In what form do you take your dollars? :)

[BlondeViki]

I know I'll need to take some cash but I don't want to take all my money in cash. Maybe about 30%?

I was thinking about getting a pre-paid Mastercard through Fairfx for the rest, but I've never used one before. Has anyone got any experience/recommendations?

They're Mastercard, so I presume they would be accepted in most of the parks/resorts/restaurants etc. Seems a safer way to take my travel money and more convenient than traveller's cheques.

 

[Pegasus928]

From what I have read on here a lot of people take the Fairfx card with them and have no problems. Personally we take the maximum in cash that we are allowed and withdraw from an ATM using our UK debit card while we are there. I know there is a small fee for doing this but it's not enough to put us off doing this.

 

[DisneyOHFan]

We take Amex gift cards but mostly cash and take the cash and apply it to our room account when we check in. That way we don't have to carry it around and it just gets deducted from the things we apply to our Key to the World card.

 

[orangetiggs]

Take a few dollars and then my fairfx card, had no problems here, Orlando, Mexico or Egypt using it

I draw a large amount from the ATM there when I need cash to minimise the charges and then use like a debit card here, we take a laptop so incan top up, check balances while there if needed

 

[jtlover]

We usually get cash from M&S and take Fairfx card with us. We dont tend to get cash out with the card but usually find one of us is paid whilst on holiday so load extra money on our cards whilst in Florida.

As we stay on Disney property we take advantage of loading everything onto our room card and they pay it at the end of the holiday with the Fairfx card.

You can still get the card free via Matalan online Otherwise it is about £10

 

[2Tiggies]

I take the max cash our insurance will cover us for, and split the rest between Travellers Cheques (I know, old fashioned but they work fine for me) and a FairFX card. I also take a few of my UK credit cards as back up but have never used them there (except at the airport where they come in handy for flight upgrades ....)

The FairFX was easy to use. Just remember that if you don't have internet access there, you will need to keep a careful tab on what you spend on there as there is no other way to check your balance.

Also, it is NOT a credit or debit card so I would advise against using it to secure a reservation for a restaurant, car hire, or if onsite, for your KTTW card spends as you could face not being able to access some of your funds while you are there if they are 'reserved' against something like that.

Other than that, easy to use and had no hassles. Off site they did ask for photo ID every time so keep that handy just in case

 

[Helen B]

We tend to take about £150 in cash for the first few days, and to get us through the tolls from MCO, and then use our CC for purchases and debit cards to take cash out as we need usually $200 a time to make it worthwhile regarding any fees. We will tend to pay cash for everything except merchandise which will go on our CC.

 

[wayneg]

We usually take about $100 in cash and everything else on a fee free credit card (Post Office) I checked exchange rate in town this morning they were offering $1.55, credit card today gets $1.605 (just paid my Universal AP's yesterday and got $1.60)

4 reasons I would not use cash,
1, Better exchange rate with fee free card (but not if you buy on a higher rate than you can get on the card out there)
2, I personally know 3 people who have had their Villas/hotel rooms broken into and cash taken.
3, I once lost my wallet going abroad with £500 in (got it back but it changed my views)
4, Travel Insurance usually only covers around £100pp for cash, £300 on good policies.

Use Travellers cheques, pre-paid cards, fee free credit cards but take as little cash as possible.

If you do use cards for drawing money out of the wall check the fees involved, some machine charge a fee, some banks charge a fee ontop, interest can start being added as soon as you withdraw, even if paying in full.

Paying by credit card in the US is as easy as cash, especially in Disney you hand over card they swipe and give you it back with receipt, no signing upto $50.
I know not everyone can obtain credit cards but they are the best way IMO if you can.

 

[Linda67]

I take a mixture of all the above but don't take too much cash in case I lose it!
I take travelers cheques which I know is old fashioned but you can either cash them at your hotel or use them to pay for something and take the change in cash, this saves any fees for cash withdrawals
I also use the Post Office credit card (no fees and great rate)
I load up a Barclays Travel Money Card which is similar to the Faifax card, the good thing is that you can use any ATM to check your balance though so no need to get on- line, you can also top it up over the phone

 

[BlondeViki]

Sounds like different things work for different people then!

I'm glad to hear the Fairfx card is a good option and I'll check out the fee free cards you mentioned Wayne

I'm always a bit nervous about having too much cash on me, especially if it's any more than I'd be insured for, as whilst I know it can't happen to everyone, I'd be gutted if I lost it or it got stolen. I just need a safe but easily accessible way to carry money.

Thanks for all the feedback, I'm really liking these forums, you always get such a good response

 

[wayneg]

Martin Lewis has a good guide to spending abroad on his site, lists the best cards to use.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

 

[Muscateer]

I have just returned from Orlando and used a Fairfx card for first time and it worked really well for us. Could use it everywhere, never had to use pin and some of the time didn't even have to sign either. I just kept a note of what we spent. I had no regular access to internet while away so wouldn't have been easy to top up. We also took some dollars as well. Had a credit card for back up but never needed to use it.

 

[VailaTigger]

We used a FairFx card last year, and it worked out just fine. I logged into my account on my phone to check the balance and top up, whenever I found some free WiFi (not often!), and kept a close eye on how much we were spending.

We had I think around $200 in cash to start with, and withdrew some from the ATM in the hotel lobby while there. It costs £2 to withdraw I think, so we would take the maximum out that it would allow us, to reduce the number of withdrawal costs.

We took our UK credit card as a backup, and used this as our card on the hotel booking for any incedentals. You can always change your payment card on checking out, but we didn't use the FairFx card for this, as we didn't want any of the funds on it 'ring fenced' and unavailable to us.

I'd do the same next year, but would probably not use as much cash (other than for small tipping) - I'd use the FairFx card for everything, or use our Key to The World room card and pay off the bill with the FairFx card on checking out.

 

[Goofyish]

You can check you balance and add funds on your FairFX card via a text message from your mobile

 

[cliveywolves]

We usually take about $100 in cash and everything else on a fee free credit card (Post Office) I checked exchange rate in town this morning they were offering $1.55, credit card today gets $1.605 (just paid my Universal AP's yesterday and got $1.60)

4 reasons I would not use cash,
1, Better exchange rate with fee free card (but not if you buy on a higher rate than you can get on the card out there)
2, I personally know 3 people who have had their Villas/hotel rooms broken into and cash taken.
3, I once lost my wallet going abroad with £500 in (got it back but it changed my views)
4, Travel Insurance usually only covers around £100pp for cash, £300 on good policies.

Use Travellers cheques, pre-paid cards, fee free credit cards but take as little cash as possible.

If you do use cards for drawing money out of the wall check the fees involved, some machine charge a fee, some banks charge a fee ontop, interest can start being added as soon as you withdraw, even if paying in full.

Paying by credit card in the US is as easy as cash, especially in Disney you hand over card they swipe and give you it back with receipt, no signing upto $50.
I know not everyone can obtain credit cards but they are the best way IMO if you can.

Yep we pretty much mirror what you do Wayne, apart from we have a Citibank US $ account so we top that up with some funds from our UK account before we go and use that to withdraw any cash we need to withdraw in the US as no fees etc....

 

[irisheyes123]

I opened a bank account in florida I have a visa debit card that has no fees so works great for us I just get a bank draft each month and send it to the bank to lodge in for me I also get a better $ rate when getting the bank draft

 

[cliveywolves]

I opened a bank account in florida I have a visa debit card that has no fees so works great for us I just get a bank draft each month and send it to the bank to lodge in for me I also get a better $ rate when getting the bank draft

Yep works same as our Citibank US $ account then, Like you say you get the interbank exchange rate too I think our last transfer went through at 1.64

 

[dixonsontour]

Usually take cash, withdraw from uk bank account, credit card.

This trip have opened a US dollar citibank account so are planning to use this plus cash.

 

[BlondeViki]

Thanks for posting your experiences with the Farifx card guys, that's really helpful. It's definitely a front runner for my holiday cash now!