Disney Gift Card amounts - Which would you buy ?

[pooh2001]

We have lots of Visa Reward Dollars and plan to buy Disney Gift Cards to use at WDW in 2012.

IF ... we stay at POFQ, then I will get $500 Disney Gift Cards and use them to help pay for our resort at POFQ.

BUT ... if my family gets their wish and we stay at the Dolphin, we will use our Disney Gift Cards to help pay for our meals OOP.

Do you think a $500 Disney Gift Card is too large to carry around WDW and keep track of the balance ?

Should I order the $200 Disney Gift Cards to use in the WDW parks for meals ?
Would it be easier to keep track of the amounts on the gift cards ?
We could keep the non-used gift cards in the room safe.

IF I order $200 gift cards and we do stay at POFQ - will the front desk get annoyed with us for having lots of $200 gift cards to process to help pay for our resort fee ?

Thank you for your help.

 

[boufa]

I dont have a Disney Visa, so I am not sure if buying giftcards with your rewards is an option. However the best deal in disney gift cards is the Sam's Club $100 gift cards. You pay $98.87 for each $100 card and they come with a free $10 Disney store gift card.

As for $500 being too much on 1 card, I vote yes it is. When we travel the first thing I do is take whatever cash we are taking and give half of it to my wife. That way if I lose my wallet, or if we separate, or anything at all she has half the vacation fund. Depending on how much money we have, we re-balance the amounts every few days so that at no time are we risking more than 1/2 of our money.

The same rule and reasoning would apply to the gift cards. The inconvenience of keeping track of the balances would be minimal. I would take any "full" gift cards and segregate them into another spot, another pocket, etc. Then just one the one until they tell you it is empty.

 

[pooh2001]

Thank you !

 

[alice99]

If you are talking about the Chase Visa rewards, you can have 2 cards active at any time.
They are not really traditional gift cards, they are re-fillable gift cards (or debit card, may be more accurate).
Chase expects you to keep the card and transfer bonus $ to the cards.

I've had the same card for almost 2 years now (expires at the end of this year), and I just transfer the rewards onto the card as I need to.