So, don't ever do what I just did.

[slickpoetry]

I had an existing reservation that I had paid $1250 on. Of that total, $200 was on my credit card and $1050 was on a mixture of $50 and $100 Disney gift cards. I cancelled the reservation (just to rebook a slightly different one) and was expecting everything to be refunded within 10 days, as the CM at the time told me. I had saved all my gift cards in case of cancellation.


Long story short, about 9 days later I see my credit card has been refunded $200. Great, I think. I assumed each of those gift cards was refunded too. But apparently Disney doesn't refund gift cards as one big batch. As near as I can tell, they're refunding one card per day. And probably skipping days. So here it is, 3 weeks after cancellation and I still have 4 unrefunded gift cards (totaling $350) I'm waiting for them to act on. I called yesterday and the CM told me this was normal. I can't believe it takes this long to process it.

tldr: If you use multiple gift cards to pay for a trip and then end up cancelling, expect the refund process to take a full month.

 

[cassi06403]

Sorry you're going through such a headache! I certainly wouldn't have expected that.

 

[Tink3rbell86]

I've moved bookings a few times. They just transfer the balance I had paid to the original booking to the new booking.

Sounds like a painful process. Hope its over sooon!!!

 

[hiroMYhero]

After your total amount is transferred back to your gift cards, go to disneygiftcard.com to register your cards. Then, transfer the balances to only two of your many cards.

You'll only have to keep track of two cards for your future booking.

 

[larryz]

Maybe if you're gonna use gift cards, transfer them into a Disney vacation savings account...? That way, one balance, one refund...

 

[SaintsManiac]

They take 1 second to take funds and a month to give them back. Crazy!

 

[rebornat33]

I just had to cancel a portion of our package as my daughter is now not able to go. Our TA contacted Disney on Monday, I received what I had used our Visa bank card for today (this was the last payment and very small) but the rest will be on gift cards. Did you notice if they went in any kind of order? Just wondering if they start with the last payment and work backwards or if its random. I would hate to have to check every single gift card every day. I am hoping to get at least some of the money back before our trip (in about 2 weeks). Like you I was told about 10 days for refund.

 

[Hudson Hornet]

Maybe if you're gonna use gift cards, transfer them into a Disney vacation savings account...? That way, one balance, one refund...

How would you transfer the gift card to a savings account?

 

[bumbershoot]

How would you transfer the gift card to a savings account?

It's not just "a" savings account, but the Disney Vacation Account. https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/

 

[Hudson Hornet]

It's not just "a" savings account, but the Disney Vacation Account. https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/

Ah ha! I got it now. I was reading it as "open a savings account for Disney". SMH

 

[EKKloppers]

Maybe if you're gonna use gift cards, transfer them into a Disney vacation savings account...? That way, one balance, one refund...

Just to tag on here...After obtaining some much needed advice on the Budget Forum, I had created a Disney Vacation Account, and made several one-time deposits using Disney Gift Cards. One warning I recall seeing somewhere on a DVA thread (and, possibly, somewhere in the DVA fine print) was to be certain to save all physical Disney GCs as - if you require a refund from the account for any reason - the funds are returned to their original source of deposit, ie: each individual GC, and not in one lump payment back to a single, separately-issued Disney GC. I can't actually verify that at the moment, or give you any idea how long that process might take, but it's just another thing you may want to research for further consideration.

Good luck, OP!

 

[Mainemama]

I had a similar situation this summer. Luckily, I had another trip planned, so I just decided to hold onto them to use toward that trip. They were refunded for me all at once, about three weeks later. I did have to call to go through cards/values individually, as I had all the cards in a bag, and only the ones from the deposit were refunded. (We had a split stay, so many were used for the first resort). Lesson learned... Label gift cards and keep them organized by what payment they went towards. That would have saved me time! To be honest, I am leaning towards not bothering with the 5% savings this time around by using large batches of gc. Not sure it is worth my time, and the risk of a single lost or mischarged card tends to outweigh the savings.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Not sure it is worth my time, and the risk of a single lost or mischarged card tends to outweigh the savings.

If you manage and consolidate your balances via the disneygiftcard.com website, your savings remain intact. Keeping track of one or two cards is much easier than a variety of random cards and balances.

I choose to manage my own giftcards and it doesn't take much time at all. Much less worry when you're actually in the parks and paying via giftcards.

 

[Pookles]

Good post OP, thanks! I've been collecting $50 gift cards when I go to Target. I also saw that you can go to a Disney store and they'll transfer them to one big card. Or maybe it was $500 cards. Either way, much easier than dealing with $50 increments. I'm going to look into that since I live near one.

The vacation savings plan is a great idea too. I assume it could then link to your magic band?

 

[supersnoop]

I also saw that you can go to a Disney store and they'll transfer them to one big card.

No, you absolutely cannot do that. I see that rumor floating around all the time, and it's completely inaccurate. The Disney Store will not be able to consolidate your gift cards. You cannot buy a gift card with a gift card at the Disney store.

However, you can now combine cards at www.disneygiftcard.com. So, that really solves the problem.

 

[bumbershoot]

No, you absolutely cannot do that. I see that rumor floating around all the time, and it's completely inaccurate. The Disney Store will not be able to consolidate your gift cards. You cannot buy a gift card with a gift card at the Disney store.

However, you can now combine cards at www.disneygiftcard.com. So, that really solves the problem.

Well, they used to do that. Back near when I first joined the Dis. But they haven't in years.

That's why the new-in-the-last-6-months feature on the GC website is so tremendously exciting.

The vacation savings plan is a great idea too. I assume it could then link to your magic band?

No...it works differently than that. Definitely go to their site and see what it is and how it works.

But first consolidate your GCs through the official disneygiftcard site.

 

[Pookles]

Thanks to both supersnoop and bumbershoot! I will definitely try out the Disneygiftcard.com site. Seems like the best option anyway since I won't have to go into a mall!

 

[DisneyHardin]

Another big plug for the disneygiftcard.com site. I had a huge stack of $25 gift cards for our spending money. It took me about an hour at the most to consolidate them into 2 gift cards. I know the front desk at the hotel next week will be extremely happy that I did it and they won't have to spend hours with me paying down my room charges $25 at a time.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Oh geez, I better not cancel.......I used 41 gift cards!!!

 

[Dis703]

Maybe if you're gonna use gift cards, transfer them into a Disney vacation savings account...? That way, one balance, one refund...

This is what I was going to recommend. We used the Disney Vacation Account for our last family trip. It was so much easier than managing multiple cards and we earned gift cards as well.