Check in at Disney's Art of Animation
  • On Jan 11, 2023
    Dari from NJ Asked Please note that experiences, policies, pricing and other offerings are subject to change and may have changed since the date of this answer.

    Can I use visa gift cards to pay off some of my balance toward my resort room?

    Dari,

    Thanks for asking your question to planDisney!

    Yes, you can use a Visa Gift Card at Walt Disney World! It can be used to pay off some of the balance of an upcoming vacation, or it can be applied to your resort account when you arrive.

    Please note that while Disney still requires you to have a traditional credit card on file for your hotel room, you can have the value of gift cards put on your account so that any charges you make back to your room come off that gift card credit first before they would charge your credit card account. This credit balance could also go to the resort room charges as well.

    What I like to do is visit the front desk periodically to apply gift card value to my Disney resort hotel account. As I mentioned, these funds can go to pay for room charges, as well as when you charge food or other purchases to your MagicBand. 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.

    BONUS TIP #1
    One very important note. I do not recommend that you put all your gift card balance over to your resort hotel account at the start of the trip. Why? Well, Disney cannot refund any of that transfer 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 initially put down only that amount that I know I will spend, and every couple of days I will return to the front desk to apply more gift card credit, 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 #2
    When you check in, ask what the account threshold amount is so that you know when they would charge your credit card. This will tell you when their system automatically charges your credit card on file for a specific amount. With this information you can get an idea of when you may want to go put more gift card money onto your hotel room account.

    Please feel free to write me back directly if you have any follow-up questions.

    Have a Magical Vacation!

    Doug

thumbnail image for Doug

Meet the Panelist: Doug, Indiana

I am one of the Dads on the planDisney Panel, and I love to help parents plan their vacation, with a focus on showing them how it can be fun for them too. I am also here to help Dads plan some nice surprises for the Moms in their life (they deserve it!). Learn More About Doug

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