VISA Gift Cards

[Duchesse]

I have two daughters, ages 10 and 12. Each time we go on vacation, my husband and I wind up giving each of them a given dollar amount to spend on souveneirs.

During the course of the trip, my DH and I usually hold the money and inevitably it winds up getting "mixed up" or change lost, etc.

For our upcoming trip in May I got each one a Visa Gift Card with their own name on it from http://www.giftcardlab.com/. The really great thing is that you can upload your own pictures for the face of the card! I gave both my girls a different picture from our last trip to Disney. You can load the card with any dollar amount between $10 and $250 and I believe there was a $5 processing fee.

Now there's no purse-full of unspent Mickey money, or loose change at the bottom of the shopping bag, or squabbles about who gave their money to who to hold, etc.

I know this may not be the answer for every family, but if you have older kids I think its a great idea...

 

[Mickey_Mouse]

this seems like a very good idea - easy way of setting limits etc.

I myself don't have children, but maybe it would be a good limiter for me!!

Can if be used in all Disney outlets? shops and restaurants etc..

 

[tigsmom]

We use American Express cards. They are taken everywhere a credit card is, for anything. You can get them in banks, malls or order them over the net. They are:

[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Available in $25, $50, $100, $200 and $500 denominations.
$3.95 per Card fee plus shipping and handling.
Card will be printed with the name "Gift Card Recipient" (if ordered over the net)


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[bayoumoon]

I like the idea. I give gift cards alot for birthdays but I think I might just try this for that.

 

[Duchesse]

My cards just arrived in the mail yesterday. They turned out so cute with the pictures! On the front it has my daughter's name and the dollar amount on the card. And yes, they can be used anywhere that accepts Visa.

 

[swimmom]

Visa gift cards are really great and with the pictures on them they solve the problem of them getting mixed up. However, I have one caution for you. When the card's balance is less than your purchase the purchase will be denied. In order to use the last dollars on the card you must know the exact balance to be applied to the purchase. Unlike other giftcards where the card balance will be applied to the purchase and then they can give you a balance due.

 

[Rob562]

For a Disney vacation, an alternative to getting the pre-paid debit cards is to get Disney Gift Cards. They're good just about everywhere, and they don't have the processing fees to purchase them or charge a maintenance fee if you haven't used up the balance. (They never expire)

While you can get the generic Mickey design at your local Disney Store, you can get a choice of designs if you order through the Disneyland website. (WDW's website doesn't offer them) They typically offer about 8-12 designs at a time, available on a rotating basis (Christmas designs around Christmas, a few more "love" themes around Valentines', etc) This way you can get a different design for each child.

They're listed at the bottom of the Tickets page:
http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/reserve/ticketListing?name=TicketListingPage

They only come in $25, $50 and $100 amounts, but you can then bring them to your local Disney Store and add any additional money you want. And shipping is free! I just got the Ratatouille one (which says "Bon Appetit") to pay for my meals on my upcoming trip.

-Rob