How do you "pay" in the parks?

[Chabi670]

Do you:
Carry Cash?
Credit Cards?
Disney Dollars?
Traveler's Checks?
Are there any other ways to pay? Like charging to your room?
Do all of the vendors at the parks take credit cards?

We are thinking of taking some traveler's checks but using our Disney Rewards Cards for most everything. Does this seem like a good way to go? or would traveler's checks been too much of a hassel?

 

[pfp258]

We always stay on property and use our KTTW card. (Key to the World which doubles as your room key.) Then we just have one bill at the end of the trip that gets paid with our Southwest miles card.

 

[Mama to Three]

I've been wondering the same thing. We are staying off site so charging to our room is not an option.

We have $$ budgeted for each day so I guess we will need to keep some kind of running tally.

I've toyed around with having a visa gift card for each day, but figured that would get too complicated with any overages from previous days. I prefer simplicity.

I guess we would also charge it and pay it off when we get home.

I do want to keep some cash handy though. Its our first trip so I really don't know what to expect.

 

[WDWCNY]

When DH and I go. We use Disney Gift Cards, Very little cash and our KTTK card hooked up to a credit card we pay off when we get home.

 

[Danauk]

We use our KTTW card mainly. As it is our birthdays before we travel we will have some $$ that have been given to us as gifts. We use that as our personal spending. We do write down our daily spending just to make sure we are sticking in budget though as it can be so easy to get carried away when you are just handing a card over all the time!!

 

[vettegirl]

Cash and debit card here.

 

[Chabi670]

How does KTTW work?

 

[v_gan]

Cash and debit card here.

Same.

 

[jennipooh]

I mainly use my KTTW card, but I usually try to carry a little cash.

DS always has a Mickey Card (Disney gift card) and Disney Dollars for his purchases. (I keep his card and money with me so he doesn't lose it)

Not all the venders can accept KTTW cards. Many of the free standing carts are not linked up to the Disney System, so they accept cash and Disney Dollars only.

Unfortunately, this past trip (Dec 08) I had to borrow Disney Dollars from DS(10) to purchase a last minute poncho from a little cart at the entrance to Kali River Rapids . I had brought a poncho with me, but it ripped on Splash Mountain the day before. You never know when you need to make a cash purchase at the last minute.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

We use a little cash and use our credit card to charge everything. We pay it off each month.

You can actually pay MORE than what is on your credit card bill the month before you go and you will have a credit on your account. That way when your post trip bill arrives, you won't see such a big number. This especially helpfull if the card is close to being maxed out, or you have a low credit limit.

I would not bother with traveler's checks.

One more thought...you need a back up cc in case the first one blows up for some reason (ie magnetic strip gets messed up)

 

[BradyBz12]

A note on Disney gift/rewards cards... there are a few kiosks that do not take them (or the DDP). Namely the Joffe coffee carts like the one over by TT at Epcot.

FWIW, my aunt and uncle brought traveler's checks with them in December and found them to be quite a hassle. They ended up charging purchases in the parks and exchanging their trav.checks for cash at their hotel (which turned out to also be a hassle!)

How does KTTW work?

KTTW cards charge back to your room for on-site guests.

 

[srwarden1928]

I usually pay in the parks with either my Visa or my Discover, depending on what I am buying. I usually pay everywhere else in real life with either my Visa or Discover. Occasionally I run into somewhere that requires cash, so I always carry a little in Disney and elsewhere.

Of course both cards are paid in full every month.

 

[gymboqueenkaylee]

I use my debit card and cash when I go. I don't do credit cards because I don't like getting bills, so that works for us.

 

[steven_&_daniel]

I learned to carry a little bit of cash along with the KTTW. Early in our last visit I only had a few dollars with me and stopped to buy a funnel cake at a kiosk that doesn't accept KTTW or credit. When I explained that I couldn't get one because I didn't have enough cash with me, they gave me a funnel cake for free!

I suppose this could be a perfect example of why not to carry cash with you.

 

[ZoZo]

Depends on where you stay. If you're staying at an "official" WDW resort, you can charge pretty much everything to your room (except perhaps food kiosks, like those that sell bottled water - I'm not sure about those).

We stay at Shades of Green, which isn't an official WDW resort, so we can't charge to the room. For myself, I use old-fashioned travelers checks (in large denominations) and some cash. I won't use a debit card when traveling (too risky) and prefer not to use my credit card most of the time. I just budget a certain amount of money per day and use travelers checks. Works great for me, plus I have piece of mind in case they get lost or stolen.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

i tend to use cash and just carry what i need for a given day - this seems to work well for us in "budgeting" what we spend

 

[fraggle1_rs]

i normally use dollars/cash to pay for things
i have my credit card to fall back on if needed.

i might try my KTTW card to have purchases sent back to the resort this time, saves having to carry bags around with you.

 

[englishteacha]

We use our debit card, some cash, and keep a credit card just in case. We don't carry a lot of cash (I was pickpocketed abroad and now am very wary of carrying much cash). We each carry our own debit cards and $20 or so. DH carries the credit card but we only really use it when we rent a car. (Renting a car with a debit card is a pain because they put a giant hold on it.)

We stay offsite so we can't charge to our room. I don't think we would if we could. It's too easy to hand over a card then end up with a big bill at the end of our trip!

 

[floridascgirl]

One thing to note when using a Disney Gift Card is that if there is a balance remaining at the end of your trip (rare, but it happened to us), you cannot cash it out. You are forced to leave your $ tied up on the card until your next trip (the cards don't expire). Luckily, we are heading back again soon, but some people may not.

 

[mommymeg]

I think for our upcoming trip we'll use our KTTW card for most things... I am however bringing $300 cash for tips at TS and also we'll need tips for mousekeeping and bellhop and shuttle driver... The rest we'll charge to the room and verify before checkout...