topic Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points in Credit Cards

Buying Disneyland ticket with points

coreysw12 — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 01:33:44 GMT

Does anyone know if there is ANY way to buy disneyland park tickets using points at a better than 1.0c/point value?

I've been digging around for hours, and turning up nothing. It looks like Chase used to have disneyland tickets on their travel portal, but they don't anymore. There were some articles suggesting that CSR cardholders could still use the portal for disney tickets, but in the comments people are saying that wasn't true.

Currently the only way I'm seeing to do this is to trade points for a statement credit (at 1:1) and then just buy the tickets with actual money. But a pair of one-day parkhopper tickets would cost 43,500 points. Expensive! Wish there was a way to use fewer points.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 03:03:05 GMT

I no longer have Chase so I can't help you there. I did notify a moderator to possibly move your thread to another subforum for better visibility.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

kdm31091 — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 12:16:02 GMT

Unfortunately there's really no great option. Ostensibly Disney wants you to book through them directly, so they don't really offer discounts or perks elsewhere, or if they do they're not substantial. Your best bet is just a statement credit against the purchase.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Caught750 — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 12:59:24 GMT

Depending on the card (works on Altitude Reserve) booking through an OTA allows it to code as travel. That’s the only way I’ve seen to use points at a higher value or get more points from buying tickets

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Justrebuilding — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 14:00:30 GMT

Do you have a Sam's club membership? If you can buy a Sam's gift card, they sell discount Disney cards that you could use to purchase tickets.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 14:19:25 GMT

I wouldn't buy parkhopper. By the time you park, take the shuttle and then the team you have killed and hour. Waste of money IMHO. Just get 1 park tickets.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 20:59:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I wouldn't buy parkhopper. By the time you park, take the shuttle and then the team you have killed and hour. Waste of money IMHO. Just get 1 park tickets.

He seems to be talking about Disneyland in CA, not Florida. So only two parks and easy to walk between them.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

mongstradamus — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 23:13:47 GMT

I am somewhat curious about this my cousin and nephew want to goto the new star wars exhibit at disney land and wondering if there are any good redemptions using points? On a side note if you pay with a CC doesn't that count as travel ? So maybe I would use my premier card for that

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Caught750 — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 00:37:34 GMT

Mongstramas, Disney World doesn’t code as travel. Unless Disney Land codes differently it would need to be through an OTA. DOC or TPG just did a write up on this.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

ChargedUp — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 00:53:12 GMT

If you're staying at one of the hotels nearby in Anaheim/Garden Grove, you can sometimes buy your tickets from the hotel and thus likely trip the travel bonus on most cards. Otherwise, Savor will give 4X back on Disney admission FYI.

Another idea, you might try buying them at the Disneyland Hotel. Same price, but I'd venture that the transaction would code as travel this way as well.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

mongstradamus — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 02:00:00 GMT

@Caught750 wrote:
Mongstramas, Disney World doesn’t code as travel. Unless Disney Land codes differently it would need to be through an OTA. DOC or TPG just did a write up on this.

Well thats unfortunate so I guess FU will be my best optionn

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Meanmchine — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 02:15:27 GMT

"Honk" if you remember E tickets

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

coreysw12 — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 19:25:14 GMT

That's an intiguing idea about booking the tickets with an OTA or somewhere that codes as Travel, and then just buying the tickets with a statement-credit trade-in from points. So I'd at least get some points back, if nothing else. That sounds like it's probably the best way to go, even if $10-$15 worth of points back isn't nearly as great as if I could buy the tickets on points worth 1.25 cents each in the chase portal. But it seems that Chase doesn't want anybody doing that right now, for whatever reason. As far as I know, it's one of the only Expedia tickets you can't buy in the portal. I'm guessing Disney told Chase to pull the plug on allowing UR redemptions for Disney tickets, because otherwise nobody would ever sign up for the terrible Chase Disney card.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

EAJuggalo — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 10:54:43 GMT

There was a way using AA miles but I have no idea if that is still available or not.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

coreysw12 — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:13:15 GMT

I wanted to post an update, for the method I've come up with for the cheapest possible 2-day Disneyland trip for 2 people, using only Ultimate Rewards points. I decided that doing 1-day parkhopper tickets would be silly, because for only $40 more per person, you can get 2-day 1-park-per-day tickets. So that's kind of a no-brainer I think.

Anyways, here's my list (your mileage may vary, I live in Northern CA so my airfare may be cheaper than others):

2-day, 1-park-per-day Tickets, for 2 adults:

Costs $427.90 at UndercoverTourist, plus $60 for MaxPass ($15/day/person).

That will cost 48,790 UR points to recoup that cost as a statement credit, but booking the ticket on CFU (in the first year) or CSR will earn 1464 UR points, making the net cost 47,326 points.

Round trip airfare for 2 to Orange County:

Costs 18,766 Southwest Points, which is a 1:1 transfer partner with UR points. Plus $22.40 in fees (2,240 UR points to recoup those fees as a statement credit), and get 66 UR points after paying the fee on CFU or CSR, making the net cost 20,940 points.

Uber rides between airport, park, and hotel:

$50 (5,000 UR points to recoup that cost as a statement credit), and earns 150 UR points, making the net cost 4,850 UR points.

2 nights at hotel near Disneyland:

10,500 UR points, booked through Chase travel portal.

Grand total for 2 adults, 2 days and 2 nights with travel: 83,616 UR points.

This all assumes, of course, that you don't already have any Southwest points or hotel loyalty rewards. It also doesn't include food & souvenirs, the cost of which will vary greatly from person to person. Last time I went to Disneyland, I was perfectly happy just eating at the food stands and not shopping. After all, you're paying A TON of money to be inside the park, why waste that time eating and shopping? You can do those things at home

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 19:24:15 GMT

@Caught750 wrote:
Mongstramas, Disney World doesn’t code as travel. Unless Disney Land codes differently it would need to be through an OTA. DOC or TPG just did a write up on this.

Not sure how relevant this is, but just throwing it out there that recently when I booked some Disney plans on my Citi DC it was categorized as 'Lodging'.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

SouthJamaica — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 19:33:15 GMT

@coreysw12 wrote:
Does anyone know if there is ANY way to buy disneyland park tickets using points at a better than 1.0c/point value?

I've been digging around for hours, and turning up nothing. It looks like Chase used to have disneyland tickets on their travel portal, but they don't anymore. There were some articles suggesting that CSR cardholders could still use the portal for disney tickets, but in the comments people are saying that wasn't true.

Currently the only way I'm seeing to do this is to trade points for a statement credit (at 1:1) and then just buy the tickets with actual money. But a pair of one-day parkhopper tickets would cost 43,500 points. Expensive! Wish there was a way to use fewer points.

You can buy them for points on the Citibank portal but it's at 1 cent point value.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

jdbkiang — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 23:02:44 GMT

You seem to have been able to get solid value out of your UR for the most part, but doesn’t it sting a bit knowing the UR you used for the tickets could’ve been used for something that cost more?

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

coreysw12 — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 23:06:24 GMT

@jdbkiang wrote:
You seem to have been able to get solid value out of your UR for the most part, but doesn’t it sting a bit knowing the UR you used for the tickets could’ve been used for something that cost more?

Fair point! It also stings to pay cash out of pocket for those tickets, so I guess I just have to decide which one stings less.

Re: Buying Disneyland ticket with points

jdbkiang — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 23:09:02 GMT

Haha, very true also. I often just figure I’ll be able to save more cash down the road by using the points for higher value options.