Is this Vacation Account thing new? What are the advantages to using it??

[edk35]

I keep seeing things pop up on Dis and on Facebook about this new vacation savings plan. What is so great about it. I mean it doesn't pay interest so wouldn't it be better to save in a savings acct. that pays interest. Is there anything I am missing that makes this worth doing? Thanks

 

[Jing]

For every $1000 you spend on a Disney vacation after the account has been opened 120 days, you earn a $20 disney gift card. So it is a theoretical 2% return. You can still use a savings account and earn interest directly, but once you are ready to use your savings to pay on your vacation, you can transfer it into you DVA and pay from there. It is also a handy way to consolidate gift cards.

 

[edk35]

How do you use the acct. once the gift cards are in there? See we usually stay DVC or at Shades of Green so the only thing I use the gift cards for are for paying for meals or on our room charges.

 

[Marionnette]

How do you use the acct. once the gift cards are in there? See we usually stay DVC or at Shades of Green so the only thing I use the gift cards for are for paying for meals or on our room charges.

I used it to pay my DVC dues this year. I called Member Accounting and told them that I had a GC. Then I gave them the DVA number and it worked! I had read about others doing it on the Member Services subforum of the DVC section here on the disboards.

 

[Original Amber]

How do you pay for your tickets? We'll use our DVA money for everything except souvenirs.

 

[Dacky619]

I used it to pay my DVC dues this year. I called Member Accounting and told them that I had a GC. Then I gave them the DVA number and it worked! I had read about others doing it on the Member Services subforum of the DVC section here on the disboards.

We did that too. Even though the DVA only gave us a one $20 bonus it was nice to consolidate all of those gift cards that we got at a discount.

 

[lauradis]

http://www.money-rates.com/savings.htm

Current bank saving account rates suck bad right now.

So what people are doing is buying discount disney gift card over time and using DVA to combine all the gift cards into one payment method

The DVA $20. bonus is just iceing on the cake.

 

[ilovebassets]

I buy gift cards from cvs or publix and get 5% cash back with my AMEX (this particular AMEX has no annual fee, no limits on cash back, and is no longer available to new users). Then add cards to DVA account for 2% cash back by gift card. That's like 7% back on about $5k worth of spending per trip.

 

[edk35]

I buy Target gift cards thru Raise then buy Disney gift cards on the Target website so I can get an additional 5% off. So can you use the acct. when you get to Disney to apply to your room charges. What I usually do is give them a credit card at check in as usual but every few days I come down and pay off the charges with gift cards. I also use the gift cards in the parks too.

 

[Dacky619]

I buy Target gift cards thru Raise then buy Disney gift cards on the Target website so I can get an additional 5% off. So can you use the acct. when you get to Disney to apply to your room charges. What I usually do is give them a credit card at check in as usual but every few days I come down and pay off the charges with gift cards. I also use the gift cards in the parks too.

Not to be a downer but it looks like this loophole (of getting the redcard discount when paying with gift cards has been closed). Read the last few pages of this thread: http://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-gift-card-deals.2941964/page-133

 

[KingofJapan]

There were reports of having difficulty pulling money out of this acct.

 

[edk35]

POOH It did not work today. I was getting the 5% off online with my red card but not today. OH well I did get 5% off Raise so that is good. I guess I will just buy them inn the store from now on. No need to use the RAISE site unless I can get more than 5% off a Target card.

 

[lauradis]

I get my discount gift cards at a grocery store chain called giant eagle for every $50 you get .20 off a gallon of gas up to 30 gallons per transaction.

last time I did the math it was like 12% discount off disney gift cards.

 

[Perditamarie]

Please explain how you get $$ back out of the DVA ..... do you just request funds in the form of a Disney gift card? Is it mailed to you? Can you use the account to pay for room charges or do you hsve to convert funds to a gift card?

 

[Dacky619]

Please explain how you get $$ back out of the DVA ..... do you just request funds in the form of a Disney gift card? Is it mailed to you? Can you use the account to pay for room charges or do you hsve to convert funds to a gift card?

Your DVA account number can be used as a gift card. At least that was how I paid my DVC annual dues.

 

[Marionnette]

Please explain how you get $$ back out of the DVA ..... do you just request funds in the form of a Disney gift card? Is it mailed to you? Can you use the account to pay for room charges or do you hsve to convert funds to a gift card?

Refunds go back to their original form of payment. So, if you funded your DVA with a CC, the refund goes back on the CC. If you used GCs, then the money goes back on the GCs. If you saved the GCs, the money will refunded to them. If you no longer have the GCs, then Disney will mail you new GCs with the refunded money on them.

You cannot use your DVA to pay for room charges. You would have to have excess funds returned to you and you can pay for your room charges that way.