Disney For Free: Learn the Travel Hacker’s Secrets the Happiest Place on Earth

I love to travel.

I will save money in other areas of my life so I can spend more on travel. And one of my favorite places is Walt Disney World because it lets me be a kid again. There really isn't anywhere else in the world that can give you that.

It comes at a cost though. Disney isn't cheap. Park tickets cost a hundred bucks a day, their premium hotels cost a fortune per night, and that's before you fly yourself down there. There are ways you can save here or there, but on the whole it's going to be an expensive vacation.

Bu everyone knows it going in. And we don't care.

Our children are 4 and 2 and for the longest time our son loved Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Every day he wanted to see what the gang was up to (probably didn't help that we didn't let him watch all that often! Absence makes the heart grow fonder!). He's since moved onto other shows like Octonauts but Mickey still holds a special place in his little heart. Even our youngest is a fan … but of Minnie. She carries around a little purple Minnie Mouse around the house some days.

Disney is easy. Disney is convenient. They package everything up together and they're really good at making it seamless. They win because even though you're spending a mortgage payment on the trip, you aren't dissatisfied. You don't leave the parks unhappy. That's why everyone keeps going back!
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So here's the thing… the last time we went was before we had kids. Now, we want to wait until our kids are old enough to enjoy it, remember some of it, and not have to take naps so they can really get the whole experience. We figure we're probably a year or so away from making the trip…

… which puts us in a good position to start stockpiling reward points we'll need to get that trip for as close to free as possible!

I've been doing a lot of studying and research to find the best combination of offers. I've settled on six cards (3 each for me and my wife) with $3600+ in bonuses. The three cards are from different issuers, so you won't run into any problems with the issuers, and they're well known issuers.

Now, my step-by-step guide to getting to Disney as cheaply as possible.

Three Pieces to the Puzzle

The high price of a Walt Disney World vacation comes down to three major expenses:

• Walt Disney World Park Tickets
• Walt Disney World Lodging/Hotels
• Airfare to Orlando

If you solve the puzzle for these, it can go a long way to keeping your budget reasonable. The three are mutually exclusive too, you can get your lodging on points but pay for airfare with existing points. Or you can get the airfare on points and get lodging with the points you already have – mixing and matching is fine. The three are treated separately and we will tackle each one to get you to Disney as cheaply as possible.

Sadly, everything else is up to you. Food, souvenirs, trinkets, and the like – to each their own. You can use the savings from your lodging (we show you how to stay at WDW's best hotels for free!) to go all out on Mickey ears! 🙂

Free WDW Park Tickets

There is no way to get the tickets for free.

Sadface. 🙁

A quick check of prices tells me that it would cost us $1,437.80 for four 4-day tickets (2x ages 10+, 2x ages 3-9) on Undercover Tourist, which counts as a “travel expense” for credit card purposes (and that's slightly cheaper than direct from Disney). The fact that it's a travel expense will become important later because the card we recommend offers statement credit only against travel expenses.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card gives you 100,000 miles when you spend $20,000 on purchases within the first 12 months of opening the account, or still earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. You also get with a $95 annual fee.

With the free miles, you can significantly cut the cost of transportation depending on how many people are traveling. If you're near an airport that has an airline that flies to Orlando direct and inexpensively, you're in pretty good shape.

Learn more about this card

Get two cards, one for me and one for my wife, and we now have $920 in statement credits. (you also get 5% of your redemption back, so another $23 afterwards)

Once you apply for the cards, buy your tickets with the card and apply the statement credit once you've hit the spending requirement. You will want to spread the buying across cards so you use up the entire statement credit.

Free WDW Lodging

This is going to be so easy it'll blow your mind.

We always love staying at a Disney resort because of convenience. You get the full immersive Disney experience, free transportation to and from the park, and… this cannot be overlooked, complimentary delivery of your purchases back to your room. All that free transportation also means no rental car… which is a nice expense not to have!

Oh, and did I mention that by staying on resort, you get extra “Magic Hours” in the park? The foot traffic drops tremendously during those times since all the resort guests are now spread across all the parks (maybe not the Animal Kingdom nearly as much). The last time we did this, we had the run of the park and went on certain rides over and over again without waitingx. 🙂

OK, I promised easy, so here it is. The Disney Swan is a Westin Hotel and Disney Dolphin is a Sheraton Hotel, which means they're both part of the Starwood Hotels. They're two of the best hotels in all of Walt Disney World with rates starting at $400 a night… if you can get them.

Here's the play – Get the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express, which gives you 25,000 bonus Starpoints after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. That's 28,000 Starpoints given the bonus and the points on the spending.

Both hotels are Category 4 Starwood hotels, which means a night will cost you 10,000 Starpoints per night BUT you get a Fifth Night Free if you book 4 nights.

So 5 nights but you spend just 40,000 Starpoints at one of the most ridiculously luxurious hotels in all of Walt Disney World. (I've used the bathrooms in the lobby and the hand towels were nicer than my room towels at Port Orleans Riverside!)

One card gets you 28,000 Starpoints, which isn't enough, so you need to get two cards (one for me, one for my lovely wife) for a total of 56,000 Starpoints. Then, transfer the Starpoints onto one account and book through the reward redemption page.

Boom! 5 nights on points alone is worth a cool $1500 — plus you'll have 16,000 Starpoints left over to use on something else.

Learn More about this

A non-WDW Resort Hotel… Sheraton Lake Buena Vista

If you don't care about staying on WDW property, still get the Starpoints but stay at the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista (12205 S Apopka Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32836). It's a great alternative because it's:

• Only 4,000 Starpoints a night,
• It's 0.6 miles from the front door of Walt Disney World Resort,
• AND they offer a free shuttle.

For this one, you only need one card. Get the 28,000 bonus Starpoints from one card and you can stay there for an entire week!

Flights to Orlando

The play is to open the rewards credit card for your favorite airline to get the bonus points/miles to get free airfare.

Southwest: We live on the East Coast and both BWI Airport and Orlando International Airport are major Southwest hubs, so we're going to fly Southwest using points we've accrued from Southwest promotions and our Companion Pass. Otherwise, we'd open a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, snag the bonus points for both my wife and myself, and use those to book the flights.

Learn more about this card and others

If you are airline agnostic, get a general rewards card that will give you rewards across the board. The >Chase Sapphire Preferred Card will give you Chase Ultimate Rewards which you can use directly on their site or with United, Southwest, or British Airways. Their current offer is 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first three months – grand total it's worth $750 in travel when booked through the Chase portal. (or check out the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for the next level)

Learn more about this card and others

Again, two cards and now you have $1250 in value to spend either through the Chase Ultimate Rewards site or with partners.

Total Savings: $3,670

The total savings comes out to $3,670 plus some leftover rewards you can use elsewhere, like at least a night in a Starwood Category 4 hotel. All this will have you open six credit cards, three for you and three for your significant other, which is a pretty good return of nearly $600 per card opened.

To help you keep track of the bonuses, I've created this free 1-page printable table (or as a Word Document you can edit).

We’ve preloaded each category with the recommended card plus extra for you to put alternatives. Bonus miles is the promotional bonus you earn by hitting the spending amount by the spending deadline. The approval date is the date you were issued the card and that’s when the promotional spending clock starts. All are left blank because promotions change so put in the number when you apply.

What to Watch Out For

Every reward card mentioned here has an annual fee. All of them are waived for the first year though, so remember these cards and decide if you want to keep using them after the reward period.

Opening three credit cards in a short time will have a minor negative impact your credit score. Remember your credit score is a measure of credit risk and someone who opens up three credit cards is riskier than someone who didn't. If you plan on needing a loan in the next 6-12 months, you may not want to do this.

You can pick and choose which parts of this blueprint to execute. If you opened all of the cards on the same day, you'd have to meet the spending requirements within a short 90-120 day window. If you cannot do this, spread the applications out throughout the year. You do not want to open a card and fail to meet the bonus requirements. My best advice is to spread out your applications across a year and plan your spending accordingly.

Good luck!

Photo Source: Sam Howzit, with modifications