Disney Inspire Visa Card review: Disney-forward perks with limited flexibility
The Disney Inspire Visa has a $149 annual fee and, as expected, Disney-related rewards for your spending. It comes with a couple of caveats that turn what seems like a no-brainer into an easy skip รขโฌโ unless you're sure you'll visit a domestic Disney location every year. In that case, it becomes a little more compelling, but I'd still nudge you to compare options.รย รย The Disney Inspire Visa Card comes with a $300 Disney Gift Card eGift upon approval, plus a $300 statement credit when you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. Altogether, that's $420 in statement credits that easily outweigh the card's annual fee. However, you must spend quite a bit to get those credits. And while Disney is expensive (here's how to save money at Disney World), you have to spend a lot on limited lodging options to get what's essentially a 10% rebate.รย Also, if you spend less than $2,000 on Disney Resort or Disney Cruise Line bookings or less than $200 on Disney theme park tickets, you don't get anything. This probably isn't an issue when it comes to regular Disney-goers, but it's worth pointing out.รย With the Disney Inspire card, you'll earn Disney Rewards Dollars, with the highest rewards rate on Disney purchases and a few bonus categories. The card earns 10% on purchases made directly at DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or Plus.ESPN.com, 3% at gas stations and most U.S. Disney locations, 2% at eligible grocery stores and restaurants and 1% on all other purchases. The rewards value you can glean outside of U.S. Disney locations depends on your spending habits. If you have the eligible streaming services listed above and pay a total of $50 per month, for example, with the Disney Inspire Visa, you'd earn $60 back as Rewards Dollars each year. You can also use the Chase Pay Yourself Back option for a statement credit toward purchases made at U.S. Disney locations or Disney websites (including Disney streaming services). Interestingly, you can also get a statement credit for any airline purchase made with any airline.รย The Disney Inspire Visa has a $149 annual fee, which is the highest of the three Chase-issued Disney cards. You can cover it by using the card's statement credits, discounts and experiences.รย The card charges a 18.24%รย toรย 27.74% variable APR. You can, however, take advantage of a 0% intro APR for six months on select Disney vacation packages (or purchase of a real estate interest, including a Member Add On, in aรย Disney Vacation Clubรยฎรย Resort) from the date of purchase, followed by a variable APR of 18.24% to 27.74%. This intro period can be especially helpful if you need a little time to pay off an eligible Disney vacation package for an upcoming family trip to the parks. If you're open to credit cards that aren't co-branded with Disney, the following cards can help you earn on travel to and from Disney parks (whether by plane or car), lodging and dining purchases during your vacation. Did you know you can book all sorts of Disney travel (and occasionally tickets) through Citi Travel with the Citi Strata Premierรยฎ Card? The earning rates are pretty great, with 10X points on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com, 3X points on air travel, hotel purchases, restaurants, supermarkets, gas and EV charging stations and 1X points everywhere else.รย You can redeem your Citi ThankYouรยฎ Points toward travel through CitiTravel.com or gift cards at 1 cent apiece, but you also have the option of redeeming for a statement credit, direct deposit or check at a rate of 0.75 cents per point. Assuming you book your Disney hotels and tickets through Citi Travel, you'll get a huge points multiplier รขโฌโรย and the 3X categories easily beat those with the Citi Inspire Visa card.รย The Citi Strata Premier charges a lower $95 annual fee and includes a $100 Citi Travel hotel credit that can more than cover it. (You can earn this credit once per calendar year when you book a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees, through CitiTravel.com.) As one of the best all-around rewards credit cards with no annual fee, the Wells Fargo Autographรยฎ Card features outstanding (and varied) bonus spending categories. You'll earn 3X points on travel, restaurants, gas, transit, popular streaming services and phone plans, plus 1X points for other purchases.รย Those categories can cover most Disney travel-related purchases without having to redeem rewards toward Disney purchases, like with the Disney Inspire Visa. You can redeem points for statement credits to your account, gift cards, travel through Wells Fargo Travel and purchases made via PayPal. Disney fans who aren't familiar with the vast array of rewards credit cards available might see the Disney Inspire Visa, with all its discounts and statement credits, and be lured into applying. After all, it's possible to cover the card's annual fee with a little Disney trip-planning.รย But this card doesn't exist in a vacuum, and the reality is that it's just another coupon-book credit card floating in a sea of stronger options. Other cards can earn you cash back or higher rewards รขโฌโ and with better benefits รขโฌโรย for a lower (or no) annual fee. I understand the fandom and the desire for that feeling of connection and exclusivity, but this card has one too many tradeoffs for me to fully endorse it. Not only that, but if you miss a Disney trip one year, the card is essentially a sunk cost with no rewards. Speaking of rewards, being (mostly) locked into Disney-related redemptions is extremely limited compared to cash back statement credits or other flexible redemptions.รย If you really want a Disney credit card, choose something better and tape a picture of Mickey Mouse on it. You'll get more rewards and flexibility with less hassle and benefits to track. Hopefully this Disney Inspire card review inspires you to explore other options รขโฌโ or at least gives you a clear picture of what you're getting into. At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit cardรย review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit cardรย products.รย While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.
Disney Inspire Visa Card review: Disney-forward perks with limited flexibility