A couple of ?? for those that buy Disney gift cards?

[edk35]

I started picking up the gift cards at Target a month ago. I have a friend that buys one every week I think and she pretty much just ALWAYS buys them because they are DVC members like us and will always use them. I was just getting them for our trip in Aug. but now I am thinking I might just do the same.

Why do you buy them?

Do you buy only for pending trips?

Do you buy them every week/two weeks or monthly always and just stock pile them?

Do they expire?

Do you find that you "SAVE" for Disney via this method? We have a vacation fund that we put money into every 2 weeks but I personally like this gift card thing too. However...why not just transfer the same amount of money over to the vacation acct.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

After our Dec 2011 trip I started buying a $50 Disney gift card every month. If funds were tight, like at Christmas, I only bought a $25 card. By the time we took our last trip (June 2013) I had almost $1000 in gift cards. So all our food was paid for.

I chose to buy the Disney gift cards vs putting money into a vacation savings account because I couldn't use the gift cards on anything but Disney. If the savings was just in cash I know we'd be tempted to siphon it off to pay for unexpected expenses that came up throughout the year - bye bye vacation fund!

For the June 2013 trip I usually bought my gift cards at Target (don't have a Red Card though) or a grocery store. Now I have gotten smarter. I am buying the gift cards at our local Kroger grocery store when they have the 4xs Fuel Points promotion. Kroger does 4xs FP four times a year so I no longer buy them monthly, I buy them quarterly.

If you do the math ... At 4xs fuel points a $100 gift card will get you .40 cents off 35 gallons of gas. That is a $14 savings. Pay for the GC with your Disney Visa and you get an additional $1 back. So a 15% savings.

I haven't use the Target Pharmacy, but I am tempted to start. Some folks do this:
If you had a 5% Target Pharmacy coupon you could buy a Target gift card at Kroger with 4xs fuel points. Then use the card to buy Disney gift cards with your coupon. That would net you a 19% discount. 20% if you paid Kroger for the Target gift card with a Disney Visa.

Currently I do not have a trip planned, but I have No Expire 10 day hopper with water park fun tickets with 7 park days and 7 fun visits left. I know we will go back in a year or two and my food will be paid for. DH and I are also planning a cruise for our 25th anniversary in 2015. The gift cards will be used to pay for that if we don't visit the parks first.

Since I have gift cards to pay for the food, days left on no expire tickets and my timeshare (I own non DVC), my trip is paid for and I can visit WDW any time I want. That is a beautiful thing!

 

[tink576]

We buy the gift cards at Target for the purpose of saving the extra 5% for our trip. We typically only buy then purposely when we have a trip coming up to use to purchase tickets or to pay for our room or package but in advance because our store typically doesn't have to many Disney Cards in stock at a time. They don't expire so that's always a plus to.

Big note though...if you use the Disney Gift card method always save all your cards until the end of your trip and then check the balances before throwing them out. For example if you pay with a gift card for your room and then they refund something, it'll go back to that gift card only! So it's important to save them. Just went through the stack of used gift cards from our last trip and found $50 refunded that I hadn't realized.

 

[lauradis]

the ones we buy dont expire. Plus we get gas perks from where we buy them.

Its fun to buy them.

We started just saving our change in the end of last Oct after last disney trip to turn into gift cards and already have $180 in gift cards.

dd10 loves to feed the self check out machines all the change we accumulate in the month.

Real vacation money is budgeted and saved in a savings account till we need it.

 

[msmama]

I buy them at Target with my red card (can't do pharmacy rewards in my state). Only when I am nearing a trip and usually only for specific things.

For instance, I picked up a couple this morning for my upcoming disneyland trip that I will use to preorder photo pass. If I can pay for parking I'll get a few more, otherwise I have enough rewards to pay for souvenirs and food.

 

[Marionnette]

I started picking up the gift cards at Target a month ago. I have a friend that buys one every week I think and she pretty much just ALWAYS buys them because they are DVC members like us and will always use them. I was just getting them for our trip in Aug. but now I am thinking I might just do the same.

Why do you buy them?

Do you buy only for pending trips?

Do you buy them every week/two weeks or monthly always and just stock pile them?

Do they expire?

Do you find that you "SAVE" for Disney via this method? We have a vacation fund that we put money into every 2 weeks but I personally like this gift card thing too. However...why not just transfer the same amount of money over to the vacation acct.

Why do I buy them? Because when combined with the Pharmacy Rewards coupon and REDCard 5% discount, it adds up to almost 10% off the cost of my Disney vacation. Just try to get Disney to give you a 10% discount on top of a discounted room or on a DVC AP that is already discounted. They won't do it. But when I purchase the Disney GCs from Target in this manner, I can pay for my discounted room or my DVC PAP with those GCs and save myself another 9.75% off of the price.

Do I buy only for pending trips? Yes and No. I buy enough to pay for my annual dues. If I have a trip before I need to pay my dues, I will pay for the meals and other room charges using those GCs and then I replenish what I need to cover my dues whenever I get another Pharmacy Reward coupon.

Do I buy them every week/two weeks or monthly always and just stock pile them?
No. I buy them all when I have a Pharmacy Reward coupon and then I buy enough to cover my dues. That way, if I don't travel to Disney during the year, I can still use them. I look at it this way, the dues are going to need to be paid, regardless of whether I go to Disney or not. I might as well cover the cost of the dues and get a little bit of a discount in the process.

Do they expire? No.

Do I find that I "SAVE" for Disney via this method? No. I'm disciplined enough with my money to be able to put money in a vacation account and not touch it. I use the GCs, not as a way to prevent myself from raiding my vacation account, but as a way to reduce the OOP cost of my trips. I wouldn't buy the Disney GCs if I wasn't getting them at a discount off of the face value.

 

[kristenrice]

I buy them in December when our DVC maintenance fees are due. I have an online savings account that gets $40 out of every paycheck. Then, when I get the DVC bill, I stack my pharmacy rewards with my RedCard discount and purchase enough gift cards to cover the maintenance fees.

Now, I have a trip planned for October. I plan on using gift cards to upgrade our park-hoppers to annual passes and I also want about $1000 in gift cards for dining expenses. I have a pharmacy rewards card that expires in a week so I am going to take about $200 out of our vacation savings account and buy some gift cards. With the stacked discounts, I can get $1000 worth of gift cards for $902.50. That's almost a $100 savings which will go about halfway around the world (showcase!) for F&W festival.

Since we aren't going until October, I should have time to build up the savings account (it gets $60 every two weeks) and earn another pharmacy reward discount. Then I will be able to buy the remainder of our gift cards.

 

[dmoore718]

My kids go to Catholic school and we have a gift card center that we are required to buy from, in order to get a in parish tuition discount. Also, you get a % of your purchases back in credits toward tuition. It's a small amount back but I manage to always have enough gift cards to at least pay our gratuities at meals.

 

[acc82]

I agree with everything everyone has said here. I also buy them because I have the target red card and get 5% off. we are also DVC and take at LEAST 2 vacations a year, so they get used regardless.

I get them instead of transferring to savings for the same reason as the second poster. If times get tough, we transfer savings to checking and then the vaca fund is gone. Disney gift cards are only for disney, thus locking in our disney vacation fund.

I wanted to add two tips nobody has mentioned.

1. 1.) Yes, you do need to save the gift cards, because if you get a refund, it will be to that card itself. However, if you go to any disney store, they will consolidate all the cards to one, making it much easier to keep up with the one!
2. 2.) There is a feature that disney has which is pretty dang cool. I just discovered it this week. It's called the disney vacation fund and it lets you transfer checking money and place gift cards on your account. The account can go to pay off your vacation. I'll post the URL below. I've started to use this because it's much easier to keep track of how much we've saved and how much we lack towards our goal. You can read all about the account on disney's website. But, it's even FDIC insured. You won't lose your money.

Disney Vacation Account Link: https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/

 

[Marionnette]

I agree with everything everyone has said here. I also buy them because I have the target red card and get 5% off. we are also DVC and take at LEAST 2 vacations a year, so they get used regardless.

I get them instead of transferring to savings for the same reason as the second poster. If times get tough, we transfer savings to checking and then the vaca fund is gone. Disney gift cards are only for disney, thus locking in our disney vacation fund.

I wanted to add two tips nobody has mentioned.

1. 1.) Yes, you do need to save the gift cards, because if you get a refund, it will be to that card itself. However, if you go to any disney store, they will consolidate all the cards to one, making it much easier to keep up with the one!
2. 2.) There is a feature that disney has which is pretty dang cool. I just discovered it this week. It's called the disney vacation fund and it lets you transfer checking money and place gift cards on your account. The account can go to pay off your vacation. I'll post the URL below. I've started to use this because it's much easier to keep track of how much we've saved and how much we lack towards our goal. You can read all about the account on disney's website. But, it's even FDIC insured. You won't lose your money.

Disney Vacation Account Link: https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/

1. If your Disney Store will consolidate your Disney GCs for you, then you are lucky. More often than not, they cannot do it or will not even attempt to do it.
2. The Disney Vacation Fund has its problems. There is a long thread on here about the difficulty people have had in trying to use their own money in order to pay for tickets or reservations. Most CMs have no idea what you're talking about when you call to use your vacation account to pay for things. Knowing how badly Disney IT can screw things up, I don't trust them with my vacation money.

 

[debs96]

Does anyone know where on the Target website I can find the information about getting the 5% discount for Disney gift cards when using my Redcard to buy them?

Today I tried to buy several cards and was told by 3 different employees that the gift cards were not eligible for the discount. I just bought some from Target.com and did get the discount but would like to show my local store the information in case I need some cards in a hurry.

When you pay your DVC dues with gift cards is there a limit to the number of separate cards you can use? Can you call Member Services with the gift card numbers, enter the numbers on the DVC website or must you mail the cards?

 

[lauti]

Does anyone know where on the Target website I can find the information about getting the 5% discount for Disney gift cards when using my Redcard to buy them?

Today I tried to buy several cards and was told by 3 different employees that the gift cards were not eligible for the discount. I just bought some from Target.com and did get the discount but would like to show my local store the information in case I need some cards in a hurry.

When you pay your DVC dues with gift cards is there a limit to the number of separate cards you can use? Can you call Member Services with the gift card numbers, enter the numbers on the DVC website or must you mail the cards?

It just comes off automatically when you swipe your card. Nothing a cashier can do about it

 

[Marionnette]

Does anyone know where on the Target website I can find the information about getting the 5% discount for Disney gift cards when using my Redcard to buy them?

Today I tried to buy several cards and was told by 3 different employees that the gift cards were not eligible for the discount. I just bought some from Target.com and did get the discount but would like to show my local store the information in case I need some cards in a hurry.

When you pay your DVC dues with gift cards is there a limit to the number of separate cards you can use? Can you call Member Services with the gift card numbers, enter the numbers on the DVC website or must you mail the cards?

You won't find it written anywhere on the Target website.

When you go to Target, purchase your GCs and any other items you wish to buy. Pay with your REDCard and the 5% comes off for everything. No need to ask the cashier or any other Target Team Member about it.

To pay your DVC dues, you can fax a list of the GCs, their numbers and their PIN code to Member Accounting or you can call and read all of them off to the CM. You cannot pay your dues online using a GC as of right now.

 

[MAJPLO]

Does anyone know where on the Target website I can find the information about getting the 5% discount for Disney gift cards when using my Redcard to buy them?

Today I tried to buy several cards and was told by 3 different employees that the gift cards were not eligible for the discount. I just bought some from Target.com and did get the discount but would like to show my local store the information in case I need some cards in a hurry.
?

I'm not sure where the info is listed on the website. It shouldn't matter what the check stand employee "thinks" is eligible. I have always just run my Disney gift cards through with my other purchases and used my Red Card to pay. The 5% comes off automatically.

 

[debs96]

They did run the cards through and the discount didn't show up. When I questioned the total that is when I was told they didn't qualify. I also went to Customer Service and was told the same thing.

I try it again sometime.

Thanks for the help.

 

[lauti]

They did run the cards through and the discount didn't show up. When I questioned the total that is when I was told they didn't qualify. I also went to Customer Service and was told the same thing.

I try it again sometime.

Thanks for the help.

Did you swipe your red card to pay or are you just talking about when they scanned the gift card?

 

[edk35]

We buy the gift cards at Target for the purpose of saving the extra 5% for our trip. We typically only buy then purposely when we have a trip coming up to use to purchase tickets or to pay for our room or package but in advance because our store typically doesn't have to many Disney Cards in stock at a time. They don't expire so that's always a plus to.

Big note though...if you use the Disney Gift card method always save all your cards until the end of your trip and then check the balances before throwing them out. For example if you pay with a gift card for your room and then they refund something, it'll go back to that gift card only! So it's important to save them. Just went through the stack of used gift cards from our last trip and found $50 refunded that I hadn't realized.

WOW that is good to know. THANKS

 

[edk35]

Why do I buy them? Because when combined with the Pharmacy Rewards coupon and REDCard 5% discount, it adds up to almost 10% off the cost of my Disney vacation. Just try to get Disney to give you a 10% discount on top of a discounted room or on a DVC AP that is already discounted. They won't do it. But when I purchase the Disney GCs from Target in this manner, I can pay for my discounted room or my DVC PAP with those GCs and save myself another 9.75% off of the price.

Do I buy only for pending trips? Yes and No. I buy enough to pay for my annual dues. If I have a trip before I need to pay my dues, I will pay for the meals and other room charges using those GCs and then I replenish what I need to cover my dues whenever I get another Pharmacy Reward coupon.

Do I buy them every week/two weeks or monthly always and just stock pile them?
No. I buy them all when I have a Pharmacy Reward coupon and then I buy enough to cover my dues. That way, if I don't travel to Disney during the year, I can still use them. I look at it this way, the dues are going to need to be paid, regardless of whether I go to Disney or not. I might as well cover the cost of the dues and get a little bit of a discount in the process.

Do they expire? No.

Do I find that I "SAVE" for Disney via this method? No. I'm disciplined enough with my money to be able to put money in a vacation account and not touch it. I use the GCs, not as a way to prevent myself from raiding my vacation account, but as a way to reduce the OOP cost of my trips. I wouldn't buy the Disney GCs if I wasn't getting them at a discount off of the face value.

WOW had no idea you could pay dues with these. Do you to call MS to do that? THANKS

 

[edk35]

I agree with everything everyone has said here. I also buy them because I have the target red card and get 5% off. we are also DVC and take at LEAST 2 vacations a year, so they get used regardless.

I get them instead of transferring to savings for the same reason as the second poster. If times get tough, we transfer savings to checking and then the vaca fund is gone. Disney gift cards are only for disney, thus locking in our disney vacation fund.

I wanted to add two tips nobody has mentioned.

1. 1.) Yes, you do need to save the gift cards, because if you get a refund, it will be to that card itself. However, if you go to any disney store, they will consolidate all the cards to one, making it much easier to keep up with the one!
2. 2.) There is a feature that disney has which is pretty dang cool. I just discovered it this week. It's called the disney vacation fund and it lets you transfer checking money and place gift cards on your account. The account can go to pay off your vacation. I'll post the URL below. I've started to use this because it's much easier to keep track of how much we've saved and how much we lack towards our goal. You can read all about the account on disney's website. But, it's even FDIC insured. You won't lose your money.

Disney Vacation Account Link: https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/

WOW WOW WOW. That is really cool too. Thanks for sharing.

 

[edk35]

1. If your Disney Store will consolidate your Disney GCs for you, then you are lucky. More often than not, they cannot do it or will not even attempt to do it.
2. The Disney Vacation Fund has its problems. There is a long thread on here about the difficulty people have had in trying to use their own money in order to pay for tickets or reservations. Most CMs have no idea what you're talking about when you call to use your vacation account to pay for things. Knowing how badly Disney IT can screw things up, I don't trust them with my vacation money.

The more I look at that...the more it scares me too. I think it is a good idea but they have so may problems with technology.... don't think I could do that either.