Updated Disney Gift Card Deals and More

[FoxC63]

A while back I bought 12 pounds of Valencia oranges from Kroger for $2.97. It made 10 cups of juice, not for drinking though as Valencia oranges are super super sweet. I water bath canned them in half pint jars (8oz) and will use them for sauces and other recipes. Great staple to have in your pantry.

Anyway... lalala!

 

[FoxC63]

Oh, just got back from Costco Business Center in Southfield MI.
It opened on January 25, 2024. It's not like our regular Costco, there's no gas, no bakery, no food court, no clothing, no electronics, no jewelry, no pharmacy, etc.

What they did have was large bags 25-50 pounds of dry beans; garbanzo, red kidney, black beans. Very little organic dry goods, frozen and fresh produce.
The Southfield location has a very nice selection of grass fed meats and frozen wild caught sockeye salmon.

The meat was in a walk in freezer. It was so darn cold DH and I had to take breaks just to warm up! It was pretty hot here so we were in shorts and linen shirts. Omg, sooo cold! Now we'll be prepared when we go back.
We also took a large cooler and filled it with igloo ice blocks. Yup, I was planning on buying a lot of meat for canning.
It was a good trip.

 

[Gator Kate]

I added my hubby as an AU on my Target Redcard but am waiting for his card to be delivered. Until then I set up a Target Circle account for him online. This will work for online orders but is there a way to use my phone app in the store with his circle account? Could I sign out of my account and sign-in with his?
Thanks.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Could I sign out of my account and sign-in with his?

Yup

 

[FoxC63]

This is a really big itinerary for Japan. Even though things are close together, the travel can take a while! I wouldn’t attempt this in under two weeks; ideally three. Hakone is gorgeous (make sure you can cover up any tattoos if you have any; otherwise you can’t go in the onsen). I highly recommend stopping in Hiroshima and seeing the Peace Memorial Museum as well. It is sobering. Kurashiki is also a gorgeous and underrated stop.

@atthebeachclub

I was trying to reach out via PM, you have it turned off?

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Interesting that so many folks are making trips out to Japan this year and next! I'm so stoked for TDR. After 4 nights at Disney we'll also spend 5 nights in Kyoto and taking day trips form there, including Hiroshima, one night at a ryokan, and then 4 in Tokyo. Then hopefully in about 3 years we'll go back and see other parts of the country, like Hokkaido.

Ugh, really wish DGCs worked at TDR!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I think my biggest savings will be applying for a new cc with a bonus. We'll see what happens with that.
I'm happy to see TDR offers packages. Back in 2015 I believe they started offering them to students (living in Japan). Thanks for the 2am warning, I'll make a note of that.



We stayed at the Miracosta in 2015. I haven't been to the Resort site but back then you could only book 2 nights. If you wanted 4 nights, you had to call again the next day which we did and while there they actually made us leave our room to go two doors down for the last two nights. PITA. Hope that's changed.
Not sure if they still offer these cute amenity tins but I got two, one from each room. The lower right is my photo.

View attachment 874640
They also had postcards and really cute white plastic Mickey Mouse spoons/coffee stirs.

I'm sure so much has changed.

These are lovely! Hopefully we can stay there. If not, we'll be okay at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel since we plan to go back in about 3 years, we can try again for Mira Costa then.

 

[FoxC63]

Have you peeps seen all the cool new Haunted Mansion merchandise at Shopdisney?

Love the doll and the ornaments!

 

[FoxC63]

Interesting that so many folks are making trips out to Japan this year and next! I'm so stoked for TDR. After 4 nights at Disney we'll also spend 5 nights in Kyoto and taking day trips from there, including Hiroshima, one night at a ryokan, and then 4 in Tokyo. Then hopefully in about 3 years we'll go back and see other parts of the country, like Hokkaido.

Ugh, really wish DGCs worked at TDR!

Love Kyoto! So much to do, so little time!
I wonder if we can use prepaids to buy our rail passes?

 

[atthebeachclub]

@atthebeachclub

I was trying to reach out via PM, you have it turned off?

Is that the “allow users to start conversations with you” button? I just turned it on!

 

[FoxC63]

These are lovely! Hopefully we can stay there. If not, we'll be okay at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel since we plan to go back in about 3 years, we can try again for Mira Costa then.

I clearly remember our rooms at Mira Costa, we paid more to have a view. Our window, standard size, actually gave us a sliver view of the Mediterranean Harbor. It was so small you couldn't even take proper pictures. The other room we didn't splurge and that view faced buildings. I don't think we'll be spending top dollar again. The ease of being in the park the moment you step out was priceless.

 

[FoxC63]

Oh the other thing I didn't like at Mira Costa was house keeping knocking in the early am just to count how much booze was left in the mini fridge. DH bought his own so there was a mix up.
I think it best to ask them to empty it before we get there or after. I wonder is that's possible?

So if buying park tickets separately, can you use prepaid gift cards?

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I clearly remember our rooms at Mira Costa, we paid more to have a view. Our window, standard size, actually gave us a sliver view of the Mediterranean Harbor. It was so small you couldn't even take proper pictures. The other room we didn't splurge and that view faced buildings. I don't think we'll be spending top dollar again. The ease of being in the park the moment you step out was priceless.

Yeah, I don't care about the view, we'll hardly be in the room. I just want that park entrance!

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

Interesting that so many folks are making trips out to Japan this year and next! I'm so stoked for TDR. After 4 nights at Disney we'll also spend 5 nights in Kyoto and taking day trips form there, including Hiroshima, one night at a ryokan, and then 4 in Tokyo. Then hopefully in about 3 years we'll go back and see other parts of the country, like Hokkaido.

Ugh, really wish DGCs worked at TDR!

If you haven’t been to South Korea I would definitely recommend adding a trip over to Seoul on your second trip to Japan. Been there twice and love it (not as much as Japan).

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

If you haven’t been to South Korea I would definitely recommend adding a trip over to Seoul on your second trip to Japan. Been there twice and love it (not as much as Japan).

Thanks! I had been thinking we would add something else, now I know what! I think there are ways of flying biz class on Asiana Air on points by booking with its travel partners.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

Thanks! I had been thinking we would add something else, now I know what! I think there are ways of flying biz class on Asiana Air on points by booking with its travel partners.

It’s a short flight from Japan so I don’t know if business class is necessary.

DMZ tour is worth it even though the JSA tour is not going to happen anymore due to tensions.

 

[Liquidice]

Oh the other thing I didn't like at Mira Costa was house keeping knocking in the early am just to count how much booze was left in the mini fridge. DH bought his own so there was a mix up.
I think it best to ask them to empty it before we get there or after. I wonder is that's possible?

So if buying park tickets separately, can you use prepaid gift cards?

Prepaid gift cards like Visa Prepaid gift cards? Its possible, but Japan uses some "3D" Security feature and many cards just don't work properly when trying to use a CC for items in Japan. I know for me when booking my VP, even a card that worked before would not necessarily work at another time. I was using all Chase cards, and there was no fraud alert or anything on the cards, Tokyo Disney just decided my card did not work. I have heard AMEX is the most reliable surprisingly, but when I tried using my AMEX it would not even accept the card (an AMEX Marriott card). Maybe AMEX Pre-paid cards could work? Not sure if I would risk depending on the pre-paid cards unless you have another use for them. Klook is where I was told you could buy park tickets (and many other tickets) from and their payment processing seems more reliable and you can buy online ahead of time, so that might be a good route to use for pre-paid Visa/Mastercard/AMEX cards.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

Have you peeps seen all the cool new Haunted Mansion merchandise at Shopdisney?

Love the doll and the ornaments!
View attachment 874742

I was in our local Hallmark last week and saw a bunch of new Haunted Mansion stuff there too!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Oh, just got back from Costco Business Center in Southfield MI.
It opened on January 25, 2024. It's not like our regular Costco, there's no gas, no bakery, no food court, no clothing, no electronics, no jewelry, no pharmacy, etc.

What they did have was large bags 25-50 pounds of dry beans; garbanzo, red kidney, black beans. Very little organic dry goods, frozen and fresh produce.
The Southfield location has a very nice selection of grass fed meats and frozen wild caught sockeye salmon.

The meat was in a walk in freezer. It was so darn cold DH and I had to take breaks just to warm up! It was pretty hot here so we were in shorts and linen shirts. Omg, sooo cold! Now we'll be prepared when we go back.
We also took a large cooler and filled it with igloo ice blocks. Yup, I was planning on buying a lot of meat for canning.
It was a good trip.

I never knew about these Costco business centers

 

[bbsearchlight]

A negative change to Amazon egift cards is that they no longer send you a claim code that you can print out to give to someone, your only choices are to save the email until you want to redeem it. (This change must have happened in the last 2 weeks, as I ordered an egift around 2 weeks ago and did get a claim code.) This is not good for people who have multiple Amazon accounts and don't want to save a gift card to a specific account. It is also never a good idea to leave egift cards sitting in your email as you never know when your email will get hacked.

For this reason, in the future I will order physical gift cards and have them shipped. Amazon's stupidity will end up costing them money in shipping.

View attachment 874655

Well, I made a mistake. It seems like amazon has 2 different types of egift cards. The egift card does not send you a claim code and must be immediately added to an account. However, they have another type of egift card but it is not called an egift card, it is called "download and print at home gift card" and that one will send you a claim code. My mistake was I searched for egift card, you must do the search under "download and print at home."