Magic Band Spending Limit for Kids?

[John Derby]

Our kids have saved up some money for our upcoming Disney trip. I think the lesson on budgeting would be more effective if they did the purchasing themselves. Can we set an amount on each of their Magic Bands for the trip equal to what they've saved? Also, they are 8 and 10 so I'm not sure if there's an age restriction for using Magic Bands for purchases.

 

[sponica]

I'm not sure if there's a way to limit the folio account. You could monitor it and then change the PIN after they've hit their limit.

Or just give them a gift card with the amount they've saved.

 

[Brett Wyman]

I'm not 100%, but in the area in MDE where you can set PINs for purchasing via MBs: I see mine, my wife's, my mom's, and my MIL's PIN options but there are no options listed for my kids, 5 and 3. I wonder if they block purchasing via MB for kids of a certain age?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Our kids have saved up some money for our upcoming Disney trip. I think the lesson on budgeting would be more effective if they did the purchasing themselves. Can we set an amount on each of their Magic Bands for the trip equal to what they've saved? Also, they are 8 and 10 so I'm not sure if there's an age restriction for using Magic Bands for purchases.

You can set up PINs for your children so they can charge purchases using their MBs, however, you cannot set spending limits on the MBs themselves. The MBs charging privileges are connected to whichever cc you've attached to your room account. If you want to set spending limits, I second the suggestion of purchasing gift cards in the amounts they have saved. Or simply have them charge with the MBs, keep your receipts to track the spending, turn the PINs off once they've reached their limits and then use the money they saved to pay off the cc charge. You could also go to the front desk each evening and have them pay down their charges, but I've found stopping at the front desk during trips to be quite time consuming.

 

[supitscarrie]

No way to limit magicband spending. Just get them giftcards with a set amount.

 

[cgattis]

As @DisneyWishes14 said, it isn’t technically on the band, it’s done on the room account. But it was easy for the front desk to set for us at check-in and it made everyone getting their own food from the food court SO much easier! Plus the kids liked using them to grab a snack without one of us standing there with them. Just a little freedom (plus probably some cool factor); they enjoyed it.

 

[Flagge]

I would buy each of them a gift card and add it to the Disney gift card management site. That way if they lose it you can transfer the funds off the cards hopefully before someone uses it. Also I've seen gift cards with wrist bands for the Epcot festivals. Those might be good if they are sold in other parks or resorts.

 

[scrappinginontario]

When I tried adding a PIN to my DD's MB it didn't allow me to do so until she was 10yo. We returned to Guest Services twice and even though we'd set up her band it would not work for charging purchases. Since she's reached 10 it now allows her to charge to the band using our PIN.

I'm old school and she takes cash to the parks. I find it's helpful for her to see the money going out in dollars and cents to help her decide how she wants to spend her money.

If you don't want to carry cash then a gift card is a great option too.

 

[OKW Lover]

There is no way to limit the spending for each child. The Magic Band isn't a credit card, it just links to the credit card your DME account.

Could you just have them buy Disney gift cards instead?

 

[Ladyfish77]

I just took the granddaughters in August. I got them each a lanyard with a zippered pouch attached (I got them ones at Vera Bradley outlet). Gave them each a $50 gift card. As a precaution, I entered all the cards into a Disneygiftcard account. They all kept great track of their cards and also their purchases. They all knew how much they had left to spend, since it's at the bottom of every receipt. Worked out great. Their ages are 13, 11, 8, 6.