Disney Gift Card Deals

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Best Buy Credit Card holders! I got an email that had $10 off in it and it can be used on anything, even Disney Gift cards. Got a $25 card for $15! Not a big savings, but it's the little ones that add up!
 
Please people, the current way to save on Disney gift cards is using AMERICAN EXPRESS. Not 5%, not 10%, but 25 - 30%.

The 30% was achieved using the Amex 20% offer at Staples (buying Target gift cards) and then converting to new Target gift cards on the 10% sale day. I purchased $1000 of Disney gift cards at 30% off.

I got 27% off using the Amex 25% off offer at BJ's and buying their discounted Disney gift cards. I bought $800 of Disney gift cards at 27% off.

And I got 25% off using the Amex 20% Sam's Club offer and buying their discounted gift cards. I bought $2,000 of Disney gift cards at 25% off and will be buying another $1000 at 25% off this weekend.

The key is to get 2 or 3 Amex cards (many of them have no annual fee) and then add family members as authorized users. Add your mother, father, brother, sister, dog (ok, maybe not your dog). Each authorized user can get the offer on their card. I have 3 Amex cards but have my mother and father as authorized users on each one and my sister as an authorized user on 1 of them. So that is 3 cards and 7 authorized users for a total of 10 cards.

Many of these offers take place around the holidays, so you want to start applying for Amex cards now to be ready for next years holidays.
 
@bbsearchlight -- good suggestions and I mostly agree.

I'd point out that if you have a lot of time until your Disney vacation, you have the benefit of waiting for the best deals that, like @bbsearchlight pointed out, get you to 20-30% off. However, some people like @WDWNY have trips next month and might not be able to wait for a good Amex offer to hit or for Target's once-a-year 10% off GiftCard sale around the holidays. Another downside to Amex offers is a lot of the good ones are targeted or highly targeted, so you can't necessarily pin your all hopes of savings on that route. For example, I never got the BJ's or Sam's Club offers last year (or the Target offer the year before that) on any of my Amex or my AU cards. Further, to maximize the savings, you shouldn't buy more gift cards than the Amex offer's minimum spend to trigger the statement credit. This limits the amount of gift cards you can buy with each Amex card, which creates the incentive as @bbsearchlight suggests to open more Amex credit cards and/or add AU offers. I'm not entirely comfortable with having so many open accounts or trusting other people with my credit so that limits how much savings I can get out of Amex. With Disney vacations costing thousands of dollars, I may need other strategies in addition to Amex offers even if those deals don't result in as good a discount.

P.S. Target cards were hovering at or above 7% off at Raise for a lot of this afternoon and evening. (Highest I've seen it in a long time.) Even though you can't use discounted Target gift cards to stack with the REDcard 5% off for gift cards anymore, you still can for non-gift card merchandise when shopping online, which I take advantage of to save money that can be freed up for Disney vacations and other things.
 


@bbsearchlight -- good suggestions and I mostly agree.

I'm not entirely comfortable with having so many open accounts or trusting other people with my credit so that limits how much savings I can get out of Amex. .

I do not actually give the authorized user cards to other people, I just open them in family members names (with their permission first, of course) and use the cards myself. As far as having so many open accounts, an authorized user doesn't even affect your credit score.

As far as getting the Amex offers, you must sign up for them quickly after they are released as the best ones fill up very quickly (there is only a limited amount of signups for the best ones). Amex releases the offers at midnight Pacific time so if you live on the east coast you want check the deal websites first thing in the morning especially around holiday time. The BJ's offer was open to everyone, you just had to sign up very quickly. (I think it was filled up by around 7:30 AM the morning after it was released). The Sams club offer was only available on Business amex cards like the SPG (Starwoods Preferred Guest) or the SimplyCash.

I personally do not consider buying gift cards at reseller sites like CardCash or raise an easy way of saving money - You must spend the gift cards quickly and always worry that the balance will be drained and then have to deal with the hassle of getting the money back. That doesn't sound easy to me.
 
I do not actually give the authorized user cards to other people, I just open them in family members names (with their permission first, of course) and use the cards myself. As far as having so many open accounts, an authorized user doesn't even affect your credit score.

As far as getting the Amex offers, you must sign up for them quickly after they are released as the best ones fill up very quickly (there is only a limited amount of signups for the best ones). Amex releases the offers at midnight Pacific time so if you live on the east coast you want check the deal websites first thing in the morning especially around holiday time. The BJ's offer was open to everyone, you just had to sign up very quickly. (I think it was filled up by around 7:30 AM the morning after it was released). The Sams club offer was only available on Business amex cards like the SPG (Starwoods Preferred Guest) or the SimplyCash.

I personally do not consider buying gift cards at reseller sites like CardCash or raise an easy way of saving money - You must spend the gift cards quickly and always worry that the balance will be drained and then have to deal with the hassle of getting the money back. That doesn't sound easy to me.


Good discussion. Very helpful! Thanks Lain and bbsearchlight!
 


Please people, the current way to save on Disney gift cards is using AMERICAN EXPRESS. Not 5%, not 10%, but 25 - 30%.

The 30% was achieved using the Amex 20% offer at Staples (buying Target gift cards) and then converting to new Target gift cards on the 10% sale day. I purchased $1000 of Disney gift cards at 30% off.

I got 27% off using the Amex 25% off offer at BJ's and buying their discounted Disney gift cards. I bought $800 of Disney gift cards at 27% off.

And I got 25% off using the Amex 20% Sam's Club offer and buying their discounted gift cards. I bought $2,000 of Disney gift cards at 25% off and will be buying another $1000 at 25% off this weekend.

The key is to get 2 or 3 Amex cards (many of them have no annual fee) and then add family members as authorized users. Add your mother, father, brother, sister, dog (ok, maybe not your dog). Each authorized user can get the offer on their card. I have 3 Amex cards but have my mother and father as authorized users on each one and my sister as an authorized user on 1 of them. So that is 3 cards and 7 authorized users for a total of 10 cards.

Many of these offers take place around the holidays, so you want to start applying for Amex cards now to be ready for next years holidays.
I wish this would work for me! The 2 targets by me don't allow you to buy gift cards with a gift card (and I don't know of one that does, I would go there if I did because i bought discounted target gift cards during the time of the sale)

There isn't a Sam's club in NYC either, so I would have to spend a ton of time getting to NJ for it to work for me. :(
 
Please people, the current way to save on Disney gift cards is using AMERICAN EXPRESS. Not 5%, not 10%, but 25 - 30%.

The 30% was achieved using the Amex 20% offer at Staples (buying Target gift cards) and then converting to new Target gift cards on the 10% sale day. I purchased $1000 of Disney gift cards at 30% off.

I got 27% off using the Amex 25% off offer at BJ's and buying their discounted Disney gift cards. I bought $800 of Disney gift cards at 27% off.

And I got 25% off using the Amex 20% Sam's Club offer and buying their discounted gift cards. I bought $2,000 of Disney gift cards at 25% off and will be buying another $1000 at 25% off this weekend.

The key is to get 2 or 3 Amex cards (many of them have no annual fee) and then add family members as authorized users. Add your mother, father, brother, sister, dog (ok, maybe not your dog). Each authorized user can get the offer on their card. I have 3 Amex cards but have my mother and father as authorized users on each one and my sister as an authorized user on 1 of them. So that is 3 cards and 7 authorized users for a total of 10 cards.

Many of these offers take place around the holidays, so you want to start applying for Amex cards now to be ready for next years holidays.

What Amex card are you using? My Blue Cash never seems to have these great offers.
 
Hey Y'all!
My trip is Saturday and I have spent all week cashing out GCs.

Target- Used $600 Target GC to purchase (6) $100 Disney GCs. had no problems at self checkout :yay:

Sam's Club- I had (15) $5 Walmart GCs from Mileup and swagbucks. Purchased $150 worth of DIsney GCs at self checkout. This was a pain but it worked. you have to put the scanner back after every GC scanned. :sad2:


Walgreens- Used (3) $100 Wags GCs to purchase 1 $300 Disney GC. no fillers needed, worked perfectly. :banana:

Best Buy- Used the (3) $10 email i received earlier this week (yes, they stack) and a $50 GC to purchase a $100 Disney GC. cashier didn't even realize what was going on. ::yes::

Animal kingdom lodge here I come!:wave2:
 
Please people, the current way to save on Disney gift cards is using AMERICAN EXPRESS. Not 5%, not 10%, but 25 - 30%.

The 30% was achieved using the Amex 20% offer at Staples (buying Target gift cards) and then converting to new Target gift cards on the 10% sale day. I purchased $1000 of Disney gift cards at 30% off.

I got 27% off using the Amex 25% off offer at BJ's and buying their discounted Disney gift cards. I bought $800 of Disney gift cards at 27% off.

And I got 25% off using the Amex 20% Sam's Club offer and buying their discounted gift cards. I bought $2,000 of Disney gift cards at 25% off and will be buying another $1000 at 25% off this weekend.

The key is to get 2 or 3 Amex cards (many of them have no annual fee) and then add family members as authorized users. Add your mother, father, brother, sister, dog (ok, maybe not your dog). Each authorized user can get the offer on their card. I have 3 Amex cards but have my mother and father as authorized users on each one and my sister as an authorized user on 1 of them. So that is 3 cards and 7 authorized users for a total of 10 cards.

Many of these offers take place around the holidays, so you want to start applying for Amex cards now to be ready for next years holidays.

While this is an awesome deal, I want to point that when you combined % off, you don't add each %. What you actually save was just over 27%, not 30%

For example, $100 GC from staples with 20% off = $80 OOP. Convert that $100 gift card to $110 using Target 10% off GC sale (100*.10=10). $80 OOP/ $110 actual value = 27.2% savings.

Same with the BJs discount. It's not added. Sure you saved 25% off the purchase with your Amex, but it was off the sale price, not the value of the GCs. I don't know BJs % off so I can't give the actual % saved.

Like I said, stilll AWESOME, but not calculated correctly.

(Sorry, my dad is math teacher!)
 
Hey Y'all!
My trip is Saturday and I have spent all week cashing out GCs.

Target- Used $600 Target GC to purchase (6) $100 Disney GCs. had no problems at self checkout :yay:

Sam's Club- I had (15) $5 Walmart GCs from Mileup and swagbucks. Purchased $150 worth of DIsney GCs at self checkout. This was a pain but it worked. you have to put the scanner back after every GC scanned. :sad2:


Walgreens- Used (3) $100 Wags GCs to purchase 1 $300 Disney GC. no fillers needed, worked perfectly. :banana:

Best Buy- Used the (3) $10 email i received earlier this week (yes, they stack) and a $50 GC to purchase a $100 Disney GC. cashier didn't even realize what was going on. ::yes::

Animal kingdom lodge here I come!:wave2:

So you can use Sam's and/or Walmart gift cards at Sam's to get Disney gift cards?
 
All right, for those who want to be mathematically exact, the savings were 25% at Sam's club, 28% at BJ's, and 28.9% at Staples/Target. I did think the average person would be okay with me saying 25% - 30% instead of 25% - 28.9%.

Now for the people who want to know how I came up with those numbers, the details are below: (For the rest of you, you can just skip to the next post)

Staples: Purchase Target $900 gift cards for $900 and then getting $9 back from Amex (standard 1% back) plus getting $180 back using Amex promo 20% back. Final cost $711. Buying$1000 of Target gift cards using the original $900 on the Target 10% off day and then converting to Disney. Final cost of $711 for $1000 of Disney gift cards. Savings of $289. Percent of discount is calculated by dividing the amount of discount over the original amount. So 289/1000 = 28.9% Savings. (Please note that I used the offer on 9 different Amex cards to get the $900 in gift cards. However, the calculations would be the same with only $100)

BJ's: Purchase three $100 Disney gift cards for $95.99 and one $25 Disney gift card for $23.99. Total cost is $311.96. Getting $3.12 back from Amex (standard 1% back) plus getting $75 back using Amex promo 25% back on $100 at BJ's (split across 3 cards). Final cost of $233.84 for $325 of Disney gift cards. Savings of $91.16. Percent of discount is calculated by dividing the amount of discount over the original amount. So 91.16/325 = 28% Savings.

Sam's Club: Purchase a $500 Disney gift card for $474.98. Getting $4.75 back from Amex (Standard 1% back) plus getting $95 back using Amex promo 20% back at Sam's Club. Final cost of $375.23 for $500 of Disney gift cards. Savings of $124.77. Percent of discount is calculated by dividing the amount of discount over the original amount. So 124.77/500 = 25% Savings.
 
All right, for those who want to be mathematically exact, the savings were 25% at Sam's club, 28% at BJ's, and 28.9% at Staples/Target. I did think the average person would be okay with me saying 25% - 30% instead of 25% - 28.9%.

Now for the people who want to know how I came up with those numbers, the details are below: (For the rest of you, you can just skip to the next post)

.

Very nice! The only reason I wanted to point out the exact % saved is because we talk about 5 vs 6% on here. A 2% difference still counts as we all are very exact on this board.

But like I stated above, it's still an awesome savings.
 
So you can use Sam's and/or Walmart gift cards at Sam's to get Disney gift cards?

Yes, you can use Walmart gift cards at Sam's Club to purchase the gift cards. But, you can't use Walmart gift cards at Walmart to buy gift cards.

Editing to say, evidently you can use Walmart gc's to buy other gift cards. I have had issues doing so though, I have had success only when buying other things along with the gift card and the total being more than the Walmart gift card I was using.
 
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Yes, you can use Walmart gift cards at Sam's Club to purchase the gift cards. But, you can't use Walmart gift cards at Walmart to buy gift car
Just to note, for you pajama shoppers :surfweb:, you can get Walmart gift cards from Raise and other sites and use those discounted gift cards to purchase from SamsClub online. .99 shipping the last time I did it but still everything from the luxury of your own home.:happytv:
 
All right, for those who want to be mathematically exact, the savings were 25% at Sam's club, 28% at BJ's, and 28.9% at Staples/Target. I did think the average person would be okay with me saying 25% - 30% instead of 25% - 28.9%.

Now for the people who want to know how I came up with those numbers, the details are below: (For the rest of you, you can just skip to the next post)

Staples: Purchase Target $900 gift cards for $900 and then getting $9 back from Amex (standard 1% back) plus getting $180 back using Amex promo 20% back. Final cost $711. Buying$1000 of Target gift cards using the original $900 on the Target 10% off day and then converting to Disney. Final cost of $711 for $1000 of Disney gift cards. Savings of $289. Percent of discount is calculated by dividing the amount of discount over the original amount. So 289/1000 = 28.9% Savings. (Please note that I used the offer on 9 different Amex cards to get the $900 in gift cards. However, the calculations would be the same with only $100)

BJ's: Purchase three $100 Disney gift cards for $95.99 and one $25 Disney gift card for $23.99. Total cost is $311.96. Getting $3.12 back from Amex (standard 1% back) plus getting $75 back using Amex promo 25% back on $100 at BJ's (split across 3 cards). Final cost of $233.84 for $325 of Disney gift cards. Savings of $91.16. Percent of discount is calculated by dividing the amount of discount over the original amount. So 91.16/325 = 28% Savings.

Sam's Club: Purchase a $500 Disney gift card for $474.98. Getting $4.75 back from Amex (Standard 1% back) plus getting $95 back using Amex promo 20% back at Sam's Club. Final cost of $375.23 for $500 of Disney gift cards. Savings of $124.77. Percent of discount is calculated by dividing the amount of discount over the original amount. So 124.77/500 = 25% Savings.
I wish but am happy for you! I have access to almost as many American Express cards but out of all these I only got the Staples offer and only on 2 :(

An important note to anyone considering authorized users on Amex cards! Please remember this may show up on their credit reports. I was initially denied the Chase Sapphire Reserve because the Amex we got last year that I'm an authorized user on counted as a new account to Chase and put me at 5/24 (no credit card for you if you've gotten 5 new cards in the last 24 months). After 3 phone calls I got them to ignore the account and re-evaluate my application and got approved.
 
Since when? I've used Walmart gift cards to buy gift cards at Walmart.
Every time I try there's an issue at the register, I have to have other items in my shopping trip over the amount of the gift card. Maybe I've just had bad luck!

But, it makes more sense to use the gift cards at Sam's Club since they are discounted there and not at Walmart.
 
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