If you're in the points and miles travel rewards game, you must know how to maximize your rewards on your next vacation to Walt Disney World. While the points redemption opportunities aren't always golden, the opportunity to maximize your earnings on the high costs of your trip shouldn't be squandered. The last-minute panic about which card to use can lead to mistakes. My go-to for the unknown is to use my highest general spend card, but we can do better than that with a little prior knowledge.
There are 3 ways to maximize rewards for your Disney vacation. You can choose one or any combination to cover your trip expenses. If you want to skip to one of the ways, click on the text. Note: I will not be discussing hotel and airline-specific cards. The focus will be on bank cards with transferrable rewards.
1. Go for a sign-on bonus with a new card.
You could open a new card and use the cost of your trip to earn a sign-on bonus. If you charge all your expenses for shopping and dining to your Disney hotel room, everything will be coded as travel. While any sign-on bonus multiplier will likely beat the top earning cards with 3X for travel or 4X for dining, you can double down and open a card that earns a higher multiplier on travel. The table below includes cards with elevated rewards on travel purchases outside the credit card travel portals. The best card to earn a sign-on bonus for travel depends on both the current sign-on bonus and the rewards in your purchase category (travel). You would add the sign-on bonus multiplier and spend category for each card you're considering to decide which is the best for this particular spend, assuming that your vacation is the same cost as the sub.
For example, let's look at the current offers for Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) and American Express Gold (AEG).
CSR offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points for a $4,000 spend in 3 months for a 15X return. 60,000 divided by 4,000 = 15. Next, we take the 3X spend CSR has on travel and add that to the 15X on SUB for a total of 18X on that $4,000.
AEG offers a sign-up bonus of 90,000 points for a $4,000 spend in 6 months for a 22.5X. 90,000 divided by 4,000 = 22.5. Next, we add the 1X general spend multiplier for AEG as this card has no elevated spend on travel. 23.5X return on $4,000 spent. If our trip costs $4,000, the American Express Card wins.
However, what happens if the trip costs more? Let's say the total cost of the trip is $6,000. Now, you could ask for the bill to be split between cards and not address the issue of using a single card for check-out. If you put the total on a single card, that would be better.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
For the first $4,000, we would get the 18X equalling 72,000 points.
For the remaining $2,000, we would get the 3X equalling 6,000 points.
The total points earned would be 78,000.
American Express Gold
For the first $4,000, we would get the 23.5X equalling 94,000 points.
For the remaining $2,000, we would get 1X equalling 2,000 points.
The total points earned would be 96,000.
In this scenario, the AEG wins. The elevated rewards for travel spending for CSR were not enough to offset the higher sign-on bonus from American Express. Now, if you go through the trouble, you could head to the front desk and ask the bill to be split for the remaining $2,000 if you had a card that earns more than 1X for travel or general spending. I would not spend the extra time to do this, as I value my time more.
Card | Travel Rewards | Annual Fee |
Chase Ink Business Preferred | 3X | $95 |
Citi Premier | 3X | $95 |
American Express Green | 3X | $150 |
Chase Sapphire Reserve | 3X | $550 |
Chase Sapphire Preferred | 2X | $95 |
| General Spend | |
American Express Blue Business Plus | 2X | $0 |
Citi Double Cash * | 2X | $0 |
Capital One Venture Rewards | 2X | $95 |
Capital One Spark Business 2X Miles | 2X | $295 |
Capital One Venture X Rewards | 2X | $395 |
Capital One Venture X Business | 2X | $395 |
Chase Ink Business Unlimited * | 1.5X | $0 |
Chase Freedom Unlimited * | 1.5X | $0 |
Capital One Spark Business 1.5X Miles | 1.5X | $0 |
Capital One Venture One Rewards | 1.25X | $0 |
* These cards only earn travel rewards when you have another card to transfer points to. For Chase, you must have either a Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, or Chase Ink Business Preferred card. For Citi Bank, you must have a Citi Premier Card.
2. The Disney Gift Card Play
You might want to use Disney Gifts Cards to pay for all or parts of your trip to save money or maximize rewards earned. If you're lucky, you may be able to do both.
The way to use gift cards to save money on your Disney vacation is to purchase the gift cards at a discount. Where can you buy Disney Gift Cards at a discount?
Target - 5% off when purchased with Target RedCard
Sam's Club - 4% off (membership required)
BJs - 3% off (membership required)
The way to use gift cards to earn more reward points is to purchase the gift cards at a higher rewards multiplier than you would get in the same spending category without a gift card. If you're talking about the hotel or charges to your hotel room, you need to beat the top travel multiplier card in your wallet. The cards with the highest travel rewards have 3X rewards on travel spend. These cards include the Chase Ink Business Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Green, and Citi Premier Cards. You'll need to make 4X or higher on the spend category at the store you purchase the gift cards from to add value to purchasing gift cards. Here are the options.
Card | Reward Multiplier | Category |
Chase Ink Business Cash* | 5X | office supply |
Chase Freedom Flex* | 5X | quarterly categories up to $1500 |
American Express Gold Card | 4X | grocery |
If you don't have one of the 3X travel cards, but you have one of the cards in the table above, you can use that card for your gift card purchases. While Chase Sapphire Preferred is considered a travel rewards card, it only gives 2X spend on travel. I don't consider it a great travel rewards card, as you can get a card that gives you 2X on all your spending. If your highest multiplier for travel or general spending is 2X, you can use one of the cards below for 3X on gift cards purchased at the right stores.
Card | Reward Multiplier | Category |
Chase Freedom Flex* | 3X | drugstores |
Chase Freedom Unlimited* | 3X | drugstores |
Citi Premier | 3X | grocery |
Which one should you do? Get the gift cards for a discount, or go for the rewards. Can I do both? Not at Target. Target offers the largest discount but requires you to use their credit or debit card for the discount. First, you need to understand that 1X equals 1%. Therefore, 5% equals 5X on the earning side. However, it isn't straightforward, as you have to guess what value you'll get when you redeem your rewards points. If you decide to redeem your points for a value of 2 cents per point or better, you can figure out your predicted value from purchasing at Target for 5% off versus purchasing gift cards at an office supply store for 5X rewards. If your point redemption value is 2 cents per point, you can multiply the 5X reward by 2 cents per point and see that you'd get a 10% value back with the gift card purchase. Since 10% is better than 5%, you're better off purchasing gift cards from an office supply store for 5X than getting the 5% discount at Target. If you redeem your points for 1 cpp, you take 5X multiplied by 1 cpp equaling 5% value back. In this case, both purchases have equal value. If you don't have a card with 5X for store gift cards, multiply your gift card store earning X by your estimated redemption in CCP. Compare this with the store % discount to decide which is better.
You can get a discount and earn rewards at Sam's Club. Sam's Club allows members to use any major credit card for purchases. You can use your rewards-earning cards to buy gift cards. Remember, Sam's Club is a wholesale club and does not code as grocery. Your best option will likely be your top general spend rewards card. However, make sure you check for your card's current offers. Chase Freedom Flex has 5X at wholesale clubs this quarter, which is rare. If you consider a 4% discount at Sam's Club purchased with a 2X general spend card and a 2 cpp redemption, you take 2X multiplied by 2 cpp for 4% and add the 4% Sam's discount for an 8% value back on the purchase. If you used your $1,500 quarterly bonus on CFF on Disney Gift Cards at Sam's Club, you'd get a total value of 14% on that purchase back (assuming 2 cpp redemption). It's an amazing value but limited by the $1500 maximum for the quarter.
3. Optimize the rewards with the cards in your wallet
You can make the most of the cards you already have by knowing the spend category for different purchases at Disney. Type of purchase followed by (Merchant Category).
Disney Hotels (Travel)
Disney Tickets (Entertainment)
Disney Hotel & Tickets Package (Travel)
Disney Cruise Line (Travel)
Adventures by Disney (Travel)
Disney VIP Tour (General)
Disney Dining (mostly coded as Travel)
As some food and beverage purchases have been reported to code incorrectly, you can try to look up the merchant category at https://awardwallet.com/en/merchants.
If unsure, you can always charge it to your room to code as Travel.
Disney Shops (General)
Shops and Dining purchases charged to your Disney hotel room (Travel)
Note: You may want to consider using a Disney credit or debit card for a 10% discount on dining and shopping. For more details, read this blog post: https://www.adventuresbymamadoc.com/post/disney-visa-sweet-spot.
DVC contract from Disney (Travel)
Renting DVC from DVC rental stores like David's or DVC Rental Store (Travel)
Hotels purchased with a hotel chain (Travel)
Hotels purchased on third-party sites like Costco, Priceline, Expedia, etc. (Travel)
Tickets purchased on third-party sites like Undercover Tourist (Travel)
Transportation to and from the airport (Travel)
There are 3 spending categories for your trip: Travel, Dining, and General Spend. To get the most value back, you only need to know you're top earning card for these 3 categories.
Travel Spend
You should use your 3X travel card. As mentioned earlier, the cards that earn 3X on travel are the Chase Ink Business Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Green, and Citi Premier Card. If you don't have one of these 3X travel cards, the next best option will be a 2X travel or 2X general spend card. The 2X travel card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The 2X general spend cards are the American Express Blue Business Plus, Citi Double Cash, Capital One Venture X Rewards, Capital One Venture Rewards, and Capital One Spark 2X Miles Business. If you don't have a 2X card, use your 1.5X general spend card.
Flights may be the exception. If you purchase flights directly from the airline and have an American Express Platinum card, you can earn 5X on the purchase. If you have an American Express Gold Business card and make flights one of your top 2 spend categories, you can earn 4X on the purchase.
Dining
If you have an American Express Gold Card, you'll earn 4X on purchases that code as dining. If you have an American Express Gold Business Card and make dining one of your top 2 spend categories, you can earn 4X on purchases that code as dining as well. If you don't have these cards or are unsure if the purchase will code on dining, you're better off charging the purchase to your room. When you checkout and pay the hotel bill, everything charged to the room will also be coded as 3X travel! If you don't have a 3X travel card, you might have a 3X dining card. The cards with 3X on dining are Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited, but you'll need to have another card to use your earnings as travel rewards. You'd need the Chase Sapphire Reverse, Chase Sapphire Preferred, or Chase Ink Business Preferred. The CSR and CIBP are 3X travel, so you'd be better off charging to the room. The Chase Saphire Preferred earns only 2X travel, so you should consider the 3X dining cards.
There are reports of certain food and drinks purchased at Disney not coded as dining. The purchase will likely be coded as dining if you are at a table service restaurant. While most quick-service locations will code as dining, too, this is where the discrepancies are being reported. AwardWallet has a merchant category lookup tool, which I use to look up businesses when unsure. https://awardwallet.com/en/merchants. I recommend bookmarking the site.
General Spend
General spending encompasses all the spending at Disney not coded as travel or dining. The vast majority is likely to be shopping. In this instance, if you have a 3X travel card, charging you're shopping to the room is your best bet. If you have a 2X travel card and no 2X general spend card, charging to the room wins again. Both options are equal if you have a 2X travel card and a 2X general spend card.
Chase Disney Credit or Debit Card
Another note to consider regarding getting the most value from your vacation purchase. Disney has two credit cards and a debit card, which offer 10% off most dining and shopping over $50. You must use your Disney credit or debit card for the purchase to receive the discount. You should consider whether using the Disney card for the 10% discount or your travel rewards card offers you the most value. You can find my blog post with more details on this here. If you already receive the same or higher discount as an Annual Passholder or Disney Vacation Club Membership, you can get the discount and use your best rewards card. This issue doesn't apply to you.
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