Pretty much every kid wants to visit the “Happiest Place on Earth,” and many parents want to see the magic in their kid’s eyes as they experience Disneyland for the first time. But do you know what’s not so magical about the “Happiest Place on Earth”? How expensive it is!! Luckily, there are ways to reduce those costs by using points to visit Disneyland on a budget.

In this post, I will share how you can get your flights, hotel, and park tickets using credit card points. This will cover a lot, and not every family is going to want to use points for everything. . For example, if you plan to drive to Disneyland, then flights won’t be of interest to you. My example will be for a family of five, but it should give you a good idea of how to plan a Disneyland vacation on a budget for families of all sizes.

As you read, don’t forget about two-player mode that I mentioned in the beginner’s guide. Just because you may already have one of these cards doesn’t mean your spouse can’t get their own! It’s easier to rack up those points to visit Disneyland if you both are getting credit cards.

 

Flights

 

JetBlue is a good option for flights to the Disneyland area

 

Using points for your flights is one way to visit Disneyland on a budget. All of the major airlines fly to LAX or the surrounding airports.  I will be focusing on Southwest, JetBlue, and Delta as they cost the least amount of points from Salt Lake City. These prices show random dates that I plugged in and may not be the current prices or the prices for the days you wish to go. Make sure you go online and check award prices for your specific dates. If you can be flexible with your travel dates, you will most likely be able to get more bang for your buck, or in this case, points.

 

 

Southwest

Southwest is a great budget option for Disneyland flights. I love being able to check my bags for free, and I love how reasonable their award prices are.

You can typically find tickets from SLC-LAX for around 7,000 – 15,000 points per person roundtrip. For a family of 5, that puts you around 35,000 points and $56 in taxes/fees in with the flight I found below. Check out the low-price calendar on the Southwest to get an idea of the cost for your dates and departing airport.

Below is an example of what you could find. Both are direct flights. You’ll see the departing flight is fewer points. I could get that return flight for the same price by staying an extra day. It took me just three minutes max to pull this up. You don’t even need a Southwest account to do this.

 

Using the 30-day calendar helps me find cheap flights like this.

 

How to Get Southwest Points

To get the points, you will need to open a Southwest Card. There are three personal Southwest credit cards you can choose from. The cards switch up the signup bonuses every so often. Most commonly, the bonuses on these cards are 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in 3 months. Once a year or so, they jump up to 60,000+ points. For the last two years, this happened around May or June and then again right around the beginning of the year.

Sidenote: You can only have one personal Southwest card at a time and won’t be eligible for the bonus if you have received a bonus on any Southwest personal card in the last 24 months.

Southwest also offers two businesses card, the Southwest Premier Business and Performance Business Card.

One thing to consider is the Southwest Companion Pass. If you earn 135,000 points in a calendar year, you can fly someone free with you for a year (or more, depending on when you qualify for it).

You can also acquire Southwest points by opening any Ultimate Rewards earning card and transferring those points into your Southwest account. Those cards include the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred. Click here to learn more about Ultimate Rewards, including how to earn them and why they are our favorite points currency.

 

 

JetBlue

In a quick search, I found direct flights from Salt Lake City to LAX. These flights are 8,100 points each way. . JetBlue is a Chase transfer partner, so you could transfer Chase Ulitmate Rewards or open a JetBlue card. American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points also transfer to JetBle.

 

 

Delta

Delta doesn’t publish an award chart, so it is a little tricky to know how many points it will cost to get your family to Disneyland. In a recent search, I found tickets from SLC-LAX for 11,000 miles per person. Going off that number, you would need 55,000 miles to fly your family. Taxes/fees would be $56.

 

How to Get Delta Miles

Delta has four personal credit cards. I would recommend the Delta Gold card. The standard sign-up bonus is around 30,000-40,000 miles. That is a terrible offer, don’t sign up for that! Delta will periodically increase the offer to 70,000 points. Keep your eyes out for that. If you and your spouse already have the Gold Card, you can look into the Delta Platinum card. There are also three Delta business cards.

Delta is also a transfer partner of the American Express Membership Rewards program. American Express Membership Rewards is similar to the Chase Ultimate Rewards program.

There are a lot of variables that will factor into the cost of your airline tickets, such as: how flexible you can be with dates, how many people are in your family, where you are flying from, what cards you already have, etc. Hopefully, some of you can get your family of five there using one signup bonus. In this case, a Southwest card, a Chase Ultimate Reward earning card like the Sapphire Preferred, or a 70,000-point Delta offer are your best bets. Otherwise, at the minimum, you should be able to get a large chunk of airline costs deferred by opening up one card.

 

 

Hotels

Another way to visit Disneyland on a budget is by using points for your hotel stay. There is definitely not a shortage of hotel options when it comes to finding a place to stay near Disneyland! You could stay on a property at a Disneyland hotel or a chain hotel or book just about any hotel (besides Disney) on the Chase Travel Portal. Staying at a Disneyland hotel is going to be the priciest option, but you can defer those costs through credit card signup bonuses. If you’d like to stay off-property, you should get 3-4 nights free from one credit card signup bonus.

 

Disneyland On-Property Hotels

 

Disneyland hotel pool

 

If you aren’t as concerned with doing Disneyland on a budget and are looking to splurge, look no further than an on-property Disneyland hotel! The three on-property hotels are Disney’s Grand California Hotel & Spa, The Disneyland Hotel, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. While they are much more expensive, they have perks like Extra Magic Hour and convenient locations next to the parks.

Below is an example of what you could potentially pay for four nights at the Disneyland Hotel. The dates I used for was a Sunday to Thursday. Oftentimes the rooms are less expensive on those days of the week. The price includes 3-day park hopper passes. I used Get Away Today to find this deal.

 

Ok, $4,500 for park tickets and hotel is a lot! I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to pay that much, even if I got free flights! So let’s talk about how to get that price down. There aren’t any hotel points that you can use towards a Disneyland hotel. There is a Chase Disney credit card, but it comes with a measly $250 sign-up bonus and an annual fee of $49. We can do better than that!

 

 

How to Get the Points

The Capital One Venture card has a standard bonus of 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in 3 months. Those 60,000 points are worth a $600 statement credit that essentially “erases” a travel purchase. To do this, log into your account and open your statement. Next to your travel purchases, you should see an option to redeem points. From there, decide how many points you would like to redeem, and voila! You will then receive a statement credit.

The key here is to book your hotel through a travel agency, like Get Away Today,  so that it will code as a travel purchase. If you purchase directly from Disney, this won’t work. Don’t forget to use code THM10 for an additional $10 off! If you and your spouse both wanted to open a card to save $1,200, I would talk to the travel agency and see if they can split the cost between the two cards.

After you make a travel purchase, you have 90 days to go into your account and use your points to get your statement credit. This is great because you can book your Disneyland hotel stay on the card before you have the points and still have time to redeem them for a statement credit.

 

 

Chain Hotels

There are a variety of hotel chains close to Disneyland that are budget-friendly. If you have a particular hotel you love staying at, when you go to Disney, check to see if they offer a co-branded credit card that comes with a great sign-up bonus to get you some free nights.

Our favorite chain hotel is Hyatt, in large part because of their very reasonable award chart and the fact that they are a transfer partner with Chase Ultimate Rewards. I also love that they don’t have any taxes/fees when you pay with points. It is literally FREE! I particularly like to stay at Hyatt Place or Hyatt House when we travel as a family. Both offer free breakfast and have a generous occupancy rate. These are the two Hyatt hotels I would recommend when staying near Disneyland:

 

1. Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort

The Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort/Convention Center charges 15,000 points per night. This room includes two queen beds and a pull-out sofa bed. Free breakfast and a pool are also nice perks! It is less than a mile from the park.

 

 

2. Hyatt House Anaheim Resort

 

 

The Hyatt House also charges 15,000 points per night. Availability is a little harder to come by for a family of five. A family of four is able to find good availability for a room with a king bed and a sofa bed. The location is a little better than Hyatt Place. It also includes free breakfast and a pool.  Any hotel that includes free breakfast keeps us on budget when visiting Disneyland.

 

 

How to Get the Points

You can get points by opening the World of Hyatt Credit Card. You’ll also receive one free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort every year after your cardmember anniversary.

You can also acquire Hyatt points by opening any Ultimate Rewards earning card and transferring those points into your Hyatt account. Those cards include the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred.

All information about the World of Hyatt Credit Card has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The World of Hyatt Credit Card is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

 

Chase Travel Portal Hotels

The Chase Travel Portal is a great option for booking hotels near Disneyland. Your points are worth 1.25 cents (1.5 if you have the Sapphire Reserve). You can find a lot of hotels near Disneyland that are budget-friendly and offer free breakfast, a pool, and a separate sleeping area for the kids. Prices start around 8,000 points at the low end and go up from there. This screenshot from the portal shows just a few of the hotel options and prices.

 

 

 

Here is a closer look at three family-friendly hotels you can book on the portal.

 

 

Desert Palm Inn & Suites

 

 

The Desert Palms Inn & Suites has various room options, including the option of a King bed and a separate room with bunk beds. Free breakfast is included.

 

 

Staybridge Suites Anaheim Resort Area

 

 

If you are looking to have your own kitchen, then the Staybridge Suites is a great option. It also includes free breakfasts.

 

 

Best Western Plus Raffles Inn & Suites

 

 

The Best Western Plus Raffles Inn & Suites is one of the cheaper hotels available. It includes breakfast and, as you can see from the picture, offers plenty of room.

There are many, many more options in the portal. One thing that’s nice about the portal is that you can pay with points and cash. If you don’t have enough points or don’t want to use them all, then no biggie! Just use what you want!

 

 

How to Get the Points

To book in the portal, you will need Chase Ultimate Rewards. You can earn Ultimate Rewards by opening the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Business Preferred, or any other Ultimate Rewards earning cards. Check out this post to learn more about how to earn them and why they are so great.

 

 

Park Tickets

Is it just me, or does it seem like Disneyland increases the cost of park tickets every year?! I took my oldest a few years ago with my sisters and his cousins. We had points for our flight and hotel, but I couldn’t believe how expensive the tickets were! And that was just for the two of us!! Luckily, you can stay on budget when you visit Disneyland by using points for your ticket.

If you read about how to save on your Disneyland hotel and park tickets package, this will sound familiar as it is the same card I mentioned there.

 

 

How to Get the Points

To save $600 on your Disneyland park tickets, you will want to open the Capital One Venture Card. After you spend $4,000 on the card, you will earn 60,000 venture miles which are worth $600 towards travel in the form of a statement credit on travel purchases. The key to all of this is buying your tickets from a travel agency like Get Away Today. If you buy your tickets from Disneyland directly, they won’t code as travel on your statement, and therefore you won’t be able to get a credit on the purchase. Also, Get Away Today’s tickets are a little bit cheaper, so you should book with them even if you don’t get a credit card!

 

Below you will find the prices for five park hopper tickets from Get Away Today. Knowing Disneyland, these prices won’t stay accurate for long, so don’t rely on these numbers!

 

 

For a family of 4, 3-Day Park Hopper tickets will cost you $1,610. If you open a Capital One Venture Card, you will save $600, making the total $1,010! Keep in mind that if your spouse opens the card as well, you will want to split your purchase between them.

 

 

 

Conclusion

I hope this has helped you see how doable a Disneyland vacation using points is and that you can visit Disneyland on a budget. There are so many options for cutting the cost. You could open up one card for flights, one for your hotel stay, and one for park tickets and have most of your vacation paid for. If you’d rather drive, you can get a card for your hotel stay and park tickets. And if you just want to save an easy $600 on tickets, that is a super easy option!