Magic bands and money

[MikL99]

I've only been to Disney world 1 time and that was 2 years ago. I believe the magic bands were fairly new at the time. (i could be wrong on that). Last time i gave Disney my credit card info. Then i just payed for everything with my Magic band (tips and purchases). Now what i don't know is did they just bill to my room and then Disney used my credit card at the end of the trip to "Cash out".

What i want to do this time is bring a $500.00 gift card and link it to my account. I also want to used a credit card to pay for anything after that. We have 2 dinners that i have to pay out of pocket for and one of them is Chef Mickey(long story). The $500 won't last long so i want to make sure my Credit card will take over after.

Am I over thinking this? Can you put multiple payment options on your account?

 

[verleniahall]

You can't put a gift card on your accoun t- they can't have a "negative" amount on your account. What you CAN do is use your band to charge to your room, and in the evening or AM you can go the desk with your card and pay it off. After that, yes, they will charge your card before you leave. Each resort has a maxium that can be charged before it automatically gets charged ot your card.

Hope this helped

 

[disneydacey]

This is what I did last time. I charged everything to the room with my MB then went down every other day or so to the front desk and paid with the gift cards. Worked perfect

 

[KarenAylwood]

Ditto on the above. I charged it all to my room then the night before checkout had them run the gift cards (I had 8). If it was going to be much more than that I'd have gone down a few different times to put them on the account.

 

[kristenrice]

My mom and I used our MB's exclusively and each night, when we returned from the parks, we'd stop at the front desk and have them print off our current bill. We used our gift cards to pay the balance down to zero and then we'd start the next day with a clean slate. We had to put a CC on file in order to even have the charging privileges, but we were able to use the gift cards each night without worrying about going over our limit. It was super easy since we decided in advance that any costs that we were going to split 50/50, we would just charge to the room. Then we simply took the total and had them put half of it on her gift card and half on mine. We each brought a gift card to the park and used those for items that we were not going to share.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You can't put a gift card on your accoun t- they can't have a "negative" amount on your account. What you CAN do is use your band to charge to your room, and in the evening or AM you can go the desk with your card and pay it off. After that, yes, they will charge your card before you leave. Each resort has a maxium that can be charged before it automatically gets charged ot your card.

Hope this helped

If your resort reservation was booked as room-only, you will automatically have a balance on your account upon check in. Then it would not be an issue to apply a gc at check in.
If you book as a package, it's 100% prepaid before arrival, and you would start your stay with $0 balance. I've only booked as a package for FD once and I probably didn't have any gc's to apply. I don't recall exactly.
I've never been turned down to apply a gc to my account at check in. This was even when renting DVC points and arriving with $0 balance.

 

[jmmess]

If your resort reservation was booked as room-only, you will automatically have a balance on your account upon check in. Then it would not be an issue to apply a gc at check in.
If you book as a package, it's 100% prepaid before arrival, and you would start your stay with $0 balance. I've only booked as a package for FD once and I probably didn't have any gc's to apply. I don't recall exactly.
I've never been turned down to apply a gc to my account at check in. This was even when renting DVC points and arriving with $0 balance.

Interesting, as I'm usually told you cannot leave a GC credit on the account. Only once did I have a CM apply the full GC to my balance and it left a small credit on the account (~$27).

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Interesting, as I'm usually told you cannot leave a GC credit on the account. Only once did I have a CM apply the full GC to my balance and it left a small credit on the account (~$27).

If you book a Disney resort as room only (no tickets) you only pay a deposit equivalent to the first night's price plus tax. The balance due, assuming your stay is greater than 1 night, is charged to your room account once you check in. When they slip the bill under your door at the end, it lists each night's room cost minus your deposit then any charges and credits you choose to apply.
I don't use GCs regularly but have used them more than once and never was told I can't apply them. It never dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to but I guess it makes sense if your package is paid in full 45 days prior to arrival (or whatever it is nowadays) you would arrive owing $0 and then maybe they can't apply a credit when the balance is $0.
Then again, I've never had so many GCs that I can keep returning every night to pay down charges. I think the most we ever had was $40.

 

[jmmess]

If you book a Disney resort as room only (no tickets) you only pay a deposit equivalent to the first night's price plus tax. The balance due, assuming your stay is greater than 1 night, is charged to your room account once you check in. When they slip the bill under your door at the end, it lists each night's room cost minus your deposit then any charges and credits you choose to apply.
I don't use GCs regularly but have used them more than once and never was told I can't apply them. It never dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to but I guess it makes sense if your package is paid in full 45 days prior to arrival (or whatever it is nowadays) you would arrive owing $0 and then maybe they can't apply a credit when the balance is $0.
Then again, I've never had so many GCs that I can keep returning every night to pay down charges. I think the most we ever had was $40.

Maybe I misunderstood your post. GCs can be used to pay down your balance, but usually can not be applied prior to the charges being incurred.

 

[supersnoop]

Right. I was paying off my balance with a gift card and the CM specifically stated that they are not suppose to apply funds to create a credit balance. But my gift card was 18¢ more than the balance, so she "made an exception" for me. She didn't realize I was leaving, and that 18¢ ended using refunded to my credit card on file. So, while the system allows it, it's against their policy, and for good reason.

 

[BarbMike821]

Couldn't you just use your Disney GC in the park for everything instead? Or is the wristband more of a convenience thing?

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Why Disney does not allow this is beyond me. But I very well remember doing this at All Star Sports with some Disney Dollars in 2007.

 

[Marionnette]

Why Disney does not allow this is beyond me. But I very well remember doing this at All Star Sports with some Disney Dollars in 2007.

They don't do it because they don't want you keeping careful track of your money. They want you to spend without thinking about how much you are spending.

They also don't want to deal with refunding credits that are not spent.

People who stay offsite deal with having to rely on pulling out the CC, debit card, GC or cash when they are at Disney.

Couldn't you just use your Disney GC in the park for everything instead? Or is the wristband more of a convenience thing?

Yes you can! I do it all of the time, especially if I'm traveling with my sister, brother or a friend and we want to keep our spending separated. I have to carry my AP, a photo ID, TiW and DVC membership cards for discounts anyway, so carrying a GC is not a big deal to me.

 

[rantnnravin]

It would be a lot easier - and less time-consuming - to use the GC at the point-of-sale (ie. restaurant, gift shop, etc.) rather than stopping at the front desk of the hotel every night to clear any charges. When you check in, go ahead and put your credit card on your account for room charges. Then, use your Gift Card to pay for purchases throughout WDW. Once the GC is depleted, you will be asked for an alternate form of payment, at which time you can just use your magic band.

 

[mommyrosa2]

It would be a lot easier - and less time-consuming - to use the GC at the point-of-sale (ie. restaurant, gift shop, etc.) rather than stopping at the front desk of the hotel every night to clear any charges. When you check in, go ahead and put your credit card on your account for room charges. Then, use your Gift Card to pay for purchases throughout WDW. Once the GC is depleted, you will be asked for an alternate form of payment, at which time you can just use your magic band.

Not all restaurants and kiosks accept Disney GC's as payment but the biggest drawbacks for me, anyways, are: A. I hate to carry my GC's around the parks and B. I don't want to be bothered having to keep track of balances left on the GC's.

We've been using GC's for several years now and we find it much easier to just charge all food and beverages to our bands and then pay the room charges with our GC's. While some may view it as a hassle, for us, it's really not. I don't stop at the front desk every day, I usually make a stop to pay down the charges every 2-3 days and since I have to cross the lobby daily, it's not a big deal and only takes minutes (at least that's been my experience ).

 

[rantnnravin]

Not all restaurants and kiosks accept Disney GC's as payment but the biggest drawbacks for me, anyways, are: A. I hate to carry my GC's around the parks and B. I don't want to be bothered having to keep track of balances left on the GC's.

.

With having to carry my AP, TiW, and Disney Visa for discounts - i guess it just wouldn't bother me - just goes in the back of the iphone case, but I can see not wanting to carry anything into the parks - I like the bag-free line myself.

I do find it very rare for resort and in park establishments to not accept GC's, but the handful that do not are very few and far between.

Not sure why the OP would need to keep track of the balance if she/he wants to burn the $ on GC first - as they are auto-depleting and the system will just ask for alternate payment to cover the balance of the last transaction after draining the GC if necessary.

To each his own, just wanted OP to know there's another option

 

[MikL99]

Yea it wasn't about keeping track or anything. I just don't want to carry any thing with me in the park. I LOVE the magic bands. I don't mind just going to the front desk and paying down my bill. I just didn't know if i could link my GC to the account or not. I understand now that i have to just pay the bill down with the card instead.
Thanks.