Disney vacation savings account

[cici98lv]

I did not know that you were not able to use the savings account in the parks. I love that the monies that I am depositing is going towards our trip in 2015 and it was so easy for me to use when I set up our reservations. I just gave the disney booking rep my DVA number and he punched it in and the deposit came right out. I to have been purchasing gift card from target and with my target red card I get 5% off the gift cards so I only pay $47.50 instead of the full $50. Based on the information that I am now hearing though I will make sure that I only keep as much money in the account to pay off my trip and then get the excess back for me to pay off what I charge on my magic bands (which I LOVE by the way). Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[stasijane]

I am thinking about starting this for a 2016 vacation and I have a question. If I start this account and contribute to it with gift cards if I have extra in the account after I pay off the vacation will they send the remainder on one gift card or refund money to some of the random gift cards that I paid into the account with?

 

[AngiTN]

I am thinking about starting this for a 2016 vacation and I have a question. If I start this account and contribute to it with gift cards if I have extra in the account after I pay off the vacation will they send the remainder on one gift card or refund money to some of the random gift cards that I paid into the account with?

It sort of depends on what you request. If you ask for the extra left in the account after you pay off your vacation to be sent to you it comes on a single gift card. There is at this time a limit of $500 that you can get. So there is that to keep in mind.

If you want a refund they send it back to the random gift cards you used to load it.

 

[stasijane]

It sort of depends on what you request. If you ask for the extra left in the account after you pay off your vacation to be sent to you it comes on a single gift card. There is at this time a limit of $500 that you can get. So there is that to keep in mind.

If you want a refund they send it back to the random gift cards you used to load it.

Thanks

 

[cattywampus]

I use DVA solely as a way to consolidate $50 gift cards I purchase at Target with my Red Card, saving 5%. I have been fairly suspicious of its worth and only put cards in the account that I knew I could have refunded and use on future trips.

A couple of things to keep in mind. DVA is very heavily oriented to Disneyworld and to those that book "packages". I have my first (and likely only) trip to WDW planned for November. We are multiple time per year visitors and AP holders at DL.

I tried to use it at Disneyland with very limited success. I was able to purchase tickets/AP over the phone (though I had to educate CM to enter DVA number as GC, and I wouldn't be surprised if other CM's were not willing) and for hard ticketed dessert parties.

I have not been able to use it for hotel rooms or any purchases charged to the room at DL hotels (tried both Grand Cal and Disneyland Hotel on separate visits). Even though the paperwork says you can use it for room only charges at DL, there was an exclusion because I was getting an Annual Passholder rate (seemed completely silly, even to the CM's at the hotel). They did a lot of calling on my behalf and gave us two super front of the line passes to any ride, because of the delay, which was much appreciated. They told me that DVA the is a WD Travel Company program, which appears to be its own kingdom,and does not to cross paths with other areas (I booked my AP rate through them, but apparently it doesn't qualify as one of their transactions). Again, it is heavily weighted towards WDW Packages, even though there are a few ways you can use it differently.

It is unclear to me whether or not you have to wait until the 120 day mark to actually spend the funds, in order to get the bonus gift card, so I am waiting until the end of the month to try to pay off my room only reservation at WDW for Nov. I won 4 nights in a Disney sweepstakes but added an additional three nights at the GF, so have over $1k to pay off. My guess is that they are going to tell me that I can't use it because of the reservation type being asssociated with the sweepstakes win. If so, I am completely finished with DVA and will request a refund to my GC's and close the account. I purposely have not added to it, until I see if I can use it for my trip.

It is a shame that there are so many limits, as it is a great vehicle to combine GC's. Instead, their front desk and restaurant CMs are stuck entering multiple GC's. Sometimes Disney makes it so hard to give them money.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I have around $1200 in my account. Mostly on gift cards but around $200 off my my debit card. If I need to get that $200 back in my checking account, will that be a problem without closing the whole account up?

 

[cmjohannes]

I opened a DVA account about 6 months ago. A couple of months ago I had an emergency and needed to pull the money out of my account. I talked to a representative on a Sunday night, and the money was back in my checking account (my original form of payment was direct debit from checking acct.) within 3 days. So easy!

Also - I have my DVA set up so that it takes a preset amount of cash out of my checking account every Friday. This week I didn't want to have the cash taken out, so I went online and stopped the contributions. I can start them back up anytime I want to. The interesting past is that I stopped contributions Thursday night at 10:00 PM. Friday morning at 6:00 am (yes, only 8 hours later!) I received an email from Disney with a PIN code for next August (when I hope to visit Disney).

Clearly the folks at Disney saw that I stopped contributing and want to make sure I still intend to take my vacation there.

 

[RUSTYGATOR]

So far, Iv been able to fund the account with left over gift cards from my last trip and pay my deposit for upcoming reservations through a travel agent. I like the fact I can roll all the $50 cards from Target (5% discount) or Sams Club (4.32% + 2% CC) into the account.

I'm a bit unsure of the $500 gift card you can cash out for your trip. Wording almost makes it look like its a lifetime of the account limit and not a single trip. I know the account is new enough has anyone confirmed which it is?

My travel agent said to give her the number a couple days before my final payment and she should be able to apply the balance to my reservation.

 

[AngiTN]

. It is unclear to me whether or not you have to wait until the 120 day mark to actually spend the funds, in order to get the bonus gift card, so I am waiting until the end of the month to try to pay off my room only reservation at WDW for Nov. .

I can confirm you get the bonus even if you spend the money deposited before 120 days. I asked, they said yes and I did get the bonus based on the total I deposited and it was not in there 120 days

 

[AngiTN]

. The interesting past is that I stopped contributions Thursday night at 10:00 PM. Friday morning at 6:00 am (yes, only 8 hours later!) I received an email from Disney with a PIN code for next August (when I hope to visit Disney). Clearly the folks at Disney saw that I stopped contributing and want to make sure I still intend to take my vacation there.

Man, I did that exact thing (stopping the auto contribution) and still did not get a PIN code!

 

[AngiTN]

. I'm a bit unsure of the $500 gift card you can cash out for your trip. Wording almost makes it look like its a lifetime of the account limit and not a single trip. I know the account is new enough has anyone confirmed which it is? .

Like you, my understanding is the $500 is lifetime. For me that means it is good for 1 trip. I got just over $400 so I am not using it again

 

[clemsongirl1974]

help! I have 900$ in my Disney vacation Savings. I called to make a payment towards my trip and was told that I had to pay my travel agent directly. I misunderstood that and its my fault. So I asked for a full refund 7 days ago and received nothing yet. I paid that $900 with probably about 20 Disney GC. Its my understanding that they will credit it back to those gift cards? But heres my problem....... I didn't save the gift cards once I used them! Help- what can I do? Ideas?

 

[MrBean]

help! I have 900$ in my Disney vacation Savings. I called to make a payment towards my trip and was told that I had to pay my travel agent directly. I misunderstood that and its my fault. So I asked for a full refund 7 days ago and received nothing yet. I paid that $900 with probably about 20 Disney GC. Its my understanding that they will credit it back to those gift cards? But heres my problem....... I didn't save the gift cards once I used them! Help- what can I do? Ideas?

Your TA can use the funds in your Disney Savings Account towards your trip. I just paid for a cruise and even added shipboard credit through a TA using the DVA.

Good luck

 

[w84no1]

So far, so good with the DVA. This is the way I maximize the savings.

• Use Disney Premiere Visa to buy Target Gift cards at Kroger(4x fuel points and 2% back Visa)
• Order Disney Gift cards on target.com with the target gift cards (5% off red card)
• Enter Disney Gift cards into DVA ($20 per $1000)

For every $1000 I get around $100 savings in gas, $20 Disney GC from Visa, $20 Disney GC from DVA, and $50 off from Target. Not too bad

Yes, you can get 5% off at Target.com using gift cards as long as your Red Card is set as your default form of payment.

 

[ScubaMama]

MrBean- Who's your TA?? I want him/her!

 

[cattywampus]

I can confirm you get the bonus even if you spend the money deposited before 120 days. I asked, they said yes and I did get the bonus based on the total I deposited and it was not in there 120 days

Thank you!!

 

[dreamseeker9]

I'm glad the DVA is working well for people now, maybe Disney has worked out the bugs and has educated CMs on it.

I had a rotten time with it earlier this year, as did others. Here's the thread for anyone interested.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3235919

I won't ever use it again.

 

[karen230]

Hi all,
I'm not sure which forum to put this on but i was wondering if anyone has ever used the Disney vacation savings account? If so, did it work smoothly? Just wondering....I have a regular savings account set up but easy to transfer money from accounts and to use it. I researched the website and it looks like you can get your money out at anytime.

Thanks for any thoughts

Joanne

I didn't know Disney had a vacation savings account . At my bank here at home, they offer passbook savings accounts so I just opened one of those and marked "Next Disney Trip" in the upper corner inside the cover and have been putting money in there so when it is time to book flights and such, I have the money right there. Or you can just book your package and make payments, I think it has to be paid off 45 days before you arrive but if you are like me and planning for next year, that is plenty of time. Right now I have an RO reservation since the discounts haven't come out yet. Once those come out I will change it to a package and go from there but for now, I just keep putting money in my little bank account and it will be there when I need it .

 

[clemsongirl1974]

I checked and my TA had no clue about this DSA- she said I couldn't pay that way. So I am still waiting on a response from CSR about the request for a full refund. Hoping for good luck- $900 is a lot!!!

 

[AngiTN]

I checked and my TA had no clue about this DSA- she said I couldn't pay that way. So I am still waiting on a response from CSR about the request for a full refund. Hoping for good luck- $900 is a lot!!!

I'm pretty sure she can. You just need to educate her on it. The number you give her should be treated just like a Disney Gift Card number. When you pay for things with the DSA online that's how you enter it, in the spot that you would a Disney Gift Card. Get the number and ask her to try and run it with the number as if it's a Gift Card.