United States: Disney World with points | Testimonial

Regarding Disney, there is a lot of theory, such as the articles shared on milesopedia on the matter:

• The points hunter’s strategy for Disney
• Save on the hotel at Walt Disney World
• Save at Walt Disney World on admissions & purchases

But what speaks for itself is the practice! We had already shared Chantal’s story about using AIR MILES miles.

Here is Roger’s testimonial about a trip to Disney for 2 adults and 2 children.

There were so many possible combinations to achieve our goal of going to Disney at the lowest possible cost, that we decided to take one route and adjust along the way.

The objective was to cover:

• Airline tickets
• 5 day passes
• Accommodation on site for 5 nights

Note that earning some 20,000 AIR MILES miles and NBC Rewards points over the past 2 years was at the heart of our strategy. We had also planned for $300 CAD in meals per day, but that expense is not part of this game plan.

Here is an account of the final use we made of our points.

Definitely the easiest and most straightforward strategy, earning Marriott Bonvoy points with bonuses from 3 credit cards:

• Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express^® Cards for both adults
• A Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express^® Card.

We booked a room at the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel for 5 nights with the fifth night free.

The Walt Disney World Swan Hotel is a Disney-affiliated Marriott hotel that allows access to Magic Hours. It is a 15 minute walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

Excluding the cost of the 3 credit cards fees, I got a value of $0.016 per Marriott Bonvoy point. It took me 3 months to earn the points. BLC points will be applied to resort fees and other travel expenses.

Editor’s note: to get the welcome bonus for each card, you must spend $1,500 in the first 3 months.

As Roger says, it’s a simple and effective strategy. Here, Roger has chosen to stay inside the park. However, it is also possible to stay outside the park: there are many Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

To learn more about this method, check out our strategy for saving on Disney hotels.

Here is the current offer for the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express^® Card:

The initial plan was to cover the airfare with NBC Rewards points earned over the past 2 years with the National Bank World Elite Mastercard.

We expected to pay for about 3 out of 4 tickets. But it turned out to be much more cost effective to use AIR MILES Dream Miles for flights!

With the companion ticket (a promotion that is no longer available) obtained by the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard, we were reimbursed 3,230 AIR MILES Dream Miles. Adding the 2 credits of 750 AIR MILES Dreams miles redeemed by our AIR MILES^MD* American Express^MD Platinum Credit Cards, we were able to pay directly for a park pass (see goal 3)!

Excluding the cost of the two AIR MILES^MD* American Express^MD Platinum Credit Cards fees, including the companion ticket, I got a value of $0.24 per AIR MILES DREAM mile.

We have subscribed to the following cards:

• AIR MILES^MD* American Express^MD Platinum Credit Card (each)
• BMO^® AIR MILES^® World Elite^®* Mastercard^®* (each)
• BMO^® AIR MILES^® Business Mastercard^®*

To earn the points, it took us 1 year.

Editor’s note: the cost of the AIR MILES^MD* American Express^MD Platinum Credit Card fee is now $120.

The BMO^® AIR MILES^® World Elite^®* Mastercard^®* companion ticket was offered as part of a promotion that took place in late 2018 / early 2019. This is not a constant bonus of the card.

As for the credit offered by the AIR MILES^MD* American Express^MD Platinum Credit Card, this is a new annual benefit offered by this card ! More information here.

Here, Roger cleverly took advantage of 2 bonuses and adapted his strategy along the way. You should consider doing like Roger by calculating if it is more interesting to use such or such type of points!

To learn more about this method, check out our strategy for saving on Disney hotels.

Here’s the current BMO^® AIR MILES^® World Elite^®* Mastercard^®* offer:

Conversely, we were thinking of using AIR MILES Dreams miles to pay for Disney tickets.

In the end, we used a combination of points to cover the $1,720 needed, taking advantage of the 25% discount for Canadians.

So we used:

• AIR MILES Dream Miles,
• AIR MILES Silver miles (purchase $50 Disney gift cards for 425 Silver miles) ** this strategy is no longer available
• reward points

We do not consider our credit cards fees in the calculation since the fees were not paid specifically for this trip.

I got a value of about $0.01 per point.

We used the points and miles from:

• AIR MILES^MD* American Express^MD Platinum Credit Card (each)
• BMO^® AIR MILES^® World Elite^®* Mastercard^®* (each)
• BMO^® AIR MILES^® Business Mastercard^®*
• Laurentian Bank Visa Infinite Card
• The National Bank’s World Elite Mastercard^®

To earn the points, it took us 1 to 2 years via our expenses.

As Roger wisely pointed out, you could also combine points earned on your everyday spending, such as those he had with the National Bank World Elite Mastercard, which is currently available – and which also offers travel benefits:

In summary, we reached our goals for a total of about $550, essentially the cost of the credit card fees ($510).

Everything is now booked:

• 5 nights directly on the Disney site
• 4 direct flight tickets Montreal-Orlando at excellent times!
• 4 Disney passes for 5 days

We would like to thank the milesopedia community, and its founder in particular, for allowing us to develop this strategy. Hopefully we can inspire some of you!