First timer...need advice

[tlovesdis]

Hi everyone,

I am sooooo excited to be finally going to WDW in January!!!

I would like a little advice if possible.

I don't do credit cards (long story, but had some problems in the past) and only have my checking account debit card. I would prefer not to hook that up to my MB for charging.

Can you purchase a VISA or AMEX debit card and hook that up? I have a budget for my trip and figure I can put most of it on one of those and hook it up and then carry a little cash with me as well as my regular debit card.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Lorelei528]

We don't have credit cards either. Just a debit card.

We never link it or any form of payment to our MB. We just pay as we go. We use, cash, gc's and our debit card. It's too hard for us to watch what we spend if we link something.
It's harder on the cruise as then you have to put something down, you have no choice but at WDW, we don't.

Edit: You CAN buy a Disney gift card and put $ on it up to like...Idk. a lot. LOL. And just use that if you want. I'm not sure if they'll link that to your MB though, I don't think they will.

 

[MataHari22]

Hi everyone,

I am sooooo excited to be finally going to WDW in January!!!

I would like a little advice if possible.

I don't do credit cards (long story, but had some problems in the past) and only have my checking account debit card. I would prefer not to hook that up to my MB for charging.

Can you purchase a VISA or AMEX debit card and hook that up? I have a budget for my trip and figure I can put most of it on one of those and hook it up and then carry a little cash with me as well as my regular debit card.

Thanks in advance!!

It's my understanding that you may link your debit card to your magic bands, but you cannot link gift cards to it. What others on the board have said to do, is to link your credit or debit card, but stop in every night and pay down the balance charged with your gift card, this way nothing will be charged to your debit card. They will not run the charges that you make on the magic band until it reaches the maximum you can charge at your resort, or the night before your check out, whichever comes first. I am still debating whether I am going to link my credit card to my band or not.

Hopefully some one who knows more than I do will come along and let us know if what I said was correct, but that is what I've gathered from all the reading I've done here.

 

[hikerskibums06]

It's my understanding that you may link your debit card to your magic bands, but you cannot link gift cards to it. What others on the board have said to do, is to link your credit or debit card, but stop in every night and pay down the balance charged with your gift card, this way nothing will be charged to your debit card. They will not run the charges that you make on the magic band until it reaches the maximum you can charge at your resort, or the night before your check out, whichever comes first. I am still debating whether I am going to link my credit card to my band or not.

Hopefully some one who knows more than I do will come along and let us know if what I said was correct, but that is what I've gathered from all the reading I've done here.

An employee at the local Disney Store in NJ was telling me about wearable bracelets that work like gift cards (and are different from Magic Bands). She said you can buy them at the park. It was in reference to the Food & Wine festival. Does anyone have any information on this?

 

[staceyrhood]

An employee at the local Disney Store in NJ was telling me about wearable bracelets that work like gift cards (and are different from Magic Bands). She said you can buy them at the park. It was in reference to the Food & Wine festival. Does anyone have any information on this?

They sell them at Epcot for the food and wine festival. You put as much money on them as you like and use them like a gift card...they are very convenient at the food booths.

 

[MataHari22]

An employee at the local Disney Store in NJ was telling me about wearable bracelets that work like gift cards (and are different from Magic Bands). She said you can buy them at the park. It was in reference to the Food & Wine festival. Does anyone have any information on this?

This is the first I'm hearing of it.

They sell them at Epcot for the food and wine festival. You put as much money on them as you like and use them like a gift card...they are very convenient at the food booths.

Are they exclusively for F&W?
I wasn't able to find anything about it on the website. Only thing I found was this, and it says:

"Gift Cards on the Go
Simplify your Epcot International Food & Wine Festival experience with a Disney Gift Card. Stop by the Epcot Main Entrance ticket booth, Guest Relations and various locations in the Festival Center to purchase your card, which can be used for most food, refreshment and merchandise needs."

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/

 

[staceyrhood]

This is the first I'm hearing of it. Are they exclusively for F&W? I wasn't able to find anything about it on the website. Only thing I found was this, and it says: "Gift Cards on the Go Simplify your Epcot International Food & Wine Festival experience with a Disney Gift Card. Stop by the Epcot Main Entrance ticket booth, Guest Relations and various locations in the Festival Center to purchase your card, which can be used for most food, refreshment and merchandise needs." https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/

I believe they are only for food and wine...i have never seen them otherwise and I go a lot

 

[MataHari22]

Thanks.

 

[tina.tina]

In 2011 we were able to put $400 cash on our account at Pop at the beginning of our stay. Maybe someone else can tell you if this is still permissible.

 

[gules]

As far as I can tell, you're under no obligation to put a card on your MB for charging purposes. For ressies and your actual stay, you'll probably need to give your debit card because they want to ensure that you won't just suddenly back out. After you make your reservation, you just go into your MDE account and make sure you don't have a card listed as linked. When you get to your resort, the front desk SHOULD double-check that you do/don't want a card linked. Just make a note to yourself to tell them to NOT link ANY cards to your MBs. That way any charges will only be through the room explicitly. I always double check before I leave that there are no extra charges, but in 6 years of going I've never had a problem with this. We use a credit card, but I'm very careful about our budget and never link it to our MBs just in case.

In the parks themselves I would use a Disney gift card. You can pay for food with it as well as merchandise. Load on only as much as you think you'll use, and take a little bit of cash just in case (eg: tipping housekeeping, etc). You can always reload the card at any major store or even at your resort, but you can't get unused cash back off.

 

[tlovesdis]

Thanks everyone.

The thing is, I want to hook something up to my MB and just use that for purchases, since I have a budget, which is why I was hoping I could use the VISA or AMEX prepaid card. I would much rather just use my MB then dig out my card everywhere I go!

Thanks again for your help!!!

 

[set1208]

You can attach your debit card so they have some type of security that they will get paid but nothing will come out of your bank if you don't want it to.

When you use your MB for purchases during your stay, it racks up on one bill which you can pay with your prepaid Amex before you leave. So, if you use your MB for 20 purchases during your stay, it only comes out as one final payment from your debit card at the end of your stay. Does that make sense?

I was just there a couple of weeks ago and every night I'd stop by the front desk to get an updated copy of my room charges to make sure I wasn't going over my budget. The charges are up to date as soon as you make a charge. Even the tip from sit down retardants came off immediately.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

FOr those who have never heard of it here it is. And YES it is only available during food and wine but it is reusable. All you have to do it reload more money on to it when the funds are gone. If you scroll down to the second photo, the one with the blue wristband is what they CM at the Disney store was referring too.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...d-for-epcot-international-food-wine-festival/