Canadian Disney Gift Cards

[AdamsMum]

I'm wondering the same thing. I have several $50 cards that I've registered and transferred the money over to my primary card, but it would be nice to be able to just reload the old ones.

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

What is the maximum you can load onto your primary card? Is your primary card one of the $50 ones? I’m just wondering because on other threads there seems to be a difference between the $25 or $50 cards and ones that are “reloadable”. (Though they could have been referring to the US ones)

 

[AdamsMum]

My primary card was $25-$500, online you can load up to $1,000 per card. I can't find these cards any more in Toronto (well North York area), so I'm buying the $50 cards. I have quite a stack that have been transferred. Was wondering if they can be reloaded at the place where they were purchased. I doubt it.

 

[jadephoenixx]

I'm having trouble finding gift cards suddenly (Toronto). In the past I purchased them from Food Basics (none today), Loblaws (now they only have the $50 card), Pharma Plus (none there for the past 2 weeks). Are they just really popular or is the supply drying up. Trying to save enough for my DVC maintenance fees in January 2019. Anyone else?

I'm in Ajax. I purchased two of the $25-$500 ones at Shoppers this morning. They had lots of them on the rack and behind the cashier.

 

[CanadianPrincess]

Just got 4500 worth (9 -500 dollar gift cards) at Sobeys in Ottawa- I used them to pay off our 10 day trip! I saved the 2% fee my credit card charges for the exchange on top of the difference in the dollar- I ended up saving close to $100 which is a LOT of dole whips! I have another 500 for spending when I am there!

 

[AdamsMum]

I'm in Ajax. I purchased two of the $25-$500 ones at Shoppers this morning. They had lots of them on the rack and behind the cashier.

I never thought to look behind the counter, I'll check that out next time I'm in Shoppers. I've been buying the $50 ones when I can, but you can only store 5 cards and I feel a little weird about deleting them. Even though I've transferred the balance to my primary card and the others have no value. I don't know what's making me feel that way. Just paranoid I guess.

 

[22Tink]

I never thought to look behind the counter, I'll check that out next time I'm in Shoppers. I've been buying the $50 ones when I can, but you can only store 5 cards and I feel a little weird about deleting them. Even though I've transferred the balance to my primary card and the others have no value. I don't know what's making me feel that way. Just paranoid I guess.

You have to delete them if you want to keep transferring to the primary card. It’ll be fine. I delete all mine except the primary and 1 spare to transfer to in case the primary gets lost. We had to do that on our last trip. I hang onto all of the actual cards though until after my trip and the spending is done.

 

[tinkerone]

You have to delete them if you want to keep transferring to the primary card. It’ll be fine. I delete all mine except the primary and 1 spare to transfer to in case the primary gets lost. We had to do that on our last trip. I hang onto all of the actual cards though until after my trip and the spending is done.

I never thought to look behind the counter, I'll check that out next time I'm in Shoppers. I've been buying the $50 ones when I can, but you can only store 5 cards and I feel a little weird about deleting them. Even though I've transferred the balance to my primary card and the others have no value. I don't know what's making me feel that way. Just paranoid I guess.

I agree with 22Tink. I hold onto all my cards until 6 months after any trips I take. The balance is then checked and if they are at zero I shred them. Twice I have found smaller amounts on cards that should have been at zero however there were refunds on them for some reason. Probably port charge rebates but I'm not totally sure. It has amounted to about $35, not a lot but still money on the table.
Just keep them for a bit after you use them and check the balance is still zero then toss.

 

[disneykins]

Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
Thanks,
Tony

 

[mab2012]

Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
Thanks,
Tony

Different people have different reasons, but the primary advantage of buying CAD gift cards rather than USD gift cards is that there is zero forex markup on the conversion. So your $50 Canadian gift card costs CAD 50, and is worth about USD 39 today. Exchanging $50 at the bank or on a typical credit card would leave you with closer to $38 US. Not a big deal on 50 bucks, but becomes a little more significant on $5000.

Some people also just like to use them as a savings vehicle, or they take advantage of occasional bonus offers on credit cards or in-store to collect reward program points on trip expenses. For example, PC Mastercard held a promotion a couple of months ago that gave about a 10% return in Optimum points on purchases at Shoppers Drug Mart, including gift cards.

 

[hcox31]

Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
Thanks,
Tony

i buy my gift cards with my PC points. Well, technically I'm buying $50 of groceries plus a $50 gift card (so $100 total) and redeeming the PC points for the groceries, but in the end I'm saving $50. Every time I hit between $50-100 I redeem it. Then I apply them to my onboard account on DCL.

 

[22Tink]

Has anyone used the Canadian GC at DLR/DCA recently? I just want to make sure I’m still good to use them in the parks for our trip next month. I’ve read that a few people have had some issues at WDW and it has me a little concerned.

 

[Glynis4]

I live in SK and have never seen Disney gift cards in stores here. Do you think it's because we don't have a Disney store in the province? Maybe they don't think there's a market for the gift cards here without anywhere to spend them??

I’m in SK too and have never seen them Who do we contact about this?!? lol. I would love to buy some!

 

[isabellea]

Has anyone used the Canadian GC at DLR/DCA recently? I just want to make sure I’m still good to use them in the parks for our trip next month. I’ve read that a few people have had some issues at WDW and it has me a little concerned.

I’ve used my CDN GC at DLR and DCA in April without any issue anywhere (restaurants, stores or to book a tour).

 

[jcourtney]

I’m in SK too and have never seen them Who do we contact about this?!? lol. I would love to buy some!

If you find out let me know! Lol.

 

[22Tink]

I’ve used my CDN GC at DLR and DCA in April without any issue anywhere (restaurants, stores or to book a tour).

Thanks. I've got my fingers crossed! I used some in March at WDW with no issues as well but have read since then that some people were having troubles at WDW. It was at the resort though so maybe that's why. I plan to use them at the restaurants and shops in DLR.

 

[TD1516]

Does anyone know how to use the gift cards online to pay for theme park tickets? I am trying to purchase three park hopper tickets using all of our gift cards. But the message keeps telling me that it's an invalid account number. I am using the correct 12 numbers that it says next to the word account.

Or do I have to call in using the Canadian gift card?

 

[hdrolfe]

Does anyone know how to use the gift cards online to pay for theme park tickets? I am trying to purchase three park hopper tickets using all of our gift cards. But the message keeps telling me that it's an invalid account number. I am using the correct 12 numbers that it says next to the word account.

Or do I have to call in using the Canadian gift card?

The number should be 16 digits. I seem to remember having to scratch something off the back to get all the numbers.

 

[casprmt]

Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
Thanks,
Tony

You save a bit of money on the exchange rate vs paying the bank or CC rate which is usually around 2% more so the gift card you buy is in Canadian dollars and will have less value due to the exchange rate.

Example one canadian dollar is trading at $0.77 American but to exchange at my bank I will only get $0.75. So the gift card will exchange i believe close to if not at the trading value.. ie you get 2 more cents per dollar

 

[CanadianPrincess]

You save a bit of money on the exchange rate vs paying the bank or CC rate which is usually around 2% more so the gift card you buy is in Canadian dollars and will have less value due to the exchange rate.

Example one canadian dollar is trading at $0.77 American but to exchange at my bank I will only get $0.75. So the gift card will exchange i believe close to if not at the trading value.. ie you get 2 more cents per dollar

And you save the 2% fee from your CC if you pay that way... On our 4200 dollar trip, we saved almost 100 dollars paying this way! I also bought the gift cards on my cash back visa, and got an additional 50 bucks... It didnt take a lot for me to do it this way, and 150 bucks is better in my pocket then the banks! PLUS it buys a hell of a lot of dole whips!