How to use points to buy Disney tickets

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. With so many rides, hotels and Mickey-shaped snacks to choose from, if you ask 10 people about their favorite thing to experience at a Disney park, you’d likely get 10 different answers. But there is one thing every Disney visitor can …

May 10, 2025 - 20:09

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

With so many rides, hotels and Mickey-shaped snacks to choose from, if you ask 10 people about their favorite thing to experience at a Disney park, you’d likely get 10 different answers. But there is one thing every Disney visitor can agree on — the cost of a Disney vacation can come with a bit of sticker shock.

There are ways to do Disney on a budget, and Disney regularly offers deals on Disney dining, tickets and lodging; however, you can save even more by using credit card points to purchase Disney tickets.

Whether you’re going to Disneyland or Disney World, here’s a look at all the different ways you can use points to cover your Disney park tickets to make your next family vacation more affordable.

Disney ticket costs

Several factors affect the cost of a Disney ticket and, therefore, the number of points you’ll need to use. These include guest age (kids under 3 are free, but at 10, you’re considered an “adult”), the dates and length of your visit, which park(s) you want to visit, and whether you want to visit multiple parks per day with a Park Hopper ticket.

However, one consistent aspect of Disney pricing is that the more days you spend in a Disney park during a trip, the less your per-day cost will be. Looking at the value on a per-day basis, it’s clearly in your best interest to fit in as much time at Disney as possible on a single vacation.

Doing so will get you significantly more bang for your points (or dollars) than taking multiple short Disney trips — unless you’re shopping for a Disney annual pass (which isn’t a bad strategy if you plan to visit multiple times a year). Single-day, one-park Disney World tickets range from $119 to $199. However, your per-day cost on a longer Disney trip of up to 10 days can start as low as $63 at certain times of the year.

You can visit multiple parks per day by adding the Park Hopper option to your tickets. This brings the starting price of a one-day adult Disney World ticket to $197 (plus tax), so you’re looking at a real chunk of change … or points.

How to redeem points for Disney tickets

Spaceship Earth at Epcot. SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUY

If you’re looking for a magical way to get outsize value when using your points for Disney tickets (as you might when redeeming airline miles for a first-class ticket), we have some bad news: It’s generally impossible to get a lucrative return when redeeming points for Disney tickets.

That said, the best use for your points is the one that makes you happy. If Disney is your happy place, your points can unlock the gates to spending less out-of-pocket for your visit.

Redeem Chase points for Disney tickets

Three-day and longer Walt Disney World tickets can occasionally be found in the Chase Travel℠ portal. We spotted them in 2024, though they’ve since not-so-magically disappeared from the Chase site as of this update.

When available, you can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for Disney tickets, cruises, resorts and vacation packages at a rate of 1.25 cents each if you hold a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) or 1.5 cents each if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees).

Last chance: Chase Sapphire Preferred — Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first three months from account opening. Offer ends May 15 at 9 a.m. EDT.

Even when Disney tickets aren’t available via Chase Travel, you can put the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s $300 annual travel credit toward Disney tickets as long as the charge codes as “travel” on your billing statement.

Since Disney tickets normally register as “entertainment” and not “travel,” consider buying your tickets from a certified third-party seller like Undercover Tourist. Hotel-and-ticket vacation packages booked directly with Disney or an authorized Disney travel planner should also code as travel.

Redeem Capital One miles for Disney tickets

roller coaster — Big Thunder Mountain at Magic Kingdom. TARAH CHIEFFI/THE POINTS GUY

For typical hotel and airline redemptions, we recommend you transfer Capital One miles from the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card to hotel and airline partners. However, you can also redeem Capital One miles at a fixed rate of 1 cent each toward travel purchases made using the card.

As is the case with Chase, the catch with this redemption method is that Disney tickets purchased directly from Disney don’t typically code as a travel charge if purchased on their own. Your best bet is to purchase your admission from a third-party site like Undercover Tourist. If you are purchasing a hotel-and-ticket vacation package, do so directly from Disney or through an authorized Disney vacation planner like Mouse Counselors. This way, the charge should code as travel and you can redeem miles to offset the charge.

For example, if you apply for the Capital One Venture Rewards card and use it to buy your tickets with a method that labels your purchase as a travel charge, you could use the $250 Capital One Travel credit valid in your first cardholder year plus the 75,000-mile welcome bonus that you can earn after spending $4,000 on the card in the first three months of having the card as $750 toward a Disney trip.

Redeem Bank of America points for Disney tickets

With some of the other credit card programs, the best you can do is earn cash-back rewards that could be used to offset the cost of Disney tickets — or anything else, for that matter.

For example, Bank of America Preferred Rewards® points, which can be earned from the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card, are worth 1 cent each. This card awards up to 2.625 points per dollar spent on nonbonus transactions and 3.5 points per dollar spent on travel and dining purchases if you’ve unlocked the Diamond tier of the Preferred Rewards program (which is based on the total amount of assets you have deposited with Bank of America and/or Merrill accounts).

If you are in that preferred earnings tier, it’s just about the most rewarding cash-back card on the market.

The welcome bonus is now 60,000 points after $4,000 spent in the first 90 days from account opening. That has an equivalent value of $600 that you could use to give yourself a statement credit, essentially offsetting the cost of the Disney tickets charged to that card.

Using the Disney Visa cards for Disney tickets

There are technically two versions of the Disney Visa. The cards come with some cool perks and discounts, but they aren’t the absolute best options for maximizing your ongoing spending to earn a future Disney vacation.

The no-annual-fee Disney® Visa® Card (see rates and fees) earns a simple 1% back on all card purchases in the form of Disney Rewards Dollars you can use at Disney.

Then there’s the Disney® Premier Visa® Card, (see rates and fees) which has a $49 annual fee. It earns 5% back on card purchases made directly at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com and ESPNPlus.com; 2% back on purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and most domestic Disney locations in the U.S.; and 1% back everywhere else.

In both cases, the Disney Rewards Dollars you earn can be used toward expenses at the Disney parks, on a Disney cruise or on other Disney-related purchases. This means that it’s not a bad option if you want a simple way to rack up rewards for a Disney trip, especially if you lock in the current elevated sign-up bonus.

Bottom line

Mathematically, there are more lucrative applications for reward points than Disney ticket purchases, but the best use of points is always the one that makes your travel dreams come true. So, if Disney is what you want for a future trip, you can make that dream come true with points.

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