Hotel Payment / Disney Gift Card Question

[FarmBoy78]

I'm sure many of you take advantage of the Target RedCard savings. The few times I've been lucky enough to travel to Disney World, I used them to pay off my hotel. I tried to do that this time, but my Disney Travel Agent said they could only process those for payment physically at the hotel (in other words, I couldn't pay off the hotel in advance). I was just trying to save some time and effort by having my agent pay down the hotel over the phone, but alas, no luck. She did say that the Cast Member said we could still pay via Disney Gift Cards at the hotel, just not in advance over the phone.

So, I just wanted to double check and make sure someone has done this recently before I go out and finish purchasing some via the RedCard. Has anyone paid for their hotel lately (we're staying at the Grand Californian) via any Gift Cards? Is that still OK?

Also, are there any park or hotel restaurants that DO NOT take the gift cards? Or do all, even places like Napa Rose, take Disney Gift Cards?

Thanks so much for all the help from everyone here.

FB78

 

[gottalovepluto]

A few years ago we used gift cards for our GCH stay. We had to pay at the hotel. Admittedly it was an unnerving trip traveling there with all those gift cards!

 

[DharmaLou]

I know most of the stores and restaurants in downtown Disney don't take Disney gift cards. From everything I understand (and hope) yes you can pay for your hotel with gift cards, as that is what we are planning to do. I'll be going all "Gone Girl" with my $3K+ of gift cards strapped to my body lol

 

[Lisa71]

All the places inside the hotels we had no problem but downtown disney only the Disney owned stores took them.

 

[Nonsuch]

...are there any park or hotel restaurants that DO NOT take the gift cards? Or do all, even places like Napa Rose, take Disney Gift Cards?.

Mandara Spa does not accept gift cards, but does allow charging to your hotel room (which can then be paid with gift cards)

 

[gottalovepluto]

Forgot to mention: if it's OWNED by Disney it takes the gift cards. Practically everything in the parks (there was 1 ice cream vendor we met that was cash only) will take them &/or your room key. We charged to our room and at the end of the day paid it off at the hotel with gift cards so we didn't have to carry them around the parks. I think the only thing they own in Downtown Disney is the Disney Store & the hotel spa is operated by an outside company. Have a great time!

 

[DizMe]

I am not endorsing this, as I've not done it myself, but you can get a Disney Vacation Account and put all of your gift cards in it, which then consolidates it into one payment so no need to travel with a bunch of cards. I read about that on the Budget Board.

 

[nicolispicoli]

I paid off my entire stay at GCH back in February using 8 gift cards. It's true they won't let you pay in advance. I unfortunately had a horrible experience checking in, mostly because of the employee checking me in. She is the only rude employee I have ever come into contact with at DLR. I made it clear I was using gift cards from the beginning and that I was sorry for the inconvenience, though I shouldn't have, they accept them as payment. She immediately was annoyed and asked in the rudest tone, "Well how many cards do you have there?". It took an hour and then my credit card was charged in error. It took me 4 hours and two room switches (she also gave me the wrong room) before we got settled in. The manager on duty fixed it all and sent us a bunch of fast passes and offered a better room we opted not to take. In the end it worked out fine and I don't think it was a common problem, but it was definitely frustrating. It took me a long time to save those up to even afford paying for our first GCH stay. I promised myself I'd stick to the DLH from there on out.

That said, I don't think you'll have any problems as most employees there are helpful and experienced in using gift cards as payment. I'd use them again to pay as long as I didn't see her waiting to check me in.

 

[TheChapman6]

I haven't used them to pay for the hotel, but I used them for all our meal and at world of Disney, Marceline's, etc. The only place in California Adventure that didn't take them was Ghiradelli when we got ice cream. We just paid cash. I bought mickey ears, churros, soda and every meal including garden grill, Fiddler Fifer, riverbelle, and The mint Julup bar Lots of times Had to try the pumpkin ones!!!

 

[gmi3804]

Anything IN a park that takes credit cards will accept GCs.

I'm not sure what the purpose of the Rude CM at GCH Story was (the plural of anecdote is not data), but you can absolutely pay off a hotel bill in person with multiple GCs.

 

[DarthMole]

The one issue with using Disney gift cards purchased at Target is they only come in $50 max. We did this on our last trip and it took a very long time to process. Unless they have sped up the process, the time it takes the front desk to run one card is pretty long. If I recall correctly checking in took me around 40 minutes or so.

 

[anmickey]

Weird so you can pay your WDW trip in advance in gift cards but not DLR? I did do this for out wdw trip in February with no problem but have not attempted to do this for our dl trip yet. I do always use the gift cards to pay for meals and souvenirs with no issue. Just haven't tried to pay for the hotel with them in past trips.

 

[nicolispicoli]

Anything IN a park that takes credit cards will accept GCs.

I'm not sure what the purpose of the Rude CM at GCH Story was (the plural of anecdote is not data), but you can absolutely pay off a hotel bill in person with multiple GCs.

The purpose was just to say that yes it can be done, but that was my personal experience with paying off my hotel bill at GCH.

Man, sorry to annoy you with a personal experience and not just provide a simple yes.

 

[DharmaLou]

Ugh. We still owe $2000 on our DLH stay and all I have is $50 gift cards. Sorry if you're in line behind me.

I tried to use the multiple gift cards to buy just one gift card, but you can't do that. I'd much rather only have to carry one.

 

[KalamityJane]

Use the Disney vacation account to consolidate the cards.

 

[DizMe]

Use the Disney vacation account to consolidate the cards.

One perk to a DVA is that they give you a $20 Disney gc for every $1000 you spend out of your account or something like that. It's non-interest bearing so you can do better on your own, but it's a handy way to consolidate a bunch of Disney gift cards and from what I've read, it's pretty easy to make payments for Disney vacations out of it, though it appears to be aimed more at WDW people.

 

[DharmaLou]

Our trip is in 2 weeks - is that enough time to set up a DVA and be able to use it?

 

[DizMe]

Our trip is in 2 weeks - is that enough time to set up a DVA and be able to use it?

I don't know. I would check with them to make sure. You should also check and see if/how you can make a hotel payment from your account, as they only list WDW hotels and the Aulani on the site. I know you can do it through a travel agent (it says so) and I think over the phone. It would be nice if you could just click through your account to pay like you can for WDW, though.

Here is Disney's website for the vacation account: https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/how-my-vacation-account-works/

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I'm sure many of you take advantage of the Target RedCard savings. The few times I've been lucky enough to travel to Disney World, I used them to pay off my hotel. I tried to do that this time, but my Disney Travel Agent said they could only process those for payment physically at the hotel (in other words, I couldn't pay off the hotel in advance). I was just trying to save some time and effort by having my agent pay down the hotel over the phone, but alas, no luck. She did say that the Cast Member said we could still pay via Disney Gift Cards at the hotel, just not in advance over the phone.

So, I just wanted to double check and make sure someone has done this recently before I go out and finish purchasing some via the RedCard. Has anyone paid for their hotel lately (we're staying at the Grand Californian) via any Gift Cards? Is that still OK?

Also, are there any park or hotel restaurants that DO NOT take the gift cards? Or do all, even places like Napa Rose, take Disney Gift Cards?

Thanks so much for all the help from everyone here.

FB78

At Disneyland Resort:

• You cannot make a room reservation with a Disney Gift Card, you must have a credit/debit card;
• You cannot pay for a regular room reservation in advance. (You can only pay for vacation packages in advance); and
• You also will need to have a credit/debit card at registration so the number can be on file in your folio.

However, you can pay any and all hotel charges in gift cards, including the cost of your room and all in-park purchases charged back to your room.

We did this in August at GCH and in September at DLH. It's very common, I promise. (We also did this last May at Pop at WDW.) Just make sure you pay off your folio with the gift cards every day or couple of days--there's a cut-off amount at which the hotel will charge your credit/debt card on file unless you pay it down with gift cards. I don't remember what that is but it's around $500 (I think.) You can call the hotel and ask in advance.

As others have said, you can't charge purchases back to your room or use Disney Gift Cards for most shops and restaurants in Downtown Disney, so you'll want to hold back some cash or money on your debit/credit card for those places.

 

[DizMe]

At Disneyland Resort:

• You cannot make a room reservation with a Disney Gift Card, you must have a credit/debit card;
  [*]You cannot pay for a regular room reservation in advance. (You can only pay for vacation packages in advance); and
• You also will need to have a credit/debit card at registration so the number can be on file in your folio.

However, you can pay any and all hotel charges in gift cards, including the cost of your room and all in-park purchases charged back to your room.

We did this in August at GCH and in September at DLH. It's very common, I promise. (We also did this last May at Pop at WDW.) Just make sure you pay off your folio with the gift cards every day or couple of days--there's a cut-off amount at which the hotel will charge your credit/debt card on file unless you pay it down with gift cards. I don't remember what that is but it's around $500 (I think.) You can call the hotel and ask in advance.

As others have said, you can't charge purchases back to your room or use Disney Gift Cards for most shops and restaurants in Downtown Disney, so you'll want to hold back some cash or money on your debit/credit card for those places.

I put the second item in bold because I wanted to say that I almost always pay off my hotel bill in advance, and it's hotel only, not a package. I'm not sure if what you've listed is the official rule, but I do it all the time with the caveat that they will not allow it for some reason within 5 days of the trip or something like that. Maybe it's one of those things they have on record but mostly overlook. To clarify further, this is with a credit card payment, not gift card.