Disney Gift Cards

[donnajz]

Our area grocery store is having a promotion where you get .20 off a gallon of gas for each $50 spent in Disney Gift Cards. I'm thinking of purchasing enough to cover our room, some souveniers and some meals and using them for our vacation in June. My questions: 1) Do they expire? 2) Can they be used at resorts, sit down restaurants (including tips), counter service, and all Disney stores. I'm thinking I can probably end up with about $120 in free gas for my car.

 

[MsLeFever]

I want to shop at Giant Eagle too - anybody have the answer to this??

 

[Keira1387]

Our area grocery store is having a promotion where you get .20 off a gallon of gas for each $50 spent in Disney Gift Cards. I'm thinking of purchasing enough to cover our room, some souveniers and some meals and using them for our vacation in June. My questions: 1) Do they expire? 2) Can they be used at resorts, sit down restaurants (including tips), counter service, and all Disney stores. I'm thinking I can probably end up with about $120 in free gas for my car.

They do not expire. You can use the gift card in all the places you just listed.

 

[ready123go]

Just returned from Disney. Used mostly gift cards this trip. I bought them for exactly the same reasons - gas savings!
No problem using them. They do not expire (according to Disney).

When I paid off my room ressies on line, I entered the gift card numbers. Only one worked, so I had to call the rest in. No problems. A CM handled it.

Word of warning, if you pay in full by credit card, apparently Disney won't credit back the reservation charges to your credit card at check out time (this is what I have been told). So, if you are intending to pay for your reservation with gift cards, you have pay for a up front with the gift cards.

It was very easy to use gift cards for restaurants, tips and purchases. When you get your "Key to the World" (room key) card the CM will ask if you would like to pay for purchases with it. They then link it to a credit card. You can go to the front desk either the night before or the morning of check-out (before 11:00 am) and have your charges to your credit card "reversed" and pay the balance by gift card.

I just asked the CM at the front desk what was the easiest way to handle it and she told me the above.

On a previous trip we applied some of the gift cards to our account prior to charging anything, so we had a credit on the account. That CM seemed to prefer to handle it that way.

DO NOT throw away the gift cards until the account is settled up. If they need to put some funds back on your card, you have to still have to physically have the card. They cannot put funds on to a different card.

Hope that is clear.

 

[mickeynminnie08]

Ok, so let me get this straight as it's sunday am and i'm a bit confused.
If I paid for my entire reservation with my credit card, but want to use a gift card for all purchases & tips while in the world..
I need to give them my credit card number when I check in and then go the night before check out and settle my bill. Wanting to use a gift card this time so I can just buy one for a set amount and not spend more than that.

 

[cglaura]

Ok, so let me get this straight as it's sunday am and i'm a bit confused.
If I paid for my entire reservation with my credit card, but want to use a gift card for all purchases & tips while in the world..
I need to give them my credit card number when I check in and then go the night before check out and settle my bill. Wanting to use a gift card this time so I can just buy one for a set amount and not spend more than that.

You don't need to give them a cc, just give them the gift card at check in. As ready123 said...save the gift card though, if you don't use it all on the kttwc, they will put the balance back on the original gift card.

You can do it w/ the cc like you stated, but don't have to.

For OP, here is a good FAQ on gift cards:
http://www.disneygiftcard.com/faq/

 

[Dismom55]

They do not expire, you can use them nearly everywhere and for everything on and at Disney but for tips not really.

I only had trouble with cashiers in World Showcase, they did not seem to understand they were not credit cards, I would tell them and tell them, but eventually they would get help and it would always work out.

As far as tips, think about it, the server is using tips to pay their bills, buy groceries, how can they use a gift card for that, unless they have a way to cash the card. The only way would be if you use your KTTW card and then pay that off using the gift cards. Maybe then??

 

[cglaura]

.... As far as tips, think about it, the server is using tips to pay their bills, buy groceries, how can they use a gift card for that, unless they have a way to cash the card. The only way would be if you use your KTTW card and then pay that off using the gift cards. Maybe then??

It works the same as if you paid by a credit card at the restaurant. You write the tip in on the tip line and the server gets their money and you get your giftcard back...they don't keep the card, they just take their tip off just like as if you purchased something. I hope that makes sense, hard to explain!

 

[ready123go]

Ok, so let me get this straight as it's sunday am and i'm a bit confused.
If I paid for my entire reservation with my credit card, but want to use a gift card for all purchases & tips while in the world..
I need to give them my credit card number when I check in and then go the night before check out and settle my bill. Wanting to use a gift card this time so I can just buy one for a set amount and not spend more than that.

On a previous trip we applied some of the gift cards to our account prior to charging anything, so we had a credit on the account. That CM seemed to prefer to handle it that way.

As I said, one time I had a CM who did it one way, the next time I had a CM who did it another other way. I asked them their preference, since they are the ones who have to do the paperwork and it didn't really make a difference to me either way. Personally, I like the flexibility of having my KTTW account linked to a line of credit, so then I can run a tab and pay for it however I like (GC, cash, credit...).

You can "reverse" the charges the night before or at check-out the next morning. Any time before formal check-out time (11:00 am). I did it the night before, while the front desk was relatively quiet. That way, the next morning, I could focus on packing and didn't have to wait in (the sometimes long) line at the front desk.

The charges that I incurred on my KTTW card after check-out (tip for lunch and a couple of bottles of water) were simply charged to my credit card. If you don't want to link a credit card to your account, you would just pay for those things OOP (GC, cash). It is really your choice. They are very flexible and will take your money pretty much any way you choose to give it to them!

 

[ready123go]

It works the same as if you paid by a credit card at the restaurant. You write the tip in on the tip line and the server gets their money and you get your gift card back...they don't keep the card, they just take their tip off just like as if you purchased something. I hope that makes sense, hard to explain!

It is hard to explain! The first time I went we didn't do it this way - it was too confusing. The second time I went, we did this. By the third time - you get it!

 

[mickeynminnie08]

You don't need to give them a cc, just give them the gift card at check in. As ready123 said...save the gift card though, if you don't use it all on the kttwc, they will put the balance back on the original gift card.

Thank you claura, this is completely answers my question. I will just be putting our spending/tip money on a gift card and then giving them the card at check-in to link to our KTTW cards. Love the Disboards, my questions always find answers.

 

[princess isabella]

Sorry if I missed it bu what store is this?

Thanks!!!

 

[Dismom55]

It works the same as if you paid by a credit card at the restaurant. You write the tip in on the tip line and the server gets their money and you get your giftcard back...they don't keep the card, they just take their tip off just like as if you purchased something. I hope that makes sense, hard to explain!

Thanks for that clarification. We have always done our tips in cash, but nice to know we have an option.

 

[jennyf2]

I love these boards.....I learn something new everyday

I did not know you could leave your GC # at the desk & charge your extra's to the card. (esp tips )

I think when I go in August I wil leave my CC at check in (like I usually do) & when I check out swap it with my Disney GC......And if I don't have enough $$ on the GC I will use my CC for the difference.....

 

[scottmel]

I buy all my disney gift cards at Giant Eagle! CANNOT BEAT the 20 cent gallon promo now. I averaged it to be about 12.2 percent off the trip if you get it at double fuel perks. NOT BAD and you get 1% on your disney Visa for buying them!!! Last year all they sold were 50.00 ones which I looked insane with this HUGE stack of giftcards but it worked. This year they have more logical increments and happy to say I have enough upstairs to pay for my entire trip coming up! In fact I overbought....but they are good forever!

 

[Disneyhayes]

I go to Giant Eagle for my groceries and get the gift cards too. If we are going to Applebees then we go to Giant Eagle real quick on the way - they are close to eachother - and get a gift card. We are going to be buying Gift cards to pay for our entire trip We also buy our gas at Giant Eagles gas station Get Go and get 1% off our groceries for every 10 gallons we pump up to 20%.

If I buy $2000 with gift cards then I could fill up - up to 30 gallons around 3 times. So that would be 6 fill ups - i fill up my car then 3 5-gallon gas cans. So assuming at the time its $40 to fill up my tank then I would save around $240. thats an extra night with the DxDP I will probably buy some more gift cards for gifts and stuff there and then some mcdonalds gift cards for the drive. They also have gift cards for some airlines so if we fly then I will do that too.

 

[MarthaJr.]

Boy...I sure wish we had Giant Eagle around here! This is a great deal. You are lucky!

 

[emo6565]

Bought my first Disney gift card to start saving today. Does anyone know if you give them all of your gift cards at check in to put on your room key, is there any way to check the balance of the credit that you have remaining?