travel

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate/referral link to the Disney Inspire Visa. If you apply through my link and are approved, I may receive a reward from Chase at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog!

In February, I pounced on a “buy four, get two free” deal at Walt Disney World. This unusual promotion gave our family two free hotel nights and two free theme park days when we purchased a four-night, four-day vacation package.

Not long afterward, Chase announced three new Disney-affiliated credit cards: the Disney Inspire Visa with a $149 annual fee, the Disney Premier Visa with a $49 annual fee and the no-annual-fee Disney Visa. I opted for the Disney Inspire Visa, which came with a collection of benefits that seemed tailor-made for our trip, such as:

• A $300 Disney gift card upon approval
• A $300 statement credit after spending $1,000 (since reduced to $200 for new applicants)
• 200 Disney Rewards Dollars after spending $2,000 on eligible U.S. Disney resort stays and Disney Cruise Line bookings
• 10% off at many Disney resort restaurants and merchandise locations
• 3% in rewards on Disney purchases and gas
• 2% on groceries and 1% on other purchases

The card also offers a $100 statement credit after spending $200 on U.S. Disney theme park tickets and annual passes, plus a $10 monthly streaming credit for eligible purchases at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or Stream.ESPN.com.

I got the card primarily for the sign-up bonuses and the 200 rewards dollars we could earn on our resort stay. But the 10% discount on dining and merchandise turned out to be an unexpectedly nice perk. It knocked about $30 off our souvenir purchases and $76.52 off our sit-down meals. (Bonus tip for meat eaters: Do not miss the phenomenal filet mignon at the Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios.)

The 3% rewards rate on Disney purchases also added up faster than I expected. So far, those rewards have generated statement credits worth over $200. If you add it all up, that’s more than $1,000 in savings.

I suspect the card will continue to earn its place in my wallet even if we don’t spring for another Disney resort or cruise vacation anytime soon. We’re annual passholders at Disneyland, so the $100 statement credit for eligible ticket and annual-pass purchases, the 10% discounts on many restaurant and merchandise purchases and the 3% rewards rate on Disney spending should more than offset the $149 annual fee.

If you’re planning a Disney vacation, have good credit and pay off your cards in full every month, the Disney Inspire could be worth considering. Of course, no credit card can make a Walt Disney World vacation cheap.

Six-night packages for a family of four typically start around $3,600 at Disney’s budget hotels and $6,300 at premium resorts such as Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we stayed. The “buy four, get two free” promotion, which is no longer offered, reduced our package cost to $4,859 for our family of three. The trade-off was traveling in late August, when we had to contend with considerable heat, humidity and afternoon thunderstorms that occasionally disrupted our plans.

I used frequent-flier miles for our plane tickets and a free-night award from a Hyatt credit card for an overnight stay at the Orlando airport. Disney’s extensive bus system helped keep our transportation costs down, but we still spent about $250 on rideshares, which was cheaper for us than renting a car and paying for parking. We spent about $2,000 on meals and snacks, more than $300 on souvenirs and about $620 on Lightning Lane passes that dramatically reduced our waits for rides and attractions.

So even with the deals, miles and other savings, this was a pricey trip. That made every discount, reward and sign-up bonus from the Disney Inspire card that much more welcome.