Purchasing Disney Gift Cards?

[wishing upon a star]

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right spot or not, but I have a question concerning Disney Gift Cards.

I've looked at DisneyGiftCards.com and DisneyShopping.com and it seems that they don't have a huge selection of Disney Gift Cards, as far as designs go.

Earlier I found out that Disneyland Resort's website lists 9 different Disney Gift Cards for purchase.

After freaking out for about an hour or two at the thought of not being able to purchase Disney Gift Cards, I finally found out where you can purchase gift cards on Walt Disney World's website. Walt Disney World's website lists 6 different Disney Gift Card designs, excluding a few repeated designs found on Disneyland Resort's website.

I really like some of the Disney Gift Card designs on Disneyland Resort's website.

If I wanted to buy a few Disney Gift Cards from Disneyland Resort's website, would I be able to use them at Walt Disney World?

I may get to go on my 1st trip to Walt Disney World next year, if we can save up enough money to go, and I would love to get a few Disney Gift Cards for my Mother and my Aunt from Disneyland Resort/Walt Disney World websites and DisneyShopping.com.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

The Disneyland gift cards are regular Disney gift cards. They can be used at DLR, WDW and DCL as well as the Disney Store and DisneyShoppingOnline.com. Check the fine print at the bottom of the DL Gift Card order page!

I just got the ones that I ordered last week. I ordered before they put the Halloween one up on the website. I guess that I'm going to have to place another order! I agree that the DL cards are cuter than the WDW cards. Plus DL ships for free while the WDW website charges a fee to ship the GCs.

 

[kristenrice]

And once you get a design you like, hang on to it! It can be reloaded!

I have one that has lasted three trips already. Every time I return pop cans or cash in spare change, I take the money to the Disney store and have them reload my gift card. It's a nice way to make sure that the money stays as "Disney" money and it's easier to keep track of than the Disney Dollars.

 

[wishing upon a star]

The Disneyland gift cards are regular Disney gift cards. They can be used at DLR, WDW and DCL as well as the Disney Store and DisneyShoppingOnline.com. Check the fine print at the bottom of the DL Gift Card order page!

I just got the ones that I ordered last week. I ordered before they put the Halloween one up on the website. I guess that I'm going to have to place another order! I agree that the DL cards are cuter than the WDW cards. Plus DL ships for free while the WDW website charges a fee to ship the GCs.

Oh, geez! Walt Disney World does charge $5 for shipping!! I didn't hit 'Checkout' to even look before.

If we get to go to Walt Disney World, I'm planning on getting two $50 1st Visit gift cards, one for each my Mom and my Aunt. I also plan on getting the Minnie Birthday Gift Card from DisneyShopping in $50 for my Mom's birthday that we would celebrate while at Walt Disney World.

And once you get a design you like, hang on to it! It can be reloaded!

I have one that has lasted three trips already. Every time I return pop cans or cash in spare change, I take the money to the Disney store and have them reload my gift card. It's a nice way to make sure that the money stays as "Disney" money and it's easier to keep track of than the Disney Dollars.

I would alsolutely love to do this!! I love the thought of reloading one gift card constantly, having designated "Disney" money. Money that is practically useless anywhere else except for Disney. The only problem is, is that there isn't a Disney Store close by where I would be able to go to constantly add money. I would love to do this, but without a Disney Store close by, it's impossible. Haha, being able to take the change that I try to save and load it onto a gift card would make my day, my Mom wouldn't be able to "borrow" anymore change that I'm trying to save up for a vacation. My saving efforts aren't going very well, I need a Mom-proof box.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Check out my post here on how to "reload" Disney GCs over the phone http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32840915&postcount=2. I love my Alice card.

 

[WillCAD]

I think the reason there are different designs available from DLR and WDW is a leftover from the days before there was a unified Disney Gift Card.

In years past, there were separate gift cards available for DLR, WDW, and the Disney Store. Each was only good at the venue where they were purchased, and they were not interchangable.

In about 2004 or so, Disney unified the gift card system, creating the current Disney Gift Card, which is good pretty much at every Disney venue in the US. But since Disneyland already had their web site in place for selling the old Disneyland gift cards, I think what happened is that the site continued exactly as before, but now sells only the current Disney Gift Card instead of the old Disneyland gift card.

But the way a gift card works is quite simple; the card itself contains no information other than a serial number. The info and value about a gift card is all contained on the computer system that supports the card. So, if Disneyland had a contract with some manufacturer to print a bunch of different designs for their gift cards, and the contract continued for years after the changover, no problem - the manufacturer could continue to print the same cards, with no changes, and they would work fine on the new system.

Eventually, all of this gift card, credit card, and debit card nonsense will go by the wayside, and we'll each be able to access any financial system with biometric identification like fingerprints, retinal scans, DNA scans, or perhaps a microchip embedded under out skin.

 

[bumbershoot]

You could also just wait until you're there, pop into a shop and buy some...

But yes, as everyone has said, you can simply order them from disneyland.com.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I had no clue the ones on DL's website were so cute! Thanks for the tip!

 

[wishing upon a star]

Check out my post here on how to "reload" Disney GCs over the phone http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32840915&postcount=2. I love my Alice card.

THANK YOU!! I'm glad that there's an option to add money to the gift cards over the phone. Thank you for telling me.

You could also just wait until you're there, pop into a shop and buy some...

But yes, as everyone has said, you can simply order them from disneyland.com.

The thought of waiting until I'm there to buy the gift cards worries me, haha. It would be hard to sneak away from them to buy the gift cards, or to be able to buy the gift cards without them paying attention. Actually, getting lost in Walt Disney World as a result of sneaking away worries me even more!

I like to plan, so I'm going to make gift basket type surprises for the both of them, including the gift cards. Parents surprise their children and I surprise my Mom and Aunt. Now if only my Mom and Aunt got distracted easily so I will be able to pull off all these surprises that I want to do.

I have big expensive magical dreams full of surprises, shocked faces and pixie dust.

 

[Goofy&Sleepy]

When we were at WDW in May, they had some really cute designs & you got a FREE pin when you purchased a $50 or more card. It was some sort of celebration promotion. I didn't see it til after I had purchased my $25 card unfortunately. Also, I purchased the card & got the SPECIAL they had in the shop at that time (a tote bag for $10). I'm not sure if the CM was suppose to do that but she did. We were at Mousegear @ Epcot.

 

[wishing upon a star]

When we were at WDW in May, they had some really cute designs & you got a FREE pin when you purchased a $50 or more card. It was some sort of celebration promotion. I didn't see it til after I had purchased my $25 card unfortunately. Also, I purchased the card & got the SPECIAL they had in the shop at that time (a tote bag for $10). I'm not sure if the CM was suppose to do that but she did. We were at Mousegear @ Epcot.

I saw a picture from the DisneyGiftCard Twitter account about the $50 Disney Gift Card + free pin, they are ADORABLE!! Too bad I can't get a couple of them though.

 

[squirrel]

When we were at WDW in May, they had some really cute designs & you got a FREE pin when you purchased a $50 or more card. It was some sort of celebration promotion. I didn't see it til after I had purchased my $25 card unfortunately. Also, I purchased the card & got the SPECIAL they had in the shop at that time (a tote bag for $10). I'm not sure if the CM was suppose to do that but she did. We were at Mousegear @ Epcot.

Are they still running this deal with the free pin?

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

I have a question - - I am getting a $50 rebate from AT&T for a cellphone I bought. The rebate will come in the form of a prepaid Visa card and the paperwork states the card needs to be used 120 days after the card is issued so that's ~ January 2010.

We are planning to go back to WDW in October 2010. Can I buy a Disney Gift Card with the prepaid Visa card? That way I can save that $50 and then add more money to the card over the next year.

TIA!,
Debbie

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I have a question - - I am getting a $50 rebate from AT&T for a cellphone I bought. The rebate will come in the form of a prepaid Visa card and the paperwork states the card needs to be used 120 days after the card is issued so that's ~ January 2010.

We are planning to go back to WDW in October 2010. Can I buy a Disney Gift Card with the prepaid Visa card? That way I can save that $50 and then add more money to the card over the next year.

TIA!,
Debbie

I was able to do it about 2 years ago. I got a Simon Mall 'virtual' visa gift card for $25 with my Coke points (good on online and phone purchases only). I went to the disney shopping website and bought a $25 gift card with no shipping charges. It went through no problem!

 

[mickeymouseclubhouse]

I saw a picture from the DisneyGiftCard Twitter account about the $50 Disney Gift Card + free pin, they are ADORABLE!! Too bad I can't get a couple of them though.

Those are cute! Hmm, if that promotion is still going on maybe I'll just wait until we get to WDW and buy those. I was going to order the Halloween design from Disnleyland.com but the pins would be cute to add to my daughters' collection...the cards are for them (Surprise trip).

Also, does anybody know anything about the spend $200 at World of Disney and get a $40 gift card promo that I just saw on twitter? Is that still going on? If so, that's a good deal too!

 

[jgraney106]

When you are adding funds to a Disney Gift Card, do you have to do it in $25 amounts? Can it be less than $25.00? Or how about an odd amount like $35.00 or $ 47.68 etc...?
I just bought one a few minutes ago and was wondering about it . Thought it might be a good way to save for a Disney vacation.
Thanks for the info!

 

[WillCAD]

When you are adding funds to a Disney Gift Card, do you have to do it in $25 amounts? Can it be less than $25.00? Or how about an odd amount like $35.00 or $ 47.68 etc...?
I just bought one a few minutes ago and was wondering about it . Thought it might be a good way to save for a Disney vacation.
Thanks for the info!

You can add funds to your card in any amount from $5 to the max the card will hold, $1,500.

I typically add either $20 or $30 at a time, but I've added as much as a couple of hundred at a time. I use my DGCs as a method to save for my yearly WDW trips by adding money to them every payday throughout the year.

I've only added funds to the card at the Disney Store, so I don't know if the phone number mentioned earlier in the thread has different rules.

 

[extremesoccermom]

DD15 has 2 that I reload and use every trip. One has Ratatouille - she gets a certain amount to use for snacks on that one.
The other is a Mickey/Minnie one. We use that for misc purchases. When she wants a new shirt or game that I will not buy her she has her own money.

 

[kristenrice]

When you are adding funds to a Disney Gift Card, do you have to do it in $25 amounts? Can it be less than $25.00? Or how about an odd amount like $35.00 or $ 47.68 etc...?
I just bought one a few minutes ago and was wondering about it . Thought it might be a good way to save for a Disney vacation.
Thanks for the info!

I've reloaded at the Disney Store for as little as $3. I return our pop bottles/cans and get $0.10 each. I try to wait until I have at least $5 saved, but since the mall is across town, I take whatever I have with me when I venture over there. Lately, if I only have $3-4 worth of can money, I "top it off" with my spare change. I'm going over there again today so I will ask what the minimum is to reload a card.

Also, keep your receipt after each reload. I *think* that if you lose the card and can produce a receipt, you can get it replaced. I'm going to ask about that one too.

 

[jgraney106]

I've reloaded at the Disney Store for as little as $3. I return our pop bottles/cans and get $0.10 each. I try to wait until I have at least $5 saved, but since the mall is across town, I take whatever I have with me when I venture over there. Lately, if I only have $3-4 worth of can money, I "top it off" with my spare change. I'm going over there again today so I will ask what the minimum is to reload a card.

Also, keep your receipt after each reload. I *think* that if you lose the card and can produce a receipt, you can get it replaced. I'm going to ask about that one too.

Thank you for the info. I will remember to keep the receipt! Please do share the info you get from the Disney Store today. I unfortunately will have to add money by telephone though , because they closed our Disney Stores.