Henry,
Thanks for asking your question to planDisney!
Yes, you absolutely can apply your gift cards to your account to cover for in-park purchases. Disney still requires you have a traditional credit card down on the room, but I have used Disney Gift Cards on many a trip to Walt Disney World. It is a great way to save up for those incidental purchases that are sure to come (Translation: Mickey Ice Cream Bars!). It is also a great item for kids to list on birthday or Christmas wish lists. My teenagers have a hard time finding gift idea suggestions for relatives that are reasonably priced, so this gives them a lot of flexibility.
Sometime after checking in to your hotel, visit the front desk and have the gift card credits applied to your resort account. When you charge food or other purchases to your MagicBand the purchase will go on your resort room account. With that balance of your gift cards already put onto your hotel account, they deduct those costs from your credit balance rather than bill the credit card you have on file for your room.
Do be sure when you charge food or merchandise that you select the option to apply the charge to your room bill. Sometimes the
My Disney Experience App will initially opt to a different payment type, like Apple Pay. You just have to select your room as your primary charge, or toggle to it when paying.
BONUS TIP #1One very important note to be sure of. If you have several cards, I do not recommend that you put all their balances over to your resort account at the start of the trip. Why? Well, Disney cannot refund any of those transfers to you, so if you put $100 of a gift card onto your resort balance and only spend $90 of that, you lose the $10 balance.
When I go, I put down only that amount that I know I will spend, and every couple of days I will return and use more cards as I get closer to spending that credit balance. Oh, and remember that you can always check your balance from your My Disney Experience app!
BONUS TIP #2I mention Disney Gift Cards in my answer, but Disney will accept a wide variety of gift cards, so don't think you are restricted to just the ones that they sell.
Write me back if you have more questions!
Have a Magical Vacation!Doug