# Canadian Disney Gift Cards



## Datney

In the past few days it seems Disney gift cards have started to hit stores in Canada!!  I have found them at:

Sobey's & Shoppers Drug Mart.

Just wondering if anyone has located them in other stores? Now we just need some discount offers like our American friends.


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## Sue M

I hadn’t noticed them in Shoppers. We don’t have Sobeys here. Are they like the gift cards sold in Disney Store in Canada? You buy card but value you get is tied to the exchange rate of the day you’re using it.   Not sure I like that. I’d rather just buy my US cash when CAD goes up, then when I get to WDW can buy GC there.
I find it easier to pay for dining with a GC rather than carry cash.


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## Datney

Sue M said:


> I hadn’t noticed them in Shoppers. We don’t have Sobeys here. Are they like the gift cards sold in Disney Store in Canada? You buy card but value you get is tied to the exchange rate of the day you’re using it.   Not sure I like that. I’d rather just buy my US cash when CAD goes up, then when I get to WDW can buy GC there.
> I find it easier to pay for dining with a GC rather than carry cash.



Yes.... I think they will be more useful for me to pay down my reservation.  I bought a gift card at Sobey's and then made a payment on my reservation. The exchange rate was descent though. My payment converted at 1.246.... and I earned Air Miles


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## Sue M

Datney said:


> Yes.... I think they will be more useful for me to pay down my reservation.  I bought a gift card at Sobey's and then made a payment on my reservation. The exchange rate was descent though. My payment converted at 1.246.... and I earned Air Miles


How did that compare to bank rate?  Do you get a better exchange rate from GC?  I haven’t bought any USD in a few weeks. 
What denominations do they carry and how do you know how much it will be in USD to make payment?  If you can get a better exchange rate that would be a great idea to use it to pay for resort res.


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## PinkMagnolia

I noticed them at Rexall this week too.  You can put between $25-$200 on them.   I was thinking they'd be a cute Christmas gift for my kids to buy souvenirs.

Sometimes, Shoppers has promos with their gift cards - buy so much $$ and get bonus SDM points.


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## Datney

Sue M said:


> How did that compare to bank rate?  Do you get a better exchange rate from GC?  I haven’t bought any USD in a few weeks.
> What denominations do they carry and how do you know how much it will be in USD to make payment?  If you can get a better exchange rate that would be a great idea to use it to pay for resort res.



Yes. The bank rate was over 1.27 at the time.  One thing I realized, Disney has a minimum payment of $20USD so if you purchase a $25CDN card and the exchange rate is above 1.25 it will be less then $20USD so probably better to buy a bit more the $25 just in case.


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## rxbeth

Sue M said:


> How did that compare to bank rate?  Do you get a better exchange rate from GC?  I haven’t bought any USD in a few weeks.
> What denominations do they carry and how do you know how much it will be in USD to make payment?  If you can get a better exchange rate that would be a great idea to use it to pay for resort res.



You get the precious days closing exchange rate and completely bypass any foreign exchange conversion fees. I did this a few weeks ago and was able to pay off my room at 1.2345


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## amie416

Well... saving the exchange fees is a good enough reason, and if I can get AirMiles and stack with bonus AirMiles and CC AirMiles... now we're talking!


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## Sue M

Sounds good to me. I think I’ll pay off my Aug trip this way. Too late for November, I think I’m all but $150 paid off.  Guess I can pay the last little bit off with GC.  Saving exchange fee sounds good to me too!  Although I won’t get my Alaska miles not using my Alaska CC lol. And  Airmiles not what it used to be.


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## Hemlock

Someone in another group reported seeing Disney gift cards at Canadian Tire.  I checked my local Canadian Tire, Shoppers Drug Mart (2 locations) and Rexall and didn’t find them


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## Canadian Harmony

Any sighted in BC yet? This totally changes my 'carrying wads of cash south' game!


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## ilovetotravel1977

Datney said:


> In the past few days it seems Disney gift cards have started to hit stores in Canada!!  I have found them at:
> 
> Sobey's & Shoppers Drug Mart.
> 
> Just wondering if anyone has located them in other stores? Now we just need some discount offers like our American friends.



Where are you located??


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## Hemlock

Finally found some Disney gift cards at Your Independent Grocer this morning!


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## Datney

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> Where are you located??


I’m in Peterborough, ON


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## gskywalker

Can everyone please share where you find them(location and store).  Hoping at some point there will be a discounted deal on them, as well will buy them for the shoppers Gift Card Bonus point deal that happens every November.


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## ilovetotravel1977

I can almost guarantee Atlantic Canada won't see these cards in stores.


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## CanadianKrista

Anyone seen them at Loblaws?  And what provinces are they being spotted in?


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## gskywalker

I stopped in at my closest medium size shoppers drug mart and talked to the manager who knows me, he looked and sure enough, a few packs of Disney gift cards and it says right on them can be used for Disney Resorts, stores, at Disney theme parks etc.   Now we just need some kind of deals to lower the price from face value.  FYI, he also mentioned he can order in as many as I want, he orders on Sunday, arrive on Tuesday.


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## ilovetotravel1977

gskywalker said:


> Can everyone please share where you find them(location and store).  Hoping at some point there will be a discounted deal on them, as well will buy them for the shoppers Gift Card Bonus point deal that happens every November.



I thought you couldn't use Optimum points to buy gift cards for other retailers?  Same for PC Plus points.


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## hdrolfe

Shoppers does a gift card bonus, usually in November, buy so much $$ in gift cards and get bonus points.


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## gskywalker

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I thought you couldn't use Optimum points to buy gift cards for other retailers?  Same for PC Plus points.



You can't.  The Shoppers Gift Card Bonus, is buy $200 in gift cards get 8000 points, happens once a year, I think in the first week of November.  Hoping for one of the times that stores have a 10 or 20% discount on certain gift cards that they offer a deal on Disney Gift Cards.  Otherwise the hope would be to at least earn Air miles at Sobeys if they have an earn miles on gift cards deal.


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## amie416

It would be nice if Costco started carrying Disney gift cards like they do in the US... even a 5% discount would help!


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## Datney

amie416 said:


> It would be nice if Costco started carrying Disney gift cards like they do in the US... even a 5% discount would help!


Combined with the saving on the exchange rate,that would be awesome!


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## Sparrow78

amie416 said:


> It would be nice if Costco started carrying Disney gift cards like they do in the US... even a 5% discount would help!


Costco sells gift cards in the states? California? If do we may hit there in our way to the hotel!


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## Hemlock




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## Sparrow78

Are the Costco cards Disney cards discounted?


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## ilovetotravel1977

gskywalker said:


> You can't.  The Shoppers Gift Card Bonus, is buy $200 in gift cards get 8000 points, happens once a year, I think in the first week of November.  Hoping for one of the times that stores have a 10 or 20% discount on certain gift cards that they offer a deal on Disney Gift Cards.  Otherwise the hope would be to at least earn Air miles at Sobeys if they have an earn miles on gift cards deal.



I thought you were saying you were going to use your points at the event to buy the Disney gift cards...


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## isabellea

Hemlock said:


> View attachment 277473 View attachment 277473



Thanks for the picture. Since it's also written in French, there's a good chance I will see them in Montreal too so I will keep my eyes open!


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## Toy Story Fan

Does anyone know if you can use the gift cards to make a payment for a Disney cruise? The card pictured states, "onboard Disney Cruise Line".  I wonder if that just means exactly what it states, only onboard.


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## amie416

They were just putting the cards out on display when I got to Rexall today (Downtown Toronto: Queen and University) so I bought one as a test.

No Air Miles.  No base miles, no bonus miles, no load-and-go.  




Sparrow78 said:


> Are the Costco cards Disney cards discounted?



The ones they sell in the warehouse have a small discount... it's just under 5% off, if i remember correctly, but they don't always carry them.


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## buzz638

Anyone saw them in Québec by any chance?....i doubt it very much, but i'm trying


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## buzz638

Hemlock said:


> View attachment 277473 View attachment 277473


Where was this one bought ? Like Isabellea said, if it's in french it must be somewhere in Québec?!?


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## Hemlock

buzz638 said:


> Where was this one bought ? Like Isabellea said, if it's in french it must be somewhere in Québec?!?



No, I bought it at YIG in Northern Ontario


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## LauraJean

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I can almost guarantee Atlantic Canada won't see these cards in stores.



Found them Walmart in Newfoundland


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## ilovetotravel1977

LauraJean said:


> Found them Walmart in Newfoundland



OMG, Atlantic Canada! Yessss!


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## Donald - my hero

amie416 said:


> They were just putting the cards out on display when I got to Rexall today (Downtown Toronto: Queen and University) so I bought one as a test.
> 
> No Air Miles.  No base miles, no bonus miles, no load-and-go.



*You will only earn Airmiles on gift cards (of any kind) when there is a specific offer. Last couple of weeks Foodland and Sobeys both had buy a $150 gc get 150 AM. This week Metro has buy a $50 GC for The GAP family stores and get 50 AM. *

***side note, don't ever try to use AM coupons in the Rexall in the PATH at King Street, they are NOT happy campers there *


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## Donald - my hero

buzz638 said:


> Where was this one bought ? Like Isabellea said, if it's in french it must be somewhere in Québec?!?


*No, that would be because of the requirement for everything to have both languages on it to be sold in Canada.*


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## gskywalker

No Gift Card deal for this coming week that I could find.  Going to wait it out and hope I can get the whole amount for the trip in gift cards when a deal comes available.


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## Pumpkin1172

Opps...wrong thread


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## JennyT2

Anyone seen then in and around the Niagara area? Or Burlington/Hamilton?


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## lisaviolet

Datney said:


> In the past few days it seems Disney gift cards have started to hit stores in Canada!!  I have found them at:
> 
> Sobey's & Shoppers Drug Mart.
> 
> Just wondering if anyone has located them in other stores? Now we just need some discount offers like our American friends.



I can't even explain the joy that you have brought me, Datney.  I've hit up two Shopper's Drug Marts already. And had to explain my crazy reaction to someone in the gift card aisle.

_______________________________________________________

I have a question for anyone ---

I thought that I was going to see the exchange right at the moment of purchase. So if I go to the Disney card site and check my card it will give me the balance in American funds there, correct?


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## Wildthing

St thomas Canadian tire has Disney Gift Cards on the gift card rack


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## lisaviolet

lisaviolet said:


> I thought that I was going to see the exchange right at the moment of purchase. So if I go to the Disney card site and check my card it will give me the balance in American funds there, correct?



Was so excited about the cards, I barely read the posts. I got it. You get the exchange when you actually use it.


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## Datney

lisaviolet said:


> Was so excited about the cards, I barely read the posts. I got it. You get the exchange when you actually use it.


Yes. When you chose to make a payment via gift card and type the card number in, it tells you the US$ value. I was so excited too, now I find myself checking every store I go in for gift cards!


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## JETSDAD

Wildthing said:


> St thomas Canadian tire has Disney Gift Cards on the gift card rack


Thank You! I live near St.Thomas so will have to go grab some.


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## LuvGoldens

Saw them today at Walmart in Winnipeg


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## bcwife76

Canadian Harmony said:


> Any sighted in BC yet? This totally changes my 'carrying wads of cash south' game!



I live in Surrey BC and so far have not found any  But I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that SOON they make their way over the Rockies


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## Jennny

I was just in the shoppers in London Ontario yesterday and did a double take ... this is great!


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## CanadianPaco

Jennny said:


> I was just in the shoppers in London Ontario yesterday and did a double take ... this is great!


Woohoo! Thank you for sharing .... will check it out today!! THX


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## dancin Disney style

Superstore in Oakville has them...but only the $50 card


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## Silvermist999

Disney Stores sell the gift cards.  
Is there any reason it's better to buy from other merchants?  Are they discounted, or can you earn points / air miles?


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## JLCDisMom

I saw $25-$500 cards today at Shopper's Drug Mart. Does anyone know if I can use SDM gift cards (so I can earn Optimum points) to purchase Disney gift cards? Between Optimum promotions (20x today) and my cash back credit card, it could soften the blow of an expensive vacation plan. I'm doubtful, but I figured I'd ask.
Thanks 
edit: or, apparently in November they run points on GC promotions.


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## Canadian Harmony

I went through Victoria yesterday 2 Rexalls, a Shoppers, and a Canadian Tire. Nada. 

Today I went to Walmart in Duncan and found the $25 ones. I’d need 153!!

Then I went to the CT in Duncan and jackpot!! $25-500 ones! I hit my daily debit limit with three cards left I go, so I’ll go back tomorrow and finish it off. 

Pretty excited I must say!


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## ssmurphy28

This is awesome news! I get 4X the points on my credit card when I shop at Grocery Stores...and still have to pay off my RO for next months trip. So rather than earning $30 worth of travel on my credit card, I’ll earn like $120! Every little bit helps, especially for spending money in the parks! Sobeys, here I come!


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## mkmommy

ssmurphy28 said:


> This is awesome news! I get 4X the points on my credit card when I shop at Grocery Stores...and still have to pay off my RO for next months trip. So rather than earning $30 worth of travel on my credit card, I’ll earn like $120! Every little bit helps, especially for spending money in the parks! Sobeys, here I come!


Is there a way to prepay a rooms only reservation, or would you just buy the gift cards in advance and use when you get there.


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## Jadak

Found them in NS!! Our Walmart in New Glasgow has $25 & $50 increments. 
None at my local Superstore yet.


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## superplannermom

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I can almost guarantee Atlantic Canada won't see these cards in stores.


I saw them in Wal-Mart in cape breton


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## ssmurphy28

mkmommy said:


> Is there a way to prepay a rooms only reservation, or would you just buy the gift cards in advance and use when you get there.



I was going to call this week and see. I’ll start with a low amount ($20) and see if it works.

Two and a half weeks before our last trip, our house was broken into and aside from some jewelry and prescription drugs, the only thing that was taken was my two $10 Disney gift cards! So, I don’t trust myself to carry thousands of dollars in gift cards around, so I’ll try it and if it works I’ll make the purchase and payments within minutes of each other.


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## JLCDisMom

Right! So, I get 2% back on my purchases at grocery stores, so that's not nothing. If SDM rewards don't work out, I might as well save 2% on a vacation! It's better than nothing.


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## JLCDisMom

ssmurphy28 said:


> I was going to call this week and see. I’ll start with a low amount ($20) and see if it works.
> 
> Two and a half weeks before our last trip, our house was broken into and aside from some jewelry and prescription drugs, the only thing that was taken was my two $10 Disney gift cards! So, I don’t trust myself to carry thousands of dollars in gift cards around, so I’ll try it and if it works I’ll make the purchase and payments within minutes of each other.



Yes, I'd do this too, but also because I'd want to be sure that there wasn't any problems doing so. I'd rather remedy initially than find out when it's trip time.


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## ssmurphy28

Just checked my local Sobeys and Rexall in Calgary and didn’t see anything. I’ll keep checking around at other places the next couple weeks. Only five and a half weeks until we head out!


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## Toy Story Fan

ssmurphy28 said:


> Just checked my local Sobeys and Rexall in Calgary and didn’t see anything. I’ll keep checking around at other places the next couple weeks. Only five and a half weeks until we head out!


I've checked in Edmonton as well...nothing.


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## Donald - my hero

mkmommy said:


> Is there a way to prepay a rooms only reservation, or would you just buy the gift cards in advance and use when you get there.





Canadian Harmony said:


> Today I went to Walmart in Duncan and found the $25 ones. I’d need 153!!
> Then I went to the CT in Duncan and jackpot!! $25-500 ones! I hit my daily debit limit with three cards left I go, so I’ll go back tomorrow and finish it off.
> Pretty excited I must say!





ssmurphy28 said:


> I was going to call this week and see. I’ll start with a low amount ($20) and see if it works.
> Two and a half weeks before our last trip, our house was broken into and aside from some jewelry and prescription drugs, the only thing that was taken was my two $10 Disney gift cards! So, I don’t trust myself to carry thousands of dollars in gift cards around, so I’ll try it and if it works I’ll make the purchase and payments within minutes of each other.


*You can set up an account on the Disney Gift Card site and transfer balances from several cards onto one .. max amount on each card is $1000 but that way if you want to use them to pay off your trip you won't need to rattle off so many numbers! *
*And from the FAQs on their website *
*You can use your Disney Gift Card as a form of payment for Walt Disney World® Resort vacation packages and room nights by calling the Walt Disney Travel Company Florida at (407)-W-DISNEY.*

*Check out this site for more info:*
*Disney Gift Cards*


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## Donald - my hero

Silvermist999 said:


> Disney Stores sell the gift cards.
> Is there any reason it's better to buy from other merchants?  Are they discounted, or can you earn points / air miles?


*There are times when certain stores have bonus offers on items .. Shoppers usually has one week in November where you will earn bonus points on Gift Card purchases. If Shell ever ends up carrying the cards you can earn Airmiles in their stores on anything (including Gift Cards) and they often have bonus mile events. If you have an AMEX and are participating in the Soar into More promos, these will count towards those offers. Mainly though, most of us are nowhere near a Disney Store!!!*


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## Canadian Harmony

Oh and btw, I actually got Canadian Tire Money on each of the gift card transactions too! I ended up with an extra $14.85 on my CTMoney card!


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## Toy Story Fan

Donald - my hero said:


> *You can set up an account on the Disney Gift Card site and transfer balances from several cards onto one .. max amount on each card is $1000 but that way if you want to use them to pay off your trip you won't need to rattle off so many numbers! *
> *And from the FAQs on their website *
> *You can use your Disney Gift Card as a form of payment for Walt Disney World® Resort vacation packages and room nights by calling the Walt Disney Travel Company Florida at (407)-W-DISNEY.*
> 
> *Check out this site for more info:*
> *Disney Gift Cards*


Thanks! This answers my earlier question about being able to use the gift cards to pay for a Disney cruise. I am definitely going to be looking for them!!


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## Aladora

Canadian Harmony said:


> I went through Victoria yesterday 2 Rexalls, a Shoppers, and a Canadian Tire. Nada.
> 
> Today I went to Walmart in Duncan and found the $25 ones. I’d need 153!!
> 
> Then I went to the CT in Duncan and jackpot!! $25-500 ones! I hit my daily debit limit with three cards left I go, so I’ll go back tomorrow and finish it off.
> 
> Pretty excited I must say!



Ugh, I checked the Admiral's Walk Rexall and the Esquimalt Shoppers so if those were not on your list then you can cross them off as not having the cards either! 

We're (sadly!) not planning a DL trip for a while so I'm hoping that when the time comes that somewhere here in Victoria stocks them. Duncan is not far to go but I'd rather not make a trip over the Malahat if I can avoid it.


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## Canadian Harmony

Aladora said:


> Ugh, I checked the Admiral's Walk Rexall and the Esquimalt Shoppers so if those were not on your list then you can cross them off as not having the cards either!
> 
> We're (sadly!) not planning a DL trip for a while so I'm hoping that when the time comes that somewhere here in Victoria stocks them. Duncan is not far to go but I'd rather not make a trip over the Malahat if I can avoid it.



I'm sorry. I should have been more specific - those WERE the Rexall and Shoppers I checked. And the Rexall at Colwood Corners. The Canadian Tire in Esquimalt didn't have any cards.

BUT, that was on Friday, so who knows what they'll have this week? Maybe the larger CT at Westshore will have them?

If you DO end up over the Malahat, let me know and we can meet for coffee and talking all things Dis!


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## Pumpkin1172

NO gift cards in Grande Prairie Ab yet...they slowly seem to be heading out West...hopefully they start to arrive soon


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## Susie63

Pumpkin1172 said:


> NO gift cards in Grande Prairie Ab yet...they slowly seem to be heading out West...hopefully they start to arrive soon


Where did you check? I looked at CT, Safeway and Walmart. Can you msg. me if you find them here in GP please.


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## Toy Story Fan

Toy Story Fan said:


> I've checked in Edmonton as well...nothing.


Went looking today...found them at Shoppers Drugmart in Edmonton!! They said they could order me more if I need them.


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## gskywalker

So there is a 10% off CDN tire gift cards coming this week at shoppers, I assume not, but does anyone know whether we can buy other gift cards at CDN tire using a CDN Tire Gift card?  thx

EDIT: From what I found online everyone says no, but none of them had first hand experience trying.


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## lisaviolet

What a smile inducing thread.


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## Tinkershelly

I found $25 cards at Walmart in Bedford Nova Scotia


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## mort1331

Canadian Harmony said:


> Oh and btw, I actually got Canadian Tire Money on each of the gift card transactions too! I ended up with an extra $14.85 on my CTMoney card!


are you sure, I just called CTMC and they said you do not get CTM on GC. I would love it. Was it at the 4%(10x) love to hear more.


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## Canadian Harmony

mort1331 said:


> are you sure, I just called CTMC and they said you do not get CTM on GC. I would love it. Was it at the 4%(10x) love to hear more.



Of course I'm sure, I was there, LOL. The cashier was surprised too, but after each transaction, I received the CTM and then at Customer Service, I traded it in and put it on my CTM card. You can call CTMC and they'll say no, but the system in Duncan's store told the cashier to give it to me, so they did. Not sure if it was 4% or what, but most likely. I spent around $3800 all told and got $14.00 in CTM.


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## mort1331

Canadian Harmony said:


> Of course I'm sure, I was there, LOL. The cashier was surprised too, but after each transaction, I received the CTM and then at Customer Service, I traded it in and put it on my CTM card. You can call CTMC and they'll say no, but the system in Duncan's store told the cashier to give it to me, so they did. Not sure if it was 4% or what, but most likely. I spent around $3800 all told and got $14.00 in CTM.


LOL not doubting you.
so if it was $14 for the $3800 that is aobut 1/2% or .005. not the 4%. But hey every little bit helps. Very Nice


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## Canadian Harmony

mort1331 said:


> LOL not doubting you.
> so if it was $14 for the $3800 that is aobut 1/2% or .005. not the 4%. But hey every little bit helps. Very Nice



Math is not my strong suit, as I'm sure you can tell. You're right - every little bit is nice to get, especially now that we have a camper and often pop in to CT to grab stuff in the summer.


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## lisaviolet

ssmurphy28 said:


> Just checked my local Sobeys and Rexall in Calgary and didn’t see anything. I’ll keep checking around at other places the next couple weeks. Only five and a half weeks until we head out!



Sending good thoughts that today will be the day.


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## ngm

Donald - my hero said:


> *You will only earn Airmiles on gift cards (of any kind) when there is a specific offer. Last couple of weeks Foodland and Sobeys both had buy a $150 gc get 150 AM. This week Metro has buy a $50 GC for The GAP family stores and get 50 AM. *
> 
> ***side note, don't ever try to use AM coupons in the Rexall in the PATH at King Street, they are NOT happy campers there *



The Rexall in FCP concourse level (Adelaide side) is great for AM coupons, etc.  All the cashiers seem as AM-happy as I am!


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## Donald - my hero

ngm said:


> The Rexall in FCP concourse level (Adelaide side) is great for AM coupons, etc.  All the cashiers seem as AM-happy as I am!


*Ok, so for the Duck who lives out of town and only wanders (read gets hopelessly lost) thru the PATH on **occasion, give me a bit more of a hint  -- I think i've been in that Rexall, much bigger & brighter?? If I'm coming from Union it should be on my right when I'm heading towards the Bay? The one I have given up shopping in is right under 1 King West (hubby teaches across the street a couple of days a month and we stay there if i can snag a good rate!)*


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## ngm

Donald - my hero said:


> *Ok, so for the Duck who lives out of town and only wanders (read gets hopelessly lost) thru the PATH on **occasion, give me a bit more of a hint  -- I think i've been in that Rexall, much bigger & brighter?? If I'm coming from Union it should be on my right when I'm heading towards the Bay? The one I have given up shopping in is right under 1 King West (hubby teaches across the street a couple of days a month and we stay there if i can snag a good rate!)*



Ha ha, I totally get it.  I know "my" part of the PATH well, but as soon as I stray to an unfamiliar part, I'm hopelessly lost.  If you're coming from Union basically you just go straight north.  Through RBC Tower, through TD Tower, and into 1st Canadian Place.  Straight ahead through 1st Canadian place (so don't go right or left, go right through the elevator banks to the other side).  It's right in front of you (near the exit to Adelaide street/the Duke of Wellington).  Yes, bigger and brighter.  BUT, make sure you have already loaded any coupons, or taken a picture.  There is NO wireless or cell coverage in the store.

If you're coming from King West, could be easier to come outside, walk west on King to 1st Canadian Place, and come in on ground level, and go downstairs from there.


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## gskywalker

Ugh its killing me, another week of seeing Disney cards in more stores but another week with no deals for those gift cards.....


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## kuhltiffany

Spotted $50 ones at Superstore in Kanata South today!


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## ilovetotravel1977

I was going to just charge everything while in FL to our credit card, but with the Canadian dollar tanking again and the foreign exchange fees on the mastercard, maybe I will buy good amount of Disney gift cards to balance that out?


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## gskywalker

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I was going to just charge everything while in FL to our credit card, but with the Canadian dollar tanking again and the foreign exchange fees on the mastercard, maybe I will buy good amount of Disney gift cards to balance that out?



Yeah its getting ugly.  I am glad that I have till August to pay the whole bill and till April/May for free dining so that I can book it.  8 people for that trip and with this dollar it's not going to be pretty but after not going this year I am suffering some serious withdrawal, cold sweats,.... shakes.... and I am pretty sure I have seen Mickey standing over me while when I wake up in the middle of the night to go pee


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## Susie63

Pumpkin1172 said:


> NO gift cards in Grande Prairie Ab yet...they slowly seem to be heading out West...hopefully they start to arrive soon


I found them today at Walmart. $50 and $25


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## quandrea

Anyone see them in Mississauga, On?


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## bababear_50

quandrea said:


> Anyone see them in Mississauga, On?


Hi Hon
Rexall at Derry Rd and 10th Line has them. (Mississauga).
They are $50.00 -$500.00 ones.
Hugs Mel


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## lauracitawita

quandrea said:


> Anyone see them in Mississauga, On?


I found them at Shoppers in Erin Mills Town ctr.  They were $50-$500.  I put $200 on the card.  I checked on the website when I got home, and there was $160 and change USD.


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## amie416

lauracitawita said:


> I found them at Shoppers in Erin Mills Town ctr.  They were $50-$500.  I put $200 on the card.  I checked on the website when I got home, and there was $160 and change USD.



I just checked and that’s a good $6.75 USD more than my bank would give me if I moved $200 to my USD account today.  Not bad!


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

amie416 said:


> I just checked and that’s a good $6.75 USD more than my bank would give me if I moved $200 to my USD account today.  Not bad!



That's what I was going post too!  On xe.com $200CDN = $156.17 and on RBC Calculator $200 = $152.46.  Although, the rates will always fluctuate based on WHEN you cash it in at WDW. 

Oh, and I found the gift cards at Walmart in Halifax today, only $25 though, no $50's.


----------



## lauracitawita

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> That's what I was going post too!  On xe.com $200CDN = $156.17 and on RBC Calculator $200 = $152.46.  Although, the rates will always fluctuate based on WHEN you cash it in at WDW.
> 
> Oh, and I found the gift cards at Walmart in Halifax today, only $25 though, no $50's.


Is that how it works?  I was on the Disney gift card site, and it said the value is $160.  I don't think it will change.


----------



## Donald - my hero

lauracitawita said:


> Is that how it works?  I was on the Disney gift card site, and it said the value is $160.  I don't think it will change.


*It's value will be based on the previous business day's exchange rate --my understanding of the situation.*


----------



## JennyT2

Found in shoppers drug mart Grimsby, ont.


----------



## lisaviolet

quandrea said:


> Anyone see them in Mississauga, On?



Quandrea,

Not sure if you're in Southeast Mississauga but I bought one yesterday at Shopper's Drug Mart on Lakeshore (plaza had a Dollarama and McDonald's in it) west of Cawthra. Sorry I don't know the area well so I can't list the exact corner. But north side of Lakeshore.

Also found some in Rexall in Oakville but close to the Mississauga border. So I'm sure you will find one instantly at any Rexall or Shopper's. I haven't been in a listed store yet - Downtown Toronto to Brampton and in between - where they were not available. 

And I smiled in one of my finds because you could visibly see that people were buying them. As there were only two left. Where most of the gift cards were fully stocked. 



lauracitawita said:


> Is that how it works?  I was on the Disney gift card site, and it said the value is $160.  I don't think it will change.





Donald - my hero said:


> *It's value will be based on the previous business day's exchange rate --my understanding of the situation.*



Great. Thank you. That is how I thought it would work.


----------



## Applemomma

Found them at my little Walmart in Greenwood, NS! If we got them there then everywhere will end up getting them!!

Bought enough to cover the cost of souvenirs for my upcoming trip!


----------



## quandrea

lisaviolet said:


> Quandrea,
> 
> Not sure if you're in Southeast Mississauga but I bought one yesterday at Shopper's Drug Mart on Lakeshore (plaza had a Dollarama and McDonald's in it) west of Cawthra. Sorry I don't know the area well so I can't list the exact corner. But north side of Lakeshore.
> 
> Also found some in Rexall in Oakville but close to the Mississauga border. So I'm sure you will find one instantly at any Rexall or Shopper's. I haven't been in a listed store yet - Downtown Toronto to Brampton and in between - where they were not available.
> 
> And I smiled in one of my finds because you could visibly see that people were buying them. As there were only two left. Where most of the gift cards were fully stocked.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Great. Thank you. That is how I thought it would work.


Thanks!  That's my Shoppers!


----------



## lisaviolet

quandrea said:


> Thanks!  That's my Shoppers!



Well I had to spin the rack and they were near the bottom.

And I think there were about three left in that one. $25-$500 ones. You should have seen me yesterday. I was out there to pick something up. 

Played question after question ---

"We are in Mississauga, right?" "That's Cawthra right there, correct?"

Why are you asking?

Oh no reason. 

I try to save my crazy for these boards. Try.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I like how you can combine them all onto one card up to $1000 US.


----------



## Happy2BGoofy

Shoppers Drug Mart @. Upper Canada Mall in Newmaket has them.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

As people buy them, can you post what the US dollar value is on them?  I'm just curious if they are consistently a better exchange rate then the banks' rates.

With the Canadian dollar steadily falling again, I'm buying some US money this week and will start to accumulate Disney Gift Cards as I can find them.


----------



## Hemlock

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> As people buy them, can you post what the US dollar value is on them?  I'm just curious if they are consistently a better exchange rate then the banks' rates.
> 
> With the Canadian dollar steadily falling again, I'm buying some US money this week and will start to accumulate Disney Gift Cards as I can find them.



I have 2 gifts that I bought on different dates.  The $50 card has a value of $38.97 and the $25 has a value of $19.49.


----------



## Silvermist999

quandrea said:


> Anyone see them in Mississauga, On?



Was just at Square One mall on Saturday and the Disney store has lots of gift cards (kept behind the registers).


----------



## mab2012

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I was going to just charge everything while in FL to our credit card, but with the Canadian dollar tanking again and the foreign exchange fees on the mastercard, maybe I will buy good amount of Disney gift cards to balance that out?



If you're trying to hedge against a dropping Canadian dollar, you'd be better off buying USD denominated gift cards at https://www.disneygiftcard.com/.  Of course you'll pay a bank (or credit card) rate on the conversion now, but if the Canadian dollar does drop further, you'll still be better off.

That said, IMO currency forecasting is a fool's game.  If you just want the best possible exchange rate at the time of your purchase, these Disney gift cards look to be a pretty good option, especially if you don't already have a credit card that offers zero forex markup.  In that case though, what the Canadian dollar is doing today or next week or even during your trip is irrelevant.  You might win or lose on the exchange rate compared to today's rate, but you'll always save the bank's 2.5% forex markup.


----------



## mab2012

Hemlock said:


> I have 2 gifts that I bought on different dates.  The $50 card has a value of $38.97 and the $25 has a value of $19.49.



So you're getting a conversion rate of .7794, which is better than the current mid-market rate (.7757 as I write this), and roughly an average of yesterday's mid-market rate.  And that's consistent with what others have reported: the cards are converting at the previous day's mid-market rate.

It's rare to get any currency conversion at a mid-market rate.  Even the no-forex credit cards (eg. Amazon) convert at Visa's buy rate, not the mid-market rate.  Plus the credit card transactions convert as of the posting date, not the transaction date, so you don't actually know what rate you'll be getting at the time of the transaction.  That's what makes these gift cards a good option.  I'd be a little wary that Disney might change their rate without notice, but as long as they keep offering that mid-market exchange rate, it's pretty hard to beat.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

mab2012 said:


> If you're trying to hedge against a dropping Canadian dollar, you'd be better off buying USD denominated gift cards at https://www.disneygiftcard.com/.  Of course you'll pay a bank (or credit card) rate on the conversion now, but if the Canadian dollar does drop further, you'll still be better off.



I believe when people are checking online the exchange for the cards, they are coming out better than the bank buy rate.


----------



## deedubb

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> the foreign exchange fees on the mastercard



I have a credit card that does not charge foreign exchange fees (I think most charge about 2.5%), so I would assume there is no advantage to getting GC's.  I don't like the thought of carrying a stash of GC's around.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

deedubb said:


> I have a credit card that does not charge foreign exchange fees (I think most charge about 2.5%), so I would assume there is no advantage to getting GC's.  I don't like the thought of carrying a stash of GC's around.



As you accumulate the gift cards, you can transfer the balances on to one card up to $1,000 US per card. Just leave it in your room safe until time to check out.


----------



## gskywalker

FYI, just saw the flyer starting November 4th, it is the once a year bonus point offer on gift cards at Shoppers.  8000 points for $200 of gift cards bought(at least two gift cards).  I'll be buying $1200(total) of disney cards for mine and my wife's optimum accounts.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

8,000 points for $200 in gift cards?


----------



## mkmommy

gskywalker said:


> FYI, just saw the flyer starting November 4th, it is the once a year bonus point offer on gift cards at Shoppers.  8000 points for $200 of gift cards bought(at least two gift cards).  I'll be buying $1200(total) of disney cards for mine and my wife's optimum accounts.


I am not Optimum savy, what is 8000 points worth.


----------



## Silvermist999

mkmommy said:


> I am not Optimum savy, what is 8000 points worth.



$10


----------



## gskywalker

mkmommy said:


> I am not Optimum savy, what is 8000 points worth.



If you redeem the 8000 points at the following times they are worth as follows:

Mega Redemption: 95000 gets you $170 plus 30,000 pts back: $17.68
Bonus Redemption: 95000 gets you $200                              : $16.84
Regular Full Redemtion: 95000 gets you $170                        : $14.31
Redeem 8000 pts:                                                                : $10.00

So when I buy the $600 allowed per optimum account I will receive $53.04 in points because I will redeem them during the mega redemption.  Plus get the better exchange rate, points on my credit card, etc.  Just wish I could do more


----------



## mab2012

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I believe when people are checking online the exchange for the cards, they are coming out better than the bank buy rate.



They are coming out better than the bank rate _at the time of use_.  In fact, they seem to be getting a mid-market rate, which is excellent.  But if you believe the CAD is going to continue to fall, and you're looking to hedge against that, you'll be better off taking the markup hit now and buying a USD denominated card.

I don't really recommend that; personally I almost always use my Amazon Visa, save the exchange markup, and try to avoid playing the forex speculation game.  Sometimes the exchange rate improves and I win, and other times it falls and I lose.  I'm just pointing out that if what you're worried about is a falling Canadian dollar, these gift cards aren't going to help much with that.  CAD is down more than 5% off its September highs, and that high was up nearly 15% off its spring lows.  Compared to that, the couple percent you save with these CAD gift cards on the forex markup is small.  If your timeline is short, and/or you are comfortable with the possibility that the CAD could fall significantly before you're ready to use the cards, they appear to offer an excellent alternative to paying typical credit card exchange rates.  But for those who like the rate now and don't want to risk a lower dollar when they travel, buying USD (either in the form of cash or USD denominated gift cards) is the "safer" choice.


----------



## mab2012

deedubb said:


> I have a credit card that does not charge foreign exchange fees (I think most charge about 2.5%), so I would assume there is no advantage to getting GC's.  I don't like the thought of carrying a stash of GC's around.



I would say "not much advantage".  The Disney gift cards appear to be converting at the previous day's mid-market rate, and that's going to be slightly better than the credit card's wholesale "buy" rate.  According to this reference, Visa's buy rate is nearly 1% over mid-market, while Mastercard's is closer to 0.5%.  The other slight advantage (maybe) of the Disney card is that you know the rate at the time you use the card, since it's based on the previous day.  If you use a credit card, you'll get the rate at the time the transaction is posted, which might be better or worse than the rate at the time of the transaction itself.

If I were making a big purchase, I might be tempted to use a credit card with a higher return than my Amazon Visa to buy the Disney gift cards, and then use the gift cards to make the payment whenever the exchange rate appears favourable.  That way I save a bit on exchange compared to Visa's inflated buy rate, I can control the timing of the transaction, and I also get the higher rewards on my preferred credit card.  I don't think I'd bother with this when I'm actually travelling, because I'm also not a fan of carrying large amounts of losable liquid currency (in the form of a gift card or otherwise), but it could save a bit when paying for a cruise or a pre-booked package.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

Right, but if the cards are always going to be better than the bank's buy rate, it doesn't matter when you buy the gift cards or use them.  It's all relative. 

I don't have a CC that doesn't charge the 2.5%, and I don't want to carry around $2,000 US in my pockets or in my safe.


----------



## Donald - my hero

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> Right, but if the cards are always going to be better than the bank's buy rate, it doesn't matter when you buy the gift cards or use them.  It's all relative.
> 
> I don't have a CC that doesn't charge the 2.5%, and I don't want to carry around $2,000 US in my pockets or in my safe.


*I get that! *

*Here's my thoughts on how to use the gift cards:  would get the gift cards and use them to pay off trip before the final payment is due. Even on a RO reservation you can pay before you head down. I would then only take a couple with 100-ish on them and stash those in the safe since it's no less *safe* than cash.*


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

Donald - my hero said:


> *Here's my thoughts on how to use the gift cards:  would get the gift cards and use them to pay off trip before the final payment is due. Even on a RO reservation you can pay before you head down. I would then only take a couple with 100-ish on them and stash those in the safe since it's no less *safe* than cash.*



A great idea!  I'm a huge proponent of paying as much of a trip off before I actually go.  Somehow it makes it feel "free" when you get there LOL


----------



## mkmommy

Donald - my hero said:


> *I get that! *
> 
> *Here's my thoughts on how to use the gift cards:  would get the gift cards and use them to pay off trip before the final payment is due. Even on a RO reservation you can pay before you head down. I would then only take a couple with 100-ish on them and stash those in the safe since it's no less *safe* than cash.*


How can I pay a RO reservation in advance?


----------



## Capergirl1989

superplannermom said:


> I saw them in Wal-Mart in cape breton



Which Walmart ?? I'm also In Cape Breton and would love to grab a couple as gifts for people heading down !


----------



## Hemlock

My reason for buying Disney gift cards is not really to save money (although that would be a nice bonus). My main reason is that DH complains wildly about the cost of food at Disney, so I’m trying to secretly buy one gift each week and surprise him with them when we arrive by saying “the cost of our meals is already paid!’’


----------



## Donald - my hero

mkmommy said:


> How can I pay a RO reservation in advance?


*I think you need to call to do this, but i'm not 100% sure but i really doubt they would turn down your money! You can just give them the number on the gift cards.*


----------



## morrik5

mab2012 said:


> If you're trying to hedge against a dropping Canadian dollar, you'd be better off buying USD denominated gift cards at https://www.disneygiftcard.com/.  Of course you'll pay a bank (or credit card) rate on the conversion now, but if the Canadian dollar does drop further, you'll still be better off.
> 
> That said, IMO currency forecasting is a fool's game.  If you just want the best possible exchange rate at the time of your purchase, these Disney gift cards look to be a pretty good option, especially if you don't already have a credit card that offers zero forex markup.  In that case though, what the Canadian dollar is doing today or next week or even during your trip is irrelevant.  You might win or lose on the exchange rate compared to today's rate, but you'll always save the bank's 2.5% forex markup.


Unfortunately you cannot order the physical US dollar Gift Card online to be shipped to Canada. Because I didn't want an e-gift card I just went into Toronto yesterday to purchase gift cards at a Disney store in Canadian funds and the recipients will get whatever it's worth in American money at the time of exchange at WDW in April.


----------



## Datney

Good News! According to a post on RFD, Shoppers Drug Mart is going to have a gift card deal - Spend $200 or more on 2+ giftcards, get 8000 Optimum points. Starting November 4th.


----------



## morrik5

Datney said:


> Good News! According to a post on RFD, Shoppers Drug Mart is going to have a gift card deal - Spend $200 or more on 2+ giftcards, get 8000 Optimum points. Starting November 4th.


Dang and we just spent $225 on giftcards at the Disney Store yesterday


----------



## kuhltiffany

2 different gift cards?  Or can I buy 2 x $100 Disney Gift Cards?


----------



## mab2012

morrik5 said:


> Unfortunately you cannot order the physical US dollar Gift Card online to be shipped to Canada. Because I didn't want an e-gift card I just went into Toronto yesterday to purchase gift cards at a Disney store in Canadian funds and the recipients will get whatever it's worth in American money at the time of exchange at WDW in April.



Yeah, the US gift cards are no good if you want a physical card to give as an actual gift.  I was really only suggesting the e-cards for those who are basically looking for both a vacation savings account, of sorts, and a USD hedge.  The e-cards can either be scanned off a phone or printed, and they work just fine, in whatever denomination you choose.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

But wouldn't you still incur the 2.5% charge on your credit card for the e-cards?


----------



## Sparrow78

Anyone see them in the Calgary area?


----------



## Spotthecat

Shoppers Drug Mart in Vaughan (Islington and Rutherford) had them today when Ichecked. The load 25-500$ ones. Took a few so I can go back tomorrow with the Shoppers deal for bonus optimum points, woohoo! 20 days until I hae to make the final payment on my cruise with airmiles - I think I'm going to buy these cards now, get the airmiles on my credit card now to use against the cruise...and have those giftcards to use already prepaid for the disney cruise in march - win-win!


----------



## amie416

Datney said:


> Good News! According to a post on RFD, Shoppers Drug Mart is going to have a gift card deal - Spend $200 or more on 2+ giftcards, get 8000 Optimum points. Starting November 4th.



Cool!  Good find... I checked the flyer and it's running from November 4-10 and offer is limited to limited to 3 elegible transactions per Optimum number.  Points will be added to the account by Friday, November 17.  Any transactions that use gift cards to purchase other gift cards will be ineligible for the offer.


----------



## ssmurphy28

Sparrow78 said:


> Anyone see them in the Calgary area?



No luck yet, but I’ve only checked a couple places in the far NW. I keep meaning to check the Shoppers downtown, but haven’t had a chance yet. I want to find them at Sobeys, Safeway or Co-op so that I can get 4X the points on my CC (on purchases at grocery stores). 

If you just want to pick them up, any of the local Disney Stores have them now.


----------



## Sparrow78

ssmurphy28 said:


> No luck yet, but I’ve only checked a couple places in the far NW. I keep meaning to check the Shoppers downtown, but haven’t had a chance yet. I want to find them at Sobeys, Safeway or Co-op so that I can get 4X the points on my CC (on purchases at grocery stores).
> 
> If you just want to pick them up, any of the local Disney Stores have them now.


Lol yeah hoping to find them to score bonus points too. Lol really it won't matter we will use our USD MasterCard anyways but thought if I could I might get one for my daughter for spending money


----------



## ssmurphy28

Sparrow78 said:


> Lol yeah hoping to find them to score bonus points too. Lol really it won't matter we will use our USD MasterCard anyways but thought if I could I might get one for my daughter for spending money


I’ll let you know if I find any the next few weeks. We head south in three weeks, so I want to find them before then.


----------



## Sparrow78

ssmurphy28 said:


> I’ll let you know if I find any the next few weeks. We head south in three weeks, so I want to find them before then.


Lol we leave 3 weeks tomorrow!


----------



## ssmurphy28

Sparrow78 said:


> Lol we leave 3 weeks tomorrow!


We leave the 28th and coming back Dec 10.


----------



## Sue M

Datney said:


> Good News! According to a post on RFD, Shoppers Drug Mart is going to have a gift card deal - Spend $200 or more on 2+ giftcards, get 8000 Optimum points. Starting November 4th.


Haven’t been able to find them in Vancouver at Shoppers or Safeway 



ssmurphy28 said:


> We leave the 28th and coming back Dec 10.


Me too! Yay.


----------



## lauracitawita

I just bought $600 worth of wdw giftcards at Shoppers on my optimum card and $600 worth on my husband's card!


----------



## isabellea

I saw the Disney gift cards at the Foodland in Vankleek Hill, ON (closest Foodland/Sobeys from Montreal).


----------



## hdrolfe

I got two $100 cards at Shoppers today to take advantage of the bonus points, which I hope I get since they weren't on my receipt. I hope to get more at some point.


----------



## mkmommy

Saw them at Zehrs. I think once I have $50 in PC points i will just add a card to my shopping cart with my weekly shop and it will be like a free.


----------



## lauracitawita

hdrolfe said:


> I got two $100 cards at Shoppers today to take advantage of the bonus points, which I hope I get since they weren't on my receipt. I hope to get more at some point.



The points didn't show up on mine either, but the cashier said they should show by November 17th.


----------



## WishingMom

LauraJean said:


> Found them Walmart in Newfoundland


Which walmart?


----------



## Silvermist999

mkmommy said:


> Saw them at Zehrs. I think once I have $50 in PC points i will just add a card to my shopping cart with my weekly shop and it will be like a free.



I had almost $140 in points and started using them for groceries because I heard you can't use them to get gift cards.  I had $40 in points left this week and added a $50 gift card to my weekly grocery shop today and they let me use my points!!!  I need to start racking up those points again!


----------



## Baby Ninja

Susie63 said:


> Where did you check? I looked at CT, Safeway and Walmart. Can you msg. me if you find them here in GP please.


Fellow Grande Prairian here leaving for WDW in 35 days!  I found Disney GC’s at Cobblestone Shoppers today.  So happy that I will be receiving 24,000 Optimum points too!


----------



## Sue M

Anyone from Vancouver see them?


----------



## amie416

Silvermist999 said:


> I had almost $140 in points and started using them for groceries because I heard you can't use them to get gift cards.  I had $40 in points left this week and added a $50 gift card to my weekly grocery shop today and they let me use my points!!!  I need to start racking up those points again!



I should start collecting PC points!  I just checked and the only GC restrictions are PC gift cards and Joe Fresh gift cards...



> You can redeem your points for just about everything available at participating stores, excluding tobacco, alcohol, lottery tickets, or any products or services prohibited by law or as we determine from time to time. Currently, PC Plus™ members are unable to redeem their points for President’s Choice® gift cards, Joe Fresh® gift cards and government taxes. In certain provinces, you will also be prohibited from redeeming your points on prescription medication, over-the-counter medication and milk. Third party retailers, including The Mobile Shop, the cleaners and Wine Shop, are also excluded from the program. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

amie416 said:


> I should start collecting PC points!  I just checked and the only GC restrictions are PC gift cards and Joe Fresh gift cards...



Where are you located? I found these T&C: https://www.pcplus.ca/loyaltyTerms.jsp


----------



## quandrea

They have them at Applewood plaza Shoppers in Mississauga (Dixie and QEW). Just bought four with $2000.


----------



## CanuckGirl78

I’ve had such bad luck finding them at stores near me (Toronto). I’ve even been calling Shoppers Drug Marts to see if they had any, but nope.  But I got out to Vaughan Mills and they let me out $1500 worth on two gift cards.  Technically the max they allow on each card is $500 and for each day it’s $1500, but they let me split it between two cards.  I have to pay the balance for our trip in a couple of weeks, so hoping to check exchange rates everyday to get the best bang for buck.


----------



## Sue M

I haven’t been able to find any Shoppers or Safeway here in Vancouver to by gift cards so today we went into the Disney Store at the mall to get them. Going to use to make payment on our WL res in August. Next weekend will go back to buy another for Disney Canadian ticket.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I can't find them in either Walmarts (Halifax/Bedford) now!  Arg!  Plus, they were only $25 denominations, so I'd need to buy every single one.


----------



## gskywalker

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I can't find them in either Walmarts (Halifax/Bedford) now!  Arg!  Plus, they were only $25 denominations, so I'd need to buy every single one.



You say they are only $25?  Did you check it closely, everyone I have seen in various stores says $25-$500, so you choose the amount.


----------



## gskywalker

Well I did my first buy towards next years trip and Annual pass.  Bought $1200 in GC's at shoppers to receive the 48,000 points, also had the other two adults going on the trip buy $600 each on their cards.  So we have $2400 CDN towards $12k $US, lol.  Really hoping for some other special at some point this year on the gift cards.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

gskywalker said:


> You say they are only $25?  Did you check it closely, everyone I have seen in various stores says $25-$500, so you choose the amount.



Yea, pretty sure they were just $25.


----------



## amie416

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> Where are you located? I found these T&C: https://www.pcplus.ca/loyaltyTerms.jsp



Weird... I found the above quote in the FAQ on their website, under the heading “What can I use my points for in-store?”: https://www.pcplus.ca/loyalty-help.jsp  I guess they changed the policy and didn’t update the info?


----------



## Pumpkin1172

Baby Ninja said:


> Fellow Grande Prairian here leaving for WDW in 35 days! I found Disney GC’s at Cobblestone Shoppers today



Sweet!!!!  I'm another fellow Grande Prairian lol.  Thanks for the info...I've only seen them at Walfart...But going to buy Disney gc for meals / hotels.  Start saving cash for the universal portion of our trip


----------



## Pumpkin1172

amie416 said:


> Weird... I found the above quote in the FAQ on their website, under the heading “What can I use my points for in-store?”





amie416 said:


> I should start collecting PC points! I just checked and the only GC restrictions are PC gift cards and Joe Fresh gift cards...





ilovetotravel1977 said:


> Where are you located? I found these T&C: https://www.pcplus.ca/loyaltyTerms.jsp



What I've been doing is this...I'll put a divider between my grocery purchase...then have a visa gc on the next transaction.  I take the " free groceries"  then make another purchase for the gc for the amount that was the " free groceries"  I'm almost on my third 100.00 gc.  My plan is to use my Am and " free groceries " for enough tickets into both Universal and Disney.  Then my savings goes towards hotels, airfare.  Going to start buying Disney gc for our meals in Disney.  Where there is a will, there is a way


----------



## JenniKleims

I was at the Rexall in Carlingwood mall (Ottawa) today and they have the $25-$500 cards there (a nice stack of them)


----------



## mab2012

That Shoppers promotion is really a pretty good deal; even at the basic redemption rate of $10 / 8000 pts, that's a 5% return on your $200 transaction, which is not bad for a loyalty program.

BUT... I don't have an optimum card.  And I don't really want an optimum card.  And while the 5% return is good, it's 5% I have to spend at Shoppers, where I rarely shop.  AND I would presumably have to buy 6 different cards at $100 each, in three separate transactions, to qualify for the promotion.  Which is just annoying, when I could get the same $600 value across just two cards.

So I'm fighting with myself here... part of me wants to take advantage, and the rest just doesn't think it's worth the effort.  I think the lazy side is going to win this one.


----------



## hdrolfe

I did get two $100 cards and combined them when I got home onto one card. a bit more work for sure but I felt it was worth it. I couldn't afford to do 6 cards sadly. It will add to my Christmas fund for redemption.


----------



## jonsealey

I just purchased two 150 gift cards at Shoppers, transferred them to one gift card.  Worked easily, it showed $300 when I originally transferred them but it was obviously an error as it is something like 236 USD.


----------



## JETSDAD

jonsealey said:


> I just purchased two 150 gift cards at Shoppers, transferred them to one gift card.  Worked easily, it showed $300 when I originally transferred them but it was obviously an error as it is something like 236 USD.


I found it kept mixing up amounts.  I'd transfer and it would show 1000 but that's the Canadian amount. Then I'd use some of it and it would show US funds remaining.  Then I'd add another one on and it would add the US and the CDN together. I just had to keep a rough idea of where I really was at on my own.


----------



## jonsealey

JETSDAD said:


> I found it kept mixing up amounts.  I'd transfer and it would show 1000 but that's the Canadian amount. Then I'd use some of it and it would show US funds remaining.  Then I'd add another one on and it would add the US and the CDN together. I just had to keep a rough idea of where I really was at on my own.



Appears to be doing similar to me, balance went down about 24 cents (I am guessing due to exchange rate) when I looked at it today.  I was excited when it showed the full 300 as I thought maybe there was a way to beat the system but once again the computer is smarter than I am


----------



## ginny_lynn

ok, just checked walmart last night and they have $50 and $25 gift cards, how to I move them all to one giftcard so I can pay for the Canadian Ticket offer tickets? Can I pay with multiple giftcards?


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

ginny_lynn said:


> ok, just checked walmart last night and they have $50 and $25 gift cards, how to I move them all to one giftcard so I can pay for the Canadian Ticket offer tickets? Can I pay with multiple giftcards?



Sign up for an account here:  https://www.disneygiftcard.com/Manage/Transfer


----------



## ginny_lynn

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> Sign up for an account here:  https://www.disneygiftcard.com/Manage/Transfer



Thank you!


----------



## amie416

mab2012 said:


> That Shoppers promotion is really a pretty good deal; even at the basic redemption rate of $10 / 8000 pts, that's a 5% return on your $200 transaction, which is not bad for a loyalty program.
> 
> BUT... I don't have an optimum card.  And I don't really want an optimum card.  And while the 5% return is good, it's 5% I have to spend at Shoppers, where I rarely shop.  AND I would presumably have to buy 6 different cards at $100 each, in three separate transactions, to qualify for the promotion.  Which is just annoying, when I could get the same $600 value across just two cards.
> 
> So I'm fighting with myself here... part of me wants to take advantage, and the rest just doesn't think it's worth the effort.  I think the lazy side is going to win this one.



Well, they just announced that PC points and Shoppers Optimum are merging, so you’ll be able to buy groceries with those points very soon.  I was feeling the same way about Shoppers points, because I rarely shop there... but this changes things.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/shoppers-optimum-and-pc-plus-programs-merging-1.3668274


----------



## mab2012

amie416 said:


> Well, they just announced that PC points and Shoppers Optimum are merging, so you’ll be able to buy groceries with those points very soon.  I was feeling the same way about Shoppers points, because I rarely shop there... *but this changes things*.
> 
> http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/shoppers-optimum-and-pc-plus-programs-merging-1.3668274



Agreed!  I caught that update today in the Air Miles thread, and later got an email from PC Points with the same info.  So now I do have what will be a very short-lived Optimum account, solely for the gift card promotion.  I plan to stop by Shoppers this afternoon!


----------



## isabellea

For the first time I found Disney gc in QC ( Jean Coutu on Sherbrooke in Westmount to be exact). They only had the 50$ gc.


----------



## Sue M

I’m so jealous of all of you getting Shoppers promotion.  So far still no Disney gift cards available here, in Vancouver area. 
I just bought a gift card from the Disney store here, loaded $800 CAD and used it to make a payment on our WL stay. It converted to $624 USD


----------



## Sparrow78

I checked the shoppers in Airdrie today and nothing. I asked the manager and she was going to look into it. I mentioned they are all over eastern Canada. Lol


----------



## bcwife76

Still none at my local Shoppers Drug mart here in Surrey BC but I found $50 gift cards at my local Independent Grocers!!! I bought 4


----------



## Toy Story Fan

I have also found $25-500 cards at Canadian Tire in Edmonton.


----------



## ginny_lynn

Looked at shoppers yesterday here in NS and found none  Was hopping to take advantage of the promotion.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I've only found them at various (not all) Walmarts in Nova Scotia.


----------



## Tinks#2Fan

Darn...I've read all of these posts and hoped I'd get to the one that said _Yes_! founded in Shoppers here in Halifax/Dartmouth. I guess that saves hubby from running store to store tonight.... ;-(


----------



## 22Tink

I managed to find some at our Independant Grocery store in my tiny little town in central BC. I was surprised! Hopefully they keep them in stock so I can buy them a few at a time to spread out the spending! To clarify, I paid in Canadian funds but they will be in American funds when I redeem at the parks?


----------



## hootio

I saw Disney Giftcards at Save-On Foods in Richmond (Steveston) BC at the Ironwood Plaza location.


----------



## gskywalker

PS Slightly different topic, but for those who fly with Air Canada, Sobey's has Air Canada Gift Certificates for 10% off starting on Friday.  As well I checked, they can't be used for Air Canada Vacations, so its only for those of you who will book flight only with Air Canada.


----------



## ssmurphy28

Sparrow78 said:


> I checked the shoppers in Airdrie today and nothing. I asked the manager and she was going to look into it. I mentioned they are all over eastern Canada. Lol


If you find any, let me know. I checked the Shoppers in downtown Calgary and there was none either. I have called a few Sobeys and they all go “check” but probably just put me on hold to laugh at me. Haha.


----------



## Sue M

hootio said:


> I saw Disney Giftcards at Save-On Foods in Richmond (Steveston) BC at the Ironwood Plaza location.


Kinda far from Port Moody  but good to hear they are here in BC. I made the trip to the Metro Town Disney Store to pick up Gift Cards. Using them to pay off my WL stay does save us the 2.5% bank fee. 
I was hoping to find them at Shoppers to get promotion. But no Shoppers here has them. Also checked Safeway, and Walmart. I’ll have a look at the Sav On.


----------



## rxbeth

I bought my 6x$100 GC at shoppers drug mart yesterday. I checked the new PC optimum link that shows how many points you have now and the monitary value you would get and because of the level I'm at, my 24,000 points will earn me $44.50! Plus my 1% cashback on my visa I've effectively only paid $549.50 for $600 in gift cards.  They will be used to pay for food for our March trip.


----------



## 22Tink

Sorry if this has already been answered but has anyone successfully used the Canadian gift cards at the parks/resorts yet? I have a room only reservation that I can't pay down online before I go so I want to save the gift cards and use them to pay for my room when I check in but I'd hate to get there and have a bunch of unusable gift cards.


----------



## rxbeth

22Tink said:


> Sorry if this has already been answered but has anyone successfully used the Canadian gift cards at the parks/resorts yet? I have a room only reservation that I can't pay down online before I go so I want to save the gift cards and use them to pay for my room when I check in but I'd hate to get there and have a bunch of unusable gift cards.



Why can't you pay it online before you get there?  Isn't it due 30 days out?

Several people from the facebook disboards group have used them in the parks and resorts.  You get the exchange from closing the day before.


----------



## mab2012

gskywalker said:


> PS Slightly different topic, but for those who fly with Air Canada, Sobey's has Air Canada Gift Certificates for 10% off starting on Friday.  As well I checked, they can't be used for Air Canada Vacations, so its only for those of you who will book flight only with Air Canada.



This really made me think.  We are likely going to fly to the UK next summer, and if we do, there's a pretty good chance it'll be Air Canada, since they're the only airline that flies direct from Ottawa to London.  That's going to cost my family close to $4000, and 10% of $4000 is not insignificant.  Unfortunately, Air Canada's IT department sucks.  (This is not a new observation.)  After some digging into the details of their gift cards, I found that their payment system can't handle more than two payment cards at a time.  So you can use two gift cards as long as they cover the full balance, or one gift card and a credit card to cover the remainder.  And unlike Disney, gift card balances can't be combined onto one card.  Since the cards available at Sobey's max out at $500, this really limits the value.

They recommend paying per-passenger to get around the limitations (to a point), but I can see all sorts of problems with that.  For a start, it means I'll likely end up with small amounts leftover across several gift cards, which is annoying.  And the adult fare for the flights I'm looking at right now is slightly over $1000, so even two gift cards per passenger wouldn't work (but I'm hoping that will come down a bit).  Plus the environmentalist in me hates throwing out all of those plastic cards.  But more worrisome is the possibility that this would mean four separate reservation numbers for my family, which would be a major pain at check-in.  And I'm not even sure it would be possible for younger kids, if it means that they end up on an itinerary with no adult.  I know that WestJet can handle this with "linked" reservations, but not sure about Air Canada.  I don't suppose anyone has any direct experience with this?

Might still be worth picking up a card or two to offset the ticket cost a bit, but it's a shame that Air Canada's crappy IT department so severely limits the value of what would otherwise be a really great offer.

Anyhow, thanks for posting!


----------



## 22Tink

rxbeth said:


> Why can't you pay it online before you get there?  Isn't it due 30 days out?
> 
> Several people from the facebook disboards group have used them in the parks and resorts.  You get the exchange from closing the day before.


They charged me the deposit and it says balance owing at check in. There’s no option to make a payment online. Last time we went we had a package and I was able to make payments but not this time with the room only.


----------



## mkmommy

22Tink said:


> They charged me the deposit and it says balance owing at check in. There’s no option to make a payment online. Last time we went we had a package and I was able to make payments but not this time with the room only.


Can you call and apply the payment?


----------



## isabellea

We always had to pay our balance for room-only at check out.


----------



## 22Tink

mkmommy said:


> Can you call and apply the payment?


Possibly but i don’t have a landline and I’m afraid of that cell phone bill!


----------



## 22Tink

isabellea said:


> We always had to pay our balance for room-only at check out.


My email confirmation says due at check-in. Either way I was pretty sure I couldn’t pay till we got there. Too bad, it’s nice to be able to make online payments and watch that balance owing drop!


----------



## ssmurphy28

22Tink said:


> Possibly but i don’t have a landline and I’m afraid of that cell phone bill!


I’m going to be calling early next week. My plan is to buy a small ($50ish) card to try it out and if they’ll accept the payment I’ll go buy the remaining amount. There’s no way I’m traveling with thousands of dollars worth of gift cards in my pocket.


----------



## 22Tink

ssmurphy28 said:


> I’m going to be calling early next week. My plan is to buy a small ($50ish) card to try it out and if they’ll accept the payment I’ll go buy the remaining amount. There’s no way I’m traveling with thousands of dollars worth of gift cards in my pocket.


I'm curious to hear if they let you pay over the phone. I'm not worried about travelling with the gift cards though.  We usually take a decent amount of cash on our trips anyway so the gift cards will actually be nicer to carry than a wad of cash!


----------



## AngelDisney

Susie63 said:


> I found them today at Walmart. $50 and $25


Can we use Walmart gift card to buy Disney Gift Card? I can use the self serve lane to avoid batting eyes.


----------



## AngelDisney

22Tink said:


> Possibly but i don’t have a landline and I’m afraid of that cell phone bill!


Use Google Hangout for free calls to US and Canada. I used it twice to call Disney in the summer. No fee!


----------



## 22Tink

AngelDisney said:


> Use Google Hangout for free calls to US and Canada. I used it twice to call Disney in the summer. No fee!


Never heard of that! Will it work for iPhone?


----------



## amie416

rxbeth said:


> Why can't you pay it online before you get there?  Isn't it due 30 days out?



Package vacations are due 30 days out, but room-only bookings are due at check-in.


----------



## AngelDisney

22Tink said:


> Never heard of that! Will it work for iPhone?


Yes, I use an iPhone. It’s an App. Inside the app, there is a phone feature. Voice conference is free in US and Canada.

Edited to add pics.
Cost is $0 for those calls to Orlando.


----------



## 22Tink

AngelDisney said:


> Yes, I use an iPhone. It’s an App. Inside the app, there is a phone feature. Voice conference is free in US and Canada.


Awesome I'll look into that. Thanks so much!


----------



## Sue M

22Tink said:


> I'm curious to hear if they let you pay over the phone. I'm not worried about travelling with the gift cards though.  We usually take a decent amount of cash on our trips anyway so the gift cards will actually be nicer to carry than a wad of cash!


Yes you can make payments over the phone. I did it when I don’t use a TA. But mostly I use a TA and I just send her an email when I want to make a payment. Easier.  Last week was the first time I used a Canadian Disney gift card to make payment. I took photo of the back of the card and emailed it to TA. One thing she said was to be sure to keep gift card because if you need to cancel they refund the $ back to the card.


----------



## 22Tink

Sue M said:


> Yes you can make payments over the phone. I did it when I don’t use a TA. But mostly I use a TA and I just send her an email when I want to make a payment. Easier.  Last week was the first time I used a Canadian Disney gift card to make payment. I took photo of the back of the card and emailed it to TA. One thing she said was to be sure to keep gift card because if you need to cancel they refund the $ back to the card.


Thanks!


----------



## Silvermist999

AngelDisney said:


> Can we use Walmart gift card to buy Disney Gift Card? I can use the self serve lane to avoid batting eyes.



I like your thinking!  I think it's worth a try, maybe buy some groceries along with the gift card.


----------



## 22Tink

AngelDisney said:


> Yes, I use an iPhone. It’s an App. Inside the app, there is a phone feature. Voice conference is free in US and Canada.
> 
> Edited to add pics.
> Cost is $0 for those calls to Orlando.
> 
> View attachment 282855 View attachment 282854 View attachment 282853


 I got the Hangouts app and just successfully called and made a payment on my account!! It worked perfectly and no phone bill!


----------



## Sue M

*B.C res lower mainland- *I just saw Disney Gift Cards at Indeprndant Grocers, they only had $50 denominations.


----------



## CanuckGirl78

I finally saw $50 Disney gift cards in Superstore at Don Mills & Eglinton (Toronto).


----------



## ssmurphy28

So if anyone lives close to a Disney Store, you can buy cards up to $1000.00 in value. I wish I could find them at a grocery store, but no luck in Calgary yet.


----------



## youngdeb12

There are $50 at Superstore in Prince George, BC.  Haven't seen them anywhere else yet.


----------



## 22Tink

youngdeb12 said:


> There are $50 at Superstore in Prince George, BC.  Haven't seen them anywhere else yet.


You're from Prince George? I'm an hour away in Vanderhoof!


----------



## youngdeb12

Sure am


----------



## CanuckGirl78

ssmurphy28 said:


> So if anyone lives close to a Disney Store, you can buy cards up to $1000.00 in value. I wish I could find them at a grocery store, but no luck in Calgary yet.


The rule the CM manager in the store (in Toronto) gave me was that you can purchase a max of $1500 in gift cards per day and they will only load a max of $500 per card (so the max you can get are 3 cards each at $500 per day).


----------



## JETSDAD

CanuckGirl78 said:


> The rule the CM manager in the store (in Toronto) gave me was that you can purchase a max of $1500 in gift cards per day and they will only load a max of $500 per card (so the max you can get are 3 cards each at $500 per day).


Thankfully Canadian Tire doesn't have that limit.


----------



## Susie63

Grande Prairie Safeway Northside have 25-500 cards now.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I haven't seen the cards at either of the Walmarts since those days *sigh*


----------



## kuhltiffany

Shoppers and Rexall all seem to have them here in Ottawa...


----------



## Pumpkin1172

Susie63 said:


> Grande Prairie Safeway Northside have 25-500 cards now.



Sweet...I had checked the Southside one...and no luck.  None either at the Mission Shoppers either


----------



## CanuckGirl78

JETSDAD said:


> Thankfully Canadian Tire doesn't have that limit.


My DH went to the Disney Store in Easton Centre (Toronto). The CM there said they changed the rules and could load a max of $1000 on a gift card (still a max of $1500 per day).  So I don’t know the rule anymore at the Disney Store!  But I was happy to have fewer gift cards!


----------



## JETSDAD

CanuckGirl78 said:


> My DH went to the Disney Store in Easton Centre (Toronto). The CM there said they changed the rules and could load a max of $1000 on a gift card (still a max of $1500 per day).  So I don’t know the rule anymore at the Disney Store!  But I was happy to have fewer gift cards!


At Canadian Tire I believe their general rule is max of $1000 in gift cards per transaction (at least that's what the teller stated) but they didn't limit the transactions.  They had the cards that could load to $500 and we were getting $2500 so she just did it in 3 transactions.


----------



## rxbeth

CanuckGirl78 said:


> My DH went to the Disney Store in Easton Centre (Toronto). The CM there said they changed the rules and could load a max of $1000 on a gift card (still a max of $1500 per day).  So I don’t know the rule anymore at the Disney Store!  But I was happy to have fewer gift cards!



Just last month at the Eaton Center, they would only let me have $500 on the Saturday and then on Sunday they let me have $1000.  That was total each day!  The lack of consistent policies is infuriating.


----------



## CanadianKrista

Found them at Loblaws in Ottawa, just the $50.  Starting to do the old "use points for the groceries then pay for the gift cards" pattern so that in the end, my points are covering the amount of my cards.  We have tons of points, just need to stock up on card before our Dec trip!


----------



## Pumpkin1172

CanadianKrista said:


> Found them at Loblaws in Ottawa, just the $50


I hope we see them in Loblaws in the west.  I know they are at a Shoppers here, but I rarely go to one as one is not conveniently near me.  I'm almost at 100.00 again...Would be nice to be able to get some gc with the free money


----------



## mkmommy

I just combined the 6x $100 gifts cards I got from shoppers when they had the Optimum gift card special a few weeks ago to one card. I then called Disney to apply the payment to my rooms only reservation. You can do it through their phone system without talking to a person so it was quick and I did not have to wait on hold.

Exchange rate was 1.275 , $600=$470 US,  so about $14 savings over what my credit card would charge.

I wonder how much of a credit you can apply to a rooms only reservation?  I would like to prepay the room and also have enough to cover meals? I know I can just take the gift card, but i don’t think the CAD will go up so locking it at today’s exchange rate is nice.


----------



## Chris100

Datney said:


> In the past few days it seems Disney gift cards have started to hit stores in Canada!!  I have found them at:
> 
> Sobey's & Shoppers Drug Mart.
> 
> Just wondering if anyone has located them in other stores? Now we just need some discount offers like our American friends.


Hi There, 
This idea seems great just wondering which sobeys and shoppers you found them at? Maybe I’m in the same area. I’d like to buy these as well!
Thanks


----------



## Chris100

Hello Everyone,
Has anyone seen the Disney gift cards at any stores In Mississauga, brampton, Caledon Ontario area?

Thanks!


----------



## Sparrow78

ssmurphy28 said:


> I’ll let you know if I find any the next few weeks. We head south in three weeks, so I want to find them before then.



Found $50 ones at Superstore in Airdrie! I decided against buying it since I've got a USD MasterCard. We talked about getting a gift card for my 9 year old for spending ,only but decided cash will be better to teach her money does run out lol


----------



## mkmommy

Chris100 said:


> Hello Everyone,
> Has anyone seen the Disney gift cards at any stores In Mississauga, brampton, Caledon Ontario area?
> 
> Thanks!


I saw them at Foodland Brampton, did not notice what value they were.


----------



## Silvermist999

Chris100 said:


> Hello Everyone,
> Has anyone seen the Disney gift cards at any stores In Mississauga, brampton, Caledon Ontario area?
> 
> Thanks!



The Disney Store at Square One shopping centre has the gift cards.


----------



## ssmurphy28

Sparrow78 said:


> Found $50 ones at Superstore in Airdrie! I decided against buying it since I've got a USD MasterCard. We talked about getting a gift card for my 9 year old for spending ,only but decided cash will be better to teach her Miley does run out lol


Awesome! We have an AMEX credit card, which Superstore doesn't accept, so we won't be getting 4X the points from Superstore . We leave in a few days, so I am just going to hit up the Disney Store at Market or Cross Iron this weekend to get enough to pay off my room.


----------



## 22Tink

ssmurphy28 said:


> Awesome! We have an AMEX credit card, which Superstore doesn't accept, so we won't be getting 4X the points from Superstore . We leave in a few days, so I am just going to hit up the Disney Store at Market or Cross Iron this weekend to get enough to pay off my room.


Is Cross Iron in or near Calgary? We're from BC but heading to Calgary this weekend for Wickfest and I'd love to be able make a little trip to a Disney store! I didn't think Calgary had one.


----------



## ssmurphy28

22Tink said:


> Is Cross Iron in or near Calgary? We're from BC but heading to Calgary this weekend for Wickfest and I'd love to be able make a little trip to a Disney store! I didn't think Calgary had one.


There are three in Calgary! There is a Disney Store outlet at Cross Iron Mills. It is just north of Calgary (between Calgary and Airdrie). There is another Disney Store at Market Mall (NW Calgary) and South Centre (South Calgary along MacLeod Trail). The Market Mall one is magical (we go there to experience the magic of Disney every once in a while). The Outlet at Cross Iron is not as magical, but it is an outlet, so you can find some good deals!


----------



## 22Tink

ssmurphy28 said:


> There are three in Calgary! There is a Disney Store outlet at Cross Iron Mills. It is just north of Calgary (between Calgary and Airdrie). There is another Disney Store at Market Mall (NW Calgary) and South Centre (South Calgary along MacLeod Trail). The Market Mall one is magical (we go there to experience the magic of Disney every once in a while). The Outlet at Cross Iron is not as magical, but it is an outlet, so you can find some good deals!


WHaaaat? Forget the hockey this weekend, DH and DD can stay at the rink, I'm going to the Disney stores! Thanks!


----------



## pipertoad

Chris100 said:


> Hello Everyone,
> Has anyone seen the Disney gift cards at any stores In Mississauga, brampton, Caledon Ontario area?
> 
> Thanks!


I have seen them at several shoppers drug marts.


----------



## Sparrow78

ssmurphy28 said:


> Awesome! We have an AMEX credit card, which Superstore doesn't accept, so we won't be getting 4X the points from Superstore . We leave in a few days, so I am just going to hit up the Disney Store at Market or Cross Iron this weekend to get enough to pay off my room.


We leave Saturday, when do you leave?


----------



## lisaviolet

Chris100 said:


> Hello Everyone,
> Has anyone seen the Disney gift cards at any stores In Mississauga, brampton, Caledon Ontario area?
> 
> Thanks!



Chris,

You will find them at Rexall and Shopper's Drug Mart in all three areas. If you don't see them on first glance, spin and spin the racks and look low as well. Sounds patronizing but it can be easy to miss them with so many cards.

I don't live in any of these areas but have bought them in both Missisauga and Brampton.


----------



## ssmurphy28

Sparrow78 said:


> We leave Saturday, when do you leave?


We leave on Tuesday!


----------



## ssmurphy28

I Went and purchased the remaining balance for my RO reservation. The Disney Store gave me 3 x $1000 gift cards, so I called immediately as I got in the car and paid it off!


----------



## Flattes

Anyone know where to buy them in Vancouver? Would love to get some from Shoppers but my local store doesn't have them. Anyone know any in Vancouver that does?


----------



## Dylemma1

So the issue is if you buy the gift cards and the exchange gets worse you could lose a lot of money. I was thinking about buying the cards and if the exchange rate gets worse for my trip then I would just hold onto the cards  and not use them for that trip.My question is "is there an expired on the gift cards?"


----------



## Dylemma1

I was wondering if it's possible to get the senior discount on the Disney gift card at Shoppers,  In the fine print it says no gift cards but are they really that strict? Has anyone tried it?
 I think I read on the US forum where sometimes stores give discounts on gift cards ,it depends on the checkout person? Also they are offering a $10 bonus card this Thursday and I was wondering if you could use the $10 bonus card to buy Disney gift cards? In the flyer it says terms for the bonus card are found on the back of the card so I guess we have to wait until we get one to read it.
It would be amazing if all this could work out, finally some discounts like they get in the US at Target etc.


----------



## rally

They are at Shoppers Drug Mart Port Elgin. (Grey-Bruce Owen Sound area)


----------



## kiwi2013

I do apologize if this question has been asked /answered.....has anyone used the Canadian Disney gift cards in Disney already or just online? My plan was to book a room only, buy the park tickets using the current Canadian ticket price and take the Disney gift cards with me to pay for meals....the only problem is I need to make sure people have done this and the cards are being accepted at resorts, stores and restaurants within Disney...also, how does exchange rate work( is it exchanged the day you buy them or the day you use them?)Thanks


----------



## mkmommy

kiwi2013 said:


> I do apologize if this question has been asked /answered.....has anyone used the Canadian Disney gift cards in Disney already or just online? My plan was to book a room only, buy the park tickets using the current Canadian ticket price and take the Disney gift cards with me to pay for meals....the only problem is I need to make sure people have done this and the cards are being accepted at resorts, stores and restaurants within Disney...also, how does exchange rate work( is it exchanged the day you buy them or the day you use them?)Thanks



The exchange rate is the day you use the cards not buy the card.

I have a room only reservation and I am applying the cards to my reservation to prepay by calling the reservation number . I was just going to hold all the cards until I got to the park but feel the exchange rate will not improve so want to lock in at the current rate.

It says on the cards that they are good at the parks, plus DCL and even Adventure by Disney trips.


----------



## Sue M

Flattes said:


> Anyone know where to buy them in Vancouver? Would love to get some from Shoppers but my local store doesn't have them. Anyone know any in Vancouver that does?


I have found them at the Safeway in Lougheed Mall COQUITLAM. And also at Metrotown Disney store. You can load them with what amount you want up to $500


----------



## Goodwill234

Can you use these to pay MF fees for DVC?


----------



## Datney

Chris100 said:


> Hi There,
> This idea seems great just wondering which sobeys and shoppers you found them at? Maybe I’m in the same area. I’d like to buy these as well!
> Thanks


Sorry for the delay. I found them in Peterborough Ontario.


----------



## LindyWebb

Can you just buy them at the Disney Store too?  I am going to send my husband there for a Christmas gift for the kids so they can buy their own souvenir when we are in WDW.


----------



## Pumpkin1172

Found loadable 50-500 dollar ones at the South side Grande Prairie


----------



## 22Tink

LindyWebb said:


> Can you just buy them at the Disney Store too?  I am going to send my husband there for a Christmas gift for the kids so they can buy their own souvenir when we are in WDW.


Yes you can


----------



## I Believe in Pixie dust

kiwi2013 said:


> I do apologize if this question has been asked /answered.....has anyone used the Canadian Disney gift cards in Disney already or just online? My plan was to book a room only, buy the park tickets using the current Canadian ticket price and take the Disney gift cards with me to pay for meals....the only problem is I need to make sure people have done this and the cards are being accepted at resorts, stores and restaurants within Disney...also, how does exchange rate work( is it exchanged the day you buy them or the day you use them?)Thanks


I just bought some pins at Disney Springs and they worked!


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## snuffalufagus

Canadian Harmony said:


> Any sighted in BC yet? This totally changes my 'carrying wads of cash south' game!


Yes,I think I saw them at Save on Foods and maybe Walmart.  Seeing this, I think if we have any left over from money we get a Xmas I am definitely buying GCs and paying it off that way!!


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## Keri Barker

Not sure this has been asked, but my family and I are heading on a Disney Cruise 2018 December my TA said I can use the Disney GC to pay for my balance is this right? Can I also use it as credit on board? Can you only get the GC at the Disney Store? I'm in Airdrie Alberta. Does it work out better then using my Canadian CC?


----------



## Donald - my hero

Keri Barker said:


> Not sure this has been asked, but my family and I are heading on a Disney Cruise 2018 December my TA said I can use the Disney GC to pay for my balance is this right? Can I also use it as credit on board? Can you only get the GC at the Disney Store? I'm in Airdrie Alberta. Does it work out better then using my Canadian CC?


*1: Yes from the Gift card site : The Disney Gift Card can be used to apply payment toward your shipboard account during your cruise, so you can use it to purchase Spa Treatments, Shore Excursions, Photographs at Shutters and onboard Merchandise. You can also use your Disney Gift Card toward your Disney Cruise Line reservation by calling 1-866-784-1628 or online at DisneyCruise.com.*

*2: No, the gift cards have started to appear in stores across the country that carry cards --Shoppers, Rexall, Canadian Tire etc. You can try searching in just this thread for your area to see if they've been spotted*

*3: The advantage to using the GC is you won't have a foreign transaction fee on your credit card on top of the exchange rate so IMHO, yes it's better.*


----------



## Dylemma1

I know the title is Canadian Gift Cards but thought I would let people know that Target has 10% off their gift cards today. 
The target gift cards can be used to purchase Disney Gift Cards. 
 You can order them to be emailed to you so you won't have a physical card, and you must put in a US address ( I don't know why since it isn't being mailed). You would then have to take the egift card to a Target in the US to get your Disney Gift card as you cannot buy Disney Gift cards online using a Target Gift Card. 
The pro's are that you end up having a gift card with a US amount on it at today's exchange rate. If you purchase a Canadian Disney Gift card you  get the US exchange rate at the time of redeeming it so if the dollar gets lower you lose money.
The con's are you will have to get to a Target in the US to purchase the Disney Gift Card. Also I think you may. have to claim the purchase going over the border so in order not to pay duty you would have to use it as our exemption 24 hrs $200, 48 hrs $800.
Anyhow just food for thought it anyone is interested.


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## mkmommy

I applied a Disney gift card to my room only reservation last night. Exchange rate was 1.2684. I have in the past found the Rate from the TD  bank web site for US exchange to be the same as my credit card charges,and that is showing right now at 1.3065.


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## AngelDisney

I saw $25-500 Disney Gift Card at Foodland (Parkway Forest).


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## ilovetotravel1977

I found them again at Walmart in Halifax, $25 AND $50!  I struggled whether to pick any up as I'm not sure I want to depart with the cash in our savings account right before Christmas.  Good to see that they will still be bringing them in though.  I thought it was a one-time thing.


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## Aladora

Update for Victoria, BC people!!!

I found the loadable $25-$500 Disney cards at the Hillside Thrifty Foods!!!


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## youngdeb12

I think it's pretty safe to say they will be almost everywhere soon.  I've seen them at Save On Foods, Walmart, Superstore and Canadian Tire here in Prince George, BC


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## rxbeth

Just an fyi that I have found a way to lock in your rate on the Canadian gift card. You just need to transfer the money from your CDN dollar gift card to a USD gift card. Then you locked in that exchange rate. 

I had an empty USD card from my march trip and transferred $100.00 cdn to it when it said it was worth $78.83. The whole day it stayed at $78.83 when another CDN card was worth $78.85.  So I locked in my $100 CDN at $78.83. Today I now transferred the other $100 CDN to the USD card and combined the. $78.83 and $78.85


----------



## hdrolfe

rxbeth said:


> Just an fyi that I have found a way to lock in your rate on the Canadian gift card. You just need to transfer the money from your CDN dollar gift card to a USD gift card. Then you locked in that exchange rate.
> 
> I had an empty USD card from my march trip and transferred $100.00 cdn to it when it said it was worth $78.83. The whole day it stayed at $78.83 when another CDN card was worth $78.85.  So I locked in my $100 CDN at $78.83. Today I now transferred the other $100 CDN to the USD card and combined the. $78.83 and $78.85



Interesting. I have a few USD cards from Disney Movie rewards, they are empty now. I wonder if that would work...


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## mab2012

youngdeb12 said:


> I think it's pretty safe to say they will be almost everywhere soon.  I've seen them at Save On Foods, Walmart, Superstore and Canadian Tire here in Prince George, BC



I've been watching for them at Shell.  No luck yet.  That would be a great deal since Shell treats most gift cards as "in store purchases" for the purposes of Air Miles.



rxbeth said:


> Just an fyi that I have found a way to lock in your rate on the Canadian gift card. You just need to transfer the money from your CDN dollar gift card to a USD gift card. Then you locked in that exchange rate.



Great tip, thanks!


----------



## lauracitawita

rxbeth said:


> Just an fyi that I have found a way to lock in your rate on the Canadian gift card. You just need to transfer the money from your CDN dollar gift card to a USD gift card. Then you locked in that exchange rate.
> 
> I had an empty USD card from my march trip and transferred $100.00 cdn to it when it said it was worth $78.83. The whole day it stayed at $78.83 when another CDN card was worth $78.85.  So I locked in my $100 CDN at $78.83. Today I now transferred the other $100 CDN to the USD card and combined the. $78.83 and $78.85



Thanks for the info!  I think I might buy a US gift card and transfer my CDN gc$ to it.

Maybe this has already been addressed, but once you use your CDN gift card for the first time does that lock in the rate as well, or does it keep changing daily?


----------



## Dylemma1

Wow that is a fantastic idea thanks so much for the tip. My trip isn't planned until 2019 so I can't use the cards  on my room yet because I can't book that far in advance and I was worried the CAD dollar would take a dive between now and then.


----------



## Donald - my hero

lauracitawita said:


> Thanks for the info!  I think I might buy a US gift card and transfer my CDN gc$ to it.
> 
> Maybe this has already been addressed, but once you use your CDN gift card for the first time does that lock in the rate as well, or does it keep changing daily?


*I'm pretty sure that any remaining balance will be subject to the exchange rate as well. If I plan on doing this next time i will buy a gift card once i get there and transfer any balance on the CDN cards to the US one so there isn't any further exchange to deal with. *


----------



## rxbeth

lauracitawita said:


> Thanks for the info!  I think I might buy a US gift card and transfer my CDN gc$ to it.
> 
> Maybe this has already been addressed, but once you use your CDN gift card for the first time does that lock in the rate as well, or does it keep changing daily?



Rate will keep changing daily.


----------



## Raimiette

So I've been following this thread sporadically but quick question, is there any benefit to purchasing a gift card to use to pay down a reservation if I have a no forex fee credit card (Amazon.ca) or would the rates basically be the same?


----------



## Disney Addicted

For people in Durham region I found the Disney gcs loadable up to $500 at Sobey's in Whitby.

Does anyone know if the gift card is re-loadable?  Is that the right term?  I was thinking I could grab one of those and put $25 on it every now and then when grocery shopping until it reaches $500.  I asked the Cashier but she didn't know either.


----------



## buyerbrad

Can they be used at Quick Service restaurants in the park?  What about to pay for parking?


----------



## Donald - my hero

Disney Addicted said:


> For people in Durham region I found the Disney gcs loadable up to $500 at Sobey's in Whitby.
> 
> Does anyone know if the gift card is re-loadable?  Is that the right term?  I was thinking I could grab one of those and put $25 on it every now and then when grocery shopping until it reaches $500.  I asked the Cashier but she didn't know either.


*If you set up an account on the Disney Gift Card website you can consolidate them to a maximum of $1,000 per card*

*Just go here and create an account for yourself*
*Disney Gift Card Account*


----------



## Disney Addicted

Donald - my hero said:


> *If you set up an account on the Disney Gift Card website you can consolidate them to a maximum of $1,000 per card*
> 
> *Just go here and create an account for yourself*
> *Disney Gift Card Account*



Actually, I have an account there for my Disney US funds cards and consolidated them before going to Disneyland.

That will work with the Disney CND gift cards as well then?


----------



## lauracitawita

buyerbrad said:


> Can they be used at Quick Service restaurants in the park?  What about to pay for parking?




Yes, you can use them for both.  For parking, the cast member said the full $20 has to be on the card because they can't do partial payments.


----------



## CanadianKrista

Anyone know if you can do partial balance transfers between cards?  I've only been able to find $50 gift cards here in Ottawa, and I want to get the kids $75 ones for their souvenier spending (Christmas gifts from my parents, who are sending me the cash).  Can I take 3 $50s and make them 2 $75s somehow?


----------



## 22Tink

CanadianKrista said:


> Anyone know if you can do partial balance transfers between cards?  I've only been able to find $50 gift cards here in Ottawa, and I want to get the kids $75 ones for their souvenier spending (Christmas gifts from my parents, who are sending me the cash).  Can I take 3 $50s and make them 2 $75s somehow?


If I recall it asks you how much you’d like to transfer so I’m thinking yes? I didn’t pay too much attention because I was transferring the entire amount but it’s worth a try.


----------



## blizzard

Keri Barker said:


> Not sure this has been asked, but my family and I are heading on a Disney Cruise 2018 December my TA said I can use the Disney GC to pay for my balance is this right? Can I also use it as credit on board? Can you only get the GC at the Disney Store? I'm in Airdrie Alberta. Does it work out better then using my Canadian CC?



Saw the cards at Airdrie Walmart today.  Hoping they show up at a discount somewhere soon!


----------



## kuhltiffany

I'm in Kanata, I've found the loadable ones at Shoppers Drug Mart, you can choose how much you want to put on them 



CanadianKrista said:


> Anyone know if you can do partial balance transfers between cards?  I've only been able to find $50 gift cards here in Ottawa, and I want to get the kids $75 ones for their souvenier spending (Christmas gifts from my parents, who are sending me the cash).  Can I take 3 $50s and make them 2 $75s somehow?


----------



## mort1331

rxbeth said:


> Just an fyi that I have found a way to lock in your rate on the Canadian gift card. You just need to transfer the money from your CDN dollar gift card to a USD gift card. Then you locked in that exchange rate.
> 
> I had an empty USD card from my march trip and transferred $100.00 cdn to it when it said it was worth $78.83. The whole day it stayed at $78.83 when another CDN card was worth $78.85.  So I locked in my $100 CDN at $78.83. Today I now transferred the other $100 CDN to the USD card and combined the. $78.83 and $78.85


wow wonder if you can use this as a small personal exchange. When our dollar is up transfer to US card and when down transfer back. How soon till they catch on.


----------



## CanadianKrista

kuhltiffany said:


> I'm in Kanata, I've found the loadable ones at Shoppers Drug Mart, you can choose how much you want to put on them



Thanks so much, I got them at Shoppers, and got my $75 I wanted!  Woot!


----------



## rxbeth

mort1331 said:


> wow wonder if you can use this as a small personal exchange. When our dollar is up transfer to US card and when down transfer back. How soon till they catch on.



But really, what would that benefit since they are tied down into Disney gift cards?  If it were dollars you could use elsewhere I could maybe see the benefit.


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## kuhltiffany

Awesome!  I noticed them at Canadian Tire last night too.  My kids are getting them as well for our March Break Cruise on DCL 



CanadianKrista said:


> Thanks so much, I got them at Shoppers, and got my $75 I wanted!  Woot!


----------



## mkmommy

Where in a Canadian Tire store do you find gift cards?


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## kuhltiffany

They have a big gift card display near the cash 



mkmommy said:


> Where in a Canadian Tire store do you find gift cards?


----------



## Jason88

Saw both $25 and $50 cards at the Walmart in South Surrey, BC today. 

Was a nice surprise, didn’t realize they were up here now - I’ve been getting the $5 and $10 cards from Disney Movie Rewards for a while now in hopes of saving up for a trip, this will definitely help.


----------



## Sparrow78

Keri Barker said:


> Not sure this has been asked, but my family and I are heading on a Disney Cruise 2018 December my TA said I can use the Disney GC to pay for my balance is this right? Can I also use it as credit on board? Can you only get the GC at the Disney Store? I'm in Airdrie Alberta. Does it work out better then using my Canadian CC?


I'm in Airdrie! I actually found the gift cards at Safeway last week and superstore a few weeks ago!

Honestly, I didn't bother getting them. I used my US Dollar credit card instead. I've got a usd savings acct and buy occasionally watching the dollar and then just use my cc instead and make payments through online banking


----------



## musika

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I found them again at Walmart in Halifax, $25 AND $50!  I struggled whether to pick any up as I'm not sure I want to depart with the cash in our savings account right before Christmas.  Good to see that they will still be bringing them in though.  I thought it was a one-time thing.



I can ditto this for Dartmouth. Still not sure if we will pick some up or not. I'm not really sold on the value.


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## ilovetotravel1977

Well you do get a better exchange rate than if you charge the same amount to a credit card or get US cash.  I just can't part with my money right now just before Christmas. If we see them closer to February, then I will probably get some.  We will be charging all of our food to our room anyways, so one half dozen or the other how we pay for it.


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## gskywalker

I did a comparison after shopping in the states on the weekend.  Using the disney gift card and using my Amazon(0% foreign exchange fee) visa within an hour of each other, the difference was around a half a cent difference (IE 1.282 with disney card, 1.287 with Amazon) which is just the spread visa charges.  For me I will be paying for my trip with gift cards because I gain that half a percent, as well Amazon only gives 1% cash back whereas my other cards give me 1.5%-2% depending on whether it is at a grocery store or not.


----------



## tpettie

I have not had a chance to read through the thread but have a few questions.   I bought a gift card for our family Christmas exchange. I have a Jan 2019 cruise wedding planned. Can the GC be used towards their stateroom payment?  If it is used for that and they cancel what would happen to the GC amount?

Can the GC be used on the ship in general?


----------



## Donald - my hero

tpettie said:


> I have not had a chance to read through the thread but have a few questions.   I bought a gift card for our family Christmas exchange. I have a Jan 2019 cruise wedding planned. Can the GC be used towards their stateroom payment?  If it is used for that and they cancel what would happen to the GC amount?
> 
> Can the GC be used on the ship in general?


*Basic answer, YES the gift cards can be used for cruise as well, both for payment of the cruise itself and on board. Not sure what would happen if the trip gets cancelled after GC have been used though, sorry.*


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## BijouBabe

For any Calgarians I found $25 and $50 gift cards at the Walmart on 130th. Bought a couple $50 for a stocking stuffer for DS for our trip next year.


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## mab2012

gskywalker said:


> I did a comparison after shopping in the states on the weekend.  Using the disney gift card and using my Amazon(0% foreign exchange fee) visa within an hour of each other, the difference was around a half a cent difference (IE 1.282 with disney card, 1.287 with Amazon) which is just the spread visa charges.  For me I will be paying for my trip with gift cards because I gain that half a percent, as well Amazon only gives 1% cash back whereas my other cards give me 1.5%-2% depending on whether it is at a grocery store or not.



I'd be careful with that comparison.  When you use the Amazon card, you'll get the exchange rate in effect at the time the transaction is *posted*, not the time that the transaction actually occurred.  That's typically a day or two after the transaction date, so the specific time that you used the card is not very relevant.  Meanwhile, the Disney gift cards appear to be converting at the previous day's closing spot rate.  So what you're actually comparing in your example is not the rate in effect at the time of the two transactions, but yesterday's rate on one transaction, and tomorrow's (or the next day's) rate on the other.

Nobody knows exactly what spread Visa uses; they're not telling, and direct comparisons are very difficult because of this delay between transaction and posting times, and the constant fluctuation of exchange rates throughout every day.  It's typically figured to be in the 0.5 - 1% range, but your observation of that difference on your two transactions was almost entirely coincidental.  The Amazon Visa rate could have been much worse or even much better than Disney's if there had been a big currency movement in the meantime.

I think you're right on the general conclusions though, even if the direct comparison could be misleading.  IMO the potential advantages of using the Disney gift cards over Amazon or other "no-fee" cards are:

Save the Visa markup.  Whatever their spread is, and irrespective of day-to-day currency fluctuations, Visa is definitely making money there, and I'd rather not pay it.  
You control the timing.  With the Disney card, the rate is set once per day, and you know (or could know, if you care to look it up) exactly what that rate is at the time of your transaction. 
You're not limited to use of your no-fee credit card.
For me I think the gift cards will be worthwhile for larger purchases where I can control the timing, like paying off a cruise.  It means I can keep an eye on rates and if there is a sudden downward move in the Canadian dollar, that Disney gift card becomes a bit of a "get out of jail free" card.  Plus the small percentage saving on that Visa rate and the slightly better credit card return is more significant on larger numbers.  For smaller resort charges, where the bill is going to be paid on check-out date whether I like that rate or not, I don't think it'll be worth the hassle of going down to the desk to apply the gift card to my account.  In that case I think I'll just rely on the Amazon card to give me a decent rate at the time.


----------



## marcyleecorgan

BijouBabe said:


> For any Calgarians I found $25 and $50 gift cards at the Walmart on 130th. Bought a couple $50 for a stocking stuffer for DS for our trip next year.



Thanks!  Finally someone has found them in our Cowtown


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## BijouBabe

marcyleecorgan said:


> Thanks!  Finally someone has found them in our Cowtown



Hopefully they start showing up at other areas and locations but I know the Rexall and Sobey's down this way have not had them so I was super happy to find them at Walmart.


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## marcyleecorgan

BijouBabe said:


> Hopefully they start showing up at other areas and locations but I know the Rexall and Sobey's down this way have not had them so I was super happy to find them at Walmart.


No kidding... I have been stalking Safeway and Shoppers Drug Mart for them, as well as any other gift card board.


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## drag n' fly

BijouBabe said:


> For any Calgarians I found $25 and $50 gift cards at the Walmart on 130th. Bought a couple $50 for a stocking stuffer for DS for our trip next year.


I see them everywhere up in the north end.


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## Aimee_Jane83

I'm sorry I haven't looked through this thread yet but can someone please explain this to me? My boyfriend purchased me a $50 Disney GC for Christmas which says it will be good at the Disneyland resort for our upcoming trip. However he obviously paid for it in Canadian funds as we are in the Vancouver area, and he purchased it at our local Walmart. I was reading on other Google sits and they say that if paid in Canadian funds you can't use them at the resort as it has to be an American gift card. Why would they sell them in Canada if they can't be used as stated, and what happens to our exchange rate with the cards?


----------



## 22Tink

Aimee_Jane83 said:


> I'm sorry I haven't looked through this thread yet but can someone please explain this to me? My boyfriend purchased me a $50 Disney GC for Christmas which says it will be good at the Disneyland resort for our upcoming trip. However he obviously paid for it in Canadian funds as we are in the Vancouver area, and he purchased it at our local Walmart. I was reading on other Google sits and they say that if paid in Canadian funds you can't use them at the resort as it has to be an American gift card. Why would they sell them in Canada if they can't be used as stated, and what happens to our exchange rate with the cards?


You can definitely use them at the parks. I've been using them to make payments on my room reservation in WDW in March. They are worth their value in Canadian dollars but when you use them in the parks it's converted to USD so it will only be worth whatever the exchange rate is. I believe they go off of the exchange rate of the previous day when you use them.


----------



## hdrolfe

Aimee_Jane83 said:


> I'm sorry I haven't looked through this thread yet but can someone please explain this to me? My boyfriend purchased me a $50 Disney GC for Christmas which says it will be good at the Disneyland resort for our upcoming trip. However he obviously paid for it in Canadian funds as we are in the Vancouver area, and he purchased it at our local Walmart. I was reading on other Google sits and they say that if paid in Canadian funds you can't use them at the resort as it has to be an American gift card. Why would they sell them in Canada if they can't be used as stated, and what happens to our exchange rate with the cards?



I believe it's fairly new that they are available for purchase in Canada to use at Disney. It used to be that they were only available to purchase at Disney stores in Canada, to use only in Disney stores in Canada. But that changed, at least a few months ago. 

The exchange rate will be whatever it is when you use it, so it won't be worth $50 USD if you bought it in CAD. However, you can get an idea by registering it. I believe it's a bit better than if you were to purchase USD at the bank or use a credit card which charges fees for foreign transactions. https://www.disneygiftcard.com/  click on manage cards. If you purchase multiple cards you can combine them onto one so you don't have to carry a bunch around.


----------



## friedela

Not to take over the thread, but what is the benefit of getting these other than you can set a limit on your spending? From what I have read you still have to pay the exchange rate on every purchase?


----------



## Pumpkin1172

friedela said:


> Not to take over the thread, but what is the benefit of getting these other than you can set a limit on your spending? From what I have read you still have to pay the exchange rate on every purchase?



If you don't have a forfex free credit card...your credit card charges you a 2.5% rate on top of the exchange rate.  Unless your paying with cash ( which I would NEVER carry that much cash on me while travelling), then this is a good solution.  We don't travel enough for us to warrant a credit card like this.  So for me, it will help to offset how much cash I carry or what I will put into my credit card


----------



## Ahmne

I've finally seen these at Shoppers in Toronto. Waiting for PC points to merge with optimum and I will start cashing in for gift cards


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## jltdone

I have a question or 2 about this. right now disney has the save 20% on park tickets if you are canadian. A family of 3 like mine is, so for 7 days with hopper passes it is $1148 US.
I have seen disney cards at shoppers that go from 25 to 500 could i buy 2- $500 for a 1000. and then 1-more for say $300 for a total of $1300 what happens if the total in CDN is 1400 can i put the difference on my visa?
Do i get visa points on the $1300 dollars that I spent?
Thanks


----------



## jltdone

I think I might of just answered my own questions.
Right now the exchange rate is 26% and my visa fees are 2.5% for a total of 28.5% on $1148 is $1475 CDN with my visa and fees and points.
without my visa and using gift cards I would need $1447 in CDN gift cards and maybe not getting the points on my visa that would be a difference of $28 dollars. I would save 28 dollars by gift cards. but if i factor in my visa points that would be $14.75 towards my flights in visa points cause that is how we plan to get flights. so I really only save like $13 dollars. IMO that is not worth it for me. It sounded great at first but when broken all down it is not a crazy amount of savings.
Now it is great to gift the gift cards to our son for chores around the house and birthday to use at disney. That I LOVE.
By the way HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. CHEERS.


----------



## mkmommy

jltdone said:


> I think I might of just answered my own questions.
> Right now the exchange rate is 26% and my visa fees are 2.5% for a total of 28.5% on $1148 is $1475 CDN with my visa and fees and points.
> without my visa and using gift cards I would need $1447 in CDN gift cards and maybe not getting the points on my visa that would be a difference of $28 dollars. I would save 28 dollars by gift cards. but if i factor in my visa points that would be $14.75 towards my flights in visa points cause that is how we plan to get flights. so I really only save like $13 dollars. IMO that is not worth it for me. It sounded great at first but when broken all down it is not a crazy amount of savings.
> Now it is great to gift the gift cards to our son for chores around the house and birthday to use at disney. That I LOVE.
> By the way HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. CHEERS.



Buy the gift cards with your Visa and you get the points on your credit card PLUS the savings on the exchange.


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## mkmommy

I have travel insurance on my MasterCard, condition being you must pay off the whole trip with the MC. If you buy Disney gift cards with the MC to pay off a trip, are you still covered?

I guess I will need to look into this and make a call.


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## JT_Perry

I'm new to Disney GC's but what's the draw of them for us Canadians? Do they go on sale every so often? Excellent currency conversion rates?


----------



## Donald - my hero

JT_Perry said:


> I'm new to Disney GC's but what's the draw of them for us Canadians? Do they go on sale every so often? Excellent currency conversion rates?


*There is lots of information within this thread but it boils down to this one fact: you can buy them in CDN funds with any method of payment and not get slapped with the foreign transaction fee on a credit card. While you are buying in CDN funds you can use them in the parks now, to pay for your trip (either a package, room only reservation or cruise), online shopping at the Disneystore . com ... anywhere the cards you buy stateside can be used these will work as well.*

*No they don't go "on sale" but some people are using the method of converting loyalty points/miles to these cards using the process of buying groceries/stuff at Shoppers and chucking the gift card in with the sale and saying the gift card was "free"*

*The conversion rate is based on close of the previous business day when you use the card and some have done the math to find it is just slightly better than converting cash. *

*Hope this helps you out.*


----------



## hdrolfe

I had one of the USD gift cards you get for redeeming disney movie points and transferred my Canadian bought gift card balance onto it at a fairly good rate. It seems to now be staying at the rate from the day I transferred it and not fluctuating. I think someone else had mentioned this previously in the thread? Hopefully this makes sense.


----------



## marshall4539

I personally would never do such a large purchase with gift cards.  I have read several times about how people pay off their trips with GC's, then something happens and they need to rebook or cancel their vacation and they can only get their money refunded to a gift card (you need to keep those gift cards that you paid off your vacation with because if you need a refund they will be refunded to those exact gift cards).  
I love booking directly through Disney because I can get my money refunded at almost anytime (if you are too close to your vacation you can just move your trip and then get a refund).  
My credit card also has protection in the event of any payment issues/fraud and there is a dispute process if something goes wrong. Gift cards have none of these protections.  I have a no-fee foreign transaction credit card though, and it has paid for itself quickly.


----------



## DavidL

@marshall4539 - What card are you using that doesn't have the foreign exchange fee?    I've heard that the Chase Bank of Canada cards with no foreign-exchange fee are being discontinued as of March 15 of this year.       Discussion here ->  https://www.disboards.com/threads/canadian-amazon-visa-card.3658372/

I had been toying with the idea of getting some gift cards here in Canada to pay for our room as soon as we arrive as a means of avoiding the 2.5% fee.


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## 22Tink

DavidL said:


> I had been toying with the idea of getting some gift cards here in Canada to pay for our room as soon as we arrive as a means of avoiding the 2.5% fee.



I've almost got my room paid off with gift cards by calling in and making payments over the phone. It's been working great!

I don't plan to cancel but if something happens and we do they'll put it all back on my GC and I'll have a good chunk of money to put towards the next trip!


----------



## kittyab

So far I have only found them in the Super Store here in Alberta.


----------



## Average Joes

DavidL said:


> @marshall4539 - What card are you using that doesn't have the foreign exchange fee?    I've heard that the Chase Bank of Canada cards with no foreign-exchange fee are being discontinued as of March 15 of this year.       Discussion here ->  https://www.disboards.com/threads/canadian-amazon-visa-card.3658372/
> 
> I had been toying with the idea of getting some gift cards here in Canada to pay for our room as soon as we arrive as a means of avoiding the 2.5% fee.



I am not aware of a Canadian credit card that does not charge fees. The Rogers Master Card will charge the 2.5% fee. However, it gives you 4% cash rewards back on foreign purchases. Even so I will likely use a credit card to buy a gift card for tickets and get standard rewards.


----------



## gskywalker

I converted over $3500 CDN in gift cards yesterday into US$ gift cards.  Would have moved over more if I had more US$ gift cards to move it to(only had three from Disney rewards).  Glad I was able to capture Thursday high CDN rate yesterday instead of the once cent drop.


----------



## bcwife76

I haven't found a comparable option to replace my Amazon Visa (only another month of being able to use it ) so I've started stock piling gift cards everytime I go grocery shopping and I'm combining them all on one 'master' gift card incase of any refunds. Just wish I could (a) find more places to buy the cards and (b) purchase bigger denominations. So far I can only buy $50 cards at Superstore/Independent Grocer and $25 cards at Walmart. Shoppers closest to my house does not have them, neither does my closest Rexall. Grrrr....


----------



## 22Tink

bcwife76 said:


> I haven't found a comparable option to replace my Amazon Visa (only another month of being able to use it ) so I've started stock piling gift cards everytime I go grocery shopping and I'm combining them all on one 'master' gift card incase of any refunds. Just wish I could (a) find more places to buy the cards and (b) purchase bigger denominations. So far I can only buy $50 cards at Superstore/Independent Grocer and $25 cards at Walmart. Shoppers closest to my house does not have them, neither does my closest Rexall. Grrrr....


Do you have a Canadian Tire nearby? The one near me has cards that are loadable to $500. It’s an hour away from us in Prince George but I try to grab one whenever we can get there.


----------



## bcwife76

@22Tink yes we've got a CDN Tire less than 10 minutes away....haven't checked there yet - am running a couple errands near there tomorrow so I will pop in and see if they have any, thanks!


----------



## bcwife76

So my local CDN Tire had none, along with Home Depot. And now a friend just emailed me to say she checked London Drugs and Save On Foods (both within a couple minutes drive of those other stores) and they both have them lol So now, more choices at least ;-)


----------



## DVC_Vida

isabellea said:


> Thanks for the picture. Since it's also written in French, there's a good chance I will see them in Montreal too so I will keep my eyes open!



Hi, I'm from Montreal nd and I saw them at Jean Coutu Pharmacy


----------



## isabellea

DVC_Vida said:


> Hi, I'm from Montreal nd and I saw them at Jean Coutu Pharmacy



Yes I found them too at Jean Coutu and Walmart.


----------



## Capergirl1989

Anybody from Nova Scotia and find the gift cards any other place besides WalMart ? I have been checking weekly at the local Walmart’s around me and can’t find any since Christmas ! I’m hoping to get a few more before my trip in april !


----------



## Sue M

I used them on my last trips to DL & WDW and they worked fine. I have always used gift cards at the parks instead of using my Visa or Mastercard.  But I also go to other US destinations as well so have a USD checking acct & Visa. Before you could use Canadian Disney gift cards at the parks I’d just buy them once I arrived in WDW with my US Visa.


----------



## Tinkershelly

Capergirl1989 said:


> Anybody from Nova Scotia and find the gift cards any other place besides WalMart ? I have been checking weekly at the local Walmart’s around me and can’t find any since Christmas ! I’m hoping to get a few more before my trip in april !


I have been too and not found them anywhere since they first came out at the Walmart in Bedford.


----------



## ebharris

I found the gift cards at Shoppers here in Winnipeg. I picked up one for each of my kids for our summer trip, and will get more-it’s a decent way for them to have spending and snack money in the parks. 

Side note, the manager told me that they can order the cards they want, so if you can’t find them you may want to ask mgmt if they’ll order them!


----------



## star72232

Has anyone seen Disney GC at Shell?


----------



## b33ching

Was debating charging vacation package to AMEX (2x the points on travel) or no forex fee by using GC. Found a way to do both. Went to local Shoppers and purchased GCs using AMEX. Shoppers is considered "grocery" which still incurs 2x the points! Then also found out I have enough DMR points for some USD GCs! Will be securing my exchange rate once the reward GCs come in the mail.

Every dollar counts when Canadian dollar is so low...


----------



## kuhltiffany

star72232 said:


> Has anyone seen Disney GC at Shell?



I wish!  I've been stocking up on GC every paycheque since our closest Shell is part of the 5AM for $5 in-store promotion, but haven't seen any Disney ones...


----------



## StarSeven7

Can anyone confirm that we can use the gift cards purchased in Canada (thinking of buying them at Shoppers) to pay off our room only reservation when we arrive this week?


----------



## Donald - my hero

StarSeven7 said:


> Can anyone confirm that we can use the gift cards purchased in Canada (thinking of buying them at Shoppers) to pay off our room only reservation when we arrive this week?


*A quick scan thru just this thread has pulled up the following answers that confirm, yes you can pay for your RO reservations -- lots are doing it even before they leave home.*



ssmurphy28 said:


> I Went and purchased the remaining balance for my RO reservation. The Disney Store gave me 3 x $1000 gift cards, so I called immediately as I got in the car and paid it off!





mkmommy said:


> The exchange rate is the day you use the cards not buy the card.
> 
> I have a room only reservation and I am applying the cards to my reservation to prepay by calling the reservation number . I was just going to hold all the cards until I got to the park but feel the exchange rate will not improve so want to lock in at the current rate.
> 
> It says on the cards that they are good at the parks, plus DCL and even Adventure by Disney trips.





22Tink said:


> You can definitely use them at the parks. I've been using them to make payments on my room reservation in WDW in March. They are worth their value in Canadian dollars but when you use them in the parks it's converted to USD so it will only be worth whatever the exchange rate is. I believe they go off of the exchange rate of the previous day when you use them.





mkmommy said:


> I have been using them to pay off a room only reservation through the automated system and the gift card is treated the same way as a credit card, so I would think DVC is the same.
> 
> Buying the gift card saves you the approximate 2.5% fee that the credit card companies charge on the exchange, and you are still getting the points through your Avion card.





22Tink said:


> I've almost got my room paid off with gift cards by calling in and making payments over the phone. It's been working great!
> 
> I don't plan to cancel but if something happens and we do they'll put it all back on my GC and I'll have a good chunk of money to put towards the next trip!


----------



## StarSeven7

Donald - my hero said:


> *A quick scan thru just this thread has pulled up the following answers that confirm, yes you can pay for your RO reservations -- lots are doing it even before they leave home.*


Thank you!  I was working my way through the thread but we wanted to leave in a few minutes to go buy the giftcards so I wanted to double check before I did that!


----------



## Donald - my hero

StarSeven7 said:


> Thank you!  I was working my way through the thread but we wanted to leave in a few minutes to go buy the giftcards so I wanted to double check before I did that!


*It's super easy to use the search feature on the boards .. I just typed in Room Only, clicked this thread only and hit search. Hope you have a blast next week!*


----------



## StarSeven7

Just to confirm for anyone else wondering, we bought enough gift cards to pay off the remaining balance on our room only reservation (at Shoppers) and I was able to call it in immediately when I got home and pay off that entire balance.  We figure we saved just over $100 on the foreign transaction fee!


----------



## DavidL

StarSeven7 said:


> Just to confirm for anyone else wondering, we bought enough gift cards to pay off the remaining balance on our room only reservation (at Shoppers) and I was able to call it in immediately when I got home and pay off that entire balance.  We figure we saved just over $100 on the foreign transaction fee!



Thanks for the informational post.    I've found this to be a very helpful thread.     That foreign transaction fee is something that many people don't realize exists because the credit card companies bury it in the exchange rate.    

We have an upcoming trip to Disney in August.    The idea of purchasing gift cards in Canada is now something is something we are considering..


----------



## Pumpkin1172

I really wish they would do that for Universal Studios as well.  It would help to offset some of the cost...instead of having to travel with cash vs credit cards.  I HATE HATE HATE giving any extra money to those companies!!!!


----------



## tinkerone

Is anyone able to tell me what the exchange rate for the GC are today?  I would love to compare to what I get as a rate from my bank.  TIA.


----------



## milena2008

Just purchased a Disney gift card for the first time and it’s written « card not valid until activated », do we have something to do to activate the gift card?
Thanks!


----------



## Donald - my hero

milena2008 said:


> Just purchased a Disney gift card for the first time and it’s written « card not valid until activated », do we have something to do to activate the gift card?
> Thanks!


*No, once the cashier scans it that will activate it ... simply means that you can't take a gift card off the shelf and walk out of the store without paying for it.*


----------



## milena2008

Donald - my hero said:


> *No, once the cashier scans it that will activate it ... simply means that you can't take a gift card off the shelf and walk out of the store without paying for it.*


Thank you!


----------



## isabellea

tinkerone said:


> Is anyone able to tell me what the exchange rate for the GC are today?  I would love to compare to what I get as a rate from my bank.  TIA.



Two days late but I registered one of my GC today and the website shows 19.74$USD for 25$CDN. I also got 100$USD from BMO and I paid 130.54$. Now you need to figure out the calculations to compare (sorry I cannot help you with that).


----------



## tinkerone

isabellea said:


> Two days late but I registered one of my GC today and the website shows 19.74$USD for 25$CDN. I also got 100$USD from BMO and I paid 130.54$. Now you need to figure out the calculations to compare (sorry I cannot help you with that).


Thanks.  I actually went and bought a $25 gift card so I could figure it out.  I'm retired bank staff so the rate I get is better than the rate others get.  Having said that, the rate of exchange on the GC works out to exactly the same as the rate of exchange I get on US dollars from being staff.  Looking at that example, buying GC's is a much better deal for the average person but doesn't benefit me so much.  I think I am going to use my Air Miles to purchase them though.  It will be a round about way but still money I don't have to lay out. 
Again, thanks for your answer.  

ETA--The examples you gave work out to $1.266464 for the gift card and $1.3054 for the cash so you can see you are gaining almost 4 cents per dollar with the card.  Not bad at all.


----------



## DucksDad

isabellea said:


> Two days late but I registered one of my GC today and the website shows 19.74$USD for 25$CDN. I also got 100$USD from BMO and I paid 130.54$. Now you need to figure out the calculations to compare (sorry I cannot help you with that).


You got approximately $76.60 USD for $100 CDN from the bank and $78.96 USD for $100 CDN through the gift card.  Canadian Disney gift card wins by approximately 3.08% (i.e. $78.96/$76.60 = 1.308)


----------



## Baby Ninja

tinkerone said:


> Thanks.  I actually went and bought a $25 gift card so I could figure it out.  I'm retired bank staff so the rate I get is better than the rate others get.  Having said that, the rate of exchange on the GC works out to exactly the same as the rate of exchange I get on US dollars from being staff.  Looking at that example, buying GC's is a much better deal for the average person but doesn't benefit me so much.  I think I am going to use my Air Miles to purchase them though.  It will be a round about way but still money I don't have to lay out.
> Again, thanks for your answer.
> 
> ETA--The examples you gave work out to $1.266464 for the gift card and $1.3054 for the cash so you can see you are gaining almost 4 cents per dollar with the card.  Not bad at all.




When you say 'I think I am going to use my AM to purchase them though' do you redeem your AM cash miles to purchase GC in store? I never thought of that before.  Does Safeway/Sobey's/Shell have an issue with this kind of a request? If not, then I very well may switch my account to 'Cash' vs. 'Dream'.


----------



## Donald - my hero

Baby Ninja said:


> When you say 'I think I am going to use my AM to purchase them though' do you redeem your AM cash miles to purchase GC in store? I never thought of that before.  Does Safeway/Sobey's/Shell have an issue with this kind of a request? If not, then I very well may switch my account to 'Cash' vs. 'Dream'.


*This is a frequent topic of conversation over in the Airmiles Alert thread during the weeks that there are bonus miles for buying gift cards. It boils down to a YMMV scenario depending on the store you are in, the cashier you get and the cycle of the moon  *
*Plays out like the following:*

*Buy a $150 gift card at Sobeys 150 AM deposited to your Cash Account (early April) -- need to be set up that way of course*
*Take the above gift card and *hopefully* use it to buy a different gift card (or if super lucky yet another Sobeys gift card)*
*Once you have enough cash miles buy however many groceries you can cover, chuck in a gift card for the same $ and tell yourself you got the GC for free*
*Problem with #2 is that some stores explicitly say you can't buy a gift card with another gift card*
*Reasoning behind #3 is the clear cut term on the Airmiles site that says:*

*Use the Cash Miles in your AIR MILES Cash Account in-store in increments of 95 Cash Miles for every $10 towards your purchases at participating AIR MILES Partner locations to a maximum of $750 (7,125 Cash Miles) per day (gift cards and near-cash products are excluded and other exclusions may also apply); maximum of $60 per transaction (570 Cash Miles), up to 5 eligible transactions totalling $300 per day at Shell;*

*So very long way of saying, no you can't simply take your cash miles and redeem for a straight-up purchase of a gift card*


----------



## Baby Ninja

Donald - my hero said:


> *This is a frequent topic of conversation over in the Airmiles Alert thread during the weeks that there are bonus miles for buying gift cards. It boils down to a YMMV scenario depending on the store you are in, the cashier you get and the cycle of the moon  *
> *Plays out like the following:*
> 
> *Buy a $150 gift card at Sobeys 150 AM deposited to your Cash Account (early April) -- need to be set up that way of course*
> *Take the above gift card and *hopefully* use it to buy a different gift card (or if super lucky yet another Sobeys gift card)*
> *Once you have enough cash miles buy however many groceries you can cover, chuck in a gift card for the same $ and tell yourself you got the GC for free*
> *Problem with #2 is that some stores explicitly say you can't buy a gift card with another gift card*
> *Reasoning behind #3 is the clear cut term on the Airmiles site that says:*
> 
> *Use the Cash Miles in your AIR MILES Cash Account in-store in increments of 95 Cash Miles for every $10 towards your purchases at participating AIR MILES Partner locations to a maximum of $750 (7,125 Cash Miles) per day (gift cards and near-cash products are excluded and other exclusions may also apply); maximum of $60 per transaction (570 Cash Miles), up to 5 eligible transactions totalling $300 per day at Shell;*
> 
> *So very long way of saying, no you can't simply take your cash miles and redeem for a straight-up purchase of a gift card*



Okay, thanks for the thorough info!   I've been trying to education myself via all the posts, and I think I have it nailed down now.  And yes, I would agree that it really depends on the person ringing your purchase and whether they'd care enough to 'follow the rules' or look the other way.


----------



## tinkerone

Baby Ninja said:


> When you say 'I think I am going to use my AM to purchase them though' do you redeem your AM cash miles to purchase GC in store? I never thought of that before.  Does Safeway/Sobey's/Shell have an issue with this kind of a request? If not, then I very well may switch my account to 'Cash' vs. 'Dream'.


What I will do is purchase gas, I can usually put in $50 with no problems, and pick up a $50 GC at the same time.  When I pay for this I will redeem $50 worth of AM from my cash account and pay the other $50 by my credit card (to get AM's from it).  This is allowed as the assumption is you are using the $50 in AM to pay for your gas and the CC part to pay for the GC.  I can also do this at Rexall, Metro, or Foodland (any store that sells Disney GC's) as long as my purchase is at least the same dollar value as the GC.

So while I am not purchasing only the GC per se, I am purchasing it as a part of a transaction.  There should be no questions about it by any clerk.

ETA-Pretty much the same as Donald's #3, I should have read replies before I posted.  It is a free GC though as you haven't paid out of pocket.


----------



## Baby Ninja

tinkerone said:


> What I will do is purchase gas, I can usually put in $50 with no problems, and pick up a $50 GC at the same time.  When I pay for this I will redeem $50 worth of AM from my cash account and pay the other $50 by my credit card (to get AM's from it).  This is allowed as the assumption is you are using the $50 in AM to pay for your gas and the CC part to pay for the GC.  I can also do this at Rexall, Metro, or Foodland (any store that sells Disney GC's) as long as my purchase is at least the same dollar value as the GC.
> 
> So while I am not purchasing only the GC per se, I am purchasing it as a part of a transaction.  There should be no questions about it by any clerk.
> 
> ETA-Pretty much the same as Donald's #3, I should have read replies before I posted.  It is a free GC though as you haven't paid out of pocket.



Right.  So essentially the same as when you are redeeming PC points for GC.  The purchase must meet or exceed the value of the GC for no out of pocket.  Thanks guys!


----------



## Baby Ninja

I sure love this forum, and how Canadian's help each other out.   

I'm looking for some added thoughts....

A Disneyland Park Ticket is currently $370 USD.  When adding the exchange rate (of let's say 1.26) and the 2.5 foreign exchange on the CC this amounts to approx. $477 CAD.  The AM needed for an adult ticket is a guess right now as they only have the child ticket posted for 3000.  Let's say an adult ticket is 3800 AM.  3800 AM = $400 if "redeemed" for Disney GC's.  Therefore, I believe my best value is redeeming for the park ticket.  Is my estimated math wrong?

I currently have 2 AM accounts set 100% to 'Dream' as we've always redeemed for park tickets in the past, though I'm struggling with whether this is a good idea.  I hold the Primary card (Onyx) whereas we use DH card as back up during large AM promotions or everyday (smaller) offers.  Any suggestions on how I could best capitalize on having 2 cards? Or is it strictly preference?  Our next trip is scheduled for Fall 2019 so I have lots of time to accumulate miles.  Was thinking maybe I'd change DH card to cash and 'redeem' for $100 Disney GC's over time. 

Thoughts?


----------



## tinkerone

Baby Ninja said:


> I sure love this forum, and how Canadian's help each other out.
> 
> I'm looking for some added thoughts....
> 
> A Disneyland Park Ticket is currently $370 USD.  When adding the exchange rate (of let's say 1.26) and the 2.5 foreign exchange on the CC this amounts to approx. $477 CAD.  The AM needed for an adult ticket is a guess right now as they only have the child ticket posted for 3000.  Let's say an adult ticket is 3800 AM.  3800 AM = $400 if "redeemed" for Disney GC's.  Therefore, I believe my best value is redeeming for the park ticket.  Is my estimated math wrong?
> 
> I currently have 2 AM accounts set 100% to 'Dream' as we've always redeemed for park tickets in the past, though I'm struggling with whether this is a good idea.  I hold the Primary card (Onyx) whereas we use DH card as back up during large AM promotions or everyday (smaller) offers.  Any suggestions on how I could best capitalize on having 2 cards? Or is it strictly preference?  Our next trip is scheduled for Fall 2019 so I have lots of time to accumulate miles.  Was thinking maybe I'd change DH card to cash and 'redeem' for $100 Disney GC's over time.
> 
> Thoughts?


JMO however that's lot of ifs.  I think you would need to know more information to get a clear picture.  First, todays rate of exchange for US is more than $1.26 but will it be more or less when you purchase?  Anyone's guess.  Will the tickets come back for 3800 AM?  Another variable.  Could very well be more.  Also, will they have a Canadian ticket deal before your tip in 2019?  That would be good for you but who knows.  Maybe get one of your accounts up to the point where you would have enough to get the tickets at your estimate then switch over to cash miles, that might be the best of both worlds.  

I had my card set up as 80 dream and 20 cash for a long time, now I have switched to strictly cash miles so I can get the GC's.  I'm thinking, for us, that is the way to go for a while but everyone is going to be different.  Hopefully you will get other thoughts as well.


----------



## Baby Ninja

Thanks tinkerone.  Yes, there are a lot of variables to consider, which is probably why I'm having a challenging time on deciding what the best course is.  Perhaps I'll continue as is for now.  As I said, I have a lot of time.
I want to be better prepared for the 2019 trip (meaning less out of pocket & not giving away cash due to exchange etc.).  I'd love the feeling of 'FREE' in the way of food, souvenirs and tickets.  But don't we all?!


----------



## José Moran

Hello, I’m from Montreal and I’ve been paying for my ASM resservation with DGC without problems. I buy one every time I go to Walmart, Jean Coutu or Bureau en gros and pay when CAD is relatively high as last 3-4 days. Just sabind the FX commission of 2.5 is great. I have one question:

How could I buy DGC with Air Milles from my Visa RBC? Do i have to call them? My DW has the card but we have never use the points before.


----------



## WishingMom

last week I used the Canadian GCs at Pop Century to pay down our balance, the $25 card was worth $19.83 and the $50 card was worth $39.66.

I'm also curious how you use Air Miles and PC Optimum points to get the cards.  Can someone please explain?

Thanks


----------



## DucksDad

WishingMom said:


> last week I used the Canadian GCs at Pop Century to pay down our balance, the $25 card was worth $19.83 and the $50 card was worth $39.66.
> 
> I'm also curious how you use Air Miles and PC Optimum points to get the cards.  Can someone please explain?
> 
> Thanks


For Air Miles I was setting my account to cash miles and getting the Sobey's gift card vouchers and using them to buy Disney Gift Cards at Sobey's but it's been hit and miss recently whether they'll let you buy gift cards with gift cards.  Lately the better approach is to simply use the gift card (or your cash miles directly) for groceries and then to just buy a Disney Gift Card for cash for the amount that you saved on the groceries.

Same approach would work with PC Optimum points I assume.


----------



## tinkerone

WishingMom said:


> last week I used the Canadian GCs at Pop Century to pay down our balance, the $25 card was worth $19.83 and the $50 card was worth $39.66.
> 
> I'm also curious how you use Air Miles and PC Optimum points to get the cards.  Can someone please explain?
> 
> Thanks


I have my account set to put them in the cash account.  Today, for example, I am going to Rexall and have a $50 spend planned.  With that spend I will get 80 AM from my Load and Go and 80 AM from the email offer.  That's 160 AM to start plus any I collect from their own in store offers.  I will pay with $50 from my AM account and then purchase a $50 Disney GC with my AM MasterCard (more AM's for me) which is the money I would have spent on the Rexall purchases.
Hope that's not to confusing, it is rather easy and it still means I don't pay out of pocket for the gift card.


----------



## scrappinginontario

Thanks for this great post!  Lots to learn here.  I have been purchasing GCs with plans to take them with me to pay off my RO reservation once I arrive at Disney.  Hadn't thought of paying it off ahead of time.  There isn't an option on MDE to pay off more.  Can I do it by calling in?



Baby Ninja said:


> Right.  So essentially the same as when you are redeeming PC points for GC.  The purchase must meet or exceed the value of the GC for no out of pocket.  Thanks guys!



To purchase a Disney card using PC Points you need to work the system a bit as technically they no longer allow you to purchase GCs using PC points.  

How I do it that I ensure the total amount of the groceries I am purchasing is > $50.00 then I add to my order a $50.00 Disney GC.  When paying I use $50.00 worth of points and pay for the rest of my groceries using my MC (to get more PC points) or you can use cash/debit.  The key is that the total of your groceries must be more than the value of the GC you wish to purchase using PC Points.


----------



## nicynot

Anyone find any Disney gift cards in Nova Scotia? On the south shore even?
Thanks!


----------



## Tinks#2Fan

I’ve been scanning Halifax/Dartmouth stores for months, they likely think I’m strange in my regular grocery stores looking week after week at the GC selection just in case there might be a new addition ...  No luck yet. As an alternative, we cashed in our PC points on a recent grocery purchase and used the savings to buy a MasterCard GC for a WDW trip. Will still be Canadian $ but I’m thinking it should work.


----------



## jadephoenixx

DucksDad said:


> For Air Miles I was setting my account to cash miles and getting the Sobey's gift card vouchers and using them to buy Disney Gift Cards at Sobey's but it's been hit and miss recently whether they'll let you buy gift cards with gift cards.  Lately the better approach is to simply use the gift card (or your cash miles directly) for groceries and then to just buy a Disney Gift Card for cash for the amount that you saved on the groceries.
> 
> Same approach would work with PC Optimum points I assume.



You can't directly redeem PC Optimum points for gift cards (at least not officially as per the terms and conditions).  What I do is 2 separate transactions: pay for the gift card with cash/credit card and then use my points to pay for my groceries.  At the end of the day, it works out to be the same.  Of course, this only works if you regularly shop at a Loblaws-owned store or Shoppers


----------



## b33ching

rxbeth said:


> Just an fyi that I have found a way to lock in your rate on the Canadian gift card. You just need to transfer the money from your CDN dollar gift card to a USD gift card. Then you locked in that exchange rate.
> 
> I had an empty USD card from my march trip and transferred $100.00 cdn to it when it said it was worth $78.83. The whole day it stayed at $78.83 when another CDN card was worth $78.85.  So I locked in my $100 CDN at $78.83. Today I now transferred the other $100 CDN to the USD card and combined the. $78.83 and $78.85



Anyone else have success with this? Our dollar has been so bad lately that even if I see it at 1.27, I want to lock it down. The difference for a $500 gc at 1.27 and 1.3x is about $5!!


----------



## tinkerone

b33ching said:


> Anyone else have success with this? Our dollar has been so bad lately that even if I see it at 1.27, I want to lock it down. The difference for a $500 gc at 1.27 and 1.3x is about $5!!


I don't have a US card to try it on however I plan to pick one up when we travel in a few weeks.  It sounds like it would work so I'm thinking its a great idea.


----------



## DavidL

The idea of transferring a Canadian gift card balance to a US gift card balance is brilliant     I just happen to have a US gift card.   I purchased a gift card while at Disney back in March.    I've since used the entire gift card balance to book a room at Pop Century for August, but even though the balance on the card is currently $0, I am guessing that the card must still be reloadable.


----------



## hdrolfe

b33ching said:


> Anyone else have success with this? Our dollar has been so bad lately that even if I see it at 1.27, I want to lock it down. The difference for a $500 gc at 1.27 and 1.3x is about $5!!



I did this, I had a $5 USD gift card I had redeemed for using movie points. I was able to transfer multiple gift cards onto it and have used it to pay for my room only reservation in April, then when I added on the dining plan, and again while at Disney. The rate was locked in as of when I transferred the CAD cards onto it. I still have $2 left on the card so I'll be adding to that over the next year in anticipation of a trip next August. Saving even a few dollars means an extra few snacks or souvenirs.


----------



## kuhltiffany

Yes, just add a US card on the Disney Gift Card site.  Whenever you buy a card in CAD and want to change it over to US, it's very easy to do on the site.  Each card can hold up to $999.  I use this to "save" up for all the extras on our trips 



b33ching said:


> Anyone else have success with this? Our dollar has been so bad lately that even if I see it at 1.27, I want to lock it down. The difference for a $500 gc at 1.27 and 1.3x is about $5!!


----------



## pigletto

kuhltiffany said:


> Yes, just add a US card on the Disney Gift Card site.  Whenever you buy a card in CAD and want to change it over to US, it's very easy to do on the site.  Each card can hold up to $999.  I use this to "save" up for all the extras on our trips


This is a great idea!  I have two gift cards in my wallet from 3 or 4 trips ago. When the kids were little I kept their giftcards for them. Each probably only has a buck or two on them, but now I can use one to start transferring money onto to lock in the rate. It's also good for setting the money aside in general so I don't dip into it for other things.


----------



## BijouBabe

hdrolfe said:


> I did this, I had a $5 USD gift card I had redeemed for using movie points. I was able to transfer multiple gift cards onto it and have used it to pay for my room only reservation in April, then when I added on the dining plan, and again while at Disney. The rate was locked in as of when I transferred the CAD cards onto it. I still have $2 left on the card so I'll be adding to that over the next year in anticipation of a trip next August. Saving even a few dollars means an extra few snacks or souvenirs.



I did this as well and it worked locking in the rate. It's a great idea to not have to worry about the exchange during the trip!


----------



## ebharris

Has anybody had luck in Winnipeg other than at Shoppers? I thought I saw gift cards at Superstore in February or March, but can't find them anywhere other than Shoppers now.

Thanks!


----------



## kuhltiffany

Here we have them at Rexall and Canadian Tire, maybe try there?



ebharris said:


> Has anybody had luck in Winnipeg other than at Shoppers? I thought I saw gift cards at Superstore in February or March, but can't find them anywhere other than Shoppers now.
> 
> Thanks!


----------



## ebharris

kuhltiffany said:


> Here we have them at Rexall and Canadian Tire, maybe try there?


 
I’ll try both, thank you!


----------



## Mickey's Best Girl

DavidL said:


> The idea of transferring a Canadian gift card balance to a US gift card balance is brilliant     I just happen to have a US gift card.   I purchased a gift card while at Disney back in March.    I've since used the entire gift card balance to book a room at Pop Century for August, *but even though the balance on the card is currently $0, I am guessing that the card must still be reloadable.*


*
*
You bet it is. 

I had one that was a balance of .oo and one that had four whole cents on it. 

Both were reloadable with my newly purchased Canadian Disney GC.


----------



## DavidL

Mickey's Best Girl said:


> You bet it is.
> 
> I had one that was a balance of .oo and one that had four whole cents on it.
> 
> Both were reloadable with my newly purchased Canadian Disney GC.



Thank you for the confirmation!     I'm going to start seriously looking at buying some Canadian cards and transferring over to US cards.


----------



## DiaryofaDisneyKid

pigletto said:


> This is a great idea!  I have two gift cards in my wallet from 3 or 4 trips ago. When the kids were little I kept their giftcards for them. Each probably only has a buck or two on them, but now I can use one to start transferring money onto to lock in the rate. It's also good for setting the money aside in general so I don't dip into it for other things.


That's what I am doing too! My kids each had one from our last trip and I am going to buy Canadian gift cards and transfer them to pay for our dining and souvenirs.


----------



## LuvGoldens

ebharris said:


> Has anybody had luck in Winnipeg other than at Shoppers? I thought I saw gift cards at Superstore in February or March, but can't find them anywhere other than Shoppers now.
> 
> Thanks!


I have seen them at the Walmart on Taylor recently


----------



## DavidL

This morning I logged into the Disney gift card website and I've registered my US$ gift card.   The balance is $0, but I had no issues with the registration.   I have been browsing through the website and I don't see any easy way to add value to the gift card.   I thought that I'd be able to use a credit card to add value to a card. (I was going to add $5)    No worries though.  I've got it set up so that when I pick up a Canadian gift card, I'll be able to make use of the transfer function.


----------



## DavidL

OK.  I was anxious and was itching to give the idea of purchasing a Canadian card and transferring it to a US card a try.    I went out and bought a $200 Canadian gift card at Shopper's Drugmart and transferred the Canadian $200 card to my US card.     Now on the Disney card site, the balance on the $US card sometimes shows as $200 and other times it shows as $155.     My US gift card had a balance of $0 when I started the transfer.    I clearly transferred the balance from the Canadian card to the US card.     I am now puzzled as to whether my US gift card somehow got converted to a storage currency of Canadian dollars.  

When I list My Cards on the Disney site, it shows the original US gift card as having a balance of $200, and my new Canadian card has a balance of $0.

When I do an inquiry on the $USD card, it shows that there is a $155 (and change) balance on the card.

My goal is to store the value in $USD and not $CAD.


EDIT:  I logged out of the Disney Card site and logged back in.   My card now displays as $155.22 as the value on it.    I guess transferring Canadian dollars to a US card got the system a bit confused.     Logging out and then back in corrected the situation. (I think)


----------



## lozzypop

Knowing that the exchange will fluctuate day to day, are the gift cards more economical than using a Canadian credit card? Most credit cards charge a small percentage over and above the exchange - will you save that percentage by using the CA Disney gift card instead? Anyone done the math?


----------



## hdrolfe

lozzypop said:


> Knowing that the exchange will fluctuate day to day, are the gift cards more economical than using a Canadian credit card? Most credit cards charge a small percentage over and above the exchange - will you save that percentage by using the CA Disney gift card instead? Anyone done the math?



The gift cards do not charge the extra fee that credit cards (and banks exchanging for cash) charge. So yes they will save you. Even if you don't have a USD gift card to transfer to and lock in that rate, it still saves that fee. Unless you have a credit card that does not charge that fee, however I believe they are fewer now that amazon's is gone.


----------



## Mickey's Best Girl

DavidL said:


> EDIT:  I logged out of the Disney Card site and logged back in.   My card now displays as $155.22 as the value on it.    I guess transferring Canadian dollars to a US card got the system a bit confused.     Logging out and then back in corrected the situation. (I think)



Yes. Once you’ve logged out/in after applying the balance to an existing US card that card is now in US $$ and will remain that way. 

At least that’s been my experience. 

I’m torn between wanting to know exactly how much US $ I have on my GCs and not wanting to see how truly horrible our dollar is!


----------



## ebharris

LuvGoldens said:


> I have seen them at the Walmart on Taylor recently



Thank you! Found them there tonight.


----------



## disneyfreak89

I just checked yesterday and my local Zehrs has $50 Disney Gift Cards so I'm going to use my PC points for those now (with qualifying $50 grocery purchase of course).

Has anyone purchased gas at Mobil?  Apparently we can get PC points there now and Esso soon.


----------



## Micharlotte

disneyfreak89 said:


> I just checked yesterday and my local Zehrs has $50 Disney Gift Cards so I'm going to use my PC points for those now (with qualifying $50 grocery purchase of course).
> 
> Has anyone purchased gas at Mobil?  Apparently we can get PC points there now and Esso soon.



I have bought gas at a Mobil! You get a decent amount of points too. I’ll fill there if I’m not near a Costco. I just started collecting points in March because of this post and I have over 200,000 simply buying groceries at Shoppers! Can’t  wait to spend all my free money at Disney!


----------



## Pkltm

ebharris said:


> Has anybody had luck in Winnipeg other than at Shoppers? I thought I saw gift cards at Superstore in February or March, but can't find them anywhere other than Shoppers now.
> 
> Thanks!



Hello fellow Winnipeger!! In addition to Walmart on Taylor I have also had luck at Save on Foods, they were cards you load any amount from 25-500.


----------



## Pkltm

Odd question.... Sorry if asked before did not read through the 19 pages fully. I have 990 canadian on a gc, so around 660 762 US, it wont let me transfer any more on to it. I though the limit per card was 1000 US.

Anyone else have this issue?


----------



## 22Tink

Pkltm said:


> Odd question.... Sorry if asked before did not read through the 19 pages fully. I have 990 canadian on a gc, so around 660 762 US, it wont let me transfer any more on to it. I though the limit per card was 1000 US.
> 
> Anyone else have this issue?


I did. I tried a few different cards and they all stopped allowing me to transfer once I hit around 800US.


----------



## nicynot

Hey guys! No luck shopping for cards in Nova Scotia 
Canada day weekend, I plan on heading to New Brunswick, has anyone found them there? I think I’ll pop across the boarder to Maine for an hour or so as well and find one for US currency, does anyone know where the quickest place will be to get one? It’ll be 2+ hours to Bangor just for a gift card


----------



## Brandilovesdisney

I have found them in both Walmart's in Fredericton....maybe try the Walmart in Moncton if you are coming from that direction.


----------



## nicynot

Brandilovesdisney said:


> I have found them in both Walmart's in Fredericton....maybe try the Walmart in Moncton if you are coming from that direction.


thanks! i will be coming from there, so I will try for sure!


----------



## Gillianpezgirl

I've found them in Walmart in Dartmouth and Cole Harbour NS.


----------



## ebharris

nicynot said:


> Hey guys! No luck shopping for cards in Nova Scotia
> Canada day weekend, I plan on heading to New Brunswick, has anyone found them there? I think I’ll pop across the boarder to Maine for an hour or so as well and find one for US currency, does anyone know where the quickest place will be to get one? It’ll be 2+ hours to Bangor just for a gift card



You should inquire with management at stores near you - Walmart, Shoppers? They sometimes have control of what they can bring no bring in. Just a thought!


----------



## nicynot

Gillianpezgirl said:


> I've found them in Walmart in Dartmouth and Cole Harbour NS.





ebharris said:


> You should inquire with management at stores near you - Walmart, Shoppers? They sometimes have control of what they can bring no bring in. Just a thought!




I like both of these
Thanks!


----------



## Love2Cruise2015

Does anyone know if you can use you Walmart cc money that you earn using the credit card to purchase gc at Walmart?
Also, how do you use a GF to pay for cruises and/or trips to Disney World?


----------



## Raimiette

Quick question, are the WDW giftcards available at all Canadian Disney Stores?  If yes, can I get 1 card in a specific denomination?  I'd like to get about $500 CAD worth.  They have them at my local Walmart but only in denominations of $25 and I would prefer not to have to buy 20 of them at a time lol.


----------



## Disney Addicted

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that.  The closest Disney store to me is over an hour away.

I'd suggest phoning your closest store location and asking them.  BUT get them to check the back of the card to make sure it specifically says the card can be used for Disney Parks, Cruises, etc.  I'm positive I heard there are two types of Disney gift cards out there.  One that is only good for use in the Disney store itself and the other for tickets, parks, cruises, etc.


----------



## DavidL

Raimiette said:


> Quick question, are the WDW giftcards available at all Canadian Disney Stores?  If yes, can I get 1 card in a specific denomination?  I'd like to get about $500 CAD worth.  They have them at my local Walmart but only in denominations of $25 and I would prefer not to have to buy 20 of them at a time lol.



Shoppers Drugmart here in London ON sells cards that can be activated for any amount up to $500.    With the Canadian dollar sinking, I'm going to go out and buy one and transfer the balance to my US gift card to try lock in a rate.   It's a gamble, but with all of the uncertainty with the dollar lately, it will allow some comfort to at least lock in some funds in USD.


----------



## Raimiette

To answer my own question, I popped into the Hamilton Disney Store yesterday.  They did have WDW Park giftcards loadable to $1,000.00 CAD.


----------



## Raimiette

Sorry about this, further question.

I decided that I wanted to lock in the current US rate so I purchased a USD e-gfftcard from ShopDisney to transfer my CAD giftcard onto.  This all went well (good advice, thanks everyone!) but now I'm wondering, can I transfer the balance back onto the CDN card and keep the USD amount locked in?  Basically because the CAD one is a hardcopy giftcard it will be easier for me to keep track of.  This is probably a really dumb question lol I can't think of any reason it would suddenly go back to a variable rate but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this.

Thanks again!


----------



## Donald - my hero

Raimiette said:


> Sorry about this, further question.
> 
> I decided that I wanted to lock in the current US rate so I purchased a USD e-gfftcard from ShopDisney to transfer my CAD giftcard onto.  This all went well (good advice, thanks everyone!) but now I'm wondering, can I transfer the balance back onto the CDN card and keep the USD amount locked in?  Basically because the CAD one is a hardcopy giftcard it will be easier for me to keep track of.  This is probably a really dumb question lol I can't think of any reason it would suddenly go back to a variable rate but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this.
> 
> Thanks again!


*Pure speculation on my part here but i *think* that would be no. Once you put it back onto a CDN card it will once again be in CDN funds wouldn't it? Meaning it would once again be subject to the variable rate when you try to use it in USD funds .. just how my thought process works on this -- could be wrong though. I mean when if you have US cash left when you get home and you choose to switch it back to CDN cash you get the current value and it would be worth a different amount if you turned it back into US cash *

*AGAIN this is just a thought of mine, but you could pick up a gift card once you get to Orlando and just transfer the funds onto that from the e-card. If you're flying in and get there during business hours they sell them at the Disney stores in MCO, buy the smallest value you can and then load it up!*


----------



## disneyfreak89

Well I'm glad I called our local Sobey's before printing off my vouchers to use towards a Disney Gift Card (with $50 worth of groceries of course) and they don't sell them!!! 

So be aware, anyone in Southwestern Ontario, the Sobey's in Amherstburg and St. Clair DO NOT have Disney Gift cards.

I'm really bummed about this cause this was my only chance to use my Airmiles for something useful like the gift cards.  Sure I could just use them for groceries, but whats the fun in that? LOL  Plus both locations are a good 40 minutes away, so its not worth the trip otherwise.


----------



## Donald - my hero

disneyfreak89 said:


> Well I'm glad I called our local Sobey's before printing off my vouchers to use towards a Disney Gift Card (with $50 worth of groceries of course) and they don't sell them!!!
> 
> So be aware, anyone in Southwestern Ontario, the Sobey's in Amherstburg and St. Clair DO NOT have Disney Gift cards.
> 
> I'm really bummed about this cause this was my only chance to use my Airmiles for something useful like the gift cards.  Sure I could just use them for groceries, but whats the fun in that? LOL  Plus both locations are a good 40 minutes away, so its not worth the trip otherwise.


*There has been some discussion in the Airmiles thread about people using Sobeys gift cards to buy Shell gift cards and then using those to buy other gift cards. I'm not sure if Shell sells the Disney ones though ... do you have a Shell close that you can check?*

*ETA -- for that matter what about a Shoppers gift card -- i KNOW they sell the Disney gift cards in SW Ontario*


----------



## disneyfreak89

Donald - my hero said:


> *There has been some discussion in the Airmiles thread about people using Sobeys gift cards to buy Shell gift cards and then using those to buy other gift cards. I'm not sure if Shell sells the Disney ones though ... do you have a Shell close that you can check?*
> 
> *ETA -- for that matter what about a Shoppers gift card -- i KNOW they sell the Disney gift cards in SW Ontario*



The closest Shell to us doesn't have Disney Gift Cards.   I could get them at Shoppers (have not looked yet) but I'm not sure how that'll work with my Airmiles.

Guess I better head over to the Airmiles thread! 

ETA:  I just called 2 Shoppers in SW Ontario and neither sells them!   Can you tell me which locations you've seen them at???


----------



## ottawamom

disneyfreak89 said:


> Well I'm glad I called our local Sobey's before printing off my vouchers to use towards a Disney Gift Card (with $50 worth of groceries of course) and they don't sell them!!!
> 
> So be aware, anyone in Southwestern Ontario, the Sobey's in Amherstburg and St. Clair DO NOT have Disney Gift cards.
> 
> I'm really bummed about this cause this was my only chance to use my Airmiles for something useful like the gift cards.  Sure I could just use them for groceries, but whats the fun in that? LOL  Plus both locations are a good 40 minutes away, so its not worth the trip otherwise.



Use your AM to pay for your groceries and then take the value of the AM used and put that into an envelope. When you have enough to justify the trip take that cash and put it on to Disney GC. That way you are using your AM for Disney GC.(in a round about manner). That's the way I rationalize things anyway.


----------



## Donald - my hero

disneyfreak89 said:


> The closest Shell to us doesn't have Disney Gift Cards.   I could get them at Shoppers (have not looked yet) but I'm not sure how that'll work with my Airmiles.
> 
> Guess I better head over to the Airmiles thread!
> 
> ETA:  I just called 2 Shoppers in SW Ontario and neither sells them!   Can you tell me which locations you've seen them at???


*OK -- how to use your AM to get the gift cards you already seem to have that under your belt*

* you  cash in some cash miles for an e-voucher at Sobeys and then buy the same value of groceries and tell yourself the gift card is "free" **side note this weekend Sobeys has an offer of buy $150 gift card get 150 AM*
*You can buy a gift card for Shoppers and then use the same technique of chucking a gift card in that is the same value of the products you are actually buying while at Shoppers.*

*I have seen the Disney gift cards at ALL of my Shoppers in Guelph - the loadable ones & in most of the stores i've wandered thru while in the PATH in Toronto. *


----------



## Donald - my hero

ottawamom said:


> Use your AM to pay for your groceries and then take the value of the AM used and put that into an envelope. When you have enough to justify the trip take that cash and put it on to Disney GC. That way you are using your AM for Disney GC.(in a round about manner). That's the way I rationalize things anyway.


*Now THAT method is much less confusing than the one i was trying to awkwardly explain!! That way you can buy the gift card at ANY location you happen to spot it!! *


----------



## disneyfreak89

ottawamom said:


> Use your AM to pay for your groceries and then take the value of the AM used and put that into an envelope. When you have enough to justify the trip take that cash and put it on to Disney GC. That way you are using your AM for Disney GC.(in a round about manner). That's the way I rationalize things anyway.



Great idea!!!  Thanks! 



Donald - my hero said:


> *I have seen the Disney gift cards at ALL of my Shoppers in Guelph - the loadable ones & in most of the stores i've wandered thru while in the PATH in Toronto. *



Ah, I forgot Guelph was still in Southwestern Ontario! LOL 



Donald - my hero said:


> *Now THAT method is much less confusing than the one i was trying to awkwardly explain!! That way you can buy the gift card at ANY location you happen to spot it!! *



I know!!! LOL  They sell them at our Zehrs, I'll just do that! LOL


----------



## disneyfreak89

Has anyone received an error when trying to transfer one Gift Card to another?  It's telling me "Sorry one of your cards isn't eligible for transfer."

I was able to add my Canadian Disney Gift Card onto my account no problem, but as soon as I try transferring it to an already existing US Disney Gift Card (I did this very same transaction 2 weeks ago with no problem and the card I'm transferring it to has less than a $50 balance on it, so I'm not over the limit)

I've logged in and out several times to no avail.  What am I missing???


----------



## fab1976

disneyfreak89 said:


> Has anyone received an error when trying to transfer one Gift Card to another?  It's telling me "Sorry one of your cards isn't eligible for transfer."
> 
> I was able to add my Canadian Disney Gift Card onto my account no problem, but as soon as I try transferring it to an already existing US Disney Gift Card (I did this very same transaction 2 weeks ago with no problem and the card I'm transferring it to has less than a $50 balance on it, so I'm not over the limit)
> 
> I've logged in and out several times to no avail.  What am I missing???



Yes it seems to be an issue that’s cropped up today. Hopefully it’s a glitch but it’s possivle Disney has taken that little money saver tip from us.


----------



## disneyfreak89

fab1976 said:


> Yes it seems to be an issue that’s cropped up today. Hopefully it’s a glitch but it’s possivle Disney has taken that little money saver tip from us.



I hope its just a glitch.  It doesn't cost Disney anything, and we're the ones losing money because of the exchange.  Once its converted, its like any other US Disney Gift Card and we should be able to transfer it to any other US Disney Card no problem.

ETA:  In the end its no big deal, I'll just have to carry around more than one Disney Gift Card. 


ETA:  OK, I just tried to transfer again today and I'm not 100% sure but I think my balance is changing, so its as if they aren't allowing the exchange to lock in, but its fluctuating???!!!  NOOOOOO!


----------



## fab1976

If it hasn’t been transferred to the usd card then it will fluctuate every day.


----------



## disneyfreak89

fab1976 said:


> If it hasn’t been transferred to the usd card then it will fluctuate every day.



OK, so how do we stop it then?  We can't?  Disney's blocking our Canadian Cards for transferring now???!!! 
And I believe whatever cards I was able to transfer over to a US card might still be fluctuating with the exchange rate!


----------



## kuhltiffany

I just played with mine.  Will not let me transfer from CAD to US either, but the 3 cards I have with US balances on them are still the same amounts as before.



disneyfreak89 said:


> OK, so how do we stop it then?  We can't?  Disney's blocking our Canadian Cards for transferring now???!!!
> And I believe whatever cards I was able to transfer over to a US card might still be fluctuating with the exchange rate!


----------



## disneyfreak89

kuhltiffany said:


> I just played with mine.  Will not let me transfer from CAD to US either, but the 3 cards I have with US balances on them are still the same amounts as before.



Were any of your cards with US balances transfers from a Canadian Disney Gift Card?


----------



## kuhltiffany

disneyfreak89 said:


> Were any of your cards with US balances transfers from a Canadian Disney Gift Card?



Yes, they all were.


----------



## disneyfreak89

kuhltiffany said:


> Yes, they all were.



That's good to know thanks.


----------



## Raimiette

So I just checked my balances.  The CDN amount I transferred to the US card remains the same so at least that balance is locked in.  Hopefully this thing with the DisneyGiftCard site is just a temporary glitch.


----------



## DavidL

I've been trying to think of a reason why Disney would stop allowing the transferring of Canadian gift cards to US gift cards.    I can't come up with any sort of reason.    Each time the funds are transferred, it is done at the market value for the day.     I don't see them losing any sort of money - I actually see them gaining some money because some Canadian's are trying to lock in their $US spending money and possibly are buying more gift cards than they really need...


----------



## kuhltiffany

I emailed them and just got this response: 

"Thank you for contacting us with your inquiry. At this time you cannot merge a Disney Gift Card purchased in Canada to a Disney Gift Card purchased in the U.S. or vise vera. We apologize for the inconvenience."


----------



## disneyfreak89

DavidL said:


> I've been trying to think of a reason why Disney would stop allowing the transferring of Canadian gift cards to US gift cards.    I can't come up with any sort of reason.    Each time the funds are transferred, it is done at the market value for the day.     I don't see them losing any sort of money - I actually see them gaining some money because some Canadian's are trying to lock in their $US spending money and possibly are buying more gift cards than they really need...



My DH made a good point, he said by allowing our Canadian gift card balance to fluctuate, if its not worth as much by the time we use it in Disney, that means we have to SPEND MORE to make up for that loss. 



kuhltiffany said:


> I emailed them and just got this response:
> 
> "Thank you for contacting us with your inquiry. At this time you cannot merge a Disney Gift Card purchased in Canada to a Disney Gift Card purchased in the U.S. or vise vera. We apologize for the inconvenience."



Thanks for emailing them.  They obviously realized what we were doing and put a stop to it, cause everyone here was doing up until a few weeks ago!

BTW, I just checked my Canadian Disney Gift Card's balance (the one I wasn't able to transfer) and the balance is definitely fluctuating!  But interestingly, the US Disney Gift Card I was able to transfer a Canadian Disney Gift Card to a month or so ago, is not fluctuating.  So it would seem I may have dodged one bullet there.


----------



## tinkerone

disneyfreak89 said:


> My DH made a good point, he said by allowing our Canadian gift card balance to fluctuate, if its not worth as much by the time we use it in Disney, that means we have to SPEND MORE to make up for that loss.


I'm not sure Disney would actually benefit from that.  If a t-shirt is $10 at Disney its $10 whether the rate is $1.00 or $1.35.  While it may cost_ us_ more Disney doesn't get more from the purchase.  We don't have to buy Disney GC's, we could just purchase US $'s so the rate of exchange is up to the purchaser as to buying the GC in CND and waiting to see what the rate is or buying US now to protect our rate.  Disney is still going to get the same amount.  There must be some other reason or perhaps its just a short term glitch.  
Maybe I'm misunderstanding what your DH means and if I am I will apologize now.


----------



## DavidL

I would think that Disney would encourage people to invest in gift cards and transfer the funds in order to encourage more spending while people are visiting the parks.  The money is "locked into" Disney after the gift card purchases are made.

For now, I've stopped purchasing gift cards and will simply use my credit card when I get to Orlando to pay for any other purchases, which I can scale back as needed to compensate for the exchange rate.  (end result for Disney is less spending on my part at the Disney resorts/parks)


----------



## disneyfreak89

tinkerone said:


> I'm not sure Disney would actually benefit from that.  If a t-shirt is $10 at Disney its $10 whether the rate is $1.00 or $1.35.  While it may cost_ us_ more Disney doesn't get more from the purchase.  We don't have to buy Disney GC's, we could just purchase US $'s so the rate of exchange is up to the purchaser as to buying the GC in CND and waiting to see what the rate is or buying US now to protect our rate.  Disney is still going to get the same amount.  There must be some other reason or perhaps its just a short term glitch.
> Maybe I'm misunderstanding what your DH means and if I am I will apologize now.



No apologies necessary.  I don't quite understand what he means either. lol  I guess he figures because of the exchange rate, Disney knows we'll have to spend more to get more?  But your right, at $10 shirt is still a $10 shirt.


----------



## thetallone101

So, we can still use CDN gift cards at the parks right? They will just convert to USD upon use?


----------



## Disney Addicted

Huh.  Well I guess I'm not purchasing another Canadian Disney Gift Card then.  It's been at least 2 weeks (I think) since I purchased and transferred my balance to a US gift card.  I just checked and my balance is the same.  I needed at least another $50 US darn it.


----------



## disneyfreak89

Disney Addicted said:


> Huh.  Well I guess I'm not purchasing another Canadian Disney Gift Card then.  It's been at least 2 weeks (I think) since I purchased and transferred my balance to a US gift card.  I just checked and my balance is the same.  I needed at least another $50 US darn it.



I don't know if there's a difference or not, but I did buy 2 different kinds of Canadian Disney Gift Cards.  The first one was an exact $50 card, that card transferred no problem and has not lost any balance.  The 2nd and last one I purchased was a loadable card $25-$5000, I put $50 on it and that one will NOT transfer and I've already lost 9 cents in the last week.

So I'm curious if the $50 cards are still working at transferring? And you say your balance hasn't changed, we may have found a way out of Disney's purposeful 'glitch'!?

Anyone dare to try again???  I will when I have enough points to do so.


----------



## gskywalker

FYI one way around the restriction is to make a small payment(ie $20 from GC to booking from a $500 CDN$ GC) to your booking and then it will convert the remaining amount on the gift card to US$.  I discovered that when I went to use the rest of a gift card I just used at the Disney store in the states on my booking.  It was already in US$ even though it was a CDN card.  (If I wasn't clear enough, feel free to ask and I will give the numbers and specifics to show you)


----------



## nicynot

gskywalker said:


> FYI one way around the restriction is to make a small payment(ie $20 from GC to booking from a $500 CDN$ GC) to your booking and then it will convert the remaining amount on the gift card to US$.  I discovered that when I went to use the rest of a gift card I just used at the Disney store in the states on my booking.  It was already in US$ even though it was a CDN card.  (If I wasn't clear enough, feel free to ask and I will give the numbers and specifics to show you)


So, you had a Canadian gift card, it had 500 on it. You used it towards your room or package booking, and now the remaining funds on the card are in usd??

I was taking a trip this coming weekend to a different province and I was going to pick up some gift cards and start converting them onto a usd gift card. I've got about $600 left on a RO for a stay in December and I need to purchase park tickets and MVMCP tickets, does it make sense to purchase them for this?


----------



## gskywalker

nicynot said:


> So, you had a Canadian gift card, it had 500 on it. You used it towards your room or package booking, and now the remaining funds on the card are in usd??
> 
> I was taking a trip this coming weekend to a different province and I was going to pick up some gift cards and start converting them onto a usd gift card. I've got about $600 left on a RO for a stay in December and I need to purchase park tickets and MVMCP tickets, does it make sense to purchase them for this?



I had a $500 GC CDN$ and I put $20 on my booking.  It applied the $20 US and converted the remaining amount on the CDN GC into US$.  As for whether it makes sense for you, it depends on what you believe the american dollar will do.  I have tried to average my foreign exchange rate by converting it at different intervals to take the guessing work out of what would happen.  I am glad I did because Trump is killing our dollar.


----------



## tinkerone

gskywalker said:


> FYI one way around the restriction is to make a small payment(ie $20 from GC to booking from a $500 CDN$ GC) to your booking and then it will convert the remaining amount on the gift card to US$.  I discovered that when I went to use the rest of a gift card I just used at the Disney store in the states on my booking.  It was already in US$ even though it was a CDN card.  (If I wasn't clear enough, feel free to ask and I will give the numbers and specifics to show you)


I believe that any GC, used or not, will always show a US balance when used at a US store.  I don't believe that it will stay in US funds once you try and use it in Canada at a Canadian store.  Your balance on the GC site will be Canadian funds.  
At least that's my understanding.


----------



## Disney Addicted

disneyfreak89 said:


> I don't know if there's a difference or not, but I did buy 2 different kinds of Canadian Disney Gift Cards.  The first one was an exact $50 card, that card transferred no problem and has not lost any balance.  The 2nd and last one I purchased was a loadable card $25-$5000, I put $50 on it and that one will NOT transfer and I've already lost 9 cents in the last week.
> 
> So I'm curious if the $50 cards are still working at transferring? And you say your balance hasn't changed, we may have found a way out of Disney's purposeful 'glitch'!?
> 
> Anyone dare to try again???  I will when I have enough points to do so.



Ahh, maybe that is it.  The cards I have been purchasing at the straight exact dollar amounts.  Three $25 cards.

I have another $25 one somewhere in the house.  It was gifted to me a few months ago but I just can't figure out where I put the darn thing.

Maybe I'll purchase another $25 gift card today while I'm out grocery shopping.  If I do, I'll let you know what happens with it.


----------



## gskywalker

tinkerone said:


> I believe that any GC, used or not, will always show a US balance when used at a US store.  I don't believe that it will stay in US funds once you try and use it in Canada at a Canadian store.  Your balance on the GC site will be Canadian funds.
> At least that's my understanding.



On the Gift Card site it showed the amount in american dollars, it did not show it transferring from CDN to American.


----------



## tinkerone

gskywalker said:


> On the Gift Card site it showed the amount in american dollars, it did not show it transferring from CDN to American.


This is how it shows when you just go into the site and look at your cards.  Note one says US and one doesn't however it shows the balance as US. 
*My Cards*




Balance:

$187.50

*2021*
*************4525*

*Primary Card*





Balance:

$150.00

*US*
*************1064*

I have not made any purchases with my Canadian GC and if I look in 'check my balance' it shows all the transactions I have made with the card which have only been transferring from one Canadian card to another, total $250.  Its just the way the site works.  I would bet that if you check your balance tomorrow and the next day it will not be the same.  I would be surprised if it didn't fluctuate.  I certainly could be wrong.  Please check over the next week or so and let us know.

ETA- go to the 'check your balance' page and see what it says.  It will show all the transactions made with that card and give a balance.  Does this show as a Canadian balance or US?  

*ransaction History*
*Date* *Amount* *Type*
Apr 17, 2018 $25.00 Credit
Apr 19, 2018 $50.00 Credit
Apr 26, 2018 $100.00 Credit
Apr 29, 2018 $125.00 Credit
May 4, 2018 $150.00 Credit
May 5, 2018 $175.00 Credit
May 20, 2018 $200.00 Credit
May 25, 2018 $225.00 Credit
Jun 25, 2018 $250.00 Credit


----------



## kuhltiffany

Ok, so I tried it.  Tried to add a CAD $50 to a US card.  Same error message.  Weird thing though, the balance showed up as $37.50 US instead of CAD, haven't seen that before...

I guess I'll have to travel with 2 cards, one in US and one in CAD...


----------



## kuhltiffany

Ok, I can transfer CAD to CAD, just in case anyone wants to know.


----------



## gskywalker

tinkerone said:


> This is how it shows when you just go into the site and look at your cards.  Note one says US and one doesn't however it shows the balance as US.
> *My Cards*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Balance:
> 
> $187.50
> 
> *2021*
> *************4525*
> 
> *Primary Card*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Balance:
> 
> $150.00
> 
> *US*
> *************1064*
> 
> I have not made any purchases with my Canadian GC and if I look in 'check my balance' it shows all the transactions I have made with the card which have only been transferring from one Canadian card to another, total $250.  Its just the way the site works.  I would bet that if you check your balance tomorrow and the next day it will not be the same.  I would be surprised if it didn't fluctuate.  I certainly could be wrong.  Please check over the next week or so and let us know.
> 
> ETA- go to the 'check your balance' page and see what it says.  It will show all the transactions made with that card and give a balance.  Does this show as a Canadian balance or US?
> 
> *ransaction History*
> *Date* *Amount* *Type*
> Apr 17, 2018 $25.00 Credit
> Apr 19, 2018 $50.00 Credit
> Apr 26, 2018 $100.00 Credit
> Apr 29, 2018 $125.00 Credit
> May 4, 2018 $150.00 Credit
> May 5, 2018 $175.00 Credit
> May 20, 2018 $200.00 Credit
> May 25, 2018 $225.00 Credit
> Jun 25, 2018 $250.00 Credit



When I used the gift card that I used at the disney store in the states last weekend it did not use yesterday's exchange rate as my other card did.  Instead it used last weekend's rate, so I know for sure it changed the entire balance to US$ last weekend, I can't say for sure it converted the amount on the card I paid down my booking today until tomorrow.  Will let you know.


----------



## PrincessKimmy

Good morning friends!

I tried scanning through this whole thread but just have a couple of questions. We’re planning a big 10 day 2020 Disney trip and I’d like to start picking up gift cards now.

I currently have one $5 ecard set up on the gift card page from DMR.

1. Can I transfer from a Canadian GC to a US ECard?  (I do have a physical 0 balance gift card kicking around somewhere I’ll look for today and set up if I find it)

2. Can you transfer balance to add to the gift cards that have a set price on them?  So example say I buy 2 $25 gift cards from shoppers, can I transfer one balance to the other and make it one $50 card? Or does it have to be one that is that the cashier puts the balance on like directly from the Disney store?

I think that’s all the questions I have for now. Excited to be back even tho our trip is so far away!!!!


----------



## Raimiette

PrincessKimmy said:


> Good morning friends!
> 
> I tried scanning through this whole thread but just have a couple of questions. We’re planning a big 10 day 2020 Disney trip and I’d like to start picking up gift cards now.
> 
> I currently have one $5 ecard set up on the gift card page from DMR.
> 
> 1. Can I transfer from a Canadian GC to a US ECard?  (I do have a physical 0 balance gift card kicking around somewhere I’ll look for today and set up if I find it)
> 
> 2. Can you transfer balance to add to the gift cards that have a set price on them?  So example say I buy 2 $25 gift cards from shoppers, can I transfer one balance to the other and make it one $50 card? Or does it have to be one that is that the cashier puts the balance on like directly from the Disney store?
> 
> I think that’s all the questions I have for now. Excited to be back even tho our trip is so far away!!!!




1.  Not anymore.  Only CAD cards to CAD cards and US cards to US cards.  Doesn't matter if it is hardcopy or an e-giftcard.  Disney changed this just recently.  No one knows why.

2.  I'm not sure of this but I would think the cards would be reloadable.


----------



## PrincessKimmy

Raimiette said:


> 1.  Not anymore.  Only CAD cards to CAD cards and US cards to US cards.  Doesn't matter if it is hardcopy or an e-giftcard.  Disney changed this just recently.  No one knows why.
> 
> 2.  I'm not sure of this but I would think the cards would be reloadable.



Thanks!


----------



## gskywalker

To follow up, as best as I can tell, it did not convert the remaining amount on the gift card when I used it.  Its tough to keep track of as I have over 70 gift cards I have bought and used for this upcoming trip.


----------



## Dismom18

Hi all, I too have just skimmed over the thread and am a bit confused how the cards currently work, as I have never used gift cards before. My question is as follows:

I am planning a trip this winter and was hoping to purchase Cnd gift cards and use them to pay for my Disney resort (thereby avoiding the 2.5% currency conversion fee from my Visa) Will Disney accept my Cnd gift cards as payment on my resort reservation or will I need to go to the US and purchase the gift cards there?


----------



## tinkerone

Dismom18 said:


> Hi all, I too have just skimmed over the thread and am a bit confused how the cards currently work, as I have never used gift cards before. My question is as follows:
> 
> I am planning a trip this winter and was hoping to purchase Cnd gift cards and use them to pay for my Disney resort (thereby avoiding the 2.5% currency conversion fee from my Visa) Will Disney accept my Cnd gift cards as payment on my resort reservation or will I need to go to the US and purchase the gift cards there?


Yes, Disney will except them as payment for your resort reservation, payment for tickets, payment for dinning or payment for anything bought at Disney such as souvenirs.  They are also excepted for Disney Cruise Line.  The Canadian dollar amount is converted to U.S. using the rate of the day you pay with them.  
Hope this helps.


----------



## Dismom18

tinkerone said:


> Yes, Disney will except them as payment for your resort reservation, payment for tickets, payment for dinning or payment for anything bought at Disney such as souvenirs.  They are also excepted for Disney Cruise Line.  The Canadian dollar amount is converted to U.S. using the rate of the day you pay with them.
> Hope this helps.


Yes, this is great! Thank you!!


----------



## disneyfreak89

Disney Addicted said:


> Maybe I'll purchase another $25 gift card today while I'm out grocery shopping.  If I do, I'll let you know what happens with it.



Did you ever do this and did it work???


----------



## snuffalufagus

disneyfreak89 said:


> Did you ever do this and did it work???


Was on the DCL Cruise ship August 20th out of Vancouver to Alaska and they took a $50 Canadian gift card and they converted it to $38 and change USD, so they will take them on the cruise.  Next trip is to Aulani so going to start adding one of these on shopping trips so that we have the cards saved up for spending money onsite.


----------



## AdamsMum

I'm having trouble finding gift cards suddenly (Toronto).  In the past I purchased them from Food Basics (none today), Loblaws (now they only have the $50 card), Pharma Plus (none there for the past 2 weeks).  Are they just really popular or is the supply drying up.  Trying to save enough for my DVC maintenance fees in January 2019.  Anyone else?


----------



## CaperTiff

I haven't been able to find them in Cape Breton for about 6 weeks, I asked managment at our walmart who said to their knowledge they haven't been pulled from the stores but its  rep that comes in to replenish them. 
I leave in 9 days so Im guessing I wont see them before I leave.


----------



## youngdeb12

Still see them everywhere out here in BC


----------



## dancin Disney style

I see the cards in many places that I shop...Metro, RCSS, Rexall etc.  Some stores have the $50 and others have the loadable card. 

I had $250 worth(all in $50) that I started accumulating in July for my trip in August. Used two of them for payment towards MNSSHP tickets and the rest where used inside the parks for food. The exchange rate fluctuates but I got approx $38 US for every $50 CAD.


----------



## AdamsMum

Okay, I guess I'll try a Metro.  Don't really shop there, but maybe I'll convert.  Thanks.


----------



## Silvermist999

I have seen the gift cards recently at Walmart in addition to RCSS.


----------



## kuhltiffany

Canadian Tire too!


----------



## jcourtney

I live in SK and have never seen Disney gift cards in stores here. Do you think it's because we don't have a Disney store in the province? Maybe they don't think there's a market for the gift cards here without anywhere to spend them??


----------



## nicynot

jcourtney said:


> I live in SK and have never seen Disney gift cards in stores here. Do you think it's because we don't have a Disney store in the province? Maybe they don't think there's a market for the gift cards here without anywhere to spend them??



Nope, thats not the reason. We havent had a disney store in our province (ns) for years, but i can still find these at walmarts


----------



## disneyfreak89

Disney Addicted said:


> Maybe I'll purchase another $25 gift card today while I'm out grocery shopping.  If I do, I'll let you know what happens with it.



Well I tried again with the $50 card from Zehrs and was kinda hopeful because the receipt said "2017" as if it was an old stock card maybe and it would work as 'grandfathered" before they made changes but.............no go.  It would not let me transfer it to my existing US Disney Gift Card.  Oh well, now I have 3 cards to use.


----------



## DiaryofaDisneyKid

Does anyone know if you have an old US disney gift card if you could call somewhere and add money to it with your credit card?


----------



## Disney Addicted

DiaryofaDisneyKid said:


> Does anyone know if you have an old US disney gift card if you could call somewhere and add money to it with your credit card?



I'd like to know that as well!  I'd love that option.


----------



## tinkerone

DiaryofaDisneyKid said:


> Does anyone know if you have an old US disney gift card if you could call somewhere and add money to it with your credit card?


I looked into that a few months ago.  What I found was that I could buy a e-gift card from the online Disney store and then transfer it onto my loadable card.  I will tell you that I only did it once as I received an email from the Disney store requesting I send them more information before they would complete the purchase even though I used my U.S. Mastercard.  It was very odd.  It did work however so if you want to do that this is probably your only option.


----------



## Micharlotte

Just wanted to let everyone know that I used my Canadian gift cards successfully all last week at the parks, restaurants and stores in disney world. The only time I had a problem was using it to pay my room charges. Found out the hard way that they don’t work for that so I had to spend another $167 to use them all up. Lol


----------



## ky.

Micharlotte said:


> Found out the hard way that they don’t work for that so I had to spend another $167 to use them all up. Lol



Wait. You can't use gift cards to pay off room charges?

So if I buy a bunch of things at magic kingdom and charge them to my magic band, I cannot then go to the front desk and use my gift card to pay it off?


----------



## mab2012

ky. said:


> Wait. You can't use gift cards to pay off room charges?
> 
> So if I buy a bunch of things at magic kingdom and charge them to my magic band, I cannot then go to the front desk and use my gift card to pay it off?



I'm certain you can.  I think the PP must have run into a poorly trained CM.


----------



## World_of_Laughter

I apologize for asking this so late (after 24 pages of replies), but what is the advantage of using gift cards over other payment methods? Is it simply to save the 2.5% foreign exchange fee in Cdn credit cards? Are there any other benefits to using gift cards?


----------



## Brandilovesdisney

For me it's saving on the 2.5% foreign exchange (which for some cards can be up to 3.5%) and in the parks, it means not having to carry around so much cash.


----------



## Donald - my hero

World_of_Laughter said:


> I apologize for asking this so late (after 24 pages of replies), but what is the advantage of using gift cards over other payment methods? Is it simply to save the 2.5% foreign exchange fee in Cdn credit cards? Are there any other benefits to using gift cards?


*That's the biggest benefit for most people. Some are also using the method of using either PC Optimum points or Cash Airmiles to "buy" the gift cards. Neither programme will allow you to straight up exchange points/miles for gift cards but if you add it to a grocery order and then use the points/miles to pay for that part of the order the gift card then becomes "free" -- make sense??*


----------



## jadephoenixx

ky. said:


> Wait. You can't use gift cards to pay off room charges?
> 
> So if I buy a bunch of things at magic kingdom and charge them to my magic band, I cannot then go to the front desk and use my gift card to pay it off?





mab2012 said:


> I'm certain you can.  I think the PP must have run into a poorly trained CM.



I'm hoping that's the case bc that was my plan - pay for everyone using the magic band and then pay it off at the front desk with my gift cards.  If anyone else has actually done this, can they confirm if it's do-able or not?


----------



## kuhltiffany

OK, how come I can never find the Travel Hub?  Trying to start researching hotels for our trip next summer...


----------



## ottawamom

I put travel hub in the search bar on Airmiles.ca but here it is 

https://travelhub.airmiles.ca/hotel/search?currency=CAD&locale=en-US


----------



## FigmentSpark

Not sure if this has been said, but I found Disney gift cards at Staples (in Ontario) yesterday.  Hope that helps someone.


----------



## kuhltiffany

Thank you!  I tried that, and the site map but couldn’t find it.  I’m surprised they don’t make it easier to find...



ottawamom said:


> I put travel hub in the search bar on Airmiles.ca but here it is
> 
> https://travelhub.airmiles.ca/hotel/search?currency=CAD&locale=en-US


----------



## iceprincesskcl

Donald - my hero said:


> *That's the biggest benefit for most people. Some are also using the method of using either PC Optimum points or Cash Airmiles to "buy" the gift cards. Neither programme will allow you to straight up exchange points/miles for gift cards but if you add it to a grocery order and then use the points/miles to pay for that part of the order the gift card then becomes "free" -- make sense??*



Can you explain this to me? How does one go about this? I’ve got something like 300000 optimum points! I’d love to be able to use it on gift cards lol


----------



## mab2012

iceprincesskcl said:


> Can you explain this to me? How does one go about this? I’ve got something like 300000 optimum points! I’d love to be able to use it on gift cards lol



Really you are using points to pay for your groceries and paying for the gift card out-of-pocket.  You could do it in two separate transactions and it would be just the same.  Some people just prefer to think of it as paying for the groceries (that they would buy anyway) and getting the gift card for free.


----------



## Donald - my hero

kuhltiffany said:


> Thank you!  I tried that, and the site map but couldn’t find it.  I’m surprised they don’t make it easier to find...


*It shows up in tiny print at the bottom of the search window when you're looking to use Dream Miles to book a hotel:*
**


----------



## 22Tink

Micharlotte said:


> Just wanted to let everyone know that I used my Canadian gift cards successfully all last week at the parks, restaurants and stores in disney world. The only time I had a problem was using it to pay my room charges. Found out the hard way that they don’t work for that so I had to spend another $167 to use them all up. Lol


We used our gift cards to pay off our room charges with no issues when we were there in March. That’s how we paid off all of our room charges.


----------



## 22Tink

ky. said:


> Wait. You can't use gift cards to pay off room charges?
> 
> So if I buy a bunch of things at magic kingdom and charge them to my magic band, I cannot then go to the front desk and use my gift card to pay it off?


Yes you can. We used our gift cards to pay off all of our room charges.


----------



## kuhltiffany

World_of_Laughter said:


> I apologize for asking this so late (after 24 pages of replies), but what is the advantage of using gift cards over other payment methods? Is it simply to save the 2.5% foreign exchange fee in Cdn credit cards? Are there any other benefits to using gift cards?



I like to save them up, so buy them a bit at a time to help with trip expenses.

As well, you can register them on the website and report them lost if something happens, so I feel more comfortable carrying them around (and giving them to the kids to carry) instead of a credit card.


----------



## accm

Here now, and wondering if there’s anyway to buy e-gift cards in Canadian dollars. We have a Canadian card if that makes any difference. Would just love to avoid that foreign ex fee...


----------



## Micharlotte

22Tink said:


> Yes you can. We used our gift cards to pay off all of our room charges.


I tried to use 3 different Canadian gift cards to pay room charges at Beach Club on Sunday night. My American card went through no problem, but none of my Canadian ones would work at all. I transferred balances to other gift cards to see if there was a problem with one but not one of them worked. Maybe it was an isolated incident, but maybe not. I wasn’t sure if anyone had tried to do it since they stopped allowing the transfer of Canadian to American gift cards. I had no issues in any restaurant or store just the front desk at Beach Club.


----------



## Silvermist999

Micharlotte said:


> I tried to use 3 different Canadian gift cards to pay room charges at Beach Club on Sunday night. My American card went through no problem, but none of my Canadian ones would work at all. I transferred balances to other gift cards to see if there was a problem with one but not one of them worked. Maybe it was an isolated incident, but maybe not. I wasn’t sure if anyone had tried to do it since they stopped allowing the transfer of Canadian to American gift cards. I had no issues in any restaurant or store just the front desk at Beach Club.



I appreciate you sharing this info.  It doesn't make sense for me to stock up on those Canadian gift cards if they can't be used for for room charges.  Hopefully others can also share their experience  and that yours was just an isolated incident.


----------



## 22Tink

Micharlotte said:


> I tried to use 3 different Canadian gift cards to pay room charges at Beach Club on Sunday night. My American card went through no problem, but none of my Canadian ones would work at all. I transferred balances to other gift cards to see if there was a problem with one but not one of them worked. Maybe it was an isolated incident, but maybe not. I wasn’t sure if anyone had tried to do it since they stopped allowing the transfer of Canadian to American gift cards. I had no issues in any restaurant or store just the front desk at Beach Club.


So strange. We tried to use a prepaid visa and that gave us grief but the Canadian Disney cards worked great. We were at Pop Century. That was in the spring so maybe they changed it since then? Too bad if they did. I’m planning a trip to Disneyland in November so I hope I don’t run into issues with the cards there. I’m not staying onsite though just planning to use them at the restaurants.


----------



## AdamsMum

World_of_Laughter said:


> I apologize for asking this so late (after 24 pages of replies), but what is the advantage of using gift cards over other payment methods? Is it simply to save the 2.5% foreign exchange fee in Cdn credit cards? Are there any other benefits to using gift cards?


For me in addition to saving the 2.5%, it's an easy way for me to save for vacation expenses.  Buy $100 every now and then and register them on the gift card website and it's less painful than charging and then having a big c.c. bill to pay off at once.  I buy them with my mastercard so I still get the points for using it.  Last year (well January this year) I paid off a part of my DVC maintenance with it, this year I'm paying for my dining plan.  I didn't have enough to pay for my ticket though, but this was the first year I heard of it, so next year I'll be more organized.


----------



## Days In the Sun

Micharlotte said:


> I tried to use 3 different Canadian gift cards to pay room charges at Beach Club on Sunday night. My American card went through no problem, but none of my Canadian ones would work at all. I transferred balances to other gift cards to see if there was a problem with one but not one of them worked. Maybe it was an isolated incident, but maybe not. I wasn’t sure if anyone had tried to do it since they stopped allowing the transfer of Canadian to American gift cards. I had no issues in any restaurant or store just the front desk at Beach Club.



I used Canadian gift cards end of August at Bay Lake Tower for room charges.  At Bay Lake Tower, it didn't go through to which the cast member replied "Oh this is in Canadian dollars".  She excused herself to find a manager as she knew there was a different process for it.  Two minutes later,  it went through fine.  I mentioned to her I hadn't had a problem in the parks and she replied that the resorts are set up to handle gift cards differently. I didn't ask for more details.


----------



## Micharlotte

Days In the Sun said:


> I used Canadian gift cards end of August at Bay Lake Tower for room charges.  At Bay Lake Tower, it didn't go through to which the cast member replied "Oh this is in Canadian dollars".  She excused herself to find a manager as she knew there was a different process for it.  Two minutes later,  it went through fine.  I mentioned to her I hadn't had a problem in the parks and she replied that the resorts are set up to handle gift cards differently. I didn't ask for more details.


Thanks for letting me know! It seems like typical Disney with cast members who don’t know all the procedures. I’ll have to go during the day next time when there are more managers around. Otherwise it was great!


----------



## Spotthecat

I tried buying Disney Gift Cards at Shoppers yesterday, and the number on the register screen didn't match the card so she couldn't sell it to me. She tried 5 different Disney cards, same thing. What gives? Does the number have to match??? I'm not sure anyone has ever checked before...


----------



## Days In the Sun

Spotthecat said:


> I tried buying Disney Gift Cards at Shoppers yesterday, and the number on the register screen didn't match the card so she couldn't sell it to me. She tried 5 different Disney cards, same thing. What gives? Does the number have to match??? I'm not sure anyone has ever checked before...



Hmmm.  Was this a cashier making this decision or the system stopping it?  If it was the system, then perhaps Shoppers has entered something incorrectly in that batch or was experiencing a system issue.  If it was the cashier, well I assume they don't know what they are doing lol. 

So FWIW, the actual card number and security code is hidden from the cashier.  You could get the first twelve numbers by flipping up some of the cardboard but there is security tape over the last 4 digits and the security code.  I wouldn't purchase any that look even the slightest bent, I actually first ask if they have any behind the counter.


----------



## Baby Ninja

For anyone in the West searching for additional options to gain points for “free” GC’s, London Drugs LD Extra’s program is great. A minimum $10 purchase is required, and after 10 visits they award you a $5 voucher.  You can accrue your vouchers until you wish to use them, and they are stored electronically via your phone number so no having to carry vouchers in your purse or wallet.  They have an app as well to help you track your Extra dollars earned. 
The important thing to note about purchases (visits) is that it’s once per day. You cannot make 10 individual purchases on one day and receive your voucher.  So, for example, I visit my local London Drugs every day for 10 days making a $10 purchase each time I then receive a $5 voucher. 
You do not have to purchase anything before you can redeem your Extra dollars. If I have $100 worth of Extra dollars accrued, I simply grab a gift card worth $100 (or 2 for $50) and go to the register.  I tell the cashier I want to use my Extra dollars and they redeem the amount I choose.  No added out of pocket expense like with PC points or Airmiles!


----------



## Brandilovesdisney

The Walmart near me is selling $50 Disney Gift cards. Can we reload these or add money to them or do I have to buy multiples?
(Tried searching for the answer but nothing came up)


----------



## AdamsMum

I'm wondering the same thing.  I have several $50 cards that I've registered and transferred the money over to my primary card, but it would be nice to be able to just reload the old ones.


----------



## Brandilovesdisney

What is the maximum you can load onto your primary card? Is your primary card one of the $50 ones? I’m just wondering because on other threads there seems to be a difference between the $25 or $50 cards and ones that are “reloadable”. (Though they could have been referring to the US ones)


----------



## AdamsMum

My primary card was $25-$500, online you can load up to $1,000 per card.  I can't find these cards any more in Toronto (well North York area), so I'm buying the $50 cards.  I have quite a stack that have been transferred.  Was wondering if they can be reloaded at the place where they were purchased.  I doubt it.


----------



## jadephoenixx

AdamsMum said:


> I'm having trouble finding gift cards suddenly (Toronto).  In the past I purchased them from Food Basics (none today), Loblaws (now they only have the $50 card), Pharma Plus (none there for the past 2 weeks).  Are they just really popular or is the supply drying up.  Trying to save enough for my DVC maintenance fees in January 2019.  Anyone else?



I'm in Ajax.  I purchased two of the $25-$500 ones at Shoppers this morning.  They had lots of them on the rack and behind the cashier.


----------



## CanadianPrincess

Just got 4500 worth (9 -500 dollar gift cards) at Sobeys in Ottawa- I used them to pay off our 10 day trip! I saved the 2% fee my credit card charges for the exchange on top of the difference in the dollar- I ended up saving close to $100 which is a LOT of dole whips! I have another 500 for spending when I am there!


----------



## AdamsMum

jadephoenixx said:


> I'm in Ajax.  I purchased two of the $25-$500 ones at Shoppers this morning.  They had lots of them on the rack and behind the cashier.


I never thought to look behind the counter, I'll check that out next time I'm in Shoppers.  I've been buying the $50 ones when I can, but you can only store 5 cards and I feel a little weird about deleting them.  Even though I've transferred the balance to my primary card and the others have no value.  I don't know what's making me feel that way.  Just paranoid I guess.


----------



## 22Tink

AdamsMum said:


> I never thought to look behind the counter, I'll check that out next time I'm in Shoppers.  I've been buying the $50 ones when I can, but you can only store 5 cards and I feel a little weird about deleting them.  Even though I've transferred the balance to my primary card and the others have no value.  I don't know what's making me feel that way.  Just paranoid I guess.


You have to delete them if you want to keep transferring to the primary card. It’ll be fine. I delete all mine except the primary and 1 spare to transfer to in case the primary gets lost. We had to do that on our last trip. I hang onto all of the actual cards though until after my trip and the spending is done.


----------



## tinkerone

22Tink said:


> You have to delete them if you want to keep transferring to the primary card. It’ll be fine. I delete all mine except the primary and 1 spare to transfer to in case the primary gets lost. We had to do that on our last trip. *I hang onto all of the actual cards though until after my trip and the spending is done.*





AdamsMum said:


> I never thought to look behind the counter, I'll check that out next time I'm in Shoppers.  I've been buying the $50 ones when I can, but you can only store 5 cards and I feel a little weird about deleting them.  Even though I've transferred the balance to my primary card and the others have no value.  I don't know what's making me feel that way.  Just paranoid I guess.


I agree with 22Tink.  I hold onto *all *my cards until 6 months after any trips I take.  The balance is then checked and if they are at zero I shred them.  Twice I have found smaller amounts on cards that should have been at zero however there were refunds on them for some reason.  Probably port charge rebates but I'm not totally sure.  It has amounted to about $35, not a lot but still money on the table.  
Just keep them for a bit after you use them and check the balance is still zero then toss.


----------



## disneykins

Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
Thanks,
Tony


----------



## mab2012

disneykins said:


> Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
> Thanks,
> Tony



Different people have different reasons, but the primary advantage of buying CAD gift cards rather than USD gift cards is that there is zero forex markup on the conversion.  So your $50 Canadian gift card costs CAD 50, and is worth about USD 39 today.  Exchanging $50 at the bank or on a typical credit card would leave you with closer to $38 US.  Not a big deal on 50 bucks, but becomes a little more significant on $5000.

Some people also just like to use them as a savings vehicle, or they take advantage of occasional bonus offers on credit cards or in-store to collect reward program points on trip expenses.  For example, PC Mastercard held a promotion a couple of months ago that gave about a 10% return in Optimum points on purchases at Shoppers Drug Mart, including gift cards.


----------



## hcox31

disneykins said:


> Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
> Thanks,
> Tony



i buy my gift cards with my PC points.  Well, technically I'm buying $50 of groceries plus a $50 gift card (so $100 total) and redeeming the PC points for the groceries, but in the end I'm saving $50.  Every time I hit between $50-100 I redeem it.  Then I apply them to my onboard account on DCL.


----------



## 22Tink

Has anyone used the Canadian GC at DLR/DCA recently? I just want to make sure I’m still good to use them in the parks for our trip next month. I’ve read that a few people have had some issues at WDW and it has me a little concerned.


----------



## Glynis4

jcourtney said:


> I live in SK and have never seen Disney gift cards in stores here. Do you think it's because we don't have a Disney store in the province? Maybe they don't think there's a market for the gift cards here without anywhere to spend them??



I’m in SK too and have never seen them   Who do we contact about this?!?  lol. I would love to buy some!


----------



## isabellea

22Tink said:


> Has anyone used the Canadian GC at DLR/DCA recently? I just want to make sure I’m still good to use them in the parks for our trip next month. I’ve read that a few people have had some issues at WDW and it has me a little concerned.



I’ve used my CDN GC at DLR and DCA in April without any issue anywhere (restaurants, stores or to book a tour).


----------



## jcourtney

Glynis4 said:


> I’m in SK too and have never seen them   Who do we contact about this?!?  lol. I would love to buy some!



If you find out let me know! Lol.


----------



## 22Tink

isabellea said:


> I’ve used my CDN GC at DLR and DCA in April without any issue anywhere (restaurants, stores or to book a tour).


Thanks. I've got my fingers crossed! I used some in March at WDW with no issues as well but have read since then that some people were having troubles at WDW. It was at the resort though so maybe that's why. I plan to use them at the restaurants and shops in DLR.


----------



## TD1516

Does anyone know how to use the gift cards online to pay for theme park tickets? I am trying to purchase three park hopper tickets using all of our gift cards. But the message keeps telling me that it's an invalid account number. I am using the correct 12 numbers that it says next to the word account.

Or do I have to call in using the Canadian gift card?


----------



## hdrolfe

TD1516 said:


> Does anyone know how to use the gift cards online to pay for theme park tickets? I am trying to purchase three park hopper tickets using all of our gift cards. But the message keeps telling me that it's an invalid account number. I am using the correct 12 numbers that it says next to the word account.
> 
> Or do I have to call in using the Canadian gift card?



The number should be 16 digits. I seem to remember having to scratch something off the back to get all the numbers.


----------



## casprmt

disneykins said:


> Just saw this thread and started reading it but my question is: Why do you buy Disney gift cards in Canada? Are they cheaper than using cash at the parks? How much does a $50 gift card cost, $50 CAD? Now I'll go back and read the thread, maybe my question is in there somewhere lol.
> Thanks,
> Tony


You save a bit of money on the exchange rate vs paying the bank or CC rate which is usually around 2% more so the gift card you buy is in Canadian dollars and will have less value due to the exchange rate.

Example one canadian dollar is trading at $0.77 American but to exchange at my bank I will only get $0.75. So the gift card will exchange i believe close to if not at the trading value.. ie you get 2 more cents per dollar


----------



## CanadianPrincess

casprmt said:


> You save a bit of money on the exchange rate vs paying the bank or CC rate which is usually around 2% more so the gift card you buy is in Canadian dollars and will have less value due to the exchange rate.
> 
> Example one canadian dollar is trading at $0.77 American but to exchange at my bank I will only get $0.75. So the gift card will exchange i believe close to if not at the trading value.. ie you get 2 more cents per dollar



And you save the 2% fee from your CC if you pay that way... On our 4200 dollar trip, we saved almost 100 dollars paying this way! I also bought the gift cards on my cash back visa, and got an additional 50 bucks... It didnt take a lot for me to do it this way, and 150 bucks is better in my pocket then the banks! PLUS it buys a hell of a lot of dole whips!


----------



## gskywalker

They did a system update around the end of August, when that happened it messed up the systems at the Disney Stores in the states.  In terms of at DW, I was able to use them at the resort by them inputting it as a email/electronic gift card.


----------



## amie416

Does anyone have an update on how Canadian gift cards are working at the resorts?  

I bought two $400 cards at Shoppers Drug Mart yesterday and was able to add them to the disney gift card website.  I was able to combine the balance of both CAD cards online, but I was not able to transfer the balance to my primary USD gift card.

Is anyone having issues using these CAD cards to pay for resort stays?  How about using them in the parks?


----------



## Kerrilyn

Glynis4 said:


> I’m in SK too and have never seen them   Who do we contact about this?!?  lol. I would love to buy some!





jcourtney said:


> If you find out let me know! Lol.



Try Staples! I couldn't find them at Shoppers(=Pharmaprix in QC), but I did find them at Staples (=Bureau En Gros in QC).


----------



## jcourtney

Kerrilyn said:


> Try Staples! I couldn't find them at Shoppers(=Pharmaprix in QC), but I did find them at Staples (=Bureau En Gros in QC).


Darn! I was just at staples and I didn't even think to look! Thanks for the tip


----------



## Northern Disney Girl

amie416 said:


> Does anyone have an update on how Canadian gift cards are working at the resorts?
> 
> I bought two $400 cards at Shoppers Drug Mart yesterday and was able to add them to the disney gift card website.  I was able to combine the balance of both CAD cards online, but I was not able to transfer the balance to my primary USD gift card.
> 
> Is anyone having issues using these CAD cards to pay for resort stays?  How about using them in the parks?




I am very interested in knowing others thoughts and experiences with this as well. 

We have a trip coming up in a month and I was looking at this as an option for paying for our meals. 

Anybody have any recent knowledge to share?


----------



## gskywalker

We used them at the resort a month ago to pay our shopping bill.  It didn't work when scanning them, I believe they inputted them as an e-gift card typing in the numbers.


----------



## ckmilbs

We are at WDW right now.  

I called the day before our arrival date and it was no problem for the CM to apply the Canadian gift cards to our reservation over the phone.  

My daughter used the Canadian gift cards at the resort for her room and as others have said, the first CM they dealt with told her it wouldn’t work and told them to call the number on the back.   The CM at gift card services told her that (as the person above mentioned), they *must be entered manually like an e-gift card.   
*
Then they had to get back in line and once she told the second CM how it had to be processed, it was no problem.


----------



## Northern Disney Girl

ckmilbs said:


> We are at WDW right now.
> 
> I called the day before our arrival date and it was no problem for the CM to apply the Canadian gift cards to our reservation over the phone.
> 
> My daughter used the Canadian gift cards at the resort for her room and as others have said, the first CM they dealt with told her it wouldn’t work and told them to call the number on the back.   The CM at gift card services told her that (as the person above mentioned), they *must be entered manually like an e-gift card.
> *
> Then they had to get back in line and once she told the second CM how it had to be processed, it was no problem.


So good to know! I am hoping to use GCs for meals and incidentals as our package is already paid off.


----------



## pigletto

Does anyone know if I can pay for tickets on the Disney website with a Canadian Disney gift card ? 
I know it has a section to add a gift card on the payment screen so I’m guessing you can. I just bought a Canadian resident ticket yesterday but used a Canadian credit card so I wasn’t sure if the gift cards in CAD funds work.


----------



## hdrolfe

pigletto said:


> Does anyone know if I can pay for tickets on the Disney website with a Canadian Disney gift card ?
> I know it has a section to add a gift card on the payment screen so I’m guessing you can. I just bought a Canadian resident ticket yesterday but used a Canadian credit card so I wasn’t sure if the gift cards in CAD funds work.



I did in February. Which was a long time ago I guess  but it worked then with no problems!


----------



## pigletto

hdrolfe said:


> I did in February. Which was a long time ago I guess  but it worked then with no problems!


Ok great . Thank you !


----------



## dancin Disney style

amie416 said:


> Does anyone have an update on how Canadian gift cards are working at the resorts?
> 
> I bought two $400 cards at Shoppers Drug Mart yesterday and was able to add them to the disney gift card website.  I was able to combine the balance of both CAD cards online, but I was not able to transfer the balance to my primary USD gift card.
> 
> Is anyone having issues using these CAD cards to pay for resort stays?  How about using them in the parks?


You can't add CAD cards to a USD one.  They used to allow it but no more.   You can use the cards anyplace that accepts a Disney gift card without any problems what so ever.  I just used mine in August.


----------



## Keri Barker

Hi. I have not had time to read all the posts yet but my family and I are planning at trip to DL in July this year and I have $320 in Disney GC to use towards the trip. I am really confused on what to do with them. We staying off site at the Kings Inn. 

Should I use them on the DL website to book our park tickets (3 people park hopper for 3 days)? Then use cash and credit card in the parks for food and gifts?
OR
Should I buy my park tickets though Undercover tourist (which is a bit cheaper then going with DL directly I think) on my Visa? Then use the GC's at DL for food and gifts?

Can I use my Canadian GC in DL for food and gifts? I have been to the disneygiftcard site and if I can, combine them all to one card to use there.

Which is better option?  Thanks in advance!


----------



## ottawamom

#1 just read the posts on this page and the previous page and you'll have a pretty good idea of what is current info on the topic. Personally I would pay for your park tickets using a CC and get them from Undercover tourist then use the GC in the parks to pay for your meals and purchases. Why pay more for the tickets than you have to.

Use the cards as they come that way you can leave some at the hotel and not be walking around with one card with $$$ on it. Just take the number of cards you think you'll need for the day when you head to the parks.


----------



## AdamsMum

Some people have posted earlier that they had some issues with Canadian gift cards, can't find their posts. However, when they asked for a supervisor they found that the cashier had to enter the numbers manually and it was fine.  This may or may not be an issue, but just in case it is.


----------



## dancin Disney style

Keri Barker said:


> Hi. I have not had time to read all the posts yet but my family and I are planning at trip to DL in July this year and I have $320 in Disney GC to use towards the trip. I am really confused on what to do with them. We staying off site at the Kings Inn.
> 
> Should I use them on the DL website to book our park tickets (3 people park hopper for 3 days)? Then use cash and credit card in the parks for food and gifts?
> OR
> Should I buy my park tickets though Undercover tourist (which is a bit cheaper then going with DL directly I think) on my Visa? Then use the GC's at DL for food and gifts?
> 
> Can I use my Canadian GC in DL for food and gifts? I have been to the disneygiftcard site and if I can, combine them all to one card to use there.
> 
> Which is better option?  Thanks in advance!


I would buy tickets from UT to get the discount.   Then use the GC's for your in park meals/purchases.  Whether you combine them on to one card or not really comes down to personal preference.  I would combine so that I only have to deal with one card but that's just me.


----------



## LuvvsMickey

Hi folks.
Anyone in Atlantic Canada have any luck finding Disney gift cards here? I've had no luck in NB. This new credit card hold thing is stressing me out!


----------



## nicynot

LuvvsMickey said:


> Hi folks.
> Anyone in Atlantic Canada have any luck finding Disney gift cards here? I've had no luck in NB. This new credit card hold thing is stressing me out!


Hey, Im in Nova Scotia, but I find that walmarts in NB have the disney gift cards. A few months ago, I found some at Superstore, but back on a rack by the baking department, and not with the regular gift cards


----------



## isabellea

Used canadian GCs at WDW and DLR in the last year without any issues in the parks. I think the problems were encountered when paying resort tab.


----------



## LuvvsMickey

nicynot said:


> Hey, Im in Nova Scotia, but I find that walmarts in NB have the disney gift cards. A few months ago, I found some at Superstore, but back on a rack by the baking department, and not with the regular gift cards


Really? Thank you. I will have to check again. I may go for a re-loadable one once we arrive at MCO or on resort property so we don't have to deal with the ridiculous exchange rate.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

LuvvsMickey said:


> Really? Thank you. I will have to check again. I may go for a re-loadable one once we arrive at MCO or on resort property so we don't have to deal with the ridiculous exchange rate.



I'm in Nova Scotia too and I've been getting mine at Walmarts in $25 and $50 denominations.


----------



## Jo2019

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I'm in Nova Scotia too and I've been getting mine at Walmarts in $25 and $50 denominations.


I wish we could buy bigger denominations in NS!


----------



## nicynot

LuvvsMickey said:


> Really? Thank you. I will have to check again. I may go for a re-loadable one once we arrive at MCO or on resort property so we don't have to deal with the ridiculous exchange rate.


No problem, last walmart I got one in Nb was one in Moncton, over by Bass Pro


----------



## isabellea

In QC Canadian Tires has the reloadable GCs. Walmart only carry 50$ ones now around here.


----------



## glenpreece

I'm not sure if anybody has posted this before but I used my Wal-Mart rewards from my Mastercard to pay for a Disney gift card!!! $50 card only cost me $20 since I had $30 in rewards


----------



## LuvvsMickey

nicynot said:


> No problem, last walmart I got one in Nb was one in Moncton, over by Bass Pro


Thank you. That's where I am.  I need large denominations though.! I may just get a US card when we get there.


----------



## miccolt

Can you use Disney gift cards purchased at Sobeys, Shoppers etc. to pay off the balance of a Disney vacation package booked through the Disney site?


----------



## hdrolfe

miccolt said:


> Can you use Disney gift cards purchased at Sobeys, Shoppers etc. to pay off the balance of a Disney vacation package booked through the Disney site?



Yes provided you booked yourself. If you used a TA you will need to provide it to them to do for you.


----------



## blue888

Just looking for a current update on GC's. So I can combine CAN gift cards online but they stay in CAN dollars. Is that correct?


----------



## miccolt

I have hit another snag....I bought a Disney gift card at Metro and registered it online. It shows the correct balance on the card. However, when I go to apply it to my Disney account, it says that it cannot be processed. Has anyone ever experienced this?? Any advice??


----------



## TammyLynn33

I haven’t I would call

QUOTE="miccolt, post: 60629204, member: 631813"]I have hit another snag....I bought a Disney gift card at Metro and registered it online. It shows the correct balance on the card. However, when I go to apply it to my Disney account, it says that it cannot be processed. Has anyone ever experienced this?? Any advice??[/QUOTE]


----------



## mkmommy

TammyLynn33 said:


> I haven’t I would call
> 
> QUOTE="miccolt, post: 60629204, member: 631813"]I have hit another snag....I bought a Disney gift card at Metro and registered it online. It shows the correct balance on the card. However, when I go to apply it to my Disney account, it says that it cannot be processed. Has anyone ever experienced this?? Any advice??


[/QUOTE]
Did you wait 24 hours, every time I buy one I am told I need to wait 24 hours until it came be used.


----------



## hdrolfe

I bought one at Rexall this morning and was able to use it right away. They do say to wait 24 hours but I never do. I had no problems adding it to pay down my Disney package. 

If you have problems I'd suggest calling.


----------



## StarSeven7

Did you wait 24 hours, every time I buy one I am told I need to wait 24 hours until it came be used.[/QUOTE]
That definitely wasn’t the case for me! I was prepaying a room only reservation over the phone and I tried to use a prepaid visa but I was having issues so I had DH run to shoppers to buy a Disney gift card with the visa instead and I immediately called it in and paid it off.


----------



## dancin Disney style

Jo2019 said:


> I wish we could buy bigger denominations in NS!


The largest is $50....there are very rare sighting of the loadable cards but that was a while back so my feeling is that they are no longer available.  

It's a very simple process to combine the lower denominations on to one card.


----------



## tinkerone

dancin Disney style said:


> The largest is $50....there are very rare sighting of the *loadable cards* but that was a while back so my feeling is that they are *no longer available.*
> 
> It's a very simple process to combine the lower denominations on to one card.


I bought a loadable one this weekend, load between $25-$500.  I put $150 on it, it is a gift.  That was at Rexall.  I also saw them at Shoppers but decided to wait and purchase one at my last stop which was the Rexall.  There still around at lots of places.


----------



## dancin Disney style

tinkerone said:


> I bought a loadable one this weekend, load between $25-$500.  I put $150 on it, it is a gift.  That was at Rexall.  I also saw them at Shoppers but decided to wait and purchase one at my last stop which was the Rexall.  There still around at lots of places.


Good to know.  Every time I'm in the store I look for those and haven't seen any since before Christmas.  I check at Rexall, Sobeys, Walmart, Shoppers and RCSS.


----------



## kuhltiffany

I've seen the loadable ones at Canadian Tire too.

Has anyone ever "filled" a card to the max? Wondering how that works. I've been slowly buying cards in small denominations but added up our cruise excursions and want to take a lot more $$$. Does the card take up to a certain amount and then the rest stays on the original card? I know there's a max but with the CAD and USD not sure how it will happen...


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I think you can put up to $1000 CDN on a card. In the US, it is $1000 US on a card.


----------



## glenpreece

I saw $100 ones at Petro and here in ON we have the variable amounts ones a Sobeys/Foodland and Metro. My $50 one from Walmart didn't want to work online (i think it's the site) so I called Disney and had them apply it to my reservation


----------



## Trinity88

Has anyone used the disneygiftcard website to combine gift cards?  I don't know if it accepts canadian gcs.


----------



## pigletto

Trinity88 said:


> Has anyone used the disneygiftcard website to combine gift cards?  I don't know if it accepts canadian gcs.


Yes , all the time. There is a transfer function.


----------



## 22Tink

Trinity88 said:


> Has anyone used the disneygiftcard website to combine gift cards?  I don't know if it accepts canadian gcs.


Yes it definitely accepts Canadian gift cards and you can consolidate them onto one card up to $1000!


----------



## Trinity88

22Tink said:


> Yes it definitely accepts Canadian gift cards and you can consolidate them onto one card up to $1000!


That's great! Is that $1000 US or Canadian?  For example, can I load $1350 CDN which at the current exchange rate equals $1000 US (ouch)?


----------



## 22Tink

Trinity88 said:


> That's great! Is that $1000 US or Canadian?  For example, can I load $1350 CDN which at the current exchange rate equals $1000 US (ouch)?


I think it’s Canadian but I’m not 100% sure on that. I’ve never maxed one out!


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I'm pretty sure it's $1000 CDN in Canada and $1000 US in the US.  Why, no clue.


----------



## 22Tink

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I'm pretty sure it's $1000 CDN in Canada and $1000 US in the US.  Why, no clue.


That’s what I thought as well


----------



## glenpreece

Just another savings tip for buying Disney gift cards. You can use petro points to buy gift cards.


----------



## Trinity88

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I'm pretty sure it's $1000 CDN in Canada and $1000 US in the US.  Why, no clue.



So I went ahead and did it last night and you are correct, I could only transfer $1000 CDN to one card, even though the card total showed $761 US on the site.

But it all worked great for me, bought my APs with gcs so I don't have to pay the processing fee my credit card charged.


----------



## youngdeb12

Trinity88 said:


> So I went ahead and did it last night and you are correct, I could only transfer $1000 CDN to one card, even though the card total showed $761 US on the site.
> 
> But it all worked great for me, bought my APs with gcs so I don't have to pay the processing fee my credit card charged.



I've also found that the Disney GCs give you as close to the quoted FX rate as possible and doesn't charge a fee on top of it like everywhere else will.  You can guarantee that the rate you get will be the previous day's closing rate!


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

We aren't taking our next trip until early 2021.  Should I start to combine my cards NOW? I'm just worried if I were to lose the one card with the combined amount on it! Right now, I literally have like 15 gift cards ($25s and $50s) in my sock drawer LOL


----------



## spiffgirl101

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> We aren't taking our next trip until early 2021.  Should I start to combine my cards NOW? I'm just worried if I were to lose the one card with the combined amount on it! Right now, I literally have like 15 gift cards ($25s and $50s) in my sock drawer LOL


As long as you had an empty card you could transfer the balance to the empty card if you lost the loaded one. I actually plan on bringing a couple of spare empty cards in case that happens.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

spiffgirl101 said:


> As long as you had an empty card you could transfer the balance to the empty card if you lost the loaded one. I actually plan on bringing a couple of spare empty cards in case that happens.



Okay so once I transfer them all over, I should keep a few of the empties...


----------



## 22Tink

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> Okay so once I transfer them all over, I should keep a few of the empties...


Yes and loaded in the site even though they’re empty.  I’m so thankful that you can transfer funds online. Last year on our trip I lost my wallet with my Disney gift card in it.  Luckily it was found intact under the Manta coaster at Seaworld and I got everything back but in the meantime I was sure happy I was able to transfer the money to a different card I had on the website!! The funds were safe even if my card was never retrieved.


----------



## spiffgirl101

FYI - I just made a payment on my Feb 2020 cruise online with $500 CDN ($393.16 USD) of my consolidated gift cards,  I had zero problems entering the gift card number online and the payment processed without me having to call.  I hope it stays this smooth each time I want to apply a payment! I didn't use a TA to book my cruise, not sure if that makes a difference.


----------



## marchingstar

this thread is so helpful! 

i recently ‘redeemed’ PC points for my first gift card. It’s just sitting in a drawer right now, but hopefully I’ll add to it soon. It would be great to pay off a good portion of our next Disney trip with redeemed cards!


----------



## bababear_50

Ok gang
I got to page seven 7 and have decided to just post this question.
I'm sorry if it's already been asked.
Can I use Disney Gift Cards to pay my DVC dues?
Thanks 
Hugs
Mel


----------



## Days In the Sun

bababear_50 said:


> Ok gang
> I got to page seven 7 and have decided to just post this question.
> I'm sorry if it's already been asked.
> Can I use Disney Gift Cards to pay my DVC dues?
> Thanks
> Hugs
> Mel



Yes, I've done it every year since Disney gift cards have been available in Canada (either two years or three, can't remember).  I do it online, just log into your dvcmember account and pay.


----------



## bababear_50

Days In the Sun said:


> Yes, I've done it every year since Disney gift cards have been available in Canada (either two years or three, can't remember).  I do it online, just log into your dvcmember account and pay.



OH YES!!!
Now I know what to tell people I want for special occasions like birthdays and what not. I will also start picking up a few when grocery shopping at Sobeys.
Thanks for the information
Hugs
Mel


----------



## tbay

Thanks CanadianDvc'rs  learned great information today about the gift cards . Will buy a couple with points and pay down my dues


----------



## Northernlites

I picked up a Gift card at Loblaws this weekend. I am planning on buying my disney tickets tomorrow online. My questions are Do I need to activate or register the card some where first? Plus will the disney checkout ask if I have a gift card? Can somone post simple instructions from gift card purchase to completion of Disney ticket purchase. Thanks in advance.


----------



## BSBNess

Does anyone know if you can get Disney gift cards in the province of Quebec? I have been looking and I haven't been able to find any.


----------



## 22Tink

Northernlites said:


> I picked up a Gift card at Loblaws this weekend. I am planning on buying my disney tickets tomorrow online. My questions are Do I need to activate or register the card some where first? Plus will the disney checkout ask if I have a gift card? Can somone post simple instructions from gift card purchase to completion of Disney ticket purchase. Thanks in advance.


I can’t help you with the online payment as I’ve only done that over the phone but I can say that you do not have to activate or register it. It’s activated at time of purchase. You can register it on the Disney gift card website if you have a bunch you want to consolidate but if you’re using it right away I wouldn’t bother.


----------



## pigletto

spiffgirl101 said:


> As long as you had an empty card you could transfer the balance to the empty card if you lost the loaded one. I actually plan on bringing a couple of spare empty cards in case that happens.


I did just that. I had been getting cards for holidays and gifts and collecting them by exchanging my PC points for around a year and combining them on to one card online . When we moved I had the cards in an envelope in my night stand . I have no idea what happened to them . I hadn’t kept the main card in my wallet or purse in case I lost my purse .
Anyway I tore the new house apart and they’ve never turned up. I bought a new card and was able to transfer the online balance onto the new card thankfully . If I hadn’t combined them or entered them online I would have been out of luck .


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

Hmm, maybe I should start to do this now.  And then keep a few empties in my LUG travel wallet.


----------



## Tinetine

BSBNess said:


> Does anyone know if you can get Disney gift cards in the province of Quebec? I have been looking and I haven't been able to find any.


They are pretty hard to find (on the south shore). I've been able to buy 25$ gift cards at Wal Mart, and Pharmaprix has ones that you can load up to 500$. Jean Coutu sells out very quickly, and i've found mostly 10$ cards, not very useful when trying to cover the cost of a trip !


----------



## BSBNess

Tinetine said:


> They are pretty hard to find (on the south shore). I've been able to buy 25$ gift cards at Wal Mart, and Pharmaprix has ones that you can load up to 500$. Jean Coutu sells out very quickly, and i've found mostly 10$ cards, not very useful when trying to cover the cost of a trip !


Thank you.  I will check out Jean Coutu and Pharmaprix again.  I don't get to the south shore much.  I will have to make a point to check out Wal Mart.


----------



## BSBNess

@Tinetine Just want to thank you.  Went to Jean Coutu near my house and they had some $50 cards.  Pick some up to make a payment.  They actually only had $50 cards.


----------



## WishingMom

Does anyone know if you can buy a Disney gift card at any of the Canadian Disney stores and can use them at WDW?  They are hard to find in NL and I have a friend coming from Calgary, was going to see if she could get me a few!


----------



## youngdeb12

WishingMom said:


> Does anyone know if you can buy a Disney gift card at any of the Canadian Disney stores and can use them at WDW?  They are hard to find in NL and I have a friend coming from Calgary, was going to see if she could get me a few!



As far as I know the Disney GCs can be used at stores or theme parks.  I don't think there's any differentiation other than between CAD and USD.  If it's purchased in CAD and you use it for a USD purchase, they will convert it at the previous day's closing FX price.


----------



## Silvermist999

WishingMom said:


> Does anyone know if you can buy a Disney gift card at any of the Canadian Disney stores and can use them at WDW?  They are hard to find in NL and I have a friend coming from Calgary, was going to see if she could get me a few!



Yes! You can definitely use the Disney Gift cards purchased at the Canadian Disney Stores. My kids got some as bday/Xmas gifts and they used them at WDW this past March break.  The gift cards specifically state on the back that you can use them at WDW, etc.


----------



## 22Tink

WishingMom said:


> Does anyone know if you can buy a Disney gift card at any of the Canadian Disney stores and can use them at WDW?  They are hard to find in NL and I have a friend coming from Calgary, was going to see if she could get me a few!


Yes you can! We bought one last year and had no problems using it.


----------



## WishingMom

Wonderful, thanks,


----------



## Micharlotte

WishingMom said:


> Wonderful, thanks,


They have better designs on them too! I grabbed a few different ones so everyone on our trip knew which one was theirs and we just transferred money onto them when we needed to on the website. I got a really cool star wars one!


----------



## Madame

After you buy a card & register it on the site, can it be loaded up via credit card on the site itself, or do you have to purchase more physical cards & transfer the balance?


----------



## jcourtney

Madame said:


> After you buy a card & register it on the site, can it be loaded up via credit card on the site itself, or do you have to purchase more physical cards & transfer the balance?


you have to buy more physical cards and transfer the balance

It would be nice if you could reload!


----------



## Best_Vacation_EVER!

Just out of curiousity what kind of exchange rate applies to CDN dollar disney gift cards when used at WDW?   I gave my DS some gift cards to use on our last trip (Dec 2018) and thought the exchange rate was not great (almost like using CDN cash at the checkout --- which is worse than the cc exchange charge.)   (Tried to find the receipts but they weren't in the folder where I save the receipts.)  Would be interesting to know if the exchange is better or worse than using a cc.


----------



## tinkerone

Best_Vacation_EVER! said:


> Just out of curiousity what kind of exchange rate applies to CDN dollar disney gift cards when used at WDW?   I gave my DS some gift cards to use on our last trip (Dec 2018) and thought the exchange rate was not great (almost like using CDN cash at the checkout --- which is worse then the cc exchange charge.)   (Tried to find the receipts but they weren't in the folder where I save the receipts.)  Would be interesting to know if the exchange is better or worse than using a cc.


Today, the rate they give for exchange is 1.3412017 ($25 divided by 18.64).  I keep a $25 GC so I can always tell what their rate is.  Is that better than your CC rate?  You would have to see what your card is offering.  Myself, I don't buy to many as the rate fluxuates and I prefer to buy US dollars and *know* exactly what I'm paying and not depend on the what the rate *may* be when I use them.  Others prefer the cards and don't mind gambling on what they may or may not get.  Its all a matter of your preference really.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

So I just started to combine my cards on the website.  $75 CDN is coming up as only $57.27 US..ugh...so sad.


----------



## BSBNess

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> So I just started to combine my cards on the website.  $75 CDN is coming up as only $57.27 US..ugh...so sad.


Yeah it makes me sad when I was adding my $300 and I only get the lower $200.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I just finished. I have $775 CDN in cards, which works out to $591 US...yep, I still have a long way to go!


----------



## hdrolfe

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> I just finished. I have $775 CDN in cards, which works out to $591 US...yep, I still have a long way to go!



Are you applying them today? It will fluctuate over time (and is actually better today than when I last put a payment on my trip). It sucks either way though!


----------



## bababear_50

Me too,,I added some this weekend and when I add it's in Canadian $CAD but when I relog in it in $USD.
I got a $200.00 ViSA card as a gift and managed to flip it to a Disney GC.YEAH!!!
I am so happy to have found this thread,,it is definitely going to make those yearly DVC dues so much easier to pay. 
Hugs
Mel


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

@hdrolfe, no. Not applying them to anything right now, only consolidating.  I was getting nervous of having so many cards in my sock drawer I figured they would be safer put into the website system. I put the primary card in my travel wallet to keep it separate from the others.


----------



## bababear_50

So I am having a bit of a hard time understanding something,,,maybe someone can help..please
I have a card with
Primary card $630.01USD
I tried to add $400.00 CAD ($305.46 USD) today and it wouldn't let me combine the two cards.
Is that because the initial amount goes in as CAD and then gets converted to USD,,so the amount is over $1,000.00? 
Hope that makes sense.
Thanks
Mel


----------



## Micharlotte

bababear_50 said:


> So I am having a bit of a hard time understanding something,,,maybe someone can help..please
> I have a card with
> Primary card $630.01USD
> I tried to add $400.00 CAD ($305.46 USD) today and it wouldn't let me combine the two cards.
> Is that because the initial amount goes in as CAD and then gets converted to USD,,so the amount is over $1,000.00?
> Hope that makes sense.
> Thanks
> Mel


Are they both Canadian cards originally? You can no longer add Canadian cards to American cards. I also think that the max you can put on is $1000 in Canadian on the Canadian cards.


----------



## bababear_50

Micharlotte said:


> Are they both Canadian cards originally? You can no longer add Canadian cards to American cards. I also think that the max you can put on is $1000 in Canadian on the Canadian cards.



Yes they are both Canadian cards,,so I guess even though it's under the 1,000 USD limit amount ,,,,it's coming in over the 1,000 CAD limit amount.
Thanks
Mel


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

That's my guess too, $1000 CDN limit.


----------



## youngdeb12

I believe the limit is $1000 in whichever currency the card is in.  So therefore, your limit for your CAD card would be $1000 CAD and $1000 USD for any USD denominated cards.

I was tracking the exchange rate for awhile that the Disney Gift Card site was giving me and it looks like they give you the posted rate (almost exactly, usually off by a tenth of a cent) at the close of business the previous day.  There's no 1-2% spread taken by them like all the banks and credit card companies take.  I cannot purchase USD for the same rate as what Disney converts at and I get staff rates.


----------



## tinkerone

youngdeb12 said:


> I believe the limit is $1000 in whichever currency the card is in.  So therefore, your limit for your CAD card would be $1000 CAD and $1000 USD for any USD denominated cards.
> 
> I was tracking the exchange rate for awhile that the Disney Gift Card site was giving me and it looks like they give you the posted rate (almost exactly, usually off by a tenth of a cent) at the close of business the previous day.  There's no 1-2% spread taken by them like all the banks and credit card companies take.  I cannot purchase USD for the same rate as what Disney converts at and I get staff rates.


This made me wonder.  I get a staff rate as well and I always thought it was better than the GC rate.  I just checked and it is.  My staff rate right now is 1.3115 where as the GC rate right now is 1.3137 so slightly more.  
It's always good to check.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

youngdeb12 said:


> I was tracking the exchange rate for awhile that the Disney Gift Card site was giving me and it looks like they give you the posted rate (almost exactly, usually off by a tenth of a cent) at the close of business the previous day.  There's no 1-2% spread taken by them like all the banks and credit card companies take.  I cannot purchase USD for the same rate as what Disney converts at and I get staff rates.



Yep, which is why we do the gift card thing.  We don't have to worry about the bank taking their cut on the exchange rate or foreign transaction fees on credit cards.


----------



## youngdeb12

tinkerone said:


> This made me wonder.  I get a staff rate as well and I always thought it was better than the GC rate.  I just checked and it is.  My staff rate right now is 1.3115 where as the GC rate right now is 1.3137 so slightly more.
> It's always good to check.



The GC uses the previous day's close, so there will always be a bit of a variation.  My staff rate right now is 1.3225.  I need your staff rate


----------



## BSBNess

ilovetotravel1977 said:


> Yep, which is why we do the gift card thing.  We don't have to worry about the bank taking their cut on the exchange rate or foreign transaction fees on credit cards.


Which is why I do this now lol And zi feel it has saved me in my following payments but I have been cleaning out stores lol


----------



## buyerbrad

I went to Continental Currency Exchange at the mall today and git $750US for $1000 Canadian for comparisons sake.


----------



## WishingMom

I just consolidated a few gift cards ($100 CAD). When I go into the manage cards option it shows the value of $100 but when I check the balance it shows $76.xx,  is this what is supposed to happen and will it stay at that value or will it fluctuate with the exchange rate?


----------



## tinkerone

WishingMom said:


> I just consolidated a few gift cards ($100 CAD). When I go into the manage cards option it shows the value of $100 but when I check the balance it shows $76.xx,  is this what is supposed to happen and will it stay at that value or will it fluctuate with the exchange rate?


Yes, this is what should happen and yes, it will fluctuate with the exchange rate.  The $76 balance is the value in US funds and will change depending on what they use as a rate.  The rate has gotten better for us over the last few days so hopefully it will continue to get better.


----------



## BSBNess

So apparently I brought out my Jean Coutu supply and they won't get enough in time for my balance due.


----------



## tlcdoula

Just an observation.  I grabbed some gift cards over the past couple of weeks and entered them on the gift card site.  When I first entered them they converted into USD, now when I transferred some of them to one card they show it in CAD.    I also noticed the exchange on them had changed as well, they went down a few cents .


----------



## BSBNess

tlcdoula said:


> Just an observation.  I grabbed some gift cards over the past couple of weeks and entered them on the gift card site.  When I first entered them they converted into USD, now when I transferred some of them to one card they show it in CAD.    I also noticed the exchange on them had changed as well, they went down a few cents .



Yeah it does this and then when you check your balance it will go back to the US value.  The reason it probably went down is the exchange rate changed.


----------



## tlcdoula

BSBNess said:


> Yeah it does this and then when you check your balance it will go back to the US value.  The reason it probably went down is the exchange rate changed.


thanks!! I never thought to check balance lol.


----------



## BSBNess

tlcdoula said:


> thanks!! I never thought to check balance lol.


No problem, the first time it did this to me and I was like wait, how much do I really have lol


----------



## 1sttimedisneymom2009

So if I'm reading correctly I can purchase CDN Disney Giftcards and use them to pay off my Disney vacation that I've booked online directly with Disney? 

Thank you


----------



## BSBNess

1sttimedisneymom2009 said:


> So if I'm reading correctly I can purchase CDN Disney Giftcards and use them to pay off my Disney vacation that I've booked online directly with Disney?
> 
> Thank you


Yes you can that is what I have been doing.


----------



## 22Tink

1sttimedisneymom2009 said:


> So if I'm reading correctly I can purchase CDN Disney Giftcards and use them to pay off my Disney vacation that I've booked online directly with Disney?
> 
> Thank you


Yes you can! I did that for our trip last year and also for our trip next month. I couldn’t make the payments online though. I had to call because I have a room only reservation. It seems to be only the packages that can be paid online.


----------



## spiffgirl101

Deleted post, I posted incorrect information.


----------



## 22Tink

spiffgirl101 said:


> I booked a room only last month and have been able to use gift cards online. It's slightly more confusing though, because the option to use a gift card is BELOW the option to use a credit card (there is no drop down to change payment type), you have to keep scrolling. Fooled me two times in a row!


That’s very interesting! Was that for your initial payment at booking? I’m talking about making payments after the initial booking. I like to have my room paid for before I arrive so I make payments as I have the funds.  I looked and looked and could never even find an online payment option, gift card or credit card after the initial payment.  And when I called they told me room only could only be paid over the phone or at the resort.


----------



## spiffgirl101

22Tink said:


> That’s very interesting! Was that for your initial payment at booking? I’m talking about making payments after the initial booking. I like to have my room paid for before I arrive so I make payments as I have the funds.  I looked and looked and could never even find an online payment option, gift card or credit card after the initial payment.  And when I called they told me room only could only be paid over the phone or at the resort.


My bad. I booked online easily with gift cards. I have been making payments on my cruise online no problem after booking. I just tried to see if I could make a py, bit no luck. I guess I will have to call in to finalize payment for my room too. 
Thanks for questioning me, I am learning new things every day


----------



## 22Tink

spiffgirl101 said:


> My bad. I booked online easily with gift cards. I have been making payments on my cruise online no problem after booking. I just tried to see if I could make a py, bit no luck. I guess I will have to call in to finalize payment for my room too.
> Thanks for questioning me, I am learning new things every day


I was wondering how I could have missed it after scouring the website like a crazy person! We all learn as we go, that’s why these boards are so great!


----------



## hdrolfe

You can use them to make payments online for a package (just did that myself a few minutes ago) but for a room only I believe you have to call in because the payment isn't due until you get there so I guess they assume no one wants to pay it off in advance. Never done a Disney cruise so can't comment


----------



## 22Tink

hdrolfe said:


> You can use them to make payments online for a package (just did that myself a few minutes ago) but for a room only I believe you have to call in because the payment isn't due until you get there so I guess they assume no one wants to pay it off in advance. Never done a Disney cruise so can't comment


Correct. I had no issues making online payments when I had a package booked. It was the room only reservations that required calling in to make payments prior to check in.


----------



## habs0nut

I got really excited about doing this and using my AirMiles at Metro every week to start collecting gift cards. I have almost 5000 AirMiles which would work out to be about $500 which I could use to "buy" the gift cards. I just realized that all my AM are Dream Miles and not Cash Miles. You also can't for whatever reason, transfer between the two programs! I've switched my profile over to Cash Miles but that's only going to be good for future collection. Luckily we do our grocers at Metro and I trip isn't until April so I'm sure between now and then I'll be able to get a little bit back, just wish I could tap into what I already have.


----------



## ilovetotravel1977

I just added another $50 card to my account, which brings me to $825 CDN in cards.  That is $626.61 US as of today.


----------



## marchingstar

habs0nut said:


> I got really excited about doing this and using my AirMiles at Metro every week to start collecting gift cards. I have almost 5000 AirMiles which would work out to be about $500 which I could use to "buy" the gift cards. I just realized that all my AM are Dream Miles and not Cash Miles. You also can't for whatever reason, transfer between the two programs! I've switched my profile over to Cash Miles but that's only going to be good for future collection. Luckily we do our grocers at Metro and I trip isn't until April so I'm sure between now and then I'll be able to get a little bit back, just wish I could tap into what I already have.



I agree, it’s sort of silly the way the program is split. 

Could you put your dream miles towards another part of the trip? Park tickets? Rental car? New luggage?


----------



## habs0nut

I was thinking about maybe using towards one of the flights. I was planning on using WestJet Dollars to pay for the flights so I'm not sure if it's a good idea to book one of them separately through Airmiles.


----------



## hdrolfe

habs0nut said:


> I was thinking about maybe using towards one of the flights. I was planning on using WestJet Dollars to pay for the flights so I'm not sure if it's a good idea to book one of them separately through Airmiles.



I've used airmiles for one way flights a few times, depending on the flight it can be a good deal. I find I often have enough airmiles for one way but not a round trip. If you are Onyx you can also use the personal shopper to get tickets, park tickets or party tickets. I used some for MNSSHP tickets, I think you can also get the After Hours tickets if you are interested in doing that. For park tickets, if you want those that they don't normally have, like you want a 4 day park hopper, you could do that through the personal shopper. Or you can also look at buying through Redtag, as a package, but that would include flights so you wouldn't be able to use the westjet dollars. It would let you take money off the price of the package though. Any way, just some thoughts


----------



## BSBNess

I paid off my trip on Monday I swear I have brought out all my local Jean Coutu.  They must have my picture out lol


----------



## FayeW

This is very interesting to me, as we are taking our first trip in a very long time in November. We are staying offsite, and I have already paid for the CP Dinner we booked. If I bought gift cards would there be any benefit to me registering them online? I would be using them for MVMCP tickets and for meals in the parks or resorts. It sounds like the exchange is better online, so it might make sense to buy what I need to pay for the MVMCP tickets and save a little bit in exchange and service fees, vs paying with a credit card. I am also going to check out using the Personal Shopper services with Airmiles. I have Onyx status and I didn't know about this perk until I read it in another thread here.


----------



## Donald - my hero

FayeW said:


> This is very interesting to me, as we are taking our first trip in a very long time in November. We are staying offsite, and I have already paid for the CP Dinner we booked. If I bought gift cards would there be any benefit to me registering them online? I would be using them for MVMCP tickets and for meals in the parks or resorts. It sounds like the exchange is better online, so it might make sense to buy what I need to pay for the MVMCP tickets and save a little bit in exchange and service fees, vs paying with a credit card. I am also going to check out using the Personal Shopper services with Airmiles. I have Onyx status and I didn't know about this perk until I read it in another thread here.


*There are 2 main reasons for registering them online - You can consolidate several smaller ones onto one card and then use it to pay off a larger item, such as a reservation or buying tickets, also means you don't need to carry several around with you at once. The main reason we would look at doing that is for security -- if you lose the card(s) you can go to your online account and pull the balance from the lost card(s) onto a different one! That would also allow you to carry less "money" on the card in your wallet/pocket/purse/whatever and just top it up as you need to with your "virtual balance" Make sense?*

*Regarding the exchange, there's no difference between registering them or not. For a short period of time you could transfer Canadian cards onto a master US card and the rate would be locked in. Now that's not possible and we're stuck with the previous banking day's closing exchange rate. Doesn't matter if it's online or on an actual card. *


----------



## ottawamom

If I have a US$ Disney GC (from Disney Movie Rewards). Can I put US$ onto it from my US$ CC and the balance will remain in US$?


----------



## tinkerone

ottawamom said:


> If I have a US$ Disney GC (from Disney Movie Rewards). Can I put US$ onto it from my US$ CC and the balance will remain in US$?


I did this but it was not the best experience.  I had to actually purchase an e-gift card from their website using my US MC and once that was done I could apply it to the account and transfer it to the card I had.  
The problem was they would not okay the purchase until I had contacted my cc company and had authorization done.  It took days and a lot of effort.  I would not bother doing it again.  It may be different for you though.  If you do try please report back.  I would try a small amount first, say $25, before doing a big purchase.


----------



## Dismom18

Hi all! Not sure if this has been asked before, but I was wondering if we could use the Disney Gift Cards to purchase items at the stores in Disney Springs?


----------



## ottawamom

tinkerone said:


> I did this but it was not the best experience.  I had to actually purchase an e-gift card from their website using my US MC and once that was done I could apply it to the account and transfer it to the card I had.
> The problem was they would not okay the purchase until I had contacted my cc company and had authorization done.  It took days and a lot of effort.  I would not bother doing it again.  It may be different for you though.  If you do try please report back.  I would try a small amount first, say $25, before doing a big purchase.



Thank you that's good to know. I guess I'll just pick up a few US$ GC when I'm near a US Disney Store. I thought they might make nice stocking stuffers before a trip.


----------



## Silvermist999

Dismom18 said:


> Hi all! Not sure if this has been asked before, but I was wondering if we could use the Disney Gift Cards to purchase items at the stores in Disney Springs?



Yes, I used my CDN$ Disney Gift cards at Disney owned stores in Disney Springs with no issues at all.


----------



## Dismom18

Silvermist999 said:


> Yes, I used my CDN$ Disney Gift cards at Disney owned stores in Disney Springs with no issues at all.


Thanks!


----------



## AngelDisney

Has anyone used Cdn Disney gift cards to pay off Dreams Unlimited Disney Cruise balance? If so, do I just enter the gift card number? Also, how does the exchange rate work? TIA!


----------



## spiffgirl101

AngelDisney said:


> Has anyone used Cdn Disney gift cards to pay off Dreams Unlimited Disney Cruise balance? If so, do I just enter the gift card number? Also, how does the exchange rate work? TIA!


I have made payments on my DCL cruise that I booked online, you just go to your reservation on the DCL site and choose Gift Card as the payment option. I am not sure how it works if you booked through a TA, but I think you can still do it. I cannot remember what I did the last time I took a DCL cruise when I used a TA (7 yrs ago).


----------



## AngelDisney

spiffgirl101 said:


> I have made payments on my DCL cruise that I booked online, you just go to your reservation on the DCL site and choose Gift Card as the payment option. I am not sure how it works if you booked through a TA, but I think you can still do it. I cannot remember what I did the last time I took a DCL cruise when I used a TA (7 yrs ago).


Thanks for replying! Yes, I booked with DU and it seems that Disney GC can be used but I am not sure how it works with the Cdn Disney GC as I have to put it the amount I want to process. Should I put in a note saying whatever the amount in USD on the Cdn GC?


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## spiffgirl101

I


AngelDisney said:


> Thanks for replying! Yes, I booked with DU and it seems that Disney GC can be used but I am not sure how it works with the Cdn Disney GC as I have to put it the amount I want to process. Should I put in a note saying whatever the amount in USD on the Cdn GC?


 I go onto the Disney gift card site and see what the balance of my card is in USD - it usually displays the USD balance. You would have to register your card for this to work. Then I go to the DCL site and put that amount as payment.

If you are only paying a portion from your gift card, you would have to divide the display amount (USD) from the CDN balance and find out what exchange they are using.

I hope this helps!


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## AngelDisney

spiffgirl101 said:


> I
> 
> I go onto the Disney gift card site and see what the balance of my card is in USD - it usually displays the USD balance. You would have to register your card for this to work. Then I go to the DCL site and put that amount as payment.
> 
> If you are only paying a portion from your gift card, you would have to divide the display amount (USD) from the CDN balance and find out what exchange they are using.
> 
> I hope this helps!



Yes, it’s helpful! It makes sense to check the balance first then apply the same amount. Thanks!


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## tinkerone

AngelDisney said:


> Yes, it’s helpful! It makes sense to check the balance first then apply the same amount. Thanks!


Just keep in mind, if they don't post the payment today then the balance could be different tomorrow.  The rate fluctuates and could change overnight then your total would be off.  I would just ask them to apply the balance and subtract what I owe today with what I owe tomorrow to know how much was truly applied to the cruise.


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## Iralyn

Nevermind...I figured out the answer to my own question!


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## ilovetotravel1977

I just bought a $25 and $50 card at Walmart tonight. I went to add them to the website and I got the message "Ooops, something is wrong..."  When I call the 1-877 number on the back it says I have those balances.

Did the cashier maybe not ring them in correctly, which means they are not activated?

Can I bring them back to Walmart with my receipt and either get new ones or them to refund and then repurchase them?

Edit: Fixed my own issue...


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