MB from a BB perspective

[amylevan]

Since MB and FP+ seem to be the majority of the discussion on the Theme Parks board, I thought I'd get the Budgeters thoughts on MB.

Have you, or do you plan to, link your credit card to your MB?

I have never linked a credit card to our room key in the past. If I was going to dig a card out of my wallet, it might as well be the actual credit card. But with the ease of the band, I'm wondering if I should reconsider for our upcoming trip.

Of course, it supposedly makes it easier to spend money. But I'm wondering if it really would change our spending habits. We let the kids pick out 1 souvenir each, I usually buy a sweatshirt and DH doesn't usually buy anything. Food is food, I would think we'd be hungry for things whether we use a MB to pay or a credit card to pay.

Thoughts from the budget board on MB?

 

[Marionnette]

Since MB and FP+ seem to be the majority of the discussion on the Theme Parks board, I thought I'd get the Budgeters thoughts on MB.

Have you, or do you plan to, link your credit card to your MB?

I have never linked a credit card to our room key in the past. If I was going to dig a card out of my wallet, it might as well be the actual credit card. But with the ease of the band, I'm wondering if I should reconsider for our upcoming trip.

Of course, it supposedly makes it easier to spend money. But I'm wondering if it really would change our spending habits. We let the kids pick out 1 souvenir each, I usually buy a sweatshirt and DH doesn't usually buy anything. Food is food, I would think we'd be hungry for things whether we use a MB to pay or a credit card to pay.

Thoughts from the budget board on MB?

I have always linked a CC to my KTTW in the past. It's not so that I can charge easily. It's so that I don't have to carry a fistful of GCs into the park. I charge to my room and then pay off the charges with the GCs every few days at the lobby concierge.

Having the privilege of a band on my wrist vs. a card in my purse is not going to make a difference in the amount of money that I spend. However, requiring the use of a PIN when making purchases (something you didn't need to do with the KTTW prior to MBs) makes it a little more secure in the event that the band gets lost.

 

[cvjw]

I actually prefer the MB for room charging - it is super easy. No digging around for cash, just a tap of the MB and the pin entry. It did not make me buy anything that I wouldn't have normally.

 

[MichiganKris]

I linked them, and it was so nice. I only brought me Disney card to the parks for the discount if applicable. We did not change our spending habits with them being linked.

 

[hsmamato2]

no.... I don't think so...of course, I'm going to do my level best to avoid MB's if I can anyway I just hate the very idea of all this...in the past, I haven't linked anything,b/c it seemed like one extra link in the chain to breakdown/be compromised. straight charges to my cc? easy to keep track of....messing around with a flawed system of charging/tickets/keys/inept cm's who don't know how to process info.... nah.
And personally, I HATE the idea of a rubber wristband on my kid having all this info...locater,money spent,cc info,room info fingerprints... "oops, kid lost rubber bracelet,now what?" or fill in the blanks ____ with what could go wrong with this.....(just the idea of location tracking and spending is so repellent to me)
I realize that just going to Disney/using a cc is providing plenty of info, but the MB system just feels all wrong.(so does fingerprinting and "security" bag checks but who's asking me?)

 

[tina.tina]

Rather than linking a CC to our KTTW card, we put cash on our account at the front desk of our resort. They gave us a print out whenever we asked and it was so convenient.

The one time we took DH's wallet into the parks with us, I lost it. Thankfully, it was turned in by a nice person.

It never made us change our spending habits. We put on the card the amount I had budgeted for incidentals and we spent only that each day. Our refund was $2 and some change so I calculated pretty well. We carried a small amount of cash, too, for carts that didn't take the card.

 

[bumbershoot]

Of course, it supposedly makes it easier to spend money. But I'm wondering if it really would change our spending habits.

For me, whether I spend something is between me and my budget, not between me and how easy it is to pay for something. So room charging has never made a difference in how much I spend or what I buy. I can't even comprehend it, actually.

no.... I don't think so...of course, I'm going to do my level best to avoid MB's if I can anyway I just hate the very idea of all this...in the past, I haven't linked anything,b/c it seemed like one extra link in the chain to breakdown/be compromised. straight charges to my cc? easy to keep track of....messing around with a flawed system of charging/tickets/keys/inept cm's who don't know how to process info.... nah.
And personally, I HATE the idea of a rubber wristband on my kid having all this info...locater,money spent,cc info,room info fingerprints... "oops, kid lost rubber bracelet,now what?" or fill in the blanks ____ with what could go wrong with this.....(just the idea of location tracking and spending is so repellent to me)
I realize that just going to Disney/using a cc is providing plenty of info, but the MB system just feels all wrong.(so does fingerprinting and "security" bag checks but who's asking me?)

In a big way, IMO based on info I have from past jobs, the fewer humans in contact with your card, the better. Far better to enter your CC from your "clean" computer at home, to a secure website that has a huge amount of money and reputation involved in keeping things secure, then using the band with the PIN to charge...rather than handing your card over to 5 different people during the day. Any of those people that you hand it to, especially if your card goes below a counter that you can't see, or goes off to a computer kiosk at a restaurant, COULD potentially be stealing your CC info.

So the reality is probably much stronger that linking it to the secure system is actually safer than using the actual CC multiple times through the day.

I get that it doesn't FEEL safer.

They aren't taking fingerprints like in CSI. It's turned into a mathematical formula and kept that way.

Kids don't get to use the finger"print" pad. Kids aren't automatically signed up to get charging until they are 10 (according to the online checkins I've done BUT my 11 year old cousin on my reservation also wasn't given charging permission on my room while doing online checkin) and you can block charging to anyone in your room. So if my son loses his MB the person that finds it still isn't going to be able to use it to charge.

And if I lose it, the person will need to know my PIN.

Lastly, no one has to wear it at all.