Can you load a gift card onto your room account?

[Mousemommy1]

So, in all of our trips to Disney, we have never used the Magic Bands to pay for stuff. This summer we want to do it, but want to be able to load gift cards at the front desk for the money to be drawn from. Is this possible or does it have to be a credit card? Thanks!

 

[ChanduTail]

You have to provide a CC for room charges, but you can go down to the front desk & pay your charges off with a gift card every couple of days, if you want to. You can't provide just a gift card & no CC.

IMO it's easier to just pay with the gift card outright You can combine them online so you don't have to carry 50 gift cards around with you.

 

[Mousemommy1]

You have to provide a CC for room charges, but you can go down to the front desk & pay your charges off with a gift card every couple of days, if you want to. You can't provide just a gift card & no CC.

IMO it's easier to just pay with the gift card outright You can combine them online so you don't have to carry 50 gift cards around with you.

That's what we usually do, just pay for everything in gift cards. We just get large denomination ones from the Disney Store. That's what we will probably do this time then. It would be awesome if we could just link everything to a gift card.

 

[DisBuckMan]

Yeah, even if you have a credit card on file, they won't allow you to "pre-load" amounts on a gift card.

The only way for you to do it the way you're desiring is like the previous poster said...charge back to your room and pay the balance off every night or so using your gift cards.

 

[dansdad]

Up until recently you could not use a gift card to have a credit on your room. However, they do allow this to be done at AKL, along with using cash, during the trial of going cashless for dining and purchases at AKL. There have been reports here on the DIS of guests also being able to do this at other resorts too. So things seem to be changing in this regard.

 

[SL6827]

If you do charge back to your room, is there a channel on the TV where you can view these charges, or are you able to in your MDE?

 

[sponica]

If you do charge back to your room, is there a channel on the TV where you can view these charges, or are you able to in your MDE?

I know you can see it in MDE under room details or something like that.

 

[dansdad]

If you do charge back to your room, is there a channel on the TV where you can view these charges, or are you able to in your MDE?

No.

 

[PrincessNelly]

If you do charge back to your room, is there a channel on the TV where you can view these charges, or are you able to in your MDE?

On the app you can see your room charges

 

[Dean Marino]

Some explanation about WDW, and Gift Cards, is in order.... Going to relate our experiences with the GIFT CARD that one gets from Chase/Disney VISA .

1) Up until about 3 years ago? One COULD "drain" that Gift Card on check in, as a CREDIT to room charges.
2) ...then everything changed. Basic WDW policy is now that one may PAY an outstanding Room Balance with a Gift card.... even a Chase/Disney VISA Rewards card.

3) WHY DID THIS HAPPEN? Well, We asked, and got a perfectly reasonable answer . In several cases, WDW "pre-drained" a gift card. End balance was LESS than gift card value. And they had NO MECHANISM for RETURNING that excess payment. Not even for a Chase/Disney VISA Rewards card.

So - WDW is not being "that way".... it's far more that they want to be FAIR, and not "pre-steal" your gift card money .
What is INTERESTING (and why we cancelled our Chase/Disney VISA) - WDW can not do this with their own BRANDED "Rewards" Card. Turns out the Chase/Disney VISA card is just a "hoops" card. We ditched it & went with a better Chase Freedom Unlimited. No hoops, better return.

 

[dansdad]

Some explanation about WDW, and Gift Cards, is in order.... Going to relate our experiences with the GIFT CARD that one gets from Chase/Disney VISA .

1) Up until about 3 years ago? One COULD "drain" that Gift Card on check in, as a CREDIT to room charges.
2) ...then everything changed. Basic WDW policy is now that one may PAY an outstanding Room Balance with a Gift card.... even a Chase/Disney VISA Rewards card.

3) WHY DID THIS HAPPEN? Well, We asked, and got a perfectly reasonable answer . In several cases, WDW "pre-drained" a gift card. End balance was LESS than gift card value. And they had NO MECHANISM for RETURNING that excess payment. Not even for a Chase/Disney VISA Rewards card.

So - WDW is not being "that way".... it's far more that they want to be FAIR, and not "pre-steal" your gift card money .
What is INTERESTING (and why we cancelled our Chase/Disney VISA) - WDW can not do this with their own BRANDED "Rewards" Card. Turns out the Chase/Disney VISA card is just a "hoops" card. We ditched it & went with a better Chase Freedom Unlimited. No hoops, better return.

Yup, 100% accurate. Which is why I found it surprising that they've started allowing it again during the cashless trial at AKL. Although they have gotten better about stressing to the guest to hang on to the gift card because if they don't WDW has no way to refund any unused $$.

 

[SouloTravlr]

If you do charge back to your room, is there a channel on the TV where you can view these charges, or are you able to in your MDE?

You can see room charges in MDE.

 

[GoneFishing38]

Last summer we were able to pre-load the gift cards on our Magic Bands when we checked in at Wilderness Lodge. The cast member checking us in initially told us we could not do it but the manager was standing behind her and stepped in. He did make it very clear that we needed to spend the entire amount pre-loaded on the Magic Bands because they would not provide a refund. We had purchased several gift cards at home and combined them prior to arriving at Disney so we only had to present one card. I wonder if it's a case of luck getting the right person that knows how to pre-load the Magic Bands and is willing to do it for you.

 

[ChanduTail]

Last summer we were able to pre-load the gift cards on our Magic Bands when we checked in at Wilderness Lodge. The cast member checking us in initially told us we could not do it but the manager was standing behind her and stepped in. He did make it very clear that we needed to spend the entire amount pre-loaded on the Magic Bands because they would not provide a refund. We had purchased several gift cards at home and combined them prior to arriving at Disney so we only had to present one card. I wonder if it's a case of luck getting the right person that knows how to pre-load the Magic Bands and is willing to do it for you.

It's really odd that the manager would tell you to spend the whole amount because nothing could be refunded - where would the remaining funds go, exactly? If you hadn't used the full amount, the money should have remained on the gift card. This just doesn't seem like a good practice.

To be clear, however he did it, the gift card was applied to your hotel account, not pre-loaded onto your MagicBands The bands themselves do not hold any data.