Ok so today I want to chat about my favorite deal on getting discounts for your Disney vacation…Disney Gift Cards! Did you know that you can pay for pretty much everything related to your trip with Disney Gift Cards? On our last trip I paid for our hotel, park tickets, special event tickets, Memory Maker, food, and souvenirs this way.
So buying gift cards in an of itself is not a deal, right? But, it’s all about how your buy them. My favorite way is to buy them at Target. Did you know that you can use your Target RedCard to purchase Disney gift cards? This will get you an automatic 5% off. Doesn’t sound right? How can you get a discount on a gift card??? Target’s RedCard policy actually states that the 5% won’t apply to gift cards. Well here is the secret….Target doesn’t classify Disney Cards as Gift Cards. They are actually sold as “Entertainment Cards” which Target doesn’t exclude from their RedCard discounts!
Ok so that gets you 5%. Now let’s sweeten the deal. You can also use Target coupons to make this deal even better. Have you ever heard of Target Pharmacy Rewards? Once you enroll and then fill 5 prescriptions at the Target pharmacy then Target will send you a 5% off a day of shopping coupon. Easy right? So if you combine the coupon and the RedCard you can 10% off your gift card … um I mean Disney Entertainment Card 😉 purchase! So 10% might not seem like alot but if you have a $4,000 vacation that’s saving you $400!!!!
Always keep your eyes peeled for other coupon deals that Target might issue. I know the last time I bought my gift cards Target ran a deal that if you bought a Samsung phone then they would give you a 20% off your total purchase coupon! That one stacked with my RedCard saved me 25% off my gift cards!!!! It was crazy.
Now remember this is just giving you discounts on your form of payment. You can still grab any Disney Special Offers that might be offered during your trip like “Free Dining” or Room discounts.
Ok now for some small catches to this great deal. Target only sells these cards in $50 increments and as of this post Disney doesn’t offer a way to combine gift card amounts onto one card. Also, you will not be able to enter multiple gift cards on Disney’s website to pay for your trip (They only allow one form of payment online). You will need to call the Disney Reservation line (or travel agent) to book and pay for your trip. So this means you will be sitting for a few minutes reading off gift card numbers. Never fear, Disney agents are used to this and very pleasant. I once read off over 50 at one time with no problem! I always just give them a heads up before I start my purchase just so they know what they will be dealing with, just as a courtesy.
This last trip my family decided that we would not be purchasing the Dining Plan and would be paying as we go. Using gift cards is not a problem here either. After one of our meals we would just use our MagicBands (I’ll chat about this in a future blog) and do a room charge. This applies to any souvenirs and special activities like Pirate’s League we did along the way. Then one night in the middle of our trip (just so I could see how we were doing) and then the night before check-out I walked my stack of gift cards down to the front desk of our Disney Resort and they paid down the balance for me. I like doing it this way so I can just keep my gift cards locked up in the safe at all times and don’t have to lug them around the parks with us.
Lastly, here are some good tips to remember when dealing with gift cards…
- Don’t throw away your gift cards after you have paid for something. If you need to cancel your trip or return an item Disney refunds the value back onto your gift card.
- Disney Gift Cards do not have an expiration date or any monthly fees. So feel free to stock up when the mood strikes 🙂
- This may seem like a no brainer but Disney Gift Cards cannot be used at any non-Disney owned hotels like the Swan or the Dolphin.
- In this discussion I am assuming that you will be the one going on vacation but you can use these deals for great gifts for other families planning their vacation!
- You can check your gift card balance and look at the FAQ on DisneyGiftCard.com
I hope this post helps you get some really great deals! Leave a comment about your experience with gift cards. I’d love to hear about them.
Helping You with Your Disney World Vacation 