Pre-Pay Room Tab with a Gift Card?

[Jaybird6]

DH and I are going to WDW in October with Free Dining and had a question about our room tab. I know you can link a credit card to your magic band/room to pay for things like souvenirs and such, but was wondering about using a gift card or Disney rewards redemption card to pay that tab off. Also, would I be able to use that tab to pay for tips during our dining reservations, or should I bring cash with us? Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[christianweecare]

We charge everything back to our room. I go to guest services every few days and pay down our charges with Disney gift cards. We put our tips on our room charge, as well.

 

[ChanaC]

I don't think they take things like Visa gift cards as your "card on file." A few years ago the police busted some guys who were staying at Disney for free because they would put down the gift cards on file and leave. Only after leaving did Disney find out there was $1 or something small on the cards. By then it was too late to get another card and the criminals got away. Well, almost.

 

[purple figment]

You can link a credit card to your room account and charge everything, including tips, to your room. If you want to use gift cards to pay down the balance you need to go to the front desk before your account reaches the limit set for your resort level ($500 values, $1,000 mods, $1,500 deluxes) or else the credit card on file will be charged. If that happens you'll have to go to the front desk and have the charges reversed and your gift cards used - it can be done, but it can also be time consuming. You'll also need to go to the front desk the night before your check out day because any outstanding balance will be charged to the credit card during the night before check out day. There are a few restaurants where you will not be able to charge back to your room - anywhere at the Swan and Dolphin except the Disney Gift Store in the lobby and at Shades of Green.

 

[nicki.momof3]

We only bring gift cards. I buy them at Kroger and get 4x fuel points. Then we charge them on our Disney visa and get those points - win - win.

Anyway, at a deluxe resort they will not ding your credit card until you spend $500. We charge everything to our room and every few days we go and pay it off with gift cards.

 

[Jaybird6]

Thank you to everyone who posted!