How do you pay for food, etc in disneyland?

[albertamommyof4]

i was wondering how everyone pays, i could get some us cash but don't want to be carrying tons , i could get travellers checks but where do you cash them and also what places take them? i could use credit card but them again who takes them?
I am not sure what we are doing for dinning yet but i know some will be counter service places in the parks and some of snacks will be carts, i know if we do a sit down place that the credit card will be fine. Hotel is already being put on credit cards so all the money will be for is food, snacks and spending money
Thanks

 

[MommyWithDreams]

i was wondering how everyone pays, i could get some us cash but don't want to be carrying tons , i could get travellers checks but where do you cash them and also what places take them? i could use credit card but them again who takes them?
I am not sure what we are doing for dinning yet but i know some will be counter service places in the parks and some of snacks will be carts, i know if we do a sit down place that the credit card will be fine. Hotel is already being put on credit cards so all the money will be for is food, snacks and spending money
Thanks

We put $300 on a gift card and used that. It's easier than carrying around loads of cash. No it didn't last the whole 6 days..but it was close. We used it for some stuff in the park too.

 

[goofycathy]

We just use a debit card. Simple and easy.

 

[Disney Dreams]

We use a mix of credit card and cash.

 

[Krissy Marissy]

I'm the same as dreams...we do cash for snacks like churros or the carts that do not take plastic. Otherwise we use our debit card. We did prepurchase disney gift cards to use in place of our debit card and that worked well too. They take them anywhere they can run a card Enjoy your trip!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I try to purchase a $50 GC each payday, I'm pretty sure I could just add to a GC I already have but I don't. GC's ship for free! Last Dec. I didn't use my debit card in DLR! I carried some cash for tips, churros and whatnot.

 

[pixiewings71]

We use cash or Disney Dollars for the carts (we are out of DD so cash it will be this trip), we use gift cards, debit cards, credit cards or cash at the restaurants/shops. The restaurants take plastic, most every place does just not the carts.

 

[Teki]

My baby sister gets disney dollars or a disney gift card which will work for everything, accept some of the vendors. I carry minor amounts of cash (40 or so) and the rest I use plastic.

 

[bbangel]

I get gift cards through Sunshine Rewards (taking over $200 in May ) and use them for everything.

I also carry a small (usually less than $10) amount of cash just in case I want something at a cart that doesn't take cards.

 

[evandmp]

Debit card or cash.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Right now we're using gift cards at most places because we got GCs with our costco APs, otherwise we would just do credit card since we get cash back. Cards just seem a lot easier to whip out than trying to fish around for cash. We also have some cash or disney dollars for the carts and other places that don't take GC/CC.

 

[bumbershoot]

We buy big gift cards (to supplement what I get from SR, like bbangel) and work from them. For us that's nicer to just have an even number in the checkbook, rather than 100 separate little line items to remember and write down and reconcile.

Now that wamu is chase, the ATMs in the park work for me, and on this upcoming solo trip I'll move my trip money to my wamu, and get cash when I get there, rather than worrying about carrying it with me.

I live too far from a disney store to buy a GC there.

 

[DizNee Luver]

We're buying gift cards to use for food & merchandise & also pay for our upgrade to annual passes.
We'll have a little cash for the carts that don't accept them.
We'll use our debit card for the lockers & DTD meals.
We chose the gift cards for the bulk of it because of wanting to pre-pay for as much as we could (besides, I set the amts & I've given myself LOTS of spending money for merchandise)
Hope you have a great trip!!

PS: keep in mind if you use a credit card or debit card (if your face isn't already plastered on it)...you will also need to show I.D. So that is something to think about.

 

[pixiewings71]

Molly, you can get gift cards from Disneyshopping.com as well.

 

[skoocher]

With money.......

Sorry, could not resist.

We use our card for most everything but have some cash for the carts and other places that may not take the cards. Last time we were there, I don't remember using much cash at all. I think even some of the carts may take cards.

 

[Jennifer03]

I use my Disney Rewards card, which is basically like a gift card.

 

[albertamommyof4]

Thanks everyone
I love the remark "money lol
Being from Canada i am not sure if i could get a disney gift card from the disneyshopping website, it would probably cost a lot for shipping. I like the idea of not carrying to much cash as who knows what can happen . I also ( hopefully will recieve in time) a disney gift card from sunshinerewards only $25 but hey that helps.
So only the carts don't except anything but cash or disney dollars?
If i do happen to get some travellers cheques where in disneyland can these be cashed?
thanks again everyone.

 

[bbangel]

Unfortunately, Disneyshopping won't send gift cards up here. You could probably use the traveller's cheques at the hotel desk and get that money transfered to a gift card.

Frankly the exchange on traveller's cheques is not as good as using your credit card or just getting cash. If I didn't have gift cards I would just use cash. Lock most of it in the safe and only take what you need for the day.

 

[albertamommyof4]

Unfortunately, Disneyshopping won't send gift cards up here. You could probably use the traveller's cheques at the hotel desk and get that money transfered to a gift card.

Frankly the exchange on traveller's cheques is not as good as using your credit card or just getting cash. If I didn't have gift cards I would just use cash. Lock most of it in the safe and only take what you need for the day.

Thank you
i think i will bring a couple hundred in cash and then use credit card for rest.

 

[DizMe]

You could buy gift cards when you get there if you wanted to limit the amount of cash you're carrying around. One nice thing about the gift cards is you can have them reloaded over the phone, though I'm not sure that you could do that from Canada. Anyway, they have the cards at the ticket booths outside the park.

I get Rainforest Cafe cards (through a rewards program--mypoints.com) and I add $50 to my gift cards whenever possible. I always prepay a character meal, too. I don't mind taking cash, though. Lord knows it doesn't hang around in my wallet long enough to worry me.

I just got back from a trip. I had $75 in RFC cards, a $50 general gift card, $69 birthday gift card, vouchers for a character meal and $12 left on an old gift card. I also had some great coupons for Build-a-Bear and RFC. It REALLY helped a lot!! I also used my ap for food discounts but could have smacked myself in the head when I forgot to use it at Blue Bayou ($110 meal).