How To Get the Most Reward Points When Buying Theme Park Tickets

Hopefully, 2021 will be a better year for theme parks than 2020. At least for now, it looks as that might be the case. No matter if it’s a summer/fall trip to your local amusement or water park, or if you’re packing up the family and heading to Walt Disney World for the week over the holidays, finding discounts for some places can be easy and others not so much. Discounts for the Disney parks are notoriously difficult to find, but here are some hints of where to look (and where not to).

Wherever you decide to go, you can also maximize the points you earn for the tickets by paying with the right credit card. Here’s how:

1) Use a card that earns bonus points for amusement and theme park tickets (For now, at least)

The only card that directly offered theme park tickets as a bonus category was the Citi Premier. Unfortunately, that category went away with the product refresh in 2020. If you were a cardholder before April 10, 2020, you’d still earn 2x on tickets until April 10, 2021, after which the purchases will earn one ThankYou point per dollar spent.

2) Buy tickets online ahead of time from a travel agency and use a card that gives a bonus for travel

Many travel sites sell tickets for theme parks and amusement parks. When you buy tickets from these agencies, they will typically code as “travel,” and you’ll be able to collect the bonus points for that category.

Many credit cards list “Travel” as a bonus category. Some of the main ones are:

Chase Sapphire Reserve – 3x points for Travel Expenses
Citi Prestige – 5x points for Travel Agent Purchases
Citi Preferred – 3x points for Travel Expenses
Chase Sapphire Preferred – 2x points for Travel Expenses
Costco Anywhere – 3% cash back for travel purchases

I’ve heard many people speak well of Undercover Tourist to purchase tickets. I’ve never used them, but I do trust the opinions of people who have. I did use aRes Travel, referred by Mousesavers.com, to get us tickets for Disneyland and had no problems. I’d also check out any discounts you may get from your employer. I have access to PerkSpot through my job and they refer me to Ticketsatwork.com to buy discounted tickets. However the one time I used them for tickets, the charge showed up on my AMEX statement as entertainment, not travel.

A reader also informed us that U.S. Bank’s Altitude Reserve does not consider charges from travel agents, like Undercover Tourist, to be in the travel bonus category.

3) Buy gift cards or prepaid tickets at a supermarket, office supply or home improvement store, using a card that earns bonuses for those categories

You can buy Disney gift cards pretty much anywhere. Pick somewhere where you get a good bonus on spending and get your gift cards there. You can then use these cards to pay for your tickets (If you have to get a large amount of money to pay for tickets, it’s possible to combine the amounts from several Disney gift cards onto a single card online by going here).

For example, Publix supermarkets sell Disney gift cards and Universal Orlando ticket vouchers in the store. Using our Chase Freedom Unlimited, we currently get 5 Ultimate Rewards for all spending at supermarkets as part of our signup bonus. I can also go to Office Depot, buy Disney gift cards with my Chase Ink Cash card, and get 5x points per dollar. Any of these would be a way to maximize your spending on admission tickets

4) Purchase tickets at the hotel and charge to the room to earn extra hotel points

When I read about this, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. If you’re staying at a hotel with a concierge desk, they may sell theme park tickets. NOTE: FIRST MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT OVERPAYING FOR THE TICKETS!!!!!!!

If the tickets are the same price you would pay otherwise, see if you can get tickets and place the charge on your room. That way you can use whatever card gives you bonus points for your hotel and you may even get extra hotel points as well.

5) Pay for your tickets online with PayPal

While not directly a way to earn extra points for your purchase, it is a way to use your credit cards to save money on tickets. Several cards give bonuses for using PayPal. The American Express Platinum Card added a $30 monthly PayPal statement credit until June 2021 and the Chase Freedom Flex has PayPal as one of its 5x categories for October-December 2021.

Cedar Fair Parks, including our favorite place, Schlitterbahn, allows you to pay for tickets with PayPal on their websites. Unfortunately, Disneyworld.com does not allow payments with PayPal. However, you can purchase gift cards directly from Disney with PayPal and use those cards to pay for your admission tickets.

6) The food you buy at the park will (usually) show as dining and not amusement park charges

That’s right. Most big parks have their food establishments (except for carts selling things like popcorn and sodas) registered as dining with the credit card companies. Remember to use a card that gives you the best return on dining. Smaller parks are hit and miss. I found out the hard way that food vendors at Schlitterbahn show up as Theme Park spend.

Final Thoughts

Going to an amusement park can be expensive. If you do your homework ahead of time, you can save money on the tickets AND earn the most points for the money you’re spending.

Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.

Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group – we have 17,000+ members and we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!

This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary