Buying Disney Gift Cards in Canada

[wdwmom3]

This worked for me when I purchased a $500 GC.

However be careful with this. I've heard of people getting flagged by Amex for making purchases out of keeping of usual grocery spends, resulting in their Amex being cancelled. From what I've read, you can mitigate this by: 1. Spreading out your gift card purchases, e.g. purchases 5 x $200 GC over a period of time vs 1 x $1000, 2. Making sure your total amount is not a round number like $200.00 or $1000.00 by buying something else with the GC.

Sorry I should have mentioned if do this split them up. When I buy gift cards I do it gradually and just pick some up whenever I go and get some groceries.

 

[jump00]

Hi! Can we use the gift cards at Disney Springs and the gift shops in the hotels?
Thanks

 

[peacefrogdog]

Can use them anywhere on Disney property. You get charged in USD of course while in Disney

 

[dis_guy]

We were at WDW over the first week of March and our $500 CDN Disney gift cards converted to $366.49 USD. Just an example of course, your mileage will vary.

 

[KeroKero]

We haven't been back to WDW since 2017 and back then we always preferred to use cash. Are we still able to use cash throughout the park freely since the pandemic, or would we better off with gift cards?

I prefer cash so I can keep better control of our spending, but if cards are more widely accepted I would prefer a gift card over a credit card.

 

[hdrolfe]

We haven't been back to WDW since 2017 and back then we always preferred to use cash. Are we still able to use cash throughout the park freely since the pandemic, or would we better off with gift cards?

I prefer cash so I can keep better control of our spending, but if cards are more widely accepted I would prefer a gift card over a credit card.

You can use cash if you prefer. A lot of food lines are long, it is faster to mobile order and you can use a gift card for that, but not cash. I preferred the gift cards just to keep track of how much I budgeted for, but cash works for that too.

 

[KeroKero]

You can use cash if you prefer. A lot of food lines are long, it is faster to mobile order and you can use a gift card for that, but not cash. I preferred the gift cards just to keep track of how much I budgeted for, but cash works for that too.

Yes, I've been stressing a bit about mobile ordering and some places orders taking forever to be ready, but definitely do like the idea of the gift cards for mobile ordering.

 

[PalmettoPath]

You can use cash if you prefer. A lot of food lines are long, it is faster to mobile order and you can use a gift card for that, but not cash. I preferred the gift cards just to keep track of how much I budgeted for, but cash works for that too.

Okay, this is interesting. I've never bought Disney GCs here because I didn't know how it worked. So I buy a CAD$100 card in Canada. Do I then create a Disney Gift Card account (where I can then see the actual USD value) and then I add that card as a payment in MDE? Then I can use that instead of CC for mobile order. Is that how it works? Thanks.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Yes, I've been stressing a bit about mobile ordering and some places orders taking forever to be ready, but definitely do like the idea of the gift cards for mobile ordering.

You can always use the cash to buy gift cards on site, that will still allow you to keep track of spending on your terms and still use mobile ordering. You can buy those just about anywhere, resort, any stores even the disney store in the airport!

 

[hdrolfe]

Okay, this is interesting. I've never bought Disney GCs here because I didn't know how it worked. So I buy a CAD$100 card in Canada. Do I then create a Disney Gift Card account (where I can then see the actual USD value) and then I add that card as a payment in MDE? Then I can use that instead of CC for mobile order. Is that how it works? Thanks.

You buy them here in CAD and they exchange at the rate on the day you use them. We were there 10 days and the rate fluctuated from 1.34 to 1.36, still saved the 3.6% my CC would charge me. Receipts show the amount left in USD at the time you use it. You can use them to pay for the hotel or package. When you enter the card number it tells you how much that is in USD. You don't have to add them to the giftcard site unless you want to.

 

[PalmettoPath]

You buy them here in CAD and they exchange at the rate on the day you use them. We were there 10 days and the rate fluctuated from 1.34 to 1.36, still saved the 3.6% my CC would charge me. Receipts show the amount left in USD at the time you use it. You can use them to pay for the hotel or package. When you enter the card number it tells you how much that is in USD. You don't have to add them to the giftcard site unless you want to.

Do you know if we have to add them to the GC site to use for mobile order? Or can we just use the number on the card to enter in the app when ordering (would be easier -- assuming we ensure there is sufficient funds on the card). Thanks.

 

[hdrolfe]

Do you know if we have to add them to the GC site to use for mobile order? Or can we just use the number on the card to enter in the app when ordering (would be easier -- assuming we ensure there is sufficient funds on the card). Thanks.

Just use the number in the app for the order.

 

[ElCray]

I have an interesting gift card situation. I went to use my gift cards to buy annual passes. One of them glitched and the Cast Member had to restart the transaction. However everything she had taken off 4 giftcards (about $1,350 CAD) didn't return to them - the cards show $0. And I don't have the annual passes because the transaction was restarted.

I got transferred a bunch of places, folks said to wait and the money would come back after 48 hours. With USD cards they can force the money back on, but they can't with the CAD cards. I asked about worst case scenarios and the Cast Member said they have always seen the money returned.

That time passed and funds were still not returned. I called in again and they took a thorough note on the file, were very reassuring they would sort it out, etc.

So that's where things stand. It's been 5 days since the failed transaction and the money is still missing... I'm not super worried and I think this is very much a one-off, but I guess I felt like sharing with some sympathetic ears.

 

[KeroKero]

I have an interesting gift card situation. I went to use my gift cards to buy annual passes. One of them glitched and the Cast Member had to restart the transaction. However everything she had taken off 4 giftcards (about $1,350 CAD) didn't return to them - the cards show $0. And I don't have the annual passes because the transaction was restarted.

I got transferred a bunch of places, folks said to wait and the money would come back after 48 hours. With USD cards they can force the money back on, but they can't with the CAD cards. I asked about worst case scenarios and the Cast Member said they have always seen the money returned.

That time passed and funds were still not returned. I called in again and they took a thorough note on the file, were very reassuring they would sort it out, etc.

So that's where things stand. It's been 5 days since the failed transaction and the money is still missing... I'm not super worried and I think this is very much a one-off, but I guess I felt like sharing with some sympathetic ears.

I really hope someone is able to get you your funds back. Hopefully this is resolved sooner than later and you get your money, I would hate for you to be out the funds.

 

[AdamsMum]

I know there are threads in this sub-forum about this, but they seem dated so re-posting.

One of my credit cards gives me 5X points for food so hoping to purchase Disney Gift cards at a grocery store (but not Shopper's or Walmart which my CC doesn't count as a grocery). I'm in the GTA - has anyone seen Disney Gift Cards at grocery chains like Loblaws, Sobey's, Metro etc.

Loblaws at Yonge and Empress ( Empress Walk). Maybe other Loblaws. What's this magical credit card?

 

[Donald - my hero]

Loblaws at Yonge and Empress ( Empress Walk). Maybe other Loblaws. What's this magical credit card?

Our platinum AMEX gives us 1 Airmile/ $5 on anything food or transportation related and I'm thinking that's the card being referred to

 

[ElCray]

I really hope someone is able to get you your funds back. Hopefully this is resolved sooner than later and you get your money, I would hate for you to be out the funds.

Thank you! I don't think I will be... They can see what happened on their end and they promised me they'd fix it. But is was very much a "yipes" situation til I got escalated enough to find the reassuring person.

 

[dis_guy]

Just one more thought about gift cards. We used ours to pay off our room-only reservation on arrival with a number of $500 CAD cards. The cast member thanked us for not bringing a grocery bag full of small denomination gift cards to check in with. He said that some folks have so many it takes over an hour just to swipe them all into the system.

 

[4orm]

Just one more thought about gift cards. We used ours to pay off our room-only reservation on arrival with a number of $500 CAD cards. The cast member thanked us for not bringing a grocery bag full of small denomination gift cards to check in with. He said that some folks have so many it takes over an hour just to swipe them all into the system.

Oof. Would be so much faster to amalgamate them onto fewer cards, which is super easy to do on the gift card website.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Yes, I've been stressing a bit about mobile ordering and some places orders taking forever to be ready, but definitely do like the idea of the gift cards for mobile ordering.

Our experience is we save a lot of time mobile ordering if the parks are busier. On quieter days it can be the same amount of time to stand in line or mobile order but we still prefer to mobile order.

Okay, this is interesting. I've never bought Disney GCs here because I didn't know how it worked. So I buy a CAD$100 card in Canada. Do I then create a Disney Gift Card account (where I can then see the actual USD value) and then I add that card as a payment in MDE? Then I can use that instead of CC for mobile order. Is that how it works? Thanks.

We take a ziplock bag of gift cards that I keep in the bottom of my backpack. As I start to use one I move it to an easily accessible pocket in my backpack that has a sharpie in it and mark the remaining balance. Very easy to do.

I prefer this as I leave most gc’s in the safe in our room rather than carrying large denominations. (Each below was $50CDN) I see it as similar to me not choosing to carry large sums of cash to the park.

This was our stash before our trip last year. Worked wonderfully!! We’re well into our collection for this summer’s trip too!

All below were purchased with PC Optimum point so free money!!! Our own version of ‘free dining.’

PS They are very easy to use at retailers and resorts as it’s swipe and go. For mobile ordering I key in the number but it doesn’t take long. Sometimes I pre enter them in the notes field if my phone but more often take a quick break to mobile order and key in GC number.