(MONEY Magazine) – Plunk down roughly $37 for a single share of the Walt Disney Co. (plus commissions), and the Magic Kingdom is yours at a substantial discount. We're not talking Mickey Mouse savings either. How does 10% to 40% off accommodations at selected Disney resorts sound? Or 10% off Disney theme cruises? Throw in another 10% off Delta flights to Disney locations and all merchandise purchased at the more than 100 Disney stores around the U.S. Of course, your share also gives you a tiny interest in a premier entertainment company whose stock price has risen 50% in the past six months and more than 100% in the past three years. Disney, in fact, is only one of hundreds of publicly traded companies that offer their shareholders financial perks beyond the capital-gains and dividend income expected from stock ownership. Most of these offerings are little more than token goodies -- a common one is a $5 to $30 bag of product samples handed out at a company's annual meeting. For example, Wrigley usually gives out a gift box of about 20 packs of gum, while shareholders at Rubbermaid's annual meetings have gotten a snack tray and a set of food-storage containers. But dozens of companies, including such blue chips as Anheuser-Busch, General Mills and Procter & Gamble, offer investors discounts on goods and services that can easily amount to hundreds -- perhaps even thousands -- of dollars each year, depending on your family's travel, purchase and investment plans. Better yet, you usually qualify for these bonuses for the price of just one share of stock (plus commissions, which would cost a minimum of $25 to $30 for such a small trade). The corporations most likely to provide the extras fall into two categories: lodging and entertainment companies and consumer-products concerns. For such firms, handing out product samples and discounts is more than a kind gesture; it's a shrewd business move. ''Stimulating brand awareness among shareholders has a potentially big payoff,'' says Mark Coler, author of Investing at a Discount (Simon & Schuster, $24.95), ''because shareholders are also consumers and tend to be very loyal to companies they own.'' To qualify for their benefits, many companies require that you be a shareholder of record -- that is, that your stock be registered in your own name rather than held in your brokerage account. With that small logistical hurdle in mind, here is a rundown of some of the best perks and of the profit- making prospects of the offering companies, all of which trade on the New York Stock Exchange: -- Travel and entertainment benefits. With more generous discounts than almost any other public company, Walt Disney (1991 revenues: $6.2 billion; $37.50 a share, adjusting for a four-for-one stock split expected to become final in late April) is a star among perks programs. Through their automatic enrollment in the Magic Kingdom Club, Disney's discount travel club, shareholders are eligible for numerous non-Disney travel deals, in addition to the reduced prices on the company's own attractions. Among them: 10% to 15% discounts on Premier, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines and 10% to 30% off National car rentals in most areas. Membership cards are usually mailed by February to all registered shareholders who owned their stock by late December of the previous year. (To claim your card if your shares were held in a brokerage account, send a copy of your December brokerage statement to Magic Kingdom Club, Shareholder Membership, P.O. Box 4489, Anaheim, Calif. 92803.) Non-investors can also take advantage of Disney's largesse. Some 28,000 businesses offer free membership in the Magic Kingdom Club as an employee benefit. Then too, individuals can buy their own two-year family membership for $49 -- less than you'd pay for a single Disney share, once you take commissions into account. In the long run, though, buying shares may be the better deal. Following a dismal 1991, during which earnings sank 20%, Disney is now in the midst of a vigorous rebound that analysts say could propel profits nearly 30% this year and another 20% in 1993, pulling share prices higher too. Theme-park devotees might also take a look at $11 billion Anheuser-Busch ($56), now on the way to its 16th consecutive year of record earnings. Upon request, the beer brewer gives shareholders a 10% discount coupon for tickets at any of its nine parks, including four Sea World locations and Busch Gardens in Tampa and Williamsburg, Va. Skiers might be more intrigued by $7.4 billion Ralston-Purina ($51), the country's leading maker of pet foods. Along with their third-quarter dividend checks, shareholders receive a letter entitling them to 10% to 20% off lodging, ski rentals, ski lessons and lift tickets at Colorado's Keystone ski resort, which the company owns. Both Anheuser-Busch and Ralston-Purina, say analysts, will post healthy annual returns of about 10% to 15% over the next three to five years. Investors will find the shares of $8.3 billion Marriott ($15) a little dicier, as the hotel operator struggles through a recession-related downturn in travel as well as overbuilding in the lodging industry. The company's earnings dropped more than 40% in 1991 to their lowest level in nine years. But if you're a frequent traveler who likes the company's various properties -- including Marriott, Courtyard and Residence Inns -- your savings on accommodations could more than compensate you for the stock's anticipated sluggish performance. Weekend discounts for shareholders range from $10 off each night at Marriott hotels, where rooms on weekends normally run from $75 to $170, to 50% off stays at Residence Inns ($65 to $95). -- Consumer-product extras. Fringe benefits are most common but least valuable at consumer outfits. For example, food and household products companies, including such stalwart performers as $19.5 billion ConAgra ($28), $12.4 billion Sara Lee ($52) and $27 billion Procter & Gamble ($100), regularly send discount coupons for their products along with their quarterly reports. The total value: usually around $40 to $80 a year. One notable exception is $4.6 billion Tandy ($30), which sends its shareholders a letter entitling them to 10% off purchases up to a total of $10,000 at the company's Radio Shack stores during the Christmas season. Tandy's struggles to keep pace with technological advances in the personal- computer industry -- PC sales account for 20% of its business -- will likely keep these shares lagging over the next year. But you might still make a handsome profit on your stock purchase if consumer electronics figure prominently on your next holiday shopping list. Also high in holiday spirit is Brown-Forman (estimated 1991 revenues: $1.3 billion; $73), which gives a 50% discount on its Lenox holiday china patterns and crystal ornaments ordered in November and December through a brochure mailed to shareholders. Buoyed by brisk overseas demand for its wines and liquors -- plus its dominant market share in china, crystal, dinnerware and silverware -- the stock could double over the next three to five years, projects Value Line. Another highly regarded company that plays Santa Claus at Christmas is $7.2 billion General Mills ($64), which sells holiday gift boxes filled with its products to shareholders at a deep discount and ships them free to as many people as each investor designates. Last year's $18.95 price for the box, which included cereals, cake mixes and discount coupons for the company's Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants, was more than 60% off its retail value. -- Stock-purchase plans. These programs, offered by most of the 900 or so companies with dividend-reinvestment plans, allow shareholders to buy additional stock either at no cost or for a nominal fee that is usually less than $5 a transaction. (For more on dividend-reinvestment programs, see the March issue of MONEY, page 36.) While they don't provide the same instant gratification as more tangible perks, these plans generally put a lot more / cash in investors' pockets, potentially saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars in commissions a year. You'll find a comprehensive list of the programs in a new book by Charles Carlson called Buying Stocks Without a Broker (McGraw-Hill, $16.95). In addition, about two dozen companies, including Procter & Gamble, allow you to bypass a broker altogether and buy stock directly from them, even if you are not a current shareholder. The newest entry on the list is Exxon ($55), which inaugurated a direct-purchase plan in March, following the lead of its big oil rivals, Texaco ($57) and Mobil ($60). Unfortunately, with energy demand low because of the sluggish economy, these stocks have little to commend them apart from their fat 5% yields. More commonly, however, the stocks of companies that offer good shareholder benefits tend to fare better than those of concerns without any perks -- at least that's what author Gene Walden discovered while researching the relationship between investor goodies and performance among the issues he considered for his book The 100 Best Stocks to Own in America (Dearborn Financial Publishing, $22.95). ''It may be coincidence,'' he says. ''Or maybe these companies really are better managed as well as progressive enough to understand the bottom-line importance of fostering good relations with customers and shareholders.''