This page will constantly be updated with news, notes and tips that we find during the Keys to the Magic Kingdom Challenge, so be sure to bookmark this page:
Combining Starwood Points (Posted 3/11/2106): Your Starwood points will be split across the two accounts if you have two spouses opening cards, so you need to combine them to take advantage of the 5th Night Free promotion. Combining is free and takes about two minutes.
Just login to one of your Starwood Preferred Guest accounts and
- Click your name in the upper right corner to expand a list of options.
- In the area labeled “Starpoints & Awards”, click on “Redeem Starpoints” and then click the “More Options” item near the top.
- Scroll down to “Give Starpoints” and when you expand that list you’ll click “Transfer Starpoints.”
- You’ll just need their name and Starwood account number and you’re all set.
Points Expiration with different types of cards (Posted 2/26/2016): We’ve been asked how the point expiration works when you close your credit card and you haven’t yet redeemed your points/miles. There is no short answer to this question, as it depends on the type of credit card, so we’ll try to give you the 3 main categories and examples:
- Fixed value credit cards such as the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and Capital One Venture: These points reside in your credit card account, so if you close the credit card while you still have points, you would lose them. The easy way to avoid this is to use the points! In our case with the Disney trip, that is easy as you can just purchase your WDW tickets through Undercover Tourist whenever you want and have no danger of losing these miles.
- Airline and Hotel branded cards such as the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express and Southwest Airlines card send their points to your rewards account at the respective airline or hotel each month and they are no longer related to your credit card from that point forward. They are in your rewards account and are yours to keep. So if you close your credit card and you still have points remaining in let’s say your Starwood hotel account, they are yours.
- Important note: While the points in the rewards account are yours to keep, they do potentially expire if you have “no account activity.” The expiration schedule varies by airline/hotel but for our plan the relevant ones:
- Southwest: 24 months
- Starwood: 12 months
- Note: Your travel does not have to take place in this time period, just the award booking. So for the Starwood card for instance you would really have almost 3 years from the time you open the card to the time you travel (if you follow our insider tip below…)
- Insider Tip: If you do plan to close your credit card, we suggest you make one small purchase on the card in the month prior to closing it and then pay it off right away. This small points amount will be transferred to your airline/hotel account and will reset the clock on the expiration of all your points.
- Important note: While the points in the rewards account are yours to keep, they do potentially expire if you have “no account activity.” The expiration schedule varies by airline/hotel but for our plan the relevant ones:
- Transferable points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards from Chase Sapphire Preferred: Your Ultimate Rewards points reside in your Chase bank account and if you close the credit card while you still had points, you would lose them. The simple way to avoid that is to either transfer them to a hotel/airline partner (Southwest, United, Hyatt, etc.), cash them in for a check, or book travel through the Chase travel portal. It is very hard to lose these points as you just need to make sure you redeem or transfer them prior to closing.
- Insider Tip: You can combine your Ultimate Rewards points with a member of your family if they also have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card. So if their card is remaining open, you can combine them at the Chase account level instead of being forced to redeem or transfer them when you close your card.
- Insider Tip #2: If you happen to have a Chase Freedom or Chase Ink Cash card open with points on them, you can also combine these normally less valuable Ultimate Rewards points into your Sapphire Preferred/Sapphire Reserve/Ink Business Preferred account to make them all the more valuable transferable UR points.
Disney Swan Changing Categories and will cost more points (Posted 2/24/2016): The Disney Swan hotel is moving from a Category 4 to a Category 5 Starwood hotel on 3/1/16. This means that bookings made on or after 3/1/16 will cost 12,000 points per night most of the year (and 16,000 points per night on the as yet to be announced “peak” dates).
We will now focus on the Disney Dolphin hotel which remained a Category 4 and costs 10,000 Starwood points per night.
Swan/Dolphin Update: Suites and Using Points for Food and airport rides (Posted 2/24/2016): We called the Swan/Dolphin hotel on 2/23/16 and learned some valuable information:
- If you use your points to pay for a standard room at the Dolphin, there are upgrade possibilities to pay a cash amount per night to get a larger room or even a suite. To add on any of these upgrades, you have to call the Swan/Dolphin at 407-934-4000:
- Rollaway Bed: You can add a rollaway bed to any standard room for $25 per night.
- Dolphin “alcove” Deluxe Family Room: For $90 per night you can upgrade to this 500 sf room that has a pullout sleeper sofa. They told me there aren’t that many of these alcove rooms with two double beds plus the sleeper sofa in the Dolphin, so if that is a priority (which it will be for most larger families), you may need some flexibility with your dates.
- Dolphin Executive Suite: This adds a 480 sf “parlor” that adjoins your bedroom and has a pullout sofa, a SICO bed, a 2nd bathroom and a seating area with TV. This costs $200 per night additional or you can use 10,000 points per not (not a great deal for the points).
- Dolphin Grand Suite: This adds a 480 sf “parlor” that ajoins your bedroom and has a pullout sofa plus a dining room table, 2nd bathroom and seating area with TV. This costs $240 per night additional or 10,000 points per night.
- Another option for the suite upgrade is that you can actually pay for two standard bedrooms with points (it would be 20,000 points per night for the 2 rooms) and then add the $200-$240 cash payment to create a 1,100+ sf apartment with 2-bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. This would be great for two families traveling together.
- You can also guarantee yourself a room with a balcony for 1,000 Starwood points per night.
- Food purchases made at any of the restaurants on the resort can be charged back to the room. What this means is that when you go to pay your bill at checkout, all your food can be paid for with your travel rewards credit card (Capital One Venture, Barclaycard Arrival Plus or Capital One Spark Miles for Business) and it will be a hotel “travel” expense that you can use your miles to reimburse.
- Transportation to/from the Orlando Airport has previously been the most difficult aspect of the plan to use credit card rewards points, but we just found the first (of hopefully many) ways to do this: If you call the concierge at the Swan/Dolphin, they can book the Mears car service for you and this charge will get put on your hotel bill. As with the food charges above, you can use your rewards credit card at checkout and this will be a travel expense on your credit card statement.
Do WDW Tickets Expire? (Posted 2/24/2016): Disney World park tickets purchased through Undercover Tourist do not expire before your first use (they do expire 14 days after your first use). So there is no downside to purchasing them early and you can avoid future ticket price increases this way.
Children under 3 enter parks for free (Posted 2/24/2016): If your child is under 3 years old, they do not need a park ticket at Walt Disney World. We went the week before my youngest daughter turned 3 and she did not need a ticket!
Don’t add authorized user unless necessary (Posted 2/24/2016): The world of credit card rewards is ever-changing and we have some updated advice: If you don’t need to add your significant other on your credit card account as an “authorized user” in order to hit the minimum spending requirement, we advise that you do not add them.
Chase has recently made it more difficult to get approved for credit cards if you’ve opened 5 or more in the last 24 months (including from other banks and cards you’re an authorized user on), so if at all possible don’t add an AU.
Both Adults Can Apply for Credit Cards (Posted 2/24/2016): It is important that you remember that each adult can open every single credit card in their own name and social security number and earn the large signup bonus even if they were added as an authorized user on someone else’s account for that same card.
So for instance, I opened the Chase Sapphire Preferred and added Laura as an AU and then she turned around and opened the card as well and added me as an AU. We each earned the bonus after reaching the minimum spending requirement, so this allows you to double up on the entire universe of these bonuses.
Stay at home spouses can apply for credit cards and use household income.
No Change/Cancellation Fees with Southwest & Starwood (Posted 2/24/2016): Our two recommended programs with the Disney Challenge are Starwood and Southwest Airlines. Both these programs allow you to cancel/change your reservations with rewards points for $0 in fees! So you can book your flights and nights without worry as you can cancel/change them if something comes up.