Disney Gift Card Question

[barbaraann]

Can I use Disney Gift Cards to pay for character meals?

I have read many times about how people buy Disney Gift Cards at Target with their Red Card, and get 5% off. If this is true, can I then turn around, and use the gift cards to pay for a character meal? If so, I could then buy enough gift cards to pay for all our meals, and I would not have to bring so much cash. I usually pay for all my meals in cash.

Do the servers like to be tipped in cash, rather than have a customer put the tip on a room car, or a credit card? What is the process for a server collecting their tip amount from the customer, when it isn't cash?

 

[shortnsassy730]

The target discount is true. I'm not sure how the tipping works. What I normally do is charge everything to the room and then pay the bill with gift cards the night before check out so my credit card isn't charged. For me, it's easier than keeping up with multiple gift card balances throughout the week.

 

[pens4821]

We used gift cards for everything a couple years ago when we went. It was quite easy. They run it, and you can add the tip just like you would on a credit card. They were taken everywhere we shopped/ate. If you have lower ones, you can combine them up to $1000 (i'm pretty sure).

 

[AJA]

We have used gift cards to pay for the entire meal including tip. As the pp said, you add the $ tip amount and sign for the total just like when using a credit card.

 

[mkla2015]

On our last trip we used giftcards for all dining and spending money- it worked out great. And, yes, you can include the tip with the giftcard.

 

[dugthetalkingdog]

I use the Disney Gift cards to shop and pay for any dining that I may need to pay OOP like Tea Time at the Grand Floridian. I usually leave tip in cash. I also use the
gift cards for paying off my trip and and on DCL. I purchase my cards at Kroger when they offer 4X Fuel points which is going on now thru June 19th. Gift cards
are great for keeping spending under control.

 

[barbaraann]

Thanks everyone for all the answers. When my trip gets closer, I am definitely going to head to Target to get Gift cards. 5% off is 5% less that we have to pay for those expensive character meals.

 

[aretha30]

We buy Disney gift cards at Target and use them for everything. This way we can still prepay and we've saved 5%! We add the tip just like you would a credit card. We keep track of how much is left on each card by the receipt.