Has anyone ever tried ....

[crazy4stitch]

Has anyone ever tried saving for their Disney vacation by buying Disney gift cards?

 

[OKW Lover]

Not me. But I recall one of our friends commenting that they buy Disney Gift cards at Sams (I think) in $100 denominations and get an extra $10 card for free. I think that was the way it worked.

 

[disneysteve]

We don't exactly save for Disney that way but our synagogue has a gift card fund raising program. Cards sell at face value but the synagogue gets a percentage of each sale. For Disney, it is 2%, so prior to our trip, I buy a few hundred dollars worth of Disney cards. It is money I'm going to spend anyway and this way the synagogue benefits.

If anybody wants to help out, I'd be happy to send cards to you.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I've never done it with gift cards, but I used to save buying Disney dollars. Whenever I went to the Disney Store I'd buy some Disney dollars and put them aside. We also loved giving Disney dollars to the kids for birthdays and holidays. A gift card just isn't the same...I miss Disney dollars.

 

[greengeen]

Disney gift cards and Disney dollars don't earn interest... I use a money market account. Rates have been pathetic since the recession, but some interest is better than none!

 

[CarrieR]

I have, and it's worked out very well for me. Our local grocery stores have "fuelpoints"/"fuelperks" programs whereby you get .xx off a gallon of gas per $xx gift card purchased -- usually .20 per $50. While it's not interest, since it's a short-term "investment" it works out well -- with a near-immediate "return" in the form of lower gas prices.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I have done it for Food & Wine, but not for the trip itself, just for the food. It added up as I go to the mall often. I'd put $10-$20 on the same card each time.

 

[keholman15]

Never has try it before. can it saving much? I think i must try it next time.

 

[LeahZ]

Not me. But I recall one of our friends commenting that they buy Disney Gift cards at Sams (I think) in $100 denominations and get an extra $10 card for free. I think that was the way it worked.

We bought these from Sam's last year, since we knew we were going to spend the money to pay for our trip anyway. The only catch it that the $10 freebie card can't be used at the them parks, it is only good for The Disney Store. It's still a free $10, but we had been hoping to use it at the parks!

 

[lodgelady]

I've never done it with gift cards, but I used to save buying Disney dollars. Whenever I went to the Disney Store I'd buy some Disney dollars and put them aside. We also loved giving Disney dollars to the kids for birthdays and holidays. A gift card just isn't the same...I miss Disney dollars.

I miss them too. My kids loved getting these for their birthdays. Wish I had saved some of them.

 

[lttlmc3]

At the trip I was on earlier this month, I used gift cards that I had saved up to buy my tickets. They didn't bat an eye when I gave them a whole bunch of them.

 

[Lumiere Lover]

The $100 gift cards at Sam's come with a $10 Disney Store gift card. The $10 cannot be used at WDW (but it can be used at the Earport). I currently have $1100 of these cards. I plan on ordering our photo albums online during free shipping next year. That way I don't have to lug the photo albums back from Florida. We aren't saving for our trip this way, we just took some of the trip funds for these gift cards. I am hoping to get about $500 more of these cards. It is a 10% return on my money. There are always things at disneystore.com that I want or need to purchase.

 

[crazy4stitch]

At the trip I was on earlier this month, I used gift cards that I had saved up to buy my tickets. They didn't bat an eye when I gave them a whole bunch of them.

That's what I was thinking, you can use them park tickets, you can use them for the dining plan also can't you? And I know I won't earn interest on them but there is also less chance of me dipping into them to spend them if they are in Disney cards.

 

[kaligal]

I get gas points for them at the grocery store.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Personally, I think saving up hundreds of dollars on Disney gift cards is a bad idea. First, if something happened and you couldn't go, all that money is tied up in Disney and can't be used for anything else. Second, I don't have that much faith in gift cards. What if the card doesn't read right? What if the amount you should have never got on to the card in the first place? (That happened to my mom) What if you lost the cards?

If you can't save up in your own household account knowing you will use a certain amount for Disney, then I'd open a special account just for Disney and put the money in there. At least it would be there if an emergency happened. Otherwise, don't think about that account and act like it isn't there. I'm always in the minority when these discussions take place and I know a lot of people love to save up on gift cards, but I just had to add my words of caution.

 

[disneysteve]

Personally, I think saving up hundreds of dollars on Disney gift cards is a bad idea.

I think you make some valid points that should serve as caution, though ultimately, carrying gift cards is no worse than carrying cash.

If there is some chance that you'd need to cancel your trip, then I agree that you wouldn't want to be stuck with a bunch of gift cards, though you could always sell them and get back virtually all of your money. Personally, we order our cards a couple of weeks before our trip and if something were to happen, we'd just save them until the next trip since we go every year. And as I said, we don't do it as a savings method. We do it to help fundraise for our temple.

 

[WorldWacky]

The $100 gift cards at Sam's come with a $10 Disney Store gift card. The $10 cannot be used at WDW (but it can be used at the Earport). I currently have $1100 of these cards. I plan on ordering our photo albums online during free shipping next year. That way I don't have to lug the photo albums back from Florida. We aren't saving for our trip this way, we just took some of the trip funds for these gift cards. I am hoping to get about $500 more of these cards. It is a 10% return on my money. There are always things at disneystore.com that I want or need to purchase.

I just went to my local Sam's to do this exact thing, but they weren't selling them anymore. I wonder if they'll be back around the holidays. Is anyone else still able to get the gift cards at Sam's?

 

[WorldWacky]

I've never done it with gift cards, but I used to save buying Disney dollars. Whenever I went to the Disney Store I'd buy some Disney dollars and put them aside. We also loved giving Disney dollars to the kids for birthdays and holidays. A gift card just isn't the same...I miss Disney dollars.

I forgot to mention in my last post... my mom just got back from the world last week and had Disney dollars for the grandkids. I know she was asked by a cast member in one of the shops if she wanted to get some. I'll have to ask her what store.

 

[joncorr3]

I have done this each of my last four trips including the one on 2 weeks. We have a local chain GIANT EAGLE that has gift cards, and each $50 in GCs you buy you get 10 cents off a gallon of gas. Sometimes they double to 20 cents. Driving an F-150 with a 30 gallon tanks this really saves, I have gotten average 2-3 free tanks of gas this way for each trip $200-300 each time.
If you cancel they need to put the money back on the cards so don't discard them until you go, or they will put the money into escrow until your next trip if you reschedule.
When I book I always do it over the phone, something new is they can only take 2 GCs a day by phone, so just call in the next day and pay more.
I have never had a problem with this, even when I had 20 $100 cards I had to use(Giant Eagle was out of the $500s).

 

[Cherinva]

I purchase gift cards for spending money, but not for the trip itself. I like using the gift cards...but I agree that I wouldn't want to tie up a huge amount on them.