A Disney vacation for a family of four can easily cost $5,000–$8,000.
But many families cover most of those expenses using credit card welcome offers.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through a beginner-friendly strategy that can help cover flights, hotels, and Disney tickets using points.
While the exact number of points needed will vary depending on your travel dates and family size, this step-by-step approach can often reduce the cost of a Disney vacation by thousands of dollars.
If you’re new to points and miles, don’t worry — I’ll walk you through exactly how this works step-by-step.
Tip: Credit card welcome offers change throughout the year, so if you’re planning a future Disney trip it’s worth bookmarking this guide and checking back before you apply.
Note: I’m able to provide free guides like this thanks to credit card affiliate links. When you use my links instead of searching for a credit card offer yourself, it supports my small business at no additional cost to you, and I truly appreciate your support.
Why I designed this strategy:
There are a lot of different ways to use credit card points for Disney vacations. Some strategies can get pretty complicated!
For this guide, I intentionally designed a strategy that is:
✔ Beginner-friendly
✔ Doesn’t require complicated point transfers
✔ Flexible if your travel plans change
A Few Things to Know Before Getting Started:
• This guide works for vacations to both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
• The strategy is designed to be very beginner-friendly. It does not require opening business credit cards or transferring points, which can feel more advanced when you're just getting started.
• I generally recommend waiting around 90 days between credit card applications to give yourself the best chance of approval and maintain a healthy credit profile. This isn’t a strict rule, but many people find it’s a helpful guideline.
• That said, I usually recommend waiting at least 30 days between applications.
• There are many other cards and strategies that can help reduce the cost of a Disney trip. I chose this approach because it’s one of the easiest ways to get started, and I’ll also share a few alternative ideas later in the guide.
Each parent opens a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. These points will cover airfare.
STEP-BY-STEP METHOD AT A GLANCE
STEP 1
Each parent opens The World of Hyatt Credit Card. These points will cover the hotel.
STEP 2
Each parent opens a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. These points will cover tickets.
STEP 3
Step 1: Flights to Disney
Many couples use a simple strategy where each parent opens their own card to double the points.
Step 1: Parent 1 opens the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
Step 2: Parent 1 DOES NOT add Parent 2 as an authorized user.
Step 3: Parent 1 REFERS Parent 2 to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
Step 4: Parent 1 earns the welcome offer.
Step 5: Parent 1 earns the 10k referral bonus.
Step 6: Parent 2 earns the welcome welcome offer.
You combine Chase points to use for flights! You can book your flights in the Chase portal!
(Or you can transfer your points to an airline partner like Southwest or United and book your flights through Southwest/United! You can also transfer your points to airline partners like Southwest or United and book your flights directly through those airlines. This can sometimes require fewer points than booking through the travel portal.
Alternative method: open airline specific credit cards for flights. Southwest is a great option!
Step 2: Hotels Near Disney
One or both parents opens a The World of Hyatt Credit Card, depending on how many nights you want to book. These points will cover the hotel.
Step 1: Parent 1 opens The World of Hyatt Credit Card.
Step 2: Parent 1 DOES NOT add Parent 2 as an authorized user.
Step 3: Parent 2 opens the World of Hyatt Credit Card (depending on how many nights you need at Disney)
There is no referral bonus for this card.
You now have Hyatt points to use to book your hotel for Disney!
Hyatt Properties Near Disney:
These Hyatt properties are not inside the Disney parks, but they are very close and many families prefer them because they can be booked entirely with points.
Walt Disney World Category 1-4 Hotels:
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort (12k - 18k Hyatt points per night)
Hyatt Place Orlando/Lake Buena Vista (6.5k - 9.5k Hyatt points per night)
Hyatt Regency Orlando (12k - 18k Hyatt points per night)
Disneyland Category 1-4 Hotels:
Hyatt House at Anaheim Resort/Convention Center (12k- 18k Hyatt points per night)
Hyatt Place at Anaheim Resort/Convention Center (12k-18k Hyatt points per night)
Hyatt Regency Orange County (12k - 18k Hyatt points per night)
Hyatt House Cypress/Anaheim (9k - 15k Hyatt points per night)
Alternative method: check out this blog post for other hotel options to book on points for Walt Disney World. Some of these properties have on property Disney perks like 30 minute early entry that these Hyatt properties do not offer.
Step 3: Disney Tickets
Each parent opens a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. These points will cover tickets.
Step 1: Parent 1 opens the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Step 2: Parent 1 DOES NOT add Parent 2 as an authorized user.
Step 3: Parent 1 REFERS Parent 2 to the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Step 4: Parent 1 earns the welcome offer.
Step 5: Parent 1 earns a 25k referral bonus (you are only eligible to earn the referral bonus if the person you refer is a new Capital One cardholder)
Step 6: Parent 2 earns the welcome offer.
You now have Venture Miles to combine and use for Disney tickets!
How to Redeem Your Miles for Tickets:
In order to cover your Disney tickets with Venture Miles, you will purchase the tickets with your Capital One Venture card and then reimburse your travel expense with miles. 175k Venture miles will cover $1,750.
IMPORTANT: Tickets purchased from Disney’s website do NOT code as travel and they NEED TO CODE AS TRAVEL in order to use your Venture Miles. However, you can purchase Disney tickets through a trusted third party website like Undercover Tourist that DO code as travel. An added bonus to this is that these tickets are often slightly cheaper than purchasing through Disney!
Alternative Method: Check out this blog post for more ways to save of Disney tickets!
Frequently Asked Questions
What about the annual fees?
Each of these cards have a $95 annual fee. Considering the value you get from the welcome offer alone, I’d say the annual fee is worth it the first year! After the first year of opening the card, you can consider downgrading to a no-annual-fee credit card or canceling the card if you no longer see the value in paying the annual fee. Check out my blog post for more info on this —> Do you Keep All Your Credit Cards?
What if I already have one of these credit cards?
There are other credit cards you can use! I chose these cards as a beginner friendly strategy because they have low annual fees and are easy to earn and redeem! If you would like more ideas of how to use points for Disney, check out these blog posts:
Can I use points for a different vacation?
Yes! I recommend reading my Free Beginner’s Guide to Points & Miles and taking our FREE Masterclass: Your First Free Vacation on Points to get started!
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE:
Let’s Travel Talk™ is part of an affiliate sales network and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
EDITORIAL NOTE:
Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included with the post.