March 21, 2023
Our Trip to Disneyland on Points
Alex
In the fall of 2021 my kids and I went to Disneyland with my mom, sisters, nieces, and nephews. We had a group of 14 and we had such a great time! Of course, we visited Disneyland on points. Credit card points and credit card benefits helped us save big time for this trip. We also maximized our spending to earn more points on the things we didn’t use points for. I’m going to break down exactly how we did this vacation on points so you can do it too! And if you’d like to learn more, listen to this episode of our PODCAST!
Our big Disneyland crew
Flights to Disneyland
I brought my three older boys on this trip while my husband stayed home with our then one-year-old. Best decision ever! That left us with four flights to purchase. For our Disneyland trip on points, we flew Southwest Airlines into John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. The last time we went to Disneyland we flew into LAX and flying into SNA was so much better. After landing we took a Lyft and were at the hotel just 20 minutes later! We also loved that it is a smaller airport and is a lot less busy.
When I first booked our flights back in July the total was 15,000 points per person. I kept checking though and the price eventually dropped to 11,000 points per person so I re-booked and got back 20,000 points! The cash price was about $900 so I was super happy to pay 44,000 points instead! Unfortunately, my husband was the only the Southwest Companion Pass holder at the time so I wasn’t able to fly anyone for free but 11,000 per person for a roundtrip flight is pretty good!
Interested in learning more about the Southwest credit cards? Check out this post.
Disneyland Hotel Stay
We stayed at the Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort/Convention Center. This hotel is a category four hotel and runs 15,000 points a night at standard pricing. This means you can use your World of Hyatt card annual free night certificate here! And that is exactly what we did. My mom had two free night certificates and I had one so that is how we booked our three nights there.
Cash prices weren’t bad either and my sisters used cash for their bookings. One of them booked a room with a separate bedroom that had bunk beds which would be great!
I recommend Hyatt Place for when you visit Disneyland on points. This is a place that I would totally stay at again. I am a big fan of Hyatt Place hotels because the rooms have two queen beds plus a pull-out sofa bed. We were able to comfortably fit five of us (my mom, my three boys, and me) in the room.
We enjoyed a free breakfast each morning which was great before we headed off for a full day at the parks. The common items seemed to be french toast or french toast sticks, eggs, sausage, and potatoes. There was also toast, cereal, fruit, juices, and coffee. We were up bright and early for rope drop and there weren’t too many people at breakfast. On our last morning, before we headed to the airport, the breakfast area was super busy!
Time to fuel up before we hit the park!
The location of the hotel was great. It is located across the street from the Toy Story parking lot and within walking distance of the parks. We walked to the park each morning (about 15 minutes) stopped by CVS on the way and bought a few treats and water. At night we took the shuttle back to the Toy Story parking lot.
If you want to earn points for a Hyatt stay at Disneyland then I would look into a Chase Ultimate Rewards card, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the World of Hyatt card, or the World of Hyatt Business card.
Disneyland Tickets
Interested in using points to pay for your tickets? Check out this post.
Star War’s Galaxy Edge was a Disneyland highlight for sure!
Bottom Line
We had a great time visiting Disneyland on points! Disneyland is pricey so finding savings wherever you can is huge! With the welcome bonus on the Southwest credit card, you can probably fly your family to Disneyland too! Being able to use the free night certificate that comes with the World of Hyatt card and not dipping into our Hyatt points was so nice. That free night that comes with that card is a big reason why we love that card so much. There are ways that you can use your points for your Disneyland park tickets but if you decide to use them for other things like I did, you can find ways to earn more points on that purchase! However you do it, Disneyland on points is totally doable and always a fun time!
Related Posts
Podcast #16 Points & Pixie Dust: Using Points and Miles To A Dream Disney Vacation
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Any tips for booking the Hyatt Place Anaheim. I can’t find available dates.
We always look one day at a time and try and build a trip that way. If you look for a week or days at a time, there might be just one day that there is not availability and it cancels it all out.