Chase has issued two cobranded Disney credit cards for several years: the no annual fee Disney® Visa® Card and the $49 annual fee Disney® Premier Visa® Card. Those were joined by a new third card yesterday: the Disney® Inspire Visa® Card.
With a decent welcome offer, good earning rates, some valuable perks, and more, it’s a compelling option for the Disney enthusiasts out there despite its $149 annual fee.
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $400 1st Yr Value Estimate$300 Disney gift card valued at $270 Click to learn about first year value estimates $300 Cash Back + $300 Disney Gift Card $300 Disney gift card upon approval + $300 statement credit after $1,000 in purchases within first 3 months$149 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: The welcome offer could provide very good value towards Disney vacation. If you pay for Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN Plus, the $10 monthly credit will help greatly offset the annual fee. Those who spend a lot at Disney locations each year will also find it easy to earn the 200 Disney Dollars and/or $100 statement credit each year Earning rate: 10X DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or Plus.ESPN.com ✦ 3X gas stations & most Disney locations ✦ 2X grocery stores & restaurants ✦ 1X everywhere else Base: 1% Grocery: 2% Dine: 2% Gas: 3% Brand: 3% Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 200 Disney Reward Dollars after spending $2,000 per anniversary year on U.S. Disney Resort and Disney Cruise Line bookings Noteworthy perks: $100 statement credit after spending $200 per anniversary year on U.S. Disney Theme Park Tickets ✦ $10 statement credit each month after spending $10 on subscriptions directly at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or Plus.ESPN.com. Yearly activation required ✦ Redeem rewards dollars toward a statement credit for air travel (book any airline / any destination and redeem rewards dollars at a minimum of $50 in rewards dollars) ✦ Character meet & greet at a private cardmember area ✦ 10% off select merchandise purchases at select locations and 10% off select dining locations most days at the Disneyland® Resort and Walt Disney World® Resort ✦ Save 10% on select merchandise purchases at DisneyStore.com |
Quick Thoughts
When I saw that this new card had a $149 annual fee, I initially questioned how popular that would make it with Disney enthusiasts. However, after assessing all its benefits and earning rates, I can definitely see how it’ll make sense for some families, particularly those who have significant spend at Disney every year (or most years).
At the time of this card being launched, the welcome offer is awarding a $300 Disney gift card upon approval and then a $300 statement credit after spending $1,000 in the first three months of card membership. If you’re interested in applying for a Disney credit card, there’s a good chance that you’ll value the $300 gift card pretty much as good as cash. The $600 value from the welcome offer is therefore a very good return for the first year, even after accounting for the annual fee.
Other perks have the potential to provide great value. You’ll get a $10 statement credit each month when spending $10+ per month on a subscription for Disney+, Hulu, and/or ESPN Plus. Many of us have that subscription cost covered by the Digital Entertainment Credit on the American Express Platinum Card®, but if you’re currently paying for one or more of those services out of pocket, that benefit could be valued at – or close to – face value. If so, that helps offset much of the annual fee. An annoying quirk of this benefit is that you have to activate it every year which is a miserly approach that’s seemingly designed to cause breakage by having people forget to reactivate every 12 months. Perhaps Chase and/or Disney will remind you to reactivate each year but I wouldn’t count on it, so be sure to set a calendar reminder for every 12 months if you will be taking advantage of this streaming subscription benefit.
For those who spend a decent amount of money at Disney locations each year, there are a couple of other interesting perks. On the more achievable side of things, you’ll get a $100 statement credit when spending $200 per anniversary year on theme park tickets for Disney locations in the US. For the bigger spenders, you’ll also get 200 Disney Reward Dollars when you spend $2,000+ per anniversary year when booking stays (rather than just theme park tickets) at Disney resorts in the US and on Disney cruises.
There are other incremental perks such as 10% off select merchandise at DisneyStore.com, 10% off select merchandise and dining locations at Disneyland® Resort and Walt Disney World® Resort and a character meet & greet at a private cardmember area. Those are all benefits available on the other Disney cards too, so there’s no need to have the $149 annual fee card for those specific perks.
For families who go to Disney every year and who want a single credit card setup, this could be a good option. In addition to the benefits already listed, the card earns 10x on DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or Plus.ESPN.com subscriptions, 3x at gas stations and most Disney locations, 2x on groceries and dining, and 1x everywhere else. Disney Inspire cardholders will also hopefully be targeted for the quarterly bonus earning opportunities on Chase cobranded cards, thereby boosting the earning potential to 5% on up to $1,000 spend in certain categories each quarter.
Something to bear in mind with this card is that it has a mix of earning methods. The welcome offer comes in the form of a Disney gift card upon approval and a statement credit after meeting the minimum spend requirement. The $100 you get when spending $200 on US Disney theme park tickets comes in the form of a statement credit, but the $200 you get when spending $2,000 on bookings at US Disney resorts and Disney cruises comes in the form of Disney Reward Dollars. Similarly, the earnings through regular card spend are paid out as Disney Reward Dollars rather than as cash. For those who are sure they’ll be spending money at Disney, that differentiation isn’t going to be important. For those who’d rather have cold hard cash though, that’s something important to consider.
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Fair write up. I may go for the SUB and first year $100 ticket credit, but unless one is paying $10+ per month on those streamers (I’m not), the card is far from a no-brainer after that. It’s not easy to buy Disney gift cards at a 10%+ discount, but chances come up often enough that it’s also not hard for a real enthusiast — so that $200 back on $2000 deal is really for those who just want to autopilot vacation planning while using the 6 mos no interest (which a LOT do on the other cards). All in all, I think Chase did a nice job with this and will likely get a ton of traction thanks to that SUB.
Garsh! Huh’yuck!