How To Travel To Disney World And Beyond With Chase Sapphire Preferred
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The number one way I stretch our travel budget to Disney World (and beyond) is by leveraging the points and miles I earn through putting my everyday spending on a credit card.
Right now my #1 favorite travel rewards card – Chase Sapphire Preferred – has an amazing welcome offer worth over $600 in free travel! 😳
Read on to learn all about using this card to earn points for travel or click here to go straight to the offer details. (P.S. Thanks for using my links and supporting my small business).
How Does Travel With Points Work?
Credit card companies are eager for your business, offering a “welcome bonus” to encourage customers to open a new card.
These welcome bonuses are an incredible way to earn travel with points by using the card for everyday spending and paying it off.
I’ve earned over $100,000 in flights, hotels, and more from my points and miles hobby, so we aren’t talking chump change here!
Chase Sapphire Preferred is my recommended card for first-timers because it is easy to get excellent value from the bonus. You’ll have to pay the annual fee, but you’ll also get an annual hotel credit that helps offset that cost plus many other benefits.
And the rate at which you earn points is fantastic, which is why I keep it in my wallet from year to year.
I’ll show you how this process works in this post, but I have to mention that I don’t suggest using credit cards to earn points and miles unless you have a solid history of using credit responsibly.
If it would be hard for you to control your spending with credit cards and you would be prone to carrying a balance on these cards, then this isn’t the right pursuit for you.
How Do I Earn Points?
Here’s how to earn the welcome bonus with my favorite travel card.
Note that you won’t be approved for the bonus if you currently hold the card or have received a welcome bonus for one in the previous 48 months.
However, you can still earn the bonus if you are listed as an authorized user on someone else’s card.
After your application is approved you can expect to receive your card in the mail within a week. You will be charged the annual fee during the first month’s statement.
Click here to learn how to apply.
I then meet the minimum spending requirement of $5,000 in the first three months after opening the card by using it for these purchases:
- Groceries
- Utilities
- Insurance
- Gas
- Any travel expenses for an upcoming trip
Your 100,000 sign-up bonus points will be deposited into your rewards account in about 5-7 days after the statement closes for the month in which you met the requirements (though your mileage may vary, this is just in my experience).
Click here to get more details on this card.
The easiest (though NOT the most lucrative) way to redeem your points is for cashback in the form of a statement credit.
You can get a dollar of statement credit for every 100 points you redeem.
For example, you could use your statement credit on discounted Disney World theme park tickets from Undercover Tourist.
You can also have the money deposited into your checking account if you’ve already paid off your balance!
Or you can use points to book travel through the card issuer’s travel portal.
Unfortunately, Disney World resorts are very difficult to find in the travel portal… BUT you can book many off-property resorts and condos and your flights to/from Disney World.
It would be very easy to buy flights and hotels for your family vacation entirely with the points you earn from this card bonus.
Transferring Points to Partners
A third (and best, in my opinion) way to redeem your points is to transfer them to a travel partner.
This is where you can get crazy value from your points!
You can transfer reward points to many airlines and three hotel partners.
Here are the steps to transfering points to partners:
- Create a loyalty account with the airline or hotel transfer partner (if you don’t already have one) to get your member number
- Copy your member number or write it down
- Move points from your rewards account into the airline or hotel partner account with your member number (usually instant but can take up to 24 hours)
- Use the points or miles to book directly with the partner
There are several airline partners with schedules full of flights to Orlando!
I also frequently redeem the points I earn with my favorite travel rewards card to a hotel partner with lots of properties close to Walt Disney World – such as the hotel shown above with rooms that sleep up to six people.
Transfering to hotel and airline partners are how you get huge value from the welcome bonus and points you earn from regular spending.
I hope this post answered your questions about using points and miles for your Disney World vacation.
Any questions? Leave a comment below!
I have been considering getting a travel credit card for some time now. I currently have the Chase Disney CC and I’m finding that its really difficult to rack up the points. I have used my card consistently for EVERYTHING minus utilities since around 2019 (which is probably on average about $3000+ per month) and have only managed to accrue around $1000+ in Disney rewards which completely baffles me. I for sure thought I would have accrued MUCH more by now. (yes I pay it off every month, if not a couple of times/month with each paycheck)
I have looked into the Chase Southwest CC but this Sapphire Rewards really sounds fantastic and the fact that I could really use it for so much is very appealing to me.
What would you say is the best reason to go with Sapphire Rewards over the Chase Southwest card? (if its possible please just directly email me your response)
I am looking at more ways to travel to Orlando (up to 3 or 4 times a year) with my family of 6. I obviously missed this option but I’d like more options and ways for flight because that is the only thing holding us back from more visits. Feel free to email me your response.
In your 5/6/24 email you wrote you stayed at a Disney All Star Resort using points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred. Please advise how to use Ultimate Rewards at Disney resorts. Thank you!
I actually used Ultimate Rewards for the other hotel stay on our trip, at the Hyatt Place near Disney Springs. You can use UR for a Disney hotel stay but only by paying for the reservation with your CSP card and then redeeming UR for statement credit for the stay.
The links to the card are not active so I’m unsure what travel card you’re recommending. Are you able to let us know what card it is?
I purchased your guidebook and lighting lane and such an amazing amount of information!! Somehow, I ended up here from the guidebook. We are going to Disney in November and were considering getting the Disney card just to earn points between now and then to see what saving we could get, but after reading over your information I am thinking this card would be a better option. The sign on bonus they offer after $5K purchase in 3 months of 100,000 points, these can be used to put towards our Disney tickets when purchased through undercover? Just making sure I understand, I know we will purchase and then apply the points on our statement credit, but the 100,000 points would they be redeemable for around $1,000 towards our statement?
Thank you Laticia! And you are correct – you can use the 100,000 points for $1,000 in statement credit. It can be used for any purchase(s) so you could buy your tickets from anywhere and get the statement credit. It’s a fantastic deal!