Need tips on charge, cash or tr.chqs....

[goofymom/pop]

which do you take, DSis and I are trying to decide, how much cash to take and wether to use a charge for the rest or travelers checks....opinions please.....

Caribbean Beach 91
Off site 92
Off site Caribe Royale 97
All Sports 00
HIFS 5/01

 

[pstepka]

We just withdrew cash every other day for 'regular' expenses and used our visa debit card for other purchases. Worked out great for us. We were able to call our bank's 800 number every few days just to be sure we weren't going over our budget. Withdrawing cash every other day or so makes it easier to keep tabs on exactly what is left in our account...the withdraws immediately show up so so don't have to wonder if anything is pending.

 

[Balgeman]

We use a credit card/resort id. It is easier for us. We always pay the balance on our cards every month, so we don't have to worry about interest. We do have some cash too, but not so much.

Robin

 

[BethR]

If you are staying at a Disney owned resort, I too love the convenience of using the Resort ID as a credit card.
If you are NOT staying at a Disney owned resort, I would probably use a regular credit card and keep all of the receipts. That way you have all of your trip expenses in one place. The only place that you cannot use a credit card is at the cart kind of vendors that are around the parks.
Then you need to have a small amount of cash. I would probably carry about $30-$50 with me all of the time if I was travelling with a family. If it was just DH and I, then I would probably carry $20 and DH would carry $20 - that is per day .

<font face="papyrus"><font size=2><font color=blue>BethR
Budget BoardCo-Host
Co-Host of The Rewards Board
BethR@wdwinfo.com</font>

 

[goofymom/pop]

we were thinking some cash and chging the dinners and lunches...can you use a debit/charge card at the fast food stands????? or just the sit down restaraunts....

Caribbean Beach 91
Off site 92
Off site Caribe Royale 97
All Sports 00
HIFS 5/01

 

[SandraC]

We use credit card as much as possible. We have one card that we purposely have a very low limit in case it's stolen. Since we pay an exchange rate of about 1.53 per US dollar, it works out better to charge so we aren't paying the bank their service charge. We take a small amount of change for tolls and cash for McDonald's and some stuff.

SandraC, visit our Disney family web site www.angelfire.com/on/disneyfun
º0º
1975 - off site (11 years old),
1977 - off site (13 years old),
1987 - Indian Rock Shores (23 years old with hubby, b/f at the time),
1990 - Holiday Inn International Drive/Daytona Beach (26 years old, with hubby, six month after wedding),
1998 - KIDS VILLAGE, GIVE KIDS THE WORLD, Make-a-Wish trip with 4.5 year old daughter born ill),
2001 APRIL - CBR - ON SITE FIRST TIME! YIPPY! With dd 7 years old, ds 15 mo

 

[Lynn CC]

We charge our purchases and food to the Disney Resort/ then everything is charged to our American Express/express checkout on the last day, and different incriments during our stay. (they charge your card when it reaches $500 then start over as your vacation progresses.
We then pay our American Express the following month.
Sorry if this sounds confusing, it's really simple.

We took $1000 cash for 10 days and spent our last 20.00 at Orlando airport, whew that was close!

<IMG WIDTH="275" SRC="http://disneyclipart.simplenet.com/Mouselaneous/Everything_Else/MKK.gif">

 

[tonilea]

hotel was already paid for thru priceline
plane tickets paid for via travelocity
took $400 cash
$1000 travlers checks
put about $600 on credit card... used credit card mostly for the convenience.
we would rather use cash, but didn't feel safe carrying that much

hope this helps!

Toni
1st trip Oct 2000
next trip Oct 2002
UNLESS I can figure out how to squeeze one in between

 

[Balgeman]

You can use a credit card at almost all food locations. The exception is the carts that sell h pop, ice cream bars, etc. They usually don't have a register. We have always used a credit card at "counter service" restaurants. The majority of our food is bought at counter service. Usually it is just more convenient. It is hard to get the little ones to sit for any length of time when there's rides just outside the door.

Robin

 

[disneydreamerinny]

When we saved all of our money, we went to the bank and got travelers chks with all of it.
When we checked into the hotel we locked them up in our room safe and then charged everything to our room key.
At night, when we were done for the day, one of us would go down to the desk and get a print out of all of our days spendings and then pay the bill with our travelers chks.
That way we came home with no charges on our credit card.
It was also nice to have list of every little thing you spent at Disney..

All Star Music 10/4/98
Next trip All Star Movies 05/3/02-05/12/02

 

[CapeCod53]

We use all three. We stay on site & use our charging to the room privileges whenever possible. I do pay off credit card every month & the big ticket items(plane/room/rental car) are paid for in advance. I bring $200-$300 in traveler's checks for vendors & other small purchases and only cash $50 at a time. We also bring Disney Dollars (about $50 each) for personal spending on souvenirs (that is the only money my kids carry). The only cash I bring is several rolls of quarters for tolls, laundry, pressed penny machines & arcades; & $50 or so in ones & fives for tips("mousekeeping", parking, limo driver, etc)

FtW home 88/99
CBR 90/91
DxL 94/97
Disney Institute 3nt/4day programs 97/99
WL 99/summer 2001!