One of our favorite ways to pay for our trips is through the use of Disney Gift Cards.  We always try to buy these at a discount using various strategies.  We used to heavily use the Target Gift Card Stacking Strategy until it died over the summer.  Since that time, we’ve been reduced to getting just a 5% discount, either through cash back (with the Target Red Card) or with Chase Ultimate Reward Points that we can use for free airline flights or hotel rooms. 

Luckily, we follow Shawn Coomer at Miles To Memories.  Shawn is always posting great American Express offer links.  American Express offers are special deals that you can link to your American Express cards.  The deals are like coupons, but they are electronic and are triggered when you purchase a certain amount from select merchants. 

On October 29th, Shawn posted that there was a Sam’s Club deal that was valid on gift card purchases.  With this deal, you could get a 20% credit on any purchase up to $1250 (up to $250 in savings).   Since most of the gift cards at Sam’s Club are already discounted by about 5%, this additional credit could provide a huge savings!  I quickly loaded up the American Express mobile app on my phone to see if I had the offer linked to any of my cards.  I found it linked to my SPG card.

I had the offer, but I had to get to a Sam’s Club to make the purchase since it wasn’t available online.  I don’t have a membership, but a friend was kind enough to take me to the local warehouse to make the purchase.  We went on a Saturday morning and I found these little beauties…

There was a slight problem though, because I also found these:

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the posted price was different on the two displays.  I grabbed 9 packs and headed for the register.  The difference in price caused us a slight delay while the cashier got the manager.  I had taken a picture of the price (not just for the blog post!), but the manager wanted to see the display.  Once she saw the display, she was happy to adjust the price.  She fiddled with the register a bit and then let the cashier ring up the 9 packs for a total of $1286.82.  That represented $1350 of Disney Gift Cards, for a discount of 4.68% (before applying the AmEx offer).  As soon as I made the purchase, I got the email from American Express saying that I had activated the offer.

I had paid $1036.82 for $1350 worth of Disney Gift Cards, for a total discount of 23.2%.  That’s a great savings!  We are going to be applying these towards a cruise we booked using a 10% on board booking discount.  That doesn’t include the credit card points I received on the purchase either.  

So, normally this would be the end of the story.  However, when I got home, one of the packs of gift cards refused to load.  I normally consolidate the cards using the Disney Gift Card site.  I couldn’t get the pack to load.  After looking over the receipt, it was apparent that the cashier had scanned one of the packs twice and had skipped one of the packs (the one I was trying to load).  This resulted in a return trip the next morning to get it sorted out.  After a brief explanation, the manager happily gave me another pack of cards to replace the pack that didn’t activate.   I was able to load those right away without problem.

Shawn Coomer at Miles To Memories also pointed out two other deals that will be worth looking at.  There is a $25 off $100 purchase at BJ’s wholesale club American Express offer available.  There are various ways to get a free 3 month membership at BJ’s, so non-membership shouldn’t be a road block.  BJ’s sells $100 worth of Disney Gift Cards for $94.99.  You might need to add something to your cart to get over $100, but you’ll be enjoying that $100 Disney Gift Card for $74.99.  I was able to link the BJ’s offer and a $25 off $250 purchase at Best Buy offer as well.  I will be using those offers next month to pay for future trips to Walt Disney World!

Let us know what some of your favorite ways are to save money for going to Disney!

 

 

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