They call Disney World the most magical place on earth. But part of any trip to Disney is far from magical: the cost.
Sure, there are ways to save Disney vacation. But there's virtually no way to make it “cheap” – especially if you're bringing the whole family. The price is high and there's no Disney loyalty program to offset the cost.
Yet there is this: If you've got a card that earns Capital One Venture Miles like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or a trusty old Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, there's a workaround you can use to cover part (or even all) of the cost of pricey Disney Park admission tickets.
Here's what you need to know about using credit card points to purchase Disney park tickets.
How Much Do Disney Park Tickets Cost?
The cost of Disney park passes varies based on a number of factors. But you can safely expect some big numbers.
First and foremost, the more days you plan to spend at a Disney park during your trip, the less your per-day ticket cost will be. Whether you're booking directly through Disney or through a third party you'll have the option of buying a “4-Park Magic Ticket” which gets you access to each of the four theme parks (one park per day).
Buying these tickets directly through Disney will run you $396 ($99 per day) per person ages three and over. Kids under the age of three don't need their own park ticket.
You can also buy tickets on a per-day basis. Generally speaking, the more days you buy, the cheaper your per-day cost ends up being.
Really, there's no way around it: these tickets are expensive. Looking for “4-Park Magic” tickets for a family of four? That will run you close to $1,600 before tax just to get in the gate when you buy them directly through Disney. Add on souvenirs, food, and drinks and the sticker shock for a Disney vacation can be alarming.
But thanks to a little-known workaround, there is a crafty way to purchase Disney park tickets using credit card points: specifically, Capital One Venture Miles.
Here's how it's done.
How to Redeem Capital One Venture Miles for Disney Park Passes
While there are a lot of amazing ways to use Capital One Venture Miles – including transferring them to one of many hotel and airline transfer partners – one method stands out for its ease. It's the ability to redeem Venture Miles to cover the cost of almost any travel purchase.
As long as you pay for a travel purchase with a card that earns Capital One Venture Miles (and the purchase codes as travel – an important distinction) you can remove that charge with Venture Miles. Every mile counts as 1 cent toward travel, so you could wipe away a travel purchase of $500 using 50,000 Capital One Venture miles.
There are ways to use Venture Miles for more value, but this method stands out for its simplicity. Make a charge, wait for that charge to post to your account, and then use Venture Miles to remove the charge from your statement.
There's just one small problem when it comes to buying Disney park passes. If you purchase them directly through Disney, the charge won't code as travel – thus you won't be able to use Venture Miles to remove that charge. That's where the website Undercover Tourist comes in…
Read more: A Step-By-Step Guide to Covering Travel Purchases with Capital One Venture Miles
Purchase Disney Tickets Through Undercover Tourist
If you're not familiar with Undercover Tourist, they're the largest authorized seller of theme park tickets – including Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Studios, and many others. Not only are they authorized sellers of Disney park tickets, those tickets are often cheaper than what you'll find purchasing directly through Disney or other theme parks.
But here is why you need to use Undercover Tourist if you want to use Capital One Venture Miles to pay for your Disney (or other theme park tickets). When you make a purchase on Undercover Tourist with your * Venture * or your * Venture X * that purchase will code as travel.
So once your purchase through Undercover Tourist hits your account, you can remove it using your Venture miles. Remember: Every Capital One Venture Mile is worth 1 cent toward these tickets.
So those Walt Disney World “4-Park Magic” tickets for a family of four that would run you close to $1,600 before tax if you buy them directly through Disney? You could purchase those same tickets through Undercover Tourist for $370.82 apiece, or about $1,482 for a family of four. That means you can cover the cost of one ticket for just over 37,000 Venture Miles – or four tickets for about 148,000 Capital One Venture Miles.
The beauty of this method for redeeming Capital One Miles is that you can use any amount of miles you have. Don't have the full 148,000 miles needed? You can apply any amount of miles you have against the purchase. So if you only have 50,000 Venture Miles, you could apply those against the purchase and get a $500 statement credit to help lower your out-of-pocket cost.
Related reading: 9 Unique Ways to Use Venture Miles for Travel Purchases
How to Cover Travel Purchases with Venture Miles
To redeem your miles to cover your Disney tickets or any other travel purchase, Start by logging in to your Capital One account and click the Redeem button on your homepage.
Next, select how you'd like to redeem your miles: You can book flights or hotels directly through Capital One, get gift cards, redeem for cash, or transfer Capital One miles to one of their partner airline or hotel programs. But for this option, you'll want to select the “Cover Travel Purchases” option.
Once you've selected to cover your travel purchases, you'll be taken to a page where you can select which of the travel purchases you've made on your Capital One Venture card you'd like to cover. This includes all travel transactions from the last 90 days.
Assuming you bought your Disney park tickets through Undercover Tourist, that option should show up once the charge has officially been posted to your statement.
Select which travel-related purchase you want to erase, and voila! Your points will be deducted, and your purchase will be erased from your account. Or click each field and type in how many points you'd like to use to cover part of that purchase.
Once you hit that green “Confirm” button, you're done! You'll have just completed one of the easiest travel rewards redemptions known to man. Keep in mind that you only have 90 days to “erase” a travel purchase before it's no longer available.
How to Earn Capital One Venture Miles
To use Venture Miles to cover the cost of Disney theme park tickets, you’ve first got to earn them. You’re in luck: There are a handful of cards that can help you bolster your balance of Venture miles.
The Capital One Venture X Card
There’s a new kid on the block, and it might just be one of the best travel credit cards we’ve ever seen.
The * Venture X * is the bank’s very first premium travel card which launched in the fall of 2021. Think of it as a souped-up version of the ever-popular * Venture * that’s chock full of extra benefits: Access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass lounges, a $300 annual travel credit, a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, great travel and rental car insurance protection, and more. The annual fee clocks in at $395 a year, but the benefits can easily outweigh that.
Here’s the best part: You can currently bonus_miles_full. Considering you earn at least 2x for every dollar you spend on the Venture X Card, you’ll earn a total of at least 83,000 Venture Miles.
Learn more about the * Venture X *
The Capital One Venture Card
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has been a fan favorite among travelers for years – and for good reason. It’s truly one of the best travel credit cards for beginners.
You earn 2x points on every purchase and even get a credit that covers the cost of Global Entry or TSA PreCheck – all for a card with a $95 annual fee.
Capital One currently offers the same welcome bonus as the Venture X. You'll bonus_miles_full. Considering you earn at least 2x for every dollar you spend on the Venture Card, you’ll earn a total of at least 83,000 Venture Miles.
Learn more about the * Venture *
Capital One VentureOne Card
Think of the * VentureOne * as the littlest sibling to the Venture X and Venture Card.
It’s a no-annual-fee card that will earn you 1.25x miles per dollar you spend. The welcome bonus is smaller, too – though still quite nice. You can currently earn bonus_miles_full.
Learn more about the card_name
Bottom Line
A Disney vacation can be prohibitively expensive – especially if you've got the whole family in tow. But by using Venture Miles to buy Disney park tickets through Undercover Tourist, you can take the sting out of some of that cost by removing the charge with Venture Miles.
It's one of the easiest points and miles redemptions out there, and one of the only ways to cover Disney tickets with credit card points.
Any idea on if this still works? Hoping they haven’t found this loophole