Yahoo Finance Best Credit Cards for Disney Methodology
Price calculations
To create our list for "The best credit cards to use for your next Disney vacation," we began by finding the average cost of a Disney trip (also outlined above). We looked at four primary categories that commonly factor into a family trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World, and researched prices within those categories. For our example, we chose dates in late March 2024.
First, we looked at flight costs. Our example family flies to Disney from Chicago, a relatively large city with multiple flight options to Disneyland and Walt Disney World. We compared flights for our chosen dates across several airlines to both destinations (SNA Orange County airport and MCO Orlando airport) — JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and United Airlines. The average cost is the mean amount for four round-trip standard tickets across these different airlines and both destinations. The prices used came from each airline’s website on Nov. 2, 2023.
When looking at hotels, we compared prices for one standard room at introductory rates (no savings for members or add-on services) from Marriott and Hilton and for resorts on both Disneyland and Walt Disney World properties. We averaged the costs for a five-night stay among lower-priced hotels within a short distance of the parks (if not on the property). The prices used came from the hotel websites on Nov. 2, 2023.
Flight and hotel prices can vary greatly depending on the details of your trip, your booking method, and when you book. While we tried to find representative prices for a family of four traveling to Disney during the spring (and booking several months in advance), these prices may not align with your own research.
Our given ticket prices are the average between Disneyland and Walt Disney World park passes for the dates of our example family’s trip (prices can vary depending on demand throughout the year). We averaged prices for one-park passes across four days, not including tax. This includes three adult passes and one pass for children ages 3-9.
Finally, our average food prices include only food purchased on park days. We assumed our family would buy three meals per person daily while in the parks. Over the four days, we broke those 12 meals into 10 quick service meals and 2 table service meals. On both the Disney parks websites, we filtered for meal prices listed as $14.99 and under for the 10 quick service, and between $15 and $59.99 for the table service. These price distinctions are the same for Disneyland and Walt Disney World restaurants.
Credit cards
To determine our final list of cards, we began with more than 20 travel credit cards with rewards structures that we believe make sense for Disney vacations. We rated these cards using our travel credit card ratings methodology, based on several criteria relevant to travel card offerings (annual fee, relative rewards value, sign-up bonus, and more).
From there, we calculated potential rewards for a Disney vacation among the highest-ranked cards.
We applied the highest-earning-related rewards category for each spending category to find these rewards totals (listed under each card above). For example, if a card offers 5x on travel booked through the card issuer’s portal, but 2x on travel in general, we assumed the cardholder books through the higher-earning 5x option. We also assumed cardholders use the card for all their spending in the given categories (flights, hotel, park tickets, food) throughout their vacation.
For example, the 28,905-point potential rewards total for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the sum of:
$3,186.69 on flights x5 points per dollar = 15,933 points
$1,817.80 on hotels x5 points per dollar (assuming you already used the $50 annual hotel credit) = 9,089 points
$2,095.27 on park tickets x1 points per dollar (not a bonus category) = 2,095 points
$596 on food x3 points per dollar = 1,788 points
After calculating the rewards total (either in points or cash back, depending on the card’s rewards structure), we determined our final picks based on a combination of the highest rewards potential and our own expertise. We wanted to prioritize a mix of cards that represented different annual fees, welcome bonus offers, and more that would make sense for a wide variety of Disney vacationers.
All calculations and ratings were conducted solely by the Yahoo Finance team without input or review from any of our affiliate partners.
Questions around methodology or need further clarification? Contact the Personal Finance editorial team.