5 Tips for Using Disney Gift Cards to Save on Your Next Disney Vacation!

5 Tips for Using Disney Gift Cards to Save on Your Next Disney Vacation!

Written by – Jennifer Jamieson – Magical Tripcations Travel Planner

When it comes to saving for your Disney dream vacation, every penny counts!  When we’re working with our Magical Tripcations clients, we provide as many tips and tricks for saving time AND money as we can.  Of course we are dedicated discount hunters and we work hard to find the perfect Disney deal for our clients; however, once we land on the perfect package, we don’t stop there.  Did you know that you can use Disney gift cards to pay for your Disney Destination vacation?  Did you know that you can purchase Disney gift cards at a DISCOUNT? No??  Well, there’s magical savings to be found for savvy shoppers so, read on!  Here are our 5 tips for using Disney gift cards to save on your next Disney vacation!

#1 Purchase Disney Gift Cards Using your Target REDcard

 

If you are a regular Target customer, then you are probably familiar with the Target REDcard (debit or credit) that saves you 5% on your purchases when you use it.  This 5% savings is applicable for Disney gift card purchases because Target considers these gift cards as “entertainment” gift cards so the discount is applicable.  You can purchase gift cards in the store and online (as a REDcard holder, you also get free shipping).

$50 Disney Gift Card – $47.50

$100 Disney Gift Card – $95.00

Tips for Purchasing Disney gift cards with your REDcard:

  • If you are planning to make a large gift card purchase ($800 or more), you might check with your bank if using the Target debit REDcard as banks cap daily debit purchase amounts. Since this is a cash transaction, the large cash gift card purchase might raise a flag as to a fraudulent purchase so, a quick call to your bank prior to your purchase will save you time and hassle.  We’ve often purchased several sets of 5-$100 gift cards over a period of time without issue.
  • For online purchases: We’ve heard that Disney gift cards can sometimes be out of stock online but are replenished often. Available amounts currently online are $50 and $100 increments.
  • Plan accordingly!  If you plan to use gift cards to pay for your entire vacation, you will need to start working on your purchase several months in advance in case you run into gifts cards being out of stock or have any issue with limitations when purchasing in the store.  But never fear, you can absolutely pay your vacation this way and through your Magical Tripcations Travel Planner!  We’ll share some tips on how to do this later in this post.

#2 Purchase Disney Gift Cards at Warehouse Stores

 

Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club often have packs of Disney gift cards available at a 4 to 5% discount especially around the holidays.  Of course, you need to be a member of these stores in order to purchase from them but if you are, this is a quick way to pick up gift cards at a discount!  You can purchase at your local club or online.  In the past, we have seen $150 Disney gift card multipacks of 3, $50 Gift Cards for $142.98 so keep an eye out!

#3 Purchase Discounted Gift Cards through Online Retailers

 

It might be worth your time to look into sites like Raise.com or Giftcardgranny.com as they resell gift cards at a discounted rate.  Make sure if you’re looking for Disney gift cards on these sites that you are looking for Disney gift cards vs. Disney Store gift cards as you cannot use Disney Store gift cards at the parks/Disney Cruise Line, etc. – only at the Disney Store.

One theory is to purchase Target gift cards on Raise.com (or similar site) which are then emailed to you as digital Target gift cards.  Then, you can load these digital gift cards online into your Target REDcard account and purchase Disney gift cards.  By doing so and processing though your REDcard profile, you will save 5% on the gift cards at check out.  WHEW!  This requires a bit of time, patience and jumping through hoops but it’s definitely another way to save a few dollars!

# 4 Purchase Disney Gift Cards at Kroger for 4x Fuel Points

 

From time to time, grocery stores with a fuel point program will offer a 4x Fuel Points promotion for gift card purchases.  Kroger (and it’s affiliate stores) often offer this promotion which doesn’t save you money on the actual gift card purchase; however, you can load up your fuel points and save a sizeable amount on your fuel purchase!  Win/win!

#5 Combine Your Disney Gift Cards

 

So, you’ve been purchasing discounted Disney gift cards for months and now have acquired a sizeable stack and need to either pay for your vacation package or prepare to take them along with you on your trip.  But, who wants to bring or use 100 Disney gift cards??  No one!  But, no problem as you can combine multiple gift cards into one by heading over to www.disneygiftcard.com where you will be able to transfer balances onto one primary card up to a limit of $1,000.  You can have multiple $1,000 gift cards (or lesser amounts) but that’s your limit per card.

To get started and If you’re new to www.disneygiftcard.com, you will need to create an account with login and password information.  This is a separate login from your other Disney World accounts.  Grab a sharpie marker, your stack of Disney gift cards, a cup of coffee and get started combining your sets of cards.

You will be able to load your first 5 Disney gift cards onto the site and begin transferring balances to one primary card.  Follow the prompts to “Add a Card” and load all 5 cards with all necessary information (the fine print/codes on the back of each card will be needed).  Once you have 5 cards loaded, you can “Transfer the Balances” to your primary card which they will ask you to indicate as such.  This is where you will need your sharpie marker so that you can clearly label your primary cards.

Because the cards will remain on your account even with zero balances, you will need to remove the zeroed out cards as you move on to repeat the process of loading 4 additional cards and so on.  Once you reach the $1,000 limit on your initial primary card, you will start over with a new primary card, etc.  Continue the process with your stacks of gift cards until you have combined them all into multiple $1,000 primary cards or whatever amount you have to work with.  You’re still going to have a set of cards but you can pare down the stack into a more manageable one.   And never fear, your Magical Tripcations Travel Planner will be happy to answer your questions through this process!

Tips to Using Your Disney Gift Cards on Your Vacation:

  • You can use your Disney gift cards to pay on your vacation package by providing the information to your Magical Tripcations Travel Planner who will use them to apply payments to your balance.
  • You can use your Disney gift cards for your resort, souvenir, snacks and assorted charges created when using your MagicBand for purchases. Even though you are required to have a credit card tied to your MagicBand to use this service, you can pay the balance with another method such as cash or Disney gift cards.  You will need to stop by Guest Services at your resort to pay your balance with your Disney gift cards the night before you check out or you can do so throughout your stay.  Tip:  You have a MagicBand charge limit and once it is reached, the charges automatically go through to your credit card and then starts over.  So, keep an eye on your spending if you intend to pay the balance with your gift cards.  The limits are as follows:  Value Resort – $500; Moderate Resort – $1,000; Deluxe Resort – $1,500.  Guest Services at your resort can provide you with your daily charges.
  • You can use Disney gift cards instead of cash or credit while on your vacation in the shops, restaurants, etc. Some kiosks, however, do not accept credit cards so they would not accept Disney gift cards for things such as balloons, etc.
  • Disney gift cards do not expire and can be used at Disney Parks, on the Disney Cruise Line and at the Disney Store. You can always check your balance at www.disneygiftcard.com.
  • Do not throw out your primary gift cards! If you have to cancel your trip, the credit will go back to the original source – the Disney gift card!

We hope that these tips might help you as you think about your next Disney vacation.  Our team of travel planners are full of insight, insider knowledge, tips and tricks which will help to make your vacation as seamless as possible. If you are looking for more tips, you can check out our Top 12 Disney World Tips and Tricks blog post.  Got a nifty tip or idea? Please share any money saving tips you have in the comments below!  We’d love to hear from you!