Planning a Disney World trip in June 2014, pay everything with CC bonuses?

My son's graduating from 8th grade in June '14, and I asked him were he wanted to go to celebrate his graduation. He said he wanted to go to Disney World.

My daughter graduated 8th grade this year, and we took a cruise. We were able to fly (nearly) free due to my wife and I both signig up for the Southwest RR CC when they offered the 2 free flight signup bonus. This got me wondering if I'd be able to pay for our entire trip (or nearly all) with signup bonuses.

A little background info - we had stayed at the Wilderness Lodge about 5 years old when we last went there - he said he wanted to stay there again. We'd be flying out of PHL most likely (unless a real airline starts flying out of Atlantic City). My wife and I have good credit, so if there's a good offer, we should be able to double up.

Thanks for your comments!

Applied and approved for the BOA $400 CB from $500 purchase offer on the FP. Will have the wife do the same tonight. Hopefully $800 on the first day, a nice way to start.

Chase Sapphire Preferred card $400...

BTW - I signed up for the $300 BOA card the other day. First time getting in early cost me $100!

Quote from LivninSC : Chase Sapphire Preferred card $400... BTW - I signed up for the $300 BOA card the other day. First time getting in early cost me $100!

Thanks and repped. By the time my wife got off work, the BOA card was dead. I'd sign up for the Southwest 50K offer, but want to space out the cc applications. My wife hung onto her Southwest card from the cruise, need to reminder her to close it out.

I'll have her try the Chase card.

Quote from chipmonger : My son's graduating from 8th grade in June '14, and I asked him were he wanted to go to celebrate his graduation. He said he wanted to go to Disney World. My daughter graduated 8th grade this year, and we took a cruise. We were able to fly (nearly) free due to my wife and I both signig up for the Southwest RR CC when they offered the 2 free flight signup bonus. This got me wondering if I'd be able to pay for our entire trip (or nearly all) with signup bonuses. A little background info - we had stayed at the Wilderness Lodge about 5 years old when we last went there - he said he wanted to stay there again. We'd be flying out of PHL most likely (unless a real airline starts flying out of Atlantic City). My wife and I have good credit, so if there's a good offer, we should be able to double up. Thanks for your comments!

Sign up to get the Disney planning DVD. They should start sending you offers for their credit card. When I went last year I got a $200 Disney gift card for spending $50 on the Disney credit card. Hopefully that offer comes around for you. I booked my trip using the $200 gift card to pay a portion of it. I also made my reservations when they offered the free dining. I thought that saved us a lot of money and made it really convenient.

Quote from appletonshopper : Sign up to get the Disney planning DVD. They should start sending you offers for their credit card. When I went last year I got a $200 Disney gift card for spending $50 on the Disney credit card. Hopefully that offer comes around for you. I booked my trip using the $200 gift card to pay a portion of it. I also made my reservations when they offered the free dining. I thought that saved us a lot of money and made it really convenient.

Thanks, I had just signed up for the DVD over the weekend, just to give my son something to get him up for the trip. We had the Disney CC on our last trip and was able to knock off about $800 from the bill with it's CB. Will reapply.

I also stopped by AAA and picked up a brochure - even if it'll be out of date for our trip, sometimes its good to have it in your hands and page through it. He's already changed his mind from the Wilderness Hotel to the Grand Floridian - wants to go on the monorail *bad*. Makes me happy too, the hotel was nice, but the bus/boat transport left something to be desired.

Told the wife to get any miles out of her existing SW CC, and will cancel that to reapply next year.

Rent points for wildernesss lodge from a dvc owner, much cheaper than booking through Disney! And they can set up the dining plan and magical express for you. I have a reservation right now available but not for June. I have for January 2013.

Quote from Ineedadealinny : Rent points for wildernesss lodge from a dvc owner, much cheaper than booking through Disney! And they can set up the dining plan and magical express for you. I have a reservation right now available but not for June. I have for January 2013.

Thanks, I'll look into this.

On another note, just got my $400 CB of $500 BoA card. Waiting for my electric bill to come in and pay it with this to get the CB.

Just signed up for the Amex SPG 10k first purchase / 20k if $5k purchases in 6 months offer. No cost first year. Will get the wife to sign up tonight as well. That should be worth about $300 each hopefully.

Quote from chipmonger : Thanks and repped. By the time my wife got off work, the BOA card was dead. I'd sign up for the Southwest 50K offer, but want to space out the cc applications. My wife hung onto her Southwest card from the cruise, need to reminder her to close it out. I'll have her try the Chase card.

Spacing out your CC applications is actually counter-productive to what you're trying to do. It's known as credit card churning and it involves getting credit cards solely for the large signup bonuses they offer. If you're going to try and plan a whole trip from bonuses and miles, you ought to churn 2-3 cards per person at a time (depending on what your usual monthly spending looks like). If you space out your applications, your credit report is going to constantly show pulls on it when you apply for a card. However, if you apply for 2-3 within a short time of one another on the same day, each agency will most likely not see the others on the pull. Then you do another round in 90 days, once these pulls have dropped off your report.

Check out these sites to learn more about this whole thing:

www.frugaltravelguy.com
www.thepointsguy.com
www.boardingarea.com
www.flyertalk.com
www.millionmilesecrets.com

Hope that all helps!

Quote from chipmonger : Just signed up for the Amex SPG 10k first purchase / 20k if $5k purchases in 6 months offer. No cost first year. Will get the wife to sign up tonight as well. That should be worth about $300 each hopefully.

Also, how are you valuing these things? 30k SPG points is worth a ton more than $300...

Just as an example, you can use their cash & points program to use 4k points + $60 per night to stay at the Sheraton resort in FIJI! By the time you hit your minimum spend on the card, thats at least 8 nights in Fiji for $240.... You would normally pay a ton more than that.

Example taken from: http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/20...ption.html