I'm not sure where to post this. I have been saving money for my neices to spend at Disney when we go. Can I give the money to the front desk and tell them to put it on their room key so they can use that instead of carrying around cash? I hope that makes sense. If not what can I do so they don't have to carry the cash or disney dollars? Thank you to anyone that can help.
Back to the original question:
Yes, this is possible. In fact, I do it every time I stay on-site.
You can put down cash, travellers checks, Disney Dollars, or Disney Gift Cards as a deposit to enable the charging feature on your room key. If you have any left over when you check out, it will be refunded to you in cash (no other option, unless the CM happens to have some Disney Dollars in their cash drawer, which is not always the case).
As others mentioned, you also have to option to have a credit card swiped instead of putting down cash.
One thing to remember is that many check-in CMs don't know how to do this, or even know that it
can be done. They all know how to do it with a credit card, but many don't know that it can be done with cash, and a few even think that it can't be done with cash and might tell you so.
If the CM tells you that you can't do it with cash, or that credit cards are the only thing you can use to enable the charging feature, don't panic! Don't get upset, don't get nervous. In fact, smile. Be patient. Tell the CM that yes, it is possib;e, and if he doesn't know how, he can call his manager over to show him, because all of the managers know how it's done.
About 2/3 of the check-in CMs I've had over the years didn't know how to do this procedure with cash and had to call the manager. About 1/3 of them actually told me it couldn't be done. But it can, and it doesn't take long once the manager shows them how.