Disney Savings Plan?

[ladyhawk14624]

Hubby and I are taking our grandkids to WDW after Thanksgiving. We thought about opening up a Disney Savings account with Disney. On the website it says that you can set up automatic deposits weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or yearly. We want to put money in when we can, probably not at set intervals. Has anyone opened an account with Disney? I don't want to choose yearly and then only be able to make one deposit. We have money to put in the account now and will have more once we get our tax refund. And yes, we can just open an account at our credit union but we figure that it's much better for us if we put the money someplace we can't access it. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has saved money this way. Thank you!

 

[Chief Powhatan]

Once you setup the account, you don't have to schedule deposits at regular intervals if you don't want to. I don't have any deposits setup; I just deposit money into my account when I purchase a Disney gift card at Target. Have a great time on your trip!

 

[ladyhawk14624]

Thank you! That is perfect. We got very concerned since they make you pick a schedule for deposits and give them a debit/credit card number. I presume then that we can just change that number as we need to?

 

[Chief Powhatan]

When you set up the account, it asks you 'how often do you want to contribute'. If you select 'one-time', you can make an initial deposit (I believe $10 in the min.) After that you can go into the account and make other one-time deposits when you want.

 

[ladyhawk14624]

Thanks again!

 

[mm1971]

Hubby and I are taking our grandkids to WDW after Thanksgiving. We thought about opening up a Disney Savings account with Disney. On the website it says that you can set up automatic deposits weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or yearly. We want to put money in when we can, probably not at set intervals. Has anyone opened an account with Disney? I don't want to choose yearly and then only be able to make one deposit. We have money to put in the account now and will have more once we get our tax refund. And yes, we can just open an account at our credit union but we figure that it's much better for us if we put the money someplace we can't access it. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has saved money this way. Thank you!

I would recommend setting up some type of interest bearing account on your own and just have the $$ direct deposited from your check. By setting up the Disney account (no interest) you are basically giving them your money for the next 11 months and getting nothing for it. I know interest rates are not much higher than zero, but I'll take the extra few dollars and have access to my $$ in an emergency. Just my opinion. I know its easier as they will already have it, but why let them earn interest on your money.

Better yet, get yourself a Disney Visa and book using that. Save on your own and get 0% financing for 6 months. You get interest on their money for 6 months instead of them getting yours.

 

[Eighty8Keys]

We opened up our account last October as a way to combine all the Disney gift cards that we've been accumulating into one account to make it easier to pay for hotel and park tickets instead of lugging around 80+ $50 gift cards. Even though it's not an interest bearing account, each of the Disney gift cards we've deposited so far have been purchased at less than face value taking advantage of various discounts. Currently, I'm averaging a 20.3% discount on over $1,500 in gift cards. Plus, there is the $20 gift card bonus that Disney pays for every $1,000 that is spent from the account after it's been open for at least 120 days. While the account is fully refundable, they will refund back to the original form of payment. That's something to keep in mind if you think you might need the money for an emergency. If you used your credit card to fund the account then the money will go back onto your card. However, if you funded it with Disney gift cards, that's what your money will be tied up in. My doctor, mechanic,or plumber may love Disney as much as I do, but he/she likely doesn't want to be paid in gift cards.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I would recommend setting up some type of interest bearing account on your own and just have the $$ direct deposited from your check. By setting up the Disney account (no interest) you are basically giving them your money for the next 11 months and getting nothing for it. I know interest rates are not much higher than zero, but I'll take the extra few dollars and have access to my $$ in an emergency. Just my opinion. I know its easier as they will already have it, but why let them earn interest on your money.

Better yet, get yourself a Disney Visa and book using that. Save on your own and get 0% financing for 6 months. You get interest on their money for 6 months instead of them getting yours.

Disney does rebate $20 for every $1000 spent from the account, so it is possible to earn about 2% in interest. -- Suzanne

 

[finny1981]

I would recommend setting up some type of interest bearing account on your own and just have the $$ direct deposited from your check. By setting up the Disney account (no interest) you are basically giving them your money for the next 11 months and getting nothing for it. I know interest rates are not much higher than zero, but I'll take the extra few dollars and have access to my $$ in an emergency. Just my opinion. I know its easier as they will already have it, but why let them earn interest on your money.

Better yet, get yourself a Disney Visa and book using that. Save on your own and get 0% financing for 6 months. You get interest on their money for 6 months instead of them getting yours.

Well, what we did is opened the account and add any gift cards we get to it, then in our savings (interest bearing) we are holding all the money for the trip. When it gets closer to the date to pay it off we will add it over a couple days to the vacation account and pay through there. That was we get the interest and access to it, plus get the $20 per $1000.