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Hotel options for Disney World abound. You can stay at a Disney resort, you can stay on property at the Swan or Dolphin, which get some Disney hotel perks but aren't operated by Disney, you can stay on property at other hotels, or you can stay off property. Each of these options will have ways to book using points. In this post, we go through a few different options for book your Disney World stay with points and give a quick overview of each.
Basics of this Post
Nothing in this post is revolutionary, but it is a thorough collection of the best options to consider if you want to use credit card / hotel points to book your Disney World stay. The basic outline is straightforward:
You can earn points (hotel or credit card or cash back) using credit cards or by staying at hotels
These points can be used to book hotels in various chains
Some of those chains have hotels near Disney World that can be booked with points
This post simply identifies good hotel options near Walt Disney World and explains very briefly how many points they require and where you might get these points (usually through signup bonuses for credit cards).
We focus mostly on hotels that have Extra Magic Hours and the 60-day FastPass+ booking window, which is why we focus mostly on Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels. If you don’t know what those two perks are, then you’re too early in your planning process to be picking your hotel. (Read more about Disney hotel perks here.)
Those perks are changing on a year-by-year basis and may be subject to restrictions. When they first debuted for these hotels, you needed to book a vacation package through Disney to get them. Now most or all guests get them. If you decide to pursue one of these points bookings, I strongly recommend you confirm with the hotel that guests booking with points will get the indicated perks.
Those points aside, it bears mentioning there are loads of other hotels near Disney World that can be booked with points. Virtually every major hotel chain (including some mentioned on this list) operates multiple hotels in the area. We are focusing on the hotels that get you the most perks, but—particularly if you’d like to use fewer points per night—you also might research other hotels in the chains.
Using Credit Card Points Directly For Stays
These first two methods involving using points from the major credit card companies to pay directly for your stay (i.e. you don’t transfer the points to a hotel chain or use points earned from a hotel chain).
We’re mostly thinking of Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou in this section, but other programs might apply too. We’re not talking about hotel credit cards or transferring points to hotel chains in this section. That’s next.
Using Statement Credits for Disney Hotels
Don’t do this (probably). I’m mentioning it because as booking your Disney trip with points has become more difficult, this is pretty much the only way to book Disney’s hotels at Walt Disney World with points.
Most credit card points are redeemable for statement credits. Some “points”—like those you earn with Discover—are only cash back, so can only be used this way.
At Chase, for example, Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1 cent each as a statement credit (this is “good” value for statement credits, by the way). This means if you have 75,000 points and you book a stay at All Star Sports for $750, you can redeem the 75,000 points for a $750 statement credit and you’ve effectively “booked” your Disney hotel with points.
The thing is—statement credits are almost always a bad use of points. They’re not always the worst, but they’re usually bad.
The problem is that if you have 75,000 Chase points, you can probably use them instead to book $937.50 worth of flights. Since you’re presumably flying to Walt Disney World, $937.50 is a better use of the points than $750.
That specific example won’t hold in every case, but you’ll always need to at least think twice before using points as a statement credit. There will usually be some better use for them, even if it isn’t Disney related.
Sure, you might think “but I want to go on this Disney trip for ‘free’ and I don’t fly to Disney World.” Fine. But do you fly anywhere? Or stay at any non-Disney hotels? Then chances are you can use your points for more than 1 cent each. You’re focused on the Disney trip, but if you compare these two options…
Redeem 75,000 points for Disney hotel; pay $900 for flights to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving
Pay $750 for Disney hotel; use 72,000 points for flights to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving
…it’s pretty clear which is the better option.
Booking Hotels Near Disney With Rewards Portals
While Disney’s own hotels seem to have disappeared from the portals operated by credit card companies, many hotels in the area are still available. This includes hotels that have the 60-day FastPass+ window and Extra Magic Hours.
This is usually better value than using a statement credit. But you won’t have the same amount of flexibility (since you’re confined to the hotels / prices available through the issuer’s travel portal).
Here’s the value you typically get when using your points for travel through the issue’s travel site vs. when using them for a statement credit:
Chase — 1 to 1.5 cents for travel vs. 1 cent for statement credit
Citi — 1 to 1.25 cents for travel vs. 0.5 cents for statement credit (1 cent for gift card redemptions) (also works with 4th Night Free)
Amex — 0.7 cents for hotel vs. 0.6 cents for statement credit (1 cent for air travel, gift card redemptions)
We have a Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards and a Guide to Booking Hotels Nears Disney World With Chase Ultimate Rewards Points that focus on that program specifically.
Pros of this Method: Okay use of points, easy to accumulate large numbers of points, credit cards are ideal for everyday use, can book most any hotel other than Disney hotels
Cons of this Method: Not great use of very valuable points (can get up to 10 cents per point for these)
Credit Cards Involved: Chase Ultimate Rewards Cards, American Express Membership Rewards Cards, Citi ThankYou Cards
Typical Rate: Varies by point type and hotel rate
Using Hotel Programs and Cards for Disney World Stays
Now let’s talk about hotel chain-specific programs and cards that you might use to book stays at Disney World. We’re going to cover six hotel chains and their major hotels in the area, along with what cards you’d use to earn the points (primarily via signup bonuses).
While I try to give some sense of whether this is a good use of your points, that’s beside the point for some of you. If you compare these redemption to every option in the U.S. or the world, sure, they’re in the middle or bottom of the pack. But if you’re talking about “hotels this close to Disney World” maybe “with this set of perks,” your universe is a lot smaller. It’s up to you how much you think you’d like to use these points for your Disney vacation vs. for some other trip.
Booking the Swan and Dolphin Marriott Points
Booking a stay at the Swan or Dolphin with points is your most straightforward option of getting a Disney experience with points. That's because those hotels are actually owned and operated by Marriott, which has a straightforward rewards program. We have a guide to booking the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin with points.
Pros of this Method: Swan & Dolphin are great hotels with key Disney benefits and a great location; Marriott points easy to use elsewhere if your plans change
Cons of this Method: Requires a lot of points; not the best use of Marriott points
Credit Cards Involved: Primary cards involved are:
American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant ($450 annual fee)
American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business ($125 annual fee)
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold — ($0 annual fee)
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless ($95 annual fee)
Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards cards can be helpful, too, but you usually won’t get good value transferring those points to Marriott. The Amex Bonvoy Brilliant Card also gets an annual free night (up to 50,000 points) that can be used at the Swan & Dolphin.
Typical Nightly Rate: 50,000 points per night
Book Three Disney Springs Hotels With Hilton Points
Three Disney Springs Hotels are Hilton Hotels, and as Hilton hotels, these hotels can be booked using Hilton points:
Pros of this Method: Hilton points aren’t too difficult to come by. Disney Springs hotels usually are considered better hotels (dollar for dollar) than the Disney hotels. You'll have access to Extra Magic Hours and 60-day FastPass+ window
Cons of this Method: Requires a lot of points, not a great use of Hilton points
Credit Cards Involved: Hilton Honors Card, Hilton Honors Surpass Card, Hilton Honors Business Card, Hilton Honors Aspire, American Express Cards earning Membership Rewards can also be used.
Typical Rate: 36,000 to 50,000 points per night
Book the Holiday Inn : Orlando-Disney Springs Area with IHG Rewards
The Holiday Inn: Orlando - Disney Spring Area—not to be confused with any of the other Holiday Inns in the area(!!)—is a Disney Springs Resort area hotel. A typical night costs 40,000 points, and the two IHG cards (issued by Chase) have signup bonuses of 140,000 ($89 annual fee card) and 60,000 (no annual fee card) points at the moment.
Pros of this Method: Easy to earn enough points for three nights; includes Extra Magic Hours and 60-day FastPass+ window
Cons of this Method: Poor use of points
Credit Cards Involved: IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, IHG Rewards Club Traveler Card (transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards card are usually awful use of points)
The Premier card ($89 annual fee) also comes with an annual free night (after 1 year) that (as of this update) could be applied to this hotel.
Book the Best Western Lake Buena Vista With BW rewards Points
The Best Western Lake Buena Vista is a Disney Springs Resort Area Hotel. It’s reasonably priced even if you’re not booking with points, but there’s no reason to ignore points options.
The only way to get these points in bulk is to earn the signup bonuses for the Best Western Rewards and Rewards Premium cards. You can earn 16,000 points with the no annual fee card’s bonus and 50,000 with the $59 annual fee card. A standard night at the Best Western goes for 16,000 points, making this a fine way to scoop up three free nights.
Pros of this method: Straightforward and good use of points (unless you have another bucket list Best Western); includes Extra Magic Hours and 60-day FastPass+ window
Cons of the this Method: You’ll probably never use the card except for the bonuses, and the points aren’t otherwise valuable
Credit Cards Involved: Best Western Rewards, Best Western Rewards Premium
Book the Wyndham Disney Springs With Wyndham Points
This is essentially the same as the Best Western option, but with a different chain. The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista and Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista are Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels.
The only way to get these points in bulk is to earn the signup bonuses for the two Wyndham Rewards Credit Cards. You can earn 15,000 points with the no annual fee card’s bonus and 30,000 with the $75 annual fee card. The two Wyndham hotels go for around 15,000 or 30,000 points, so you’ve got between 1 and 3 nights using these cards.
Pros of this method: Straightforward and good use of points (unless you have another bucket list Wyndham)
Cons of the this Method: You’ll probably never use the card except for the bonuses, and the points aren’t otherwise valuable
Credit Cards Involved: Wyndham Rewards Credit Card (no fee), Wyndham Rewards Credit Card (with fee)
Book Two Hyatt Hotels Near Disney World With Points
The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress and Hyatt Place Orlando Lake Buena Vista are two Hyatt hotels near Walt Disney World that can be booked with Hyatt points. If you have lots of Hyatt points, these are okay uses of them, but it’s probably not worth going out of your way to earn the points just for these hotels. These hotels don’t get Extra Magic Hour or the 60-day FastPass+ window.
Pros of this Method: Redemption rate relatively low
Cons of this Method: Only makes sense if you already have Hyatt points; no EMH or 60-day FP+ window
Cared Cards Involved: Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card; Chase cards earning Ultimate Rewards can also be used, but this isn’t a great transfer option
The World of Hyatt card also comes with an annual free night (after 1 year) that (as of this update) could be applied to either of these hotels (annual fee is $95).
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And at 180 days out it's time to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World FastPass+ strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom FastPass, Epcot FastPass, Animal Kingdom FastPass, and Hollywood Studios FastPass.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.