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Disney World is an extremely popular destination … but very expensive for families!
Discover these tips to save on accommodation at Disney World using loyalty program points!
As parents of two young children (2 and 4), Disney World will be one of our next family vacation destinations.
The goal is to save at Disney World on the main travel expense categories:
In this first article, we’ll show you our plan to save at Disney World on hotel with Marriott Bonvoy points. A future article will show you the hotels available with Best Western Rewards. Same thing for airbnb accommodations accessible with points!
For alternative strategies, we suggest you read our article on The Ultimate Guide to Saving with Points, to go to Disney World cheap.
Discover how it is possible thanks to our strategy to drastically reduce the hotel bill!
The Orlando area is well stocked with Marriott Bonvoy hotels.
To view this map, visit our full Marriott Bonvoy hotel page.
Marriott Bonvoy uses an 8-category rate schedule to distinguish its 7,000+ hotels. As of March 2022, these categories are no longer active, but this table gives you an idea of the point requirements.
For example, it will cost between 5,000 points and 100,000 points to get you a free night at one of the 8,000+ hotels owned by Marriott Bonvoy.
There are Marriott Bonvoy hotels in ALL price ranges.
When looking close to the amusement parks:
… we find that hotels cost between 17,500 and 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night.
4 nights with points = the 5th free!
The big advantage of the Marriott Bonvoy program is to offer the fifth night when the first 4 nights were paid withpoints, which saves 20% in points!
For example, for a 5-night stay, the cost per night will be between 14,000 and 40,000 points depending on the hotel.
Here is the complete list of Marriott Bonvoy hotels around the main theme parks and points of interest:
For a family looking to save money at Disney World, it’s important to choose the right hotel. Some Marriott Bonvoy hotels do indeed offer true apartment-style suites with a kitchen, which is very important when travelling with children. This is the case for those brands:
And free breakfast for everyone, regardless of Marriott Bonvoy status. This is the case for those brands:
Therefore, if you truly want to save at Disney World on your hotel and food thanks to the kitchenette AND breakfast, you will need to choose a Residence Inn or a TownePlace Suites.
In our view, the hotels with the best points-to-value ratio around Disney World are the following:
The TownePlace Suites Orlando Theme Parks/Lake Buena Vista is ideally located in Lake Buena Vista, right at the gates of Disney World.
It is also across the street from Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets stores.
When grocery shopping at the nearby Winn-Dixie and Publix supermarkets, do not forget to use a credit card with no foreign currency conversion fees to save 2.5% on every transaction:
The hotel has “studio rooms with 2 bed queens and kitchen” or suites.
The cost per night is 25,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
For 5 nights, it will cost you 100,000 points since the fifth night is free at no additional cost.
Our second choice would be the TownePlace Suites Orlando at SeaWorld® hotel which costs the same points, but is on the SeaWorld side.
Another excellent option is the Fairfield Inn Suites Orlando at Flamingo Crossings Town Center. We tried it during the winter of 2022 and we loved it! Read our review here.
If you have a lot of Marriott Bonvoy points, treat yourself and stay at one of the two Marriott Bonvoy hotels located within Disney World:
These two hotels are Category 6 and therefore cost 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night.
For 5 nights, it will cost you 200,000 points since the fifth night is free! However, a resort fee of USD 35/night is added to the total.
As these are official Disney World hotels, you benefit from a number of advantages when you stay at one of these 2 hotels:
Tip from Caroline T. in the group: If you book one of these two hotels with Marriott points, you must call Disney so they can add the reservation to your Disney profile (MyDisneyExperience). The addition is manual.
Now that we have a defined points target, from 70,000 to 200,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a 5-night stay at Disney World, let’s set out the strategy for accumulating them!
In Canada, there are 2 Marriott Bonvoy credit cards:
Anyone can obtain an American Express business card: any individual can have business income and expenses, and American Express will request no supporting documents.
For one person, it is possible to apply for both cards on the same day: consumer card and small business card.
But it is of course possible to spread out the application over time, in order to carry the required purchases ($1500) during the first 3 months after application in order to unlock the welcome bonus of 50,000 points.
With a couple’s strategy, like Audrey and I use, we each apply for both cards (personal and business), which allows each of us to earn:
Our couple will therefore have earned 224,000 Marriott Bonvoy points by applying for the 4 cards, for only $540 in annual fees!
So a stay at Disney World would be paid for entirely with points, since it only costs between 70,000 and 200,000 points for 5 nights. You could even have “extra” points left over to treat yourself to additional nights / a longer stay!
When applying for a Marriott Bonvoy card, don’t give your spouse’s Marriott membership number!
Each card holder must have his/her own membership number. Once the points are in Marriott Bonvoy, you will call Marriott to transfer them from one account to the other!
Now that each of you has a Marriott Bonvoy points balance, you will need to combine them into a single account to book 5 (or more) consecutive nights!
Marriott Bonvoy allows all members of its loyalty program to transfer points to another member, free of charge, up to 100,000 points per year by calling +1 801 468 4000.
Note: you can transfer points to any Marriott member: spouse, relative, friend, co-worker…
As you’re no doubt aware, accommodation near the Disney World / SeaWorld / Universal Studios theme parks is generally expensive! Here, for a few credit card fees and a budget of $120 to $570, you could save a lot of money on your stay at Disney World and Orlando!
Come discuss this article with many of our facebook group members, and learn their tips for saving money at Disney World!
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