Can I apply Disney gift cards to my room at check-in?

[Juliet25]

I've been collecting those $25 and $50 Disney gift cards from Target for my upcoming trip. Is it possible to apply them to my room at in so I can charge food and stuff to my room without carrying around a bunch of gift cards?

Or, would it be possible to take them to the Disney Store and put them on one gift card there?

 

[lsenquiz]

I've been collecting those $25 and $50 Disney gift cards from Target for my upcoming trip. Is it possible to apply them to my room at in so I can charge food and stuff to my room without carrying around a bunch of gift cards?

Or, would it be possible to take them to the Disney Store and put them on one gift card there?

I do not think a disney store can combine them but if you call disney they should be able to. You can also apply the gift cards to your room. I think you need to be careful not to apply more than you plan to spend though. Another way to handle it is to put a CC on your room reservation. This will allow you to charge to your KTTW card. If you are in a value resort this gives you $500 to charge before they bill your CC. MOD is $1000 deluxe is $1500. Just go by the front desk every couple of days and pay your balance down with the gift cards. The trick is to make sure you pay your balance down before they hit the CC with any charges.

 

[Keegansmommy]

We always do as the above poster stated. I make sure to keep track of how much we're spending though so we don't go over our GC budget. I also use my Disney Dream dollars this way too from our Chase Visa.

 

[woolfman72]

After learning about the Gift cards at target . I decided it would be a good way to save a little bit of money . You should have seen the ladies face when i walked up to the register with 20 $50.00 gift cards.

I did not want to make a new thread (not trying to hijack yours either) . But when i check in on monday i will have a balance due of $600 and change . So i figure my plan is to pay that with the gift cards to start with. Which i hope should not be a problem (should it a problem?) and then from there just do as others have said go down in the morning and use the gift cards towards my charges from the day before or is it possible to actually apply the whole 1000.00 and then when we go over that amount they can charge the credit card?

But i was also wondering if you can use your key to charge in downtown disney area . The Rain Forest Cafe was one in particular i was wondering about.

 

[cepmom]

I've been able to apply Disney gift cards and Disney Reward dollars to our room upon check in before. Once I had a CM that told me they could not do it, but I kindly asked him to keep trying because I had done it on a previous stay and he finally figured it out. I just don't want to be bothered to go to the desk to apply my gift cards every few days. Much easier to just do it once at check in.

BTW - I have to ask...what is the deal with Disney gift cards at Target? I'm always looking for a way to save money towards Disney but I have not heard about this yet.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

I've been able to apply Disney gift cards and Disney Reward dollars to our room upon check in before. Once I had a CM that told me they could not do it, but I kindly asked him to keep trying because I had done it on a previous stay and he finally figured it out. I just don't want to be bothered to go to the desk to apply my gift cards every few days. Much easier to just do it once at check in.

BTW - I have to ask...what is the deal with Disney gift cards at Target? I'm always looking for a way to save money towards Disney but I have not heard about this yet.

Target is an awesome way to save $$ on Disney trips (or just gift cards). If you have a Target Debit or Credit card you can purchase the Disney gift cards and save 5% off at check outs. I have paid for our cruise and our WDW trip and currently have saved about $500 (with some special offers they had at Christmas). I am going to purchase more gift cards to use as our spending money so the above info from Isenquiz was especially helpful! I didn't realize there was a limit at the different resorts before your purchases hit your cc! Great to know!

 

[ValpoCory]

Target is an awesome way to save $$ on Disney trips (or just gift cards). If you have a Target Debit or Credit card you can purchase the Disney gift cards and save 5% off at check outs. I have paid for our cruise and our WDW trip and currently have saved about $500 (with some special offers they had at Christmas). I am going to purchase more gift cards to use as our spending money so the above info from Isenquiz was especially helpful! I didn't realize there was a limit at the different resorts before your purchases hit your cc! Great to know!

Yep. And the key thing here is that there is no limit to the 5% discount at Target. Compare that to the Chase Freedom Card, where from April through June, Chase Freedom is offering 5% at grocery stores, but only up to $1500. Most people spend that much on regular groceries over 3 months, so buying Disney Gift Cards with your Chase Freedom card is not that good of a deal.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Target is an awesome way to save $$ on Disney trips (or just gift cards). If you have a Target Debit or Credit card you can purchase the Disney gift cards and save 5% off at check outs. I have paid for our cruise and our WDW trip and currently have saved about $500 (with some special offers they had at Christmas). I am going to purchase more gift cards to use as our spending money so the above info from Isenquiz was especially helpful! I didn't realize there was a limit at the different resorts before your purchases hit your cc! Great to know!

I *heard* that you can double-dip and use a 5% pharmacy rewards also. I am on track to earn my next rewards sometime between July & October, so I won't be able to try this for a while!

 

[cepmom]

Target is an awesome way to save $$ on Disney trips (or just gift cards). If you have a Target Debit or Credit card you can purchase the Disney gift cards and save 5% off at check outs. I have paid for our cruise and our WDW trip and currently have saved about $500 (with some special offers they had at Christmas). I am going to purchase more gift cards to use as our spending money so the above info from Isenquiz was especially helpful! I didn't realize there was a limit at the different resorts before your purchases hit your cc! Great to know!

thanks! I don't have a Target card but I'll have to look into getting one now!

 

[lsenquiz]

I've been able to apply Disney gift cards and Disney Reward dollars to our room upon check in before. Once I had a CM that told me they could not do it, but I kindly asked him to keep trying because I had done it on a previous stay and he finally figured it out. I just don't want to be bothered to go to the desk to apply my gift cards every few days. Much easier to just do it once at check in.

One concern I have heard people comment on about doing it this way is that Disney can not refund any unused credit at the end of your stay. If you have not spent all of the gift card credit you applied then you lose it. Has this ever happened to you meaning have you ever ended your trip with a credit balance?

 

[cepmom]

One concern I have heard people comment on about doing it this way is that Disney can not refund any unused credit at the end of your stay. If you have not spent all of the gift card credit you applied then you lose it. Has this ever happened to you meaning have you ever ended your trip with a credit balance?

no, I never applied more than we spent....seems we always spend more than we intend to lol.

 

[HayGan]

One concern I have heard people comment on about doing it this way is that Disney can not refund any unused credit at the end of your stay. If you have not spent all of the gift card credit you applied then you lose it. Has this ever happened to you meaning have you ever ended your trip with a credit balance?

You don't technically lose it. It gets put back on the card(s) that you used. So the problem with multiple cards is if you don't use it all you will have to check the cards to see which one it was credited back to. never let the CM throw away the cards at check-in. Always keep them until after your trip is over for this very reason!

Also, regarding the charge limits. That is only valid if you have credit card associated with the room. If you have a credit on your room you can spend up to that credit. You can go over that credit if you also have put a card on the room for charging (then the limits kick in.)

 

[DisneyDreamMaker]

We did this same thing last May but used our Disney Visa Reward card. We charged pretty much everything to our KTTW and as pp said you can spend up to $500 before they charge your card. Well I knew we were getting close to the limit and went to the front desk to pay down the balance before it hit my cc. The CM was very helpful and he explained that if you do go over the $500 they will charge your card but the day of checkout (or before) you can go down and ask them to charge it all to your Disney Reward card/Gift card and they will refund your cc. So that is what we did because it was much easier than keeping track of what exactly I was spending! We were not allowed to use the Reward card or gift cards as the main cards on our room charges, meaning they had to have a cc on file in order for you to charge to your KTTW. Then you can go to front desk and pay off the balance with either Reward card or gift card.

 

[Karenj2]

I was going to say the same thing as some PPs - I've done this multiple ways (using my DRDs, not gift cards).

One time I had $600+ on my DRD card, and I asked to put that all down on my room, and they could only do $500. (Once I spent that $500, I just paid the rest with my DRD card.)

What I usually do now, though is put down my CC for the room charges, but on the last night of my stay (when I used to go to the front desk to print my boarding passes), I'd ask to pay all the charges using the DRD card. If I went over, then they use my CC, otherwise, the amount is left over on my DRD card. (Usually not much - this last trip I had $.07!)

Just for your own sanity, you might want to see if you can combine your GCs, so that you don't misplace any. (And take a picture of the backs of each of the cards so that you have evidence if one goes missing.)

 

[NCjenn]

Thanks for this info. I didn't realize the 5% would come off the purchase of gift cards. Guess I'll give it a try