Money in FL/WDW?

[snickerboo]

What did the other Canadians do about money while in Florida? Travellers checks? Used bank machines? Credit cards? Change money in advance and carry cash?

I'm nervous about carrying cash. Are there surcharges for using the bank machines down there?

 

[Joann]

we take cash, credit card and did use the bank machien, not sure about the service fee as it was my husbands, I never asked him but he never complained about anything there or when we got home, so if so for a service fee it can't be that big of one or I would have heard about it hehe

 

[Daddio]

We take travellers cheques for the daily spending and use credit card for shopping, car rental and rooms.

 

[mickeywho?]

We bring traveller's cheques. I put all daily purchases on our room and make payments every couple of days using the tc's. We keep very little cash and have an easier time tracking our spending. Helps to keep us to a budget if we've already decided ahead of time how much to bring. Anything over at the end of the trip goes on the credit card. (All of our credit cards charged a 2% fee over our purchase that was hidden in the exchange - so tc's were a better buy)
Also helps around the parks if all I need with me is my room key - no cash to loose!

 

[dhluvsDisney]

Bizarre that you asked this. I was going to post this separately, but I may as well answer here.

CAA has a Visa travel money card. We just got one for my son that is in Europe right now on a school trip. This card works like a Visa, only it is pre-loaded and re-loadeable. His already got low, and I went to CAA yesterday, and added on to it. It is good for 2 years, and offers a better exchange rate than visa or other cards that add a 2-4$ surcharge. I checked online, and the exchange rate appears to be the same as the going cash rate of Royal. This card is loadable up to $39,000. So if you are planning any purchases of substance (like DVC), it would be better to load one of these, than get dinged with a credit card surcharge. We were always looking in the past for an effective way to pay for our rooms, etc, without having to carry a load of Traveller's cheques and cash, and now we finally have a way! This is the only way to travel (by the way, it converts any kind of currency, ie AM, Euro, Swiss Francs, etc.) so you can use it anywhere it seems!

Linda

 

[Momto3chicks]

Check with you bank...We bank with Scotia and they are affiliated with Bank of America...so as long as we went to a Bank of America ATM..we weren't charged a fee...for other things we used credit cards...My sister had travellers cheques when we went down and they weren't cashed very easily...she held up a lot of lines while using them...LOL...

Kelley

 

[tribus121]

I have allwase traveled with 2 wallets one that i use to pay for things but i never keep more than $50 in cash and very little ID (If i loose or some one wants to rob me no big deal ) .I keep the rest of my ID and most of my cash in a 2nd wallet that i never take out in public .I allso use bankmachines ( only in will lit public areas) and credit cards .

 

[Apothecary]

We always take US cash and use visa occasionally. Travellers cheques always seemed like too much of a hassle ( I know - I'm inherently lazy! )

 

[GrannyEv]

I take cash with me. I allot myself so much a day and the rest goes into the safe in the room.. Travellers cheques are a bit of a hassle. I also bring my credit card for emergencies only, but leave it in the room. As long as you are careful when travelling to Disney. I always carried my cash in a fanny pack on the trip down. Didn't have any money left to worry about on the way back.

hugs
GrannyEv

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

We take a combo of travellers cheques, cash and credit card! We tend to put some on our room card and just keep topping it up when we need to!

 

[SandraC]

We brought $500US for 10 days and came back with about $300US because we used our WDW room key charging option ALL THE TIME! heeheehee. S

 

[disneyred]

We brought $500US for 10 days and came back with about $300US because we used our WDW room key charging option ALL THE TIME! heeheehee. S

Can you use the room key option for EVERYTHING in the parks ??
like counterservice food , buying mickey bars, etc....

So basically what will this not cover ??

TIA..

 

[explorer1977]

You can charge pretty much everything to your room key while staying at a Dsiney Resort. We brought travelers check two years ago but we seemed to just cash them at the front desk for cash. Lats september we brought $600 cash (for driving down and incidentals) and we got a US Visa which has been amazing. No 2% surcharge so what you pay at the store is on your bill. We also got a US account so changing money is easy.

 

[CharlesTD]

We take a small amount of cash and the rest in TC's they are easy to use and if you lose them or they get stolen they are replaced unlike with cash. Plus they get replaced right away if your CC gets lost or stolen it takes longer to get a new one and if cash gets lost or stolen well you are just plain out of luck on that one. The cash is used primarily for the gas and snacks on the drive down and home the TC's are used while in Florida and at WDW. Your resort will also cash up to 200 a day in TC's for you if memory serves. So if you are worried about carrying tc's to the parks etc just change them over to cash before leaving the resort in the AM. I will say this we have never had one moments problem using TC's in WDW even at counter service or the mickey bar stand or at any of the shops around the area we have used them at many of the stores out at Belz and at the Florida premium outlet mall and even at the grocery store. I have had a harder time using them in Toronto than I have ever encountered in Florida.

 

[disneyred]

Is there a service charge for me for putting charges onto this room key ??
(ie... lets say I spend and charge 200 dollars to my roomkey ...

will I just have to pay the 200 dollars or is there an extra fee associated to this service ??

thanks !

 

[CharlesTD]

Is there a service charge for me for putting charges onto this room key ??
(ie... lets say I spend and charge 200 dollars to my roomkey ...

will I just have to pay the 200 dollars or is there an extra fee associated to this service ??

thanks !

Just pay the 200 dollars and you can do that a number of ways. One is go down during the stay and pay it off or the second and usually the easiest way for most people is have it charged to the CC that you left to have charging on the room key. Then they just add it to the bill and charge the CC at checkout.

 

[disneyred]

thanks for the info !!

 

[CharlesTD]

No problem

 

[Legend of Odon]

I agree with dhluvsDisney above. My 17 year old daughter is on an exchange in France for 3 months and we looked at a variety of money options and really felt the CAA money card is a great option. I can access the account on line and top it up whenever it is needed. She has been in France for almost 2 months and she has not had any trouble using it and isn't worried about losing cash or finding a place to cash traveller's cheques. I think after she gets back we will keep the card active and use for other upcoming trips. The advantage is that you put money onto the card before you spend it, so you don't get a "bill" at the end of the month. It may not be for everyone but I definitely think it is worth looking into.

 

[RedRuby]

What did the other Canadians do about money while in Florida? Travellers checks? Used bank machines? Credit cards? Change money in advance and carry cash?

I'm nervous about carrying cash. Are there surcharges for using the bank machines down there?

In Florida, we used credit cards almost exclusively -- only using cash for tolls, tips and the occasional small item at a convenience store. At WDW, we stayed onsite and charged everything to our room (using our MYW card). We were on the dining plan so the extra charges were few and far between...just some modest souvenirs and extra drinks.

It's similar to what we do everywhere now, actually -- we find there's no need for travellers cheques since we tend to be in places where credit cards will be taken for nearly everything. We just ensure we have some cash in local currency to pay for incidentals. This is true when we do driving trips, too -- just enough cash to pay for tips, a few meals and maybe a show from the half price ticket booth Not enough to get worried about finding and using foreign ATMs...

Personally I think there's little need for cash if you've got a credit card and spending most of your time at resorts, hotels, theme parks and restaurants anyway (and won't be tempted to run up limits you can't pay off ).