Disney Gift Cards or Disney Dollars

[sunshinegirl]

Let's talk about the pros and cons of Disney Gift Cards and Disney Dollars. Many of you are earning either or both through various rewards programs. Some of you ask for them or give them as gifts on holidays to supplement your vacation cash. Other people stash them away as a kind of "Disney only" savings account.

Here are the benefits and detriments that I see to each. I am sure that those of you who have used them more often can add quite a bit!!

Disney Gift Cards:

Good: Can be tracked if lost, are easier to carry than lots of bills, larger increments than DD, can track your balance
Bad: Cannot be used at hotel front desk, can be deactivated when placed with other cards, so new that not all clerks know how to use them, must use full balance down to the penny

Disney Dollars:

Good: Can be used anywhere in WDW, small increments good for kids, "change" is given to you in cash, very cute!
Bad: Can be lost and cannot be traced, increments do not go very high if you are looking at getting multiple hundreds of dollars worth
Others?

 

[cxcelica]

This is a good thread. With the Disney card what do you mean that the card must be used to its full balance down to the penny??

Finally are either useful in paying for a disney cruise. A gift card you can hopefully use to pay your hotel bill(should be happening soon from what I gather) and you could use disney dollars lets say to buy tickets.

But could you pay for part of a Disney Cruise with DD or DC??

 

[bbangel]

Gift cards are not like cash. You don't get change when there is money left on them. It can be hard to spend it all and some places won't let you pay part with your card and part in cash.
A lot of the cards also expire (even though there is usually no date on them)
Businesses are making a ton of money from people buying gift cards and not spending the money.

 

[alacazander]

Does anybody know if the disney cards have an experation date on them? I'd hate to save them only to find out they are no good after six months or so.

 

[PSL]

Does anyone have any experience using a Disney Gift Card at a sit down restaurant and paying whatever the balance was in cash? This is what I want to do with mine...will I have any problems?

 

[Magix]

Does anybody know if the disney cards have an experation date on them? I'd hate to save them only to find out they are no good after six months or so.

No expiration date and no fees on the Disney gift card.

 

[alacazander]

No expiration date and no fees on the Disney gift card.

Excellent - thanks for the info!

 

[FirstTimertoDiz]

Does anyone have any experience using a Disney Gift Card at a sit down restaurant and paying whatever the balance was in cash? This is what I want to do with mine...will I have any problems?

I don't have any experience with this myself, but on the Disney Shopping FAQ section regarding the Disney Gift Cards, it has this information:

"Can I use my with another form of payment to complete a purchase?
Yes, Disney Gift Cards can be used in conjunction with other forms of payment. "

So, it sounds like you should not have a problem, but I am hoping that someone can indeed confirm that for you.

hth

 

[hentob]

Bumping---

A local Boy Scout Troop is selling gift cards and this is one of them.

Can I take it to the Disney Store and buy our Park Tix with it?



BTW--FirstTimertoDiz--Howdy! I ran into you during the PIAA XC thread.

 

[PoohPrincess76]

I have a con for the gift card, you can only load them once until you use them all the way down. Example, I bought a card with $25 on it, I can not add to that $25, I have to buy a new card or spend the $25 on the original card. I would rather have more bills than keep track of which cards have which amount on them. Just my $0.02!

 

[Magix]

I have a con for the gift card, you can only load them once until you use them all the way down. Example, I bought a card with $25 on it, I can not add to that $25, I have to buy a new card or spend the $25 on the original card. I would rather have more bills than keep track of which cards have which amount on them. Just my $0.02!

That's not true. You can add to a disney gift card whenever you want, so long as you don't exceed their maximum (which, I think, is $1500.00). Maybe you have a different kind of card, like an old disney store card or something?

 

[dbmarie]

I wish they had different characters on them like the disney dollars.

 

[Magix]

hentob - Yes, you can use the disney gift card to buy tix at disney store.

PSL - Yes, you can use another kind of payment with the card, if your card doesn't cover your full total.

If you just call the number on the back of the gift card (you can find it buried in the gift card website FAQs,too), they can answer all these questions for you.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

That's not true. You can add to a disney gift card whenever you want, so long as you don't exceed their maximum (which, I think, is $1500.00). Maybe you have a different kind of card, like an old disney store card or something?

Although you can add to them it is not very easy or convenient. I belong to many reward programs. I usually cash out for 25.00. I wanted to add money on the card every once in a while so by the time I go to WDW I would have a nice size card. I was told that I could add money at The Disney Store or at a Disney Theme park. Doesn't help for people trying to stash money for a trip. If I am wrong please let me know because I am looking for ways to add to my gift cards.

 

[Magix]

You can do it by phone through Disneyland Delivears at 800-362-4533. That should make it simple for you. Add to the gc, using your credit card and use whatever cash you're saving to pay your cc. Or add to it using a debit card that's tied to your checking account, so it comes straight out of there.

 

[mickeyfan1]

I think what G4D is asking is can you add to an existing DGC like you can an online webbie. In other words, I have a A$35.00 card and have enough to cash out for another one, can I get the place I am cashing out at to have the $ added to the card I already have. And I believe the answer is probably not. Tricia can probably answer for sure.

 

[rhiannonwales]

Ok, i am one of those people who used GC as a Disney savings account. I just got back 2 weeks ago.
Here are some pros:
Less stuff to carry around - i could put the card in my holder on my lanyard with tix, and room keys.
Easier to replace if you lose it

Some REAL cons:
Many problems with using them. When using them in restaurants, one thing i noticed is that the reciept comes to you with a line for a tip on it. I figured out that they were authorizing the card with a 15% gratuity. I was leaving cash tips, so i never used that 15%.But because they were holding my $ i threw some cards away thinking they were empty - but after 3 days the 15% was returned to the card. I must have lost about 20 -30 dollars that way.
Another problem: most of the outside vendors (at the parks) use a differnt module to scan the cards that the regular stores. These handheld machines always had a problem getting the card to go through. At MNSSHP i ended up using my room charge becaseu none of the vendors could get the card to work. But later at the hotel it worked fine.

It is a pain remembering what all the cards have on them. I had like 8 cards with amounts anywhere from 25 - 300.00 dollars on them. (my local Disney store cant figure out how to reload a card so i ended up with many) Every night, i had to call the 800 number, get the balances, and write on the cards with a sharpie marker.

Another big minus: You can't as of yet use the cards at the front desk - which meant that we could not order room service or obtain high speed internet access becasue we had put almost all our spending money on the cards. IT was a pain.
Yes you can use what is left on a card and then use cash, or even another card.

 

[PoohPrincess76]

My Disney Store in CA told me that I could not add any money to the card unless it was at a zero balance. It was brand new when I bought it last month. If I was wrong, it is because that is what they told me. I just switched to Disney Dollars because I can carry around a bunch of $10 bills and not really worry about the store policies...

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

You can do it by phone through Disneyland Delivears at 800-362-4533. That should make it simple for you. Add to the gc, using your credit card and use whatever cash you're saving to pay your cc. Or add to it using a debit card that's tied to your checking account, so it comes straight out of there.

Thank you so much. I was told to add it when I get to WDW (we don't have a Disney Store nearby) I though what's the point of that?

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

I think what G4D is asking is can you add to an existing DGC like you can an online webbie. In other words, I have a A$35.00 card and have enough to cash out for another one, can I get the place I am cashing out at to have the $ added to the card I already have. And I believe the answer is probably not. Tricia can probably answer for sure.

This is what I was asking...in my possesion I have four 25.00 gift cards. I would like to add 75.00 to a couple of them (from my own money) so me and my DH can have them and not have to guess the starting balance. I do not need to add to them from reward sites.