Can a debit card be used at Disney CS?

[Sandi]

DD15 is going for Magical Musical Days with her high school band. We need to send sufficient funds for a meals and other incidentals. I was going to deposit money into her checking account and have her use her debit card rather than sending cash with her. Do the Counter Service restaurants take debit cards? What about the snack vendors? We've always just had her charge things to the room when we've gone in the past, but that will not be possible for this trip.

Thanks for the help. -Sandi

 

[Kay1]

We use ours but it's also a Visa and they run it like that. We don't key in a pin or anything.

Hope your daughter has a blast!

 

[Golf4food]

It has to have a Visa/MC logo on it for it to be useful in that way. A straight debit/ATM only card will not.

Alternately you can purchase a pre-paid VISA from your bank pretty cheaply and that then has a preset limit just like the check card would.

 

[siskaren]

Another option would be to buy her a Disney gift card. About the only places I can think of that would need cash would be balloon vendors and the vendors who walk around before parades selling glowsticks and the like, which may or may not be an issue for a teenager. However, it doesn't hurt to have some cash just in case - for instance, I've heard that the small carts (like for ice cream) can sometimes have issues with their card processing machines.

 

[chartle]

Only if it can be used as a Credit Card.

We just did a trip and I think one of our kids had a debit only card and couldn't use it in the parks. Luckily a relative was in the area and brought him some money.

 

[Sandi]

Thanks for all the advice. Hers cannot be used as a CC. It's a pure debit card. We were going to give her some cash, but I didn't want her walking around with $100 and she doesn't really want that much either. With the debit card, as soon as she realized it was lost or stolen, we could take care of it. With cash or a gift card, it'll just be gone. She is a responsible kid, so we'll get it figured out. She was just hopeful that the debit card would work and I thought that would be a good fix for us.

The prepaid VISA might be our best bet. Thanks for that suggestion Golf4Food.