What to do with Gift Cards for future (not planned yet) trip?

[TandDandE]

Hi Friends,

I recently hit a significant milestone at work so the company rewarded me with a bunch of company points. I have to redeem these in some way (cash isn't an option). The most tempting way is to redeem them into about $4k worth of Disney gift cards. The highest denomination of gift card they offer is $100, so if I chose this reward they'd send me 40 gift cards.

I want to go back, but not until both water parks are open and things feel closer to normal. So what could I do with these cards until I booked a trip? Do I keep them in a safe at home and occasionally verify their value like a crazy person so when I eventually book a trip I'm sure they're still good? I'd feel more comfy if there was a way to apply them somehow to my Disney account and let The Mouse hold onto the $$$ for me so I don't do something dumb like misplace them.

This is new to me, so I'm sure I'm missing an obvious plan. Thanks in advance for your wisdom.
- Tom

 

[Dave006]

Have you looked at the Disney Gift Card site? You can combine balances of multiple cards on to a card up to $1000. So you could consolidate it down to about 4 cards. Start here:

https://disneygiftcard.com/

You will need to create an account and use the "Manage Cards" link at the top of the page. It takes a few steps since you can only work with 5 cards at a time as you transfer balances.

Dave

 

[Beachmom0317]

Have you looked at the Disney Gift Card site? You can combine balances of multiple cards on to a card up to $1000. So you could consolidate it down to about 4 cards. Start here:

https://disneygiftcard.com/

You will need to create an account and use the "Manage Cards" link at the top of the page. It takes a few steps since you can only work with 5 cards at a time as you transfer balances.

Dave

Was just going to suggest this!

 

[cvjw]

Just to add that when you consolidate the 40 cards to 4 with $1000 on each, you don’t have to call to verify their value. Once you link the cards to the Disney giftcard website, their value shows when you open the website.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I have about $4000 in Disney GC sitting in a secure place in my home.
They will be used, someday!!

 

[TandDandE]

Have you looked at the Disney Gift Card site? You can combine balances of multiple cards on to a card up to $1000. So you could consolidate it down to about 4 cards. Start here:

https://disneygiftcard.com/

You will need to create an account and use the "Manage Cards" link at the top of the page. It takes a few steps since you can only work with 5 cards at a time as you transfer balances.

Dave

I didn't know about it. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[TandDandE]

Just to add that when you consolidate the 40 cards to 4 with $1000 on each, you don’t have to call to verify their value. Once you link the cards to the Disney giftcard website, their value shows when you open the website.

Good to know. Thanks for the info.

 

[TandDandE]

I have about $4000 in Disney GC sitting in a secure place in my home.
They will be used, someday!!

I wonder how common our "$4k in GC Waiting to be Used" club is..
(4KGC for short)
Glad to meet a fellow member.
Hope we get to use them sooooon.

 

[Dave006]

I know there are a number of Disney Cruise guests that are holding gift cards with those types of balances.

Dave

 

[Lumpy1106]

All good info above. Just wanted to add, if you own DVC you can pay the annual Maintenance Fees with electronic gift cards. We also charged everything to our magic bands on our recent trip, then used a couple of gift cards to pay off the balance at the concierge. You will need a physical gift card to do that so hang on to a couple of the cards once you get them transferred into the web site. If you forget, no worries, just buy a couple of gift cards on property (min you can put on them is $15) and jump onto the website to move the funds around. If you have a Target Red Card you will get a 5% discount when you buy them from Target, and yes, you can do that electronically too. Just give yourself a couple of hours for the system to process and for Target to send you the confirmation e-mail - it doesn't happen instantaneously. The 5% discount saved us about $100 on our trip so not insignificant by any means.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We made trip plans as far out as we could.. then you can change the date later.
I only had 1700 in giftcards and I was so nervous they would go missing lol.

 

[Obliviate]

All good info above. Just wanted to add, if you own DVC you can pay the annual Maintenance Fees with electronic gift cards. We also charged everything to our magic bands on our recent trip, then used a couple of gift cards to pay off the balance at the concierge. You will need a physical gift card to do that so hang on to a couple of the cards once you get them transferred into the web site. If you forget, no worries, just buy a couple of gift cards on property (min you can put on them is $15) and jump onto the website to move the funds around. If you have a Target Red Card you will get a 5% discount when you buy them from Target, and yes, you can do that electronically too. Just give yourself a couple of hours for the system to process and for Target to send you the confirmation e-mail - it doesn't happen instantaneously. The 5% discount saved us about $100 on our trip so not insignificant by any means.

I just want to add, don't cut it too close with the Target GC. Last year I bought a $1000 gift card from Target while I was at the parks, to purchase an AP, and it took almost a week to process. I ended up having to pay out of pocket and sit on the card until a future trip.