WDW on MR points... need advice from MR power users, please!

nebmgc

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Hi all! I’m Michelle, and brand new here. I’ve lurked a bit, and searched a bit, but am so green to all this, I couldn’t piece enough advice together, so I’m starting my own thread. (Apologies in advance if I’m breaching etiquette of some kind... blame it on my noob status! ☺️)

The punchline - my fiancé has offered to use the 1.5 million MR points on his business platinum Amex to take the fam to Disneyworld! My DDs (14 & 12) and I have never been, and he is totally green to using MR points. I’ve done enough reading to see there are lots of tricks to getting the most out of your MR points, but can’t figure out how to make it work for Disneyworld specifically. Anyone have any advice? We are flying from Omaha, if that matters any. TIA for any help!
 


AMEX rewards dept. is exceptionally helpful. I recommend he call them to see what is available to him with his points.
 


My first post was brief and to the point. There are two ways you can generally use AMEX MR and Chase Ultimate Rewards. You can basically use them as cash and book through AMEX travel or the Chase portal. You can generally book what you want.

Alternately you can frequently transfer your MR (AMEX) or UR (Chase) points to a partner program. You can then book your hotel, airfare etc through the hotel, airlines loyalty program. Maximizing your use of points requires knowing when to just book through the portal and when to transfer and book. Sometimes booking a hotel though the loyalty program will reduce or eliminate resort fees. Keep in mind Disney doesn't have a loyalty program. Your options for hotel might include transferring to Hilton. Check some of the bloggers to see if that offers good value.

I think your points should be worth around $15,000 through AMEX travel. That will be the easiest but not maximize your value.

Airfare. You can transfer MR to Delta. You can transfer to British Air and then book American Air through British Air. You need to check availability.

Flyertalk has a section on AMEX rewards. Take a look.

Decide if it's worth a lot of work to maximize your points.

Some questions to ask before you start, do you want to stay in WDW resort or will a Hilton property be OK. Are you flexible with your dates. Using frequent flyer miles to book flights, at a good redemption rate, requires flexibility. Sometimes a willingness to accept bad connection or even split members of your group
 
Hi all! I’m Michelle, and brand new here. I’ve lurked a bit, and searched a bit, but am so green to all this, I couldn’t piece enough advice together, so I’m starting my own thread. (Apologies in advance if I’m breaching etiquette of some kind... blame it on my noob status! ☺)

The punchline - my fiancé has offered to use the 1.5 million MR points on his business platinum Amex to take the fam to Disneyworld! My DDs (14 & 12) and I have never been, and he is totally green to using MR points. I’ve done enough reading to see there are lots of tricks to getting the most out of your MR points, but can’t figure out how to make it work for Disneyworld specifically. Anyone have any advice? We are flying from Omaha, if that matters any. TIA for any help!

You could go several different ways but I agree, you need to decide on a couple of things, such as airfare, staying on or off site, etc.

One way would be to just cash out all MRs for cash-easy but probably least value.

Another way is to transfer MRs to a frequent flier program as pp mentioned and then cash out the remaining MRs for hotel/ticket use.

If you can take advantage of Delta Vacations, you could bundle hotels/flights/tickets together and transfer MRs to Delta skymiles (their FF program).

I'm sure there are other options but those are three ways off the top of my head...haven't been to WDW in a while. Your fiancee is a very generous man!
 
Hi all! I’m Michelle, and brand new here. I’ve lurked a bit, and searched a bit, but am so green to all this, I couldn’t piece enough advice together, so I’m starting my own thread. (Apologies in advance if I’m breaching etiquette of some kind... blame it on my noob status! ☺)

The punchline - my fiancé has offered to use the 1.5 million MR points on his business platinum Amex to take the fam to Disneyworld! My DDs (14 & 12) and I have never been, and he is totally green to using MR points. I’ve done enough reading to see there are lots of tricks to getting the most out of your MR points, but can’t figure out how to make it work for Disneyworld specifically. Anyone have any advice? We are flying from Omaha, if that matters any. TIA for any help!
You could transfer them to Marriott and stay at the Swan and Dolphin. It's normally 50k per night. Of you could transfer them to Hilton and stay at the Waldorf. Every MR is worth at least 2 Hilton points. The points can be transferred to Delta for flights. 1.5 million points should be worth 15k if you're cashing out. That's an impressive amount of points.
 

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