Disney Vacation Account

[lolobug]

can someone please explain what this is to me? What kind of incentives do they offer? My understanding is that you can pay for your vacation using gift cards, yes?
Thanks!

 

[Marionnette]

can someone please explain what this is to me? What kind of incentives do they offer? My understanding is that you can pay for your vacation using gift cards, yes?
Thanks!

It's Disney's version of the old-fashion vacation club savings plans. You open an account for the purpose of saving for a Disney trip. The funds can be used to pay for your room, tickets, package, tours etc. But you cannot use the account to pay for anything once you are in Disney.

IF you open an account and keep it open for 120 days before you spend the money, they will give you a $20 Disney GC for every $1000 that you spend on "qualifying" purchases.

Unlike a regular savings account, this one pays no interest. It only gives you the GC and only after you spend (not save) $1000.

You can fund it with Disney GCs, a CC, debit card or direct transfer from a checking account. And refunds of what you put into the account will go back on the form of payment that you used to fund the account.

ETA - You can pay for your vacation using Disney GCs without opening a DVA. It's just easier to give the CM your DVA account number than it is to read off multiple GC #s and their PINs.

 

[lolobug]

It's Disney's version of the old-fashion vacation club savings plans. You open an account for the purpose of saving for a Disney trip. The funds can be used to pay for your room, tickets, package, tours etc. But you cannot use the account to pay for anything once you are in Disney.

IF you open an account and keep it open for 120 days before you spend the money, they will give you a $20 Disney GC for every $1000 that you spend on "qualifying" purchases.

Unlike a regular savings account, this one pays no interest. It only gives you the GC and only after you spend (not save) $1000.

You can fund it with Disney GCs, a CC, debit card or direct transfer from a checking account. And refunds of what you put into the account will go back on the form of payment that you used to fund the account.

Thanks for the quick response!
We usually charge all of our meals to our room (we stay on property). Is there a way that we could use saved money towards OOP meals or would we have to purchase a dining plan in advance?
I'm assuming the following could be saved/purchased using the account:
Room (pay upfront?)
Tickets
Dining plans

BUT souvenirs/ OOP dining that would normally be charged to the room wouldn't qualify, correct?
Thanks!

 

[Marionnette]

Thanks for the quick response!
We usually charge all of our meals to our room (we stay on property). Is there a way that we could use saved money towards OOP meals or would we have to purchase a dining plan in advance?
I'm assuming the following could be saved/purchased using the account:
Room (pay upfront?)
Tickets
Dining plans

BUT souvenirs/ OOP dining that would normally be charged to the room wouldn't qualify, correct?
Thanks!

That's correct.

You cannot use your DVA once you arrive on property. So, room charges, additional dining costs, & souvenirs cannot be paid using it. But you can take a stack of GCs with you and use them to pay down room charges or make purchases on property.

 

[lolobug]

Can you use it to pay for your room ahead of time?
So you can use your savings to purchase GCs to use at disney? If you purchase $1000 GCs with your account savings do you get the $20 GC?
How do offer people use the account?
Thanks!

 

[gatormom2tots]

Be careful with the GCs and this account...lots of threads going around about gcs not being properly credited.

We looked into it...but too many restrictions and hiccups. We just have money automatically transferred to seperate savings account with our bank.

 

[Marionnette]

Can you use it to pay for your room ahead of time?
So you can use your savings to purchase GCs to use at disney? If you purchase $1000 GCs with your account savings do you get the $20 GC?
How do offer people use the account?
Thanks!

You would have to call to pay for the room ahead of time if you do not have a package. There is no way to pay the balance for room-only reservations online right now. But yes, you can pay what you owe for the room ahead of time using the DVA.

And while you could use your savings to purchase Disney GCs through the DVA website, the question is: "Why would you?" You can buy Disney GCs in a lot of stores without dealing with the hassle of a DVA and having them mail a GC to you.

And no, purchasing $1000 in GCs is not a "qualifying purchase", so you would not get the $20 bonus GC.

You might want to read the FAQs for the DVA.

 

[turkey1031]

Here's how I was able to use my dva. I opened my account last year. You need to start off with a contribution on your credit or debit card. I put $10 in from my credit card and set it up so that it would not schedule reoccurring charges to the card. I then purchased discounted $50 Disney gift cards from target. About $3000 worth. I made one time contributions for every gift card. I was able to then use my account to pay for Halloween tickets and my vacation package. Once I had spent $2000,which was after the account had been open for 120 days, I requested my bonus for a $40 gift card ($20 for every $1000 spent). Once I had paid for everything I had a balance left in the account of a little over $900. I requested the balance to be put on a gift card. I actually just got the gift card yesterday. Ill use that gift card to pay for food and wine and souvenirs and other room charges. The reason I opened the account was so that I could basically put the balance of all my $50 gift cards in one place so that months later when I booked my trip I could just use the one acct# to book it. Other reasons were for the $20 per $1000 spent bonus and for the fact that I could combine all those gift cards into one basically. I really didn't want to be bringing 18 gift cards with me one the trip.

 

[SUSIEQ]

The reason I opened the account was so that I could basically put the balance of all my $50 gift cards in one place so that months later when I booked my trip I could just use the one acct# to book it. Other reasons were for the $20 per $1000 spent bonus and for the fact that I could combine all those gift cards into one basically. I really didn't want to be bringing 18 gift cards with me one the trip.

This is EXACTLY what I do with my DVA!

 

[Turk February]

Be careful with the GCs and this account...lots of threads going around about gcs not being properly credited.

We looked into it...but too many restrictions and hiccups. We just have money automatically transferred to seperate savings account with our bank.

This issue has been cleared up and there is no longer a glitch on the site.

 

[lolobug]

Thank you, everyone!

 

[once]

That's correct.

You cannot use your DVA once you arrive on property. So, room charges, additional dining costs, & souvenirs cannot be paid using it. But you can take a stack of GCs with you and use them to pay down room charges or make purchases on property.

I did not know that. Hope they will change that in the future

 

[Lilysmom]

Here's how I was able to use my dva. I opened my account last year. You need to start off with a contribution on your credit or debit card. I put $10 in from my credit card and set it up so that it would not schedule reoccurring charges to the card. I then purchased discounted $50 Disney gift cards from target. About $3000 worth. I made one time contributions for every gift card. I was able to then use my account to pay for Halloween tickets and my vacation package. Once I had spent $2000,which was after the account had been open for 120 days, I requested my bonus for a $40 gift card ($20 for every $1000 spent). Once I had paid for everything I had a balance left in the account of a little over $900. I requested the balance to be put on a gift card. I actually just got the gift card yesterday. Ill use that gift card to pay for food and wine and souvenirs and other room charges. The reason I opened the account was so that I could basically put the balance of all my $50 gift cards in one place so that months later when I booked my trip I could just use the one acct# to book it. Other reasons were for the $20 per $1000 spent bonus and for the fact that I could combine all those gift cards into one basically. I really didn't want to be bringing 18 gift cards with me one the trip.

How long did it take to get the physical gift card for the balance after requesting?

 

[WicketsMom]

I have booked a Disney cruise through my travel agent. Can I give her the DVA to pay the balance from? I am wanting to buy the gift cards and put them into a DVA. I thought it would be easier to give her one number to apply than 60 different gift card numbers!

 

[CM Dad]

I have booked a Disney cruise through my travel agent. Can I give her the DVA to pay the balance from? I am wanting to buy the gift cards and put them into a DVA. I thought it would be easier to give her one number to apply than 60 different gift card numbers!

You are not supposed to give your DVA account number to a third party. If you look at the FAQ on the DVA site it tells you what number you need to call to pay for your various Disney vacations when booked through a TA. The number of using your DVA to pay for a Disney cruise is 1-800-511-9333.

 

[WicketsMom]

You are not supposed to give your DVA account number to a third party. If you look at the FAQ on the DVA site it tells you what number you need to call to pay for your various Disney vacations when booked through a TA. The number of using your DVA to pay for a Disney cruise is 1-800-511-9333.[/QUOTE

OK, just wanted to make sure that I can keep the booking with my TA, and set up a DVA to put all the gift cards in (and get the bonus ones too). As long as I can call and do it that works too!

 

[gatormom2tots]

This issue has been cleared up and there is no longer a glitch on the site.

I was glad to hear this....but now it looks like people are having money withdrawn without consent and website has been down for a few days. There is an 8+ page thread on it now.

I really think its a Chase bank issue and not necessarily Disney but what a mess for all those involved.

 

[nobellybutton]

This issue has been cleared up and there is no longer a glitch on the site.

Actually the site went down again and it's been down for about 3days and there is no estimated time of when it will be up again.