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Our Budget Trip to Disney World

In April 2024, my kids, parents, and I embarked on a Disney World vacation and had the best time. Disney magic is real. I'm excited to share the journey of gaining enough credit card points for our Disney vacation.

My goal for this Disney trip was to use the least amount of cash possible, for this trip to the Disney parks I was able to get our hotel, airfare, and 7-day Park Hopper Plus tickets for 3 people for a total of $1,414. The best part of this trip was being able to enjoy this trip without breaking the bank on travel expenses. I even had gift cards with enough saved up during the year to cover all of our sit-down means (more on Disney Gift Cards later).

Planning and Preparation for a Magical Adventure

Embarking on a trip to Disney World is a dream come true for many, but the cost can often be a challenge. I didn’t have $10,000, or even $4,000, to spend on this trip, so I focused on sticking to a budget by utilizing travel reward points for most of the pre-arrival expenses. Our airfare was covered using Jet Blue points, our stay at the Marriott Imperial Palms Villas was booked with Marriott reward points, and I used American Express points to cover part of our park tickets.

We chose not to stay at a Disney Resort Hotel so that we could use points for our accommodation and enjoy the convenience of a full kitchen to save money on food. There are plenty of excellent non-Disney hotels in the area, and getting to the parks was incredibly easy. We were in the Magic Kingdom parking lot within 15 minutes of leaving our hotel room.

Traveling with my parents and children, the 3-bedroom villa at the Marriott Imperial Palms Villas was the perfect choice. It provided ample space, including a large living area, a full kitchen, and two full bathrooms—ideal for a family trip.

Marriott Imperial Palms Villas with Marriott Points

The Marriott Imperial Palms Villas isn’t always available for points redemptions, so it took some persistence and frequent checks on the Marriott app to secure this reservation. I booked a 3-bedroom villa for 8 nights, using a combination of 2 free night awards and 147,400 points.

To accumulate enough Marriott Bonvoy points ahead of the trip, my spouse applied for the American Express Bevy card, which offers a sign-up bonus of 155,000 Marriott points. The Bevy card also provides a free night certificate after spending $15,000 in a calendar year.

In addition, I hold both the American Express Marriott Brilliant card and the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card, each of which earns a free night certificate annually. This made redeeming points for the villa relatively simple.

Since my spouse wasn’t joining me on this trip, I transferred 100,000 points from his Marriott account (the maximum allowed per year) to mine. I also had Marriott points from the sign-up bonus earned on the Amex Brilliant card, so we had enough points and free night certificates for this reservation. Remember to keep in mind that Marriott offers the 5th night free when booking completely on points and certificates.

Staying at Marriott Imperial Palms Villas saved us money in several ways. First off the hotel does not charge a resort fee if using points for your stay, also the hotel does not charge for parking which is huge! Check out our review of the Marriott Imperial Palms Villas.

While the hotel does not offer free breakfast like some other off-property hotels, it does have a full kitchen, which allows us to stock up at the grocery store on breakfast and snack items. As a two-fold bonus (healthy and saving money), I brought some food storage containers with us from home, and I was able to pack a container of fruit for each person every day we hit the theme parks.

Free Disney World Tickets Using Amex Points

I used American Express membership rewards to cover a large portion of our Disney World Park Tickets. I had earned points from the sign-up bonus from my American Express Gold card and my person 2’s sign-up bonus to cover a portion of our Disney tickets. We decided on 7-day Park Hopper Plus tickets, which included access to Disney's water parks. Using the rewards earned on my Gold card, I could pay for 2 out of 3 tickets.

It's important to note that ticket prices can vary based on several factors, including the length of your stay, the time of year, and whether you choose add-ons like the Park Hopper option. I purchased our tickets through Undercover Tourist, which allows me to pay via PayPal at checkout and use my Amex rewards points.

While this isn’t the best redemption rate for Amex points, it worked well for us as it helped significantly reduce the overall cost of the trip.

By using travel reward points, my total cost was $1,414 for 3 round trip tickets from NY to Orlando, an 8-night stay at the Marriott Imperial Palms Villas, and 7 park day Hopper Tickets Plus tickets for 3 people. $1,414 was much more affordable for us. Had I not used points, our cost would have been $6,363. Another option is to use Expedia to purchase tickets and use the same pay via Paypal at checkout.

Airfare to Disney World On Points

There are so many options to use airline miles to Orlando as many airlines fly to MCO, most of which have a co-branded credit card. I like Jet Blue, which currently has a welcome offer of 50,000 Jet Blue points as a sign-up bonus. This sign-up offer alone is more than enough points for 3 round trip tickets from our hometown to MCO. Airfare will vary depending on where you are flying from and your travel dates.

There are many other options for free airfare such as general travel credit card rewards like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or one of the many Chase cards associated with Chase Ultimate Rewards.

With general travel rewards credit cards, you can transfer credit card reward points to partner airlines (varies depending on the card issuer) to book a free flight. Some cards also allow you a statement credit towards your ticket purchase, if you did not use points at booking.

Annual Fees, Bonus Points, and Gift Cards

While some of these cards have an annual fee, they are often offset by perks such as free night awards, bonus points, hotel chain status, and statement credits for travel purchases. Some cards also offer bonus points for certain store categories such as grocery stores, restaurants, or gas stations.

For example, the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless offers 4x points for every $1 on the first $15,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery store and dining purchases.

The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless also offers a free night certificate after spending $15,000 on the card in a calendar year. While you may not have a household budget of $15,000 just for grocery stores and restaurants, you can buy gift cards at grocery stores for other stores you frequent.... including Disney Gift Cards. Disney gift cards can be used for Disney tickets, and at restaurants and stores at Walt Disney World.

Other stores/ online retailers you frequent likely have gift cards at your grocery store such as Amazon, Home Depot, etc. This is the best way to get additional points for stores you frequent that are not in a bonus category.

In this example, once you have met the $15,000 in spending on this card, move on to the next card. More on these travel points theories to come soon. While new credit cards are the best way to get extra points from welcome bonuses, utilizing bonus categories is a great way to maximize the cards you already have.

Focusing on gaining travel points can make your next trip to the most magical place a reality that won't break the bank. My story shows that for $1,414 we had a magical 8-night/7-park day trip to Disney World.

How I Used Points To Score A Disney Trip for $1,414