Has anybody used the Disney vacation account?

DizArielFan

DizArielFan

Member
I am planning to go to WDW in December and I was going to set up a separate savings account to save up but then I saw an ad for the vacation account. Is this a recent thing? One advantage I see is that I can pay for the vacation just using the account so no need to use my own credit card. Who else has used it?
 
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ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
I just saw an ad for this and it actually doesn't seem so bad. You can use your credit card to deposit, so if I use my Disney Visa I can get points for that. And at $1000 there is a $20 gift card which is what?, about 2% interest which is about the same as a regular savings account right? (Math is not my strong suit).
 
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I

incorrigible

Member
I set one of these up just a day or 2 ago, although my reason was a little different. I had a bunch of giftcards (some actual cards from Target and some e-giftcards I bought online at a discount) and this was the only way I could find to use them to buy park tickets. It worked fine for my purposes although I did have to use my credit card and make a minimum deposit of $10 to set it up. After that though, I just put it all my giftcards in there and then bought my park tickets online without any problem.

While it's true you would not need to pay for your trip with a credit card, you would need to make contributions to the account with one (or a debit card). Apparently, they're also running a deal now that you get a $20 giftcard for every $1000 you spend out of the account, so that's something to keep in mind.
 
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CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
I'm not familiar with this product but the biggest red flag I'd look for is loss of flexibility. What happens if you contribute but then can't go to Disney for personal/family/medical/financial reasons? Is there a penalty to get your money back out?

If the only benefit is a $20 for saving $1,000, you're better off buying $100 gift cards at BJs, Costco, or Sam's at a better return.
 
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tmitch

tmitch

Well-Known Member
If the 20$ is the only incentive, I would think a target red card would be a better vehicle for savings, as 1000$ would only cost you 950$ with 5% rebate applied
 
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unkadug

unkadug

Follower of "Saget"The Cult
CaptainAmerica said:
I'm not familiar with this product but the biggest red flag I'd look for is loss of flexibility. What happens if you contribute but then can't go to Disney for personal/family/medical/financial reasons? Is there a penalty to get your money back out?

If the only benefit is a $20 for saving $1,000, you're better off buying $100 gift cards at BJs, Costco, or Sam's at a better return.
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How does that work? Doesn't a $100.00 gift card from Costco cost $100.00? Where does the better return come into play?
 
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sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
CaptainAmerica said:
I'm not familiar with this product but the biggest red flag I'd look for is loss of flexibility. What happens if you contribute but then can't go to Disney for personal/family/medical/financial reasons? Is there a penalty to get your money back out?

If the only benefit is a $20 for saving $1,000, you're better off buying $100 gift cards at BJs, Costco, or Sam's at a better return.
Click to expand...
You can pull the money back out if you are no longer going on vacation at anytime no questions asked, and can do that online I believe easily. They refund it to the credit card you used to put it in the account within 2 days give it take. No penalties to take the money back out but you do have to wait so many days after opening to withdraw it. So no loss to you if you change your mind after an account is opened. :)
 
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sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
tmitch said:
If the 20$ is the only incentive, I would think a target red card would be a better vehicle for savings, as 1000$ would only cost you 950$ with 5% rebate applied
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But you can then load your Disney Savings with those gift cards you saved 5% on at Target etc. You can add gift cards as funds into the account to then help you earn the $20 gift cards for every time you spend $1000 out of your Disney Savings account to pay for trip expenses etc. So you can use both together for more savings. :)
 
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ninjaprincesst

ninjaprincesst

Well-Known Member
I guess it would be useful if you think you might change your mind, but it seems to me like it's just easier to book your trip as far ahead as possible and pay on it each payday since there is no minimum and the only due date is the final payment.
 
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dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
Do you have the cushion outside of these funds in case of an emergency? While you may be able to get it refunded in a few days, that few days might be too long. If you were planning on saving for the trip by buying gift cards, then its a moot point as you would need to sell those (most likely at a loss) in case of emergency, so you would need to run the numbers and see if the 2% bonus makes sense to you or not. If you can stack it on top of already discounted gift cards, then it may be a good deal. And possibly even better if you buy them using a rewards credit card.

unkadug said:
How does that work? Doesn't a $100.00 gift card from Costco cost $100.00? Where does the better return come into play?
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Most gift cards sold at warehouse clubs are at a discount (except for their own, go figure). Gift cards sold to by someone other than the store on the card need to have some sort of "commission" worked in, warehouse clubs either buy more volume and get a better "commission" rate, or are perhaps choosing to forgo some of the "commission" profits by offering it at a lower price to you the consumer. Depending on your store and the dollar amount you are buying, the savings at a Target using their 5% discount may be better.
 
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Lord_Vader

Lord_Vader

Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
CaptainAmerica said:
I'm not familiar with this product but the biggest red flag I'd look for is loss of flexibility. What happens if you contribute but then can't go to Disney for personal/family/medical/financial reasons? Is there a penalty to get your money back out?

If the only benefit is a $20 for saving $1,000, you're better off buying $100 gift cards at BJs, Costco, or Sam's at a better return.
Click to expand...

You can do both. We typically purchase gift cards from Krorger, Sams, Target, etc. and apply them to the DVSA. By doing this we can double dip on points, discounts and get the $20/$1000 credit for our trips.
 
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Courtney6682

Courtney6682

Well-Known Member
Ive been using the acct for a year. To pay off this trip I bought $3700 worth of Disney gift cards at Target. Which means that I only paid $3515 for them. Then I uploaded each one into the acct( yes it's time consuming, but worth it for us) and for every $1000 that was deposited I earned a $20 Disney gift card. So, for $3515 in cash I got $3760 in gift cards. That's $245 for free!
 
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