Disney Gift Card ?

[duketennisgal]

One thing I really liked about the dining plan was the ability to have everything pre-paid ahead of time. I will not be doing the dining plan this year so was really bummed about the prospect of not having things payed ahead of time.

Well I was thinking and I thought about the Disney gift cards. Is it possible to use those to pay for the dining? I was thinking I could purchase a $500 gift card with my next paycheck and that could cover our dining and souvenier costs.

Has anybody done this before? Is it even possible to use it at the restaurants? We will mostly be doing counter service meals.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SnowWtch]

Actually, my brother gave me $100 in Disney Gift Cards before my December trip and we wound up using these to pay for most of our table service meals. No troubles whatsoever using them. However, I did tip separately.

 

[Disneychix]

Can I ask why you don't want to pay for the DDP? Wouldn't that be the same as buying $500 in gc?
I personally wouldn't dump $500 into disney dollars as there's no telling what might happen. What about traveller's checks or using a credit card? (disney Visa and getting free disney points!) Is it the cash you don't want to deal with?

 

[duketennisgal]

Actually, my brother gave me $100 in Disney Gift Cards before my December trip and we wound up using these to pay for most of our table service meals. No troubles whatsoever using them. However, I did tip separately.

Perfect, I think we are only doing one table service (Le Cellier) anyways so tipping seperately won't be a problem.

My only worry is losing the card, but I think I read if you keep the original receipt you can get it replaced. If I do get the card I'll just scan the receipt to my computer since I have 4 months till my trip.

 

[duketennisgal]

Can I ask why you don't want to pay for the DDP? Wouldn't that be the same as buying $500 in gc?
I personally wouldn't dump $500 into disney dollars as there's no telling what might happen. What about traveller's checks or using a credit card? (disney Visa and getting free disney points!) Is it the cash you don't want to deal with?

Because I would be paying way more for the dining plan than if I just eat at the counter service restaurants. The $500 gift card would not just be used for food, it would also be used for souveniers. I really liked the convenience of having everything paid for in advance, that's what I'm looking to do. I don't want to use a credit card and if I were to use one it would be my american express card (I don't want any more credit cards than I already have).

I'm not too worried about not using the money if I dump it into a gift card, but I may just go with something like traveller's checks instead, I would prefer not having to deal with those if I don't have to. I will give it some more thought.