There’s some good news for those who are sitting on a stack of gift cards for Disney+ (the streaming service) having mistaken them for regular Disney gift cards. Going forward, Disney+ gift cards will function in the same way as normal Disney gift cards.
Up until now, Disney+ gift cards could only be redeemed for the streaming service. That led to an unfortunate – but well-publicized – case a few years ago where a family bought $10,000 worth of Disney+ gift cards at a discount to redeem for a dream Disney trip, only to discover they couldn’t be used for that. Ultimately, that ended up working out OK for the family as Disney agreed to convert the Disney+ gift cards to regular Disney credit.
However, I’m sure they’re not the only ones who’ve made the same error. As a result, I suspect that Disney is making this change in order to prevent this from being an issue going forward. Whether that’s out of the goodness of their heart or because they’re tired of being bombarded with complaints by irate prospective customers is another matter.
This new stance can be found in the FAQs on the Disney gift card website:
Can I use a Disney+ Gift Card like a regular Disney Gift Card?
Yes, a Disney+ Gift Card activated in the US will function like a Disney Gift Card activated in the US. A Disney+ Gift Card activated in Canada will function like a Disney Gift Card activated in Canada. Disney+ Gift Cards from other countries will continue to only be redeemed for Disney+ in those countries.
That’s fantastic news because it might open up new avenues for obtaining substantial discounts on Disney gift cards. Grocery stores and other gift card retailers sometimes run promotions that provide a better discount – and more frequent discounts – on Disney+ gift cards than they do for standard Disney gift cards. If that disparity continues, that’ll prove to be lucrative for savvy buyers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney eventually reverts to having only one type of Disney gift card though. After all, there’s not really much point in producing Disney+ branded gift cards if they’re no longer solely redeemable for the Disney+ streaming service. That said, Amazon issues both Amazon gift cards and Kindle gift cards which are functionally the same thing, so perhaps Disney will do something similar.
h/t Waymer44
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I really wish I could have been there to see the look on this family’s face when they got all the way to Disney and found out their gift cards would only buy them 52 years worth of streaming services.