Disney gift cards for Disneyland purchases

[VandVsmama]

After reading some threads here on disboards.com, I went and totalled up the $$ in both of my kids' (ages 2.5 & 4.5) piggy banks. It came to $101! So I have taken that $$ and am splitting it up into 2 Disney gift cards - $50 each. I ordered a Princess Aurora one for ODD and Princess Tiana for YDD and will be setting the gift cards aside for them to use during our Disneyland trip next year.

This way, they won't be tempted to raid any piggy banks for anything else in the meantime. And now I already have each girl's spending money set aside. Neither of them have any concept of how much $50 is anyway.

And from now on until the day we go to Disneyland next June, I'm going to set aside our loose change in a change jar to cash in regularly at the grocery store. Sometimes the loose change can add up to $30/month!

come to think of it, I could also raise some extra $$ by selling some used movies and books at our local used bookstore.

 

[skiingfast]

And from now on until the day we go to Disneyland next June, I'm going to set aside our loose change in a change jar to cash in regularly at the grocery store. Sometimes the loose change can add up to $30/month!

If you or anyone is thinking of using the coinstar machines in the front of your grocery store. Let me help you. Do you want to make intellegent decisions or be ignorant?

Coinstar charges a hefty percent to cash in change. If you have a bank account, your bank will do it for free. Banks have to accept you american money, and as good customer service will change it to different denominations.

You can almost everywhere open bank accounts for kids they have no balance minimum.

Coinstar does let you get instead of cash, gift cards and debit cars that is will credit you with for the same amount of change you put in the machine. Coinstar then makes money in that manner. Unfortunately there is not a Disney Gift Card, but that could change.

 

[Sherry E]

Good idea!

I think that getting gift cards is a great way to set aside dedicated Disney money that cannot be used for any other purpose.

The great thing is that the gift cards are versatile - they can go towards food in the parks (table service restaurants and most of the counter service places, minus a couple, and at the 3 DLR hotels' dining establishments), they can go for merchandise in the shops, they can be used for PhotoPass purchases on the PhotoPass website, they can be used for Disney hotel reservation payments or packages, they can be used online at the DLR website, in the Disney Stores, etc. So many great uses for the cards - and so many cute designs, so they can be kept as souvenirs when they are all spent.

 

[Midnightred]

Which counter service restaurant does not take the Disney Cards? Just would like to know ahead of time. I have $350 on a card so far for our July trip. I'll carry cash/credit cards as well. Thanks!

Cheyenne

 

[calidreamz]

If you or anyone is thinking of using the coinstar machines in the front of your grocery store. Let me help you. Do you want to make intellegent decisions or be ignorant?

Coinstar charges a hefty percent to cash in change. If you have a bank account, your bank will do it for free. Banks have to accept you american money, and as good customer service will change it to different denominations.

You can almost everywhere open bank accounts for kids they have no balance minimum.

Coinstar does let you get instead of cash, gift cards and debit cars that is will credit you with for the same amount of change you put in the machine. Coinstar then makes money in that manner. Unfortunately there is not a Disney Gift Card, but that could change.

This is true, banks will take your change without a fee, BUT many banks require that the change be rolled and that your name/acct # is written on each roll of coins. For me my time is SOOOO worth the 10 cents on the dollar that coinstar charges, though my DH disagrees and would rather take the time to count and roll his change.

 

[Andreas Mom]

we use a credit union and they ahve the machine and it is free for members and non-members get charged a small fee but it is less then coinstar so people could try that route too.

 

[VandVsmama]

This is true, banks will take your change without a fee, BUT many banks require that the change be rolled and that your name/acct # is written on each roll of coins. For me my time is SOOOO worth the 10 cents on the dollar that coinstar charges, though my DH disagrees and would rather take the time to count and roll his change.

This is why I used Coinstar. Yes, they do take 8.9% off of the total, but in this case the $5 was worth it in terms of my time. It would have taken me far more than $5 worth of my time to roll the coins up & label each thing with my name, signature, and account number.

 

[VandVsmama]

If you or anyone is thinking of using the coinstar machines in the front of your grocery store. Let me help you. Do you want to make intellegent decisions or be ignorant?

Coinstar charges a hefty percent to cash in change. If you have a bank account, your bank will do it for free. Banks have to accept you american money, and as good customer service will change it to different denominations.

You can almost everywhere open bank accounts for kids they have no balance minimum.

Coinstar does let you get instead of cash, gift cards and debit cars that is will credit you with for the same amount of change you put in the machine. Coinstar then makes money in that manner. Unfortunately there is not a Disney Gift Card, but that could change.

Um, that was a little harsh calling somebody ignorant. But I do appreciate the friendly reminder about going to the bank. I had tried that before, but they will not take loose change.

 

[Sherry E]

Which counter service restaurant does not take the Disney Cards? Just would like to know ahead of time. I have $350 on a card so far for our July trip. I'll carry cash/credit cards as well. Thanks!

Cheyenne

Cheyenne - Well, the weird thing is, when I first started reading about Disney gift cards, I didn't notice any kind of limitation on the counter service places. It was mainly just some of the outdoor vendor carts that wouldn't take the cards because I guess they were not set up to accept plastic.

Then, later on in time - sometime last year - I was on the Disney Gift Card website, reading the small print again, and I noticed something about not being able to use the gift cards at Taste Pilots Grill. This surprised me, as TPG had accepted other cards at one time (not sure if they still do).

So I'm not sure if Taste Pilots Grill still does not accept gift cards or if that was a temporary thing, but at one time it was mentioned on the Gift Card website that they did not.

There were a couple of other places listed too - can't recall which ones but I can look it up. It would be good to double check the website every so often just to see if they add or remove any restaurants from the list. Very, very few won't take the card, though. Mostly all of the sit-down and counter service establishments will take the GC. In fact, I even used a gift card to get some of those yummy pineapple spears from the cart on Main Street (they were set up to accept plastic!)

 

[Karenann*]

We have been saving change now since Jan 2010. In 6 months we had $75.00. I have no idea how much is there now (I am the only contributor and don't spend much to create change). The bank will change it out for no fee when we are ready for our June trip. The mystery amount will be our park spending money.

At the of every month, I buy a disney gift card if there is any money leftover from our food budget. A little here and a little there...sometimes 50.00 sometimes 25.00 sometimes zip!

If you have to roll your own, make adress labels and stick them on the rollers to save time writing out all your information.

 

[skiingfast]

This is true, banks will take your change without a fee, BUT many banks require that the change be rolled and that your name/acct # is written on each roll of coins. For me my time is SOOOO worth the 10 cents on the dollar that coinstar charges, though my DH disagrees and would rather take the time to count and roll his change.

You can remind a bank, that by law they must accept legal tender. They can not, by law, charge you for taking or giving you your money. It's your's, you own it, it's your property not thier's. Even if you are carrying in a bucket with around 10,000 pennies, if you have an account there they must be willing to deposit it.

If you takes rolls of coins to a bank and they tell you to put your information on it there is a reason why. Because if you give them a roll of pennies with just 49 cents, they will count it and adjust your account for the missing penny. Again no bank will require that the coins be rolled, and in fact most won't accept coins in this fashion for the previous stated reason.

 

[sonnyjane]

You can remind a bank, that by law they must accept legal tender. They can not, by law, charge you for taking or giving you your money. It's your's, you own it, it's your property not thier's. Even if you are carrying in a bucket with around 10,000 pennies, if you have an account there they must be willing to deposit it.

If you takes rolls of coins to a bank and they tell you to put your information on it there is a reason why. Because if you give them a roll of pennies with just 49 cents, they will count it and adjust your account for the missing penny. Again no bank will require that the coins be rolled, and in fact most won't accept coins in this fashion for the previous stated reason.

I'd love for you to talk to my local Bank of America branch down here in San Diego then! When we lived in WA, the BofA had a machine similar to a CoinStar that we used for change, but here in San Diego they don't have that machine. They have told me repeatedly that they only accepted coins that are in rolls. Since it's too much hassle, I also pay the 8.9% fee to CoinStar for the sake of convenience.

As far as knowing how many pennies (or other coins) are in the wrappers, they weigh the entire roll while you're there and can determine how many coins are in there based on weight.

 

[ladypage]

You can remind a bank, that by law they must accept legal tender. They can not, by law, charge you for taking or giving you your money. It's your's, you own it, it's your property not thier's. Even if you are carrying in a bucket with around 10,000 pennies, if you have an account there they must be willing to deposit it.

If you takes rolls of coins to a bank and they tell you to put your information on it there is a reason why. Because if you give them a roll of pennies with just 49 cents, they will count it and adjust your account for the missing penny. Again no bank will require that the coins be rolled, and in fact most won't accept coins in this fashion for the previous stated reason.

Honestly, how many banks do you think really go by this? Most banks won't take unrolled coins, no matter how legal (or illegal) it is. And I don't know about your bank, but a lot of banks also take money when you withdraw certain amounts or too often in cash. It's a service fee, and many banks make huge amounts of money off it.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Bag the banks, they will suck your wallet dry. Find a good neighborhood C.U. and their machines will not charge you to use the machine as long as you are a member. Many require only a $5.00 account deposit.

Jack

 

[VandVsmama]

Everyone's mileage may vary a little bit. Different banks have different policies. I'm glad that some folks have found some solutions that have worked well for them in terms of not paying the Coinstar service fee. And I do appreciate everyone sharing their own experiences in this type of situation. I'm just excited because the spare change added up to so much $$.

Today's efforts put me $50 closer to my goal, so I consider it a pretty good day. :-D

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

Not to be a spoil sport but banks do not have to take penny's-- rolled, in a bucket, from a child or an adult. The same goes for nickels. Sad but true.

If you owe a business a large amount the do not have to take penny's or niclels either.

I do think especially a bank refusing the coins from a child would be like having police shut down a child's lemonade stand.

Hope I have not ruined any ones day.

Patty

 

[skiingfast]

I'd love for you to talk to my local Bank of America branch down here in San Diego then! When we lived in WA, the BofA had a machine similar to a CoinStar that we used for change, but here in San Diego they don't have that machine. They have told me repeatedly that they only accepted coins that are in rolls. Since it's too much hassle, I also pay the 8.9% fee to CoinStar for the sake of convenience.

As far as knowing how many pennies (or other coins) are in the wrappers, they weigh the entire roll while you're there and can determine how many coins are in there based on weight.

You might ask to speak to the branch manger and refer to banking regulations when you speak to him or her.

I know about these things because I chose to educate myself on them. I once saw an opening at a bank that was in the middle of a merger. Thinking it would help me understand banking mergers I applied. I was lucky enough to trains the whole staff on the new banks policies. But I also learned about regulation. And, for what it's worth, that I would never want to be a customer of Bank of the West.

I know of lots of things from working there. Why banks want you to use your pin when making a debit card puchase. Why they can't close on a three day weekend. Why home equity loans were the greatest banking product ever, until most pushed it too far.

 

[JosieGirl71]

Does anyone know if you can reload Disney gift cards online? Or do I just have to buy a new one each time I have money to add to our vacation?

 

[Midnightred]

Yes, you can reload the Disney giftcards, this is what I have been doing with mine. You call the number on the Disneyland website under "giftcards". They will send you a receipt and everything.

Cheyenne
DLR July 2011