DVA Contribution w/ Gift Cards

[FarmBoy78]

My wife and I received a number of Disney Gift Cards for our Honeymoon. After learning about DVA and the $20 bonus per $1,000 spent (up to $500), it makes sense that we use that. I've read the terms and see that Gift Cards can be used for the DVA. The problem is, I don't see how to do it. Any help would be appreciated.

As you can see from the attached, there is no gift card option. Any help?

 

[havaneselover]

You need to set up a payment in the future with a credit card to open the account. Then make a one time contribution with gift cards. Then cancel the future credit card draft.

 

[FarmBoy78]

Perfect. Thanks for clarifying. I figured it was something along those lines.

 

[FarmBoy78]

Another quick question now that my DVA account is active. I know the account has to be created and opened 120 days prior to use to account towards the $20 bonus gift card. But once created, the money doesn't necessarily have to be in there, correct?

Example:

*As of 7/1/16, I have $1000 in the account.
*On 1/1/17 (>120 days), I use the $1000 for a qualified vacation.
*I receive $20 bonus gift card.

*On 2/1/17 I put in $1000.
*On 2/14/17 I use the $1000 for a qualified vacation.

The 2/14/17 "purchase" would still generate a $20 bonus, correct? Even though the funds weren't in for 120 days, the account is more than 120 days old.

Am I understanding that correct?

Thanks.

 

[havaneselover]

Another quick question now that my DVA account is active. I know the account has to be created and opened 120 days prior to use to account towards the $20 bonus gift card. But once created, the money doesn't necessarily have to be in there, correct?

Example:

*As of 7/1/16, I have $1000 in the account.
*On 1/1/17 (>120 days), I use the $1000 for a qualified vacation.
*I receive $20 bonus gift card.

*On 2/1/17 I put in $1000.
*On 2/14/17 I use the $1000 for a qualified vacation.

The 2/14/17 "purchase" would still generate a $20 bonus, correct? Even though the funds weren't in for 120 days, the account is more than 120 days old.

Am I understanding that correct?

Thanks.

Yes.

 

[Eighty8Keys]

After hearing from a number of people who have had issues with the DVA, I've started doing the following to minimize potential problems:

1. Combine gift cards together on Disneygiftcard .com before adding to my DVA in case I need to ask for a refund. They potentially will refund back to the original payment method so I'd rather have a few larger denomination gift cards to keep track of than dozens of $25 and $50 cards.

2. I wait to make a deposit to my account until I'm ready to use the funds to keep from leaving the funds in there any longer than necessary. I made a large deposit on Monday and immediately emailed my travel agent to make a payment towards our room only reservation. Of course we already had the account open for the 120 days.

I haven't had any issues personally, but want to keep the level of risk as low as possible.

 

[havaneselover]

After hearing from a number of people who have had issues with the DVA, I've started doing the following to minimize potential problems:

1. Combine gift cards together on Disneygiftcard .com before adding to my DVA in case I need to ask for a refund. They potentially will refund back to the original payment method so I'd rather have a few larger denomination gift cards to keep track of than dozens of $25 and $50 cards.

2. I wait to make a deposit to my account until I'm ready to use the funds to keep from leaving the funds in there any longer than necessary. I made a large deposit on Monday and immediately emailed my travel agent to make a payment towards our room only reservation. Of course we already had the account open for the 120 days.

I haven't had any issues personally, but want to keep the level of risk as low as possible.

I have been told you are not supposed to give your TA your DVA number. I call mine in directly to Disney Cruise (only situation where you can make a payment to DCL not through your TA if you are using one).

 

[Eighty8Keys]

I have been told you are not supposed to give your TA your DVA number. I call mine in directly to Disney Cruise (only situation where you can make a payment to DCL not through your TA if you are using one).

Yikes I didn't realize that. I asked her how we handle using our DVA to pay and she offered to make the payments for us. I've used the same agent for eight years now and I trust her completely. If it was someone new, I would have been hesitant to give them the number. I figured since I've given her my credit card numbers over the years, this wasn't much different. But in light of what you told me, I definitely won't recommend this to anyone else in the future.