Canadian Disney Gift Cards

Thanks. I actually went and bought a $25 gift card so I could figure it out. I'm retired bank staff so the rate I get is better than the rate others get. Having said that, the rate of exchange on the GC works out to exactly the same as the rate of exchange I get on US dollars from being staff. Looking at that example, buying GC's is a much better deal for the average person but doesn't benefit me so much. I think I am going to use my Air Miles to purchase them though. It will be a round about way but still money I don't have to lay out.
Again, thanks for your answer. :flower3:

ETA--The examples you gave work out to $1.266464 for the gift card and $1.3054 for the cash so you can see you are gaining almost 4 cents per dollar with the card. Not bad at all.


When you say 'I think I am going to use my AM to purchase them though' do you redeem your AM cash miles to purchase GC in store? I never thought of that before. Does Safeway/Sobey's/Shell have an issue with this kind of a request? If not, then I very well may switch my account to 'Cash' vs. 'Dream'.
 
When you say 'I think I am going to use my AM to purchase them though' do you redeem your AM cash miles to purchase GC in store? I never thought of that before. Does Safeway/Sobey's/Shell have an issue with this kind of a request? If not, then I very well may switch my account to 'Cash' vs. 'Dream'.
This is a frequent topic of conversation over in the Airmiles Alert thread during the weeks that there are bonus miles for buying gift cards. It boils down to a YMMV scenario depending on the store you are in, the cashier you get and the cycle of the moon :P
Plays out like the following:

  1. Buy a $150 gift card at Sobeys 150 AM deposited to your Cash Account (early April) -- need to be set up that way of course
  2. Take the above gift card and *hopefully* use it to buy a different gift card (or if super lucky yet another Sobeys gift card)
  3. Once you have enough cash miles buy however many groceries you can cover, chuck in a gift card for the same $ and tell yourself you got the GC for free
Problem with #2 is that some stores explicitly say you can't buy a gift card with another gift card
Reasoning behind #3 is the clear cut term on the Airmiles site that says:

Use the Cash Miles in your AIR MILES Cash Account in-store in increments of 95 Cash Miles for every $10 towards your purchases at participating AIR MILES Partner locations to a maximum of $750 (7,125 Cash Miles) per day (gift cards and near-cash products are excluded and other exclusions may also apply); maximum of $60 per transaction (570 Cash Miles), up to 5 eligible transactions totalling $300 per day at Shell;

So very long way of saying, no you can't simply take your cash miles and redeem for a straight-up purchase of a gift card
 
This is a frequent topic of conversation over in the Airmiles Alert thread during the weeks that there are bonus miles for buying gift cards. It boils down to a YMMV scenario depending on the store you are in, the cashier you get and the cycle of the moon :P
Plays out like the following:

  1. Buy a $150 gift card at Sobeys 150 AM deposited to your Cash Account (early April) -- need to be set up that way of course
  2. Take the above gift card and *hopefully* use it to buy a different gift card (or if super lucky yet another Sobeys gift card)
  3. Once you have enough cash miles buy however many groceries you can cover, chuck in a gift card for the same $ and tell yourself you got the GC for free
Problem with #2 is that some stores explicitly say you can't buy a gift card with another gift card
Reasoning behind #3 is the clear cut term on the Airmiles site that says:

Use the Cash Miles in your AIR MILES Cash Account in-store in increments of 95 Cash Miles for every $10 towards your purchases at participating AIR MILES Partner locations to a maximum of $750 (7,125 Cash Miles) per day (gift cards and near-cash products are excluded and other exclusions may also apply); maximum of $60 per transaction (570 Cash Miles), up to 5 eligible transactions totalling $300 per day at Shell;

So very long way of saying, no you can't simply take your cash miles and redeem for a straight-up purchase of a gift card

Okay, thanks for the thorough info! I've been trying to education myself via all the posts, and I think I have it nailed down now. And yes, I would agree that it really depends on the person ringing your purchase and whether they'd care enough to 'follow the rules' or look the other way.

:disrocks:
 
When you say 'I think I am going to use my AM to purchase them though' do you redeem your AM cash miles to purchase GC in store? I never thought of that before. Does Safeway/Sobey's/Shell have an issue with this kind of a request? If not, then I very well may switch my account to 'Cash' vs. 'Dream'.
What I will do is purchase gas, I can usually put in $50 with no problems, and pick up a $50 GC at the same time. When I pay for this I will redeem $50 worth of AM from my cash account and pay the other $50 by my credit card (to get AM's from it). This is allowed as the assumption is you are using the $50 in AM to pay for your gas and the CC part to pay for the GC. I can also do this at Rexall, Metro, or Foodland (any store that sells Disney GC's) as long as my purchase is at least the same dollar value as the GC.

So while I am not purchasing only the GC per se, I am purchasing it as a part of a transaction. There should be no questions about it by any clerk.

ETA-Pretty much the same as Donald's #3, I should have read replies before I posted. It is a free GC though as you haven't paid out of pocket.
 


What I will do is purchase gas, I can usually put in $50 with no problems, and pick up a $50 GC at the same time. When I pay for this I will redeem $50 worth of AM from my cash account and pay the other $50 by my credit card (to get AM's from it). This is allowed as the assumption is you are using the $50 in AM to pay for your gas and the CC part to pay for the GC. I can also do this at Rexall, Metro, or Foodland (any store that sells Disney GC's) as long as my purchase is at least the same dollar value as the GC.

So while I am not purchasing only the GC per se, I am purchasing it as a part of a transaction. There should be no questions about it by any clerk.

ETA-Pretty much the same as Donald's #3, I should have read replies before I posted. It is a free GC though as you haven't paid out of pocket.

Right. So essentially the same as when you are redeeming PC points for GC. The purchase must meet or exceed the value of the GC for no out of pocket. Thanks guys!
 
I sure love this forum, and how Canadian's help each other out. :cheer2:

I'm looking for some added thoughts....

A Disneyland Park Ticket is currently $370 USD. When adding the exchange rate (of let's say 1.26) and the 2.5 foreign exchange on the CC this amounts to approx. $477 CAD. The AM needed for an adult ticket is a guess right now as they only have the child ticket posted for 3000. Let's say an adult ticket is 3800 AM. 3800 AM = $400 if "redeemed" for Disney GC's. Therefore, I believe my best value is redeeming for the park ticket. Is my estimated math wrong?

I currently have 2 AM accounts set 100% to 'Dream' as we've always redeemed for park tickets in the past, though I'm struggling with whether this is a good idea. I hold the Primary card (Onyx) whereas we use DH card as back up during large AM promotions or everyday (smaller) offers. Any suggestions on how I could best capitalize on having 2 cards? Or is it strictly preference? Our next trip is scheduled for Fall 2019 so I have lots of time to accumulate miles. Was thinking maybe I'd change DH card to cash and 'redeem' for $100 Disney GC's over time.

Thoughts?
 
I sure love this forum, and how Canadian's help each other out. :cheer2:

I'm looking for some added thoughts....

A Disneyland Park Ticket is currently $370 USD. When adding the exchange rate (of let's say 1.26) and the 2.5 foreign exchange on the CC this amounts to approx. $477 CAD. The AM needed for an adult ticket is a guess right now as they only have the child ticket posted for 3000. Let's say an adult ticket is 3800 AM. 3800 AM = $400 if "redeemed" for Disney GC's. Therefore, I believe my best value is redeeming for the park ticket. Is my estimated math wrong?

I currently have 2 AM accounts set 100% to 'Dream' as we've always redeemed for park tickets in the past, though I'm struggling with whether this is a good idea. I hold the Primary card (Onyx) whereas we use DH card as back up during large AM promotions or everyday (smaller) offers. Any suggestions on how I could best capitalize on having 2 cards? Or is it strictly preference? Our next trip is scheduled for Fall 2019 so I have lots of time to accumulate miles. Was thinking maybe I'd change DH card to cash and 'redeem' for $100 Disney GC's over time.

Thoughts?
JMO however that's lot of ifs. I think you would need to know more information to get a clear picture. First, todays rate of exchange for US is more than $1.26 but will it be more or less when you purchase? Anyone's guess. Will the tickets come back for 3800 AM? Another variable. Could very well be more. Also, will they have a Canadian ticket deal before your tip in 2019? That would be good for you but who knows. Maybe get one of your accounts up to the point where you would have enough to get the tickets at your estimate then switch over to cash miles, that might be the best of both worlds.

I had my card set up as 80 dream and 20 cash for a long time, now I have switched to strictly cash miles so I can get the GC's. I'm thinking, for us, that is the way to go for a while but everyone is going to be different. Hopefully you will get other thoughts as well.
 


Thanks tinkerone. Yes, there are a lot of variables to consider, which is probably why I'm having a challenging time on deciding what the best course is. Perhaps I'll continue as is for now. As I said, I have a lot of time.
I want to be better prepared for the 2019 trip (meaning less out of pocket & not giving away cash due to exchange etc.). I'd love the feeling of 'FREE' in the way of food, souvenirs and tickets. But don't we all?!
 
Hello, I’m from Montreal and I’ve been paying for my ASM resservation with DGC without problems. I buy one every time I go to Walmart, Jean Coutu or Bureau en gros and pay when CAD is relatively high as last 3-4 days. Just sabind the FX commission of 2.5 is great. I have one question:

How could I buy DGC with Air Milles from my Visa RBC? Do i have to call them? My DW has the card but we have never use the points before.
 
last week I used the Canadian GCs at Pop Century to pay down our balance, the $25 card was worth $19.83 and the $50 card was worth $39.66.

I'm also curious how you use Air Miles and PC Optimum points to get the cards. Can someone please explain?

Thanks
 
last week I used the Canadian GCs at Pop Century to pay down our balance, the $25 card was worth $19.83 and the $50 card was worth $39.66.

I'm also curious how you use Air Miles and PC Optimum points to get the cards. Can someone please explain?

Thanks
For Air Miles I was setting my account to cash miles and getting the Sobey's gift card vouchers and using them to buy Disney Gift Cards at Sobey's but it's been hit and miss recently whether they'll let you buy gift cards with gift cards. Lately the better approach is to simply use the gift card (or your cash miles directly) for groceries and then to just buy a Disney Gift Card for cash for the amount that you saved on the groceries.

Same approach would work with PC Optimum points I assume.
 
last week I used the Canadian GCs at Pop Century to pay down our balance, the $25 card was worth $19.83 and the $50 card was worth $39.66.

I'm also curious how you use Air Miles and PC Optimum points to get the cards. Can someone please explain?

Thanks
I have my account set to put them in the cash account. Today, for example, I am going to Rexall and have a $50 spend planned. With that spend I will get 80 AM from my Load and Go and 80 AM from the email offer. That's 160 AM to start plus any I collect from their own in store offers. I will pay with $50 from my AM account and then purchase a $50 Disney GC with my AM MasterCard (more AM's for me) which is the money I would have spent on the Rexall purchases.
Hope that's not to confusing, it is rather easy and it still means I don't pay out of pocket for the gift card.
 
Thanks for this great post! Lots to learn here. I have been purchasing GCs with plans to take them with me to pay off my RO reservation once I arrive at Disney. Hadn't thought of paying it off ahead of time. There isn't an option on MDE to pay off more. Can I do it by calling in?

Right. So essentially the same as when you are redeeming PC points for GC. The purchase must meet or exceed the value of the GC for no out of pocket. Thanks guys!

To purchase a Disney card using PC Points you need to work the system a bit as technically they no longer allow you to purchase GCs using PC points.

How I do it that I ensure the total amount of the groceries I am purchasing is > $50.00 then I add to my order a $50.00 Disney GC. When paying I use $50.00 worth of points and pay for the rest of my groceries using my MC (to get more PC points) or you can use cash/debit. The key is that the total of your groceries must be more than the value of the GC you wish to purchase using PC Points.
 
Anyone find any Disney gift cards in Nova Scotia? On the south shore even?
Thanks!
 
I’ve been scanning Halifax/Dartmouth stores for months, they likely think I’m strange in my regular grocery stores looking week after week at the GC selection just in case there might be a new addition ... :earboy2: No luck yet. As an alternative, we cashed in our PC points on a recent grocery purchase and used the savings to buy a MasterCard GC for a WDW trip. Will still be Canadian $ but I’m thinking it should work.
 
For Air Miles I was setting my account to cash miles and getting the Sobey's gift card vouchers and using them to buy Disney Gift Cards at Sobey's but it's been hit and miss recently whether they'll let you buy gift cards with gift cards. Lately the better approach is to simply use the gift card (or your cash miles directly) for groceries and then to just buy a Disney Gift Card for cash for the amount that you saved on the groceries.

Same approach would work with PC Optimum points I assume.

You can't directly redeem PC Optimum points for gift cards (at least not officially as per the terms and conditions). What I do is 2 separate transactions: pay for the gift card with cash/credit card and then use my points to pay for my groceries. At the end of the day, it works out to be the same. Of course, this only works if you regularly shop at a Loblaws-owned store or Shoppers
 
Just an fyi that I have found a way to lock in your rate on the Canadian gift card. You just need to transfer the money from your CDN dollar gift card to a USD gift card. Then you locked in that exchange rate.

I had an empty USD card from my march trip and transferred $100.00 cdn to it when it said it was worth $78.83. The whole day it stayed at $78.83 when another CDN card was worth $78.85. So I locked in my $100 CDN at $78.83. Today I now transferred the other $100 CDN to the USD card and combined the. $78.83 and $78.85

Anyone else have success with this? Our dollar has been so bad lately that even if I see it at 1.27, I want to lock it down. The difference for a $500 gc at 1.27 and 1.3x is about $5!!
 
Anyone else have success with this? Our dollar has been so bad lately that even if I see it at 1.27, I want to lock it down. The difference for a $500 gc at 1.27 and 1.3x is about $5!!
I don't have a US card to try it on however I plan to pick one up when we travel in a few weeks. It sounds like it would work so I'm thinking its a great idea.
 
The idea of transferring a Canadian gift card balance to a US gift card balance is brilliant :) I just happen to have a US gift card. I purchased a gift card while at Disney back in March. I've since used the entire gift card balance to book a room at Pop Century for August, but even though the balance on the card is currently $0, I am guessing that the card must still be reloadable.
 
Anyone else have success with this? Our dollar has been so bad lately that even if I see it at 1.27, I want to lock it down. The difference for a $500 gc at 1.27 and 1.3x is about $5!!

I did this, I had a $5 USD gift card I had redeemed for using movie points. I was able to transfer multiple gift cards onto it and have used it to pay for my room only reservation in April, then when I added on the dining plan, and again while at Disney. The rate was locked in as of when I transferred the CAD cards onto it. I still have $2 left on the card so I'll be adding to that over the next year in anticipation of a trip next August. Saving even a few dollars means an extra few snacks or souvenirs.
 

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