Giving kids charging privilege's...

[nopdwife]

We are leaving in 3 days for WDW and are trying to decide how to handle our kids spending money. I've read about charging items to your room key but are we able to pay cash up front to have the amt. put towards their keys? They are 13,10 and 7 and it would be easier if they could just hand their room keys to pay for their souvenir's. I don't want to have to worry about change and who spent what as I will be hanging on to their money. Has anyone actually done this? I don't mean paying for the bill at checkout but actually putting a "credit" onto the acct.. Thanks for any advice..

 

[KingdomHearts]

I am not really sure if you can a certain amount on each card. I know you can put a basic limit on all the cards, but then you wouldnt be able to tell who bought what and if they spent all their money or not. I have never made my room card a charge card before because I get so nervous if I were to lose it. I would be afraid that Disney would not refund my money if I did lose the card, although I know it would be my fault, but then you would be out so much money. I am not sure how this works I would call before you go down that way you could come up with a plan. If for some reason they are unable to give each card a certain amount, what about getting those Visa check cards and putting specific amounts on those. Hope this helps!

 

[disneynutt1225]

What you could do is take each child's spending money and purchase a Disney gift card for each of them. This way, they are each in control of their own money and you don't have to worry about it.

Each set of keys is attached to your room - so the room charges are pooled for your reservation. The only way you'd be able to keep track of who charged what is if you went to the front desk each day and asked for a printout. I believe they can print it out by room key #.

It's probably less of a headache if you use the gift cards for each of them, though.

 

[CleveRocks]

disneynutt is right on the money, if I may use such a pun.

There can only be one room charge account per room. You can't set up separate room charges for each card.

However, you can get printouts of your account as often as you like, and each transaction will include the number fo the card used to make the transaction. You'd have undisputable proof of who charged what and where and when it was done.

However, this gives each cardholder the potential to charge the entire amount that the room charge is set up for, so you are taking a slight risk there, depending on how you think your kids would handle such things.

And by the way, in setting up your room charge, you can back it up with credit card, debit card, travelers checks, cash, even Disney Dollars. Each level of resort has a maximum, and you can choose your own room charge limit to be any amount up to and including that maximum. That maximum is $500 at the Value Resorts, $1K at the Moderates and $1.5K at the Deluxes. Once the room charge has reached that max, your credit/debit card (if you used one) will be charged, and then you can immediately set up another room charge by phone (if you are, for example, at a park and not at your resort when you reach your limit).

If you use a credit or debit card to back up the room charge, there will be NO HOLD or charge placed on that credit/debit account. They will "run" the card just to make sure it is active, but there will be NO HOLD placed on it, and no amount will be charged to you until you reach your limit or you reach check-out time, whichever comes first.

 

[solferino]

I love DN's suggestion. So much so that's what I'll do for DD when we go in January.

 

[nopdwife]

What you could do is take each child's spending money and purchase a Disney gift card for each of them. This way, they are each in control of their own money and you don't have to worry about it.

Each set of keys is attached to your room - so the room charges are pooled for your reservation. The only way you'd be able to keep track of who charged what is if you went to the front desk each day and asked for a printout. I believe they can print it out by room key #.

It's probably less of a headache if you use the gift cards for each of them, though.

Can I purchase the gift card when we get there? Where do I go? That would be easier.

 

[Sandi]

All the resort stores sell the gift cards. You can even pay for a gift card with your room charge. The GC's are a really good idea and works well to keep the kids on a budget.

 

[disneynutt1225]

Yes, you can purchase when you get there. I believe ANY of the stores (resort stores and theme park stores) carry the gift cards - we saw them in almost every store we went into over by the registers.

 

[nopdwife]

Thanks everyone for your advice. This is our first family trip and it's the first visit for 2 of my kids. I HATE to have deal with change and what money belongs to this child and that one. Thanks again! We're gonna buy them gift cards when we get there!

 

[disneynutt1225]

Have a great trip! Are you going to get 1st Visit buttons for the kids?

 

[nopdwife]

I bought 2 off of someone on Ebay around a month ago. At that time, I didn't know you could get them free when you got there. Good thing I didn't pay but a few bucks for them.

 

[zippy doo dah]

I actually like the idea of getting them the Disney gift cards this way once they use their money then you don't have to worry about it. When i went down last July, I was asked at check-in if I wanted to make the room keys into charge cards...we were actually able to do that for mine and DH's card, but I asked that it not be done for the kids b/c I didn't want them to go crazy on souvies...and in all honesty, the only time we used the room keys as charges was when I needed some dayquil and cough drops...just my 2 cents...I hope you and your family have a magical time

 

[Blondiex46]

I love the gift card idea also. I bought disney dollars for my grandaughters.

 

[Grumpy987]

Hmmmmm....Gift Cards?! What a great suggestion! I'll have a 15 and 12 year old when I go so this might be a good answer!

 

[CAJUNBLAZE]

I am also doing the gift cards and noticed on disnet shopping they only have a princess or mickey card. Is there other options on the card at the resorts or gift shops? My 10 year old son wouldnt like a pricess card to much!!

 

[disneynutt1225]

I am also doing the gift cards and noticed on disnet shopping they only have a princess or mickey card. Is there other options on the card at the resorts or gift shops? My 10 year old son wouldnt like a pricess card to much!!

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe they had a variety in the stores at WDW.

 

[jimmalru80]

We gave our kids WDW charging ability when they were 13 years old. They always checked with us before a purchase and we would review their purchases every other night. They never went over the line and as the years went by, we waived the "you have to check with me" rule. We never had an "errant" purchase.

 

[Hope73]

I like disney gift cards. I just went on a trip and our bank had a visa gift card it was better than travlers checks and worked great.

 

[mkycrzy1971]

We bought each of our children Disney gift cards once we arrived...you can get them most anywhere...that way they were responsible for their own spending, knew exactly how much money they had left to spend and it was a good lesson in budgeting....Worked well for us.

 

[dizzy203]

Last year I gave my DS (13) charging privileges on the room key. He was really good about it and only used it to charge his breakfast. While I was getting ready he went to the food court, got his breakfast, and came back to the room. He was afraid of losing the key so he always gave it to me to hold. The gift card is a great idea for souvenirs.