Using Gift Card for Room Charge

[*Wish*Upon*A*Star*]

(I asked this on the "Tips" board, but didn't get a response so I thought I'd try here...)

I'm debating whether to use a gift card or our credit card for charging priveleges on our room card... Quick question -- if we decide to use a gift card and there are funds remaining on the gift card at time of checkout - will we be "stuck" with a giftcard balance? Or will they "refund" in cash?

And... if, say, I buy a giftcard online for, like, $300 (or so) and then want to add funds on it every couple of weeks, can I do that? Or do I have to buy separate gift cards every time (to add funds)?

Thanks in advance!

 

[OhMari]

I'm pretty sure you cannot add funds to a gift card.
Waste of plastic, in my opinion.
Also, you cannot get cash from a gift card either.
And the end of your stay, if you have $100 left, it remains on the card, they cannot give you the remaining balance in cash.
I don't know if you can put a gift card on file with your room.
I just went on a cruise, and they would not accept my VISA gift card, because it didn't have a name on it. They could have easily looked at the amount, since to me it was the same as cash $500. People on the cruise were allowed to put cash on their room for charging.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

At WDW when we do a refund it is to the same method of payment as the purchase. A credit card goes to the specific credit card. So I would expect a payment from a Disney Gift Card would be back to the same card; if the card was not available a Disney Gift Card would be issued for the amount (as long as it is between $5.00 and $1,500.00).

 

[WillCAD]

(I asked this on the "Tips" board, but didn't get a response so I thought I'd try here...)

I'm debating whether to use a gift card or our credit card for charging priveleges on our room card... Quick question -- if we decide to use a gift card and there are funds remaining on the gift card at time of checkout - will we be "stuck" with a giftcard balance? Or will they "refund" in cash?

And... if, say, I buy a giftcard online for, like, $300 (or so) and then want to add funds on it every couple of weeks, can I do that? Or do I have to buy separate gift cards every time (to add funds)?

Thanks in advance!

If you use a Disney Gift Card to enable purchasing on your KTTW card, any unspent remainder will be refunded to you at check-out in cash. You can ask for it to be re-loaded onto another Disney Gift Card, but in my experience, the resort front desks have trouble with this. The last time I did it, the balance didn't show up on the card until I called the DGC customer service number; it took two days and several calls to get the money to show up on the card.

I have been using this exact method for several years and it works perfectly; however, you can only add funds to a Disney Gift Card at a Disney Store, not online or by phone, so if you don't have a Disney Store nearby, you'll be better off buying a new card online every so often instead of adding small amounts to one.

If you do have a Disney Store nearby, you can do what I do - add some money to the card every payday throughout the year, until my trip arrives. I typically add $30 each time, but you can add any amount.

I'm pretty sure you cannot add funds to a gift card.
Waste of plastic, in my opinion.
Also, you cannot get cash from a gift card either.
And the end of your stay, if you have $100 left, it remains on the card, they cannot give you the remaining balance in cash.
I don't know if you can put a gift card on file with your room.
I just went on a cruise, and they would not accept my VISA gift card, because it didn't have a name on it. They could have easily looked at the amount, since to me it was the same as cash $500. People on the cruise were allowed to put cash on their room for charging.

This is not so for a Disney Gift Card (see what I posted above). However, you are correct when referring to Visa, MasterCard, or Amex pre-paid gift cards.

 

[smacky1]

On our last trip we used a Disney Gift Card at two different WDW Resort Hotels for charging. At the check out of the first hotel we asked them credit the remainder back on our card so we could use it at the next hotel. At the second hotel, we got remainder in cash. They didnt even ask what we wanted, the just gave us the cash back.

 

[*Wish*Upon*A*Star*]

If you use a Disney Gift Card to enable purchasing on your KTTW card, any unspent remainder will be refunded to you at check-out in cash. You can ask for it to be re-loaded onto another Disney Gift Card, but in my experience, the resort front desks have trouble with this. The last time I did it, the balance didn't show up on the card until I called the DGC customer service number; it took two days and several calls to get the money to show up on the card.

I have been using this exact method for several years and it works perfectly; however, you can only add funds to a Disney Gift Card at a Disney Store, not online or by phone, so if you don't have a Disney Store nearby, you'll be better off buying a new card online every so often instead of adding small amounts to one.

If you do have a Disney Store nearby, you can do what I do - add some money to the card every payday throughout the year, until my trip arrives. I typically add $30 each time, but you can add any amount.



This is not so for a Disney Gift Card (see what I posted above). However, you are correct when referring to Visa, MasterCard, or Amex pre-paid gift cards.

Thank you SOOOO much for your informative reply! I do have *one* more question, though... I, unfortunately, do not have a Disney Store close to me (closest one is about 3 hours away) so if I get, say, four gift cards with $250 on each card, will I be able to hand over all four cards when checking in (so we can charge against the gift cards on our KTTW cards)? Or will we have to keep an eye on our running balance and when we get close to the first $250 card, hand over a new gift card? (I hope that makes sense...) Another idea I had was to purchase a gift card for, say, $250. Then, next payday, use that first giftcard as partial payment to purchase another gift card - although this next one would be for $500 (essentially paying $250 cash for it and then $250 from the "old" giftcard...). I don't know if I can even do this...

Thanks again for your help!

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

You can reload money onto a Disney GC by calling 1-800-362-4533 (Disneyland Deliverears). Speak with Merchandise Guest Services and have the GC you want to top off in front of you when you call so that you can read the number off to the CM.

You cannot use a GC to purchase another GC. So you would not be able to buy a $250 GC this pay period and then use it along with another $250 to purchase a $500 GC.

 

[ambgoph]

You can give them as many gift cards as you want at chck in. I gave them 10 $50 gift cards and had no problem.

 

[WillCAD]

Ditto what Mad4theMouse and ambgoph said (though I must admit, I did not know about the Disneyland Delivears number - I thought it was impossible to add or reload money on the Disney Gift Card except at a Disney store or park).

 

[summerrluvv]

Thank you SOOOO much for your informative reply! I do have *one* more question, though... I, unfortunately, do not have a Disney Store close to me (closest one is about 3 hours away) so if I get, say, four gift cards with $250 on each card, will I be able to hand over all four cards when checking in (so we can charge against the gift cards on our KTTW cards)? Or will we have to keep an eye on our running balance and when we get close to the first $250 card, hand over a new gift card? (I hope that makes sense...) Another idea I had was to purchase a gift card for, say, $250. Then, next payday, use that first giftcard as partial payment to purchase another gift card - although this next one would be for $500 (essentially paying $250 cash for it and then $250 from the "old" giftcard...). I don't know if I can even do this...

Thanks again for your help!

When we went a year ago I had a bunch of Disney GC's I had accumulated and they took them all as credit on my room account.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Thank you so much for asking this. I ave another question though. We are staying in a deluxe. I believe the limit on charging privelages is 1500. If we decide to use GCs do we have to give them 1500? Can we give them 1K and just make sure we don't go over 1K?

 

[summerrluvv]

Thank you so much for asking this. I ave another question though. We are staying in a deluxe. I believe the limit on charging privelages is 1500. If we decide to use GCs do we have to give them 1500? Can we give them 1K and just make sure we don't go over 1K?

Yup you can do that! You can also ask for a copy of your charges anytime to help keep track.