How We Used Points & Miles for a Disney World Girls Trip
Disney World is expensive. There’s really no way around that.
But that doesn’t mean you have to pay full price for every part of the trip.
I recently took my girls to Walt Disney World for a girls trip, and we used points and miles to cover two of our biggest expenses — our flights to Orlando and five nights at our hotel.
And there’s even a way you may be able to use miles to cover a big chunk of your Disney park tickets.
Here’s exactly how we booked our Disney World trip, what we paid, and a few things I’d tell any friend planning to take her kids to Disney.
Affiliate disclosure: Moms Chasing Miles may receive compensation if you apply for a credit card through links on this page. This does not affect our opinions or recommendations. Offers are subject to change. Always review the issuer’s current terms before applying.
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Our Disney World Girls Trip
We spent five nights in Orlando and visited all four Walt Disney World parks:
Magic Kingdom
Animal Kingdom
EPCOT
Hollywood Studios
We stayed at Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, just outside Walt Disney World.
We purposely didn’t plan every minute of every day, and I’m glad we didn’t because Florida weather had other plans for us more than once. 😂
Between rain, lightning delays and ride closures, we changed plans several times throughout the trip.
And honestly? It was still such a good trip.
How We Booked Our Flights to Orlando With Points
We flew American Airlines from Pensacola to Orlando with a connection in Miami.
If we had booked those exact flights with cash, they would have cost $354 per person.
For the three of us, that would’ve been $1,062 just to get to Orlando.
But we didn’t use American Airlines miles to book them.
Instead, I transferred Capital One miles to Qantas Frequent Flyer and then used Qantas points to book our American Airlines flights.
Our flights cost:
13,800 Qantas points + $5.60 per person
So instead of paying $1,062 for the three of us, we used:
41,400 Qantas points + $16.80 total
This is one of the biggest things I want people to understand about transferable points.
You don’t always book through the airline you’re actually flying.
Because airlines have partnerships and alliances, sometimes you can use one airline’s points to book a flight operated by another airline.
That’s exactly what we did here.
We transferred our Capital One miles to Qantas and then used those Qantas points to book flights operated by American Airlines.
Why We Paid Cash for Our Flight Home
I love points, but I’m also not going to use them just because I have them.
For our flight home, Breeze Airways had a nonstop flight back to our home airport for $49 per person when we booked.
At that price, I was perfectly happy paying cash and saving our points for another trip.
This is something I always recommend checking before transferring points for a flight:
What would this flight cost if I just paid cash?
Sometimes points are the obvious winner.
Other times there’s a cheap cash fare and I’d rather save my points for a more expensive trip.
Points are valuable because they give you options — not because you have to use them for every single booking.
Our Disney World Hotel: Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
For our five-night stay, we chose Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress.
And this ended up being one of my favorite decisions of the entire trip.
The cash price for our five nights was:
$1,122.75
Instead, we booked all five nights for:
80,000 World of Hyatt points
That saved us more than $1,100 on one of the biggest expenses of our Disney trip.
World of Hyatt points can be earned in several ways, including through hotel stays and eligible credit card rewards programs.
For this trip, we already had the points in our World of Hyatt account, so we used 80,000 points instead of paying the $1,122.75 cash rate.
How You May Be Able to Use Capital One Miles for Disney World Tickets
This is one I think a LOT of families planning Disney should know about.
Depending on where you purchase your Disney tickets and how the transaction codes, you may be able to use Capital One miles toward the cost.
The important part is that Disney tickets purchased directly from Disney may not code as a travel purchase.
However, authorized Disney ticket sellers such as Undercover Tourist sell Walt Disney World tickets, and purchases may code as travel depending on the transaction.
If your ticket purchase is eligible, Capital One miles can be redeemed toward qualifying travel purchases on your account.
For example:
75,000 Capital One miles = $750 toward eligible travel purchases
For a family buying several Disney tickets, $750 could cover a pretty big chunk of that expense.
The key here is merchant coding.
I would never buy tickets assuming they’ll qualify without checking the current terms and how the purchase is categorized.
But if you’re planning a Disney trip and already have Capital One miles, this is absolutely something worth knowing about.
For this trip, we actually paid cash for our Disney tickets.
Disney was offering a Florida resident summer deal for just $249 per person for four park days, which was a killer deal.
Instead of using points, we used the purchase toward the spending requirement for the welcome offer on a new
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express we had opened.
This is something we do pretty often when we know we have a larger expense coming up. If we're already going to spend the money, we may time a new card around that expense so the spending can help us earn a welcome offer toward a future trip.
This is exactly why I love points and miles for family travel.
I’m not trying to make every single vacation completely free.
I’m looking at the expensive pieces of a trip and asking:
Is there a way our points can cover this instead?
Sometimes that’s the flights.
Sometimes it’s the hotel.
Sometimes paying cash is actually the better deal.
And sometimes points can help with an expense you might not have realized was even an option.
Our Favorite Disney World Rides
The girls surprised me with how much they were willing to ride this trip.
At Magic Kingdom, we waited around an hour and a half for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train after lightning delays.
Once we had already waited that long, there was no turning back. 😂
We also rode TRON, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and plenty of our other Magic Kingdom favorites.
At Animal Kingdom, we rode Expedition Everest and Flight of Passage.
At EPCOT, we rode Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
And Guardians?
Best ride of the entire trip.
That was the unanimous winner.
How Much Did Points Save Us on Our Disney Trip?
Just looking at two of the biggest expenses we booked with points:
Hotel
Cash price for five nights: $1,122.75
What we paid: 80,000 World of Hyatt points
Flights to Orlando
Cash price for three tickets: $1,062
What we paid: 41,400 Qantas points + $16.80
The cash price of just our hotel and outbound flights would’ve been:
$2,184.75
Instead, we used points for both.
And that’s before considering the potential to use Capital One miles toward eligible travel purchases for Disney tickets.
Is Disney World Worth It With Kids?
For me, absolutely.
Disney is expensive.
It’s hot.
It rains.
Rides go down.
Your perfectly planned schedule will probably go sideways at least once.
Ours certainly did. 😂
But I also know they’re only this little once.
I’d rather figure out ways to make trips like this more affordable than keep putting them off for “someday.”
Points and miles don’t magically make Disney free.
But they can help take a big chunk out of some of the most expensive parts of the trip.
And for our family, that’s exactly what makes points and miles worth learning.
Want to Use Points for Your Next Family Trip?
If you’re reading this thinking, Okay, but how do you actually get enough points to book trips like this? — that’s exactly what we teach at Moms Chasing Miles.
We use credit card rewards and travel loyalty programs to help make family travel more affordable — without needing to spend a fortune to earn the points.
If you’re planning a trip, start by looking at the current offers we’re watching and deciding which rewards would actually be useful for your travel plans.
Disclaimer: Moms Chasing Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as bankrate.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
