Tips for Using Your Disney Gift Cards

[fairy8i8]

After spending over 2 hours on my birthday getting the run around with CMs who don't really know what they are talking about, I thought I would save you all the time and let you know what is really currently happening with Disney Gift Cards.

1. Online, you can only use ONE Disney gift card for a purchase. If the price is more than the value of the Gift Card, then you must pay the balance with another form of payment.

2. On the phone, you can only use TWO Disney gift cards. If you are buying something like park tickets that value more than the 2 gift cards, again, you need to use another form of payment.

3. I believe if you buy a Vacation Package from Disney, the ONE Disney Gift Card limit still applies online, so for your $200 deposit, you would need to call and make the reservation over the phone if your gift card value is less than that.

4. You can make multiple payments for your Vacation Package over the phone, so you can slowly pay for it completely with cards if you want. I believe the 2 at a time limit applies, but you can always call back.

5. Disney Gift Cards CANNOT be combined currently. Regardless of what a CM might tell you, it's not true (if you read this weeks or months from now, it doesn't hurt to check a policy change). Very frustrating with the ONE and TWO Gift Card limits. The Gift Card Services CM did say that eventually he believes you will be able to combine Disney Gift Cards yourself through their website, but he didn't know when that would happen. Judging from how much all of the other CMs knew about things, I wouldn't count on it happening, though.

6. At the resorts and theme parks, there are not currently any restrictions on Disney Gift Card use, presumably because they can see each Gift Card in person to verify that there are multiples and the numbers of each.

As a side note, if you want to get the Memory Maker and have rented points through a DVC owner, the phone system will and any reservation CM will try to send you over to DVC Member Services. They will tell you that you can add the Memory Maker to your rented DVC Package. You cannot. The owner must call or conference call you in, just like a dining package or Magical Express.

You CAN just call TICKETING and order the Memory Maker yourself not connected to your reservation. It's quick and easy, but in the phone system, ask for TICKETING (like theme park tickets), not MEMORY MAKER because the latter will send you to reservations instead of ticketing.

 

[jmartinez1895]

Did they happen to say when this change took place? our last trip was in Sept and I paid for the whole thing with $50 gift cards. At one point I used 13 cards in one phone call. It took a little bit of time, but the agent was patient and took them all.
If this is a new change they are going to stick with then I suppose I will be calling back to back.

 

[fairy8i8]

I'm not sure, but I remember reading on the forums about the change sometime the end of last year. December, I think. I'm not a fan of the change. Reservations *might* be able to take more than 2 gift cards, but ticketing and other CMs can't.

 

[GAGirlInVA]

We just paid our whole trip off with $50 and $25 giftcards online with no issue.

 

[cats mom]

This may not be much help for those who aren't near a theme park, but I made a purchase using multiple gift cards, and when I ended up returning the item they credited the full amount onto just one gift card. So I have a Disney gift card with a several hundred dollar balance.

While I'm sure Disney wouldn't be thrilled with people using the buy and return method to get around any limited # of gift cards per transaction rules they might have in place, it would work. Processing a return when gift cards were the original form of payment seems to fluster a lot of CM's though. I think it was the 4th one called over who finally figured it out, and then I had to wait for a manager to come approve the transaction.

 

[niclodn]

You can use as many gift cards as you like for reservations made over the phone. Online, however, it will only accept one for the deposit. After the initial deposit, gift cards can be entered to pay the remaining balance online for packages only. Room only reservations can either be paid with gift cards at check-in or via phone using as many gift cards as you like. Tickets purchased online only allow for one gift card to be used also. Two gift cards can be used per ticket (you purchase them individually) when purchased over the phone. Tickets (and anything else) purchased on property allow as many gift cards as you like.

 

[fairy8i8]

We just paid our whole trip off with $50 and $25 giftcards online with no issue.

You can use as many gift cards as you like for reservations made over the phone. Online, however, it will only accept one for the deposit. After the initial deposit, gift cards can be entered to pay the remaining balance online for packages only. Room only reservations can either be paid with gift cards at check-in or via phone using as many gift cards as you like. Tickets purchased online only allow for one gift card to be used also. Two gift cards can be used per ticket (you purchase them individually) when purchased over the phone. Tickets (and anything else) purchased on property allow as many gift cards as you like.

Yeah, for packages you can pay it off with multiple cards after the deposit online. Too bad they restrict everything else. Good to know that the 2 gift card limit is PER TICKET on the phone and not for the total.

 

[rimomma66]

Yeah, for packages you can pay it off with multiple cards after the deposit online. Too bad they restrict everything else. Good to know that the 2 gift card limit is PER TICKET on the phone and not for the total.

Actually I just called a month or so ago and bought 3 5 day MYW tickets using about 15 $50 gift cards and the rest on my debit card. All at once. You have to call ticketing directly. She took them all, quite patiently and happily. It wasn't a package. Just tickets.
As with anything at Disney, it all depends on who answers the phone when you call!

 

[imchatti]

I have been buying gift cards in $100 increments from my son's school (fundraiser) and I was hoping to use them to buy Annual Passes via the phone. But if I can't, it doesn't make much difference if I have to pay for them when I pick them up at Guest Services. Unless the prices are set to go up again in August, in which case I would need to buy the vouchers beforehand and the gift cards could be prove to be a problem.

 

[Mysteria]

Online more than one can't be done. On the phone (including today) I've had no issues using multiple cards as payment during one call.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

Is there a reason people don't like to just use all the gift cards in person?

 

[fairy8i8]

Is there a reason people don't like to just use all the gift cards in person?

You could wait until you get there, but then you would miss out on a lot of savings. Disney Gift Cards are accepted as payment for Disney Vacation Packages, Dining Plans, Room Only Deposit at Disney Resorts, Theme Park Tickets, Memory Maker, reservations that require payment up front like Cinderella's Royal Table or Hoop Dee Doo Revue. All of these things you typically want to pay for before you actually ever get to the Parks, so you can't do it in person.

That's a savings of 5% if you purchase Disney Gift Cards with your Target Redcard, or for promotions like I got at Giant Eagle last week, that's a savings of 16% on all those pieces of your vacation. Pretty awesome!

This stacks with Disney's discounts, too. So if you get a Free Dining Package, you will be paying rack rates for the hotel room and tickets. It can be a good deal. But 5% - 16% off of that total is even better. Packages must be paid in full 45 days before your trip. So no "in person" ability there.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

You could wait until you get there, but then you would miss out on a lot of savings. Disney Gift Cards are accepted as payment for Disney Vacation Packages, Dining Plans, Room Only Deposit at Disney Resorts, Theme Park Tickets, Memory Maker, reservations that require payment up front like Cinderella's Royal Table or Hoop Dee Doo Revue. All of these things you typically want to pay for before you actually ever get to the Parks, so you can't do it in person.

That's a savings of 5% if you purchase Disney Gift Cards with your Target Redcard, or for promotions like I got at Giant Eagle last week, that's a savings of 16% on all those pieces of your vacation. Pretty awesome!

This stacks with Disney's discounts, too. So if you get a Free Dining Package, you will be paying rack rates for the hotel room and tickets. It can be a good deal. But 5% - 16% off of that total is even better. Packages must be paid in full 45 days before your trip. So no "in person" ability there.

Ok, so I booked only our rooms with the spring vacation offer and purchased our tickets through Orbitz when Ebates had their deal. Free dining wasn't offered so I'm not missing out on anything, right?

 

[msammon]

I just used a bunch of GC's to purchase our annual passes over the phone, and paid for an entire cruise with gift cards thru our travel agent. No problem.

 

[mblondie0509]

When booking a cruise through DCL on the website, you are able to use 3 gift cards and then the remainder on one credit card.

 

[jcvalenti]

I called earlier this afternoon to purchase an Annual Pass with $50 Gift Cards (I bought $1400 worth of them at Target about a week ago). I was by the cast member they will only take 2 forms of payment for a purchase. Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

I hope this is a situation where results may very, and intend to call back later and speak to another cast member. If that's their new policy, fine, but I certainly could find no information about it before I made the purchase just last week. Normally I wouldn't even care, but I (a) wanted to get an AP voucher so I could try to work with FP+ and get a Magic Band before my trip in August and (b) wanted to get my voucher locked up before June, as I suspect they're going to raise prices AGAIN this year.

Overall, with all the ticket increases and the unbelievable confusion with Magic Bands and FP+, I'm really regretting agreeing to take the family back there for 2 weeks this fall. This may be the last trip for some time - I'm just getting very discouraged by the run around. Having a vacation should not be this difficult.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I called earlier this afternoon to purchase an Annual Pass with $50 Gift Cards (I bought $1400 worth of them at Target about a week ago). I was by the cast member they will only take 2 forms of payment for a purchase. Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

I hope this is a situation where results may very, and intend to call back later and speak to another cast member. If that's their new policy, fine, but I certainly could find no information about it before I made the purchase just last week. Normally I wouldn't even care, but I (a) wanted to get an AP voucher so I could try to work with FP+ and get a Magic Band before my trip in August and (b) wanted to get my voucher locked up before June, as I suspect they're going to raise prices AGAIN this year.

Overall, with all the ticket increases and the unbelievable confusion with Magic Bands and FP+, I'm really regretting agreeing to take the family back there for 2 weeks this fall. This may be the last trip for some time - I'm just getting very discouraged by the run around. Having a vacation should not be this difficult.

The CM was WRONG! They accept 2 different forms of payment per transaction, e.g., one form being as many GCs as you want to apply and the other being a credit card, debit card or cash.

 

[jcvalenti]

The CM was WRONG! They accept 2 different forms of payment per transaction, e.g., one form being as many GCs as you want to apply and the other being a credit card, debit card or cash.

I think my mistake was calling the normal ticketing number. I called back to that number and a nice Cast Member directed me to 407 566 4985 (option 5), and the Cast Member that answered that call was happy to help. Out of concern for my own voice, I only read off 25 sets of numbers .... i'll call back in the future and order the other two tickets.

It actually went very smoothly, despite my concerns as English was obviously this particular Cast Members second language. Once we got into a rhythm (hint - read the numbers off in pairs), it was no problem at all.

The 20 minutes it will take to phone in these numbers is certainly worth the 5% savings off the cost of 4 annual passes.

 

[dismom58]

Thank you so much for posting. You just saved me a huge headache and probably a panic attack. I am heading up (yes I am in S Fl.) in June. My plan was to buy Disney Gift Cards at Target for the 5% discount and then use them to purchase a dining discount card (another 20% off yeah!) and then buy park tickets for the whole 7 members traveling together. (Fl residents are blacked out the summer months per Disney for any discounts so thought this was the way to go!) If I purchase the two items in person will they allow multiple gift cards? Just wondering. Thank you for your reply.

 

[Ry42013]

The issue I ran into when calling was- she had no problem with me using 6 $100 gift cards but the total was $670 and she wasn't able to do the $70 off of another $100 gift card so she said I had to use another form of payment for that. I'm pretty sure she was wrong but I had just spent all that time on hold and then reading off all the numbers I was ok with just plunking down the additional $70, I just used the other $100 to buy Memory Maker online.