Paying off trip using Disney gift cards

Mikester71

Mikester71

Well-Known Member
First I'd like to say that I did do a search on here about this topic but didn't find what I was looking for with regards to this topic. Plus, I really kind of need the info quickly as my wife wants to do this some time later today.

We put down a $200 deposit over the phone when I called and booked our April trip earlier in the week. We have the rest of the money to pay it off right now and would like to just pay it off so that we can start saving up our spending money for the trip. So we are heading down near a Sam's Club in Michigan here today and my wife remembered seeing a deal on Disney gift cards last time we were down there; three $50 cards for $142, which doesn't seem like a lot of savings until you start thinking about $1800 worth of them. She wants to buy some later today and use them to pay off the rest of the trip here today or tomorrow. She's all about saving a few bucks here and there, and like I said, with $1800 worth, you'd be saving just under $100 on your trip.

I know there are probably pros and cons, like anything else, but I was just wondering how much of a pain in the rump it is to pay off your trip with them? I know I have read something about only being able to input a couple at a time on their site, or in a day, or something like that, but never did find a definitive answer on this. I heard it is easier to call the numbers in over the phone, but also read that it is a pain for the CM on the other side who has to listen to you read them all off to them.

Anybody have any experience doing this, and if so, what was the best way to redeem them towards your vacation package? By phone, through the site (which I don't even see on there by the way), or is there another way I haven't mentioned?

Thanks in advance!
 
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Mikester71

Mikester71

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Minthorne said:
Super easy. Buy the cards then call before you go and use them to pay off the balance. Sure you may be on the phone a bit reading off all the cards but it is worth 4% off of $1800 (that's $72)!
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Thanks Minthorne, and that is most likely the way we are going to go, but hoping I can find a toll-free number that I can call. You see, I downgraded our home phone plan since we all have cell phones and don't get free North America calling now (I SWEAR we have the worst phone and data plans up here in Canada :banghead:), and I heard somewhere that you can be on the phone with them for up to an hour redeeming that many.

Was really hoping there was somewhere on their site where you can just plug the numbers from each card in all at once and be done with it, lickity split! :p
 
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NYwdwfan

NYwdwfan

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure if it works differently for Canadians, but when I registered our reservations with My Disney Experience it gave an option to pay off the balance. My mom was given $700 in giftcards as a gift - and they were in $25 increments. I entered them to pay my parents reservation - one by one - and it took a while but is totally doable. I would recommend scratching off the silver covering the last four numbers on all of the cards before you start, and putting them in a separate pile as you go. When I had finished I had missed one, and had to go the the Disney giftcard website and enter the numbers to figure out which one it was. :banghead:
 
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MickeyMomV

MickeyMomV

Well-Known Member
We did the same thing for our trip next month. Saved $200!!!! It just took a little time sitting in front of the tv entering in all of the cards. You don't have to do it in a Disney Savings Account. You can do it right on the Walt Disney web site, it just takes a little time.
 
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SDisney90

SDisney90

Well-Known Member
I did the same thing in January 2014, saved around 100 dollars but its worth it. It wasn't working online so I had to call, the rep. was very patient and kind. She took all 10 gift cards with no problem. Anything saved it better than nothing..We spent that money on other things we wouldn't have done.

We are planning our January 2016 trip, and we will use the money saved on a tour IE Epcots the land, or keys the kingdom tour in MK.

Only issue I can think of is when you buy too many gift cards at any store you are flagged right away. The manager usually comes out and anything over a certain amount sometimes you have to sign a form stating why you are buying so much worth in gift cards. Just a heads up.
 
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Dad 2 M & M

Dad 2 M & M

Well-Known Member
Just completed a December trip using this thread's method....it is a better deal (just barley) to get the cards at Target. $142.98 for $150.00 at Sams vs $142.50 for the same $150.00 at Target.

Wouldn't drive out of the way to save the $6.00 (using the $1,800.00 in this thread), but to each his own.

Using the cards, we saved about $40...that's a t-shirt and QS meal!!
 
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P

Pax

Member
We have a similar plan using cards I purchased at BJ's Wholesale: $96 for a $100 gift card x 9 cards. I'll buy cards again before we leave for our mid February trip, as we will use these to renew annual passes. Can't wait to make that call into DVC, heh.
 
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mousehockey37

mousehockey37

Well-Known Member
Occasional Guest said:
We did this with our Target Red Card. 5% off our $2500 trip saved enough for our gas money so it was worth it. We used them online and it worked smoothly.
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Dad 2 M & M said:
Just completed a December trip using this thread's method....it is a better deal (just barley) to get the cards at Target. $142.98 for $150.00 at Sams vs $142.50 for the same $150.00 at Target.

Wouldn't drive out of the way to save the $6.00 (using the $1,800.00 in this thread), but to each his own.

Using the cards, we saved about $40...that's a t-shirt and QS meal!!
Click to expand...

I thought that Target had discontinued the Red Card to buy Disney gift card thing.
 
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journ116

journ116

Well-Known Member
When trying to pay a balance off online, you're only allowed to enter two forms of payment. I had to call reservations directly to pay off the balance because I had a whopping 32 - $50 gift cards (it was a trip comprised of extended family). Took a while, because we missed one, but it was relatively painless!

I am EXTREMELY excited to be learning about the Disney Vacation Account though! Thanks @Minthorne for the link!
 
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Minthorne

Minthorne

Well-Known Member
Seems the Vacation Account would also have the benefit of the $20 gift card for every $1000 you put in as long as you are more than 120 days out:

"You'll be eligible for a $20 Disney Gift Card for every $1000 you spend on qualified vacation purchases with your Disney Vacation Account prior to December 31, 2017 (date subject to extension), up to a total $500 in Disney Gift Card(s) per household. Your Disney Vacation Account must be active for a minimum of 120 days at the time of spending in order to receive this bonus. Request your Disney Gift Card(s) 4-6 weeks in advance of your vacation date to allow time for delivery to your mailing address."

journ116 said:
When trying to pay a balance off online, you're only allowed to enter two forms of payment. I had to call reservations directly to pay off the balance because I had a whopping 32 - $50 gift cards (it was a trip comprised of extended family). Took a while, because we missed one, but it was relatively painless!

I am EXTREMELY excited to be learning about the Disney Vacation Account though! Thanks @Minthorne for the link!
Click to expand...
 
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Mikester71

Mikester71

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Much thanks for the many replies and suggestions, Disney friends! We ended up buying $1800 worth at Sam's Club this afternoon, no problems whatsoever. Even had the lady behind us in line ask us what we were doing with all of those cards. When my wife explained to her how you could use them to pay off your Disney vacation and save a bit of money by doing it this way, she said she would have to keep that in mind and told us to enjoy our trip! Even the lady at the exit door who looks at your receipt to check it off with what you bought asked us why so many gift cards and said she was jealous and wished she could go with us! Disney LOVE is alive and well at Sam's Club!! :p:D

Just sitting here entering them now (actually, taking a quick break to type this while the wife grabs us a coffee) and I have to say, other than having to enter each card in individually, it is pretty painless and easy. It's taking a little bit to enter 36 of them in, but once I got the hang of it, it is going pretty smoothly.

For those wondering how to go about it on Disney's site, the way I am doing it is by going into my account, or My Disney Experience, then into My Reservations & Tickets. From there you would look under Disney Resort Hotel Reservations (assuming you have your vacation package booked, like we did) and under your resort you should see Remaining Balance which showed us still owing $1900 on our trip. You click on Make a Payment and from here you are presented with options for making a payment. Under where it says Select an Amount to Pay Today I've been clicking Other Amount and manually inputting 50.00, since we have 36 $50 gift cards. :p I go down to where it says Add a Disney Gift Card or Disney Vacation Account, click on it, and am asked to enter the card or account number. I enter the number on the back of each card, watch my balance go down, and repeat 36 times! :bored: There you go...Bob's your uncle, the balance is eventually paid and we are off to the races!

Thanks again, everybody, for the advice and I hope you don't mind that I left a little step by step instructions above for those who are looking into doing the same as us. Well, got my coffee - back to entering the last 16 or so here! :D
 
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Mikester71

Mikester71

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So one quick update here. The site crashed a couple of times on me in the middle of entering all the cards and we were off by $100 (2 cards) when all was said and done. I re-entered the numbers all over again and it found one of the missing cards, but it took me a third time of re-entering all the numbers to finally get the last $50 applied to our account! :banghead:

So all and all, took us a little over 3 hours total to get everything entered correctly. Was it worth it in the end - I don't know. My wife still thinks so though!
 
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officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Mikester71 said:
Thanks Minthorne, and that is most likely the way we are going to go, but hoping I can find a toll-free number that I can call. You see, I downgraded our home phone plan since we all have cell phones and don't get free North America calling now (I SWEAR we have the worst phone and data plans up here in Canada :banghead:), and I heard somewhere that you can be on the phone with them for up to an hour redeeming that many.

Was really hoping there was somewhere on their site where you can just plug the numbers from each card in all at once and be done with it, lickity split! :p
Click to expand...

I found a toll-free WDW ticketing number online a couple of years ago and it still works (at least from Canada): 888 870 9173
 
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Lord_Vader

Lord_Vader

Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
Minthorne said:
To avoid the phone you could enter all the gift cards into a Disney Vacation Account online and the use that to pay the balance.

https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com
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We double up on this and use the gift cards too when offers make it justifiable such as 4x points on gift cards at the grocery store or as the moderator stated 5% off at SAMS/COSTCO clubs. $1800 worth of gift cards at Kroger here would be $7200 in gas credits resulting in seven fill-ups saving me $0.93 per gallon each which right now is just under 1/2 off gasoline or about $12.00 per fill-up adding up to around a hundred dollars.
 
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