So we have our money for our vacation and have been looking into the process of buying GCs and putting them into the Disney Vacation Account to pay for our trip. I was wondering if there are any down sides or “be aware of” issues that go with it? DH brought up the point asking if we put the GCs into the Disney Savings Account (DSA) and purchase the trip/insurance. We are “locked” into going because we used GCs. He is concerned about something happening and us not being able to go and all that money being locked into Disney.
I know if we put the money into GCs and put that into an DSA and want a refund from that we have to have it go back on a GC and I can see that locking the money in. But if we put GCs into the DSA and purchase the vacation package (room/tickets/dinning) and something happens and we can’t just reschedule, and have to actually cancel we would have the trip insurance and if its not covered by insurance we can cancel up to a certain time and Disney will only charge a little fee to no fees (depending on time before trip), right? how they refund the money if we do have to cancel after we purchase everything? Would it have to go back on to the DSA or do they just issue a check?
We would save about $296 by buying the GCs, but my DH has me worried now that “if” (I hate “ifs”) something happens we are locked into Disney and no way of getting our money back.
Sorry so long. Thanks in advance for any opinions you might have.
Well after looking into it more I think I answered my own question, looks like no matter how its done with GCs it is locked into GCs? So now to either convince DH that the Disney Pixie Dust won’t let anything happen and we can go with GCs or just use cash and miss out on the $296 savings. Ugh.
If using a Disney Vacation Account, you would get all of your money back- assuming you cancel before the deadline- in Disney GCs. After the deadline you would get your money back- less cancellation penalties- on the Disney gift cards you used to put the money in. No checks are involved, they credit back the original form of payment whether or not cancellation fees are involved. They would put the money back on the same gift cards you used to put the money into the account, so don’t throw them away. Have no clue how trip insurance would work in this situation, and it is such an unusual method of payment I would guess you will be hard pressed to find anyone that has done it this way, then had to cancel after the deadline and use their insurance policy.
EDIT: We booked a room only reservation at AKL CL this December, and paid it off- as well as paid for our APs- using a DVA and discounted Disney GCs. It is a good way to save some extra money- but your situation seems complicated- so make sure you are comfortable before proceeding. There are ways to save even more money- and there is another thread on these boards that addresses how to go about it. Good Luck.
Thanks @Happy_2_B you have confirmed what I was thinking. I can’t see anything happening that would change us going short of death and we would have more things to worry about at that point. I think I will try and talk him into the GC way of doing it, saving $296 is a big chunk.