Is this a change to paying dues with gift cards?

[Sandisw]

You should still be able to use multiply gift cards to make payments, as long as you pay off your entire 2025 balance or sign up for auto-pay with a bank account before January 15.

What you may not be able to do is pay part of your balance, sign up for auto-pay, and then pay more of your balance each month using gift cards. It's unclear whether the directions for disabling auto-pay, using a gift card, and re-enabling auto-pay will work only before February 15 or if you'll be able to move out and in of auto-pay for a few minutes every month as long as you're back in auto-pay in time for the monthly payment to be charged to your bank account. It is possible that you could pay with a gift card later in the year and go back into auto-pay but that the same amount will still be taken out of your bank account each month, which would defeat the purpose of using a gift card.

The deadline to enrolll monthly payments is January 15th. Someone posted that specific language a few posts ago.

That seems to indicate you won’t be able to enroll back into it if you exit out after January 15th.

And, because the system won’t allow partial payments via gift card, the system might not allow for you to add more than one card before submitting.

We won’t know how it will work for that until dues are posted and we pass the January 15rh date and is willing to chance it and having to pay in full if it doesn’t allow you to go back into monthly.

IMO, If they went to all this trouble to update the language and put the notice on the website, they don’t want people to continue to do both…

The key piece to this that I think supports this is that they explain what to do before late fees kick in if you want to still use gift cards for partial payments.

 

[DebbieB]

It’s disappointing. I used my Southwest CC to buy gift cards at my grocery store. Got SW points and perks toward gas or groceries.

 

[VGCgroupie]

If it's updated without a heads up and they leave a lot of people with a lot of GC they had intended to use to pay dues there will be a lot of unhappy people. If they dont want GC to be used I think the right way to go about it is change that rule for the following billing year, not give 4 weeks notice of a change. But yes I know Disney isnt here to do what we want, even if I think it makes good business sense not to screw people over.

 

[Redheadprincess]

So I just unenrolled but I still just have the CC option. Do I have to log out to get the option to pay with Gift Cards?

After you cancel autopay, go to pay in full. Then choose which contract and the amount you want to pay. Choose new card. This is where the option will come up to pay by gift card or rewards card. I canceled my autopay on my 3 contracts and just applied gift card balances that gave me a credit today. I still have a balance for and will pay that after we get the full amount due for 2025.

 

[Redheadprincess]

This could be a problem as my dues are all over the $1K limit that a GC can hold...we had $7k in Gift card balances before today sitting on 7 cards. I was able to make partial payments on my 2025 dues as a credit today. I'm going to do the rest next week. So you can have up to 6 cards per account at $1000 each. That is 12k between my husband and myself. I have paid all our dues with gc the last 3 years. About $4000 per year.

 

[eticketplease]

@Redheadprincess it won’t let me reply to you. I’m guessing it is because you but your response in the reply.

You can have as many DGC as you like but the max that can be loaded is $1,000. Perhaps you are referring to the Disneygiftcard.com website where you can transfer cards and view transactions? That allows you to have up to 6 cards at one time showing but you can delete and re add them at will as long as you have the pin and card number.

I also pay my dues each year in full with gift cards. Earlier I was talking about if someone was on the monthly payment option but then acquired enough gift cards to pay the balance of the dues. The balance due is over $1,000 and they have that in gift cards. The problem is if they then turn off autopay the entire balance of the contract needs to be paid but it won’t work as you would only be able to use one card we are assuming and the max that card can have on it is $1,000. Hopefully the accounting team could take multiple gift cards over the phone do to the limitations of only being able to hold $1,000 in funds.

 

[eticketplease]

After you cancel autopay, go to pay in full. Then choose which contract and the amount you want to pay. Choose new card. This is where the option will come up to pay by gift card or rewards card. I canceled my autopay on my 3 contracts and just applied gift card balances that gave me a credit today. I still have a balance for and will pay that after we get the full amount due for 2025.

Thanks I have done it many times before but I just had it in my head that new card was for a new credit card.

 

[eticketplease]

If it's updated without a heads up and they leave a lot of people with a lot of GC they had intended to use to pay dues there will be a lot of unhappy people. If they dont want GC to be used I think the right way to go about it is change that rule for the following billing year, not give 4 weeks notice of a change. But yes I know Disney isnt here to do what we want, even if I think it makes good business sense not to screw people over.

I agree as I start stocking my supply back after unloading them on dues.

A trip to Disney springs would be much more fun.

 

[eticketplease]

It’s disappointing. I used my Southwest CC to buy gift cards at my grocery store. Got SW points and perks toward gas or groceries.

You can still apply what you have now even if it’s not enough. At least you saved some $$ on groceries/gas and received SW points to take you to the Magic

 

[Sandisw]

If it's updated without a heads up and they leave a lot of people with a lot of GC they had intended to use to pay dues there will be a lot of unhappy people. If they dont want GC to be used I think the right way to go about it is change that rule for the following billing year, not give 4 weeks notice of a change. But yes I know Disney isnt here to do what we want, even if I think it makes good business sense not to screw people over.

When you log into your account to pay dues, the notice is there…if someone fails to read it, it’s on them.

You can certainly still use the cards before the Jan/Feb 15th due date so I don’t see the short notice as a huge deal because any GC currently bought can be used.

It’s just after January, you have to hang on to them until you can pay off a contract in full.

We are still waiting to see how the gift cards will work later on if one cancels autopay and if more than one can be used to pay the balance in full.

 

[VGCgroupie]

When you log into your account to pay dues, the notice is there…if someone fails to read it, it’s on them.

You can certainly still use the cards before the Jan/Feb 15th due date so I don’t see the short notice as a huge deal because any GC currently bought can be used.

It’s just after January, you have to hang on to them until you can pay off a contract in full.

I hope Disney has done the right thing and allows payments with more than 1 gift card since they are the ones who restrict their cards to only allow 1k balance. There are thousands of people who stock up throughout the year to pay dues in the new year, so I stick by my stance that if there is not a work around for paying with multiple gift cards it most certainly should have been more than 4 week notice. How does reading the notice upon login about a new policy that takes effect in 1 month going to rectify all the cards that have been boughten over the last year assuming the payment methods were going to be the same? It seems you always defend everything Disney does. There is right and wrong, and this is wrong if it happens to be the case and you cant pay more than 1k with a Disney gift card. I can accept restricting the "workaround" people used by selecting monthly CC payments and then using a gift card if that is the only thing that has changed.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Over here venting to DH and he said something that made sense to me, if someone wants to pay in full but needs to split between 2 credit cards they would say no? I cant imagine this. So I am hopeful it will be the same with GC, as long as the intention is to pay in full it can be done with multiple cards, even if it has to be done by phone.

 

[Sandisw]

I hope Disney has done the right thing and allows payments with more than 1 gift card since they are the ones who restrict their cards to only allow 1k balance. There are thousands of people who stock up throughout the year to pay dues in the new year, so I stick by my stance that if there is not a work around for paying with multiple gift cards it most certainly should have been more than 4 week notice. How does reading the notice upon login about a new policy that takes effect in 1 month going to rectify all the cards that have been boughten over the last year assuming the payment methods were going to be the same? It seems you always defend everything Disney does. There is right and wrong, and this is wrong if it happens to be the case and you cant pay more than 1k with a Disney gift card. I can accept restricting the "workaround" people used by selecting monthly CC payments and then using a gift card if that is the only thing that has changed.

I think you have misunderstood the change.

Anyone who has multiple gift cards right now can pay with as many of them as they want before the deadline for enrolling in monthly payments. The rules specially explain to owners who have them how to use them.

It’s once the monthly payments begin that someone can no longer go in and use the gift card unless you get out of the monthly plan, which mean pay in full.

IMO, the short notice doesn’t matter because they are not stopping the use of gift cards that someone might currently have.

For people who pay balance in full in January/February, with gift cards, they will see no change.

If someone keeps buying gift cards after January 2025, then they have to hold them until they can apply them in January 2026 for the 2026 dues, if they are on the monthly plan.

If they are not enrolled it that, this change doesn’t impact them.

Basically, all partial payments with GC or Disney rewards cards must be used every January now if you want to do the monthly plan.

So, that’s why it’s not a big deal that we just find out…any and all gift cards owners currently have or accumulate in the next month can still be used.

 

[Sandisw]

Over here venting to DH and he said something that made sense to me, if someone wants to pay in full but needs to split between 2 credit cards they would say no? I cant imagine this. So I am hopeful it will be the same with GC, as long as the intention is to pay in full it can be done with multiple cards, even if it has to be done by phone.

The question we were discussing about using more than $1000 in GC was only for someone who enrolls in monthly payments and then decides in a few months they want to pay what is left, would they be allowed to use more than one after canceling the monthly plan.

Nothing to do with paying in full by the January/February date.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I think you have misunderstood the change.

Anyone who has multiple gift cards right now can pay with as many of them as they want before the deadline for enrolling in monthly payments. The rules specially explain to owners who have them how to use them.

It’s once the monthly payments begin that someone can no longer go in and use the gift card unless you get out of the monthly plan, which mean pay in full.

IMO, the short notice doesn’t matter because they are not stopping the use of gift cards that someone might currently have.

For people who pay balance in full in January/February, with gift cards, will see no change.

If someone keeps buying gift cards after January 2025, then they have to hold them until they can apply them in January 2026 for the 2026 dues, if they are on the monthly plan.

Basically, all partial payments with GC or Disney rewards cards must be used every January now..

So, that’s why it’s not a big deal that we just find out…any and all gift cards they currently have can still be used.

Yes I must have misunderstood a post somewhere along the way thinking that it was a possibility that since DGC only carry a balance of 1k you couldn't technically pay in full if your balance due was over 1k.

I just went in and prepaid 1k on my 3 contracts that will be over 1k in dues. I dont mind prepaying and/or not paying monthly as long as I can use my DGC's

 

[Sandisw]

Yes I must have misunderstood a post somewhere along the way thinking that it was a possibility that since DGC only carry a balance of 1k you couldn't technically pay in full if your balance due was over 1k.

I just went in and prepaid 1k on my 3 contracts that will be over 1k in dues. I dont mind prepaying and/or not paying monthly as long as I can use my DGC's

We were discussing the what ifs would happen if you enroll in monthly and then want to cancel and pay in full mid year.

But that was before we saw lanauge that seems to imply that you won’t be able to turn monthly payments on and off through the year.

So, once you turn it off, you have to pay in full. I assume that you should be able to pay it down with multiple cards at that point.

What I am waiting to see is if you turn it off, so you can use a gift card, will they apply a late penalty since at that point dues are late?

You don’t need to turn it off to pay a balance inf full with a CC. I do that now starting mid year.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I think you have misunderstood the change.

Anyone who has multiple gift cards right now can pay with as many of them as they want before the deadline for enrolling in monthly payments. The rules specially explain to owners who have them how to use them.

It’s once the monthly payments begin that someone can no longer go in and use the gift card unless you get out of the monthly plan, which mean pay in full.

IMO, the short notice doesn’t matter because they are not stopping the use of gift cards that someone might currently have.

For people who pay balance in full in January/February, with gift cards, they will see no change.

If someone keeps buying gift cards after January 2025, then they have to hold them until they can apply them in January 2026 for the 2026 dues, if they are on the monthly plan.

If they are not enrolled it that, this change doesn’t impact them.

Basically, all partial payments with GC or Disney rewards cards must be used every January now if you want to do the monthly plan.

So, that’s why it’s not a big deal that we just find out…any and all gift cards owners currently have or accumulate in the next month can still be used.

My apologies for my freak out. I am clearly emotional when it comes to my discounted Disney Gift Cards.

 

[Sandisw]

My apologies for my freak out. I am clearly emotional when it comes to my discounted Disney Gift Cards.

Not to worry!!! Sometimes that allows us to clarify what we wrote that may have been confusing!

I just hope they never get rid of the monthly plan!!

 

[eticketplease]

I am clearly emotional when it comes to my discounted Disney Gift Cards.

As you should be!!!

It takes us a lot of work to get them and they save us a lot of $$ while also bringing us closer to the magic with the miles we earn while acquiring them.

 

[808blessing]

Does this benefit Disney in terms of less people wanting to suddenly sell contracts mid year because they are already paid in full? I always thought it would be beneficial to be monthly if selling but I’ve never sold before.