The cost of a family trip to Walt Disney World can be steep. But with the right points and miles strategy you can cut that cost significantly. Which is good because you’ll need that extra cash for souvenirs 🙂

Today we’re covering both on and off-property accommodations, ticket redemptions, credit card strategies and other ways to save BIG. So if you’re a points savvy mama (or dad!) who wants to take your family to the most magical place on earth – keep scrolling!

MAJOR HOTEL CHAINS NEAR WALT DISNEY WORLD

There are a LOT of hotel options near WDW! Which means whatever credit card points you have, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have options near the parks. We’ll start with some off-property options first.

You have the option to book a Good Neighbor Hotel which gives you extra perks without the extra cost of staying on Disney property. You can expect perks like:

• Early theme park entry available at selected hotels
• Onsite ticket sales
• Transportation to and from theme parks
• Vacation planning experts onsite
• Convenient location within walking distance to parks, attractions or shuttles

It will be up to you if you value the Good Neighbor benefits. Either way, here’s a few options available to book with the main hotel chains. Keep in mind each hotel chain has many options in the greater Orlando area available at every (points) price. So it’s worth it to do some research!

HILTON

Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace – Disney Springs® Area

This official Good Neighbor hotel features direct access to Disney Springs at a reasonable points price around 60,000 Hilton points per night. Free transportation to the parks, a float lagoon, lazy river and five restaurants on site make this a great family option. Additionally, if you have Silver elite status or higher, you can receive your fifth night free when booking on points.

Embassy Suites By Hilton Lake Buena Vista Resort

This Good Neighbor hotel is ready for large families. Rooms that sleep up to six, a splash pad, free breakfast and happy hour are among the many reasons families love this property. When you’re done with the parks, you have pickelball, volleyball, basketball, putting greens, pools a playground and restaurants to keep you busy on property. This property averages around 60,000 per night. Additionally, if you have Silver elite status or higher, you can receive your fifth night free when booking on points. Check out the Hilton Honors American Express Card to earn these points!

HYATT

Hyatt Place Orlando/Lake Buena Vista

Sleep up to six comfortably at Hyatt Place Orlando/Lake Buena Vista. Another Good Neighbor hotel that will only cost you between 6,500 – 9,500 points per night depending. Now that’s a steal!

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress

This is a family favorite in the Orlando area. And for good reason. A mega hotel that feels like a posh resort. Waterfalls, a lake with free kayaking, paddle boarding, and fishing. A rockwall and splashpad. Bicycles, putt putt, and pitch and put…. I can go on and on. This resort boasts everything for families. The breakfast is great also! And it’s a category 4 Hyatt, which means you can use your Cat 1-4 free night certificates here!

But it’s not IDEAL when you’re coming to WDW. It doesn’t have transportation to the parks and because of all the amenities, it’s almost a waste to book the hotel and spend all the time in the parks. So why am I including it here?? Because its a great property. I’d recommend spending a few days at a property with Disney benefits and then come here for a few days of R&R after pounding the pavement at the parks!

By the way, you can catch the nightly Magic Kingdom fireworks directly from any pool view room. Check out the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card to earn these points!

IHG

Holiday Inn Orlando-Disney Springs Area

This property is consistently rated high among families. And for good reason. Good Neighbor hotel benefits include hourly transportation to the parks and early park admission. A zero entry pool for relaxation is always a win in my book. Kids under 12 eat free on property. Points prices seem to hover around 40,000 points per night. You can get the fourth night free when booking on points as an IHG credit card holder.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort

So this is not a Good Neighbor hotel. But it is a 1200 sq ft fully furnished villa that sleeps eight bookable on points. This property has golfing, putt putt, arcades, seven pools, lazy river, restaurants and a children’s area. Points prices typically hover around 40,000 IHG points per night. In addition, you can get the fourth night free when booking on points as an IHG credit card holder. Check out the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card to earn these points!

MARRIOTT

Walt Disney World Swan/Dolphin

The Swan and Dolphin are unique properties in that they are bookable with points and they are true WDW Resorts. Points prices can fluctuate wildly. I found the Dolphin anywhere from ~46,000 to 75,000 points per night when I was looking. Keep in mind, Marriott points bookings enjoy the fifth night free. If you have any Marriott 50K Free Night Certificates, and can travel in shoulder season, this could be a great use of them, although you won’t get the fifth night free with certificates.

Enjoy Marriott perks and Disney benefits. WDW Hotel benefits include extended early and late theme park hours, lightening lane admissions, free WDW parking and free transportation to and from parks.

SpringHill Suites by Marriott Orlando Theme Parks/Lake Buena Vista

This centrally located hotel sleeps up to six per room and includes free breakfast. And with it’s Good Neighbor hotel benefits, enjoy free transportation to and from the parks. Cheap nightly rates of 20,000-30,000 points per night mean that one credit card bonus can get your whole family to Disney World! Also, stays booked on points get fifth night free!

CHOICE

Westgate Vacation Villas

Part of the Ascend collection, these fully furnished condos are minutes from Disney theme parks. Onsite you’ll find a water park, splash pad, heated pools and more. Expect to pay around 30,000 Choice Privileges points. Remember, if you have a premium Citi card, then Citi transfers 1:2 to Choice – meaning you’ll pay just 15K points per night!

Bluegreen Vacations Fountains, an Ascend Collection Resort

Another great choice for large families! Book direct into a 2 bedroom, fully furnished suite that sleeps up to six with Choice points. These rooms are a steal at just 20,000 Choice points per night. Multiple pools, a lake with a fishing dock, fire pits and on site restaurants make this a great choice for families.

WYNDHAM

Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort

Just minutes from theme parks sits this massive condo-resort complex. Enjoy multiple pools and splash pads, mini golf, ping pong, and more. The whole family is sure to find something to do here. Book into a fully furnished condo starting at 30,000 points per night.

Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek

Enjoy resort style amenities such as multiple pools, walking paths, spa facilities, and more at this upscale Wyndham property. As a WDW Gateway Hotel, your stay includes transportation to the parks and advance purchase theme park tickets. Rates are 30,000 Wyndham points per night. Notably, cash rates can be rather low here so it’s worth comparing both. But if you have a stash of Wyndham points, this is a nice way to save some cash on your WDW stay. Check out the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to earn points for your stay!

ON PROPERTY ACCOMMODATIONS WITH POINTS AND MILES

Part of the magic of coming to Walt Disney World is staying on property! WDW resorts offer accommodations to fit every budget but they’re not very conducive to using points. So what to do?

Well, there are a few ways to use points while staying on property. Earlier I talked about using Marriott points to stay at the Swan or Dolphin. But lets take a look at some other options.

Book Disney Vacation Club through Pixie Point Gals for HUGE Savings

Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a Disney owned timeshare program. It allows its members to purchase points to use on-site at Disney resorts.

Now – according to my friend Dave Ramsey – time shares aren’t worth it. They provide little investment value and have costly fees.

BUT here’s how you benefit. You can “rent” these timeshare stays for significantly less than booking the same property directly through Disney. Earlier this year, I stayed in The Grand Floridian with 3 friends. The cash rate (if we had booked through Disney) was $2,638, for the 3 night stay. Instead, we paid $1,168.50. That is over 50% off. It seems too good to be true. It isn’t.

We booked with Pixie Point Gals. They are a mother and daughter duo and personal friends. I love supporting small businesses and this is one of those. Here’s my affiliate link if you choose to book!

Here’s how it works – As you remember, you are renting timeshare bookings. You can do this in 2 ways. You can rent timeshare bookings that my friends at Pixie Point Gals have already reserved and are available. If you’ve got flexible dates – you’re in luck!!

Or, you can request a reservation. Then, they act as a broker and match you with an owner and help you make your reservation.

CAPITAL ONE MILES

Book your hotel direct with your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. You can simply pay yourself back for any travel expense at one cent per point. If you spend $1500 a WDW hotel, you’ll need 150,000 Capital One Miles to pay yourself back for the purchase.

It is probably the easiest way to offset the price of booking a WDW property.

AEROPLAN PAY YOURSELF BACK

The Aeroplan® Credit Card is a great way to reimburse yourself for Disney purchases by using their Pay Yourself Back feature. It works similarly to the way you can pay yourself back with Capital One Miles.

Chase’s Aeroplan card earns Air Canada Aeroplan miles that can be used to book flights through Air Canada’s website. But, currently, they also have this unique feature allowing them to reimburse yourself for any travel purchase made with the Aeroplan credit card at 1.25 cents per point.

After you earn points from the Aeroplan Card, keep in mind that you have 90 days from date of purchase to Pay Yourself Back. Additionally, in order to use the Pay Yourself Back feature, you need to have earned the points with your Aeroplan card. That means no transferring them in from flexible earning currencies like American Express Membership Rewards® Points or Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Note that currently this feature is scheduled to end on December 31, 2025. It’s been extended twice already so I’m crossing my fingers that it’s extended again!

CASHING OUT POINTS

Firstly, most people will tell you this is a poor use of points. And to some people it might be. But if your dream is to go to Disney, and this is what will get you there, then use your points how you want to use them. Let me repeat that. Use your points how you want to use them.

Most of the flexible points currencies will allow you to cash out your points. Take a look at this table below to determine how much your points are worth when you cash them out.

Program	Standard Cash-Out Value	Pay Yourself Back (PYB) Option	PYB Value
Chase Ultimate Rewards	1¢ per point	Yes – on select categories (varies by card)	1.25¢ (Sapphire Preferred) or 1.5¢ (Chase Sapphire Reserve®)
American Express Membership Rewards	0.6¢ per point	No	—
Citi ThankYou Points	0.5¢–1¢ per point (varies by card)	No	—

Chase offers Pay Yourself Back within their own Ultimate Reward ecosystem, which allows you to cash out your points at a higher than normal rate in certain rotating categories. You can use this to your advantage to ‘swing’ cashflow to cover the cost of your WDW hotel.

Here’s an example: As of late 2025, one of the categories for PYB is groceries. If you have Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can pay yourself back 1.5 cent per point in that category. Perhaps you have $800 of grocery spend this month. You could Pay Yourself Back 53,300 Ultimate Rewards points to reimburse yourself the cost of your monthly groceries. Now take your $800 grocery budget and put it toward your WDW hotel!

HOW TO EARN LOTS OF POINTS BY STAYING ON PROPERTY

If you’ve decided you’re just going to pay cash for your DisneyWorld stay, would you at least like to earn lots of points? Enter the Sapphire Reserve.

The Sapphire Reserve earns 4x points on all hotels booked direct. To start, you’ll book your hotel direct on the Disney World website. Then you’ll be offered the option to add on park tickets. Typically park tickets code as entertainment which means you earn 1x points on them. But if you bundle them with your hotel, they code as “Hotel”. (A good friend of mine found this out through a happy accident and ended up with lots of extra points!)

When you get to the hotel, make sure that your Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the card on file. Anything you purchase at DisneyWorld should be able to be charged back to your room. This means you’ll end up with 4x on all your purchases when you check out of the hotel!

I bet you just earned enough points to come back to Disney!

HOW TO COVER DISNEY TICKETS WITH POINTS AND MILES

If you aren’t planning to stay on property, I’ve got another way to get your park tickets covered.

Undercover Tourist is an online ticket reseller that codes as travel. Simply purchase your tickets with your Capital One Venture X card and you’ll be able to reimburse yourself for the travel purchase within 90 days. Easy peasy!

Get Away Today is another online ticket reseller similar to Undercover Tourist. Prices appear to be about the same but seem to be a few dollars more with Get Away Today. I’d check both sites if you’re planning to go this route though as they both get good reviews.

Because these sites listed above code as travel, you can use some of the above listed methods to reimburse yourself for your purchase. Reimburse yourself back for these purchases with your the Capital One Miles or with Aeroplan’s Pay Yourself Back feature. The most important thing to remember is to use that card when purchasing your tickets on one of these online ticket reseller websites.

Alternatively, some people choose to do bank bonuses to help cover the cost of theme park tickets (or other vacation incidentals). More on that later.

CREDIT CARD STRATEGIES FOR DISNEY WORLD

Flexible currencies are the most versatile of all points and miles options for DisneyWorld. Quite honestly, any hotel programs will allow you multiple options for stays near Disney. Likewise, pretty much any airlines will get you to Orlando from anywhere in the USA.

But here’s my recommendations to begin with:

Chase: If you’re wanting to stay on property and planning to pay cash for a hotel, the Sapphire Reserve will earn you a lot of points! Alternatively, having a stash of Chase Points means you can transfer to Hyatt, multiple domestic airlines, as well as simply cash out or use the PYB feature.

Capital One: The Capital One Venture and Venture X would be strong contenders for a trip to Disney. You can easily reimburse yourself for any purchases that code as travel, which gives you flexibility to use your points how you see fit. And the ability to transfer to Choice and Wyndham give you additional hotel options in the area.

ADDITIONAL SAVINGS FOR DISNEY WORLD

DISNEY CREDIT CARD

By and large, this is a terrible travel card and I don’t recommend it. But if you’re a Disney family, you can ignore my advice!

But the added perks are what Disney families love:

• 10% off merchandise at Disney Stores and at locations within the parks.
• 10% off selected dining within the parks.
• Access to special photo ops.
• Discounts on guided tours within the parks.
• Disney Cruise Line discounts.

BUYING DISCOUNTED DISNEY GIFT CARDS

Another option for saving money is to buy discounted Disney gift cards.

• Target: 5% back on gift card using Target RedCard
• Wholesale Clubs: occasionally sell discounted Disney gift cards
• Grocery Stores: stores like Kroger will often offer 4x Loyalty points on gift cards, which can then lead to savings within the store.
• Rewards apps: Apps like Fetch allow you to scan receipts and redeem points for gift cards.
• Credit card monthly credits: The American Express® Business Gold Card offers a $20 monthly statement credit which can be used at office supply stores. Pick up a $20 Disney gift card.

Note that as you accrue multiple gift cards, you can combine them into one “master” gift card within the Disney website.

BANK BONUSES

Bank bonuses can be a great way to drum up some extra cash to offset travel expenses. The premise behind the bank bonus is similar to a credit card welcome bonus. A bank will incentives you to open an account and park some cash there. Once you meet the requirement, they’ll deposit a welcome bonus in your account.

Some people love bank bonuses. I do them every so often. There’s a lot to manage and, often times, you have to be okay with shifting money around fairly frequently to meet the requirements. But they can be a great way to offset those expenses that points and miles traditionally don’t cover.

CONCLUSION

If you’ve been wondering how to use points and miles for a Disney trip, well, now you know! A DisneyWorld trip doesn’t have to break the bank. With a little planning, you can use points and miles to turn a Disney dream trip into a reality. And it will keep your budget happily ever after too!

xoxo, Amber

Questions or comments? Chat with me here!