How We Booked a Last-Minute Disney World Trip with Points (and Paid Almost Nothing)
Sometimes the best trips start with a “what if?”
In our case, it was: “What if we just went to Disney next week?”
Now, if we had to pay cash for flights, park tickets, and hotels for our family of five—on short notice—that idea probably would’ve stayed a daydream.
But thanks to a stash of credit card points and a little bit of flexibility, we were able to turn that wild idea into one of our most fun family trips ever—without draining our savings. Here’s exactly how we made it happen:
✈️ Flights: 5 Roundtrips for $56 Total
We used 105,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points and paired them with our 2 Companion Passes, which let two of our family members fly free (just paid taxes and fees).
Total cost (5 roundtrip flights): 105,000 Southwest miles, plus 2 companion passes, plus $56.
If we had booked these flights 2 days before departure they would have cost us $3,773.
This is one of the reasons I talk so much about the Companion Pass—it’s incredible for families, especially when paired with Southwest points earned from the right cards.
Read more about how to earn a Companion Pass for almost 2 full years here!
🏕️ Lodging Nights 1–2: Fort Wilderness Cabins
For the first two nights, we booked one of the newly renovated cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. To book this I contacted my friends Kim and Chelsea from Pixie Points Gals and they were able to tell me which Disney Vacation Club properties were available the following week. We took a look at our options and within 15 minutes they had our extremely discounted Cabin stay booked and ready to go.
**If you fill out a request from on their website, use promo code “VACATIONPOINTERS” to get $50 off a booking of 3 nights or more!
If you have never rented DVC points you are missing out! It’s the easiest way to save 30%-50% off Disney Deluxe properties. You can read more about the process of renting DVC points here.
We covered the full cost for 2 nights with 80,000 Capital One miles by using the travel purchase eraser feature available through our Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.
In order for a purchase to qualify for the purchase eraser, it needs to code as “Travel” on your credit card statement. If that’s the case, you can use one point to cover every one cent of a travel purchase. For example, 10,000 Capital One miles will cover $100 in travel purchases.
And since booking through a DVC broker will typically code as “Travel/Lodging” on your credit card statement, this purchase qualifies!
Total Cost: 80,000 Capital One Miles + $0
Disney’s price for 2 nights: $1,019.26
These cabins sleep six, come with a kitchen, and gave us a peaceful retreat just minutes from the parks. This was by far our most unique Disney hotel experience, very different from a traditional hotel! And you can rent a golf cart to drive around the property which I highly, highly recommend!
Bonus Tip: You get FREE entry to a Disney water park on your check-in day when you stay at an official Disney hotel (The Swan, Dolphin and Swan Reserve do not qualify) through September 7, 2025. So we also got a free day at Typhoon Lagoon which is an additional $370 in value!
🎟️ Park Tickets: 5 Three-Day Passes
Park tickets are one of the most expensive parts of a Disney trip, but we used 138,635 Capital One miles to cover five 3-day One-Park-Per-Day tickets. There is a summer promotion going on right now where we paid just $277 per person (these tickets were not valid for Magic Kingdom).
Since we purchased our tickets from a third party ticket retailer (Undercover Tourist) our tickets also coded as travel on our credit card statement as you can see below.
It’s not always easy to use points for theme park tickets, but Capital One’s flexibility really helped us out here. And while we could almost definitely get more value from these points by transferring them to a travel partner, using them for Disney tickets this time around brought a ton of value to our family.
The moral of the story is, DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU! Sometimes paying zero dollars for a few days at Disney with your family is the most valuable thing. Thank goodness you have options!
Total Cost (Five 3-Day Park Tickets): 138,635 Capital One Miles + $0
Price on Undercover Tourist website: $1,386.35
**Learn more about my FAVORITE travel rewards credit cards here!**
🏨 Lodging Nights 3–4: Disney Swan Hotel
For the next two nights, we moved over to the Disney Swan, which is part of the Marriott Bonvoy program and located within walking distance of EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.
We booked 2 rooms using mine and Ross’s annual 35k free night certificates that we get for holding the Marriott Bonvoy Business card from American Express.
Rooms this week at the Dolphin and Swan were going for 44,000 points each night. Since you can add up to 15,000 points to a 35,000 point free night certificate, were able to use the certificates plus 9,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for one of the nights. For the second night we used 44,000 points.
Total Cost (Per Room): One 35,000 point certificate plus 53,000 Marriott points + $112.50 (resort fees).
Price on Marriott website for 2 rooms for 2 nights: $1,147.50
The location of the Swan and Dolphin is amazing, and we got to enjoy Disney perks like early park entry and extended evening hours—while using points!
🌴 Bonus Night: Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
We added one more night to the end of our trip so that we could decompress from all that Disney walking and booked the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress for just 12,000 Hyatt points.
This property is a hidden gem—just outside the Disney bubble, but with a beautiful pool area, tons of activities for kids, and a relaxing atmosphere after several days of park hopping.
We again, booked 2 rooms here, because my little boys are quickly becoming grown men who take up a lot more space (and a lot more time in the bathroom).
Total Cost: 1 Category 1-4 Free Night Certificate, plus 12,000 points, and $0.
Price on Hyatt website for 2 rooms for 1 night: $480
**Learn more about my FAVORITE travel rewards credit cards here!**
Cards to Open for a Disney Vacation
If we had booked this exact same trip with cash it would have cost us a whopping $7,806.11! Instead using points from the cards listed below, we spent just $281 out of pocket. It’s real savings like this that make it entirely possible to say yes to spur of the moment ideas or bucket list travel aspirations.
The trick? Earning points NOW.
For Tickets or DVC Rental
Personal Cards
Business Cards
These cards have much higher minimum spends with bonuses to match. If you have a big expense coming up, any of these could be a great option to wrack up points fast!
For Marriott Hotels on Disney Properties
Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
For the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
World of Hyatt Credit Card
- 1 free night each year at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort
- 9 points total for Hyatt stays – 4 Bonus Points per $1 spent at Hyatt hotels & 5 Base Points per $1 from Hyatt as a World of Hyatt member
- $95 annual fee
- All information about the World of Hyatt Credit Card has been collected independently by Vacation Pointers. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Visit my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card guide to learn more!
- $50 hotel credit
- 5X on Chase Travel℠, 3X on select streaming services and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 3X points on dining, and 2x on other travel purchases
- $95 annual fee
- All information about the Chase Sapphire Preferred card has been collected independently by Vacation Pointers. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
💡 Final Thoughts
What started as a spontaneous “what if” turned into a magical, last-minute Disney trip—all made possible by points. No savings drained. No waiting for the “perfect” time. Just a whole lot of travel freedom because we had the right strategy (and points) ready to go.
If you want to start building your own stash of points for trips like this, I’d love to help!
👉 Start Here and read my free beginner’s guide and find out which card I would open first!
You don’t need to be rich to travel well—you just need the right tools.
More on Our Families Free Travels!
Family vacations were a near impossibility for us not that long ago. But about 7 years ago we discovered credit card points and miles and now traveling several times a year is the norm for us! If you want to learn more about how our family travels for next to nothing, I would love for you to check out my Quick Start Guide to Traveling with Points and Miles. It is a hobby that has forever changed our lives and given us the opportunity to see the world!
- How to Earn the Southwest Companion Pass
- How to Book Disney Hotels with Points and Miles
- How We Stayed at an All-Inclusive for FREE
- How to Organize Your Credit Cards
- A Guide to Chase Ink Business Cards
- Everything You Need to Know About the Chase Sapphire Preferred
