TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A couple made a pricey mistake while planning a trip to Disney World.
In a now-viral TikTok video, Andie Coston explained that her parents purchased $10,000 worth of gift cards, hoping to use them at the Orlando resort.
A week before Coston and her 16 relatives were scheduled to leave for their vacation, they realized the gift cards were for Disney+, the online streaming service, not Disney World.
Coston said her family was supposed to go to Disney in 2020, but the pandemic upended their plans. So they moved their vacation to Christmas 2023.
“We leave in 6 days and the parks are selling out of tickets because it’s Christmas. My mom is distraught, Dad frustrated, and the kids worried we won’t get into Disney,” Coston wrote in the Dec. 18 video, which amassed more than 2.9 million views.
Coston told Fox’s Orlando affiliate, WOFL, that her parents bought the gift cards from Sam’s Club, not realizing they couldn’t be used at Disney’s theme parks.
She said the gift cards could buy 70 years’ worth of the streaming service at its current annual subscription price of $139.99.
“My parents are 78, they don’t use streaming services,” Coston wrote in her video.
“We need help,” she added. “It is not about the funding of the trip. It is about finding someone who can help us transfer the money into the correct gift card so we can make it to Disney!”
In a follow-up video, Coston shared that Disney contacted her parents and said it would convert the streaming service gift cards into $10,000 worth of Disney Parks gift cards.
“I’m glad that this is resolved. I hate that this is what it took,” she said. “I’m really hoping Disney takes note of this and creates a little bit better system.”
