Is a Disney Vacation Account this simple??

[OurLittleFamily]

We have a room only reservation later this year. We would usually pay the room-only balance of about $1300 with disney gift cards. We usually call them all in over the phone. To save time, can I apply all of those cards to the Disney Vacation Savings Account and then apply that to my room reservation payment? Is there a catch somewhere?


I opened the account a few weeks ago so the account will be open for over 120 days when I make my payment about 6 weeks before our trip, so I should be able to get the $20 gift card, correct?


I just want to make sure I don't put all of my gift cards into this account and then I'm not able to use them for this trip for some reason. I don't have to book the room through the account or something wierd, do I?

I've read over the FAQ's and it seems easy enough but I've read a bunch of complaints on here so I want to make sure I'm not missing something.

 

[brymolmom]

Before you do it - search the DIS extensively.

I recall a couple of threads about this account and apparently it was NOT as easy to use as the poster originally thought. Almost sounded like a scam the way one person posted. Although I have no personal experience.

 

[nalajms]

It is that simple. I've used it since Feb, bought 4 APs and paid for DDP on our trip earlier this month. Plan to use it to pay the balance on our Room-Only in another 2 months. And I used it to put the down payment on our fall trip! When I had to rebook and cancel our first reservation, the refund for the deposit was immediately, much faster than using a CC.

It works for certain things, but not all Disney expenses. Many of the complaints have come from people with TA, where they no longer allow payment through a 3rd party.

Just don't have high expectations to use it outside of the stated areas.

 

[manateesmom]

I'd suggest googling "Disney Vacation Account problems." Scared me.

 

[OurLittleFamily]

It is that simple. I've used it since Feb, bought 4 APs and paid for DDP on our trip earlier this month. Plan to use it to pay the balance on our Room-Only in another 2 months. And I used it to put the down payment on our fall trip! When I had to rebook and cancel our first reservation, the refund for the deposit was immediately, much faster than using a CC.

It works for certain things, but not all Disney expenses. Many of the complaints have come from people with TA, where they no longer allow payment through a 3rd party.

Just don't have high expectations to use it outside of the stated areas.

Awesome, Thanks!

We already have our annual passes and I did read that it can't be used for other charges, so I was only planning to use it for our room reservation. Most of the complaint's I've read are things that shouldn't affect me (TA, wanting refunds, the benefit of doing an outside account instead - our money is already on gift cards, so I can't put it into any other outside account and get more interest than the $20 gift card they offer)

Thanks for your first hand experience!

 

[manateesmom]

Further to my prior post - while I love Disney, and have had a great Disney cruise and am looking forward to a Jan. 2015 trip to WDW, I've had TERRIBLE luck calling in and getting reasonable customer service.

This seems to be a major pitfall associated with this account. LOTS of people report that they call the number for the DVA, and the people who answer have NO IDEA WHAT IT IS. Sorry, for screaming, but it freaks me out to think that my money is in an account and the only customer service people who could help me literally have no idea what account I'm talking about.

Re: my recent experiences with WDW phone CMs: I called several times inquiring about booking a vacation in early Jan. 2015, since rates are not out yet, but rates historically are released AFTER the 180-day mark for the start of our stay, and I want to get two very coveted ADRs, so I want 180+10 for staying on site. I was told firmly by 2 CMs that there is no such thing as 180+10 booking of ADRs for resort guests. One laughed. Both said there was no reason at all for me to be concerned, it would be no problem to book BOG for dinner after the 2015 rates came out. I KNOW that 180+10 exists, people here do it.

I was told by another CM that if I booked a reservation now for Jan. 2015, it would be automatically canceled and my money refunded when the 2015 pricing came out, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. She even said that any ADRs I'd booked associated with the reservation would be automatically canceled, which I also believe to be untrue.

Ultimately, a TA did book me for Jan. 2015, said I would be contacted for an additional deposit if rates did go up, and it's confirmed and viewable in MDE.

Just given my history with getting inconsistent and incorrect responses from CMs, I'd be very hesitant about putting thousands of dollars into a brand-new account with Disney.

 

[cattywampus]

I dipped one toe in the water -- loaded $250 worth of Gift Cards + the $10 opening contribution from my ATM card for a total of $260 and just had no problem booking MVMCP online using the Disney Vacation Account.

At least for that expenditure, it was very easy. When "checking out" from you online cart, there was an option to enter your DVA account number.