Updated Disney Gift Card Deals and More

[FoxC63]

We have a Disney trip planned in late Feb

Best Buy is off the table at this point, but Cash App/Sam's offer and buying gift cards at your grocery store should be most helpful. I'm confused, do you have the Chase Freedom? What are your stores?

Here are a few credit card offers:
Office Depot/OfficeMax Chase Offer: Get 10% Back On Up To $80 Spend

Expires 1/31/22. GC Galore​

Add the offer to your card.​

Buy a variable load DGC, add $80 to it and pay with Chase card.​

Rite Aid Chase Offers/BofA: 10% Back at Rite Aid, Max $6

Expires 2/28/22. Doctor of Credit​

Again add the offer to your card.​

Buy a variable load DGC, add $60 to it and pay with Chase card.​

 

[misssue23]

I'll have to check that out...I see a lot of savings mentioned here for Giant Eagle and Kroger but we don't have those here in New England. I mostly go to Stop & Shop, Shaws and Bjs. I was telling my husband I don't have a lot of time while working full time to "clip coupons" but that will definitely have more time to save money once we retire.

Do you have shoprite? I'm in CT and they usually have better prices and sales. I follow livingrichwithcoupons.com for shoprite match ups.

 

[FoxC63]

For Universal gift cards,
I've also had great luck using My Points to get virtual Visa cards and then turning them into Universal cards. During the pandemic, I focused a lot on doing this to the point where my November 2021 trip to Universal cost me less than $20 out of pocket. I wish I could do that for every trip!

Thanks for this, most if not all has been posted on
Universal Orlando Gift Cards & Landry's Select Club Offer
with confirmed locations.

I absolutely agree 100%, buying virtual Visa's and physical Visa/Mastercard is the way to go when buying Universal GC at their main site. I live in Michigan and there are no Universal GC sold here.

giftcards .com has sold VV at 10% off.
5% off is okay, but personally, I'd pass on that.

Currently, the cash app is 10% off at Sam's and you can buy VV or physical gc there. I believe there are shipping costs with the physical so stick with VV.

 

[FoxC63]

Do you have shoprite? I'm in CT and they usually have better prices and sales. I follow livingrichwithcoupons.com for shoprite match ups.

Thanks for the suggestion & link, I've added the info on Discount District

Rite Aid DP:

• Earn Status Tier Points when buying gift cards. GC Galore
• Also see Living Rich with Coupons for money saving tips! Post #6182 @misssue23

 

[sandam1]

giftcards .com has sold VV at 10% off.
5% off is okay, but I'd pass on that.

I couldn't remember what I purchased them at. But again, if you have an upcoming trip, anything is better than nothing.

And in case anyone wants to know, I have been able to use Universal gift cards at every place at Universal for hotels, ticket upgrades, food in the parks, in City Walk and at the hotel, and for merchandise. The only thing that I haven't tried is to use them for the hotel room deposit.

 

[sandam1]

Is there an advantage to converting Visa cards to Universal cards? Would you be able to just use the Visa card in the parks for meals, etc.? I have a few visa cards left over as gifts and that's what I was planning to do.

The virtual Visa's are just that - virtual. If you want a physical card, they take a cut (5% I think) to issue it. I'm sure there is a way to use them on a mobile app, but it adds a layer of complication (and another place where things could go wrong) that I don't want to chance.

 

[sandam1]

Thats pretty impressive. Ive never done my points. And not had the best luck with Swagbucks lately.

I spent quite a bit of time (because really, it's not like I had any place else to go) learning how to get the bonus points with weekly goals, streaks, etc. Now that I know the tricks, it is a lot easier to continue.

 

[FoxC63]

Is there an advantage to converting Visa cards to Universal cards? Would you be able to just use the Visa card in the parks for meals, etc.? I have a few visa cards left over as gifts and that's what I was planning to do.

Great question! And the answer is YES!
Visa/Mastercard Gift Cards DP:

• Tip Tolerance: 20% hold on the money that’s on the gift card when you use it at salons, restaurants, hotels or for a car rental. Basically any place you would likely leave a tip or incur incidental expenses.Tip Tolerance are on prepaid Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.
  • I experienced this at Universal Royal Pacific Resort when checking out of our Room Only with Visa GC's and not Mastercard GC's. YMMV.

If you're able to convert your VIsa/MC gift cards to ANYTHING else, I would do it.

Did you know Sam's Club accepts 2 methods of payment online?
That includes left over funds from your V/MC gc.

It might be worth reading the DP's found on the Main Page of Discount District

 

[dez1978]

I spent quite a bit of time (because really, it's not like I had any place else to go) learning how to get the bonus points with weekly goals, streaks, etc. Now that I know the tricks, it is a lot easier to continue.

I did not get that lucky (if thats what you'd call it) lol. My life remained pretty much the same just with a bunch of added stress of virtual learning, no eating out etc. I had my 5 days of "coronacation" as it's been dubbed at work last week. The last 2 years were filled with how I'd spend 10 days of quarantine watching netflix and doing surveys etc. lol. Nope... I got 5 days where I still took work phone calls and emails and watched like, 2 episodes of Yellowstone and took 2 naps.

If you have any tricks you'd like to share, I'd appreciate it.

 

[mickey916]

Great question! And the answer is YES!
Visa/Mastercard Gift Cards DP:

• Tip Tolerance: 20% hold on the money that’s on the gift card when you use it at salons, restaurants, hotels or for a car rental. Basically any place you would likely leave a tip or incur incidental expenses.Tip Tolerance are on prepaid Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.
  • I experienced this at Universal Royal Pacific Resort when checking out of our Room Only with Visa GC's and not Mastercard GC's. YMMV.

If you're able to convert your VIsa/MC gift cards to ANYTHING else, I would do it.

Did you know Sam's Club accepts 2 methods of payment online?
That includes left over funds from your V/MC gc.

It might be worth reading the DP's found on the Main Page of Discount District

Great info! Forgive me for being a "newbie", but do the Disney and Universal giftcards NOT do the 20% tip tolerance? Appreciate all the help!

 

[FoxC63]

giftcards .com has sold VV at 10% off.
5% off is okay, but I'd pass on that.

I should say, personally I'd pass on 5%

Expired Offer giftcards .com
You can save 5% on up to three $250 virtual Visa gift cards which more than offsets the purchase fees. You’ll be getting $750 worth of virtual Visa gift cards at a net cost of $730.35, so you’ll make $19.65 profit even before credit card rewards and shopping portal earnings.

And if you were to buy $750 DGC at Target with your Redcard you would automatically save $37.50

$19.65 profit vs $37.50 off - just saying, there are better ways to spend your money.

giftcards. com is owned and operated by Blackhawk Network, I don't think anyone earns credit card points nor cb on cc.
I think there’s also a Citi Offer for GiftCards.com, although I’ve seen people report that it doesn’t credit correctly.

 

[FoxC63]

Great info! Forgive me for being a "newbie", but do the Disney and Universal giftcards NOT do the 20% tip tolerance? Appreciate all the help!

No they don't. Zero tip tolerance on Disney & Universal gift cards. The bill might have a 20% tip built in at a restaurant but it's at your discretion. And I've only seen that on large parties.

When paying a tip, it's much preferred by your server that you pay in cash. Anything that leaves a paper trail back to your server will result in them having to pay taxes on. There is no getting around that.

 

[mickey916]

No they don't. Zero tip tolerance on Disney & Universal gift cards. The bill might have a 20% tip built in at a restaurant but it's at your discretion. And I've only seen that on large parties.

When paying a tip, it's much preferred by your server that you pay in cash. Anything that leaves a paper trail back to your server will result in them having to pay taxes on. There is no getting around that.

That's really helpful! Thanks again!

 

[dez1978]

No they don't. Zero tip tolerance on Disney & Universal gift cards. The bill might have a 20% tip built in at a restaurant but it's at your discretion. And I've only seen that on large parties.

When paying a tip, it's much preferred by your server that you pay in cash. Anything that leaves a paper trail back to your server will result in them having to pay taxes on. There is no getting around that.

This is true everywhere, not just Disney. And with other tipped positions too. Like massage therapists, hair dressers etc. Also a lot of places are starting to pay out tips on paychecks instead of nightly. So instead of paying it out as the credit cards are being ran, or as it's added to the cards at the end of the shift, it's all added on and paid out via the paycheck a week or 2 later. I'm glad I'm no longer working as a server. While I made a killing (far more than I make now with a degree) one of the best things was always having cash on hand. Like it was nothing for me to make 100-150/day in tips and that was 25 years ago working at a Golden Corral lol. But the perks of those jobs is cash on hand and only paying taxes on the minimum wage amount. I'd be mad now to have to wait until 2 weeks and have 100% of those tips reported and taxed.

 

[FoxC63]

Lastly, we passed our two year anniversary on the Updated Disney Gift Card Deals & More thread on Jan 5, 2022.

Happy Belated Anniversary to all of US!

If you have any suggestions or comments you would like to share to make this thread better, the pages are yours!
Constructive criticism is one thing, let's avoid the other!

One thing I'd like to do is add Share, Request, Trade Coupons once a week like on a Sunday. Don't know if that's feasible, how does everyone feel?
Edit to add: You can NOT list items for sale. Transactions would take place via PM only. Freebies can be posted at will.

 

[bbsearchlight]

We have a Disney trip planned in late Feb and I'm focused on gobbling up DGCs at the best discount I can get. I'm doing the Bestbuy offer (10%) every day right now on 2 separate accounts (works most days, I have 7 so far) but I'm also looking for any other deals greater than 5% (I can get 5% with my Target red card).

I thought I was going to find a good deal by signing up for a new Chase Freedom that was offering the 5x for groceries new bonus on top of the 5x grocery quarterly bonus, but that sign up offer has now changed to 5x for gas, which isn't helpful for DGCs.

Any other creative suggestions for DGCs at a greater than 5% discount right now (besides best buy?) - thanks!

I would suggest getting the cash app and signing up for Sam's Club membership. There are lots of deals out there to get the Sam's Club membership for very cheap or even free and the cash app has Sam's Club at 10% off right now. Someone wrote a detailed post about the cash app a little while back; I can't remember who it was.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

And in case anyone wants to know, I have been able to use Universal gift cards at every place at Universal for hotels, ticket upgrades, food in the parks, in City Walk and at the hotel, and for merchandise.

Will a Universal gift card work for Annual Passes online?

 

[XoxoAmy]

Ugh - I was all set to do the Sams Club DGC purchase with the Cash app 10% boost, and I get to the cart and I need to renew my Sams club membership ($45). I purchased the original membership a while back when I was accumulating DGCs for a prior trip. There are no Sams Club stores near me. Anyone know if I can use the "new" membership rebates on a renewal?

 

[Disneytrippin']

Could someone help me understand the Disney gift card discount going on at Bestbuy? How are you getting it?

 

[sandam1]

giftcards. com is owned and operated by Blackhawk Network, I don't think anyone earns credit card points nor cb on cc.

However, I know that My Points has a 1 point per dollar from them and that was bumped up to 2 points per dollar during one of their sales last year. So if you bought the max of $750, you got 1,500 which is equal to $10 towards a Virtual Visa plus the 1% general reward amount from the credit card. Every little bit helps!

Will a Universal gift card work for Annual Passes online?

No, it doesn't appear that you can use them to purchase Annual Passes online.

One thing about Universal is that their online system isn't set up to take multiple forms of payment for one transaction. If I recall correctly (and please don't take this as gospel since I called about this almost two years ago), their phone system can't either. The physical parks, restaurants, etc. can. So even if they can take a gift card over the phone to buy an annual pass, you would need a gift card large enough to cover the entire cost of the pass. And there is no website to combine gift card balances.

In addition, when I wanted to use a gift card to upgrade my annual pass, it couldn't be done at the ticket office at the hotel. We needed to go directly to Guest Services. We stopped at the one in City Walk on our arrival day and there was no line, but if you are trying to make early entry on your first day, that might be an issue.

That being said, you can often purchase discounted Universal tickets and then upgrade them to APs later. For instance, earlier this month, my friend bought a 2-park, 3 day ticket for about $30 off Universal's online price. Then she was able to upgrade it to a seasonal AP at no cost. If you chose to go this path, it would be best to keep your ticket money as a virtual Visa and buy through a reseller.