Nikki,
Thanks for your question! This is a common one, and when my family goes to Walt Disney World, we have the same issue. Linked here is an answer to a similar question asked by
Jamie.
Yes, you can apply the balance of a gift card ahead of time on your Disney resort account. When you purchase something using your
MagicBand, like a souvenir or a meal, the charge will go against that positive balance until it is all used up.
How do you take care of this? Just bring your gift cards to your hotel front desk and have them applied to your resort account. They will only bill the credit card you have on file for your room for charges after that positive balance has been used up.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Disney cannot refund any of the leftover gift card balance you transfer over from a card to your resort account. So I don't put all of the balance of my gift cards over to my resort account at the start of the trip. Why not? Since they cannot refund remaining credit, if I put a $100 gift card onto my resort balance and I only spent $90 of that, I would lose that $10 balance.
Instead I transfer only what I know I will spend. Since they can take partial amounts off of a gift card, I go with just what I know confidently will be spent. Then I go back every other day to add more as needed.
Also remember that to keep track you can check your balance from your
My Disney Experience account!
Have a Magical Vacation!