Money matters

[LegoMom3]

What do you all use for money while at WDW? We took traveler's checks last time but I don't want to bother with them this trip (some in DH's name, some in mine, signing them here, then there...Blah!). I'm going to get Disney dollars for the kids, but don't want to convert ALL of our funds over to that!

We'll have some cash for snack carts and other small purchases, but I'm debating how to handle the rest of our spending money. I use my banks' VISA debit card at home for almost everything. It has all the same safety features as a credit card, and actually 99% of the purchases I make with it are processed as a credit (where I sign the slip rather than enter a PIN number).

Has anyone used those pre-paid VISA's from AAA or someplace? Is there any advantage to getting one of those over just using our bank VISA?

Any help really appreciated! I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible!

 

[cjnix29]

I carry some cash, but mainly I use my room's charge for everything and pay for it at the end with my Disney Visa. I haven't used any prepaid Visas, because I haven't liked some of the fees I have been told are associated with them. It has been awhile since I have looked into it, so maybe it's different now. I use my Disney Visa for just about everything anyway, get the rewards and pay it off in full. I don't like to mess with too much cash, because I always forget where it all goes!!!

 

[juligrl]

We usually take about 250 in cash and never end up spending nearly that much of it. The rest goes on our CC which we always pay in full at the end of the month. That said, the advantage of the pre-paid VISA is that you'll have a set amount that you can't go over. We're pretty good about not splurging and are disciplined spenders to begin with so CC works for us, but a pre-paid card would be advantageous if you're trying to control the urge to make impulse buys. You really do consider every purchase.

 

[CleveRocks]

If you're staying at a Disney resort, then the easy no-brainer answer for you is to use your room charge. Case closed.

When you check in, they will ask if you want to set up a room charge. You can set it up for any dollar amount up to a certain limit. For value resorts, $500, mods $1,000, deluxes $1,500. I set it up with my debit card at CBR last year -- I set it up for $500 even though CBR is a moderate and I could have had it up to $1,000. The front desk will make absolutely no distinction between setting up a room charge with a debit card, credit card, or cash.

I don't know if they actually put a hold on that amount, but I know that the amount is not charged until you reach the limit OR check-out time, whichever comes first. If you reach the limit before your trip is over, you can go to the front desk and "recharge" your room charge.

The room charge is accepted everywhere in the theme parks and water parks (except maybe some carts and walking vendors), as well as numerous shops at Downtown Disney.

It's SOOOO much easier than dealing with cash, travelers checks, or bothering with buying pre-paid debit cards.

I use my debit card 99% of the time at home, too. At WDW, it was nice having a single $500 charge on my bank statement (from the total room charge charges) rather than using the debit card itself and having 43 separate smaller transactions.

HAVE FUN!

 

[suezb]

The advantage of the pre-paid visa over your debit card is pretty good, actually.
If you put 100 dollars on the pre-paid visa and you lose your card, you can get the card recharged. If you lose your debit card, you're SOL and you can't get another card before you leave.
If you lose your pre-paid visa, and the person charges on it...they only charge that 100 dollars. If they get your debit card, they can access all sorts of information; your accounts, your savings, etc and then they can get all the money associated with that bank, instead of just the 100 dollars. And no, I'm not being paranoid, I just know some people (unfortunately) who are highly capable of doing this sort of thing.
I'm going to keep a little bit of cash (maybe 60 dollars) and then get the rest put on the AAA Visa myself.
Hope that answered your question!

 

[CleveRocks]

Debit cards with the VISA logo (and maybe also MC) provide 100% protection from fraudulent charges. You can't be wiped out unless you don't notice you've been wiped out until more than 60 days after it happened.

 

[LegoMom3]

CleveRocks: thanks for the detail on the room-key charging! I knew it existed but thought it was only vaild with an actual credit card. I just don't use them so thought I was out of luck. We will probably do just that - sounds perfect!

 

[shyjade]

CleveRocks: thanks for the detail on the room-key charging! I knew it existed but thought it was only vaild with an actual credit card. I just don't use them so thought I was out of luck. We will probably do just that - sounds perfect!

I believe you do have to have a credit card in order to make charges to your room....right?

 

[TruBlu]

We used our Disney Visa to pay for our room and charged everything using our room key. Less to keep up with!!

We did take a small amount of cash for cabs, arcade games, etc., but not much.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

We used our debit card at checkin to secure all charges when we went in June and everything went almost perfect. We stayed at POR and they withdrew the amount twice.Since I checked with the bank on the charges after we checkout ( we were checking in to BCV from there), they were able to remove the second charge immediately. Everything went great and we used our debit card again at BCV. I would recommend it as an easy way to get around the world. It was wonderful to have one statement and not a bunch of little ones. We are using the debit card again in Sept. It makes bookeeping easier.

 

[tink98]

We are going to use our Disney Visa Rewards card/points first. Then we will use the room card to charge everything back to the room. I do like the idea of having a maximum spending limit. We are staying at a moderate but don't want the $1000. I'll set it for a lower limit (lack self-control ) and use my Disney visa to pay it (for the rewards ) and pay that off when we get home with the money we already have set aside for the trip. I don't like carrying cash anywhere either., but will have some for arcade games, snack carts, etc that require cash.

Well that's the plan!

Is there anyway to check daily on the total charged to your room without having to stop at the desk?

 

[EpcotGuy]

I used the Amex Travellers Cheque Card the last few trips. It worked very well, no problems anywhere. The fees also seem to be quite a bit lower than the AAA Visa. Just offering another option for you guys.

 

[CleveRocks]

I believe you do have to have a credit card in order to make charges to your room....right?

NO.

As I said in my earlier post, the front desk will set up a room charge for you if you present them with a credit card, a debit card, or even cash. This is a great convenience. Let's say you have no credit or debit card. If you give the front desk $500 cash for a room charge, you can now use your room key/park pass to "charge" all purchases within the parks and not have to risk carrying that kind of cash around, not have to count change, etc.

I went last May and, unfortunately, my in-laws tagged along with us. We had connecting rooms at CBR but we had 2 separate reservations. My FIL and I checked in at the same time with the same front desk CM. He doesn't have a credit card or even a debit card, just an ATM card. I'd read about this before, and it was confirmed by the front desk CM who told him he could set up a room charge if he handed over cash in the exact amount that he wanted to set up the room charge for.

And I set up my room charge with my debit card, NOT with a credit card.

 

[BooScout]

In the past we have used our Disney Reward dollars and then used our Disney credit card. I didn't realize that the room key charge had a spending limit attached to it. Now that I know that, it sounds like it would be safer to use the room key charge option and pay for everything with the Disney card at the end.