How do you pay in the parks?

[O-Jo]

I've been to DL once before, but it was before we became WDW vets, so I feel like a newbie again. I'm so used to charging everything to the room at WDW, but now we'll be staying offsite and I'm wondering about every little snack and drink and souvenir. So tell me, do you charge everything throughout the day to cc, bring lots of cash, another brilliant idea? Any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

[erocrobro]

I bought a lot of gift cards and used those. I carried a little cash for the carts that didn't take them, although we found there were very few that wouldn't. I bought all of them at Target using my Target card to get the additional 5% off.

 

[StyledSugar]

We normally bring cash/travellers cheques. Most of all that's because of the crazy exchange on credit cards most of the time. Last time we stayed at PPH for a couple of days and we charged stuff to the room. Unfortunately we found it far too easy to lose track of everything we spend and will not be doing that this time!

 

[viaggiamo]

Oh cool, I didn't realise that you could charge things to the room!
That's what we will be doing then.

 

[mouseymommy]

I have a pretty good idea of how much we will be spending in food and souvenirs and I buy gift cards in that amount. I like to have most of our trip paid for by the time we leave. It helps me budget.

 

[shishigirl]

This might be a dumb question, but can you use gift cards at all the stores and restaraunts there at the park? We thought about doing this too, but wanted to make sure you can use them anywhere? These are just the ones sold at Disneystore.com right? Thanks!

 

[sonnyjane]

This might be a dumb question, but can you use gift cards at all the stores and restaraunts there at the park? We thought about doing this too, but wanted to make sure you can use them anywhere? These are just the ones sold at Disneystore.com right? Thanks!

The only place you can't use them in the parks is at the rolling carts, for example the ones that sell glow sticks or ice cream bars. Other that that, if it's a stationary location and can take a credit card, it can also take a gift card. The restaurants in Downtown Disney, however, do not take Disney gift cards.

 

[shishigirl]

The only place you can't use them in the parks is at the rolling carts, for example the ones that sell glow sticks or ice cream bars. Other that that, if it's a stationary location and can take a credit card, it can also take a gift card. The restaurants in Downtown Disney, however, do not take Disney gift cards.

Thank you!! Thats good to know the Downtown Disney restaurants dont take them. We are eating at a few of those. I think we might do this.

 

[nikkislaght]

We get Disney Gift cards for Christmas and birthdays, and then once a month we get a three pack of $15. ones.. by the time we go we have a ton of "money" and havent really missed it over the year..

The Disney store in DTD takes the gift cards..

 

[StyledSugar]

Can you buy the gift cards at World of Disney? We arrive on Christmas Eve and would like to purchase some for the kids for Christmas.

Does anyone know if the ones purchased at a Disney Store here in Canada would work there as well?

 

[Ingrid0382]

We like to take out a certain amount of cash and stick to only paying with that. We decide what we feel we can afford before we leave for Anaheim and try to plan our meals and stuff around that figure. Using cash forces me to think about what I'm spending my money on. Do I really want ice cream today if it will cut into another expense tomorrow? (The answer is usually "Yes. YESSSSS!!!!!" I'm a work in progress.)

 

[scoker]

I do the gift card thing too. I purchase them at a grocery store that gives points that allow you to earn a discount on gas. I used gift cards to pay for tickets, stuff in the parks and when we stayed on site some of the room cost. The savings can add up.

 

[rszdtrvl]

Cash!

When we go on vacation, we take a specific amount of cash. We pay cash for EVERYTHING while on vacation. It makes it easy to not over-spend by using a credit card.

We have always done it this way. Works great for us, and we always return with money at the end of our trip.

 

[Blue32]

Does anyone know if you can use gift cards at the hotel restaurants? Like for the character meals?

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Does anyone know if you can use gift cards at the hotel restaurants? Like for the character meals?

Yes you can! We'll be using at Disney gift card when we dine at Goofy's Kitchen later this month

 

[larina]

We pay cash. We got a gift card for my oldest, so she wouldn't have to carry cash.

 

[Khiori]

Cash for food/impulse buys. Credit if it's something over $50 or so. Generally it's all cash though (except room and tickets)

 

[DarthMole]

We had gift cards and credit cards on our last two trips. I'm not a huge fan of gift cards only because of the need to keep track of what's on them. Although I did pick up a bunch at Target around the holidays last year when they had a coupon for a $10 Target GC when you spent $50 and it worked on gift card purchases. I ended up with 20 - $50 Disney gift cards and $200 in target gift cards, - 5% from using our Target Red Card for a total spent of $950. Hope they offer those again this x-mas season but I have a feeling they'll modify it to not allow gift card purchases or figure out a way to limit the number of times you can use the coupon.

Back on topic, credit cards are accepted pretty much everywhere so we carry little cash both in our daily lives and on trips. I've pulled $20 out of the ATM and not touched it for months. As long as we pay off the bill every month, it's so much easier than carrying cash. The only caveat is if you are on a strict budget or feel that cash (or GCs) will help you stay on a budget, go that route for sure. Credit cards can be trouble. Been there, done that.

 

[Mary09]

I use a credit card for everything, everywhere, and pay it off every month. I hate cash. I did Disney gift cards one FL vacation and I found them to be a pain.

 

[darlenesmommy]

We did 90% from gift cards and kept track once they were gone we used out debt card that we use for vacations.