Update 09/21: Disney is no longer showing on the Freedom portal. In addition according to Miles To The Magic this change has been instigated by Chase rather than being lead by their booking partner or Disney.
According to multiple data points it’s no longer possible to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book Disney World packages. Previously it was possible to book any package that Disney offered directly by calling into the travel and cruise department, it seems that on or around September 14th Chase stopped accepting these bookings. It doesn’t seem to be specific to Disney World either, as Disney Land packages/tickets are also not bookable.
For some reason tickets are showing in the Chase Freedom portal and not the Chase Sapphire Reserve portal, so it’s possible further updates will be made. I suspect this is due to Chase changing over to all bookings going through Expedia. Given that Chase issues the co-branded Disney card you’d think they would be in the best position to service Disney customers. We’ve reached out to Chase for an official comment.
Hat tip to SouthFayetteFan
Instigated by Chase, lol. Seems par for the course for them lately.
ROFL on their Citi side story.
For those of us that do book Disney is it time to let Chase know we’re upset? I’ve been holding off hoping it was this Expedia rollout & tickets & rooms would come back. They definitely should not have been selling on the CF & CFU portals only so I understand them pulling Disney from there, even if it’s just to wait for Expedia to rollout for all cards. So I’m still hoping for an official response from Chase if Disney will be bookable with URs at all in the future?
Read the TPG article on this and they too couldn’t get an official response from Chase. Looking like this is here to stay so Chase isn’t stupid enough to officially say nothing Disney can be booked with URs- especially when their competition is happy to let you book Disney with their points & higher rates!
Guessing still no official comment from Chase on this as of yet! Usually your sources are pretty quick to provide information
No response, I imagine this means they have no plans to make any comment.
Knowing Disney, it’s THEIR doing. After people elaborating on Disboards.com how they get free stays at Disney World just by having a certain cc, I’m sure Disney Co. wants to put a stop to that. They would discontinue ANYTHING that would remotely be considered a loophole to paying through the nose. They also don’t allow any travel agents to discount their cruises.
We booked the Boardwalk a few years ago with UR points and lately noticed there was no longer Disney hotel offerings for an upcoming Nov stay. Even if we couldn’t buy tickets with UR points, it would be nice to be able to keep booking the flights and hotel stay with UR points. When it comes to dealing with Disney, always be prepared to grab your ankles.
They want to encourage signing up for their co-branded card as they have a partnership with Southwest I believe for flight and vacation packages which their “Disney Reward Dollars” can be applied towards.
I have a Disney visa and never use it because it’s a crappy card.
Cards that earn UR points are more versatile.
I see DPs elsewhere people with a CF & CSP/CSR have called in to book Disney hotels to the normal travel line & are only being allowed to use CF points. AFAIK Chase has not informed us the UR portal is different for each card. They advertise it as simply being “Ultimate Rewards Tracel Portal” & they then tell us if we pay a fee we can redeem at higher rates of 1.25/1.50. It’s a stupid thing to lie about!
As such I see 2 options here:
1) IT screw up that only CF has the new portal. In which case Cruise & Tours should be allowed to book hotels & tickets until IT gets it sorted.
2) Chase is actually trying to screw people over. I don’t think that’s the case because that would be blatant false advertising for conning people into annual fee cc. Chase has a nice product & does not need that sort of headache over a matter this small in the grand scheme of their operations.
They charge a fee to redeem at higher rates?
The annual fees. While I understand benefits come and go, a key selling point for their annual fee is the 1.25x ($95 CSP) and the 1.5x ($450 CSR) for UR Travel Portal redemptions. Slap in the face to the person who paid the af to book disney to find out its only bookable with their Freedom card for 1.0 rate. Because of the tech transition I don’t think Chase is trying to screw people over- but on the off chance they are I can see this being just the beginning of very nasty UR changes because it would mean Chase has decided only certain things in the UR portal can be redeemed at CSP/CSR rates.
I hope this is not permanent. We hav e successfully booked 2 Disney visits thru UR points in the past and it has gone smoothly. Why mess with a good thing?
“It doesn’t seem to be specific to Disney World either, as Disney World packages/tickets are also not bookable.”
You might want to edit that sentence.
I’m not the smartest, let me fix.
Considering their cobranded relationship, I would be very surprised if this is permanent.
I really hope this is bc of the transition! I searched expedia and was able to book the Grand Floridian, so if only Chase is blocked that would be weird. (He says hopefully though not sure if he’s grasping at straws…)
I think you hit the nail on the head, it’s got to be the transition over to Expedia that’s causing this.