Using Gift Cards to Pay

[corn princess]

I was originally thinking of buying the DDP for our meals for our trip in June. However, there are some good gift card deals out there through Meijer and Sams, so now I'm considering just buying about $1000 in gift cards to use to pay for our food. My question is, if I do this can I load them all onto our magic band and then use that to pay for meals or do I need to have each individual gift card at each restaurant?

 

[sponica]

It might be easier to just charge it to your room, and then pay off your room charges daily or every other day with the gift cards.

 

[Turksmom]

You can't load gift cards onto a magic band. However, charges made to your magic band aren't immediately sent to the credit card company when you make a purchase. it charges to your resort room and then when you get close to the charging limit (or after a certain number of days), it gets charged to your card. If you visit the front desk, you can pay the charges with a gift card before they charge it to your credit card.

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

GC cannot be loaded onto your magic band, however you can simply tap/use your magic band to pay at the restaurants which will charge it back to your room as long as you put a credit card on file with the resort. You can then just simply go the front desk periodically at the resort and pay down your room balance with gift cards. GC can be combined into $1,000 increments on this site https://www.disneygiftcard.com/. Also, I could not tell if you were aware of this from your post, but you can pay for the DDP with the discounted gift cards if you'd like.

 

[momtwoboys]

we use gift cards, and just pay at the restaurant with them, tip can be added too using the gift cards, we never had an issue anywhere using them!

 

[corn princess]

Thank you everyone! This was super helpful!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

If you choose to go the resort front desk route and pay off your charges to your room with your GC, be certain to ask when they do this. I went to pay our balance at POR on our room after the first night of our 4 night total stay, and the front desk informed me that they already billed my CC. Wasn't a big deal but would rather have used the cash we had on hand. The CM couldn't inform me what the policy was but that it automatically went to my CC in the middle of the night. I would get a clear answer on when and at what dollar amount they bill to your CC especially if you plan to use GC.

 

[captaindavidhook]

I always use gif cards. So much easier. Yuck I hate the ddp.

 

[EdmondD]

I would get a clear answer on when and at what dollar amount they bill to your CC especially if you plan to use GC.

Yeah, and I'd marry Princess Jasmine if I could.

While this is a nice idea, sadly, you could talk to five hotel CMs and get five different answers. The safest bet if you want to make sure your gift cards are used is to stop at the front desk every evening before you head to your room for the night and pay off your balance every day.

 

[CynBeth]

I always use gif cards. So much easier. Yuck I hate the ddp.

Same here but we pay as we dine.

 

[LMA712014]

Yeah, and I'd marry Princess Jasmine if I could.

While this is a nice idea, sadly, you could talk to five hotel CMs and get five different answers. The safest bet if you want to make sure your gift cards are used is to stop at the front desk every evening before you head to your room for the night and pay off your balance every day.

This happened to us when I didn’t realize they billed at midnight. They refunded our credit card and then processed with the GC no problem.

 

[corn princess]

If you choose to go the resort front desk route and pay off your charges to your room with your GC, be certain to ask when they do this. I went to pay our balance at POR on our room after the first night of our 4 night total stay, and the front desk informed me that they already billed my CC. Wasn't a big deal but would rather have used the cash we had on hand. The CM couldn't inform me what the policy was but that it automatically went to my CC in the middle of the night. I would get a clear answer on when and at what dollar amount they bill to your CC especially if you plan to use GC.

Good advice! Thank you!

 

[Hope Soda]

At Art of Animation, when I went to check out, pre-dawn, they had already charged the balance to my credit card. Instead of telling me that, they went ahead and put it on the gift card and refunded the credit card, which I later noticed on my credit card statement.

So charging to the room, then paying off periodically by gift cards (we were told they would charge every $1k) worked out great for us!

 

[robinb]

I usually go down the night before I check out and pay my bill with gift cards. Sometimes they will charge your credit card part way though your stay if you reach a certain limit. I think it might be your charging limit on your room but I remember one stay we my credit card was charged and all I had to do was reverse the charge and pay with my gift cards.

On my last AKV Concierge stay in January we had dinner planned the night before we checked out. That day I asked the concierge if I could pay with my gift card on check-out day. The CM suspended the automatic charge to our credit card on the night before we checked out and I paid the next morning after breakfast.

 

[Heatherhy01]

I always use gif cards. So much easier. Yuck I hate the ddp.

How much in GC's do you normally take? We like to have at least one sit down meal per day. Wandering if GC's would be better or paying $2700 on the DDP

 

[robinb]

How much in GC's do you normally take? We like to have at least one sit down meal per day. Wandering if GC's would be better or paying $2700 on the DDP

You'll have to do your own calculation for gift cards and the DDP. It all depends on what restaurants you want to eat at and what other discounts you may be eligible for (DVC, Annual Pass, Disney Visa, Tables in Wonderland, etc). We usually spend about $150 per day on 3 "disney adults" so the DDP, at $225 per day, is more expensive.

 

[tobikaye]

How much in GC's do you normally take? We like to have at least one sit down meal per day. Wandering if GC's would be better or paying $2700 on the DDP

It depends on the trip. I usually take about $500-$1000 on a gift card for myself for a weeklong trip. I have one gift card that I bought from Disney Gift Cards that is unique to what you can buy in the stores. I just add my other gift cards to that card and use it like I would a credit card. I usually have an empty spare gift card in the room in case I might lose or misplace my gift card and have to move the money.

FYI: Before you could combined gift cards, I left mine at 50's PT after a meal with my TiW card. It had about $1200 on it. I got lucky and was able to pick it up at the Lost and Found by TTC the next day when I realized it was missing. I was leery about using the gift cards after that until they started letting you move the funds from one card to another.

 

[sponica]

It depends on the trip. I usually take about $500-$1000 on a gift card for myself for a weeklong trip. I have one gift card that I bought from Disney Gift Cards that is unique to what you can buy in the stores. I just add my other gift cards to that card and use it like I would a credit card. I usually have an empty spare gift card in the room in case I might lose or misplace my gift card and have to move the money.

FYI: Before you could combined gift cards, I left mine at 50's PT after a meal with my TiW card. It had about $1200 on it. I got lucky and was able to pick it up at the Lost and Found by TTC the next day when I realized it was missing. I was leery about using the gift cards after that until they started letting you move the funds from one card to another.

I did the same thing for my upcoming trip, I had received a holiday themed card whereas all the other ones I received had the standard mickey. The holiday one has all the money because it's different. Good tip with bringing a spare one in the event I misplace the card.

 

[captaindavidhook]

How much in GC's do you normally take? We like to have at least one sit down meal per day. Wandering if GC's would be better or paying $2700 on the DDP

well I have gone solo the last few times. With that said for me its much easier I suppose. That 2700 bill for the DDP is a lot. You have to ask yourself, are you going eat that much food. I love TS too but I'm not that big into deserts usually. Is that for a family of 4?

 

[disneyfanforlife68]

Where do y’all get the gift cards? Is there a special deal on them some places?