Disney Gift Cards

[Godiva5]

Last night, I bought Disney gift cards to pay down on our cruise. Bought $300 in value (6 cards at $50 each) but, only paid $270 for them, thanks to my Target Red card AND my Pharmacy Rewards 5% ony-day discount combined. I'll do similar purchases until our cruise fare is paid in full and, also for OBC. :D

[telynch25]

Thats a good way to go. I always put aside cash for any of my cruises and just take the cash on board to pay the balance. This next cruise (19 days and counting), I decided to buy gift cards from Sams Club. They're running a promotion to get $150 in Disney gift cards for $141. And to top it off, I'm paying for it with my Capital One Quicksilver card which gives me an extra 1.5% back and then apply the cash directly to the card. So, my plan is to get the following as a savings:

 

Disney Gift Cards: $750

Sams Club: $705

QuickSilver credit: $10.58

 

Total: $694.42 for $750 in gift cards. CHA-CHING!

[mizzoufinal4]

So can you use Disney gift cards to pay for your key to the world card charges? if so how does one going about doing this?

[Shmoo here]

So can you use Disney gift cards to pay for your key to the world card charges? if so how does one going about doing this?

 

The easiest way is to go to Guest Services once onboard and have the gift cards applied to your onboard account.

 

You can call DCL beforehand and have them applied to your reservation, but you must take the time to read off (and confirm) each gift card number to them, and that's real time consuming.

 

Be sure to keep a few of the cards once you've done this (on the off chance that you don't use all the credit, it must be applied back to a gift card)

Edited December 9, 2013 by Shmoo here

[telynch25]

Yes you can use the Disney Gift Card for settling your OBA. You can do it one of two ways. You can apply the gift card balance prior to embark as a "gift" to yourself by filling out the appropriate form on the DCL website; or you can take the gift card to Guest Services on Deck 3 at any time during the sailing.

 

There are a few exclusions to take note of:

1. Only the Disney Gift Card can be used...the "Walt Disney World Shopping & Dining Gift Card", is exclusive to WDW, and is not available for settling the OBA at DCL. But if you pick up the Disney Gift Card branded gift card (Disney Stores, Parks, Online, etc) then you're good to go.

 

2. You cannot add value, apply payment, or redeem the Gift Card at the port. It has to be completed on the ship or prior to embark by submitting the appropriate form to DCL from their website.

 

Also, as a side note, if you apply a payment via GC to your OBA and do NOT leave a credit card on-file, your charging privileges will be suspended once the value of the GC has been depleted. But if you leave a CC on-file, then your privileges will be okay.

Edited December 9, 2013 by telynch25

[kurukthemal]

We did this for our August cruise and saved about $200 via the red card. I have already bought 20 ($1,000) for our cruise in 2015. Even though you have to provide the number for each card individually to DCL or your TA, I think it is very worth it. I can only pray that I get into a financial position where saving $200-500 isn't worth scratching off a code from some gift cards.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

We don't have a Target and I haven't had to yet do the Sams thing, but I might as we get closer to the PIF date. In the meantime, we have Premier & Non Premier Disney accounts. Just for signing them up, we got $250 gift cards. We also got $50 OBC for last cruise and anticipate it for next cruise. (another $100). Since March when we got the regular Non Premier card, we have gotten $220 in rewards, and just posted my first $51 on my Premier card this month. That's 250+100+220+51= $621 since March! These are straight benefits/savings from our Visas, and we still have about 5 months left before the trip!

 

(Does anyone know exactly what the savings is on that? Is that the: "$150 in Disney gift cards for $141" so $9 savings? Is that just a special? Hmm if so, that represents about another $57 in savings if you take my cruise fare left and divide by 150.) If I do buy the Disney cards from Sams, I will pay for it with Walmart Gift Cards that I get for 2% in Disney rewards as the Walmart store counts double as a grocer (and I can't use it at Sams, but I can use their Walmart gift cards I loaded at walmart! which is now how I shop at sams and get my 2% back!)

 

So yeah. Disney chase is definitely paying off for us. And that doesn't even include the perks and benefits they give us for having it (such as exclusive character photo ops at the parks, discounts on dining, tours, even some resort stays, and broadway tickets etc.)

 

I may be getting those Sam's gift cards though. Savings AND double points with a little creativity... after all, I still gotta PIF AND buy park tickets! :eek:

Edited December 9, 2013 by TwinPrincessMermaids

[Godiva5]

We did this for our August cruise and saved about $200 via the red card. I have already bought 20 ($1,000) for our cruise in 2015. Even though you have to provide the number for each card individually to DCL or your TA, I think it is very worth it. I can only pray that I get into a financial position where saving $200-500 isn't worth scratching off a code from some gift cards.

 

Until I'm independently wealthy, I'll continue to look for ways to maximize my on hard earned money.

[runnergirl71]

Do note that if you are paying for your cruise with gift cards, you need to be sure and hold onto every one of them because if you have to cancel and need a refund (or don't use all you have put on your account) the money will be put back onto the card(s) you used.

[sarahsema]

Does anyone know if you can use the chase visa rewards to pay for tips in board as well as other on board charges? I just got the premier card and with our cruise a year away I want to be sure to maximize my rewards.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[DahliaRW]

Does anyone know if you can use the chase visa rewards to pay for tips in board as well as other on board charges? I just got the premier card and with our cruise a year away I want to be sure to maximize my rewards.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Yes. But you need to get the rewards on a gift card from chase first. And it can take a few weeks to get to you. Once you have the gift card chase uses you can transfer rewards dollars to it by logging into your account online. We went to guest services and had it applied to our account once on board.

 

Sent from my s3 using Tapatalk

[Godiva5]

So far, I've made three payments just using Disney giift cards. That form of payment is saving me 10% each time by using my Target Red Card (and) Target pharmacy rewards one-day use card.;)

[CruiseGirlKS]

Until I'm independently wealthy, I'll continue to look for ways to maximize my on hard earned money.

 

Same here....saving 5% is totally worth it to us. :)

[WhoWantsToCruise]

So from what I am reading, it seems like Sam's Club offers discounted gift cards and Target if you use your Target card to make the purchase.

 

Are there any other places to purchase discounted gift cards?

[telynch25]

As an FYI in case you haven't seen it yet, target discontinued the pharmacy reward 5% disc on top of the red card discount. Just tried a purchase and only got 5%. Mgr showed no remorse even though the change went in effect 3/27 and their website still shows it applies over a month and a half later. First my info was compromised in their breach and now they change the policies without any notice. Topping it off a store manager who responds by saying "not my problem". I've lost all confidence in target. They're becoming the new walmart...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Loonbeam]

One note - if you are using a TA not disney direct, most TAs pay a per transaction fee on gift card redemptions.

 

Just mentioning that before you hand them a pile of $50 cards to pay for a several thousand dollar trip.

[Godiva5]

As an FYI in case you haven't seen it yet, target discontinued the pharmacy reward 5% disc on top of the red card discount. Just tried a purchase and only got 5%. Mgr showed no remorse even though the change went in effect 3/27 and their website still shows it applies over a month and a half later. First my info was compromised in their breach and now they change the policies without any notice. Topping it off a store manager who responds by saying "not my problem". I've lost all confidence in target. They're becoming the new walmart...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Bummer! Just got my Target Pharmacy Rewards card last week and, my daughter and I were both looking to use it on our next Disney gift card purchase! Hmmmm, new strategy?:(

[telynch25]

Well, I went ahead and bought them for the 5% discount with the Target Debit Card. It's better then nothing. If I had to guess, target killed the program bc of dipping sales from their breach. I know for a fact they purchase the cards for much less. And that's one way to increase revenues without raising prices. Cut any existing "special" pricing on fixed price items. They may bring it back...they may not. Until then 5% is all I'm planning on getting...unfortunately.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[telynch25]

One note - if you are using a TA not disney direct, most TAs pay a per transaction fee on gift card redemptions.

 

Just mentioning that before you hand them a pile of $50 cards to pay for a several thousand dollar trip.

 

This may be the case for gift card payments in the form of Visa/MC gift cards... But if I remember correctly, Disney's Gift Card system is a closed loop system...meaning only Disney entities can process transactions against the Disney Gift Card. The cards you purchase at Target are "passive-active" loaded cards, through a 3rd party who every hour does a batch upload to Disney Gift Card to activate the cards sold through the 3rd party (hence why they tell you the card will be active within 3 hours).

 

In this scenario, the TA would be making contact with DCL to process the payment or paying through an online portal...but ultimately the transaction fee is charged back to Disney internally. It's been a year or two since I looked at the schema for processing gift card payments (since moving projects), but I don't believe it's changed much since... I'll have to ask a friend at GC to confirm if that's the case.

[Loonbeam]

From what I understand it depends on the processor. If they do it direct through Disney, there is a minimum charge, but some use other processors that centralize payments and do take a small fee.

 

If they do it through Disney, unless they have a swipe reader attached to their PC (most don't), they have to also key in every one manually, another factor to consider if you give them a bunch.

 

This may be the case for gift card payments in the form of Visa/MC gift cards... But if I remember correctly, Disney's Gift Card system is a closed loop system...meaning only Disney entities can process transactions against the Disney Gift Card. The cards you purchase at Target are "passive-active" loaded cards, through a 3rd party who every hour does a batch upload to Disney Gift Card to activate the cards sold through the 3rd party (hence why they tell you the card will be active within 3 hours).

 

In this scenario, the TA would be making contact with DCL to process the payment or paying through an online portal...but ultimately the transaction fee is charged back to Disney internally. It's been a year or two since I looked at the schema for processing gift card payments (since moving projects), but I don't believe it's changed much since... I'll have to ask a friend at GC to confirm if that's the case.

[TowerOrchard]

I just asked my travel agent and she said they are not charged any fees when a customer uses Disney cards to pay. So don't assume that it is a problem - ask first!