Cash or charge?

[spicemom]

We will not be on the dining plan and I'm also keeping in mind the rising Canadian dollar...with the exception of some cash on hand for tips, small purchases/snacks at WDW, does anyone use only their credit card for the majority of the trip, like pay for all meals, souvenirs etc. and then pay it off once home? Or do you try to use cash as much as possible while there. I'm trying to decide whether to keep saving Canadian dollars to buy American dollars or just save the money and plunk it down directly on card? What does everyone else do/find easiest? TIA!

 

[Disneyof3]

We for the past 5 years have only used my visa credit card and brought with us 200.00 US. The 200.00 is 1/2 travellers cheques and 1/2 money. I don't like all my money in one thing just in case of emergencies. I also usually take about 50.00 CAN with us too. (Tim's on the way across the border and 1st thing after crossing border back) I use the room key for everything and then the night before we leave I check the bill before they add it to the credit card. I always keep all reciepts and then check them to my visa statement when it comes in a month later. I find this the easiest way and I feel better not having to worry if I'm going to lose my money or not. My DH is a x-police officier and he carries his wallet with him everywhere. He can pick a pocket picker anywhere in a crowd. When he is around I dont have to worry about my money.

 

[laura001]

With the dollar being so good I like to pay it all right away. The rate on your CC is usually worse than just going and buying the cash. We take traveller's cheques and some cash. When we are at WDW, we charge most everything to our room and then go and pay it off in cash.

 

[Northern Mouse]

I got a US dollar Visa and US Dollar bank account at TD bank. So when the exchange rate is good I convert some money to US$. I pay everything to do with my trip on the credit card then pay it off in US$ there are no surprises and no credit card exchange issues. With the account I also get a better than the posted exchange rate. I've used it for about a year and it has worked great. When I'm on site I use the key to the world card to pay for almost everything except tips.

 

[F4disneyfan]

We will not be on the dining plan and I'm also keeping in mind the rising Canadian dollar...with the exception of some cash on hand for tips, small purchases/snacks at WDW, does anyone use only their credit card for the majority of the trip, like pay for all meals, souvenirs etc. and then pay it off once home? Or do you try to use cash as much as possible while there. I'm trying to decide whether to keep saving Canadian dollars to buy American dollars or just save the money and plunk it down directly on card? What does everyone else do/find easiest? TIA!

Never use our CC we usee TC's for everything at Disney we just put the money into our US account and when it is time to head out we convert it to US TC's.

 

[bunnyfoo]

In the past, I've used my credit cards for most things - big meals, hotels, souveniers and cash for small things like drinks, snacks, Mousekeeping tips, cabs etc. I'd just pay the balance off in full when I got back. The bill usually wouldn't show up for a month anyway so I'd just leave my money in my savings account until then. I really liked not having to worry about misplacing cash and the CC loyalty points would go towards the next plane ticket. Since the dollar is doing so well, I'm thinking of buying more cash and then paying off more of the hotel room. I guess we'll see - I still have another week before I leave

 

[LittleFlounder]

I'm been thinking about how I'll pay for things on my upcoming Nov trip. I think as long as the dollar stays good, I'll charge just about everything to my room key and pay it off each evening by credit card(so i can keep track of what I'm spending). I'll probably bring a little bit of cash for mousekeeping tip and whatever else I can charge to my room.

Can anyone tell me what things at WDW can't be charged to your room? I'd like to carry very little cash.

 

[Eveningsong]

If you put it on a Canadian dollar credit card you will pay 2.5% after the credit card company converts the money from US to Canadian.

So putting on your Canadian credit costs more.

I recently put $500.00 US on my Canadian Credit Card and the credit card company charged me $541.41.

I now have a TD Canada Trust Canadian US Visa card (annual fee $25.00 US). Buy in US funds, pay in US funds, no 2.5% extra charge.

That would be the best way to purchase food and items in Florida.

When you come back to Canada switch Canadian money to US at the bank, and pay off your Canadian US Visa Card.

 

[LittleFlounder]

If you put it on a Canadian dollar credit card you will pay 2.5% after the credit card company converts the money from US to Canadian.

So putting on your Canadian credit costs more.

Oh!! I didn't know that there was a 2.5% fee for charging US dollars to a Canadian CC. I just called my CC company and they verified that. Soooo... it looks like I will be taking a trip to the bank before my trip to get lots of US $$.

Thank you for letting me know. I've never used a credit card on trip to the US before, aside from short 1-day shopping trips over the border.

 

[ChisJo]

I use both....we pay off everything we can before we go - car, hotels, tickets (to WDW, Universal, and Cirque du Soleil), and airfare, so that those costs aren't accumulated on our card while we are there. We also put on an extra amount onto our cards before we go in case of emergencies. We put our purchases on our credit cards and our meals and snacks are paid for with cash. We take about $350 USD, and then about $750 in TC. If we have some left at the end, great -we just put it back into our USD account - if not, we had a great week!

 

[Eveningsong]

Oh!! I didn't know that there was a 2.5% fee for charging US dollars to a Canadian CC. I just called my CC company and they verified that. Soooo... it looks like I will be taking a trip to the bank before my trip to get lots of US $$.

Thank you for letting me know. I've never used a credit card on trip to the US before, aside from short 1-day shopping trips over the border.

Glad to help, it was a eye opener for me when I found out.

 

[Hoogy]

I think I'm going to look into a US credit card too. We have RBC Visa currently? Does anyone know what RBC charges for their version of the US dollar VISA?

 

[mickeywho?]

We have usually done the dining plan - brought cash & TCs - charged everything to the room -paid off with what we have with us and anything over is charged to our CC.
With our next trip coming in February things will be a bit different. We won't be doing the dining plan as our eldest will have just turned 10 and does not eat enough food for us to justify paying for him as an adult the entire week.
We'll be bringing down enough TCs to cover our meals (charging everything to our room and then paying at the end of the week at the front desk), some cash and TCs for souvies and then will charge anything over to the CC.
I don't like to carry cash or a CC around with me so I put them in the safe and only carry my room key, AP, DVC card etc.
I think I'll definitely check into getting a US dollar CC from RBC if they have one. Depending on fees it may be worth it.

 

[Northstar]

Those of you with US$ credit cards at a Canadian bank... be careful and ask some questions, because here are 2 wrinkles I've run into:


- some cards charge a fee for TRANSACTIONS OUT OF THE COUNTRY regardless of what currency it's in... essentially a rip-off IMO because they know the main reason people are getting a Canadian card in US$ is so they can use the card for purchases in/from the US. Read your CC agreement carefully.

- some vendors (not retail, I think... but travel agents, cruise lines,) will look at your Canadian card and convert the transaction to Canadian dollars at THEIR rate (figuring they might as well get the fee as your credit card company), send the transaction in as a Canadian $ transaction, and THEN you will be charged to convert it back to US$ on your US$ card! (we had this problem with Royal Caribbean... I caught it while we were still on our cruise, and spent way too much time at service desk trying to explain to boneheaded rep. why this was not good... finally gave up on explaining and just threatened to dispute any charges in Canadian dollars and they figured it was easier to give the crazy lady what she wanted)

 

[Freddie Beach Shelly]

I have a Aerogold Visa and just called their toll-free number to pose this question: If I was in the US today and charged $500 US to my Visa card, what would appear on my statement? She said I would see $518.

Now, if that's all it is, that's completely fine with me as all I will be charging to my card are my meals and snacks (and very limited souvenirs as I have been there more than enough times and don't need another Mickey t-shirt). Everything else is bought and paid for.

Also, it's an Aerogold Visa so the flight points I will accumulate by charging to my card far outweigh the fees.

Make sense?

 

[calliemom]

We have a Disney Jar at home that we put money into on a monthly basis, before we leave we apply the money to our credit card and then charge away with no guilt...works great for us. We only bring around 300 cash for tips, small snacks etc and charge the rest.

 

[coastgirl]

Eveningsong, that's a great idea. I hadn't heard of it. Even for the $25 fee, that would pay for itself quickly on a trip. Our accounts are with TD, my CC with CIBC. I recently checked and CIBC had a better rate, but it was cancelled out by the 2.5%. But getting US funds straight from the bank also had a SC, and it turns out to be 6 of one, half-dozen of the other. BUT in the longer run, that card might be worth it...