Save Money at Disneyland on Credit Card Points
Disneyland is a perfect destination to use credit card points. Unlike Disney World, which is in a bubble and has tons of resorts, Disneyland only has a few “Disney” hotels. This means you can use your credit card points to stay within walking distance of the Disneyland parks and not be penalized for staying off property.
Saving on your hotel at Disneyland helps make the trip more affordable. We love our trips to visit the Mouse, but we couldn’t afford it without credit card points.
How to use Credit Card Points to Book a Free Stay at Disneyland
So we’ve done this trip three times. Two times we stayed at the Hyatt Place Anaheim and another time we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Orange County (We would love to stay at the Hyatt House Anaheim, but it didn’t have availability either time we went).
All three times, we used Chase Ultimate Rewards points and transferred them to Hyatt. You can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points by signing up for the card below.
All the Hyatt hotels fluctuate between 12,000 and 18,000 points per night. We stayed five nights, so we spent 60,000 total points (12,000 points per night). If we would have paid cash, the room would have cost $1,300 (so if you take $1,300/60,000 points, you will see we saved 2.1 cents per point). Because Disney tickets are not cheap, this is a huge savings for a family trying to make their Disney dreams come true.
Click here to learn how to transfer Ultimate Rewards Points to Hyatt
- Log into your Chase account and go to “Travel” → “Transfer Points”.
- Choose World of Hyatt as your transfer partner.
- Enter your Hyatt membership number and the amount of points to transfer (must be in increments of 1,000).
- Transfers are instant in most cases, so you can book right away!
Tips: Make sure your name on the World of Hyatt account matches the name on the Chase Account. (For example: If one account has John and the other has Johnny, it may cause a delay in the transfer process)
Which Disneyland Hyatt Hotel Do I Recommend?
You can stay ay the three Hyatts at Disneyland on credit card points. I will provide a breakdown of the pros and cons for each one below.
Hyatt House Anaheim: This hotel is walking distance to the parks! This means no shuttle is necessary! It is only about a ten minute walk, and you are right at the Disney gates. It has a Walgreens below too, if you would need anything.
The rooms are spacious, and the breakfast is free. This makes this hotel a great option for your FREE Disneyland stay. In fact, this is the hotel I would recommend the most. However, it doesn’t always have availability on points. If you really want to stay here, and it isn’t available, you can set an alert on MaxMyPoint, and it will e-mail you if it becomes available.
Hyatt Place Anaheim: This hotel is walking distance to the Toy Story parking lot (about 8 minutes total from the hotel to the Disney shuttle buses). You can clear security there and then ride the bus to the parks. The shuttles run all the time, and we really enjoyed this system.
The rooms are big and the breakfast is free. So in my mind, this is a WONDERFUL option for Disneyland. The pool and amenities is where this hotel lags, but honestly we go for the parks. We stayed here twice, and thought it was perfect for our needs.
Hyatt Regency Orange County: This hotel has two pools, an activity area with basketball, pickleball, corn hole, and a fire pit. The breakfast isn’t free, unless you have globalist status. This hotel is nicer than the Hyatt Place, but you have to take a shuttle. The standard room is nice, but smaller than the other two properties.
The shuttle to the parks is about eight to ten minutes. It costs $7 per person per day. So for our family of four, that was an extra 28 dollars a day. It does run every 30 minutes, but I believe that makes this hotel less desirable than the other two.
Do I Need a Car?
You have to pay for parking at these hotels (unless you are a Hyatt Globalist), so I would skip the car (unless you are close enough to drive). We took an Uber XL from the airport to the hotel and back, and I believe it cost us $125 dollars round trip with tip. You won’t need a car to get to and from the parks, so I think it would be an unnecessary expense.
What Airport is the Best? Can I also use Credit Card Points to Fly for Free?
There are a lot of airports close to Disneyland, but I would only recommend two. Long Beach (LGB) is only about 25 minutes away and John Wayne (SNA) is even closer. If you’re flying Southwest, these are great options.
Los Angeles (LAX) is about an hour, and if that is what works for your flights, do it! Just know LAX has a lot of traffic and it may take a little longer to get there. I wouldn’t recommend Hollywood Burbank (BUR) or Ontario (ONT) as they are just pretty far from Disneyland.
If you want to fly to Disneyland on credit card points, there are several options. I always recommend families fly on Southwest, as it just easier and doesn’t have limits on reward bookings.
My recommendation would be to visit the favorite offers page and sign up for a Southwest Credit Card. If you are really into using credit card points and miles, you may want to earn the Southwest Companion Pass where a companion would fly for free for at least a year (possibly almost two years if you plan it right! – you can read about the Companion Pass here)
How Long Should I Stay?
It depends! We’ve done four park day trips and three park day trips. In my opinion, anywhere from three to four park days is ideal. There are only two parks, but there are so many rides within these two parks. You could do it in two days, but I would advise at least three if you don’t want to feel super rushed.
I always recommend adding the lightning lane to your Disneyland ticket (you can purchase this when you buy your ticket, which is different than Disney World).
We have also done Park Hopper and One Park Per Day tickets, it just depends on your preference. The parks are so close together, so park hopping is incredibly easy if you decide to go that route.
How Should I Buy My Tickets?
If you have a travel credit card, I would use something like Get Away Today or Undercover Tourist because the tickets should code as travel, which means you would earn 2x points if using your Sapphire Preferred card). Get Away Today and Undercover Tourist also have forgiving policies and usually some of the best deals on tickets.
Are There Other Hotels I Can Stay at With Credit Card Points?
Yes! There are other options, but I tend to recommend Hyatt’s because they have fixed pricing. This means you know the hotels will always be between 12,000-18,000 points per night.
There are great Marriott hotels available on points, but they use dynamic pricing. You just need to ensure you’re getting a good rate before you select one. Here’s a link to the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card.
The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card comes with FIVE free nights, but they have to be under 50k points. If a night is over 50k you can top it off with points (but only up to 65k points). This is actually a GREAT offer right now, and one I would encourage you to pursue if you have flexibility.
If you’d rather stay at Hyatt, you can sign up for the card below.
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Not Sure Which Credit Card is Right For You?
If you’re looking for a free stay at Disneyland, I am always going to recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you have this card, and you’re looking for another card to help with your Disneyland trip, fill out a Free Credit Card Consult below!
