Planning a trip to Disney World on a budget with points and miles

Taking a vacation to Disney World is on pretty much every family’s travel bucket list. A trip to Disney World can be extremely expensive, requiring most families to save money for years to afford a dream Disney vacation. However, planning a trip to Disney World on a budget is possible thanks to travel hacking. We’ll show you how a Disney trip doesn’t have to cost a fortune thanks to utilizing travel reward credit card points and miles. You can stay at a Disney resort for $28 per night, can fly to Orlando for $11.20 roundtrip, and can even get Disney World tickets for free! Learn how to do Disney on a dime by opening 3 travel reward credit cards. Using points and miles for hotel, flights, and even Disney passes will certainly put more magic into your Disney vacation planning. Yes, you really can take your family to Disney on a budget, and here’s how.

Cheapest time to go to Disney World

The first thing to consider when planning a a trip to Disney World on a budget is when to go. The cheapest time to go to Disney World is during off-peak season. Disney passes, hotels, and flights are usually priced the lowest in January, February, and late August through late September. Traveling in low season is what we recommend for a trip to Disney anyway so you’re not battling enormous crowds at the park. Disney ticket prices are cheaper on off-peak dates in an effort to distribute the crowds more evenly.

Ideally you’ll want to avoid holidays, especially Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter. Disney World prices are highest between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. It’s also recommended to avoid Spring Break, which is typically mid-March for universities and mid-April for schools. However, we understand that if you have kids in school like us, you are limited to your travel dates.  We also know many families pull their kids out of school for a few days to lower their Disney World trip cost. You have to do what works for your family. We prefer to visit Disney World for a long weekend during low season when the kids have a day off school. The parks aren’t as crowded and flights are cheaper (cheaper in points, that is).

How to fly to Orlando for $11.20 roundtrip

To earn enough points or miles for your flights to Orlando, there are countless options but we’re going to focus on one that we think is the best. We recommend opening the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card since it is widely regarded by travel hacking experts as the number one travel credit card for beginners. We are travel hacking pros and we still carry this card in our wallets. It has many perks including primary car rental insurance, travel insurance, and double points on travel and dining out. The $95 annual fee is easily outweighed by the benefits of this card.

Earn 60,000 sign-up bonus points with Chase Sapphire Preferred

The Chase Sapphire Preferred sign-up bonus offer varies throughout the year and currently has an excellent offer. You earn a 60,000 point sign-up bonus after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of opening the card. Those 60K points can be used for your flights to Orlando when you transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to one of their airline partners. Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer at a 1:1 ratio to their travel partners and can be done online, usually instantly.

Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest Airlines

Our favorite transfer partner of Chase for domestic flights is Southwest Airlines. Southwest has great sales, offers free cancellations and no change fees, 2 free checked bags, and will credit you the fare difference if the price of your flight goes down after you purchase it (but you have to contact them, they don’t do it automatically).

We’ve flown Southwest from Baltimore to Orlando for less than 15,000 Southwest Rapid Reward points roundtrip on off-peak dates. Depending on where you’re traveling from and the dates of your travel, the price of your flight will vary. We recommend buying your flights the earliest possible, since you can always get the difference credited if the price drops later or if you find a cheaper flight. 

Book your Southwest flight with points

If you find a flight for 16,000 Southwest points or less, your 64,000 Chase points (after meeting minimum spend since you earn 1 pt/$1 on everyday spend) will get you 4 roundtrip flights. If your flights cost more points, your spouse can also open a card to get 60,000 bonus points. You’ll also earn a referral bonus (which is currently 15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards) for referring your spouse for the card.

Consider the Southwest Companion Pass

You still have to pay $11.20 per ticket for the airport taxes and fees, but are saving hundreds of dollars by using points for your flights. If you travel Southwest Airlines often, you should also consider the Companion Pass to fly a companion (like your spouse or one of your children) for free for up to 2 years. Read our post on how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass and our post about how we saved $15,000 with the Companion Pass and Southwest Rapid Rewards points in 3 years. If both you and your spouse earn the Companion Pass, then you can fly 2 children for free, which really boosts your savings.

How to stay at a Disney hotel or nearby hotel on points

Stay at Disney Dolphin or Disney Swan for $28 per night plus Marriott points

There are only 2 Disney hotels that can be booked with points- Disney Dolphin and Disney Swan, which are managed by Marriott. These Disney resorts cost between 40,000 to 60,000 Marriott points per night plus a daily resort fee of $28 plus tax. Peak time requires 60K points/night, standard time requires 50K points/night, and off-peak time requires 40K points/night. Again, this is more reason to travel during off-peak time.

There are many advantages of staying at a Disney resort, which include free transportation to the parks, extended hours at the park, and early access to FastPass reservations. However, these Disney hotels don’t offer the best value for your points. Your points can go further if you stay instead at one of the many hotels near Disney. For simplicity’s sake and ease of comparison with the Dolphin and Swan resort, we’ll stick with Marriott in this post. However, if you have hotel points with another chain, there are so many great options for using points for hotels near Disney.

Stay at a Marriott Category 4 hotel for half the points

The Sheraton Orlando Lake Buena Vista Resort costs 20,000 to 30,000 Marriott points per night plus a $24 daily resort fee, depending again on the season. This property is a mile away from Disney World but costs half as many points, so is a better option to get more out of your points. Furthermore, this hotel is a “Disney Good Neighbor Hotel” and provides free scheduled shuttle to the parks. 

Another Marriott Category 4 hotel near Disney World is the Courtyard by Marriott Lake Buena Vista at Vista Centre. This hotel is less luxurious and is priced lower for cash stays, meaning your points are redeemed for less value. However, if you hate the idea of paying a daily resort fee and don’t mind sacrificing a bit of luxury for less cash out of pocket, this is a solid option. The hotel was recently renovated, has 2 outdoor pools, and also provides free shuttles to the Disney parks.

Open a Marriott BonVoy Boundless Card to earn Marriott points

To get enough Marriott points for your Disney vacation, you can open the Marriott BonVoy Boundless Card. It has a current offer of 75,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first 3 months of opening the card. It does carry a $95 annual fee, which is offset by the annual free award night valid on Marriott hotel bookings costing 35,000 points or less per night. After meeting the minimum spend, you’ll have 81,000 pts since you earn 2x pts on everyday spend.

With 81,000 points, you have enough for 4 nights at Sheraton Orlando Lake Buena Vista or Courtyard by Marriott Lake Buena Vista on off-peak dates.  Then you can get the 5th night free with Marriott’s “Stay for 5, Pay for 4” promotion. The Sheraton can cost $300/night, so that’s a savings of $1,500.

Get free Disney tickets with a fixed redemption card

Buying Disney park tickets can be the most expensive part of a Disney family vacation. There’s no such thing as cheap Disney tickets. Disney ticket prices start at $109 per day and can be as high as $189 per day for the Park Hopper Plus option. Disney World ticket deals usually only save you a few dollars since Disney clearly has enough demand to keep prices high. Many people don’t realize that you can travel hack even for Disney tickets.

Thankfully it can be done using a fixed redemption card like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard or the Capital One Venture Rewards Card. Both cards earn points at a rate of 2 pts per dollar spent, which can be redeemed for travel purchases at a rate of 1 cent per point.

So you must use your fixed redemption credit card to purchase the tickets, and then redeem your points/miles to erase the charges from your credit card statement. However, tickets cannot be purchased directly from Disney to code as “travel” and be erased by points or miles. They must be purchased from an agency who codes as “travel” on the credit card statement. Expedia, Orbitz, and Undercover Tourist (a travel agency that sells discount Disney tickets online) are all vendors who fit that category. 

Open a Capitol One Venture Card

The current offer for the Capitol One Venture Card gives you 50,000 miles once you spend $3,000 within 3 months. This card has no annual fee for the first year, and then $95 after that, making it a great card for beginner travel hackers.  So after meeting your minimum spend, you’ll have at least 56,000 miles which can be redeemed for $560 worth of Disney tickets. That will get you one day of Disney tickets for a family of four. If your spouse also gets a card, then you’ll have at least $1,120 toward Disney tickets.

If you want more days at the park, you can use your everyday spending to earn more miles that will erase the travel purchases. Two days at the parks is enough for our family. We like to mix up our Disney trips with pool days and free activities at Disney Springs and Disney resorts, which we’ll discuss next.

Other ways to save money on a family Disney Vacation

Most families want to know how to save money at Disney World. There are other ways to save beyond using points for flights, hotel, and Disney tickets. Here are more tips to save money at Disney Orlando.

Visit Disney Springs for free attractions

We recommend planning for some down time in between your action-packed (and exhausting) days at the Disney theme parks. One of our favorite things to do in Orlando is visit Disney Springs, formerly called Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. You can take a free boat ride across the lake, which is always a hit with young kids. There are so many fun restaurants, including Rainforest Cafe, Planet Hollywood, and T-Rex Cafe. Even if you don’t eat there, make sure to check them out because the volcano eruption, enormous fish tanks, animated jungle animals and giant moving dinosaurs are really exciting for kids.

They also have a DJ spinning kid-friendly tunes. Our kids had a blast dancing their booties off and we had quite a few good laughs. Don’t miss the Lego Store, where kids (and big kids) can play with legos and pose with giant lego characters.

Visit Disney Resorts for free attractions

Although we have never stayed at an official Disney resort, we’ve visited some of them for fun activities and good views of the evening firework displays at Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Many of the Disney resorts offer free activities even if you’re not staying there. You can catch a movie under the stars at Fort Wilderness or stroll along Disney’s Boardwalk to catch street performers during the day or get a good view of Epcot’s firework show at night. The Grand Floridian hotel has live music daily in its luxurious lobby. You can ride the monorails which pass through the parks and Disney resorts or take the Friendship Boats which connect the parks.

Don’t miss Animal Kingdom Lodge, where you can head out the back door of the lobby to spot giraffes, zebras, and other animals of the Savanna. Catch the Electrical Water Pageant and the Magic Kingdom’s nightly fireworks show from the concourse of the Contemporary or the beaches of the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, or Wilderness Lodge. There are plenty of ways to enjoy Disney magic without paying Disney World prices.

Bring your own food and water into the parks

Our last money-saving Disney tip is to bring your own food and water bottles into the parks. Eating cheap at Disney World is possible. Many people don’t realize that this is allowed and spend a fortune on fast food and drinks throughout the day. Coolers are not allowed, but you can bring food and then store it in a Disney locker for $7 or stash it below your stroller all day. Our kids love PB&J sandwiches so that saved us a lot for lunch, leaving more to splurge on Mickey-shaped ice cream treats. There are water fountains throughout the park, and restaurants are happy to fill up water bottles with ice cold water as well. You have to stay well hydrated in the Orlando heat and humidity, so you might as well save some money and be eco-friendly with a reusable water bottle.

Last thoughts on planning a trip to Disney World on a budget with points and miles

In summary, by opening 3 travel reward credit cards (and meeting the minimum spending requirements), you can travel hack to Disney World. The sign-up bonuses will cover flights, hotel, and park tickets for your dream family vacation to Disney World in Orlando. Saving for Disney doesn’t have to take years. If you leverage these travel hacking strategies, you can do Disney on a dime without sacrificing luxury. Don’t waste your time looking for discount Disney World vacation packages. Simply follow these steps for how to do Disney World on a budget with points and miles. Enjoy your time with Mickey and Minnie and please comment below if you’ve travel hacked your way to Disney Orlando.

Please share this post and pin it for later: