I’ve recently started paying more attention to earning credit card miles/cashback on purchases, though at this point I am far from an expert on the topic. Today, I came across this article that may be of interest to other Liners: 10 ways to save money on a trip to Disney World - The Points Guy
Some interesting things that I noticed;
The Disney Visa card doesn’t earn you a whole lot in terms of rewards (though if you can get the $200 sign up bonus and/or if you are dining at places where the 10% discount applies and you have no other dining discounts/dining plan, then it could make sure for you)
Disney ticket purchases may not be coded as “travel” by your credit card (which could effect the rewards you earn)
From the comments section, there are other ways to purchase gift cards at a 5% discount besides the Target Red Card. These seem to be using a rewards card that offers bonuses for gift card purchases at grocery stores or office supply stores, where you can purchase Disney gift cards and the rewards equate to 5% cashback. I still think the Red Card is easier (and you don’t have to wait for your cashback), but I suppose there’s a possibility of a bigger bonus if the credit cards ever offer a promotion with extra points for these purchases.
Does anything stand out to you from this article? Is there anything you would add from your experience?
I think it is funny that they do not mention the no annual fee a Disney card. Is that not still offered? I cannot justify the annual fee Disney card but I feel I receive almost all of the benefits and use it just for limited purchases ( usually Disney related).
It’s possible that they’re assuming you’ll charge enough to the card to mean you’ll earn more in extra rewards than you pay in the annual fee (with an extra 1% “in reward dollars on card purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and most Disney locations for a total of 2% in these categories”). I’m not sure, though, since I’m new to the world of maximizing credit card miles.
I am not sure of my math but I think you would have to charge 4,900 just in those 2% categories to get back the annual fee. I think the no fee is the better deal, combined with a better reward card.
What about restaurants? My Chase Amazon Visa gives 2% for restaurants. Does anybody know if restaurants on WDW property are coded as restaurants? I wonder if it varies based on the restaurant itself, who owns it, whether it’s in a park or at a resort?
If I can get the 2%, I’ll pay with my card at each restaurant instead of using my MagicBand to aggregate my expenses back to my resort charge.
I used our CC with 2% reward points for restaurant for our December trip. We paid by credit card. The statement showed restaurants but we did not get credit for all of the expense (I guess it depends on how they were coded). We called and the cc gave us those reward points. I don’t know how the statement will show if you charge to the MagicBand; but all the restaurants expense were shown as restaurants and there were no question when we called asking for reward points.
The Disney Chase Premier Visa (or whatever the $50 annual fee one is) does 2% on groceries. That thing paid for itself for us in about an hour.
I cancelled the card, though, because even though it has that unique grocery benefit it’s not a cash back reward. There are too many good cash back cards that it just seems a little silly to use one whose rewards can be used only for WDW stuff unless you knew for sure 100% you’d have a WDW trip.
I’ve heard of folks getting more than 2% grocery rewards. I’m not yet sure what cards they were using, but I’ve heard they’ll buy gift cards at grocery stores so their purchases they get the extra cashback (since the grocery stores purchases earn points at a higher rate than restaurants, if I’m understanding correctly).
We have a capital one venture rewards card where we earn 2% in points on all purchases. They catergorized our $200 Disney deposit as travel and we were able to use the points to get that as a credit on our statement.
I’m curious to know, if you pay for food with Magicband, is that charged as “hotel” to your CC? I get points for travel on my Barclay Arrival and would be nice…
