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I mentioned yesterday that Albertsons (and their affiliate stores: Jewel, Acme, Cub, Farm Fresh & Shaws.) have a *HOT* promo that runs through June 18, 2011, where you will get a $20 Albertson’s Catalina when you buy $100 in gift cards.
I already had about $1000 saved up for our trip, so I am using that money to buy Disney gift cards that I will use to purchase our Disney tickets, food and souvenirs. I also picked up some restaurant gift cards too. I will be using the $20 certificates for our grocery budget for the week, which means I will be able to take the grocery money I would have spent and add it to our Disney fund! Woo Hoo!
I went to Albertsons yesterday to pick up some gift cards for our Disney trip, and here are some things I learned:
UPDATE: Check this post HERE for an update on another type of Disney gift card.
Albertsons sells Disney gift cards in the amount of $25 and $50. If you plan on using these to buy your theme park tickets online, they will allow 3 gift cards per transaction, and the remainder will need to be paid with a credit card. I don’t believe there is a limit in the actual parks though, so you could just pick up your park tickets when you get there. Please call to confirm, if you decide to go this route.
The current prices for Disneyland 3 day Park Hoppers when purchased online are as follows (prices will go up 6/12):
- $165 (ages 3-9)
- $186 (ages 10+)
UPDATE: Just found out Disney prices are going up on 6/12!! You can find all the details on the price increase HERE. If you have the money, you may want to buy your tickets now.
These gift cards can be used at the hotels, restaurants, and shops at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. They can also be used at any Disney Store location and online at DisneyStore.com. You can read all the FAQ pertaining to the Disney Gift Cards to answer any specific question you have.
You DO NOT want to purchase the Disneyland Park Hoppers at Albertsons, because they will not generate the $20 Catalina coupon. Since they are actual park passes, they are not considered gift cards.
Think about any restaurants you may eat at while you are there. We always have a special dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, so I picked up $100 in gift cards for our dinner. Dinner with 7 people gets kind of expensive, if we go out to a nicer restaurant we easily spend $100. OUCH!!
Here are some restaurants in the Anaheim area:
- Cheesecake Factory (Anaheim GardenWalk)
- McDonalds (across from the maingate)
- Jamba Juice (Downtown Disney)
- McCormick & Schmick’s (W Katella Ave) – Maegen from Sounds Fun Mom tipped me off to the fact that they have Happy Hour, where you can get a full size burgers and fries for only 3.00!!
If you plan on flying Southwest Airlines, you could also pick up several $100 Southwest gift cards. Southwest will allow you to use 3 gift cards and one credit card per transaction. (Thanks to Angela from The Coupon Project for the info.)
Will you be driving or have a rental car? There is a Shell Gas station on West Ball Rd, so you can use one of the gift cards to fill your tank.
When purchasing gift cards with this deal, you do need to keep in mind that the $20 Catalina will expire in one week from the time you receive it. This gift card promo runs through 6/18. You can receive up to (5) $20 Catalina’s per transaction, so there is no need to do multiple transactions, unless of course you are buying more than $500 in gift cards.
These ideas will work for anywhere you are vacationing, not just the Disney Theme Parks. Do you plan on picking up some gift cards? If so, which ones?
Gas cards for our drive to Cali. Wished I would’ve waited on the disney gift cards. Bought those a week and a half ago. Oh well! Thanks!
Disney…love it, but haven’t been there in years since we lived in S. Cali way back when! Maybe our next trip?! Do those Park Hopper passes expire? Which parks are included as I have never seen those before? BTW, love your site and wishing you a magical time on your trip! 🙂
Can you use the $20 cat on more gift cards, in a separate transaction?
@Heather Yes, the Park Hoppers do have expiration dates. The ones I purchased are for Disneyland and California Adventure and they expire 12/31/11.
@Kim No, the Catalina’s cannot be used to purchase gift cards. It would be great if they could!
Hey, love your site! You mentioned above “Albertson Affliate stores.” How can you find out which stores those are? We don’t have an Albertsons in my area anymore. Thanks!
@Cheryl Here the some of Albertsons affiliate stores: Jewel, Acme, Cub, Farm Fresh & Shaws.
Christy,
I’m SO dense since I’m not a Disney fan, however we are considering going in the fall.
1) If I buy the tix before 6/12 I get the lower price but can still use them in thru 12/31/11, correct?
2) If I buy 1 ticket per transaction & use 3 gift cards & use the balance on my Visa, how much is the shipping/transaction fee? I’m just curious if it saves money to do individual transactions.
TIA!
@Heather I will try to get past the part where you said you are not a Disney fan. 🙂 Yes, if you buy them prior to 6/12 you will get the lower price, and they can still be used through 12/31/11. I would only purchase them if you are SURE you are going.
If you buy the tickets online, you are getting them for about $20 cheaper than if you bought them at the gate, so that is a good reason to purchase them online.
When you buy them online, they give you several delivery options, you can print them out, have them mailed to you, or pick them up at will call. The only option that is FREE is to print them out. I would choose this option anyway, it’s so much simpler than picking them up.
You just take your receipt print out to directly to the gate and they will exchange it for an actual Disney ticket/card that you will use for the rest of your visit. You don’t have to wait in line at a ticket window to have it exchanged. Buying them online and printing them at home saves you time and money.
We love going in the fall, it’s one of the best times to go! Beautiful weather and it’s less crowded (unless your going at Thanksgiving).
If you have anymore questions, let me know – I am happy to help!!
I’m confused. I was told last night at Albertsons that you could only buy $100 worth of gift certificates per Albertsons loyalty card/per day, with a total limit of $500 for the entire promo period. The “rules & regulations” listed on the promo were confusing to me as well. Were you able to purchase all your gift cards all together and still receive the $20 cat for each set of $100 gift cards you purchased?
Thanks for the great ideas. My Mom, my daughter, and I are taking a road trip in July with my Mom’s RV. We are going from Oregon through Vegas, northern Arizona, and into Utah. We’ll stop at Cracker Barrel in Boise on the way home. I’ve got all my vacation money saved up so I think I’ll check out Albertsons tomorrow and see if they carry Cracker Barrel and I’ll buy some gas cards too. I’ve never eaten at Cheesecake Factory but it sounds good. I’m going to see if there are any restaurants where we are headed and if so, I’ll buy some of those too!!
Do you have to make seperate purchases? Can I buy $200 in Gift Cards at once and get $40 in catalina money or do I have to make seperate $100 gift card purchases?
This is just an idea, but since I don’t usually spend too much at albertsons each week and the cats expire in a week, do you think I could use them to buy something nonperishable that I could then return when I want to spend more there? I would need to buy a whe lot of g cards for our fam of 6 and I usually only hit albies during their doubler weeks, hopefully not spending much money, so I’d rather be able to spend it more at my own pace!
Just thought I would mention that if you’re truly trying to save money on a vacation to a Disney park you’re usually best to get a package deal (hotel and tickets together). For example Disney World has a deal right now that if you purchase your hotel stay with tickets from Aug. 28 – Sept. 24 you’ll receive the dining plan for free. This means your meals will be FREE!! This is one of the best deals of the year!! So I would suggest buying the gift cards and then using those to pay for your package. I’m a travel agent and I love saving my clients money and this is one of the best ways when traveling to Disney.
Thanks for the great info! I had to share it with one of my friends who’s going to Disneyland in the fall.
Are there many Shell gas stations on the way to LA along I-5? We are driving down that way in about 2 1/2 weeks!
Christy. thanks for the info on the expiration dates. I mentioned Disney to my husband over dinner and his face lit up like a kid! 🙂 Will have to seriously consider going. 😉
And I wanted to say to Mindy that I am not sure about the returning thing, but we needed a new mower from Lowes so I bought gift cards. I was like you thinking whollyheck what am I seriously going to buy with these cats when I want to spend as little as I can. So I used it to buy things that don’t normally have a lot of coupons & could easily freeze. With the first two Cats I bought all “meats” (steaks, roasts, ground turkey, etc) with BOGOs, Mgrs Special stickers, etc I picked up approx. $95 worth of meat (11 pkgs) for only $.36 after the $40 savings. I used the third one for a large stockup of the $.88cents/lb chicken deal and berries. OOP was only $.76 cents! Could have went all meats, but berries were calling me… 🙂
I purchased 35 $100 Disney gift cards @ Sam’a Club for about $98 a piece. They also came with a bonus $10 Disney Store gift card. I was able to use them over the phone one by one to pay for our Disney Dining Plan. Then when we arrived, I used them one by one to pay our extra room charges and buy 3 season passes. Just call guest services!
With the bonus $350 in Disney Store gift cards, I ordered over the phone and used multiple. I also used five at the physical outlet here in Texas. Good Luck!
@Lisa You are allowed to receive (5) $20 Catalina’s per transaction when you purchase the gift cards. When you redeem them, you can only redeem 1 per transaction.
So far, I have bought $700 worth of gift cards in 3 transactions and I have received (7) $20 Catalina coupons.
@Angie You do not have to do separate transactions, you can buy up to $500 in one transaction, and get (5) of the $20 Catalina’s. There is a limit of 5 Catalina’s per transaction.
@Christy, thank you so much for clearing that up. That is great news!
i just wanted to let you all know that southwest air lines is the only air lines that allows 2 checked bags for free all the other ones charge you for the 2nd one.and all others after that. that is 2 bags per person.
If you’re headed out to grab Disney gift cards last minute I wanted to tell you to look for the ones that can have ANY value up to $1500. If your store has those (they were Disney Princess ones at mine) then you can put $100 on each one and get around the requirement to use only 3 gift cards in a single ticket purchase on the Disneyland website (since if you only used 3 $50 ones to buy a $216 Adult 6 Day Pass you’d have to pay the rest on a card, as noted above). I just did this today, bought 8 sets, used 3 per ticket and that covered all 4 tickets I bought, plus I got $160 in Albertsons bucks to use. 🙂
THANK YOU!!!
FRIENDS FYI ON THE GAS GIFT CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The catalina WILL NOT generate for gas gift cards, though it’s not stated in the exclusions, it’s one of them. We had to deal with a night mare of a situation at Albertson’s last night. I’m just glad I tried the $100 in the transaction, rather than forking out the $500.
Thanks for the post. My husband & I went last night & picked up $100 in Regal, $50 McDonalds, and $50 Subway gift cards for our trip @ the end of July. I’m putting together my shopping list to use the $20 X’s two off!!!!
Here’s something to consider on the Disney gift cards: a lot of websites and even Costco out there offer discounted park hopper tickets. Paying at the gate or buying directly from Disney’s website can be the most expensive way to go. So make sure your $20 Catalina is worth the deal. You could save more money by getting the Disney park hoppers elsewhere. Just a thought!
Does is just include Southwest airlines….do they have a gift card for Alaska Airlines and if so is it included in the catalina……HAWAII sounds great.
Thanks so much