I'm going to end up with $11,450 in Disney Gift Cards. Now what?

[gotomu212]

We have friends that take every single vacation with ABD, and they have the best things to say. However I think their prices are wildly overpriced for the value. When you’re looking at $16k for a family of 4 to go to DC and Philly for 6 nights or $32k for same family to do 10 nights in Australia I think you could do a lot better by putting your own package together. I compared their Australia hotels and activities to the ones we did on our own and our hotels were a better class and our activities were nicer for a third of the cost. The DC trip has you at the Mayflower, which is a Marriott that you can normally get for $300/night for example.

 

[Budzooka]

For those that are savvy, I have read reports of well over 10% savings.

LAX

I average about 10% savings on gift card purchases and pay for everything Disney with them, including DVC dues. Yes, there is some risk in that there is cash tied up, but I don’t deplete my savings to buy. I keep enough on hand to take care of my upcoming spend and it is included in my household budget. I just treat it as prepaid vacation costs.

 

[MomOTwins]

I average about 10% savings on gift card purchases and pay for everything Disney with them, including DVC dues. Yes, there is some risk in that there is cash tied up, but I don’t deplete my savings to buy. I keep enough on hand to take care of my upcoming spend and it is included in my household budget. I just treat it as prepaid vacation costs.

Agree--vacation budget and emergency expense fund are different things.

 

[travelmomof3]

I have always wanted to try ABD so I'd use it as the perfect excuse to do so!

 

[Rob1872]

I've never understood why people pay with gift cards. Imagine if you were laid off from your job and it needed that 11k for bills. You're lucky you only have to worry about what vacation you can use it for.

Well, you are correct. I clearly should have recognized that a global pandemic was on the horizon and that the travel industry would have catastrophic impacts.
Having said that, I was inside PIF when all of this started happening. What realistic difference does it make to commit discounted Disney gift cards to a cruise or a credit card charge once you are past the refund perspective, other than having paid a smaller amount for the cruise? (Unless the entire cruise industry shuts down and an unprecedented ability to get refunds for months of cancelled cruises arises? If my foresight was that good, I'd have so much money from the stock market and sports wagering that I'd own a private cruise ship.)

 

[aggiedog]

Unless you have a very small family, $11,000 on an ABD won't get you much. And if you go over to the ABD board, there is much anger and angst over how ABD handled the pandemic. They actually waited to cancel 2 trips the day before they started (and well after other companies had been canceling), when some families were already overseas for pre-days.

If you're not in dire financial straights, I'd hold on to them and plan a WDW and/or cruise with them.

 

[DIS_MIKE]

That is a tough situation you are in and I'm sorry your dream vacation is on the brink of cancellation. I think I would hold out until another cruise popped up that fit within my schedule. HOWEVER...Aulani is a very special place that requires a bit of research but I highly recommend it.

 

[DisneyKrayzie2]

We are in the same boat for our June 6th cruise. Expecting it to be cancelled and have $11,000 in gift cards for that. Have another few thousand in gift cards used for WDW and Polynesian before cruise, we are still undecided on if we would want to keep that if the parks are open by June. Right now we don’t want to rebook a cruise until we see how things go once cruising starts again. Thinking we might push WDW back to August and really splurge on dinning and shopping. Then sVe the rest to rebook on the Wish

 

[DebHorner04]

We have a June 27, 9 night planned. Hoping it sails, but if not, we we either reschedule for next year or look into Aulani. The majority of our trip was paid for with Disney gift cards and Disney Chase Rewards points.

 

[StarSeven7]

I personally wouldn't splurge on one big trip since it's not like it's free money that has to be spent or lost on a single trip! For us that would easily cover 3-4 trips to Disney World or a cruise and 2 trips to Disney World, so that's how I would spend it!

 

[anricat]

As soon as ours cancels out, we plan to take the 125% future cruise credit that DCL seems to be offering on cancelled cruises and apply it to a cruise next year that we wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. That extra 25% goes a long way. Is this something that is an option for you?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Adventures by Disney has the highest guest satisfaction rate of any Disney product, and they are rated one of the best guided tour companies. If you haven’t tried it yet, I would highly recommend it.

I haven’t been able to go on one yet, but every single person I know who has came back raving and has gone again (and multiple times, for some). It is an intimate way to experience a destination. Definitely give it a try!

Aulani is amazing, but you would have to stay in a suite or large villa for a long time to spend that much. Though if you eat in the restaurants every day, and add excursions, it does add up quickly. As much as I love Aulani (and have been there), I still recommend AbD or a unique cruise itinerary like Iceland or Greece.

Unless you have a very small family, $11,000 on an ABD won't get you much. And if you go over to the ABD board, there is much anger and angst over how ABD handled the pandemic. They actually waited to cancel 2 trips the day before they started (and well after other companies had been canceling), when some families were already overseas for pre-days.

If you're not in dire financial straights, I'd hold on to them and plan a WDW and/or cruise with them.

I have done 7 ABD trips (Ireland, Scotland, BSM, China, Japan, Baltics Add-on and Greece). 6 of those were great-- the cruise add on was disappointing. But as others have said, the trips are very expensive and $11k won't go far.

I would not recommend ABD as an option though after their handling of the pandemic. IMO ABD has been the worst of all the Disney brands and that is saying something as I don't think the parks, DCL or DVC has handled anything great. They are all lagging after others in the industry, but ABD has been particularly egregious. They did not cancel the France/UK trip until a day or two before and after people had already traveled. Similarly for Australia, which was cancelled after travelers already arrived! As Aggiedog suggested, read the travel changes thread for an idea of how bad it was.

I would hold on to your cards until the situation stabilizes. The money isn't going anywhere and why buy more headache at this point when things are so uncertain?

 

[SL6827]

I think I would go with Hawaii, I think. But man I would have go with four flights and at least two nights in California to get there. I just wonder though, is Hawaii any more beautiful say than the Caribbean? I mean Castaway Cay and Seven Mile Beach in Cayman are beautiful. Hawaii does have Pearl Harbor and that would be a must for us to visit and pay our respects.

 

[SL6827]

Do you have all the original gift cards that were placed on the cruise? Wondering how the refunding will go.

 

[spacecanada]

Do you have all the original gift cards that were placed on the cruise? Wondering how the refunding will go.

If you no longer have the original gift cards, or used many, many smaller ones, or re-loaded the same one over and over, etc. they will issue new virtual gift cards.

 

[soniam]

We have friends that take every single vacation with ABD, and they have the best things to say. However I think their prices are wildly overpriced for the value. When you’re looking at $16k for a family of 4 to go to DC and Philly for 6 nights or $32k for same family to do 10 nights in Australia I think you could do a lot better by putting your own package together. I compared their Australia hotels and activities to the ones we did on our own and our hotels were a better class and our activities were nicer for a third of the cost. The DC trip has you at the Mayflower, which is a Marriott that you can normally get for $300/night for example.

I think the Backstage Magic looks like it's worth it. You could combine that with extra days at Disneyland, Universal Hollywood with a VIP tour there, and at Knott's Berry Farms. I have been wanting to do this exact trip for a while now.

 

[smmco]

Well, you are correct. I clearly should have recognized that a global pandemic was on the horizon and that the travel industry would have catastrophic impacts.
Having said that, I was inside PIF when all of this started happening. What realistic difference does it make to commit discounted Disney gift cards to a cruise or a credit card charge once you are past the refund perspective, other than having paid a smaller amount for the cruise? (Unless the entire cruise industry shuts down and an unprecedented ability to get refunds for months of cancelled cruises arises? If my foresight was that good, I'd have so much money from the stock market and sports wagering that I'd own a private cruise ship.)

Yes, hindsight is 20\20. I've posted before on these board long before this crisis that I thought paying with gift cards was a bad idea. Just for the simple reason, that life can throw you curveballs. This wasn't some new revelation for me based on a few people's recent misfortune. Like you said everyone can evaluate their own risks.

 

[starry_solo]

How many members in your family are there that would be taking the trip? This might help us figure out ideas for you to spend the money on one trip (or multiple trips)...

 

[rkstocke5609]

OK, I'm assuming that my Fantasy Eastern cruise at the end of May will be cancelled in a few weeks (bye-bye 10% OBB discount and $200 OBC), and that I will also be cancelling my pre-cruise visit to WDW. (So much for an AWESOME family summer vacation. I'd even splurged on Club level rooms so I could purchase 3 extra Fast Passes a day to really make it a memorable trip!)

I had purchased Disney gift cards for the whole trip, and had been pleased at saving 8-10% by strategic buying at BJs when the gift cards were on a good sale.

Now, I'm going to end up with everything back on Disney Gift Cards. I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I don't want to take the Future Cruise Credit because then I'm locked into picking a cruise next year and we don't have a lot of flexibility in the family schedule next year.

At least Disney Gift Cards won't expire. (But they will slowly lose value as prices go up each year.) I can use them at the theme parks, Disney stores/Disney online, DCL, Adventures By Disney, and Disney Resorts.

What would you do in my situation?

Would you consider mailing them to another Disboard member who would be happy to help make sure they won’t go to waste?

 

[tlynk]

I chose Aulani or WDW since you have gift cards to use. Both are wonderful vacations and then you don't have to wait 2 years. I paid a portion of my cruise with gift cards as well. I had rewards with my credit card company, so I thought I'd chose Disney gift cards to use towards my trip. I never thought in my wildest dreams my trip would get canceled due to a global epidemic. I ended up transferring the gift card portion that was going to be refunded to a different cruise that I already booked for 2021.