I'm curious what everyone's overall gift card strategy is.
I know not everyone is DVC, so buying a lot of GC to pay for the entire vacation package makes sense. In that case, hit up every deal you can!
But as someone who is DVC, I have my lodging paid for. I do still stockpile GCs throughout the year and keep them saved in a spreadsheet, because I know I can use them towards my dues (roughly $1,200/year) or for Park tickets. I also will use them towards a
Disney Cruise, but we are likely 2-3 years away from going on one of those (waiting for my kids to get to specific ages).
We also don't go frequently enough for APs and likely won't ever try the "do two trips in 11-months" thing and then take a year off from AP.
So really, my GCs are just to pay for dues and pay for park tickets. I might consider having some extra to use as spending cash in the parks, but personally I just like to spend on my credit card for dining and merchandise as that helps me from overspending on needless things (lol) whereas I feel the park tickets are a needed purchase worth "stockpiling" for.
I just counted and so far this year I've already stockpiled roughly $1,100 in gift cards. Our next trip isn't until March '26. I'll keep buying to account for my expected dues payment as well as the expected cost for the adults and kids for our next trip--but I'm also a sucker for a good day, and if I keeping seeing 10-15% off, I'll probably keep buying. Call it the Disney savings fund!