Did you know you can use Disney Gift cards to pay for your Disney vacation?
Hotels, souvenirs, meals, even tips can all be paid for with Disney gift cards. A popular tactic used by many of the SavEars is cashing out the various apps (Swagbucks, Rakuten, and Ibotta to name a few) and using those gift cards to purchase Disney gift cards. Cashing out to PayPal and using that to purchase Disney gift cards directly from the Disney Store is also a great option. Added bonus: all the adorable gift card designs you can choose from when you buy from the Disney Store!
But why, you may ask, would I cash out to PayPal and then go buy Disney cards? Why not just leave that money in my PayPal account and eventually use it to pay for whatever I want. The main reasoning behind this is to immediately designate this money as Disney money. You avoid the temptation to spend the money if the money isn’t available. If it lives as Disney gift card, you can consider it already spent…on your Disney vacation!
Investigate the stores you regularly shop to see if they carry Disney cards and what their purchase for these cards is. With some stores, you can buy Disney gift cards with your debit or credit card, but some, like the pharmacy stores, require you to pay in cash. Many stores sell Disney giftcards including Kroger, Target, Sam’s Club, Publix, Walgreens, Lowes, and Best Buy. I’ve even heard of some of the craft stores having them available.
Keep an eye out for stores that run gift card promotions. Kroger, which sells Disney gift cards, regularly runs a promotion where you receive 4x the gas points when you purchase gift cards. If you put one $25 gift card, you receive 100 fuel points! Stock up on the gift cards and then get free gas…which frees us money from your gas budget to go…guess where…the Disney Fund! One option would be to save up all your rollover from grocery shopping for this promotion. Then use that rollover money to purchase the cards, and get the free gas. Put the money you saved from being under gas budget into the fund or turn right around and buy another Disney gift card! This is an efficient use of budgeting that saves you some serious dollars!
Disney gift cards can be used anywhere at the Disney Parks that accepts credit. You can use them for park tickets, lodging, meals…You can even use them for tips at sit down restaurants if you are staying on-site. Simply charge your meal to the room and when you get back to the hotel for the evening, visit the front desk to pay.
And what to do with these gift cards once you have them? Easy! Put them in a binder. Here’s ours.
You can decorate this according to your interest level. My littles would decorate a thumbtack if given the chance, so this was a great way to spend an afternoon. We purchased business card holder inserts from Target for storage. Many office supply stores will have similar products.
You’ll notice mine is looking a little empty right now. Saving up for that gas promotion, friends! Then it will be brimming with gift cards!
Are you a gift card buyer? New to the gift card game? Do you have a super craft binder for storing them? Let me see ‘em in the comments!
Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey three years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!
Disney has a website where you can transfer all the balances of your giftcards onto one giftcard. I do that so I have 1 and I always know what the balance is.
That is a great tip, Sarah! Especially if someone is using Disney gift cards to pay for their trip, you can’t go wrong with putting it all on one card! Thanks for sharing!