Disney Visa allure

[TraderStitch]

I've done a search and can't really find something specific about the Disney Visa that pertains to me as a DVC owner so I'll throw it out there and see what comes up.

My question is, why do so many people love the Disney Visa card? I have friends that swear by it; however, when I crunch the numbers I'm getting better over all returns spread across three of my heavy use cards: Cap One Savor Card, Citi Custom Cash, and WF Active Cash cards. Sure only using the Disney Visa would streamline everything versus using more cards equals better returns, but I'm just not seeing the value.

Current setup yields roughly $1100 /yr which we use on vacation vs hypothetical $540 on the Disney Visa. The $1100 doesn't pay for all our meals and merch, but makes a decent dent.

As a DVC owner, am I missing something here or what? Aside from simplicity of one card for everything why do so many folks have this card?

 

[Mle8308]

I have the free version for the room discounts offered to Disney Visa subscribers. They are often the same as the public discounts (though not always) but they are offered to card holders first, so better room selection. You only have to pay the deposit with the card, you can switch to a better cash back card for the balance. If you are DVC, that probably isn't a benefit. I would not pay for the premium version of the card, and as you say, there are many more cards out there with better cash back offers. Some also like that you can "finance" a Disney trip, they don't charge interest for 6 months when you pay with the card. There are a few discounts for merchandise and food, about 10%. So for people who aren't DVC or AP's, that can help.

 

[MartyParty]

I've done a search and can't really find something specific about the Disney Visa that pertains to me as a DVC owner so I'll throw it out there and see what comes up.

My question is, why do so many people love the Disney Visa card? I have friends that swear by it; however, when I crunch the numbers I'm getting better over all returns spread across three of my heavy use cards: Cap One Savor Card, Citi Custom Cash, and WF Active Cash cards. Sure only using the Disney Visa would streamline everything versus using more cards equals better returns, but I'm just not seeing the value.

Current setup yields roughly $1100 /yr which we use on vacation vs hypothetical $540 on the Disney Visa. The $1100 doesn't pay for all our meals and merch, but makes a decent dent.

As a DVC owner, am I missing something here or what? Aside from simplicity of one card for everything why do so many folks have this card?

Glad you've posted this. Been in the back of my mind. I'll make a go at sharing my thoughts but certainly interested in hearing from others.

I pay the $49 annual fee for the Disney Premier. As a cash rebate card I don't believe the no fee card at 1% has much to offer cash wise. We spend enough to cover the cost and then some. Not familiar with what you're getting from you other cards. Will be interested in learning.

• 2% on all restaurants, gas, and groceries. We use this card all the time for these purchases. But I've started using my Apple credit card and notice I get 3% cash back immediately. No strings attached. Cash can be used any way I want.
• Some neat special character meet and greets (like Vader) but... we've never managed to take advantage of it.
• I have two cards with my young 20 something daughters on it. That way if I'm not with them in the parks they can still get the Disney Visa 10% discount instead of DVC (their names are not on the deed)
• I did use my Disney Visa to purchase our recent VDH points. 2% back was substantial. The other nice perk I've noticed is that with Chase I have 6 months interest free to pay this off. Chose the interest monthly payment option (or something like that) in Chase for this credit card and the total cost sits there. Been making extra payments each month to bring the total down by month 6.

Other than that I think that's it. Been wondering if I should go down to the regular Disney card and skip the $49 annual fee or just get ride of it all together.

 

[Mle8308]

Glad you've posted this. Been in the back of my mind. I'll make a go at sharing my thoughts but certainly interested in hearing from others.

I pay the $49 annual fee for the Disney Premier. As a cash rebate card I don't believe the no fee card at 1% has much to offer cash wise. We spend enough to cover the cost and then some. Not familiar with what you're getting from you other cards. Will be interested in learning.

• 2% on all restaurants, gas, and groceries. We use this card all the time for these purchases. But I've started using my Apple credit card and notice I get 3% cash back immediately. No strings attached. Cash can be used any way I want.
• Some neat special character meet and greets (like Vader) but... we've never managed to take advantage of it.
• I have two cards with my young 20 something daughters on it. That way if I'm not with them in the parks they can still get the Disney Visa 10% discount instead of DVC (their names are not on the deed)
• I did use my Disney Visa to purchase our recent VDH points. 2% back was substantial. The other nice perk I've noticed is that with Chase I have 6 months interest free to pay this off. Chose the interest monthly payment option (or something like that) in Chase for this credit card and the total cost sits there. Been making extra payments each month to bring the total down by month 6.

Other than that I think that's it. Been wording if I should go down to the regular Disney card and skip the $49 annual fee or just get ride of it all together.

Get rid of the premier version. It's not worth it, the "regular" no fee version is fine. I get marketing material from Chase all the time trying to get me to upgrade and it's not worth it. I have a better Chase card where I get a whole lot more cash back, and I can use the cashback where I want, not limited to Disney. The free version is worth having, as long as opening it doesn't affect your credit score.

 

[MartyParty]

Get rid of the premier version. It's not worth it, the "regular" no fee version is fine. I get marketing material from Chase all the time trying to get me to upgrade and it's not worth it. I have a better Chase card where I get a whole lot more cash back, and I can use the cashback where I want, not limited to Disney. The free version is worth having, as long as opening it doesn't affect your credit score.

Thanks for that. And I just remembered getting the $200 or $300 cash for signing up was a reason. But that money has been spent a long time ago.

 

[lsutigers03]

DW and I each got the Disney Visa before I threw us both into the deep end of the credit card churning pool. It's ok to have if you're going to go to Disney often. You can get into cardholder only meet and greets and you can get merchandise and dining discounts. Disney will also release cardholder discounts on vacation packages. For earning points/cash to pay for Disney trips it's awful.

 

[TraderStitch]

• 2% on all restaurants, gas, and groceries. We use this card all the time for these purchases. But I've started using my Apple credit card and notice I get 3% cash back immediately. No strings attached. Cash can be used any way I want.
• Some neat special character meet and greets (like Vader) but... we've never managed to take advantage of it.
• I have two cards with my young 20 something daughters on it. That way if I'm not with them in the parks they can still get the Disney Visa 10% discount instead of DVC (their names are not on the deed)
• I did use my Disney Visa to purchase our recent VDH points. 2% back was substantial. The other nice perk I've noticed is that with Chase I have 6 months interest free to pay this off. Chose the interest monthly payment option (or something like that) in Chase for this credit card and the total cost sits there. Been making extra payments each month to bring the total down by month 6.

Other than that I think that's it. Been wondering if I should go down to the regular Disney card and skip the $49 annual fee or just get ride of it all together.

Currently getting 5% on groceries (first $500 /m) then 4%. Restaurants are 4% and everything else comes to 2%.

I don't think we would really take advantage of the meet and greets as we got better things to do at the parks lol.

DVC gives the discounts already so that is a squash too on the Disney Visa card perks.

Regarding buying more points, the only plus is that 6 months no interest. I bought 250 pts at VGF two weeks ago and just spread it out over 3 payments (to move cash out of my HYSA) and got 2% back on $46k (before they send the rebate check). Effectively makings it only $158 /pp out the door.

 

[Cygnus 2112]

Yeah we got the Disney VISA years back around the time we bought our first DVC contract but have since found AMEX Blue (6% on groceries/3% on gas) and Chase Freedom Unlimited (1.5% on everything with some extra perks like 3% on dining) and we even have a Chase Freedom with quarterly promos like 5% on gas. I stack all these rewards to pay for (most) of our AP's.

 

[weather_lady]

The Disney VISA is nice in certain situations, but overall, other cards help me more when it comes to paying for a WDW vacation.

I have a Discover card that gets me 5% cash back on certain items every quarter based on a calendar (e.g., gas stations and groceries, or wholesale clubs and streaming services), and 1% cash back on everything else. (*The Discover card comes in really handy when when wholesale club discount is in effect: I can buy $500 Disney GCs at BJ's at 4% off, and get an extra 5% cash back if I use my Discover card to buy them, meaning I'm getting the cards for almost 9% off).

When I'm purchasing things for which the Discover doesn't have the 5% cash back, I use my JetBlue Mastercard, which gets me points that I can use to fly my family of four to Orlando once every year or two. While that card has a $100 annual fee, we accrue sufficient points to cover at least $1,000 in airfare annually: we haven't paid for flights in over 10 years, and our card spend has been sufficient to earn and kept Mosaic (JetBlue's rewards program) status, meaning we get expedited security and boarding privileges, cheap access to seats with extra legroom, etc.

I also have a Disney VISA (not premier), which I use very occasionally, mainly when there are cardholder discounts for Disney resorts or restaurants. (Case in point: we saved $600, or $200 per night, on our upcoming 3-night Yacht Club stay next month, thanks to the VISA cardholder discount, which was 10% more than the seasonal discount that was offered to the general public for the same time, and we only had to pay the deposit with the Disney VISA, so I could use our Disney gift cards purchased at 9% off to pay the rest!).

*I should also add that although I try to use credit cards rather than cash whenever possible in order to reap the benefits, we are careful never to spend above our means and we pay every card off in full every month, so we're never incurring any interest charges.

 

[Mle8308]

Currently getting 5% on groceries (first $500 /m) then 4%. Restaurants are 4% and everything else comes to 2%.

I don't think we would really take advantage of the meet and greets as we got better things to do at the parks lol.

DVC gives the discounts already so that is a squash too on the Disney Visa card perks.

Regarding buying more points, the only plus is that 6 months no interest. I bought 250 pts at VGF two weeks ago and just spread it out over 3 payments (to move cash out of my HYSA) and got 2% back on $46k (before they send the rebate check). Effectively makings it only $158 /pp out the door.

And you can still get the 6 month free financing with the regular Disney Visa! The cash back offers you mention you currently get are much better than the premier Disney Visa - why I never bothered to upgrade. I got the $300 sign up bonus for the free version years ago when it first came out, so it made sense for me and it didn't hurt my credit score.

 

[leebee]

We've been very happy with our Disney VISA cards. I have both- the free "day one" card and the premier card that pays 2%. I like that the money is literally "Ear"marked for Disney. We used to go to Disney annually and the points on this card really helped with the costs. Yup, could have saved more money with other cards, but it would've been harder to convince DH to go to Disney if we didn't have the DIsney points. We have branched out to some hotel-branded cards now, too, and I know I could get more bang for my buck, so to speak, but I like the ease of having points/money dedicated to certain brands so I don't have to juggle things all the time.

Besides... our cards have Grogu or Maleficient on them!!

 

[EACarlson]

I looked into it when I was planning my big family trip for 2019. Ended up opening a Chase Disney Checking account. Allowed me to get a Disney Debit that let me into the meet and greets and photo ops, discounts on merch. The only thing I didn't get was the financing. But Chase gave me $300 to open the account. I earn a minimum of 2% on all my spend. Anything less than that and I don't keep the card.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We use it towards DVC dues.

 

[eticketplease]

I looked into it when I was planning my big family trip for 2019. Ended up opening a Chase Disney Checking account. Allowed me to get a Disney Debit that let me into the meet and greets and photo ops, discounts on merch. The only thing I didn't get was the financing. But Chase gave me $300 to open the account. I earn a minimum of 2% on all my spend. Anything less than that and I don't keep the card.

There is a specific Disney Checking account?

The Disney Debit card (Free and no Credit Pull) can be obtained with any checking account that will give a few discounts that DVC members already get but does give the photo ops as mentioned.

The photo opps have gone downhill imo as you used to actually have Vader or Kylo Ren in Studios but now it is just digital effects applied to the photos.

 

[SueInBoston]

I have both, but will be cancelling premier. (got the $300 initial offer). I keep the free one for my adult children to use for Disney discounts (they don't have DVC Id) and also it is easier than trying to pull up the stupid Digital DVC card on my phone.

 

[EACarlson]

There is a specific Disney Checking account?

The Disney Debit card (Free and no Credit Pull) can be obtained with any checking account that will give a few discounts that DVC members already get but does give the photo ops as mentioned.

The photo opps have gone downhill imo as you used to actually have Vader or Kylo Ren in Studios but now it is just digital effects applied to the photos.

At that time there was a separate sub account type for the Disney Debit card to be available with the checking account. No idea if that has changed.

 

[eticketplease]

At that time there was a separate sub account type for the Disney Debit card to be available with the checking account. No idea if that has changed.

Good to know I had an existing Bank One account and just called and they switched me to that card with the same account with a different name after Chase bought Bank One.

 

[MartyParty]

Good to know I had an existing Bank One account and just called and they switched me to that card with the same account with a different name after Chase bought Bank One.

Wow! There's a name I hadn't heard in a long time. Loved Bank One. That's how I ended up with Chase after they bought them out.

 

[eticketplease]

Wow! There's a name I hadn't heard in a long time. Loved Bank One. That's how I ended up with Chase after they bought them out.

I think they are the ones that introduced your picture on the card for extra security. You know back when you actually gave your card to some and didn't just stick it in the reader yourself.

 

[tetera]

The photo opps have gone downhill imo as you used to actually have Vader or Kylo Ren in Studios but now it is just digital effects applied to the photos.

That's how it is at Hollywood Studios, but at the Epcot Disney Visa Cardmember photo location they still have a character meet and greet with two actual characters (usually two of the "Fab Five").