No Dining plan, will this work?

[mdgineok]

We are 29 days away from our second trip to the world and I just have a question about the best way to pay for meals/etc. Last time we went we had the DDP and liked the convenience of charging everything to the room/DDP using our MB. We are staying on rented points at OKW. We did not get the DDP this time. I have two Disney Gift Cards and a Disney Visa Rewards card that total about $1500. Can I just put the DGC on the room account when we check in and charge to them instead of carrying the cards around? I would hang on to the rewards card and use it for miscellaneous things at the parks. We are going on a Disney Cruise immediately following so we would transfer any leftover balance back to one of the cards and add it to our on-board account. Is there a better way to do this or any other suggestions? TIA

Mark in MN

 

[Lucas103]

As far as I know, you need to use a credit card. You can go to the front desk and pay off the balance with the gift cards. I hope that makes sense!

 

[Uncranky Donald]

Yes, as PP says, you need to give your CC info for the MB to charge on it, but on checking out you get your itemized "bill" and I go down with my GCs and pay with them. Though if I do not have enough to cover them the residual will go on the CC...orrrr if you were in the park purchasing on your MB the night before or day of check out any pending transactions I found sometimes ended up on my CC.

 

[loves to dive]

You can't put them on your account on check in, you can go down every night and apply to anything you have on your account. It's normally wise to carry some type of alternate pay method to the parks, the machines that read the MBs can't always do so and you are stuck if you don't have some other way to pay. I just combine all my gift cards onto one gift card and carry it and my ID with me.

 

[wilkeliza]

The make you put your credit card for room charging. You can go down every other day or so and have them charge what is on your account to a credit card though. You can also just stop by the front on the way back to your room to do that. I wouldn't wait to the last day as they do sometimes charge the CC before the end of your trip especially if you are charging a lot back to the room.

I believe you can combine both of the gift cards so you only are carrying around 1 but not sure if gift cards have an overall max or just a max of combined cards.

 

[Dis703]

Like others have said, you can't put it on your account up front, but we use cards to pay for all of our Disney expenses every trip. I just leave them in our room safe and charge everything to our room and go down and pay it off every few days.

 

[mdgineok]

The make you put your credit card for room charging. You can go down every other day or so and have them charge what is on your account to a credit card though. You can also just stop by the front on the way back to your room to do that. I wouldn't wait to the last day as they do sometimes charge the CC before the end of your trip especially if you are charging a lot back to the room.

I believe you can combine both of the gift cards so you only are carrying around 1 but not sure if gift cards have an overall max or just a max of combined cards.

Thank you. I do have them combined, the max you can put on any one card is $1000 so I have that on one and the remainder on the other.

 

[mdgineok]

You can't put them on your account on check in, you can go down every night and apply to anything you have on your account. It's normally wise to carry some type of alternate pay method to the parks, the machines that read the MBs can't always do so and you are stuck if you don't have some other way to pay. I just combine all my gift cards onto one gift card and carry it and my ID with me.

I will have my credit cards and cash on me. I just didn't want to carry a $1000 GC around with me and chance loosing it. I have read that in order to cancel a GC and have the balance restored if lost is a pain and you have to have the original receipt. And since these cards are the compilation of many different cards I would never be able to find all of those receipts. So in effect it is like loosing cash. I do have the GC's combined down to two cards. Thank you!

 

[mdgineok]

Like others have said you can't put it on your account up front, but we use cards to pay for all of our Disney expenses every trip. I just leave them i our room safe and charge everything to our room and go down and pay it off every few days.

That sounds like my best plan. Thank you!

 

[HoneyPooh72]

One thing I will add, depending on the resort (value, moderate, deluxe), they only allow to reach a certain limit and then they go ahead and charge it to your card and reset to 0. It has been a few years since we have gone to Disney, but this is how they used to do it.

 

[mdgineok]

One thing I will add, depending on the resort (value, moderate, deluxe), they only allow to reach a certain limit and then they go ahead and charge it to your card and reset to 0. It has been a few years since we have gone to Disney, but this is how they used to do it.

Good point, I wonder what OKW is considered. I think I read it was like $500 at value, $1000 at moderate and $1500 at deluxe. Thank you!

 

[KT0191]

Good point, I wonder what OKW is considered. I think I read it was like $500 at value, $1000 at moderate and $1500 at deluxe. Thank you!

I've read many reports of resorts charging your credit card before you hit their limit for some unknown reason. I go to the lobby and pay down my balance quite often to prevent this from happening..just something to think about.

 

[Dis703]

FWIW, if they do charge your card early (which has happened to us) you can ask them to reverse the charges. It's an extra pain to have to spend the time getting it changed over, but we've had them do that several times now.

 

[HopperFan]

Good info above.
I highly suggest you go by each day and pay off your balance.
We have always had our card charged while we sleep the last night,
so for sure go by that night.
Last thing I want to do when leaving is be in a line trying to fix something.

 

[kayteekt]

Like others have said, you can't put it on your account up front, but we use cards to pay for all of our Disney expenses every trip. I just leave them in our room safe and charge everything to our room and go down and pay it off every few days.

This exactly. We just did it this in December. I paid it off about 4 days in and then again at checkout.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Okw is a deluxe resort

 

[Hopefully]

Deluxe Resort limits are now $2000. I believe every level increased as well.
I paid down my actual balance every 3 days or so and it was fine.

 

[MermaidMommy]

I will have my credit cards and cash on me. I just didn't want to carry a $1000 GC around with me and chance loosing it. I have read that in order to cancel a GC and have the balance restored if lost is a pain and you have to have the original receipt. And since these cards are the compilation of many different cards I would never be able to find all of those receipts. So in effect it is like loosing cash. I do have the GC's combined down to two cards. Thank you!

One safety step you can take if you've combined your cards at disneygiftcard.com, is to bring an extra, empty card with you to leave in the hotel safe. If, for some reason, you were to lose one of your gift cards that have funds on it, you can transfer the balance to the empty gift card immediately. Just make sure the $0 card is registered on the gift card website.

 

[Nancyg56]

I've read many reports of resorts charging your credit card before you hit their limit for some unknown reason. I go to the lobby and pay down my balance quite often to prevent this from happening..just something to think about.

We do this as well. I go every two or three days and pay it off, as well as the night before. On our departure day, no one charges back, and I make sure that on restaurant checks the tip is paid in cash.

 

[mdgineok]

Ec

One safety step you can take if you've combined your cards at disneygiftcard.com, is to bring an extra, empty card with you to leave in the hotel safe. If, for some reason, you were to lose one of your gift cards that have funds on it, you can transfer the balance to the empty gift card immediately. Just make sure the $0 card is registered on the gift card website.

Excellent idea! I have about 10 empty spare cards laying around. Thanks!