Are the Disney® Visa® Credit Cards Worth It? – Technologist

All information about Disney® Visa® Card and Disney® Premier Visa® Card has been collected independently by Clark Howard, Inc.

Is your family planning a trip to “The Most Magical Place on Earth” soon?

You may be tempted to mitigate the costs of a Walt Disney World vacation by applying for one of the Disney-branded rewards credit cards available from Chase.

But is that actually a good idea?

Disney® Visa® Credit Cards Are Only Worth It If You Are:

• A Disney fanatic who makes regular high-dollar trips to Disney-owned resorts
• Willing to pay the annual fee to upgrade to the Disney Premier Visa Card
• OK with accumulating “Disney Rewards Dollars” as rewards currency
• Unable to get better rewards on your spending from a travel credit card already in your wallet

As someone who has taken their family to Disney World, I received what feels like my 500th post-trip mailing about these credit cards in the mailbox recently.

In this article, I’ll dig into the value of Chase’s Disney credit cards and determine if they’re worth it compared to other rewards credit cards on the market.

Table of Contents

• What Are Disney® Visa® Credit Cards?
• Disney Visa Card vs. Disney Premier Visa Card
• Redemption Options for Disney Rewards Dollars
• Are Other Rewards Cards More Practical?
• Pros and Cons

What Are Disney® Visa® Credit Cards?

If you have ever taken a trip to a Disney property, there’s a reasonable chance that vacation was followed by a mailing from Chase Bank enticing you to sign up for a Disney-branded credit card.

Those mailings are not junk. They’re from a reputable source.

Disney® Visa® Credit Cards are a co-branded offering from Chase, which is one of the leading credit card issuers.

There are two main card offerings within the Disney-Chase partnership:

• Disney® Visa® Card
• Disney® Premier Visa® Card

One has no annual fee and a bare-bones rewards program, while the other carries a modest annual fee and offers a more robust program in return. We’ll compare these options later in the article.

What makes these cards different from other credit cards?

Rather than offering cash back, these cards reward your spending with Disney Rewards Dollars. These reward dollars can be used for things like resort stays and park tickets. We’ll walk through redemption options later in the article.

Disney Visa Card vs. Disney Premier Visa Card

As mentioned earlier, Chase offers two different rewards card options for Disney lovers.

The Disney® Visa® Card is the no-annual-fee option. It has a straightforward rewards program that awards 1% in Disney Rewards Dollars on all card purchases.

The Disney® Premier Visa® Card has a $49 annual fee. But you’ll get some increased rewards value on some of your spending and some additional perks like a better welcome bonus offer, Disney Bundle savings, and the ability to use your rewards for airline purchases.

• Earn 5% in Disney Rewards Dollars on card purchases made directly at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or ESPNPlus.com.
• Earn 2% in Disney Rewards Dollars on card purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and most Disney U.S. locations.
• All other card purchases earn 1% in Disney Rewards Dollars.

Both cards offer cardholder perks like discounts on purchases made at select Disney properties and retailers.

Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of key differences between the cards:

Redemption Options for Disney Rewards Dollars

Now that you know how to earn Disney Rewards Dollars with these credit cards, let’s talk about how you spend them.

Since you’re considering signing up for a Disney-branded card that rewards in “Disney Rewards Dollars,” you probably can guess that the primary redemption options for these rewards are going to be … Disney related.

One Disney Rewards Dollar is equal to a $1 value when redeeming toward Disney products and experiences at most Disney locations in the U.S.

Think of these rewards dollars as fuel for funding a Disney gift card. These are called “Redemption Cards.”

It’s a little quirky, but let’s walk through how it works:

1. Once you’ve earned at least 20 Rewards Dollars, you can log in to your account to load a Redemption Card with your Rewards Dollars. Note: You can reload a redemption card with a minimum of 10 Rewards Dollars at any time.
2. Order a physical Redemption Card via the Chase app or the card website. This will take 5-8 business days to arrive.
3. Once you have a loaded Redemption Card in hand, you can use it to spend dollar-for-dollar on Disney Resort stays, Disney Park tickets, purchases at DisneyStore.com and more. You can see a full list of redemption options here.

The rewards dollars do not have blackout dates and can be combined with cash to make a purchase that costs more than the value on your Redemption Card.

Are Other Rewards Cards More Practical?

This is the portion of the article where we put Disney loyalists to the test.

The concept of your everyday spending contributing to your next Disney vacation is certainly appealing, but are these cards the best way to get there?

Let’s assume that you’re going to be taking advantage of the dollar-for-dollar valuation that your Rewards Dollars will receive if you use them on approved Disney purchases.

That means you’re effectively earning 1% back on all purchases with the no-annual-fee Disney Visa Card. That’s not very good.

Many cash back credit cards will offer you 2% back on all purchases. You could double your cash back earnings with one of these cards and then apply that money toward your Disney vacation.

What about the Disney Premier Visa Card?

The 5% back on Disney-owned streaming services is nice. And 2% back on gas stations, groceries, restaurants and Disney purchases is a much better rate of return on your spending. But you still have that $49 annual fee to contend with on this card.

I believe most consumers will find that a cash back credit card or even a travel card with a reasonable annual fee will provide a better path to earning rewards to be used toward a Disney vacation.

Disney® Visa® Credit Cards: Pros and Cons

So, now that you’ve learned about what makes these rewards cards unique, it’s time to consider whether they’re a good idea for your wallet. Let’s look at some pros and cons.

Bottom Line: Most consumers are going to get a better return on their spending by using a different rewards credit card. And they’re likely to have more options on redeeming the cash back or rewards points they earn with said card. Those options include spending the earnings on a Disney vacation, so the market for this card seems to be somewhat narrow.

Will you be signing up for this card? Do you already have it in your wallet? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this card in the Clark.com community.

The post Are the Disney® Visa® Credit Cards Worth It? appeared first on Clark Howard.