Stateroom Account

[Heatherdbby]

Question.
My son for his birthday racked up about 300 in disney gift cards since the family knows his birthday present from me and my mom is the Disney Cruise.
With just me and him going (and he is 3) and its a three night cruise, I don't see is blowing through the whole 300, so if I load all the giftcards to my onboard account at the start of the cruise, and we didn't use it what happens to the remaining balance?
Do they give me a giftcard back for it?

Second question, can I use a disney gift card to pay for a room at disney? Because his grandfather mailed him a card specifically for a night at a resort after we disembark

 

[Dug720]

Any refund will go back onto the method of payment. So if you give them 10 cards, you need to hold onto all 10 because it will go in the reverse order they were put on.

BEST thing to do is go to disneygiftcard.com and combine them onto one card. Easier for you, and MUCH easier for the guest services crew member. (And much less ire from people in line behind you if you hand over ONE card vs. a stack).

I have used them for booking a room at WDW - but if it's reserved already for room only it should already be paid for.

 

[Shanti]

When booking room-only at WDW you only need to pay for the first night in advance, so yes, you can pay the balance off with gift cards upon arrival.

 

[Dug720]

When booking room-only at WDW you only need to pay for the first night in advance, so yes, you can pay the balance off with gift cards upon arrival.

True. If they are staying for more than one night they can certainly put that gift card on the account for payment for additional nights.

 

[Heatherdbby]

True. If they are staying for more than one night they can certainly put that gift card on the account for payment for additional nights.

I havent booked it yet because I was going to just hotwire whatever was cheapest, but, they were like no that will be my gift, They asked how much did I think it would be and I was like Idk maybe 150. and they gave me a giftcard for that. So I will email the TA and just mention that I am paying with a Disney card.

 

[Dug720]

I havent booked it yet because I was going to just hotwire whatever was cheapest, but, they were like no that will be my gift, They asked how much did I think it would be and I was like Idk maybe 150. and they gave me a giftcard for that. So I will email the TA and just mention that I am paying with a Disney card.

Yeah, for a room-only reservation you have to pay the first night up-front. If the gift card doesn't cover it (honestly, pretty likely it won't totally if it is for $150 depending on WDW resort and time of year), you can use a credit card for the rest.

I will say, I'm 99.9% sure you cannot use a Disney Gift Card going through a third-party site.

 

[mmouse37]

If the TA agency books directly with Disney and pays directly to Disney (not an agency check for payment) it should be able to be done. Not all Travel agencies pay directly to Disney.

MJ

 

[Boysmom1626]

You can also use his gift cards directly in the gift shops eliminating the need to add it to your stateroom account.

 

[Quellman]

Any refund will go back onto the method of payment. So if you give them 10 cards, you need to hold onto all 10 because it will go in the reverse order they were put on.

BEST thing to do is go to disneygiftcard.com and combine them onto one card. Easier for you, and MUCH easier for the guest services crew member. (And much less ire from people in line behind you if you hand over ONE card vs. a stack).

I have used them for booking a room at WDW - but if it's reserved already for room only it should already be paid for.

The Bolded section was NOT my experience in May. At guest services, I went to pay down my bill and add money to my account. They notified me that the money added would be refunded to the credit card on file at the end of the cruise. Indeed, residual money was put back on my credit card at the end of the cruise.

The front desk at Polynesian was similar, you could only pay off what was on your room charge, and not load extra on. So they removed me from express checkout so it wouldn't bill my credit card, allowing me to apply gift cards at check out.

 

[Dug720]

The Bolded section was NOT my experience in May. At guest services, I went to pay down my bill and add money to my account. They notified me that the money added would be refunded to the credit card on file at the end of the cruise. Indeed, residual money was put back on my credit card at the end of the cruise.

The front desk at Polynesian was similar, you could only pay off what was on your room charge, and not load extra on. So they removed me from express checkout so it wouldn't bill my credit card, allowing me to apply gift cards at check out.

Just saying what I've always been told.

And no, I have never been able to pre-load at WDW. For some reason DCL hasn't shared the system to refund the gift cards with WDW.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

I had a similar situation recently. I'd paid off our Dec E. Carib cruise with Target purchased gift cards. Wonderfully, I got a refund due to change in port fees and whatnot. Instead of refunding to the cards, I asked for and was granted an application of the credit to our Aug '18 Alaska cruise.