Just like baseball games and Fourth of July fireworks, a family vacation to Disney is a classic American pastime. However, Disney vacations are notoriously pricey, and sticker shock can come along with all that magical whimsy and anticipation. Disney can be done on a budget — but it will never be inexpensive.
There are sometimes deals on Disney dining, tickets and lodging; however, you can save even more by using credit card points to purchase Disney tickets without spending a wallet's worth of cash.
Whether you're going to Disneyland or Disney World, here's a look at all the different ways you can use points to cover your Disney park tickets so your next family vacation will be more affordable.
Disney ticket costs
Several factors affect the cost of a Disney ticket and, therefore, the number of points you'll need to use. These include guest age (kids under 3 are free, but at 10, you're considered an "adult"), the dates and length of your visit, which park(s) you want to visit and whether you want to park hop.
However, one consistent aspect of Disney pricing is that the more days you spend in a Disney park during a trip, the less your per-day cost will be. Looking at the value on a per-day basis, it's clearly in your best interest to fit in as much time at Disney as possible on a single vacation.
Doing so will let you get significantly more bang for your points (or dollars) than taking multiple short Disney trips — unless you're shopping for a Disney annual pass (which isn't a bad strategy if you plan to visit multiple times a year). Single-day, one-park tickets to Disney World range from $109 to $189. However, your per-day cost on a longer Disney trip of up to 10 days can start as low as $62 per day at certain times of the year.
Related: These are the best times to visit Disney World
Park hopping, which involves visiting more than one theme park in a single day, brings the price of a one-day adult Disney World ticket to $187 (plus tax), so you're looking at a real chunk of change ... or points.
How to redeem points for Disney tickets
If you're looking for a magical way to get outsize value when using your points for Disney tickets (as you might when redeeming airline miles for a first-class ticket), we have some bad news. It's generally impossible to get a lucrative return when redeeming points for Disney tickets.
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Instead, the best ways to redeem points for Disney tickets are by redeeming them at a fixed rate or via a cash-back card.
Related: How to rent Disney Vacation Club points and save hundreds of dollars on your vacation
That said, the best use for your points is the one that makes you happy. If Disney is your happy place, your points can unlock the gates for your visit.
Redeem Bilt Points for Disney tickets
Bilt Rewards is one of the best options for securing tickets to Disney.
With Bilt Rewards and the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees), you can earn points that be redeemed for Disney tickets directly in the activities section of the Bilt travel portal at a rate of 1.25 cents per point. This is a better return per point than most of the other options we'll go through. Cardholders must use the card five times each statement period to earn points (see rewards and benefits).
While there are more valuable ways to redeem Bilt points with transfer partners, using Bilt Rewards points for Disney tickets is pretty solid. Also, if you take advantage of Bilt's monthly Rent Day offers, you can double your earnings on things like dining and give your points balance a boost.
In the example above, Bilt's travel booking site charges 11,570 points, or $144.62, for a one-day ticket to the Magic Kingdom on Aug. 20, while Disney charges $137.39 directly. Bilt's price includes a 5% convenience fee, so you will pay more in that case to use your points, but it's still one of the better uses of points for Disney tickets.
TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor.
Redeem Chase points for Disney tickets
Three-day and longer Walt Disney World tickets can occasionally be found in the Chase Travel℠ portal. We spotted them as recently as early 2024, though they've since magically disappeared from the Chase site as of this update.
When available, you can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for Disney tickets, cruises, resorts and vacation packages at 1.25 cents each if you hold a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or 1.5 cents each if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve®. As is the case with Bilt, prices are slightly higher than if you just purchase directly from Disney.
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can use the card's $300 annual travel credit toward Disney tickets as long as it codes as a travel charge. Since Disney tickets don't normally register as a travel charge, consider buying your tickets from a certified third-party seller like Undercover Tourist. As a bonus, some of the tickets available via Undercover Tourist cost a bit less than buying directly with Disney (though some tickets for shorter trips are more expensive).
Related: The best credit cards for your Disney vacation
Redeem travel points and miles for Disney tickets — with a catch
Like Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can transfer Capital One miles from the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card to hotel and airline partners. However, you can also redeem Capital One miles at a fixed rate of 1 cent each toward travel purchases made using the card.
The catch with this redemption method is that Disney tickets purchased directly from Disney don't typically code as a travel charge if purchased by themselves. As is the case with Chase, Disney tickets typically don't code as travel (unless you purchase a larger hotel-and-ticket vacation package). You'll want them to code that way if you want to offset costs by redeeming Capital One miles, so your best bet is to purchase your admission from a third-party site like Undercover Tourist.
If you do buy your tickets with a method that labels your purchase as a travel charge, you could use the 75,000-mile welcome bonus that you can earn after spending $4,000 on the Venture Rewards card in the first three months of having the card as $750 toward a Disney trip.
Related: The best Disney World hotels for your stay
Redeem flexible points against the charge
With some of the other credit card programs, the best you can do is earn cash-back rewards that could be used to offset the cost of Disney tickets — or anything else for that matter.
For example, Bank of America Preferred Rewards® points, which can be earned from the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card, are worth 1 cent each. This card awards up to 2.625 points per dollar spent on non-bonus transactions and 3.5 points per dollar spent on travel and dining purchases if you've unlocked the Diamond tier of the Preferred Rewards program (which is based on the total amount of assets you have deposited with Bank of America and/or Merrill accounts).
If you are in that preferred earnings tier, it's just about the most rewarding cash-back card on the market.
The welcome bonus is now 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 90 days of account opening. That has a $600 cash equivalent value that you could use to give yourself a statement credit, essentially offsetting the cost of the Disney tickets charged to that card.
What about the Disney Visa Card?
It's logical to wonder why, 1,000 words into the story, the namesake Disney® Visa® Card has yet to appear if you want to use points for a Disney vacation.
There are technically two versions of the Disney Visa. The no-annual-fee Disney Visa earns a simple 1% back on all card purchases in the form of Disney Rewards Dollars you can use at Disney.
Then there's the Disney® Premier Visa® Card, which has a $49 annual fee. It earns 5% back on card purchases made directly at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com and ESPNPlus.com, 2% back on purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and most domestic Disney locations, and 1% back everywhere else.
In both cases, the Disney Rewards Dollars you earn can be used toward expenses at the Disney parks, on a Disney cruise, etc. This means that it's not a bad option if you want to rack up rewards for a Disney trip — especially if you lock in a good sign-up bonus, which we've seen as high as $400 on the Disney Visa Premier.
There are some cool perks and discounts that come with the cards, but they aren't the absolute best options for maximizing your ongoing spending to earn a future Disney vacation.
Related: Are the Disney Visa credit cards worth it?
Bottom line
It takes time and a concerted effort to build up enough points for a family's worth of Disney tickets. However, strategically using one or more big credit card sign-up bonuses can help turn a dream Disney trip into a more wallet-friendly reality.
For example, getting $750 in value toward your trip from the current bonus on the Capital One Venture Rewards Card and another $600 from the current welcome bonus on the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card can give you a nice head start if you don't want to pay cash for Disney tickets.
If you have more time to stockpile points, then the Bilt Mastercard is a great option to have in your wallet since Bilt Rewards points are worth 1.25 cents each for Disney tickets. However, it currently doesn't have a welcome bonus for new cardholders.
Getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve and earning its 75,000-point welcome bonus (after you spend $4,000 in the first three months) could get you close to two three-day adult tickets as long as they are available in the Chase Travel portal.
While mathematically there are more economical applications for reward points than Disney ticket purchases, the best use of points is always the one that makes your travel dreams come true. So, if Disney is what you want for a future points-fueled trip, you can make that dream come true.
Related reading:
- Best Disneyland hotels in and near the park
- Tips for visiting Disney World: 19 ways to save money and have more fun
- TPG goes behind the scenes as Disney unveils $60 billion toward future of theme parks
- Disney Premier Visa Card review: Only for Disney superfans
See Bilt Mastercard rates and fees here.
See Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits here.
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
