disney vacation account

[jack87891]

i've seen a couple of posts mentioning the DVA. is that just like a christmas club or savings account only for a disney vacation? what are the advantages of having a DVA?

thanks very much

 

[jtba]

• for every $1,000 you spend on a disney vacation thru the DVA, you can request a $20 disney gift card (up to $500 per household or something like that). that's the equivalent of 2% free money. i don't know too many bank accounts these days that give you 2% interest.
• many people also have learned to buy discounted disney gift cards from target and other online websites, but it's a drag to have to read the gazillion numbers off to the CM or your TA. but if you have a DVA, you can enter the gift card numbers into the account yourself, and when it's time to pay for your vacation, you only need give the DVA CM your account number.

those are my reasons for using the DVA. people also use it for budgeting purposes, i.e. they have direct deposit set up with their bank accounts so that a set amount will be deposited into the DVA each month, making it easier to save money, etc.

now i call on our resident DVA experts to see if i missed anything else... hello @IBelieveInTheMagic and @CM Dad !

 

[jtba]

here's the faq: https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/questions/

you have to have your account set up for 120 days before you can request the $20 bonus cards.

also, in order to enter gift card numbers, you will need to put in a valid credit card number at the very first time, then the option to enter gift cards will show up on the screen.

if you book your trip using a TA or costco, yes, you can use the DVA. BUT according to the user terms and agreements you aren't supposed to share your DVA number with anyone else, so when you're ready to pay, get your reservation number from your TA or costco, then call up DVA's special numbers (they have different ones fro DCL, WDW, Disneyland, Aulani), and pay for your trip direclty. easy peasy.

 

[CraigerK]

The Disney vacation account is the equivalent of giving Disney your money to invest, use, and profit on before you even spend it with them. We all contribute enough to Disney’s bottom line, we should at least have the ability to earn interest on it while we save up for our vacations.


I use Wealthfront where you can set up a computer managed and balanced brokerage account. I’ve used them for 2 years and average over 15% growth on my vacation fund while I’m saving up for our family’s next cruise.


It helps to manage to a goal (automatic withdrawals if you want from checking account), and they don’t charge a fee on managing an savings under $15,000. Then when you’re ready to spend, you can transfer your balance right back to your checking account.


So I save my balance and gain interest on my vacation fund in our Wealtfront account, then I put my cruise on our Disney Visa (and get the points there too, that you don’t with the DVA), and let my money gain interest for another 6 months while it’s interest free on the Visa, then transfer to my checking and pay the Visa bill.


Works good for us, and we’ve been able to spend above our means due to the interest gained while saving up. When we're talking about cruises that run $10k+, that extra 15% interest is in the thousands... Much better than a few $20 gift cards.

 

[jtba]

that is definitely another way to earn money. 15% is an excellent deal!

the difference is wealthfront is investing; DVA is the equivalent of putting your money in a CD. the former gives the possibility of earning much greater returns, but in a down market people may not get 15% returns; in fact they may lose money altogether.

i'm not advocating for one or another. i actually have both--DVA and brokerage accounts, but they're for different purposes.

it just depends on how much risk people are willing to take with their money.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

• for every $1,000 you spend on a disney vacation thru the DVA, you can request a $20 disney gift card (up to $500 per household or something like that). that's the equivalent of 2% free money. i don't know too many bank accounts these days that give you 2% interest.
• many people also have learned to buy discounted disney gift cards from target and other online websites, but it's a drag to have to read the gazillion numbers off to the CM or your TA. but if you have a DVA, you can enter the gift card numbers into the account yourself, and when it's time to pay for your vacation, you only need give the DVA CM your account number.

those are my reasons for using the DVA. people also use it for budgeting purposes, i.e. they have direct deposit set up with their bank accounts so that a set amount will be deposited into the DVA each month, making it easier to save money, etc.

now i call on our resident DVA experts to see if i missed anything else... hello @IBelieveInTheMagic and @CM Dad !

You did a lovely job - you are so such a pro now!

I love the DV Account as I've always bought the Disney gift cards at Target or Target.com and it was time consuming to call each and every card in but it was still worth it to me to save the 5%. Now that we can buy discounted cards, earn rebates and then add the DV Account 2% "reward" earned and I can enter them online and consolidate them, it's a no-brainer for me. I have investments outside of this and I'm not worried about getting more back because I'm getting on average 15% off my bookings this way (5% Raise, 1% Disney Visa-or my SWA, 5% Target.com, 2% Ebates, and 2% DV Account). Sometimes the Raise or Cardpool purchases on Topcashback also earn another 2% back so that would make it 17% range but there is a cap and also that hasn't been too reliable for me. Also Ebates shouldn't in theory work but for several of us lately, it has. That's over simplified but it works for me and many others so I'm a happy camper.

I know how much I owe for my WDW and DCL trips and then budget per paycheck and go from there.

Heather

 

[Angie789]

2% Ebates

How are you getting 2% back for Ebates? You can't use Ebates for Raise and they have not given cash back at Target for entertainment cards in a very long time.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

How are you getting 2% back for Ebates? You can't use Ebates for Raise and they have not given cash back at Target for entertainment cards in a very long time.

On Target.com for buying the Disney gift cards. Yes, I agree it's never worked for me in the past, however someone was nice enough to post they were suddenly getting the rebates so I tried and it worked. Like I mentioned, it's worked on 4 out of 5 orders but others aren't getting it to work. I don't count on it working but if it does, awesome sauce.

Heather

 

[CM Dad]

• for every $1,000 you spend on a disney vacation thru the DVA, you can request a $20 disney gift card (up to $500 per household or something like that). that's the equivalent of 2% free money. i don't know too many bank accounts these days that give you 2% interest.
• many people also have learned to buy discounted disney gift cards from target and other online websites, but it's a drag to have to read the gazillion numbers off to the CM or your TA. but if you have a DVA, you can enter the gift card numbers into the account yourself, and when it's time to pay for your vacation, you only need give the DVA CM your account number.

those are my reasons for using the DVA. people also use it for budgeting purposes, i.e. they have direct deposit set up with their bank accounts so that a set amount will be deposited into the DVA each month, making it easier to save money, etc.

now i call on our resident DVA experts to see if i missed anything else... hello @IBelieveInTheMagic and @CM Dad !

Thanks, but I don't consider my self an expert in anything other than my opinion.

Before DVA, I used a Target Red Card to buy Disney Gift Cards and would enter them one at a time in my travel agent's payment page. I think I was limited to 10 gift cards per day. I did get a note from them one time because I didn't wait 24 hours to enter the next batch. You need to hold on to all of the gift cards in case you get a refund from DCL. That goes back to the original payment method.

Now that I have started to use the DVA, they have a daily contribution limit of $1000, so I could enter twice as many $50 gift cards from target every day. If I get a refund from DCL it goes back to the DVA instead of individual gift cards, so I don't have to check the balance on each card I had used to find the money. Last cruise we had booked a couple of cabanas but could not dock at Castaway Cay, and had deposited money in my stateroom to cover excursions, so ended up with a nice refund. I just will use that money in the DVA for the next cruise. Note. you can get a refund from the DVA if you want, but that goes back to the original form of payment, so you will need to hang onto the used gift cards if you plan to do that.

There are a couple of things I wish were different. I wish Target would offer larger Disney Gift Cards so I don't have to enter as many card numbers. I also wish the DVA payment page would let you enter multiple gift cards on one page, rather than having to do this one at a time.

The Disney vacation account is the equivalent of giving Disney your money to invest, use, and profit on before you even spend it with them. We all contribute enough to Disney’s bottom line, we should at least have the ability to earn interest on it while we save up for our vacations.


I use Wealthfront where you can set up a computer managed and balanced brokerage account. I’ve used them for 2 years and average over 15% growth on my vacation fund while I’m saving up for our family’s next cruise.


It helps to manage to a goal (automatic withdrawals if you want from checking account), and they don’t charge a fee on managing an savings under $15,000. Then when you’re ready to spend, you can transfer your balance right back to your checking account.


So I save my balance and gain interest on my vacation fund in our Wealtfront account, then I put my cruise on our Disney Visa (and get the points there too, that you don’t with the DVA), and let my money gain interest for another 6 months while it’s interest free on the Visa, then transfer to my checking and pay the Visa bill.


Works good for us, and we’ve been able to spend above our means due to the interest gained while saving up. When we're talking about cruises that run $10k+, that extra 15% interest is in the thousands... Much better than a few $20 gift cards.

Since I plan on using the money in my DVA in the not too distant future, I do not consider using using an investment account due to the risk that there could be a loss on that investment. Different risk tolerances for different people. I do have a variety of investments for longer term goals. Yes it would be nice if the DVA paid interest on the money, but currently savings account are paying minimal interest so I don't see that as mush of a loss, and the $20/1000 bonus can be considered a 2% return. You don't need to have the money in the account for very long to get that bonus. The account needs to be open for 120 days to get the bonus, but I suppose you could open the account for the minimal initial investment of $10, save in your investment account and earn 15%, then assuming it is at least 120 days before you need to pay for your Disney Vacation essentially transfer the balance due from your investment account the to DVA (max $1000/day, so it might take multiple days) and get the bonus kicker.

 

[southerngirl528]

I'm learning a ton from all the DVA threads, and CM Dad, I especially appreciate your details. I've put off getting a Target Red Card for a long while as I just didn't want any more credit or debit cards, even though I am a very frequent Target shopper. I have just applied online for the Red Card debit card and have been watching raise.com for deals on Target gift cards. But I'm a tad confused……. if I have already bought Target gift cards somewhere else like raise or ebates, etc., how do I get the Red Card 5% off if I'm not actually using my Target debit card but using Target gift cards to buy the Disney gift cards??? (did that make ANY sense at all??)

Thanks in advance! And thanks to all for the great info!! Trying to sock away a good amount of dough for our DCL Hawaii/Vancouver cruise as well as our pre-cruise couple of Aulani nights….

 

[jtba]

i understand your confusion. the red card 5% off seems to be the way target.com is set up, because this does not work in the brick-and-mortar stores.

basically you go through the normal check-out process by placing the disney gift card(s) in your shopping cart, then click "review and check your cart", then "proceed to check out", then sign in to your account (if you have one already). after this screen, target red card should show up as your default form of payment. click the blue "edit" link, then check the box next to "target gift cards", enter your gift card #, then click "apply".

at this point, look to the right of the page where there is a summary of your order. the balance from your target gift card (purchased from raise.com, ebates, etc.) should be applied to your purchase, and there should be a 5% discount from red card as well.

some users have reported they might buy a little more stuff so that the red card gets charged too in order to receive the 5%, but i personally have not needed to do so to get the 5% red card discount, even if i am paying my entire balance by using target gift cards purchased elsewhere.

there have been a few times where this didn't work, but when it was reported to target customer service, disboard folks were told it was a glitch in the system and, sure enough, the 5% red card discount returns again a few days later.

good luck!

 

[southerngirl528]

Huge thank you, Jtba!!! VERY helpful advice!! I was wondering about exactly how that worked, and your explanation is patently clear. I am grateful.

 

[MinMou]

I just tried to use topcashback.com (before going to raise.com) and ebates.com (before going to target.com), and ebates didn't work. Then I saw that ebates has an exclusion for all gift cards.

Are there any other sites that pay you for shopping at target?

 

[DisneySisters]

You need to hold on to all of the gift cards in case you get a refund from DCL. That goes back to the original payment method.

I'm so glad you said this! I never thought of it, and I've been throwing them away!

 

[CM Dad]

I'm so glad you said this! I never thought of it, and I've been throwing them away!

I guess if you are paying with the Disney Vacation Savings Account you don't have to keep the gift cards since the savings account is the method of payment for the cruise or other Disney vacation so r refunds would go back to that. You really would need to keep the cards if you want a refund from the savings account. If you are ok with just leaving the refund in the account until your next Disney vacation you can do that as well.

 

[mom4fun]

Has anyone had trouble getting you bonus gift card from them? I requested mine 4 weeks ago and still haven't got them.

 

[erionm]

Has anyone had trouble getting you bonus gift card from them? I requested mine 4 weeks ago and still haven't got them.

What did you enter for the vacation date? Mine was mailed out 1 month prior to the date I entered.

 

[mom4fun]

What did you enter for the vacation date? Mine was mailed out 1 month prior to the date I entered.

May 1, 2015

 

[erionm]

Has anyone had trouble getting you bonus gift card from them? I requested mine 4 weeks ago and still haven't got them.

May 1, 2015

From the DVA website:

When requesting your bonus, you will be asked to confirm your travel start date (the day you are leaving home for your trip). Please allow 4 to 6 weeks to receive your Disney Gift Card via U.S. mail. This includes time for bonus validation, processing and shipping.

 

[tweis]

I'm sure I'm over looking this, but what is the number to call to pay your cruise deposit using your DVA?