Online check-in Do they charge your CC automatically on arrival day?

[Harambe]

I just did online check-in for the first time, and was disappointed that I had to attach a credit card (we never attach a cc to the room). The screen said it would use that cc to bill the balance of our room "on arrival". I want to pay our balance when we check out (have lots of Disney dollars and if we don't use them I want to apply them to the bill).

Do I need to go to the front desk to ask them not to charge the balance when we arrive? Which would of course defeat the whole purpose of the online check-in since I'll have to go to the desk - LOL!!!

 

[tobikaye]

I have not done the online check it to see if you can pay by another mean since they extended to the 60 days. When I have done the online check in the past, at least 5 years ago, sometimes I would arrive and the balance was put through to my card that morning before I arrived on site and others I would pay the balance then in the way I preferred.

The balance of the room has to be paid off the day you arrive. So, you might be able to pay by other means than the credit card you have on file, but you would need to do so on arrival day.

 

[Mousemommy1]

If your room is not paid off before your day of arrival, your card on file will be charged that morning. I have been through this before, and also had the intent of paying with gift cards but they charged my debit card before I even checked in. They offered to reverse it and use the gift cards, but that was more hassle than I wanted to deal with.

 

[Harambe]

Okay - good to know!

 

[denise5374]

Can you pay off your room before you arrive by calling?

 

[Dug720]

Can you pay off your room before you arrive by calling?

Yes.

 

[scrapquitler]

I just did online check-in for the first time, and was disappointed that I had to attach a credit card (we never attach a cc to the room). The screen said it would use that cc to bill the balance of our room "on arrival". I want to pay our balance when we check out (have lots of Disney dollars and if we don't use them I want to apply them to the bill).

Do I need to go to the front desk to ask them not to charge the balance when we arrive? Which would of course defeat the whole purpose of the online check-in since I'll have to go to the desk - LOL!!!

I think that ours was 'charged to our room' on the checkin day, but the charge didn't get applied to our credit card until later in the trip, along with other purchases that we made in the parks.

 

[mb187143]

We are in wdw 2-3 times a year, almost always on a room only reservation. For the last 2 years or so, whenever I have had a balance on the room on check in day, it gets charged to the card on file I added when I do online check in. Every time. Which is fine with me now that I expect it but the first time it took me by surprise.

I have never had an experience where everything (room balance + resort purchases) was charged together at the end of the trip. The balance of our resort stay has always been paid off upon check in for our experience.

 

[Dug720]

I think it's really no different from any other hotel. They run a charge through when you check in for the amount of your stay so that money is gone out of your account essentially, but "unclaimed" by Disney. When you check out, they will go in and "claim" the final amount owed. If you settle in another form of payment prior to checking out, that amount that was being held will be released - but how long it takes to show back up in your account can vary depending on your bank account/credit card terms.

 

[Harambe]

As long as we used our Disney Visa to pay for one night of our trip, we will still get the seasonal discount for the whole trip. So now I will probably pay the balance on another card prior to getting there. We will use up all those Disney rewards dollars on eating, I'm sure, so it isn't a big deal not to put them toward the resort balance. Just peeved that I had to attach the credit card to our account.

 

[mb187143]

I think it's really no different from any other hotel. They run a charge through when you check in for the amount of your stay so that money is gone out of your account essentially, but "unclaimed" by Disney. When you check out, they will go in and "claim" the final amount owed. If you settle in another form of payment prior to checking out, that amount that was being held will be released - but how long it takes to show back up in your account can vary depending on your bank account/credit card terms.

At normal hotel chains (at least the ones I stay in when I'm traveling for work every week, Hilton brands mostly) they charge you when you check in for the full stay plus a hold back for incidentals at some chains. That is indeed held as a pre-authorization until after you check out and they put through the final total amount.

With Disney, they do not hold back anything for incidentals. I have always had the charges fall out as two distinct charges, the one for our hotel balance charged on my card immediately on the morning of our check in as a point of sale charge. Not a pre-authorization. Then on the morning of our check out I see a pre-authorization for the charges from our stay, which finalizes within a few days of us getting home. So for us it has been slightly different from normal hotel chains.

Not saying this is how it's always done for everyone. This is our experience. I do notice the differences because I travel often and Disney just has a different way of doing things so at times I'm on auto-pilot and expecting things to function like a normal hotel until I remember I'm in the bubble.

 

[Dug720]

At normal hotel chains (at least the ones I stay in when I'm traveling for work every week, Hilton brands mostly) they charge you when you check in for the full stay plus a hold back for incidentals at some chains. That is indeed held as a pre-authorization until after you check out and they put through the final total amount.

With Disney, they do not hold back anything for incidentals. I have always had the charges fall out as two distinct charges, the one for our hotel balance charged on my card immediately on the morning of our check in as a point of sale charge. Not a pre-authorization. Then on the morning of our check out I see a pre-authorization for the charges from our stay, which finalizes within a few days of us getting home. So for us it has been slightly different from normal hotel chains.

Not saying this is how it's always done for everyone. This is our experience. I do notice the differences because I travel often and Disney just has a different way of doing things so at times I'm on auto-pilot and expecting things to function like a normal hotel until I remember I'm in the bubble.

On my accounts anyway, pre-authorization shows the same as a charge until they go in and get it. Regardless of what it's for.

I always pay my room before I'm there so I don't have to worry about it when I'm at Disney. (And TBH whenever I'm anywhere else too - I'd rather have it paid upfront and not have to worry about it on vacation.)