However, I was hoping to simply the process somewhat while in the parks. When we use gift cards, I don’t want to have to write down each time what we spent until a given gift card is used up.
Instead, what I’d like so to start the trip with a master list of gift cards, and then a link…if I tap the link on my phone, it should just load up the page directly with the balance.
I thought I’d check here first to see if anyone has done such a thing and figured out what that link might look like.
If no one has, I’ll see if I can figure it out myself. I just hate to have to enter the card numbers over and over to check their balances, and also hate to have to remember to jot everything down! Call me lazy.
Yeah, but then I have to carry a writing utensil with me. How quaint.
But I just noticed something I never noticed before. You can set up an account on that website. There is a link to “My Cards”. So it seems I might be able to accomplish what I want directly from the website itself and I didn’t even realize it until I started digging a big.
We just used the receipts to keep track of the balance. But, if you want to do it online, I don’t think you have to enter the number each time? It should keep track of the balance for you.
Further follow up. I just set up an account. You can only have a maximum of 5 gift cards. We already own more than that…but I guess I can consolidate them.
What we’ve done in the past is give a gift card to each of our kids that they can use for snacks throughout the trip. So I prefer to keep the gift cards separate.
Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but here’s how I handle gift cards for Disney:
Each person who is old enough to carry one gets one with their name on it (in Sharpie) pre-loaded with an appropriate amount of money for the day. Any other gift cards can stay locked in the hotel safe (or at home, bear with me). Other gift card money is loaded on other cards that I have linked to the gift card site. Each night, I reload everyone’s physical gift card with the money they’ll need for the next day. That way you don’t have to keep track of many cards that you carry with you and worry about how much money is left. Use the website to transfer funds when needed. Just make sure you label the cards on the website with each person’s name so you know who is who if you’re giving different people different amounts of money.
Edit: I forgot about the 5 card limit. Can you get around it if you have an account for you and your wife? Will that allow you to load enough funds if you have one card each as a “bank” loaded to the max (I think $1000) and then 4 other cards for family use?
The 5 gift card limit kind of stinks. They also limit you to $1000 on one gift gard (I may buy all my at Sam’s for slight discount to pay for our whole trip). I mean, it’s enough to pay for 1 or 2 TS Adult meals so worth the hassle.
Also, I think you can only transfer the full gift card amount over from one card to another, so you can’t transfer say $75 out of $100 off of a card onto another card, it’s all or nothing.
The great thing is if you only have like 5 cards (or maybe 10 if you set-up 2 separate accounts) is that if you happen to “lose” a card somewhere in the park, you can logon and transfer the money off the account before someone is able to go use it.
So, if I combine the balances of several cards into one, and then I want to refill the cards I give my kids, I couldn’t because now I’d have to transfer the entire balance over!
This makes the idea of combining them out of convenience rather inconvenient.
Oh, well. I’ll figure that all out. But in the very least I can check my balances easily enough for 5 cards.
That is correct, from what I’ve seen on site and experience, you can’t transfer partial amount. If you have a bunch of $25 gift cards, you can leave them be, and then transfer them over each night to keep amount lower for kid’s, but yeah, it’s kind of janky that you can’t transfer partial amount.
I’ve got the obvious solution! Purchase many many gift cards with only $1 on each. That way, when it is time to make a purchase, you simply count out the correct number of cards and throw them away when you’re done! It’s so easy! No mobile web management of cards required.
