DVA or regular savings account?

[Kwaschitz]

I have a stash of money set aside for a future Disney trip to take all of my nieces and nephews. They've all contributed small amounts to it. Since there is no planned date for this trip, would we be wiser to open a Disney Vacation Account with this money or to put it into a different type of account?

 

[verleniahall]

I could go either way - with the DVA - you get the free gift card every so much money you put in it. But with a savings acct, anyone in yoru family could go in and make a deposit. It wouldn't just have to be one person.

 

[Marionnette]

I have a stash of money set aside for a future Disney trip to take all of my nieces and nephews. They've all contributed small amounts to it. Since there is no planned date for this trip, would we be wiser to open a Disney Vacation Account with this money or to put it into a different type of account?

I could go either way - with the DVA - you get the free gift card every so much money you put in it. But with a savings acct, anyone in yoru family could go in and make a deposit. It wouldn't just have to be one person.

The DVA will issue a $20 Disney GC for every $1000 SPENT (not added to the account). That offer is only guaranteed to last until December 2017, so you could find yourself adding monies to the account without netting anything. It amounts up to 2% back on your spending. You might be able to find a better return on your money over multiple years of saving.

You can allow more than 1 person to have access to your DVA so that they can add funds to it. Or they can purchase Disney GCs and then have you add those GCs to the account. Or they can open their own DVA, fund it on their own and then use the money in their own account to make a payment on your trip.

 

[eliza61]

Let me say I don't know a bunch about the DVA so I'm making a comparison on what I've read.
I don't see any real advantage to opening a dva except maybe getting 80 dollars worth of gc's if I spent 4K on a trip.

I generally abhor putting my money anywhere where it is not working for me. whether it's 20 dollars or 20,000 bucks, my money has to work as hard as I do.

I like flexibility. I have had times where we've planned Disney vacations only to end up some where else.

Without a firm date, I would get a savings account. My credit union has 12 month cds at 1.3% interest, then in a year if they still offer the gc perk you could simply open up an account then.

But the dva seems nice because I think mentally I would like having this little fund specifically designated for Disney. LOL sort of a mental guarantee that I'll be back.

 

[Kwaschitz]

I had thought initially that you had to declare a length of time for the DVA to be open? I just want the money out of my hands and growing a bit if I can - so it's more than just me tossing the money into a can.

 

[Kwaschitz]

Let me say I don't know a bunch about the DVA so I'm making a comparison on what I've read.
I don't see any real advantage to opening a dva except maybe getting 80 dollars worth of gc's if I spent 4K on a trip.

I generally abhor putting my money anywhere where it is not working for me. whether it's 20 dollars or 20,000 bucks, my money has to work as hard as I do.

I like flexibility. I have had times where we've planned Disney vacations only to end up some where else.

Without a firm date, I would get a savings account. My credit union has 12 month cds at 1.3% interest, then in a year if they still offer the gc perk you could simply open up an account then.

But the dva seems nice because I think mentally I would like having this little fund specifically designated for Disney. LOL sort of a mental guarantee that I'll be back.

I like the way you think. This is exactly my dilemma on it, though I must admit the concept of a 12 month cd never occurred to me. I'm going to have to think about that

 

[supersnoop]

I had thought initially that you had to declare a length of time for the DVA to be open? I just want the money out of my hands and growing a bit if I can - so it's more than just me tossing the money into a can.

Money doesn't grow in a Disney Savings Account. All you get is the bonus $20 gift card per $1,000 spent. There is no benefit to leaving money in the account for any amount of time, definitely no longer than 120 days.

 

[Marionnette]

I had thought initially that you had to declare a length of time for the DVA to be open? I just want the money out of my hands and growing a bit if I can - so it's more than just me tossing the money into a can.

You don't have to declare an ending date for your DVA. Some people use them to fund vacations from year to year. However, you do not earn any interest on your savings. You only get $20 in Disney GCs for every $1000 spend from the account, so if you were to spend $1800, you would still only get one $20 GC. You would do better with a savings account over a 2-year period, not to mention that the money would remain flexible (you could use it to buy tickets to Universal or pay for an offsite condo) and totally under your control. With a DVA, it could take a while to get a refund of the money that you put in if you should need it for something other than Disney.

 

[larissawbb]

The only real advantage is to consolidate the 100 gift cards people buy for 5% off at Target. It can be a useful tool in that regard.

 

[MimiOfTwo]

I like the DVA. I buy gift cards with my Disney Visa at Kroger and get 2x points on the purchase and 2x the fuel points (when they run the 4x fuel points I really get a deal). I'll get the $20 gift cards from Disney. The way I use it is better than anything I've found.

 

[Kwaschitz]

So you can add in gift cards? We buy packs of them at Sam's Club all the time and stockpile them separate from that fund (for our personal family travel). Didn't realize that they were able to be consolidated in a DVA. Wonder if that method would be easier to pay for a dining plan with them...

 

[ilovebassets]

So you can add in gift cards? We buy packs of them at Sam's Club all the time and stockpile them separate from that fund (for our personal family travel). Didn't realize that they were able to be consolidated in a DVA. Wonder if that method would be easier to pay for a dining plan with them...

Yes, we do this already.