Hi, Shonti!
Welcome and thank you for sending in this excellent question to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I'm a huge believer in using Disney Gift Cards to help me budget for our Disney vacations. I purchase one whenever I can and set them aside for our next trip. I love that the
Disney Gift Card website allows you to manage your cards online and keep track of your balance. I typically have way more than five Disney Gift Cards when it comes time for my vacation so what I do is combine them into one or more cards. You can actually place up to $1000.00 per card on the website. Since the Disney Gift Card website only allows you to track up to five cards, you'll need to choose one card and transfer your balances to that card. It's easy to do, but does require you to input all your card information in and then transfer over to the designated card. The key is deleting the empty card so you can use all the cards that you've purchased. If you have more than a $1000.00, you'll need to select another card and go through the same process. I'm always careful to mark the card with all the Disney money with permanent marker. If you haven't already, head on over to the Disney Gift Card website and create an account.
When you are enjoying your magical vacation, you'll be able to stop by your resort front desk at any time to pay off your account balance with your Disney Gift Cards. We usually stop by every other day and keep track of our balance by looking at the receipt each time we make a purchase. (You'll seem it listed at the bottom.)
Shonti, I hope my answer is helpful. I know you may have other questions about your first visit to the Most Magical Place on Earth, so please don't hesitate to reach back out if we can assist you further with your pixie-dusted plans.
Nancy