Discount Disney gift cards are a popular way to try and save on your Disney vacation, but they’re also complicated—even more complicated than you’d expect. In this post, we’ll explain everything you need to know about Disney gift cards including what makes a good discount, when to plan to use Disney gift cards, and when using them actually costs you money.
The Basics of Disney Gift Cards
We’ll start by getting everyone on the same page about what we're talking about and why.
What Is A Disney Gift Card?
Yes, this is a question that has to be answered. There are actually four different things someone could reasonably refer to as a “Disney Gift Card”:
1. An Actual Disney Gift Card
This is what people usually are talking about and what the rest of this post will be talking about. It’s the standard Disney gift card you can purchase everywhere from the Disney Store to Jewel and that can be used at most Disney locations in the U.S.
2. A Disney Rewards Redemption Card
This is what points earned from using a Disney Rewards Chase Visa get put onto. That is, they are the primary form of redeeming points in the Disney Rewards program. Like a Disney gift card, it can be used at most Disney locations in the U.S. Unlike a gift card, you don’t buy and sell these or give them away, they’re simply there to hold the points you’ve earned using a Disney credit card.
Disney Rewards Redemption Card
3. A Disney Store Merchandise Credit
Not many people would call this a “Disney gift card” but we want to alert you to the possibility of scams that are selling Disney Store merchandise credits, which come on cards, as “Disney gift cards.” These credits can only be used at the Disney Store, which makes them far less valuable to Disney travelers.
4. A Disney Plus Gift Card
Yea…same as above. You probably wouldn’t think the call a gift card for Disney Plus—the streaming service—a “Disney gift card,” but there was indeed a viral story where a family allegedly confused Disney Plus gift cards for Disney gift cards in planning their trip…so don’t do that.
Where Can I Get A Disney Gift Card?
Pretty much anywhere that sells gift cards these days sells Disney gift cards (places like Walgreens, CVS, wherever you buy your office supplies, etc. are obvious option). We cover some of the best places to find Disney gift card deals below.
Where Can I Use A Disney Gift Card?
Disney gift cards can be used for practically all things Disney:
To pay for Disney vacations, including hotels and tickets. These include visits to: Walt Disney World resort, Disneyland resort, Aulani, Disney Cruise Line, Hilton Head, Island, Vero Beach, and Adventures by Disney
For pretty much anything else you purchase from Disney at those locations
At Disney Stores nationwide
Are Disney Gift Cards Better or Worse Than Cash?
Dollar for dollar Disney gift cards are (like all gift cards) worse than cash since they can only be spent at Disney locations. But if you’re already committed to spending a significant amount of money at a Disney destination, then they’ll be basically as good as cash for you.
Moreover, there are ways to get discount Disney gift cards, and that’s where the real value lies. If you’re taking a Disney vacation anyways and are able to get Disney gift cards at a discount, there are some good opportunities to save, which we go more into below.
How Much can I save with Discount Disney Gift Cards?
Before we get into the weeds of how to get these discounts, let’s look at the bottom line. You can reasonably expect to save between 5% and 10% on your trip using discounted gift cards. (How we got these figures is discussed much more below.)
5% is the baseline. Using a Target RedCard (discussed below) or any variety of credit cards offering 5% back on certain purchases makes it pretty easy to save 5%.
10% is more or less the maximum. With the right combination of luck, credit cards, and possibly wholesale store memberships, you can get to 9%. With a further push, usually requiring a credit card with a hefty annual fee, you can get to 11.2%. I’m not aware of any easy methods to get you to 10%.
Finally, keep in mind these are amounts off the cash rate Disney charges. This is going to be a big deal for two reasons. First, if you have a credit card that gets you 3% back on all travel purchases, you’re already close to 5% off your Disney trip. Second, if someone other than Disney is offering hotels / tickets for more than 5%-10% off the Disney rate, you don’t need discounted gift cards.
How Can I Find Discount Disney Gift Card Deals?
When we use the phrase “discount Disney gift card,” we’re actually talking about two different things, sometimes combined.
The first is the more common and obvious use of the term. You’re getting a Disney gift card at a discount when you purchase a gift card for less than the value of the card. A purchase of $50 in Disney gift cards for $45 cash is a purchase of discount Disney gift cards.
One thing we don’t count as a discount is just using credit card points or cash back you earned to purchase gift cards. If you have $100 of cash back sitting in a credit card account, that’s as good as any other $100. If you decide to spend it on a $100 Disney gift card, it’s no better than using any other $100 to buy a $100 gift card. Of course, if you can use that $100 cash back to get $110 in Disney gift cards—as some programs occasionally allow—then you’ve gotten a discount Disney gift card.
The second, and less common way to get a discounted gift card is to purchase it used a credit card that earns a significant amount of cash back or bonus points. Roughly speaking, everyone should be able to get 2% cash back, so a discount involves getting more than 2% or 2X points back.
So let’s say you have a way to get 5% back using a credit card and you purchase a $100 gift card. You’ll get $5 back, meaning the card only cost you $95. If you don’t understand the difference between this and spending your cash back for a gift card, take a second, they’re two very different things.
There are a few methods for earning discounted gift cards and finding Disney gift card deals. We’re going to start with what we consider the best method before moving on to some other options.
Best Method Part 1: Rotating 5% Cash Back Categories
Different credit cards offer different rotating categories in which they’ll give you 5% cash back or points back for spending in those categories. Here’s an example calendar for the Chase Freedom (which has been replaced by the “Freedom Flex” now):
Discover and Citi Dividend are other cards that have rotating 5% back categories. If you can buy gift cards at any of these places, you’ll usually get 5% back. Companies are always trying to devise ways to exclude gift cards from promotions like this, so your mileage may vary.
But we already run into some caveats. First, these categories typically have a $1,500 cap—meaning that if you spend $3,000 at Grocery Stores in the applicable quarter you’d get $75 back on the first $1,500 and whatever the standard rate is (usually 0% or 1%) on the second $1,500.
So if you’re going to spend that $1,500 anyways, you’re not really saving on Disney gift cards by buying them first (especially if it turns out gift cards are excluded from the offer). You ideally want to make your Disney gift card purchases in categories you would not otherwise get the bonus in.
For example, let’s look at January to March. In that quarter, Discover had 5% back at Grocery Stores and Citi had 5% at Home Depot and Gas Stations.
Now, let’s say my local grocery store and local Home Depot both sell Disney Gift Cards. Since I never shop at Home Depot and will definitely spend $1,500 on groceries this quarter, I want to go use my Citi card to buy $1,500 in Disney Gift Cards at Home Depot.
Best Method Part 2: Disney Gift Card Deals At Wholesale Clubs
BJ's is a wholesale club that offers a variety of discounts on Disney gift cards of different sizes. Last I saw, the sweet spot looks to be a $500 gift card for $480, or 4% off. You can see that if you catch the prices during a sale, you might get up to 6% off:
Of course, a BJ’s membership costs $55 annually, so if you’re only a member for the sake of Disney gift cards, you’d need to spend over $1,300 just to break even on the membership cost. (Occasionally you can find a deal where BJ’s will give a membership for $25.)
Sometimes you’ll get so lucky to see a category like “Wholesale Clubs” get 5% back on a credit card like the three discussed above. In that case, you could purchase $1000 in gift cards from BJ's for $960. You’ll get another $48 in cash back on your card, for a net of $912. If your BJ’s membership cost is covered by other purchases, that’s an 8.8% discount on Disney gift cards.
This trick works anywhere that has both a 5% rotating category and where you can find Disney gift cards deals. Sam’s Club is the most notable other popular option for finding Disney gift card deals. As always, we have to disclaim here that “your mileage may vary.”
That 8.8% (which we’ll round up to 9% for the rest of this post) isn’t a huge discount, but it’s a really solid baseline for an easy method, assuming you have a card that participates in a 5% cash back program. We don’t call this the best because it is always the biggest discount—it definitely isn’t. But the combination of ease and discount size is unbeatable.
You can push this method one step further. If you’re using the right combination of cards to earn and use points, you might get further savings. For example, if you earn the points on your Chase Freedom and use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book travel as a Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholder, you’ll earn 4,800 points (960 x 5) that are worth $72 when used to book travel. Then you’re only out $960 - $72 = $888, an 11.2% savings.
Other Disney Gift Card Deals
Most straightforward, there are gift card merchants who buy and sell gift cards online. They sell these at a discount, and you need to be sure to research the legitimacy of any offers (and even then there’s always a risk). You'll typically save 5% buying Disney gift cards this way.
Other Points Deals
You’ll also occasionally stores offering rewards point for Gift Card purchases, as with the Kroger 4x fuel point deal. In addition to the 5X points back discussed above, always check whether your credit card—particularly higher end cards from Chase, American Express, and Citi—get significant points back at stores that sell gift cards. Even if it’s not 5X back, it might be worth considering.
eBay
Here’s the thing about eBay: it is a highly trafficked and thus highly efficient market. You can very rarely get a deep discount from a reputable seller on a genuine product. Discounts usually are about 4%, though you’ll see 8% to 10% occasionally. Personally, we’d stay away from this method. You can get over 8% without risk using our best method, so stick with that.
The best eBay offers max at 8% off.
Buying Gift Cards With Your Target REDCard
Target issues “REDCards” and when you make purchases from Target using your REDCard, you get 5% off. While this discount excludes purchases of Target gift cards, it does NOT exclude purchases of Disney gift cards, which you can purchase at Target. That’s an easy 5% to save if you can’t access the best method.
How Can I Use Points To Get Disney Gift Cards?
This is an important, and oft-confused point. Let’s say you have a credit card that earns 2% cash back that you can redeem as a statement credit. After spending $1000, you have $50 sitting in your account, so you log online and purchase Disney gift cards for $50 and then redeem your statement credit.
These are not discount Disney gift cards. That $50 cash back in your account is as good as any other $50 (you can redeem it for a statement credit, for example). If your card issuer offers you, say, $50 of Disney gift cards for $40 of cash back, then you're getting a discount.
Discover offers discounts on using cash back for a variety of gift cards, but Disney isn't included.
This applies to using points, too. Lots of stores have programs where you earn points for every purchase and allow those points to be spent on Disney gift cards. In general, you should of course spend money at stores that are giving you points back, at least as long as prices are equal.
But using those points for Disney gift cards is the same as spending cash, there's no “Disney” discount involved unless the store is offering you a better rate on Disney gift cards than other products you could buy.
Should You Buy Disney Gift Cards?
We didn't mean to bury the lede, but this is an important question to ask, and it's what prompted us to write this post to begin with. The truth is that this is a much more complicated question than many writers give it credit for.
The Case For Discount Disney Gift Cards
As far as travel hacking and saving on Disney goes, these methods are are pretty straightforward. At the end of the day, you wind up with a Disney gift card in hand, ready to be spent on your vacation, either for less than you spent to get it or with a nice cash back statement credit sitting on your credit card. That's pretty compelling, we admit.
On the face of it, the math is pretty compelling, too. If your Disney vacation costs you $6000 and you can save 9%, you're saving $540, a good amount of money.
The Case Against Discount Disney Gift Cards
The case against chasing down discounted Disney gift cards is simple. Your Disney gift cards can only be used at Disney. Disney does not always have the lowest available rates for hotels, and they never have the lowest rates for tickets. If you can get a bigger discount booking through someone other than Disney than you can get buying gift cards, it doesn't make sense to buy the discount gift cards.
| Suggested Reading: Check out our Guide to Discount Disney Tickets |
When you get your tickets from Undercover Tourist, you are spending less and Disney is making way less than when you buy directly from them. That's why they are happy to have retailers selling gift cards at a small discount. They’re still winning when someone uses them to pay for a vacation.
Using Disney Gift Cards on Hotels And Tickets
People who write articles like “How I Saved Hundreds With Disney Gift Card Deals!” often (but not always) are making a big mistake buying hotels and tickets with those gift cards.
Building off the above section, we want to give you an explanation and example of why they aren't useful for booking hotels and buying tickets.
If you take two lessons away from this post, make them:
Always get at least a 5% discount on Disney gift cards and aim for 9%
Be careful using Disney gift cards for hotels or park tickets
The basic point here is that since you can book Disney hotels and tickets through companies other than Disney at a discount, you won’t get the full value of your Disney gift cards when booking hotels and tickets through Disney.
Let’s say you could get 5% off Disney gift cards, but there was a legitimate site “Always Best Discount Hotels Dot Com” that always had Disney hotels and tickets for 5% off (compared to Disney’s rates). Then it doesn’t make sense to use discount Disney gift cards—save the hassle and book at “Always Best Discount Hotels Dot Com.”
Here’s a real example that shows how this might work…
Booking a Sample Vacation with Disney Gift Cards
Let’s say you have a foolproof method for buying Disney gift cards at 10% off. This is 1% higher than the 9% discount we think is reasonably possible, but it serves our example well (and 10% off is just easier to calculate than 9%).
Here’s a sample booking for a four-day, five-night Disney vacation for a family of four (kids both 10+). Let’s say that Granny (“G” for Gift Cards) finds a good deal on Disney gift cards and books this trip with those gift cards (we're going to round our numbers for simplicity):
Dates — December 7-12, 2023
Hotel — Pop Century — $1,454
Tickets — 4 Day w/ Park Hopper — $2,628
That’s a total of $4,082. With Granny’s method for saving 10% using Disney gift cards, she’ll spend $3,674 on this trip.
Booking a Sample Vacation on Undercover Tourist
Here’s another way for Granny's friend, Hilda (“H” for Mouse “Hacking”) to book that trip. Hilda books through Undercover Tourist at a discount:
Dates — December 7-12, 2023
Hotel — Pop Century — $1,374
Tickets — 4 Day w/ Park Hopper — $2,559
That’s a total of $3,893. At a minimum, Hilda can use a credit card that gets her 2% cash back, meaning she’ll get $78 back, for a net cost of $3,815 or $141 more than Granny spent (Granny’s credit card cashback rates are already baked into her 10% discount on gift cards, and she pays for her trip using those gift cards).
I picked this example based on the trip I would recommend without thinking twice (dates, hotel, ticket type). I didn’t go out of my way to pick a hotel or dates that were deeply discounted on Undercover Tourist, and I still came within $141 (3% of the rack rate trip cost) of the savings you get using discount Disney gift cards.
This is an important point. Yes, if you can get 10% savings on Disney gift cards, and if your combinations of dates-ticket types-hotels doesn’t have particularly deep savings on sites like Undercover Tourist, Expedia, Priceline, and so on, then you might be able to save money on hotels and tickets using discount Disney gift cards.
But that’s a lot of “ifs”, it’s still a huge hassle to get the discount gift cards, and, most importantly, your 10% discount winds up only being about a 4% discount when compared to what you’d pay through a third party like Undercover Tourist. And since there are better ways to use Disney gift cards—which we discuss more below—hotels and tickets will often be a bad use of them.
Here’s When To Use Disney Gift Cards
There actually are a few situations in which having discount Disney gift cards might be your best option for saving. These are three areas where it’s hard (but not impossible) to get discounts other ways. This means if you’re using Disney gift cards that you got at 10% off then you’re getting the full value of your 10% off.
Save on Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney
Savings on these Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney are incredibly hard to come by. Since you can use Disney gift cards for these, this is where you'll get the most value using discount Disney gift cards.
Save on Dining at Disney Locations
At many Disney table service locations, a 10% dining discount is one of the perks of the Chase Disney Visa credit cards. Discounts for Disney World annual passholders are also available. At Disneyland, annual passes get you access to a wide range of discounts at quick service stops as well.
Besides that, this is probably the situation where stocking up on Disney gift cards makes the most sense for most Disney travelers. This can be a great way to add a little bit of savings when planning your budget Disney vacation!
Save on Disney Merchandise
Again, the discounts available to annual passholders and Disney Visa card holders are probably going to be more helpful here in general. But if you don't have that card, then getting discount Disney gift cards might make sense for you.
Closing Thoughts
Everyone wants to save on Disney vacations—they’re way expensive. And discount Disney gift cards definitely can bring some savings to your trip. But it’s important to remember three points.
The first is that it’s actually tough to get the best discounts on Disney gift cards. Yes, 5% is easy, but even 9% will probably require something like a wholesale club membership that costs you an annual fee, mucking up the math on how much you’re actually saving.
Second, things like hotels and tickets that can be bought at discounts elsewhere aren’t the best use of discount Disney gift cards. Of course you want to feel like you’re saving 10% off your $3000 package, but the truth is that probably 5% of that discount can be found just by going to Undercover Tourist (hotels and tickets) or Expedia (hotels).
Finally, if you have to buy something from Disney (like lunch or park-exclusive merchandise), or if discounts are hard to find (like on Disney cruises), then discount Disney gift cards actually can be a good way to save.
What do you use Disney gift cards for? How do you get them?
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.
All Your Other Disneyland Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disneyland planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Disneyland Planning Guide. If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disneyland crowd calendars.
When it comes to hotels, we’ve got reviews of all three Disney hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. As for tickets, check out where to find discount Disneyland tickets.
Know what to ride with our: Disneyland Rides Guide and Disney California Adventure Rides Guide. And just as important, know how to get on the best rides without the wait with our Disneyland and Disney California Adventure FASTPASS and MaxPass Strategy! For the complete guides to a day at the park, we have a One Day Disneyland Itinerary and a One Day Disney California Adventure Itinerary.
We always recommend arriving at the parks early. If you can get access to Extra Magic Hour at Disney California Adventure or Extra Magic Hour and Magic Morning at Disneyland, you’ll have the most time in the parks. Even without those bonus hours, you’ll need to know Rope Drop Strategy at Disneyland and Rope Drop Strategy at Disney California Adventure.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.