The Magic of Disney Covered with Points đ°
If youâve ever dreamed of taking your family to Disney without the huge price tag, youâre in luck â because you can actually use credit card points or statement credits to pay for Disney tickets.đ˘â¨
Hereâs how it works:
Option 1: Buy Your Disney Tickets through Undercover Tourist
One of the best (and easiest!) ways to do this is through a certified third-party seller like UndercoverTourist. This site sells discounted park tickets that are 100% legitimate and usually a bit cheaper than buying directly through Disney. The best part about this site is that it codes as a âtravelâ category purchase on your credit card. Since Disney tickets normally register as "entertainment" and not "travelâ, this is why Undercover Tourist is a smart option.
Hotel-and-ticket vacation packages booked directly with Disney or an authorized Disney travel planner, such as should also code as travel, if youâd rather go that route.
Option 2: Redeem as a Statement Credit
Letâs talk about the banks that let you use statement credits on your Disney purchases (when it codes as travel). This ensures your purchase codes as travel instead of entertainment â depending on the card â so youâll even earn points on the purchase while planning to erase it later!
⢠Chase Ultimate RewardsŽ Points:
Three-day and longer Walt Disney World tickets can occasionally be found in the Chase Travelâ portal, though this hasnât been so since 2024âŚbut itâs not impossible!
Even when Disney tickets aren't available via Chase Travel, you can put the Chase Sapphire Reserve's $300 annual travel credit toward Disney tickets as long as the charge codes as "travel" on your billing statement.
(Other tickets you can find in the portal to use points to pay for? Universal Studios and Legoland! đ˛)
Cards that help get you the best points out there (imo đ):
⢠Chase Sapphire Preferred or ReserveŽ
⢠Chase Business Ink CashŽ or UnlimitedŽ ($0 Annual Fee) - you need a SapphireŽ or ReserveŽ card in order to transfer points to one of those and use the points in the portal
⢠Capital One Miles:
Capital One miles are great to transfer to airline and hotel partners when using them for a typical vacation, but you can also redeem Capital One miles at a fixed rate of 1 cent each toward travel purchases made using the card. Again, if you purchase through Disney, it will code as âentertainmentâ, but purchasing with your Capital One card through an authorized site like Undercover Tourist, will make the tickets code as âtravelâ.
If you are using your card to purchase a hotel-and-ticket vacation package, do so directly from Disney or through an authorized Disney vacation planner like Jolly Holiday Travel Company or Love The Mouse Travel. This way, the charge should code as travel and you can redeem miles to offset the charge.
If you have a Capital One VentureÂŽ Rewards card and use it to buy your tickets either through Undercover Tourist or a vacation planner, you could use the 75,000-mile welcome bonus that you can earn after spending the $4,000 on the card in the first three months as $750 toward a Disney trip.
⢠Capital One VentureŽ
⢠Citi SparkÂŽ Business Card - This DOES count towards your 5/24 status, even though it is technically a business card. If youâre not sure what 5/24 status is, check out this post.
⢠Bank of America Points:
This bank will give you a 1:1 ratio of points per cent to cover as a statement credit, but you wonât be able to buy tickets in a portal.
Bank of America Preferred RewardsÂŽ points, which can be earned from the Bank of AmericaÂŽ Premium RewardsÂŽ credit card, are worth 1 cent each, so you can use a welcome offer to offset the cost of your tickets (as long as it codes as travel). Fo example, the welcome bonus right now is 60,000 points after $4,000 spent in the first 90 days from account opening. That has an equivalent value of $600 that you could use as a statement credit, essentially offsetting the cost of the Disney tickets when you charge them to that card.
Step 3: Sit Back and Enjoy the Magicâ¨
Once your points have been applied, youâve just turned your everyday spending or business purchases into Disney magic â without draining your savings account.
You can use the same method for:
Universal Studios or Legoland tickets đ˘
Disneyland or Walt Disney World hotels
Other theme park and attraction passes on Undercover Tourist (like the U.S Open!)
We also just bought the Atlanta Pass that includes tickets to the Atlanta Zoo, Aquarium, and World of Coca-ColaÂŽ in Atlanta, Georgia through the Chase portal instead of paying $600 for my family of 6 to go to all of these!
Itâs one of my favorite hacks because it gives families a real way to experience travel rewards â not just flights and hotels, but experiences that make lifelong memories.
Final Thoughts
If youâre already earning points with Chase, Capital One, Amex, or Citi, this is one of the best ways to make them work harder for you.
And if youâre new to the world of travel rewards, Iâve got you covered â check out my Beginnerâs Guide to Points and Miles to get started and see how to build your next adventure for free (or close to it).
Happy Travels, Friends! âđťâď¸
