Applying GiftCards/RewardsCards to Room Charges

[woodnymph]

We like charging most/all of our purchases and meals in the parks to our KTTW card. For this trip, I have two large Disney Visa Reward Cards & a couple small Gift Cards I would like to use for these charges.

Can the cards be applied to my room account at check-in? (kind of like an "on board credit" on DCL) Or do I need to wait until we make charges, then come up a couple times throughout our stay to pay it off?

If they do take these cards as credits to my account at check-in, will we then be able to apply more than $500 per room per day to our KTTW cards? (staying at AOA) Or is it just that you cannot have a balance of more than $500 per day with no per day charging limit?

Thank you!

 

[Missytara]

Value resorts carry a max of $500.00 before they ping your card; $1000.00 for mods and $1500.00 for deluxes.

When you hit the limit, you need to make sure you apply the gift card before you hit your limit.

I have never done gift cards solely on your KTTW card,, I use up my card first and then go to my Visa rewards card. So I do not know if you can pre-load cards or not.

 

[disneymomma76]

We always bring gift cards and the Visa reward card. I like to budget so I get gift cards at Target (5% discount!) leading up to our trip.

Anyway, they cannot preload your gift cards onto your KTTW card, at least that is what they have always told us. After we spend a day shopping or if we pay OOP for a meal we just stop by the front desk and they apply the gift to our balance.

Just make sure you stop by before your last day or before you hit your limit. Otherwise they will charge it to the card you have on file.

 

[cvjw]

Disney will not let you "pre-load" gift cards for some reason - seems like it would be less work for the front desk CM's to only apply the cards one time, and less trouble for the guests to only come to the front desk one time. You must put down a credit card, and then make charges to your account before you can apply gift cards. Also, they will not let you apply more of a gift card than you have in charges. Since you are staying at a value resort with a smaller charging limit, you will have to go to the front desk regularly to apply your gift cards so that your credit card doesn't get charged.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Thanks for asking this. I was curious also.

It's a shame you can't preload gift cards as that is how I have chosen to prepay my meals (as opposed to paying for the dining plan). It seems a pain to have to make regular visits to the front desk to avoid charges to my CC.

I guess I will just avoid the middle man and use the gift cards at restaurants instead of the KTTW card. Realistically, is it going to be any slower doing this?

 

[chrystalc77]

Disney allowed us to add gift cards to our KTTW card November 2012. We stayed at Pop and we had $500 in gift cards. They loaded each gift card to our KTTW card. The CM at check in called it creating a negative balance. Our balance sheet actually showed our gift cards as -500 on our statement. Each day we would go get a statement and it showed negative until all of our gift cards had been used. Once they were used our charges went in the plus to be charged to our debit card on file. It was fabulous!!! I will be saving gift cards for our trip for spending money from now on!!! We are even thinking of ditching the dining plan next trip and spending the money it would cost for the DP in gift cards. This way we can be a little more flexible....that way if we want an appetizer instead of deserts we can do that. And we're not fans of the desserts that come with any of the QS places. Anybody else ever did gift cards for dining instead of purchasing the DP?

 

[ellie&mattys mom]

sounds like a great idea but my ? is you just can't have them put a gift card applied to your balance?
thanks!