Gift cards as spending money?

[Supermavs]

Our last family trip was 9-10 years ago. Back then we gave each kid a Disney gift card to use as their spending money. They enjoyed getting their own treats at the stands and buying their own souvenirs.
In light of mobile ordering etc, are gift cards not an easy way to have money for each child or is it still a valid option?

Any other suggestion? We have varying amounts we will give them based on their ages.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

The stands don’t do mobile ordering so gift cards are easy for snacks and such. Also good for souvenirs.

If you want to mobile order something, you can use a gift card in the app.

 

[katyringo]

We still do the gift card for souvenirs, but not for snacks since it always got tricky when we ordered multiple things together.

 

[Supermavs]

The stands don’t do mobile ordering so gift cards are easy for snacks and such. Also good for souvenirs.

If you want to mobile order something, you can use a gift card in the app.

Thanks, good info. Do you know if the card is loaded on the app, can it also be used as the card or does it all transfer to app?

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

are gift cards not an easy way to have money for each child or is it still a valid option?

Yes and yes. My DW and I specifically purchase a gift card for our kids to use. Our kids are teenagers and like to wander off and do their own thing in the parks for an hour or two. They don't like to carry cash and/or credit cards when in the parks so they actually like to carry the gift cards. Plus, you can register your gift cards online at the gift card webpage and then track and monitor the cards and transfer balances (if I recall correctly). I believe that there is a maximum of 6 cards per person that can be registered.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thanks, good info. Do you know if the card is loaded on the app, can it also be used as the card or does it all transfer to app?

You can’t a actually load it to the app unfortunately. You have to input the numbers for each transaction.

 

[DLgal]

As long as your kids are responsible, there is no reason why you can't still give them gift cards. I'd be too paranoid they'd lose it, honestly.

If your kids are older and have cell phones, give them a prepaid debit card (or open them a youth bank account with debit card) and load it into a mobile pay option like Apple Pay or Google Pay. They can use their phones to pay for things at the parks. All the places that take gift cards offer tap to pay as well. I recently did this for my teens through our bank and now they put all their money into their accounts and use their debit cards via mobile pay when we are out. No more carrying cash or cards. It's easy for me to transfer money from my bank account to theirs for spending money.