We just got back from a family trip to Los Angeles — Disneyland with Maddox, a few days in the city, and the whole thing cost us almost nothing out of pocket. Here’s exactly how we built it, because there are a few moves in this trip that most people have never heard of.
The flight: Charlotte to LAX on 66,000 American Airlines miles
We booked our flights from CLT to LAX using American Airlines AAdvantage miles. Total out of pocket: $33 in taxes and fees for the whole family. That’s it.
The CLT–LAX route is one of the easier domestic award flights to find on American — it’s a major route with consistent availability, and at off-peak pricing it can be as low as 12,500 miles one-way per person in economy. We used 66,000 miles total and paid $33 in taxes and fees, covering the full round trip for our family.
What that flight would have cost in cash: A family of three, round trip CLT to LAX, typically runs $600–$1,000+ depending on timing. We paid $33.
The car: Capital One travel credit
We needed a rental car in LA. Instead of paying out of pocket, we booked it through Capital One Travel using the Venture X’s annual $300 travel credit — which applies automatically to travel purchases including rental cars booked through the portal.
The rental was covered. No cash out of pocket.
Key note: The Capital One $300 travel credit is one of the most useful credits in the points game because it applies broadly and automatically — you don’t have to remember to submit a claim. It’s also one of the reasons the Venture X’s $395 annual fee is so manageable in practice.
The big one: Disney tickets, food & parking — all at 5x points
This is the part most people don’t know about, and it’s our favorite move on this entire trip.
Disneyland is expensive. Park tickets for a family, food, parking — it adds up fast. Most people just put it on whatever card they have and earn 1x points at best.
We did it differently.
The Staples + Chase Ink Cash hack
Before we left Charlotte, we went to Staples and bought Disney gift cards using our Chase Ink Cash card.
Here’s why that matters:
The Chase Ink Cash earns 5x points at office supply stores — including Staples and Office Depot — on the first $25,000 in combined purchases per card anniversary year. Staples sells gift cards to hundreds of retailers, including Disney.
So instead of paying Disney directly (and earning 1x points), we bought Disney gift cards at Staples and earned 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points on every dollar. We then used those gift cards to:
- Book our Disney park tickets online in advance
- Pay for food inside the park
- Cover parking
The math: If you spend $1,000 on Disney gift cards at Staples with the Ink Cash, you earn 5,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points instead of 1,000. That’s 5x the points on what is essentially forced spending — you were going to spend that money at Disney anyway.
Those 5,000 points, transferred to World of Hyatt, can be worth $75–$100 in hotel value. Not life-changing on a single purchase, but this is a strategy that scales: every time you need a gift card to a major retailer, running it through Staples on your Ink Cash silently multiplies your points.
What else you can buy at Staples for 5x
Disney is just one example. Staples sells gift cards to: Amazon, Target, Airbnb, Home Depot, Uber, Starbucks, and dozens of other retailers. The Ink Cash earns 5x on all of them. This means you can effectively earn 5x points on a huge range of everyday spending by simply routing it through Staples gift cards first.
One important thing to know about the $25,000 cap
The Ink Cash earns 5x on up to $25,000 in combined purchases at office supply stores, and on internet/cable/phone services each card anniversary year (not calendar year). Chase recently changed how this cap displays in the app — it now shows your calendar year spending, which can make it look like you’ve used more of your limit than you have. If you’re a heavy Ink Cash user, track your spending against your actual card anniversary date, not January 1.
The hotel: family saves the day
We stayed with family in LA — no hotel cost. If you don’t have that option, this would be the natural place to use World of Hyatt points (transferred from Chase) or a Marriott free night certificate. LA has solid Hyatt properties bookable at Category 4–5 pricing.
Full trip cost breakdown
| Item | Points/miles used | Cash paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flights (CLT → LAX, family round trip) | 66,000 AA miles | $33 taxes/fees |
| Rental car | Cap1 $300 travel credit | $0 |
| Hotel | Stayed with family | $0 |
| Disney tickets, food & parking | Bought gift cards at Staples (5x Ink Cash points earned) | $1000 (3x day park-to-park tickets, Lightning Lane, Food, Preferred Parking) |
| Total out of pocket | $33 + $1000 Disney gift card |
The gift card purchases aren’t “free” — you’re still spending money on Disney. But you’re earning 5x points instead of 1x, which meaningfully changes the points math on a trip like this.
The cards that made this trip happen
- American Airlines AAdvantage miles — for the flights. Earned through the Citi/AAdvantage program or Atmos Rewards depending on your setup. See our card guides →
- Capital One Venture X — for the rental car travel credit. Full guide →
- Chase Ink Cash — for the Staples gift card hack. No annual fee, 5x at office supply stores. Full guide →
The Takeaway
This trip is a good example of what the points game looks like when you stop thinking about it as “one big redemption” and start treating it as a series of small, smart decisions that stack on top of each other:
- Use miles for the flight instead of cash ✓
- Use a card credit for the rental car instead of cash ✓
- Route your theme park spending through a 5x category ✓
None of these moves required being an expert. They just required knowing the rules of the game before you booked.
Want to know which cards make this kind of trip possible? Start with our How to Pick Your First Card guide → or see Current Best Offers → for the latest welcome bonuses.
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