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Our family took a vacation to Florida during the last week of February. When the Southwest fares were published back in July, I hopped on the deal, and I’m glad I did. Though I checked back periodically, the fares never were cheaper than when I first booked them.

We went to Universal Studios for 3 days, 1 day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and 1 day on the beach in Cape Canaveral to watch a rocket launch.

We used some hotel and credit card points to offset some of our expenses. Here’s what we did:

• 5 nights at the Hyatt Place near Universal Studios Orlando. It was 40,000 Hyatt points for the stay. I earned these points by completing the minimum spend on a Chase Hyatt Visa. The card has an annual fee of $75, not waived in the first year. Without points, the cash rate for the place would have been about $900 for those five nights. I will renew the card, as it comes with a “free” night per year and other minor perks. For $75, that’s a deal.
• 5 round-trip flights on Southwest. We used 58,800 Southwest points that were held over from some of my husband’s work travel. The cash value was roughly $980 total. We paid tax out of pocket. Without already having Southwest points, we could have transferred them from our Chase Sapphire Reserve.
• I used my $300 annual travel credit on my Sapphire Reserve to offset our rental car and some parking charges.

  Watching animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, from a public viewing area

Our largest expenses were park tickets and food. I bought our Universal Studios tickets at Undercover Tourist, where there was a 3 days for the price of 2 promo. We really didn’t need the third day, but for the same price, might as well go. For our Animal Kingdom tickets, I had some Disney gift card money from our Disney Visa (there was a 5% back on utilities promo last year, and that earned a bit). I also bought discounted Disney gift card tickets from Target using my RedCard debit card.

We popped over to Disney World for meals a few times. Did you know you could visit the hotel resorts without paying for parking? It’s a great way to see Mickey via a character meal, and just see the amazing resorts and relax. We went to the Polynesian twice. We had dinner without a reservation at Aloha Island, and then played on the beach for a little bit. We almost stayed for Magic Kingdom fireworks…but we were too tired. Womp, womp.

We also did a character breakfast at ‘Ohana. I had a 11:50 reservation, so it was our lunch. We met Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch. It was fun, but a bit rushed and pricey.

Another time, we had dinner at Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I’ve been wanting to visit this resort, and it is incredible. The lobby, the fire pits, the animals on view! You could just hang out here all day. We saw giraffe, zebra, and other creatures having their evening meal. Boma was my favorite restaurant of the trip. It is an African-inspired buffet, and there were so many wonderful flavors to sample. Another guest recommended the coconut chicken curry while I was surveying my soup options, and it was my favorite bite of the whole trip.

We paid for food and earned 3x points per dollar using the Sapphire Reserve. Most trip expenses went on this card, but I also put non-food expenses on my American Express Starwood.

Somehow, we earned 2,500 Hyatt points during our points-redemption stay. There was some kind of promo going on. I’ll take it! Thanks to the points earned from meeting the card’s minimum spend, and a grocery promotion recently, I have a little more than 5,000 Hyatt points in my account, which is enough for a 1-night stay at a basic place. I can top off my account by transferring points from my Sapphire Reserve. I see several options in the 5,000 – 8,000 points/night range that we could use.

Having TSA Pre-Check was fantastic. My husband already had this, but I got mine last year as a perk with the Sapphire Reserve. Getting out of the Orlando airport always takes awhile, but with Pre-Check, we skipped a massive line. Worth it. We did not use the Priority Pass airport lounge, and I forgot to even check it out. Too many things on my mind trying to get us through the airport.

Overall, we had a great trip. Visiting Orlando theme parks is pricey, but using points to defray some costs really helps.