Disney Vacation Account

[MrInfinity]

It seems like a poor investment to lock up your money (without easily getting it back out) for very little in return.
Besides the savings tracking, tt seems like they only perk is you get a $20 Disney Gift Card for every $1000 you spend on a Disney Vacation. That is only a 2% return .. easily better than most savings account nowadays, but seems like better options out there.

2% for having it open for 120 days. If you put your money in all at the beginning, that is 2% in 4 months, or 6% per year. Not only is this higher than any bank account, it's higher than most dividend-paying stocks, and will be guaranteed to not lose value. Keep your money there for only 30 days and it's 24% per year. Considering just how little you actually have to do, and given there are significant benefits, it's not a bad deal. I think it makes absolutely zero sense *not* to put it into here and get the extra 2%.

With a $10k trip, that's $200 free just for utilizing this, and it's guaranteed.

And you don't even have to have your money there for 120 days, you just have to have opened the account 120 days before you withdraw. So this could be 2% return for having your money there a week!

Then there are other benefits like consolidating gift cards in a secure place. Dealing with refunds to gift cards is a nightmare but refunds to a DVA are a snap, it's like a savings account.

If you know the money you'll put into here is going to go toward a Disney vacation, it's definitely worth doing.

Do this instead.
1) Get a Target Red Card (debit card that links to your bank account).
2) Set aside (in a savings account at your bank) money every month for your vacation yourself (perhaps an automatic transfer). Earn x% interest (pretty awful amount, but still something)
3) A few weeks before the vacation (or whenver you owe the money on it) buy Disney Gift Cards at Target with your Red Card.
4) This will give you 5% in savings (you can buy $1000 in gift cards for $950).

Sure. But do all that, and then use DVA, and your savings goes from 5% to 7% with no risk and no tie-up of funds. You would go thru all the hassle of buying gift cards, and then not consolidate them into a Disney account to pay from, which would increase your return by 40% for very little extra effort?

 

[momto4obkids]

One caution if you use the Disney gift cards - if you decide to get a refund, Disney will almost certainly want to put the money back on those cards. Save the cards.

As I think about it even more, consider that you may not be able to get a refund after a certain period of time for a gift card purchased. Stores have rules about returns, even with receipts in hand. If you need that money for something else, you might be out of luck.

If you don't keep all of the gift cards DVA will put the refund on a brand new gift card and send it to you.

 

[TippeeCanoe]

2% for having it open for 120 days. If you put your money in all at the beginning, that is 2% in 4 months, or 6% per year. Not only is this higher than any bank account, it's higher than most dividend-paying stocks, and will be guaranteed to not lose value. Keep your money there for only 30 days and it's 24% per year. Considering just how little you actually have to do, and given there are significant benefits, it's not a bad deal. I think it makes absolutely zero sense *not* to put it into here and get the extra 2%.

With a $10k trip, that's $200 free just for utilizing this, and it's guaranteed.

And you don't even have to have your money there for 120 days, you just have to have opened the account 120 days before you withdraw. So this could be 2% return for having your money there a week!

Then there are other benefits like consolidating gift cards in a secure place. Dealing with refunds to gift cards is a nightmare but refunds to a DVA are a snap, it's like a savings account.

If you know the money you'll put into here is going to go toward a Disney vacation, it's definitely worth doing.



Sure. But do all that, and then use DVA, and your savings goes from 5% to 7% with no risk and no tie-up of funds. You would go thru all the hassle of buying gift cards, and then not consolidate them into a Disney account to pay from, which would increase your return by 40% for very little extra effort?

I don't ever in my life plan on spending $10,000 on one Disney trip and prefer to have control over my own money. Forty dollars isn't worth the hassle to me (and from what I've read here, it is nothing but a hassle).

 

[BuckeyeBama]

If you don't keep all of the gift cards DVA will put the refund on a brand new gift card and send it to you.

But will they give you your money back? If you want a refund, you don't want a Disney Gift Card.

 

[TippeeCanoe]

If you don't keep all of the gift cards DVA will put the refund on a brand new gift card and send it to you.

That's the point some people are trying to make. I don't want a gift card back, I want the way I paid, whether that be credit card, checking, etc.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

That's the point some people are trying to make. I don't want a gift card back, I want the way I paid, whether that be credit card, checking, etc.

And it is likely that you will want it back quickly - something not likely to happen if you use gift cards to fund the account. I have no idea how long it would take if you funded your account in different ways - from different accounts.

Disney IT is a hot mess, and I just wouldn't trust them with my money.

 

[ilovebassets]

That's the point some people are trying to make. I don't want a gift card back, I want the way I paid, whether that be credit card, checking, etc.

If you paid by credit card or checking account debit, tahtcismhiwmyou will be repaid. You only get a gift card back as a refund if you paid by gift card originally.

I think DVA is great. I get 7% back on all my Disney vacation spending by buying gift cards with my credit card then depositing the gift cards in my DVA account. I get an easy eat to consolidate my gift cards. I've been very happy with the system.

 

[momto4obkids]

That's the point some people are trying to make. I don't want a gift card back, I want the way I paid, whether that be credit card, checking, etc.

I was addressing the concern of having to make sure you keep all of the gift cards you have deposited into the DVA. If some are misplaced there's no worry. They will issue you a new gift card.

 

[dkrauss]

I don't ever in my life plan on spending $10,000 on one Disney trip and prefer to have control over my own money. Forty dollars isn't worth the hassle to me (and from what I've read here, it is nothing but a hassle).

I agree that a $10,000 Disney vacation is a lot of money...............a lot of money. Try getting married at Disney..............the cheapest is 15K Also agree that the $20 gift card deal is weak I use the DVA to control my saving...........as I've said previously there are other ways to do that..........I prefer this way. As for hassle.........I guess that's in the eye of the beholder. I've found it no real hassle at all..............very easy setup................just a couple of steps and then remember to update my checkbook every 2 weeks ...........to me this is my control. Ah..........to each his/her own.

Doug

 

[tlmadden73]

Sure. But do all that, and then use DVA, and your savings goes from 5% to 7% with no risk and no tie-up of funds. You would go thru all the hassle of buying gift cards, and then not consolidate them into a Disney account to pay from, which would increase your return by 40% for very little extra effort?

Oooh .. thanks! I didn't know you can use Disney Gift cards to put money in the vacation club account. I change my mind! Especially (now that I read) you can pull out your money at any time. I'll have to look into it more.

Sounds like a plan - $950 buys you $1020 for your Disney Vacation? Not bad at all when you look at it from a percentage standpoint. Heck . .that is probably (depending on party size) a free meal or a free extra park ticket for one person.
Hard to make that amount of return on the stock Market! The only difference is that return is only usable for use with one particular company .. BUT . .if you plan on doing it anyway . why not save 7%. Time to run to Target LOL.

Definitely seems worth it for a big trip, but only a big trip and only if you are 100% sure you are going to be going. Definitely not for everyone. My last trip was just four days at Pop Century and two park days (for two people), so expenses did not crack the $1000 mark. We just did the Target gift card thing to pay for the hotels and meals.

 

[bumbershoot]

It is a good tool for those who want to combine multiple gift cards as well.

You can now do that through the disney gift card website.

As I think about it even more, consider that you may not be able to get a refund after a certain period of time for a gift card purchased. Stores have rules about returns, even with receipts in hand. If you need that money for something else, you might be out of luck.

It's your money. You won't be out of luck. It's not a purchase, it's an account.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

It's your money. You won't be out of luck. It's not a purchase, it's an account.

Under the scenario that I described, you would be out of luck - period. No way that Disney would get your money back to you quickly in that scenario.

 

[Jenis]

I recently opened a DVA, currently $10 is the minimum one time deposit needed to open the account.

 

[MrInfinity]

Oooh .. thanks! I didn't know you can use Disney Gift cards to put money in the vacation club account. I change my mind! Especially (now that I read) you can pull out your money at any time. I'll have to look into it more.

Well, I've never attempted to pull money out. If you did, you'd get it back on the GCs you put in, which would suck. It's not like you can return those for cash, so the money is really sunk when you buy Gift Cards from Target and let them go beyond the return window. So money I put in I am fully expecting to put toward a Disney Vacation (that is their goal after all, to get people to lock in a vacation and not cancel at 45 days). They give you 2% back to lock you in. I do pull from it early in the sense that I'll pay for my prepaid meals out of it. Like the Spirit of Aloha show, we paid out of our DVA.

Definitely seems worth it for a big trip, but only a big trip and only if you are 100% sure you are going to be going. Definitely not for everyone. My last trip was just four days at Pop Century and two park days (for two people), so expenses did not crack the $1000 mark. We just did the Target gift card thing to pay for the hotels and meals.

Yeah it's definitely not for everyone, but it's worth it for anyone trying to play the payment-methods game to shave a little more on top of the best deal they already find on GCs.

 

[supersnoop]

I recently opened a DVA, currently $10 is the minimum one time deposit needed to open the account.

You can schedule the $10 deposit for a future date, and then load a gift card and cancel the deposit.

 

[IndianaRRT]

We've had a DVA for almost a year and use it to save for our DD's high school graduation trip in May or June of 2017. It has pros and cons. Like any way to save, it's entirely up to you if/how you use it. We personally like the ability to get the $20 gift cards for every $1000 we spend. We wouldn't get that from a standard savings acct at our bank, and it's certainly more than we would make just hiding the money in the proverbial mattress. And like everything else Disney, it's just one of many choices you get to make based on your preferences. It's a savings tool--that's all. There are no contracts or permanent issues. It has had some issues, but everything does at one time or another. We use a bi-weekly scheduled deposit as well as load gift cards she gets as gifts or we earn with proceeds from Swagbucks, Ebates, and Ibotta and plan to schedule our vacation 6-7 months out. That will give us plenty of time to request our bonus gift cards. If you don't like the terms of the DVA, that's okay. There are many other ways to save! Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Micca]

We have one, we use it to accumulate various reward points and gift cards. Not a biggie, but helps to have a bunch of that in one place.

 

[Jenis]

You can schedule the $10 deposit for a future date, and then load a gift card and cancel the deposit.

Yes, but at that point it would not be considered a "one-time" payment. You cannot schedule a one-time payment for a specific date you can only schedule automatic (weekly/every 2 weeks/monthly) payments.

 

[bumbershoot]

Under the scenario that I described, you would be out of luck - period. No way that Disney would get your money back to you quickly in that scenario.

Oh, you're thinking you can get a refund for a gift card? Yeah, I don't think that is EVER a possibility, which is why it didn't even cross my mind that that's what you were laying out as a scenario.

Once you buy a GC, as far as I know, it's a GC forever and ever. No returning that.

 

[love2flyatl]

I used a DVA for my trip this past September and I'm using it again for my trip this September. I've never had one problem with it. I bought my gift cards discounted at Sam's Club and just entered them into the account. When I make payments on my trip, its just treated like one giant gift card (you enter the DVA account number under the gift card payment option). And I got $40 in gift cards from it. My money was always accessible and never tampered with at all.

May I ask you to tell more about this gift card deal at SAMs please. Ty.