Hi again Heather, it's great to see you back here once again at planDisney!
I hope you managed to
resolve the issues you encountered with your upcoming reservation this September, and that it's nothing but smooth sailing until you head down to celebrate your 35th wedding anniversary in style! It's become a bit of a travel hack for savvy Canadians to stock up on Disney Gift Cards loaded at home to avoid potential addition foreign transaction fees as they travel to Disney Destinations in the United States, and also as a way to manage their spending while they're there.
I recently ran a number of tests with
Disney Gift Cards purchased at Canadian retailers while
communicating with their dedicated team to see whether they could provide helpful details, and hopefully you'll be able to make use of these insights from my findings:
- Making sure that you're logged in at Disneygiftcard.com, accessing My Cards will allow you to add cards and transfer funds between them (up to 3 eligible cards at a time). I think that combining them together is a great idea so you don't have to worry about having the right one with you as you make purchases and also makes it easier to see your transaction history all in one place.
- The conversion will take place the first time that you use your Disney Gift Card in the United States, and I've personally found that the Bloomberg exchange rate between CAD and USD is consistent with how it converted. As you make your purchase, the register may display your remaining balance on the Disney Gift Card in USD which you can also check on your receipt. I recommend hanging onto these so that you can also refer back to your transaction history online - which will continue to be displayed in Canadian funds.
The only drawback to combining all of your cards together into one is that once it's been used and the conversion has been made, the remaining balance is essentially locked into the amount that was converted into USD. (During my research I found that it was possible to have two Canadian Disney Gift Cards with the same initial load amount, with different balances and when I asked a Cast Member they confirmed that this was due the differences of the exchange rate on each of the days that I chose to first use them.) It is important to note that policies and offerings may of course always be subject to change without prior notice, but here's hoping that the exchange rate is desirable when you start to use your card!
Here's to having a handy way to pay at the Most Magical Place on Earth!
Prince