacation is a multi-day affair, and you can add things like park hopping and even Lightning Lanes. Prices are also date-dependent, but the more days you buy, the cheaper the per-day cost. So, how can you save money on your Disney tickets?
Tickets can be purchased either directly with Disney or through approved Disney vendors, such as Undercover Tourist. These vendors are usually available on shopping portals to give you a small return on purchases. I recommend comparing the different ticket packages through both avenues. Depending on the amount of time spent at the park, and the amount of people going, one may provide a better deal than the other.
If you are going to purchase through Disney, one of your best bets is paying with the discounted Disney gift cards you're buying. However, if you have Capital One miles, you can redeem them for ticket purchases through Undercover Tourist at one cent each because these purchases code as “travel.” In my opinion, it's better value to use Capital One's transfer partners for flights rather than redeem at that valuation — but saving on the sticker price of the vacation can easily make sense for many.
If you book a ticket+hotel package from Disney, this also may code as travel, allowing you to redeem miles from cards like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card at 1¢ each toward recent travel purchases. The same applies to redeeming points for travel purchases on cards like the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card and U.S. Bank Altitude™ Reserve Visa Infinite® Card (no longer open to new applicants). And if your card has annual travel credits, you may be able to use those if the purchase codes as “travel.”
Using flexible points in bank portals
Your flexible point currencies can be handy for defraying your overall cost. One of the best ways to get Disney tickets used to be through the Citi travel portal, but that option is no longer available. While Disney tickets aren't as widely available as they used to be, they can still be had for decent value, should you choose to go that route.
Bilt Rewards Points can be redeemed at roughly 1.25¢ each for tickets at Walt Disney World. To find them, go to the Bilt travel portal, click on activities, and search for the Disney resort you want to visit. You can select the amount of points and cash that you would like to use if you don't have enough to cover the entire cost. In my opinion, Bilt Points are a bit more valuable than this, but it's still a viable option to pay with points instead of cash.
Chase has Disney tickets in its Ultimate Rewards travel portal from time to time. To find them, go to the Chase Travel portal, click on activities, and search for Walt Disney World. You can select the amount of points and cash that you would like to use, just like the Bilt portal.
For Walt Disney World tickets, Chase points can be redeemed at up to 2¢ apiece for Chase Sapphire Reserve® Rates & Fees cardholders (when redeeming through Chase's new Points Boost redemption option), and up to 1.75¢ each for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Rates & Fees cardholders (depending on your specific redemption). This is a pretty decent way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
If those options still don't fully cover your ticket expenses, you could always make sure to use a new card that you are spending on towards a new sign-up bonus.
Use a Disney Visa card
Disney has several co-branded credit cards and debit cards issued by Chase. Each of the cards offers special perks for Disney parkgoers, including complimentary Disney Character experiences, 10% off select merchandise, dining, and recreation activities when using your card, and 15% off tours. In addition, the credit card products offer 0% APR for 6 months on Disney vacation packages, and sometimes even discounts or other perks on those packages. Those cards are:
- The Disney Visa Card
- Disney® Premier Visa® Card
The Disney Visa Card offers 1% Disney Rewards Dollars back on all purchases with no annual fee. The Disney Premier Visa offers:
- 5% on card purchases made directly at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or ESPNPlus.com
- 2% on card purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, and most other Disney U.S. locations
- 1% on all your other card purchases
- *Rewards are issued as Disney Rewards Dollars
Unfortunately, there are better cards to maximize your Disney World spending. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers 4x points for eligible travel and 3x for dining spend. Based on my experience, all my purchases charged to my account on property when staying at a Disney resort are coded as travel spend. Otherwise, hotels and restaurants will typically code correctly for on-the-fly credit card purchases.
Related: The Pros and Cons of Chase's Disney Visa Credit Cards
Stay Close to the Parks for Early Access — Or Save Money by Staying Further Away
Staying at a Deluxe resort
Based on my hundreds of visits to Disney parks over the years, the best chance to maximize your day is by starting in the morning (called “rope drop” by us park nerds). How to save money at Disney is important, but so is how you spend your time!
Every official Disney resort offers 30-minute early theme park entry, and Deluxe Disney resorts offer extended evening hours. While you may think that only Disney-owned resorts have these perks, think again!
For me, my go-to hotel complex is the Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve. These properties are within walking distance of both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. In my opinion, this is an ideal use of Marriott Bonvoy points and free night certificates. It's the only property bookable with points offering both early entry and extended evening hours since the properties are considered Deluxe resorts.
Hotels that offer Early Entry
As I mentioned, some properties are not Disney resorts but still offer valuable perks, such as early entry to the parks. My favorite properties near Walt Disney World are in the Bonnet Creek area. A favorite for me is the Waldorf Astoria Bonnet Creek. You also get access to the facilities at the adjacent Signia by Hilton property, which has a nice pool and lazy river for kids to enjoy. Both properties are located directly on the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club, which is great for the golf-obsessed like myself.
This property usually costs 90,000–95,000 points or $900+ per night, so it is an excellent use of the Hilton Free Night Reward certificates. You get one free night annually from the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, along with complimentary top-tier Hilton Diamond status. You also can earn these free night awards from spending $15,000 in a calendar year on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card.
Three other Hilton properties in the Disney Springs area offer early entry, which is bookable on points as well. They are:
In addition, there are three other hotels bookable with other points currencies that include early entry:
- Renaissance Orlando Resort and Spa
- Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs Area
- Holiday Inn Orlando Disney Springs Resort Area
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Staying off-property
Another way how to save money at Disney is to take advantage of a wide range of properties that cater to varying budgets in Orlando. However, you may miss out on several perks like early entry or extra hours at the parks. Moreover, transportation may not be as reliable or as frequent as you'd like, requiring a rental car or rideshare services. When making your trip budget, factor in these extra costs when comparing staying off-property to the cost of staying in the bubble.
My favorite off-property resort in the area is the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. This is one of the best uses of a Category 1–4 Hyatt free night certificate available, in my opinion. I always like to add a stay here to the beginning or end of a Disney World trip. The World of Hyatt Credit Card (Rates & Fees) offers a Category 1–4 free night award each year, and you can earn a second by spending $15,000 or more on purchases within a calendar year.
Manage Stress and Added Expenses by Choosing Your Flights Carefully
To get to Walt Disney World, you'll be flying into Orlando International Airport (MCO). I highly suggest leaving plenty of time to get through security here. TSA PreCheck or CLEAR Plus is a lifesaver. You might also be able to fly a budget airline, such as Allegiant, to Orlando's Sanford International Airport (SFB).
Weather is often an issue, with Florida storms that can come and go quickly, throwing departure times into chaos. Trying to find direct flights is highly advisable here, especially since a delay can quickly derail your connection, which has for me several times. It's worth making a backup plan for these types of situations or making sure you book with the right credit card for travel delays.
Most airlines fly to Orlando, so you can find flights fitting any budget. Award pricing for most airlines tends to be high at peak times, so if you know when you want to go, booking as soon as the schedule opens will net you the best deal. Still, always check prices after booking, because price drops can and do occur.
Bottom Line
We hope this guide helps you learn how to save money at Disney. It's highly unlikely — unless you are very highly motivated and spend a significant amount of time in advance preparing — that you'll cover every cent of your costs towards a successful Walt Disney World trip by using points and miles.
There are ways to save money on each expense of a Disney trip. Whether you focus on fully eliminating one or two of your costs or discounting all your costs a certain amount, the goal should be to shave down overall costs as much as possible to reduce your total expenses.
By planning and taking advantage of credit card rewards, airline and hotel points, discounted gift cards, and loyalty program benefits, you can enjoy an affordable Disney World vacation that exceeds your expectations. You'll create memories that will last a lifetime without breaking the bank.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), and The World of Hyatt Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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