Saving at Disney World with Discounted Disney Gift Cards
Here’s how to save money at Walt Disney World! Use this credit card at Walt Disney World! Buy DVC points! Follow my ten-point plan for big discounts! And on and on it goes…..
It’s easy to get lost in the myriad options for saving on a Disney World vacation. And some of those options provide savings on only part of the vacation or require locking oneself into non-refundable rates. But what is a simple option for decreasing costs across all Disney World expenses? One option is amassing discounted Disney gift cards. Let’s dive into some primary methods for obtaining these gift cards.
Warehouse Clubs
Sam’s Club and BJ’s sell discounted Disney gift cards online and in-store. Many denominations are available, so be sure to check which amount maximizes savings. For instance, while Sam’s offers a $500 gift card, the best savings come from the $50 gift card for $47.98, a 4.04% savings.
Be sure to stack these savings by using the optimal credit card for purchasing these gift cards. For instance, using the Chase Freedom or other quarterly category cash-back cards can increase your savings by an additional 5%. Also, Dosh offers periodically provide even more savings (like the 5% off Sam’s offer in late 2019). Finally, keep your eyes peeled for targeted Amex offers to possibly make your savings sweeter. Late 2019 gotten even better with the Sam’s Club offer for an additional 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar.
Grocery Stores
I use Kroger’s fuel rewards program to indirectly obtain a variety of discounted gift cards, including Disney. I wait for Kroger’s 4x fuel points promotions to maximize these savings. These promotions come around routinely, seemingly every month or so. Long story short, I save 12.3% on Disney gift cards during these promotions and when I redeem these points for the maximum fuel amount. Of course, this assumes Kroger has competitive gas prices (mine does); savings are obviously decreased if gas is cheaper elsewhere.
As with warehouse clubs, ensure to use the highest-earning credit card at your grocery store, and keep up with Dosh and Amex offers to increase savings. My credit card favorites at grocery stores are the American Express Gold and Chase Freedom (when grocery is a quarterly bonus category). Fuel points programs are highly variable based on grocery stores in your region, so your savings could be lower or higher than mine!
Points Currencies
You can redeem airline, hotel, and bank points currencies for Disney gift cards, as well. The good news is that the Disney gift cards are completely free! The bad news is the redemption rates are pretty lame. Nonetheless, this is a viable option for currencies you aren’t otherwise using or if you just want to add some “free” to your Disney vacation. Let’s look at some point values:
Why are Sam’s and Walmart gift cards listed on this table, you ask? Because Sam’s Club and Walmart gift cards can be used to purchase Disney gift cards at Sam’s Club. In these situations, these gift cards can be used to stack with Sam’s Disney gift card savings to slightly improve your return on the points.
Target RedCard
A variety of gift cards, including Disney gift cards, can be purchased with a Target RedCard for 5% off. Given you are using a Target method of payment, these aren’t stackable with other offers described in the Warehouse and Grocery Store sections above; but this option does provide a simple, quick 5% off all Disney spend.
Other Offers
Finally, Amex offers and Chase offers by themselves can sometimes provide an easy 10-20% off Disney gift cards. Home improvement (Lowe’s/Home Depot), office supply (Staples), and grocery stores all carry Disney gift cards and are periodically available via Amex and Chase Offers. While you can’t predict when these offers come along or if you’ll be targeted, these deals can provide substantial savings for the purchase amounts allowed.
Discounted Disney Gift Cards – Summing Up
This is not an all-inclusive list of options for obtaining discounted Disney gift cards. From my perspective, these options provide a good balance of savings and simplicity. After all, you can make more money, but you can’t make more time. What are your strategies for amassing discounted Disney gift cards?
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I think it is important to decide exactly which part of your Disney vacation you are using the gift cards for. For example, if you are using Disney gift cards to pay for a Disney hotel, many times you can get the hotel using Orbitz codes for 15% off. So anything less than 15% savings on the Disney gift cards, you are wasting your time and paying more. Similarly, Disneyworld tickets are around 6% cheaper by buying them from Undercover Tourist, so getting such a small discount as 5% buying gift cards at Target makes no sense for buying Park tickets.
Jason, if you can get a better discount, go for it! To that end, I’ve gotten better value out of using discounted gift cards (obtained anywhere from 5-25% off, sometimes free via points redemption) with Disney World’s periodic discounted resort rates (up to 40% off). I’ve stacked these two discounts routinely in the past, and this has led to superior savings. Discounted gift cards have also been useful for ticket/annual pass upgrades and discounted food/merchandise in the parks.