Sharon and I have been Disney fans for most of our lives. It should be no surprise that we have the Disney Rewards Visa credit card offered by Chase.
When it was introduced, I had my application in before the card was released. My card still says Cardmember since DAY 1. It’s not the first Disney card I’ve had in my life. As you see, I’ve had several.
I still have my account and occasionally use the card to ensure that Chase doesn’t close my account for inactivity.
Why keep a card that I don’t use? There are several reasons:
- The card has no annual fee
- I’ve had the card for a long time, so it helps my credit score
- I like having a Disney card
- The card has valuable benefits when visiting Disney Themeparks
Annual Fee
The Disney Visa card has no annual fee.
Sign-Up Bonus
The Disney Visa Card offers a $150 statement credit after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening with this link. We receive a referral bonus if you sign up with our link, which is always appreciated.
Per Chase’s rules, this product is only available if you don’t currently have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card in the past 24 months. Applicants must also be under Chase’s 5/24 requirement.
Foreign Transaction Fee
If you use this card internationally, you’ll pay a 3% foreign transaction fee. It’s best to leave this card at home when traveling outside the U.S. and use a card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.
Earning Disney Reward Dollars
The Disney Visa Card earns Disney Reward Dollars. You’ll earn 1% in Disney Rewards Dollars on everyday card purchases.
Additional Card Benefits
- 10% savings on purchases at Disney Store or ShopDisney.com
- 10% off select merchandise purchases of $50 or more at select locations at Walt Disney World and Disneyland
- Disney Character Experiences and Star Wars Character Experiences at our private Cardmember locations at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts. You’ll receive downloads of your photos to mark your visit
- 10% off select dining locations most days at Disneyland and Walt Disney World
- 10% off the non-discounted price of select guided tours at the Walt Disney World Resort
- 0% promo APR for the first six months following the purchase date on select Disney vacation packages or purchase of a real estate interest, including a Member Add On, in a Disney Vacation Club Resort, provided your account is not past due on the purchase date
That’s a bunch of benefits but what are they worth and should you use the card for everyday spending?
The 1% in reward dollars on purchases is abysmal. If you had a different card from Chase, like the Freedom Unlimited card, you would earn a least 1.5% cashback on all purchases, so earning only 1% back is disappointing in comparison. I look back to when I used a $200 credit I earned with this card for a Disney Cruise. That means I put $20,000 of charges on this card over several years. I could have placed that spending on a card that would have earned me so much more if I had known better back then. Don’t make the same mistake I did.
10% savings on Disney purchases might be a great value to you but we don’t buy many things at Disney anymore. If we do, it’s rarely over $50. YMMV.
Disney and Star Wars Character Experiences. This is a perk that can save you a bunch of time. When we went, the line for the Star Wars Experience was around 45 minutes. After showing my Disney Visa, we were escorted to a special line and waited 5 minutes before our audience with Darth Vader. I’m keeping the card for this benefit alone.
Darth Vader was not happy with Sharon’s photobomb
The 10% off dining overlaps with the discount I get from my Disney Vacation Club membership, so I don’t get any additional value from it.
We’ve done all the Disney tours we’ve wanted to see, so the 10% off the non-discounted price of tours isn’t helpful to us.
I have used the 0% interest when paying for a cruise once since I’ve had the card.
I value some perks the card offers and I keep it because it has no annual fee. You see, keeping cards that cost you nothing is a good thing. One part of determining your credit score is your average account age. Holding a card for a long time increases your accounts’ average age (and when getting started in this hobby, you can open several cards quickly. If you have a thin credit history, that average account age can drop fast). I’ve had this card since 2003 and have no intention of getting rid of it.
Finally, I really do like having a Disney Credit Card. It’s something I think I’ve had as long as I’ve had credit. I’m not totally thrilled with the card design I currently have (Sharon and I both have cards on the account and I picked the design with her in mind; at the time she was a huge Tinker Bell fan).
So I’m keeping my no-annual-fee Disney card with Tinker Bell on it. If you’re a Disney fan, it’s a worthwhile thing to think about…it’s just not a great card to put spending on.
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6 comments
Since most Wag pharmacists have Fidelity accounts, their Visa card rewards get turned into dollars, which Re automatically deposited into your account quarterly.
The Fidelity Rewards Visa is another example of a card, like the Citi Double Cash, that earns 2% back on all purchases with no annual fee. It’s a solid option for those looking for a cash back card. As you mentioned, it does work best for those who already have Fidelity accounts since that is the only way to deposit your earnings.
[…] Credit Cards • Joe’s review of the Citi Prestige credit card. • An explanation of why we have a Disney Rewards Visa card but hardly ever use it. […]
Correction: At Disney Stores outside of the parks it’s a 10% discount on all purchases regardless of the amount. Our mall has a Disney store with excellent sales all the time, like 7 t-shirts and we get the discount on all of our purchases. This is the only time we use this card (except once on an AirBnb when there was a chase offer).
Thanks for catching that. I’ve corrected the post.
Or you can save the credit pull if you’re a Chase checking account holder by changing your debit card to a Disney Debit card and you get the character experience, Disney Store discounts and same or similar park benefits. They also offer a choice of card designs too.