Doing Disney for Less (A Disney Gift Card Hack)
Welcome to the Disney on a budget series!
Here, you will learn how to spend less on your Disney World vacation, and always ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck!
Today I want to share with you a really popular way to squeeze the most out of every dollar you spend, and to help you get the most bang for your buck.
If you are reading this, you are interested in saving money at Disney, a great way to do that is to plan it all out, and have a budget in mind. We can dive deeper into Disney budgeting in another post. The point is, you need to know how much your trip is going to cost…at least with the three major expenses.
Tickets. Hotel. Food.
Once you know this number, you can begin to take advantage of the Disney gift card hack to maximize your money. Disney gift cards can be used literally anywhere on Disney property, for anything on Disney property.
There are a few of ways you can save money on Disney gift cards.
BUYING CARDS AT A DISCOUNT (two options)
1) Wholesale clubs (BJ’s, Costco, Sam’s Club, etc)
These places will usually sell Disney gift cards at a 2%-8% discount. I’ve generally found them to hang out around 4% outside of specials.
2) Target
Target has their loyalty RedCard program, which give you 5% off your purchases at Target, when you use your RedCard. These purchases include Disney gift cards.
*WARNING* - DO NOT BUY DISCOUNT GIFT CARDS OFF EBAY OR ANY OTHER NON REPUTABLE WEBSITE!
While you may get a deal, you may also get scammed. Better safe than sorry here.
CASH BACK CREDIT CARDS
Cash back credit cards are a great way to get cash back to pay down your credit card bills that were used to purchase the cards listed above.
1% cash back is the standard. However, with cards like the Chase Freedom, you can earn up to 5% cash back when spending money at certain stores…like wholesale clubs. We also have cards like the Citi Double Cash, which gives you 2% cash back.
For this specific hack, we are going to be taking advantage of the quarterly 5% cash back categories that the Chase Freedom offers.
Interested in a Chase Freedom to take advantage of this hack? Help support the blog by clicking our affiliate link, and start saving 5% today:
Earn $200 cash back with Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex credit card. I can be rewarded, learn more. https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/1VV1VPM8RWCheck
CASH BACK WEBSITES & APPS
There are many great companies out there that will offer cash back when you shop through their website. Ebates (now Rakuten) is the most popular, but similar companies like Ibotta, Fetch, or Quotient can be good options as well, depending on where you ship and what you buy. Even credit card companies like Chase and Citi offer their own portals for you to shop through to earn extra cash back.
The bad news is, these companies generally will not give the additional cash back if you are purchasing gift cards online. If you find one, drop us a line, and let us know. For now, this one is not going to help you at all, so don’t even worry about it.
LET’S BREAK DOWN THE NUMBERS
I’ve given you the basics, now I want to show you the real life examples of what Jessica and I were able to accomplish, thanks to the stars aligning, and all discounts coming together. (skip to the bottom if you don’t care about eh break down and you just want to see the totals).
We both have a Chase Freedom card. As stated above, Chase will offer rotating 5% cash back categories. You can earn the 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases ($75 cash back). This gives us $3,000 in purchases combined.
BJ’s, our wholesale store of choice, usually runs a 4% discount on Disney gift cards. However, the week of Black Friday (and through the end of November last year), the bumped that number up to 6% off (8% in 2018).
BJ’s is selling Disney gift cards at a 4% discount right now. Each card can spend $1,512 ($3,024 total), and receive $1,575 in gift cards ($3,150).
Using the Chase Freedom at BJ’s From January 1 through March 31, 2021 will give you 5%. This will result in an additional savings of $75.12 each ($150.24 total) in cash back to pay down our credit card bill.
Couple the discount from BJ’s, the savings from Chase…
You can purchase $1,575 ($3,150) in Disney gift cards for only $1,436.88 ($2,873.76).
That is a savings of 8.77% or $138.12 ($276.24)!
That is enough to upgrade to a character meal. That might save enough to add an extra night or two to your trip. If you have two cards, it might be enough to upgrade you to a suite, or buy close to three extra park tickets.
Anytime we see a deal like this one going on, we will be bringing it to your attention. Disney can cost a lot of money. That doesn’t mean you can’t spend a little less though.
And one more time…if you are interested in a Chase Freedom to take advantage of this hack, help support the blog by clicking our affiliate link, and start saving 5% today:
Earn $200 cash back with Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex credit card. I can be rewarded, learn more. https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/1VV1VPM8RWCheck
Before you go, here is today’s fun fact:
11,000 tickets were sold on Disneylands opening day in 1955…at $1 a piece.
