Family Realizes Horrible Mistake After $10,000 in Disney Gift Cards Don't Work

One family made a horrible mistake that led to them losing $10,000 and their entire Disney park vacation all in one fell swoop.

While shopping online for gift cards, it pays to read the bottom line before you hit the purchase button.

That's a lesson TikToker Andrea Coston, who runs the @AoftheCoast account, learned the hard way when her family was working to plan their Disney vacation this year.

In a recent video, Coston, who lives in Illinois, shared the gut-punching story of realizing her family had spent $10,000 not toward the Disney trip at all, but instead on Disney Plus streaming service gift cards.

She said originally her family was planning the trip in 2020, but when the pandemic hit, they delayed their plans.

"We finally planned it for this Christmas," Coston said. "All 16 of my family members are going."

To save some money, Coston's parents decided to purchase $10,000 in Disney gift cards that could go to tickets and restaurant reservations. However, that's when the costly mistake ensued.

"I went home this weekend and they were having problems loading the gift cards correctly and purchasing the tickets," Coston said.

After this, she realized the error. Instead of $10,000 in gift cards to the Disney parks, the parents had paid for gift cards for Disney's relatively new streaming service, Disney+.

"Yup, we have $10,000 of Disney+ streaming services," Coston said. "That's over seventy years of Disney+."

Upon the realization, the family was sent into a panic trying to figure out how to recover their money and apply it to the original vacation.

"We need help. It's not about the money. It's about getting the money in the right form," Coston said.

The family originally intended to leave in six days, but the parks were selling out of tickets due to the Christmas holiday.

"My mom is distraught, dad frustrated and the kids worried that we won't get into Disney," Coston said in her video.

Coston said her parents originally got the gift cards online without being aware that Disney+, the streaming service, was different from Disney World.

"My 20-year-old niece made an offhand comment that the cards were for Disney Plus about ten minutes before Disney Customer Service confirmed that," Coston told Newsweek.

Not the First Time

This is likely not the first time a family has gotten confused by the difference between Disney World or Disneyland and the company's newer streaming entertainment service, Disney+.

Financial expert Michael Ryan of michaelryanmoney.com, who lives just a few hours south of Disney, said many people he knows have found themselves in a similar situation.

"Even my brilliant cousin had a similar, albeit smaller, mix-up once," Ryan told Newsweek. "These kinds of gift card mistakes happen more often than you'd think."

While going to customer service is your best option to resolve the issue quickly, there are also ways to look out from falling into this blunder in the first place.

Ryan recommends shoppers always double and triple check the product description before making a purchase, even if it means slowing down to grab a great deal.

You should also read through the terms and conditions.

Typically, even if you do make a mistake like this, customer service can walk you through how to get a refund or exchange.

"Worst case, reselling the gift cards through secure third-party platforms can potentially recoup much of the $10,000 to eventually use on a Disney vacation," Ryan said. "Even at a slight loss, it is better than owning $10,000 of credits to your favorite streaming service."

While most gift cards are nonrefundable, companies tend to work with customers in the case of an honest mistake, as long as your gift card was purchased from the correct place.

"Most gift card issuers want to keep customers so they will usually fix most mistakes, but it won't be without a hassle especially during the holiday season," April Lewis-Parks, the chief communications officer of Consolidated Credit, told Newsweek.

Newsweek reached out to Disney for comment via email.

In the case that customer service leaves you without an option to transfer your money, you can also head to gift card exchange platforms like Raise or Cardpool. These are popular platforms for selling unwanted gift cards at a slight discount.

Even online marketplaces like eBay and Facebook Marketplace are solid avenues to recoup your last cash in a gift card purchase.

Luckily, there's a happy ending in Coston's family's case.

She told Newsweek that after her TikTok gained views, her family got a call from Disney last night. The cards were then transferred to Disney park gift cards and the family was able to purchase their tickets.