🇨🇦 Paying for things at Disney

[Fairytale2]

You can use Canadian credit cards everywhere but personally I recommend buying gift cards before you go(can get them at Walmart, Shoppers, Zehrs, etc) The reason to do this is so you don't get charged with the "foreign transaction fee" most Canadian credit cards charge for charging USD to your account, which is usually between 1-2%.

There are a few Credit Cards that don't have foreign transaction fees, or some that do but also have cashback that is higher than the fee(say 3% or more) which makes it still worth it as you are gaining 1% cashback compared to 0%.

We usually buy the $100 gift cards from walmart before the trip and then combine them all in to 1 gift card on our first day a the resort gift shop or any other store on property.

You also have the option of charging most things to your magicband if you are using one, which you can link your credit card to if you don't want to carry any cash or cards on you.

Oh waw great advice! That was one thing that really bothered me when we went down was what our credit card company would always end up charging us. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Fairytale2]

We have never used GCs for our trips and I think we will give it a go this time. Can someone confirm which specific cards we should purchase?(if we are at Walmart let's say).

 

[youngdeb12]

I wouldn't leave the card on the website. There have been instances of ppl getting their money stolen from there and taking months to get it back from Disney.

If you have a secure password then the chances are pretty slim. I get an email every time I log in to my Disney account and it's impossible to get your money back if you lose the physical card.

 

[starlite_]

If you have a secure password then the chances are pretty slim. I get an email every time I log in to my Disney account and it's impossible to get your money back if you lose the physical card.

I disagree on keeping them linked long term. If it's just during your trip then it's fine imo. You're welcome to keep them linked if you want tho, it's up to you. Just saying I wouldn't risk it personally. https://www.disboards.com/threads/stolen-funds.3876035/

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I am just going to buy my gift cards a few days before my trip and upload them to the website. I have been looking at the menus/prices at each of the parks to get an idea of how much I need to buy. I always bring some US cash with me to the parks, just in case the system is down and only taking cash.

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

We have never used GCs for our trips and I think we will give it a go this time. Can someone confirm which specific cards we should purchase?(if we are at Walmart let's say).

Any Disney GC's The tip i would give, and this is just me so far, I buy GC's All at once sparatically whichever works for you, and watch the USD to CDN $ exchange rate. I can confirm that a straight Applying GC to your MDE account reflects the previous and or current days Exchange rate. NO extra charge. I use my cash back reward CC to purchase the GC's and it gives me a small amount of cash back for those purchases as well. If you are using a CC to purchase gift cards MAKE sure that WHERE you purchase them you get the FULL reward amount. Example buysing items at Walmart if your CC sees Walmart as department store, for example, and your CC says 4% for drug stores gas or grocery, and 2% everywhere else, Just make sure Walmart is in the 4% group (i believe its called the MCC code) just call your card company and verify. I buy at drug stores shoppers Jauncatue(yeah cant spell that).

NOTE: Be prepared the amount you purchase at a given time may be subject to either some strange questions and or asked to show ID at purchase maybe. This happened to my wife the other day as she was purchasing 10x $50 GC, cause thats all they carried. The reason is this large GC purchase may be flagged most companies want to make sure you are NOT being scammed by email or phone caller requesting GC's for payment settlement etc.

Hold the cards and or combine cards for ease and mark the NEW loaded card and place all the empty cards in an envelope marked USED and save. Then just use the (1) marked card as MASTER CARD. apply when the time is right (good exchange). I know the exchange is minimal when talking big $$ but as I am learning 1-3 cents can save you = $10-$25 per $1,000 if it isnt that big of a deal dont worry to much about it. I like to save as much as I can.

When you combine the $10-$25 savings on exchange and the 4% cash back off CC purchase of GCs $40 yo can save anywhere from $40(auatomatically for your cash back + any savings off exchange) say 1% $10 = $50 That could buy 1 more $50 GC to use.

Dont worry too much regarding the exchange at I am sure most have budgeted an amount of exchange Just be mindfull to get a nice little return to try and apply cards when the Exchange rate is at or above your budget amount. IF the exchangedrops below your USD budget and IT probably will as the times are showing, minimize by applying a few bucks daily. when i applied mine I recieved aboot .77 / usd so that amount kept me 2 cents better value.

I am watching the exchange and was reading that Our dollar may be strongest In the first week or few days of a month. and gets weaker in the middle. I will try and see if i can find that site and or watch to verify if it is true.

**NOTE** NOT 100% accurate on WDW practices but have confirmed that they use straight exchange NO extra fee FTF etc. and because when they accepted my payment the (CUrrent day) rate was .77 and the previous day was .77 so no indication which they used, However they have stated that they will use the previous days exchange rate on the trans actions so if you se or hear the cdn dollar DID real well TODAY wait till tommorrow to apply, IF this is true.

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

If you have a secure password then the chances are pretty slim. I get an email every time I log in to my Disney account and it's impossible to get your money back if you lose the physical card.

Very slim chance of this happening independently but you need to treat the GC's as if that is a bank account. This is just ANOTHER reason I USE a CC to purchase the GC's AND KEEP the old cards in an enveloped marked as used. Most if not ALL my CC's have purchase insurance. They have a team that can investigate these things at a higher level than an individual can.
Another way to avoid this is YES DONT store a balanced card on the site. WAIT until you are ready to utilize the card(s) combine the cards day of transaction and apply the full amount. KEEP the balance of the MASTER card at a minimum or 0.
Less opportunities = less chance of loss. Nothing is 100% safe but mitigating chances of loss is manageable if good security steps are implemented.

Security security security.

And actually i will go to the site and see if i can unlink or remove cards if thats the case then i would combine cards to 1 and then remove the card from the site. (if possible) I will look a little more into this.

**Update** YES simply remove the card once loaded OFF the site. I had 2 cards small balances I simply X'd the card and confirmed removal. Additionally ANY references to the Physical CARD numbers should be removed from Email and or messages etc to ensure even further protections.

Leaving cards available on the GC site COULD allow a bad actor to potentially gain access and utilize through brute force attacks to aquire the data and funds. Keep this in mind with confirmations of data passing through emails. Email confirmations of transactions and or combining funds etc. I simply screen shot the email data add to a blank doc and then delete the email and empty trash. We live in a digital world and that digital word has security faults. Just GOOD privacy and security practices can make the world of differences.

 

[Fairytale2]

Very slim chance of this happening independently but you need to treat the GC's as if that is a bank account. This is just ANOTHER reason I USE a CC to purchase the GC's AND KEEP the old cards in an enveloped marked as used. Most if not ALL my CC's have purchase insurance. They have a team that can investigate these things at a higher level than an individual can.
Another way to avoid this is YES DONT store a balanced card on the site. WAIT until you are ready to utilize the card(s) combine the cards day of transaction and apply the full amount. KEEP the balance of the MASTER card at a minimum or 0.
Less opportunities = less chance of loss. Nothing is 100% safe but mitigating chances of loss is manageable if good security steps are implemented.

Security security security.

And actually i will go to the site and see if i can unlink or remove cards if thats the case then i would combine cards to 1 and then remove the card from the site. (if possible) I will look a little more into this.

**Update** YES simply remove the card once loaded OFF the site. I had 2 cards small balances I simply X'd the card and confirmed removal. Additionally ANY references to the Physical CARD numbers should be removed from Email and or messages etc to ensure even further protections.

Leaving cards available on the GC site COULD allow a bad actor to potentially gain access and utilize through brute force attacks to aquire the data and funds. Keep this in mind with confirmations of data passing through emails. Email confirmations of transactions and or combining funds etc. I simply screen shot the email data add to a blank doc and then delete the email and empty trash. We live in a digital world and that digital word has security faults. Just GOOD privacy and security practices can make the world of differences.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the time to write all this. I am completely new to this, and you explained it incredibly well and will follow your instructions. Thank you so so much for all this-HUGS.
-K

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the time to write all this. I am completely new to this, and you explained it incredibly well and will follow your instructions. Thank you so so much for all this-HUGS.
-K

Ohhh the pressure This is just what i have looked into and found and really its like playing the stockamrket for (Small) gains or losses. I try to find the deals and or savings as best I can and admit i have dropped the ball a little with GCs But thats due to me needing to see the entire process and then evaluate before going BIG! regardless of the way canadians PAY for the trip or fees etc. I am not saying mine is fool proof and you can definately spend alot of time mitigating or maximizing I feel comfortable with 2 things for sure:

1. BUY gift cards for resort and or package tickets. (at your leisure or one big blamy. (it takes a bit of work to combine 3 $50 cards at a time upto MAX 1,000 (be prepared) I just say $50 because last attempt (Drug store al they had were $50's) Try and Find a 25-500 preload is a better choice and easier of course. (if afforadable) this way i can grab $500 cards at a pop (i need 3000 usd) so know i will need approximately, $3850 or i would just go 4,000 which is 8 cards more manageable. and no need to combine i can use MDE to apply the GCs in $500 transactions eight times...WHEN the exchange is favourable. and then save the last bit left over on 1 card for a DROP on bill at the resort instead of charging the CC on file. etc
2. Utilize those rewards with CC Honestly its FREE $$ so when a certain $$ is available to cash in i would just either apply to the balance or apply and grab another GC. **NOTE** I just found a rogers MC that hasa 3% reward cash back on all US purchases. (IT does carry a Foreign trans fee of 2.5% BUT if im getting 3% returned its a NO fee + gain of .5% which all in all is the whole point NOT to get dinged those FTF's. This card will be my card on FILE for WDW Care free. Im so happy
3. I only small savings and or rewards being $50-250 etc maybe more which FINGERS crossed FREE HOOP-DEE-DOO REVIEW meal , as this was our first pick for a special dinner.

If you have any other questions this forum is very friendly and has alot of valuable tips and advice. I am fairly new here and am sure its been broached prior but it is hard for USA to determine CDN tactics sometimes BUT the concepts are the same.

We being great white north folk have a few extra hoops to jump through to try and make our vacations Viable, ESPECIALLY my family (modest) income but have bee saving for a few years and am ready to pull the trigger.

Have a great weekend.

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

You can use Canadian credit cards everywhere but personally I recommend buying gift cards before you go(can get them at Walmart, Shoppers, Zehrs, etc) The reason to do this is so you don't get charged with the "foreign transaction fee" most Canadian credit cards charge for charging USD to your account, which is usually between 1-2%.

There are a few Credit Cards that don't have foreign transaction fees, or some that do but also have cashback that is higher than the fee(say 3% or more) which makes it still worth it as you are gaining 1% cashback compared to 0%.

We usually buy the $100 gift cards from walmart before the trip and then combine them all in to 1 gift card on our first day a the resort gift shop or any other store on property.

You also have the option of charging most things to your magicband if you are using one, which you can link your credit card to if you don't want to carry any cash or cards on you.

I thought one of my CC's had a NO ftf but was wrong HOWEVER, Did a quick search for canadian CC's and found one Applied for it yesterday through my Phone Provider (Rogers) and the had a PERFECT card. This card DId in fact have the FTF but rewarded the user with a 3% cash back on all usd Purchase which negates there 2.5 FTF and still recieve a .5% reward over and above. Made my life alot easier getting this card (we are talking small amounts) but as any vacation goes, a small amount of several transactions = a nice chunk of change. so I dont want to spend EVEN MORE $ just on fees for an already Tight Budget. When DIsney apears to be an Ala' Carte vacation and can add up quickly.

 

[starlite_]

I thought one of my CC's had a NO ftf but was wrong HOWEVER, Did a quick search for canadian CC's and found one Applied for it yesterday through my Phone Provider (Rogers) and the had a PERFECT card. This card DId in fact have the FTF but rewarded the user with a 3% cash back on all usd Purchase which negates there 2.5 FTF and still recieve a .5% reward over and above. Made my life alot easier getting this card (we are talking small amounts) but as any vacation goes, a small amount of several transactions = a nice chunk of change. so I dont want to spend EVEN MORE $ just on fees for an already Tight Budget. When DIsney apears to be an Ala' Carte vacation and can add up quickly.

*whispers* which card??

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

*whispers* which card??

I got the Rogers Platinum MC so the 3% on usd negates the FTF they charge in form of cash back which i just apply to the card

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

***FOLLOW UP***
SO a few days back i had cancelled my WDW package...Long story, but will rebook. (just trying to see if i can squeeze a few extra days in)

AS far as teh exchange rate Q+A's I can confirm it can make a difference. Mine worked out for the better.

A few weeks back charged the Deposit of the package on my CC $200 usd charged to card $ 262 est. I recieved the refund the other day and the credit was now MORE than i was charged by like $5 got 267 returned. ALSO had a GC refunded....It was just a $50 card and now the balance is over $50 (less than a $1) but still over SO exchange can and does play a factor when purchasing. So now before i rebook i will verify the market $ of cdn-> usd So yes more than likely (so far) small on small but in the overall could equate upto 100-225 ish in savings. either way a few is a few $ I will take it. just on the refund amounts I earned 4/5 of a free coffee....lol.

Still looking over the vacation attraction tickets place in europe. GB or Ireland or France i think?
Little nervous with these 3rd party sites being transparent.

 

[tinkerone]

NOTE: Be prepared the amount you purchase at a given time may be subject to either some strange questions and or asked to show ID at purchase maybe. This happened to my wife the other day as she was purchasing 10x $50 GC, cause thats all they carried. The reason is this large GC purchase may be flagged most companies want to make sure you are NOT being scammed by email or phone caller requesting GC's for payment settlement etc.

I am watching the exchange and was reading that Our dollar may be strongest In the first week or few days of a month. and gets weaker in the middle. I will try and see if i can find that site and or watch to verify if it is true.

I had been purchasing my GC's at Metro and one day, out of the blue, they questioned my purchase. Was I using them for personal use? Was someone asking me to purchase them? Did I think I was being scammed? It was strange and it happened the next purchase as well. I asked why anyone would be purchasing Disney GC's and not the Visa GC's if it was for a scam, they had no answer. I just stopped buying them there, it became a hassle.

As for anyone being able to say with any confidence when the best time is for exchange rate, don't believe them. I worked in finance/banking for 30 some odd years and the only prediction would be when something like an election happens. When stock markets move, when the cost of living goes up, they are indicators but are unpredictable. Unrest in a foreign country, confidence in the US economy, more indicators. You could not say the first week of a month will have an event that would drive the dollar or be able to say the middle Wednesday and Thursday are the best days. I had a person who worked under me who loved to tell customers that the long weekend was coming up so the US dollar was going to cost more. Untrue and I had to sit him down for 'talks' several times. He didn't last all that long, lol. But back on topic, there is no set time that one can give. It's just not that easy.

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

I had been purchasing my GC's at Metro and one day, out of the blue, they questioned my purchase. Was I using them for personal use? Was someone asking me to purchase them? Did I think I was being scammed? It was strange and it happened the next purchase as well. I asked why anyone would be purchasing Disney GC's and not the Visa GC's if it was for a scam, they had no answer. I just stopped buying them there, it became a hassle.

As for anyone being able to say with any confidence when the best time is for exchange rate, don't believe them. I worked in finance/banking for 30 some odd years and the only prediction would be when something like an election happens. When stock markets move, when the cost of living goes up, they are indicators but are unpredictable. Unrest in a foreign country, confidence in the US economy, more indicators. You could not say the first week of a month will have an event that would drive the dollar or be able to say the middle Wednesday and Thursday are the best days. I had a person who worked under me who loved to tell customers that the long weekend was coming up so the US dollar was going to cost more. Untrue and I had to sit him down for 'talks' several times. He didn't last all that long, lol. But back on topic, there is no set time that one can give. It's just not that easy.

Of course there is NO guarentee on anything in life I was stating that i was reading that it apears the START or first week of the month (according to what i was reading) typically shows strongest. I forget what the reasoning was. comapred to the MID month say. I can see the rise and fall of our dollar just do a google search of CDN vs usa and move the bar back and forth it is Showing that the first week compared to the mid month appears stronger on average for some reason.
Saying that the point to take away is DONT buy the card and immediately apply (unless you are not concerned with the dollar value) and take your time to Apply the card(s) when you feel you will get better bang for your dollar. I have stated the simplicity of .01 across the board of a 8000 is $80 I just feel with a little care and attention people could save some money.
(JUST TIPS)

LOL as far as the Q&A's when purchasing the employees DONT neccessarily KNOW or care WHY you are purchasing it and very well could be part of the corp. policy as an extra implemented security level for their customers / clients as we know or should know by now that scams do take place there is NO rhyme or reason as to which cards are the target funds. Scammer rely heavily on social engineering to accomplish this task.
(happened to my wife the other day) lol but i warned her this may happen.

Cheers.

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

***UPDATED***

Ok folks so after 2 weeks of scrounging and sifting and comparing prices etc. I finally pulled the trigger on purchasing tickets for WDW. I had seen a few times throughout posts and other posts about "Attractiontickets" as an option to purchase tickets for our trip. They had or currently have a sale promo on for 14 days of WDW for the price of 7days promotion. IDK I just looked at the cost over all.

SO first off i compared the GBP(pound) vs CDN dollar and the Euro vs CDN. and then of course purchase through WDW directly USD to CDN. (no promo) disc. etc. at current exchange rates.

I was seeing that the GBP was doing better for conversions value wise for this promo at the time of comparing. SO would use that as my base for comparison.

WDW - ticket for our comparison: our dates are for 10 days so used that number.
$2450 usd ALL INCLUSIVE = $3150(approx) CDN. --


Now i was thinking Do we need memerory maker ? do we need Park hopper? do we need access to the water parks and more?

ALL PERKS removed and ONLY single day tickets Still worked out to be (approx) $2500 CDN. (BARE)



So what would it cost for vacation website for the same or better with more perks?

So the promo was for all digital linkable tickets to the MDE app etc. Promo price was : $1525 (GBPs)
Which when charged to the card came out , after conversion) to only $2477CDN.
So when compared to the WDW price(no promo) it was equivilant to the BARE ticket price NO extras. For me this was a no brainier. and that even had refund protection (flex plus)


WHAT DO WE GET ?:



SO to me this seemed like a great promo BUY compared with ALL the bells and whistles (options) for the same price as BARE ticket cost.

I am not sure if I am allowed to post the web site link? SO if it violates anything Moderators I am sorry you can or i can remove the link.

https://www.attractiontickets.com/en
or google: Attractiontickets.com



SO far so good I have received the IDs etc to link the tickets I will establish these etc and see if easy or difficult to work with. BUT HEY I feel this was a good price for NO worry's and extra perks etc. for the same price as a BASE ticket which we needed anyways.

I am not getting a bonus or being compensated for writing this I am just forwarding some potential SAVING advice or options that may fall within your budget or plans. It never hurts to explore options. Although I never really SAVED any money in comparison to BASE tickets I juts received A WHOLE LOT MORE for my $$.

Have a great day folks.

 

[DisneyMama811]

***UPDATED***

Ok folks so after 2 weeks of scrounging and sifting and comparing prices etc. I finally pulled the trigger on purchasing tickets for WDW. I had seen a few times throughout posts and other posts about "Attractiontickets" as an option to purchase tickets for our trip. They had or currently have a sale promo on for 14 days of WDW for the price of 7days promotion. IDK I just looked at the cost over all.

SO first off i compared the GBP(pound) vs CDN dollar and the Euro vs CDN. and then of course purchase through WDW directly USD to CDN. (no promo) disc. etc. at current exchange rates.

I was seeing that the GBP was doing better for conversions value wise for this promo at the time of comparing. SO would use that as my base for comparison.

WDW - ticket for our comparison: our dates are for 10 days so used that number.
$2450 usd ALL INCLUSIVE = $3150(approx) CDN. --
View attachment 680459

Now i was thinking Do we need memerory maker ? do we need Park hopper? do we need access to the water parks and more?

ALL PERKS removed and ONLY single day tickets Still worked out to be (approx) $2500 CDN. (BARE)

View attachment 680460

So what would it cost for vacation website for the same or better with more perks?

So the promo was for all digital linkable tickets to the MDE app etc. Promo price was : $1525 (GBPs)
Which when charged to the card came out , after conversion) to only $2477CDN.
So when compared to the WDW price(no promo) it was equivilant to the BARE ticket price NO extras. For me this was a no brainier. and that even had refund protection (flex plus)
View attachment 680463

WHAT DO WE GET ?:
View attachment 680464
View attachment 680465

SO to me this seemed like a great promo BUY compared with ALL the bells and whistles (options) for the same price as BARE ticket cost.

I am not sure if I am allowed to post the web site link? SO if it violates anything Moderators I am sorry you can or i can remove the link.

https://www.attractiontickets.com/en
or google: Attractiontickets.com

View attachment 680470

SO far so good I have received the IDs etc to link the tickets I will establish these etc and see if easy or difficult to work with. BUT HEY I feel this was a good price for NO worry's and extra perks etc. for the same price as a BASE ticket which we needed anyways.

I am not getting a bonus or being compensated for writing this I am just forwarding some potential SAVING advice or options that may fall within your budget or plans. It never hurts to explore options. Although I never really SAVED any money in comparison to BASE tickets I juts received A WHOLE LOT MORE for my $$.

Have a great day folks.

yep you definitely saved way more than us, we've only got 6 day tickets (because we are also going to universal) and 8 days resort stay....and ours cost waaay more than that even booked through a travel agent

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

yep you definitely saved way more than us, we've only got 6 day tickets (because we are also going to universal) and 8 days resort stay....and ours cost waaay more than that even booked through a travel agent

Yes I was thinking of doing an option they had for Universal and WDW COMBO tickets yes more money + hotel near Universal for 2 nights etc. Seemed like a good deal but the added expense put us over our budget by like $850 which JUST for the Universal seemed more than we wanted to pay for the vacation + may have been an extremely hectic vacation for us. With her mobility concerns. SO we said lets just focus on WDW for the whole trip and with the park hopper and water park (but i think 1 typically closes for the season refurb maint etc) we can have a NON RUSH feel and more of relax and take our time Knowing we can easily do anything (assuming hopper is available for a specific park day) etc JUST opens a lot more flexibility and slower paced which is total benefit for us.

 

[DisneyMama811]

Yes I was thinking of doing an option they had for Universal and WDW COMBO tickets yes more money + hotel near Universal for 2 nights etc. Seemed like a good deal but the added expense put us over our budget by like $850 which JUST for the Universal seemed more than we wanted to pay for the vacation + may have been an extremely hectic vacation for us. With her mobility concerns. SO we said lets just focus on WDW for the whole trip and with the park hopper and water park (but i think 1 typically closes for the season refurb maint etc) we can have a NON RUSH feel and more of relax and take our time Knowing we can easily do anything (assuming hopper is available for a specific park day) etc JUST opens a lot more flexibility and slower paced which is total benefit for us.

yeah we aren't park hoping or doing water parks (one definitely closes for refurb in January) but I did build in two "do nothing" days for us

 

[Daddy's 'lil Princess]

yeah we aren't park hoping or doing water parks (one definitely closes for refurb in January) but I did build in two "do nothing" days for us

Mom was asking do we have a rest day , but with a 6 yr old a rest day may just be going to the water park even if we take 2 rest days i feel the value we got with options will allow us to NOT neccessarily hit every park 2x and another park option and 1 day rest (water park) example. FLexibility is what i feel the best value is for us. We can BOOK the parks we think we will want to do and just go from there if there is park reservations open for change etc or park hop to it after 2 pm. I just noticed these passes have free GOLF as well. So daddy may be able to have a dad morning one day while the girls go do anything and dad can come meet up