Can i add a gift card?

Disneybridewifemama

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 17, 2013
We leave for our trip on saturday! I was wondering if I buy a disney gift card if I can add that to my magic band when I get there (or online before maybe?) So that I can pay with that rather than a credit card?
 
Nothing is "on" a magic band - it's just a link to the information in your MDE account. You can't add a gift card to your MDE account, however.
 


All dining venues in the parks will take them - ones in DS won't, since they're not run by Disney.
 
I was just coming to ask this same question. Bummer! I was hoping to not have to carry around and manage physical plastic cards on our trip.

I have 5 $100 gift cards, a $50 gift card, and two $25 gift cards. Does anyone know if there's a way to condense them into one?
 


You can charge everything back to your room, and then pay it off with your gift card, so you do not have to carry them around with you. You can pay off charges each night, or wait and pay off the night before checkout day. Your credit card will not actually be charged until early morning of checkout day. This is what we do - I do carry a credit card with me along with my i.d. just in case, as occasionally there is s problem with bands.
 
You can charge everything back to your room, and then pay it off with your gift card, so you do not have to carry them around with you. You can pay off charges each night, or wait and pay off the night before checkout day. Your credit card will not actually be charged until early morning of checkout day. This is what we do - I do carry a credit card with me along with my i.d. just in case, as occasionally there is s problem with bands.

Yep.

And keep the GCs just in case you need something refunded.
 
Yep.

And keep the GCs just in case you need something refunded.

This is an excellent point! As explained to me by at least 3 different Resort Managers over the years, the primary reason you cannot establish a credit balance on your account with gift cards is that the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting rules stipulate that in the event of a refund, said refund must be returned as the same form of payment and in the case of a credit/debit/gift card, it must be refunded to the same card.

Allowing the use of gift cards to establish a credit balance would result in way too many issues and/or violations of the law (even if well-intended). Disney has chosen to just not do it. Note: you can establish a credit balance with cash.

If you charge everything to your room and pay the bill with gift cards, you do want to hang on to them in the unlikely event that there is an adjustment later on.

Since the Disney giftcard site allows you to consolidate cards and keep up to 5 cards (with up to $1000 each) stored in your account, I've gravitated to using and reusing one card (special design) for paying room charges only, and another card for miscellaneous stuff. That way I always know what card I used for what and always have them.

Steve
 
All dining venues in the parks will take them - ones in DS won't, since they're not run by Disney.

We ate at Homecomin and at Wolfgang Puck Café at DS and they both took a Disney gift card. We also ate at a couple of other places and used Disney gift cards. I know that Cookes of Dublin takes Disney gift cards also.
 
We ate at Homecomin and at Wolfgang Puck Café at DS and they both took a Disney gift card. We also ate at a couple of other places and used Disney gift cards. I know that Cookes of Dublin takes Disney gift cards also.

I suppose it depends on the restaurant then. I was just at Disneyland a couple weeks ago, and neither Earl of Sandwich nor Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen took them.
 
I suppose it depends on the restaurant then. I was just at Disneyland a couple weeks ago, and neither Earl of Sandwich nor Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen took them.

Many of the restaurants (and the stores for that matter) do take Disney gift cards, but not all. The Disney owned and operated places do for sure (Homecomming, Paddlefish, Jock Lindsey's Hanger Bar). The others have the option to accept them, but to do so requires they 1) invest in additional network infrastructure, and 2) pay Disney a fee to use their systems. Not every place chooses to do it.

Steve
 
I suppose it depends on the restaurant then. I was just at Disneyland a couple weeks ago, and neither Earl of Sandwich nor Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen took them.
We tried on a visit to DL to use a gift card at ESPN and they didn't take them .However ESPN at WDW does. We have used the at multiple restaurants in DS with sucess.
 
You can pay off charges each night, or wait and pay off the night before checkout day. Your credit card will not actually be charged until early morning of checkout day.

When you are charging your purchases to your room, when the $ amount builds to a certain point your credit card will be charged, even before your checkout date. If you are charging a lot back to your room, best pay at the front desk with your gift cards more frequently. You can ask when you check in what that $ amount is that will trigger your card being charged.
 
When you are charging your purchases to your room, when the $ amount builds to a certain point your credit card will be charged, even before your checkout date. If you are charging a lot back to your room, best pay at the front desk with your gift cards more frequently. You can ask when you check in what that $ amount is that will trigger your card being charged.

Good reminder! I guess since we have mostly been able to take advantage of free dining, and kids had own GC for their spending, never charged a large amounts since just tips, few extra meals, and some souvineers, so hadn't worried about limits.
 
Recently returned from 9 nights at POP. On the first day, I went to the front desk to give them a combination of redemption dollars, a gift card and cash to put on my "account". Since I did on line check in, my VISA was already charged (for the room reservation). I could have come back in a few days to pay off incidentals, but the front desk staff explained he could reverse the charges and accept my redemption card/gift card/cash. It took awhile as he had to reverse line by line and try to get as close to the amount I was giving him, but he took care of it. I had a room only reservation so I was not able to pay off any of the charges on line before check-in.
 
I had a room only reservation so I was not able to pay off any of the charges on line before check-in.

You couldn't pay online, but you can call in and pay in full for a room only reservation ahead of time.
 

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