Disney and $$$$$ what do you do or take

[livingskies78]

This is our first time going to DW and we are wondering what to do about $$$

Here's our background
DH, DW DD9, DS4, DS2 we are hoping to stay for 8 days at POR before heading out for a 7 day cruise on the Oasis of the Seas.

What do you do about money?

Do you take lots of cash
Travellers Chqs
Debit Card
Visa
or prepaid Visa

We are looking into a US account (what has the lowest fee )
TD Canada trust $3 per transaction + what the atm charges you

any help would be great

 

[ChisJo]

I take cash (about $500-$100 depending on my length of stay), and I take credit cards. I took travellers cheques once and didn't find them to be a great option. The people who take the travellers cheques are supposed to check your ID to make sure the signatures matched up, and no one ever did. They were just as easily able to be utilized as a credit card, and I don't need to pay bank fees to acquire my credit card.

Debit cards work in the states, but not like they do in Canada (maybe closer to the border, but not in Orlando). They don't have interac at each till. You can take money out, but again, the cost to withdraw money at a bank machine is just not worth it. You have your own bank fees and then you may have to pay a fee at that bank as well, so your $3 could end up being $5.

We rely on our credit cards. We put money aside to pay them off when we get home, or we will put a large extra payment on them before we go to cover the expenses we are expecting to put onto the card, that way we won't have to pay interest.

I like the fact that my credit card is insured, and that if it got stolen, although an inconvenience, CIBC will have it replaced within 24 hours. I have car insurance, health insurance, and cancellation/baggage loss insurance on it.

I had a USD account, and it was ok. If you travel a bunch to the states, it works. When we lived in Windsor, I liked my USD account because we crossed the border all the time. But, when we moved back to Edmonton, I didn't see the need for it anymore. The fees to keep it active weren't worth it. I watch the exchange rate, and exchange when the dollar is really good, and keep that money for upcoming trips (we go to the states at least once a year).

 

[mommytodarlings]

We take $1000-1500 cash and then just use a bank machine if we need more money. We usually drive down, so we just go to a Bank of America which doesn't charge us on our Scotiabank account.

 

[ABCanada]

We have US $ charge cards (and bank account). We charge everything to our room at WDW and then put it on our US charge card and pay off the balance when we get home.

We take a little US cash, <$200 for 10 days, for tips etc and incidentals offsite.

This way we avoid paying exchange fees converting to US $ and then back again if we exchange too much.

This also gives you flexibility on when you convert. There is a sticky thread above which discusses US Bank Accounts & Credit Cards.

 

[RainbowsMist]

We take $1000-1500 cash and then just use a bank machine if we need more money. We usually drive down, so we just go to a Bank of America which doesn't charge us on our Scotiabank account.

This is us too!!

We take $1000-$1500 cash and use Bank of America to withdraw funds from our Scotia Bank account if need be. We've also used Interac at the Walmart/Target stores.

 

[formill]

More stores in Florida are taking the debit card- used our normal Canadian Debit card at Aeropostale at this location
The Loop
3220 North John Young Parkway
Kissimmee, FL 34741
and it worked and that was just over a year ago! But still can`t count on it.......we take cash.....use credit card for the bigger stuff- hotels, car rental and go to a bank machine for more cash. We always end up coming home with so much change and lots of $1 bills.....here that is not a problem we never pay cash for anything.

 

[cslittle999]

We travel like ABCanada. We have a US dollar bank account and Visa with TD. We carry enough cash to cover tips and the occasional snack purchase.

If you don't travel to the US very often then this may not be worth the hassle of setting up. The other option we've used is a mix of cash and traveller's cheques. While at Disney charged everything to the room and the night before we checked out we went down and paid with the traveller's cheques. You should be able to do the same thing on the cruise.

 

[greenclan67]

Has anyone used the prepaid Visa or Mastercard? Pro's or cons to this? We have a visa and MC but would like to avoid CC payments when we return. We were thinking of taking mostly cash, then wondered about doing the prepaid cards. Just put all the cash on one, and then it isn't carrying around cash all the time, and it will be taken easier then the debit card?

 

[livingskies78]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I am interested to hear more on the prepaid visa

 

[ChisJo]

I looked into one of the prepaid visas for a trip to the UK. There is a fee to set it up, and the one that I was looking at had a maximum credit limit on it. I was hoping to get one for $5000, but I couldn't find one over $2500. That was a couple of years ago, and maybe things have changed, but I found these links:

https://www.myreloadable.ca/

http://dan.matan.ca/Canadian-Prepaid-Mastercard-Visa-Card-Reviews-Information

 

[DaniB]

We put money into our US account through-out the year. Everything gets charged to our US credit card and I pay it immediately from the US account.

Then we take cash and the US CC with us. Once most of the cash is gone, we charge things to our Resort and use the US CC to pay the outstanding balance. When we get home, I then pay off the US CC with the funds in our US account.

I checked into debit before and decided it wasn't worth the fees and hassle of figuring out the conversion rate & how much I had left in the bank account each time, etc.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We took very little cash with us. We booked a package with dining and stayed onsite, so the greatest portion of our visit was paid before we left home. We took enough cash for tips (dining and mousekeeping, pretty much all counted out ahead of time and put in individual envelopes) and then a small balance for indicidentals and souvenirs. Anything else went on our Canadian credit card and we paid the balance upon arrival home.

I personally don't like travelling with wads of cash. If I can pay it before I leave, perfect. If I can't, charge it to the credit card and pay it off when we return. I just feel less like a walking target if my pockets aren't crammed full of money.

 

[dancin Disney style]

OP...just a little tid bit about the USD accounts. You can not open a USD account at a Canadian bank and then use a debit card from that account in the US. The machines in the US just register it as a withdrawl from a CAD institution so you end up getting dinged for exchange charges.

 

[Gigi22]

We use our regular credit cards, take American cash (amount varies depending on the trip), and US traveller's cheques. We fly down and stay onsite, or at a major hotel where we can easily cash traveller's cheques. Major hotels usually have a $200/day limit on cashing traveller's cheques--which is fine for us. We also cruise a lot, and have never had any problems cashing traveller's cheques on a ship.
We used to have a US dollar bank account at a credit union--but gave it up because the credit union nickel and dimed us to death, and there were no discernable benefits to the account that we could tell--the credit union wanted 24 hours notice before you withdrew your own money.
Our TA suggested a prepaid Visa to us a couple of years ago, but given the way we travel, we felt that it would be less convenient that using traveller's cheques.

 

[joandegennaro]

Be careful with the pre-paid visa and M/C. I was told not to get them as a group gift for a bridal shower as there is an activation and each transaction fee that eats up the funds on the card. Think everytime you buy a couple of drinks you have to pay $1-2 processing fee.

We took traveler's checks that first couple of times but often found it hard to cash a large check at the resort without having to go to the front desk at a specific time.

Now we just got ourselves a BMO $US$ M/C. We will use this for all purchases on the way down, hotel, gas, food etc. This will also cover our planned shopping while in Orlando. To pay it off I will just write a cheque from my Scotiabank US$$ account when the bill comes in about a week after our trip. This way I will know exactly what our trip costs us.

The BMO card has a $25 a year fee that is waived if you spend more than $1000 on it. With our DVC dues in around $650 per year I should never have to pay the fee on this card. Makes it all very simple for us. We will bring some cash to have for those locations that don't have credit card use as well as tips for mousekeeping, bellmen and servers in restaurants.

 

[thebigman65]

We are at TD and opened a US dollar account a while ago. We buy US when the rates are good and then we use our US dollar Visa card for almost everything. Then we pay off the visa from the US dollar account.

We bring a little cash ($500) for some things.

 

[BMC423]

I would say it depends on what you are getting. If you got a DDP then plan out your meals first... tipping is not included so bring cash or charge the cc you have attached to your room card. Previously I have used my room card and well I can honestly say you need to set a daily budget. If you give everyone a daily snack budget or souvenir budget then you know what to bring or how much you will need to pay when you get home. I wouldn't bring a lot of cash. Also for your 9 year old you can get her some Disney Dollars that she could use for her purchases. HTH

 

[lizzyb]

We bring a couple hundred for snacks and tips the rest we use our credit card for.

 

[ykmom]

We have US $ charge cards (and bank account). We charge everything to our room at WDW and then put it on our US charge card and pay off the balance when we get home.

We take a little US cash, <$200 for 10 days, for tips etc and incidentals offsite.

This way we avoid paying exchange fees converting to US $ and then back again if we exchange too much.

This is exactly what we did on our trip. It worked really well.

 

[aristocat65]

We took very little cash with us. We booked a package with dining and stayed onsite, so the greatest portion of our visit was paid before we left home. We took enough cash for tips (dining and mousekeeping, pretty much all counted out ahead of time and put in individual envelopes) and then a small balance for indicidentals and souvenirs. Anything else went on our Canadian credit card and we paid the balance upon arrival home.

I personally don't like travelling with wads of cash. If I can pay it before I leave, perfect. If I can't, charge it to the credit card and pay it off when we return. I just feel less like a walking target if my pockets aren't crammed full of money.

I agree. This is what we do too. I feel it is much safer using the credit card. We always pay it off fully and reap the rewards from mileage plans this way too!
One tip for your cruise though: If you use your credit card for your inboard expenses (and this will likely be your only option) , make sure they charge you in US $. Sometimes they will give you the option of converting it to Canadian for you, but you're better off letting your CC company do it for you.