Considering Disney Vacation Account

[minorthr]

I used a travel agent to book our cruise, how would I finish paying off the cruise with the dva, or is this not allowed?

You can do it thats what I do. You have to call disney and tell them you want to pay with a Disney Vacation account and they will take the account number from you and the amount you want to pay.

 

[OffToDWD]

They give you $20 for every $1000 you spend out of the account on a disney vacation. So you can't just save $1000 and get a $20 gift card you actually have to spend it on a vacation. After you spend it you also have to request the "reward" They will ask when youre traveling when you make the request and send it to you based off the date you enter.

Thanks!!

 

[RysMomma]

I'm using a TA too and I gave them the account number and it came straight out of there.

 

[CM Dad]

I used a travel agent to book our cruise, how would I finish paying off the cruise with the dva, or is this not allowed?

I just paid off our July cruise this evening using my DVA, From the DVA FAQs:

How can I make a payment using my Disney Vacation Account on my reservation booked directly with Disney through my travel agent?
Once your travel agent has booked your reservations and you are ready to make a payment, your travel agent can provide you with your reservation number. Please call the telephone number specified below to make your payment using your DVA account. If you have any additional questions or requests about your reservation, please contact your travel agent. Participating Disney Destinations and Disney Vacation Account Payment numbers:

• Walt Disney World® in Florida: 407-939-7626
• Disneyland® Resort in California: 714-520-7032
• Disney Cruise Line®: 800-511-9333
• Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina Hawaii: 714-520-7032
• Adventures By Disney®: 855-223-2231

 

[CM Dad]

They give you $20 for every $1000 you spend out of the account on a disney vacation. So you can't just save $1000 and get a $20 gift card you actually have to spend it on a vacation. After you spend it you also have to request the "reward" They will ask when youre traveling when you make the request and send it to you based off the date you enter.

This is true up to a limit. Once you spend $25,000 on Disney vacations using your account, they stop sending you the bonus.

From their FAQs

What is the Bonus Program?
You'll be eligible for a $20 Disney Gift Card for every $1000 you spend on qualified vacation purchases with your Disney Vacation Account prior to December 31, 2017 (date subject to extension), up to a total maximum of $500 in Disney Gift Card(s) per household. Your Disney Vacation Account must be active for a minimum of 120 days at the time of spending in order to receive this bonus. All accounts registered to the same address are considered part of the same household.

Qualified vacation purchases include vacation packages for the Walt Disney World Resort or the Disneyland Resort, theme park tickets, room stays, cruise fare, and vacations by Adventures By Disney. Purchases of Disney Gift Cards are not qualified vacation purchases for purposes of this Bonus Program.

Request your Disney Gift Card(s) 4 to 6 weeks in advance of your vacation date to allow time for delivery to your mailing address.

 

[luvthemouse71]

We are considering opening a Disney Vacation Account for our cruise next summer. Trying to figure out if it's beneficial. After reading their FAQs, still a bit unclear. If I open an account now, do I have to immediately start scheduled contribution? Can I just do one time contributions instead of scheduling contributions? Would I be able to use the savings to apply towards onboard expenses like gratuity, excursions, etc? Would we get the $20 bonus gift cards in time to use on the cruise? Sorry for so many questions! Any clarification would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Like others have said, use it only for GCs.Although, I had issues with those too on DVA. I would just open a vacation club at your bank.

 

[Kathy Muniz]

How do you apply DVA funds to your DCL onboard account? Is that something you can do in advance or once you get on the ship?

 

[lanejudy]

How do you apply DVA funds to your DCL onboard account? Is that something you can do in advance or once you get on the ship?

I believe you can apply funds from it as a credit to your onboard account in advance. You'll need to call the number listed on your DVA to make payments to DCL. Tell them you want to pre-pay $xxx towards your onboard account. To my knowledge this must be done in advance and you cannot use a DVA directly once onboard.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[lbus42]

I believe you can apply funds from it as a credit to your onboard account in advance. You'll need to call the number listed on your DVA to make payments to DCL. Tell them you want to pre-pay $xxx towards your onboard account. To my knowledge this must be done in advance and you cannot use a DVA directly once onboard.

Enjoy your cruise!

Lanejudy is correct, you can use the account to fund your onboard account, but you must do this before the cruise. I did it about two weeks before. In the FAQ section of the DVA, it tells how to use the funds. You would call the Disney Reservations Call Center at (407) 939-7734 and provide them with your Disney Vacation Account number and your cruise reservation number. In my case it took about 20 - 25 minutes. The DVA CM called DCL and between the two the transfer of funds was accomplished. Alternatively, you could request your funds in the form of Disney gift cards. This must be done 4 - 6 weeks in advance and the FAQ says that there is a maximum limit of $500 over the life of the account.

 

[Kathy Muniz]

Thanks!

 

[LullabeeDisney]

This is true up to a limit. Once you spend $25,000 on Disney vacations using your account, they stop sending you the bonus.

From their FAQs

What is the Bonus Program?
You'll be eligible for a $20 Disney Gift Card for every $1000 you spend on qualified vacation purchases with your Disney Vacation Account prior to December 31, 2017 (date subject to extension), up to a total maximum of $500 in Disney Gift Card(s) per household. Your Disney Vacation Account must be active for a minimum of 120 days at the time of spending in order to receive this bonus. All accounts registered to the same address are considered part of the same household.

Qualified vacation purchases include vacation packages for the Walt Disney World Resort or the Disneyland Resort, theme park tickets, room stays, cruise fare, and vacations by Adventures By Disney. Purchases of Disney Gift Cards are not qualified vacation purchases for purposes of this Bonus Program.

Request your Disney Gift Card(s) 4 to 6 weeks in advance of your vacation date to allow time for delivery to your mailing address.

Sorry to piggy back and if this seems like a silly question - but does this mean your account has to be open/used for 4 months (120 days) before you get the $20? What happens if you spend $1000 on it prior to that? I'm all about saving $ and will have a good chunk to pay down for our cruise when we go to book it, but would like to have the extras. Or would it be better to book through TA (To get their bonuses) and then just pay off via DVA?

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Sorry to piggy back and if this seems like a silly question - but does this mean your account has to be open/used for 4 months (120 days) before you get the $20? What happens if you spend $1000 on it prior to that? I'm all about saving $ and will have a good chunk to pay down for our cruise when we go to book it, but would like to have the extras. Or would it be better to book through TA (To get their bonuses) and then just pay off via DVA?

Here's how it was explained to me; so you open the account with some amount, you can keep adding to that amount and withdrawing, then for every $1000 you have in the account at the 120 day mark, you get the bonus gift card.

So the best and cleanest way to use it is open it and leave it alone for the first 120 days, then you're set.

 

[erionm]

Sorry to piggy back and if this seems like a silly question - but does this mean your account has to be open/used for 4 months (120 days) before you get the $20? What happens if you spend $1000 on it prior to that? I'm all about saving $ and will have a good chunk to pay down for our cruise when we go to book it, but would like to have the extras. Or would it be better to book through TA (To get their bonuses) and then just pay off via DVA?

From the DVA website:

You'll be eligible for a $20 Disney Gift Card for every $1000 you spend on qualified vacation purchases with your Disney Vacation Account prior to December 31, 2015 (date subject to extension), up to a total $500 in Disney Gift Card(s) per household. Your Disney Vacation Account must be active for a minimum of 120 days at the time of spending in order to receive this bonus.

https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/vacation-account-benefits/

 

[LullabeeDisney]

Here's how it was explained to me; so you open the account with some amount, you can keep adding to that amount and withdrawing, then for every $1000 you have in the account at the 120 day mark, you get the bonus gift card.

So the best and cleanest way to use it is open it and leave it alone for the first 120 days, then you're set.

Gotcha, thanks!

 

[lanejudy]

then for every $1000 you have in the account at the 120 day mark, you get the bonus gift card.

I don't believe this is correct. The $20 gift card is for every $1000 SPENT out of the account on a Disney vacation. Not how much you deposit into the account.

The account must be open for 120 days. I don't know if you spend out of it before that point, if that will accrue towards earning the gift card. Or if the gift card is only on spending done after the account has been open that long.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[LullabeeDisney]

I don't believe this is correct. The $20 gift card is for every $1000 SPENT out of the account on a Disney vacation. Not how much you deposit into the account.

The account must be open for 120 days. I don't know if you spend out of it before that point, if that will accrue towards earning the gift card. Or if the gift card is only on spending done after the account has been open that long.

Enjoy your cruise!

That's what I was curious of - if it accumulates before the 120 days, I'd hop on opening one, because I plan on putting at least $1,500-2,000 deposit for our cruise down immediately and would love the bonus from that. Thankfully they haven't announced the cruises for that time (winter 2018) yet, so I've got time I'm going to research it like crazy, and see if anyones had it accumulate before the 120 day mark.

 

[ChicosWife]

What is the benefit of a DVA, versus making your own payments towards your DCL cruise?

 

[lanejudy]

What is the benefit of a DVA, versus making your own payments towards your DCL cruise?

$20 for every $1000 spent -- or essentially a 2% interest rate which is better than most savings accounts right now.

Be aware that the current offer is set to expire at the end of this year (12/31/2017) -- it's a new enough program that there is no history to judge whether it is likely to renew, change, or discontinue.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[CM Dad]

That's what I was curious of - if it accumulates before the 120 days, I'd hop on opening one, because I plan on putting at least $1,500-2,000 deposit for our cruise down immediately and would love the bonus from that. Thankfully they haven't announced the cruises for that time (winter 2018) yet, so I've got time I'm going to research it like crazy, and see if anyones had it accumulate before the 120 day mark.

I believe that if you open the account, deposit say $2000 and then us that $2000 to pay for a cruise on day 119, I believe you would not get any bonus. If you open the account with a minimal amount (I think you can open with $10), don't deposit any more until after 120 days, then deposit $2000 and spend it the next day, I think you would get $40 in bonus gift cards. Please note, that DVA may not make newly deposited funds available immediately. I know that just recently, I deposited over $4000 in discounted gift cards one day, then used the money the next day to pay for a cruise.

 

[jujubiee4]

So for clarification. Say you open it and put in 3 or 4K of disney gift cards but
you dont plan on spending them until next year....Do you get bonus gift cards at all?
Since the program is ending in December?