There is no such thing as a free ticket to Disneyland

So I am the first to admit that I love me my Disney. Dr Geek so sweetly shared the joy of his recent bonus from Company O with the shag limited edition charm bracelet.
I saw it online while looking at some of the items I really liked but left in the World of Disney on yet another road trip South with a good friend this summer. (Dr. Geek chose to bow out and let it be a girls' only event, I don't think it was a big sacrifice for him)

I applied and was approved for a Disney Rewards Visa last summer. I use the card for personal purchases as well as for the numerous computer upgrades and acquisitions for the school and immediately get reimbursed. I thought I was set, bring on the free tickets!!! So imagine my surprise that after racking up approximately $3,000 in purchases I have a measly 64 points in my account. Surely there must be some mistake with any miles card that would be 3,000 miles I could use the next time Dr, Geek and I fly to the Land-O His-Birth. Nope no mistake.

So OK what can I get with these points? Well that is where the true aggravation begins. In order to redeem the points I had to first request (online) that a special "Rewards Card" be issued and mailed to me. This card is where I transfer the points that I acquired from my Rewards Visa. Then I search throughout the available offers and find out what I want. Around this time Pirates of the Caribbean II opened and Dr. Geek and I thought that might be fun. Well I would need to deduct 20 points from my rewards card (not to be confused with the Rewards Visa) and have Movie Checks cut and mailed to me taking 7-14 days so we just decided to pay for the tickets ourselves and look for another reward offer later.

A few weeks ago I got the Rewards Card newsletter advertising the release of The Little Mermaid on DVD. I was thrilled. I love that movie, might have something to do with the fact that the Mermaid is a redhead. Perfect I decided that is what I wanted. So I ordered the checks online deducting 30 points to have 2 $15 Disney Home Entertainment checks cut and sent via snail mail. When they arrived Dr. Geek and I went to a local Disney Store so I could place my pre order and get the neat lithographs of the film. Here we ran into what has to be the most ridiculous part of the entire reward scenario...

THE DISNEY STORE AND DISNEY ONLINE DO NOT ACCEPT THE DISNEY REWARDS CHECKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes you have read that correctly. It even said so on the check but I didn't read the list of places that did accept the checks because I was thinking why wouldn't the Disney store accept the Disney Reward checks, I mean Mickey Mouse is on the check!

So we walked across the concourse to the Suncoast Video to pre order the DVD, no cool lithographs but a free DVD. Right? Wrong! At Suncoast you put your order in with a deposit but you don't pay the balance until the DVD comes in. It was still med August and the release was scheduled for October 3. OK no problem, yes there is a problem, the movie checks expire on August 30. OK fine, I go over to the Disney DVD rack and start to look through and see what I might want to get instead. Dr. Geek & I settled for the Collector's Edition of the Chronicles of Narnia. It took us an additional 25 minutes to pay for our selection because it took 2 employees to figure out how to ring up our sale.

Two things have happened since this fiasco....
1. I have acquired a capital One No Hassle Miles Card
2. Pre-Ordered The Little Mermaid from the Disney Store at the local Mall.