is the gift card deal a good deal

[cottontail]

Hi:

Has anyone figured out if the gift card deal is a good deal or not, being that you have to pay rack rate for the room.

I was trying to figure it out if I only stayed five nights at a moderate hotel, and was given a $500 gift card I would subtract $100 from each of the five nights to get the nightly rate. Is this correct.

Deb.

 

[Minniemama350]

Yes, but you have to keep in mind that you are only saving money if you are only purchasing things you would have paid for anyway. If you buy more goods/services then you're not ahead. Also, you do not get the card until you have checked in and subsequently paid for everything. Once you've checked in you cannot add the dining plan. It would almost seem as though it does not save you money. HOWEVER, if you begin to think outside the box, a few possibilities arise. 1) make your dining resi, but DON'T do the dining plan(use your gc to pay); 2)make your tickets as minimal as possible and upgrade them after you get your card; 3)If you plan to go again soon, save the card for the next resi(you might even be luck enough to have a pincode too!)

 

[cottontail]

Hi: Yes I was only getting 5 day passes, but will upgrade to 8 with gc, also we are going to use it for meals. I have already booked my dining no plan.

We are getting two rooms one for daughter as well and then going to the poly1 room only for 3 or 4 nights, so I thought I would use the gc to pay the outstanding nights at the poly as I have already paid for the first night. We will have two $500 giftcards.

What you say makes sense, if I was only staying the five nights I think we would not use the two five hundred dollar gc. I don't want to spend for the sake of using the gift card up.

Thanks,

Deb.
P.S. I kinda had a sort of mindblock for figuring it out.

 

[mellynne79]

I just figured out deal at the POFQ comparing the two GP offers. It seemed the % deal was better for the week I saw. I was looking at 2 rooms. I guess it all depends.

I don't think it was a huge difference $100. It was enough though that I would rather pay less upfront. For the values though, it was better to take the gc by about $30.

Just more $$ to enjoy my vacation with

 

[jenseib]

If you have no other deal, then it's good, but I think I read that there is an offer for 25% off rooms now. and I think that may be a better option without doing the math, but I have read of a few people changing over to that instead.

 

[cottontail]

Thats interesting, were looking at the first week of May in a moderate.

I will have to relook at the deal.

Thanks,

Deb.

 

[fours]

Well the $500 gift card offer I was sent was for deluxe rooms...and select villas....However we had already booked a moderate room, tickets and dining plan and will be given 250 gift card.

 

[dibbadiane]

Fours --

Bummer it looks like you missed the higher gift card offer by a week. The current offer is through 6/3/10.

When I did the math for our trip to Coronado in March it worked out to $20 less with the gift card option. We have decided not to do the meal plan and use the $500 towards meals. We were not sure that we would use all of the meals anyway and knew would would not spend $500 on other stuff.

The part that helped for us a little more though was adding the Disney Visa offer for booking a disney vacation through the card which allowed 6 months with 0% interest. We always pay those kind of offers off within the time period and never owe interest. If you are a new card holder you get a $40 credit after your first use. If you add in the 1% Disney Dream reward dollars earned from putting my vacation on the card there is another $21 gift card. The card also has a few other perks of discounts and a free picture somewhere. Now if I was not in a position to pay it off in the 6months it would not be a deal because the interest rate is sky high.

 

[mlittig]

dibbadiane, to the DIS boards I hope your trip in March is filled with marvelous, magical memories

 

[cottontail]

Wow, I wish we Canadians could qualify for the disney visa card. I have a visa card but no disney one available here. I used to join the disney club every year, but even that is gone.

With this 500 giftcard for moderates, the way I would do it is only for 5 days on the gc deal, and if I was still wanting to stay at the same resort for say 9 nights I would then use the % off deal for those nights.

As with the giftcard deal you are paying rack rate, but by getting 500 back to me that is another 100 off each of the 5 nights off the room rate.

Deb.

 

[disdream00]

Thats interesting, were looking at the first week of May in a moderate.

I will have to relook at the deal.

Thanks,

Deb.

Hi, we booked POFQ for the first week of May for 3 of us (2 adults, 1 5yr old), 5 nights, 7 day base tickets. I had a pin code for a 35% discount, but the $500 gc was a better deal, provided, as others said, that we spend it on what we would have bought any way. We wanted the water park option on our tickets, so we will use the gift card for that when we get there. Right there is about $165. I have no doubt we will spend $345 for food and souvenirs, so I do feel this was the better option.
The savings with the gift card over the 35% discount came up to be about $150 for us.

 

[disneyfan55]

Just wondering if anyone ever found out what the deal is for other resort types for the $500 giftcard PIN that was sent out last week. It's valid from May 2-Aug 14. It says ticket purchase necessary but not how many days.

 

[jenseib]

Well the $500 gift card offer I was sent was for deluxe rooms...and select villas....However we had already booked a moderate room, tickets and dining plan and will be given 250 gift card.

Thats not the current offer though, Maybe a PIN? The gift card is $500 for moderates and $750 for deluxe. $300 for values

 

[disneyfan55]

Thats not the current offer though, Maybe a PIN? The gift card is $500 for moderates and $750 for deluxe. $300 for values

There is a giftcard PIN out there just sent out from May 2 to Aug 14. I am wondering exactly the deal for tickets and the mod/values.

 

[cathyny]

We also are staying at the Coronado for 5 nights & found that the $500 GC was a better deal than the % off. We are also not taking the Dining Plan as we figured out that the Dining Plan is not a good deal for us wiht a 7 yr old & 4 yr old & we really did not want to do more than maybe 2 TS.

 

[drag n' fly]

We booked the WL/750 gc deal. I booked Qs dining and will pay for my ts meals at the end with the gc. It is a girls only trip so we might do tea at the GF and maybe even a spa visit. I will make good use of the gc!

 

[mrosen]

If you have no other deal, then it's good, but I think I read that there is an offer for 25% off rooms now. and I think that may be a better option without doing the math, but I have read of a few people changing over to that instead.

i did a comparison of the % off room rate and added the park hopper tickets vs doing the up to $750 disney card. for deluxe hotel on dates that i picked, it was cheaper to do the 40% off room rate than it was to do the full rate and take $750 disney card.

so unless you can't find an avail better deal, it looks to me like some of the other special offers are a better offer to me.....

 

[drdes]

We will be staying for 8 nigghts at WL and the 40% off rate is around $100 cheaper than teh gift card.

I think generally, the longer you stay, and the more expensive the rack rate of the room, the better the discount is VS the gc.

 

[disneyfan55]

We will be staying for 8 nigghts at WL and the 40% off rate is around $100 cheaper than teh gift card.

I think generally, the longer you stay, and the more expensive the rack rate of the room, the better the discount is VS the gc.

The only other way to price is for 5 days with the free GC and the other 3 with the 40%. If you need the tickets, you can always upgrade with teh Giftcard. The only thing is that you might have to move if they can't keep you in the same room since this way it ends up as 2 reservations, but with 8 days it's not like you would be moving for a day or 2.

 

[jenseib]

We will be staying for 8 nigghts at WL and the 40% off rate is around $100 cheaper than teh gift card.

I think generally, the longer you stay, and the more expensive the rack rate of the room, the better the discount is VS the gc.

What about if you did a split stay? Did the deal with the gift card, and then when you get there add the 3 more days to your tickets, and then after the 5, book 3 nights for the room discount. How would that add up?