Cash. Credit or Check?

[BarbaraMB]

Which do you prefer to use for your WDW vacation? Cash, Credit Card or Travelers Checks? Also, if you don't need to pay for your stay until check out would you rather wait until then and pay or pay before you go so that you don't have to worry about that. The last time I went everything (including meals) was already paid for so we didn't need a whole lot of cash and a credit card worked for other things. This time I am paying as I go. Do you thnk it is best to charge your meals to your room and then pay it all at the end?

 

[worm761]

i pay as i go. my room and tickets will be paid off/bought before i leave. for the rest i will pay as i go.

 

[mickeysaver]

Last trip, I paid for the room in full when I booked the room. I also bought my ticket before I arrived and purchased my honey's ticket when we got there, since she technically was still a FL resident and we could work a better deal for her. We did the room charge thing. I put my debit card on the books for charging. We carried some cash, but not much, in order to purchase Powerade and Sodas in the parks. We did well. We had a set budget and stuck to it. I plan on doing much the same on the trip we have planned for December. Mickey

 

[Bojo]

Room already paid thru DVC. Everything else goes on credit card - gotta get the rebate! But, not good for the budget.

 

[heart4dis]

I am planning to pay as much as I can in advance then use traveller's cheques. I hope it will help me stay on budget.

 

[off2disney]

I will have the room paid for before I leave for vacation. My daughter is buying my tickets to the parks (hopper pass) thru her military recreation department for my Christmas present. I usually take some cash and some travelers checks (I like to pay as I go -- no big bill at the end of the trip). Will have my credit card in chase of emergencies (shopping or whatever!)

 

[mad4themouse]

My goal is to pay for as much in advance as is possible either thru rewards programs or thru direct purchase/payments.

So far I have already paid for all my park passes. I also have enough frequent flier miles to get 4 free flights. A rewards credit card's points will pay for the rental car.

I have been purchasing $DD every month in an effort to prepay for the meals we will eat onsitean any souvenirs. Every purchase goes on a rewards credit card in order to get a little kickback. I really don't like carrying so much around in $DD, so I'll probably have them put it on my room account when we check in and then use our room key to "charge" all purchases back to that account.

I will put my room deposit on my rewards credit card when I make my reservation and then pay off the balance using the same card when we check in. The $$ to cover the cost of the room is already sitting in my little WDW Savings Account. DH will not tolerate any type of debt, so the $$ has to be there ahead of time or else we don't go.

Naturally, we will have some cash on hand for the little things (tips, small purchases, arcades, airport snacks, etc) and we will both be carrying credit cards witha zero balance with us in case of an emergencies.

 

[JetMom]

I'm another believer of paying as much as possible in advance. We figure out a budget in detail before we go and take a combination of cash, Disney dollars and traveller's checks with us in a pre-determined amount.

I do not have a credit card(been there, done that, climbed out of the hole). I try not to use my Debit/Visa when I am on vacation. I find that using the card makes it a lot easier to go overboard.

 

[ASFCurly]

I prepay what I can with my debit card and everything that I pay while down there I use cash for, but I put the cash on the room charge so I don't have to carry it with me.

 

[bunnyfoo]

I mostly use my credit card, that way I can accumulate points for a free airline ticket I also pay for my room when I check out, I figure I might as well leave the money in my own bank account. Although, if I pay for everything in advance ... I wouldn't have that huge credit card bill waiting for me at home *lol*

 

[Princess49]

We bring minimal cash with us-- we put everything on our room card. It's great because you don't HAVE to pay with a credit card- you can pay in cash if you want to but you dont have to carry cash all of the time. It also lets us see exactly how much we spent so we have a good idea as to how our spending habits have changed for the next time. Also, you really never need to carry more than $20 on you everyday & only that for snacks at the stands that don't accept the room cards. you can go without your credit cards... it's a great feeling knowing that all of your earthly belongings are not in your wallet! And you can check each night which I love too. If it's the third day & you've spent triple what you thought then you can monitor for a day or two to get back on track, or vice versa (my personal favorite) if you spent less than you though you can splurge on something cool for yourself!

 

[DaveH]

As far as paying ahead or at the end does not matter much to me. I have a budget and have to stay within it. What works for me is to use the room key for charging. I get a printout every day or 2. You can pay on your bill anytime you wish. You will need to leave a credit card/debit card info at the desk. You can pay by check(travlers or other), cash anytime. The printouts keep me straight on what I have already spent. It gives me a good idea if I am being good or bad. I have been so good I was able to do some extra shopping at times at the end of my trip or do a special meal.

 

[Ratpack]

Once we know we are going, I start putting away money in a savings account we have just for vacation. I buy the tickets in advance and pay for the room once I get there. This year I will use the Disney Visa so I can get the rewards, but the money is already there. We use cash at the parks and eating. That way everything is paid as we do it. Then when we return and the CC bill has arrived, I transfer the money to checking and pay off the balance.

 

[safekids]

But I have prepaid for as much as possible including room, tickets and most of our meals. I prefer to do it that way. We will try very hard to stay on a budget when we are there using the envelope method. Being that this is our 1st trip, we probably won't come home with money.lol