Welcome back, Judith!
Disney Gift Cards are a great way to save up for an upcoming Disney vacation. Since my family and I love to sail with Disney Cruise Line, we purchase Disney Gift Cards throughout the year to help budget for our cruises. Our local grocery store at home offers fuel rewards (gasoline discounts) when we purchase gift cards at the grocery store. So, I try to stock up on Disney Gift Cards there to save a bit of money on gas since we all need to fill up the car. It's my little way of creating what I like to think of as a discount on our cruise vacations!
Disney Gift Cards can be added to your stateroom account as credits. Just swing by Guest Services and they'll add them for you.
Gift shop purchases, specialty drinks,
Port Adventures, gratuities, and anything else you charge on your Key To The World Card are applied to your stateroom account. By adding Disney Gift Cards as credit at the beginning of your sailing, you'll have money to cover those purchases before anything would be charged to the credit card on file. I always know how much the
traditional gratuities will be, and I budget a bit extra since our dining servers and stateroom hosts always go "to infinity and beyond" for us. I have Disney Gift Cards ready in amounts to cover those charges plus extra since of course I'll be making purchases onboard. Since I know how much each Port Adventure will cost, I try to have enough in Disney Gift Cards to cover those too. However, when I don't bring enough gift cards, the charges on my stateroom simply apply to the credit card I have on file. It's super easy!
Have fun planning, Judith!
Marcy