I am using the GC's from Target which only come in $50 denominations, which means that I almost always have to use multiple GC's per purchase. Unfortunately, I have had a couple of problems:
When I went online to purchase
MVMCP tickets, I found out that only one source of payment can be used for online purchases. I sent an e-mail to tech support, who confirmed that it was true.
I then called to purchase the tickets, and was told that they can only accept two sources by phone, so we had to split the tickets up into individual purchases, which was annoying and also led to me having small amounts left on two cards.
I am planning both a DLR and WDW trip, so I tried to book a room only reservation at DLR and was told I could not do it with GC's because they have to have a credit card to refund back to, if I cancel. Since they can refund back to a GC, it made no sense, but whatever. When I protested that I was using GC's for the discount, I was told that I could have the front desk refund the first night to my credit card and re-charge the GC. Seems like a lot of effort that should be able to be accomplished prior to my arrival, instead of using my precious vacation time.
I asked the telephone rep (DLR) if I could make advance payments for my stay online, or over the phone, and was told no, I could not make
any pre-payments prior to arrival. The only way for me to do it was at the front desk in person. Yet again, a waste of my vacation time, that will be exacerbated if I can't find a CM able to load my cards at one for me to "work-off" in the park. I am traveling alone with a small child who won't really appreciated having to stop by the front desk daily!
When I saw the Disney Vacation Account, I thought "This is the solution!" Alas, no. I was thinking I could enter all of my gift cards and then just use the account for all my purchases. ...Yeah... not so much. It seems
VERY slanted towards those that purchase packages (room, tickets, etc). It doesn't work the same for us room reservation only people, which is annoying because it seems like package people already could pay-off in advance. It also seems to work better for WDW than DLR, which again makes no sense. One company.
On the brighter side, I was able to use DVA to purchase an additional night of MVMCP online -- it came up as a form of payment option, so that was VERY nice. However, it did not come up nor allow me to use it to purchase TTDP tickets. Perhaps because MVMCP is technically a ticket and TTDP is a pre-paid dining reservation? Perhaps over time, this may be fixed, but for the average visitor is it perplexing to be treated differently for online purchases.
Since I will be buying annual passes for DL in August, I loaded enough for one pass into DVA to test it,because it says right in the literature that you can buy tickets to both parks with it. However, it appears that you have to CALL to do so. I tested by loading an annual pass into my online cart, and sure enough, paying with DVA was not an option. Again, this may be something that the website will catch up with, but don't roll something out until it is fully operational and tested.
So, all in all, my experiences have been mixed. I am really counting on being able to load multiple cards onto my hotel account up front, which is not making me very comfortable. I am a person that wants to get all of the organizational stuff out of the way prior to arrival (like just about all of us on this board!). GC are legitimate tender and I feel like they need to be doing a better job letting me use them, regardless of how many of them I possess or what denomination.
I'm still going to be using them because I want the 5% discount -- with two trips, it is significant enough to me. But, I am now also curious how the whole process works at both parks (and have no problem pitching a fit, if I have issues!).
Then the only cash we would "need" would be for souveniers and extras as hotel, dining (tips included with gift card), & passes would be completely paid off by then.
