Question about using Disney gift cards to pay off balance

[vdoucet78]

Our final payment on our package is due next month. We paid the initial $200 deposit, and the remaining balance we need to pay off we kept in savings. So now I'm considering buying gift cards at Target with my 5% off Red Card and using these to pay the balance off after reading here about that idea. It's great and would save us $200, which we could use towards tips, etc. But that's alot of gift cards! I'd need 80 off them! Do you really apply payment $50 at a time or is there a better way to do this? We are paying through our travel agent (first time using one) so I need to check first that I can even use the gift cards. Also, since we're already planning next year's trip, I'm considering buying gift cards everytime I'm at Target (couple times a month) and saving them to use towards dining and tickets and our room (if we don't rent DVC points). How do you keep up with all the cards throughout the year? I'm so paranoid I might lose them one way or another - wallet stolen, house burglarized, etc. Is there a way to have all the gift cards combined into one? Thanks!

 

[dpswift]

No they cannot be combined. I would buy the cards and pay it off on the website a few at a time. After using the card to pay down the balance I wrote used on the card and put it in a plastic bag. Yes it was a pain but the small discount made up for the inconvience.

Sorry I missed the part that you were using a travel agent. It all depends on the agent. I have a friend that goes multiple times a year and her agent has no problem with her using a few cards every couple of weeks.

 

[klmrph]

I just booked my trip through a travel agent and took pics of the backs of the gift cards and she called them all in to Disney. I had about 35 cards. I lined five of them up stacked on top of each other and used my cell phone to take pics and texted them to her.

 

[auger]

Not sure how much your TA will like it, but I have never had any attitude from a CM when calling WDW with a lot of cards. I did it for the trip I just returned from. $50 at a time, but well worth the savings. Just call your TA when you have plenty of time (and well before their closing time), or do as pp said and call them in in batches, say 15-20 at a time.

 

[luvmy3]

I paid my entire balance using GCs through my TA. I did not send them all at once though. I emailed him the numbers in batches of 10 to 15. Never had an issue, he told me that many people pay that way

 

[kristenrice]

Yesterday, I finally switched DD's prescription over to Target so we could earn the 5% pharmacy rewards card. Since her Rx is written as "dispense OTC", our insurance does not have a copay so it is free AND it is eligible for the rewards. DH also has one that needs to be refilled so we are going to switch that one over too.

Hopefully, Target will send out the coupon for 5% off your purchase with their holiday mailing again. I would love to stack the 5% Pharmacy rewards with the 5% coupon AND the 5% RedCard discount! I figured that it would save us almost $130 off our our DVC annual dues. Even if I only stack the pharmacy rewards with the RedCard discount, it still saves us almost $90.

My husband thinks I am crazy for doing all of this, but I don't have to do anything different, except pick up the prescriptions while I am at Target instead of stopping at Walgreen's on the way home. It's not like we'd only save a few dollars either. If I had done this since 2009, I'd have already saved about $400 and that is just on gift cards for annual MF's. That doesn't include the GC's I've purchased for dining and AP's.

 

[AliciaS]

Ohhhh.....Now that 5% holiday mailer coupon sounds interesting. We don't have any prescriptions so I was wondering if there were ever any random 5% coupons. Anyone know when this usually comes out? I still have about $2000 worth to buy and I sure would like to save another (nearly) $200 vs $100!

 

[Raeryan50]

Thank you. I had completely forgotten about the 5%. I will be using this to pay off my upcoming vacation and use it to purchase GC's for while I am at Disney World.

 

[SnowWhite12]

What is a Target Redcard?

 

[kristenrice]

What is a Target Redcard?

It's their store credit card. You can also get the debit version with the same benefits.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Msmissymouser]

I purchased $3250 in gift cards last week @ Target saving $316 using the red card & a 5% pharmacy coupon. Called Disney & "Clay" was awesome!!! He took all 65 gift cards

 

[MouseLover24]

I purchased $3250 in gift cards last week @ Target saving $316 using the red card & a 5% pharmacy coupon. Called Disney & "Clay" was awesome!!! He took all 65 gift cards

Which number did you call?

 

[pittsburghmom]

Yep, I plan on buying gift cards at our local grocery store (Giant Eagle) the next time they have double fuel perks on gift cards (should be around black friday). This will get me around $600 in "free" gas. Luckily, they have Disney gift cards as high as $500 increments....

 

[scrapbooksellman]

How do I input the gift cards myself?
Or do I have to call disney to pay down my balance?

 

[CharmingElla]

This is a great idea! Does anyone know if the gift cards expire? We're not going until another year or so, so I was thinking of picking them up here and there. I have a Kroger and that would be great with the 4x fuel points they run!

 

[SGMCO]

Paying off balance with Gift cards, do you always have to call Disney to pay with these or can you pay your balance online with GC?

 

[2kids1dog]

You can pay the balance online providing you booked through Disney directly.