Paying off Magic Band charging with gift cards

[billsfan]

At the end of your vacation can you pay off your magic band charging with Disney gift cards or does it automatically get charged to your credit card?

Thanks

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Depends what you mean by "at the end of your vacation."

We went down about half way through our vacation to pay off what we had charged to that point. And then the night before we checked out, we paid the rest of what we had in cards. At the end, very end of our vacation, our credit card was charged for what was left on our room.

 

[Lovinallthingsdisney]

At the end of your vacation can you pay off your magic band charging with Disney gift cards or does it automatically get charged to your credit card?

Thanks

Each resort "type" has a different dollar level you are allowed to apply to your account before you are "charged". I am sorry that I don't recall those amounts. As long as you apply gift card payment before you reach that limit, you will be fine. Also, regardless of limit, they will charge any final balance at some point on the last night of your stay. I don't know if there has ever been any specific "time" identified here before.

 

[Sugardimples]

You can do this but don't wait until the morning of your last day. Go the night before. They will run your card during the night. We do this all the time.

 

[Hopefully]

As mentioned above there are resort maximums allowed prior to the CC on file being charged. I believe they currently are: Value $1000, Moderate $1500 and Deluxe $2000.
I applied my rewards points to pay my balance every few days. They will not allow you to have a credit balance to charge against, but you can pay any amount accrued with the Gift Cards. Definitely go the night before checkout. The charge is applied to your credit card about 2 AM the morning of your check out.
Have Fun

 

[lovedisney123]

I do not understand why they won't let you carry a credit of gift cards so you do not have to go to the desk and apply it throughout your trip. On the cruise you can carry a credit. So it seems like it should be the same way. We are going to be at Boardwalk next week and I want to use up my gift cards, so I will be making a daily visit to the front desk, but it seems like it would be easy to make this change. Perhaps in the future it will happen.

 

[Fangorn]

I do not understand why they won't let you carry a credit of gift cards so you do not have to go to the desk and apply it throughout your trip. On the cruise you can carry a credit. So it seems like it should be the same way. We are going to be at Boardwalk next week and I want to use up my gift cards, so I will be making a daily visit to the front desk, but it seems like it would be easy to make this change. Perhaps in the future it will happen.

The explanation I have been given on three separate occasions at three different resorts is that they can't (won't) allow a credit balance using giftcards because if they had to refund any of that balance, the system requires that it be put back onto the same giftcard from whence the funds came. They cannot refund to a new giftcard, and they cannot guarantee that you still have the original giftcard in your possession. Therefore, since they may not actually be able to give you your money back, they will not do a credit balance with giftcards.

You can have a credit balance if you give them cash. THAT, they can refund to you if necessary.

FWIW: A similar thing happens if you use giftcards to pay the deposit on your room and then later cancel the reservation. The money will be refunded to the original giftcard (just like it would with a credit card). I've had this happen a couple of times. Plus, every time I've used a giftcard to pay my room deposit, the CM has stressed that I needed to keep the giftcard, just in case I cancel, as the funds would be returned to that card.

Steve

 

[IrishNYC]

The explanation I have been given on three separate occasions at three different resorts is that they can't (won't) allow a credit balance using giftcards because if they had to refund any of that balance, the system requires that it be put back onto the same giftcard from whence the funds came. They cannot refund to a new giftcard, and they cannot guarantee that you still have the original giftcard in your possession. Therefore, since they may not actually be able to give you your money back, they will not do a credit balance with giftcards.

You can have a credit balance if you give them cash. THAT, they can refund to you if necessary.

FWIW: A similar thing happens if you use giftcards to pay the deposit on your room and then later cancel the reservation. The money will be refunded to the original giftcard (just like it would with a credit card). I've had this happen a couple of times. Plus, every time I've used a giftcard to pay my room deposit, the CM has stressed that I needed to keep the giftcard, just in case I cancel, as the funds would be returned to that card.

Steve

I agree. I paid for our last trip entirely with gift cards. My TA stressed that I needed to hold on to all of them in case I needed to cancel.

Our next trip will be paid the same way. I even had a one night room-only that was paid for in part with a gc, and when I canceled that night it went back on the gc.

I keep a spreadsheet of all gc used like that, as well as keeping the physical card, marked with when I used it. They all get tossed after we return.

 

[lovedisney123]

OH OK, I guess I can see the problem. I just registered my cards today and transferred all the balances to one card so I only have to deal with one while we are there. Perhaps they will come up with a way to do this in the future. It seems like something they could find a way to deal with eventually. Perhaps letting you apply the cards before the trip so you don't have to worry about them. That is what we do on the cruise.

 

[buzznina]

If you have a bunch of GCs, I highly suggest using disneygiftcard site to combine them, you can combine up to $1000 onto each card. I usually do a few cards at $500 each.

 

[lovedisney123]

If you have a bunch of GCs, I highly suggest using disneygiftcard site to combine them, you can combine up to $1000 onto each card. I usually do a few cards at $500 each.

Just learned about this today and went out and did this. So at least now I only have to handle one card.

 

[georgina]

I do not understand why they won't let you carry a credit of gift cards so you do not have to go to the desk and apply it throughout your trip. On the cruise you can carry a credit. So it seems like it should be the same way. We are going to be at Boardwalk next week and I want to use up my gift cards, so I will be making a daily visit to the front desk, but it seems like it would be easy to make this change. Perhaps in the future it will happen.

You shouldn't have to go every day to pay off your charges; they won't get charged off to your credit card that quickly. I go once during my trip and then the evening before we check out. (I do pay off my whole room charge a few days before we arrive, so it is just our dining that we charge to the room during our stay.)

 

[melana]

i go once in the middle of my trip and the night before we check out to settle any charges with gift cards. it has worked well for me.

 

[cigar95]

You can do this but don't wait until the morning of your last day. Go the night before. They will run your card during the night. We do this all the time.

I learned recently that if you get to the front desk and you credit card has already been run, it's possible to reverse that transaction and put the charge on a GC. (Hat tip to Backside of Magic podcast.)
This may be one of those things that not all front desk CMs know how to do or are even aware of, so one might need to ask a supervisor for assistance. It also may depend on how much time has passed since the first charge.

 

[bumbershoot]

OH OK, I guess I can see the problem. I just registered my cards today and transferred all the balances to one card so I only have to deal with one while we are there. Perhaps they will come up with a way to do this in the future. It seems like something they could find a way to deal with eventually. Perhaps letting you apply the cards before the trip so you don't have to worry about them. That is what we do on the cruise.

They used to do it. I don't believe that the refund reason given is the reason. I personally think that IT just didn't put in the option or someone in charge just doesn't want it to happen.

You can put a GC down after charges are made, and if there were a refund given after that it would cause a balance, so...

You shouldn't have to go every day to pay off your charges; they won't get charged off to your credit card that quickly. I go once during my trip and then the evening before we check out. (I do pay off my whole room charge a few days before we arrive, so it is just our dining that we charge to the room during our stay.)

Depends on how much you're charging. Monitor what you charge and go to pay it off with the timing that works for that and what your resort sets as a limit.

I learned recently that if you get to the front desk and you credit card has already been run, it's possible to reverse that transaction and put the charge on a GC. (Hat tip to Backside of Magic podcast.)
This may be one of those things that not all front desk CMs know how to do or are even aware of, so one might need to ask a supervisor for assistance. It also may depend on how much time has passed since the first charge.

They have had that capability for years. The question I had (on our first trip in 2010) is if I trust them enough to do it. I didn't so I didn't have them do it. Saved the GC for the next trip.

 

[lovedisney123]

OK, thanks! We will be there tomorrow. I will just go every other day. I want to use up the gift card before anything charges to my credit card. At least now I am going dealing with one gift card! I had no idea I could consolidate them until yesterday. Now I may start buying gift cards throughout the year for our next trip. I just never wanted to deal with a huge stack of cards before. I will have to look into this Target Red Card thing (we do not have one). Thanks! Only 24 hours before we leave!