Paying Cash / Credit Card Hold

[Starbrite]

We are headed down in a few days and I'm wondering what my options are for paying cash vs using our magic bands to charge to the room.
A little back story - we are gifting this trip to our adult children/spouses/grandchildren. We're covering all meals and expenses for the 10 of us.

Our 'children' are young adults (ages 18-25) and don't have their own credit card. I don't want them linking their debit cards and having to deal with any hold charges. Can they link a gift card to their room? Or would it be a problem to have them link to my credit card?


However, my own credit card does not have a limit high enough for what we're likely going to spend + all the holds.
I have more than enough cash on hand to cover all of our expenses for the week. So the budget itself is not a problem, I'm not trying to reduce any meals/expenses.

How often do they run the charges through to your credit card? If I go to the desk nightly and apply cash to our balance, will that avoid the actual charge to the card?

I have been reading that they send through the actual charge to the credit card after every $100 in purchases. Is that true? With our group a simple round of Mickey bars and waters will exceed that, let alone a character dinner. If that's the case everything would be charged right away.

What's the best way to limit the actual charges sent through to my card, and not have to carry around wads of cash all day in the park?

 

[disney-inspired]

We are headed down in a few days and I'm wondering what my options are for paying cash vs using our magic bands to charge to the room.
A little back story - we are gifting this trip to our adult children/spouses/grandchildren. We're covering all meals and expenses for the 10 of us.

Our 'children' are young adults and don't have their own credit card. I don't want them linking their debit cards and having to deal with any hold charges. Can they link a gift card to their room? Or would it be a problem to have them link to my credit card?


However, my own credit card does not have a limit high enough for what we're likely going to spend + all the holds.
I have more than enough cash on hand to cover all of our expenses for the week. So the budget itself is not a problem, I'm not trying to reduce any meals/expenses.

How often do they run the charges through to your credit card? If I go to the desk nightly and apply cash to our balance, will that avoid the actual charge to the card?

I have been reading that they send through the actual charge to the credit card after every $100 in purchases. Is that true? With our group a simple round of Mickey bars and waters will exceed that, let alone a character dinner. If that's the case everything would be charged right away.

What's the best way to limit the actual charges sent through to my card, and not have to carry around wads of cash all day in the park?

I'm a little confused as you said you're gifting this trip to adult children/spouses/grandchildren but then say the are young adults. This makes me think of two very different age groups.
I would advise them to get a credit card for 1) building credit and 2) just for this trip. That way they can use one card for the holds, leaving your card free for the spending.

Another option would be to see if your bank with increase your credit limit. Or you could purchase disney gift cards ahead of the trip so you don't have to carry cash as most places onsite accept the disney gift cards.

 

[Dug720]

They cannot link the gift card to their room, but they can use them at most places.

 

[cvjw]

Just don’t link a credit card to the rooms and pay for everything in cash. I am also confused why young adults, who I guess are the parents of your grandkids, don’t have a credit card. Everyone needs a credit card, just for emergencies.

If you link your credit card for all the rooms, your card will be charged every night for all the charges. Maybe get a credit increase if your kids won’t get their own credit card.

 

[cutigerlady]

You can go down to the front desk and apply the gift cards or cash to your balance to prevent them charging it all to your card. I always pay off my balance with my debit card before we leave, so it doesn't get charged to my credit card. I usually go down several times through our trip and pay the balance due at that time.

For my teen, I have him pay using his debit card and I just transfer the money to his account, but you may not have the easy access to do that if they are adults.

 

[Starbrite]

If you link your credit card for all the rooms, your card will be charged every night for all the charges. Maybe get a credit increase if your kids won’t get their own credit card.

I guess this was my question - do they charge the credit card each night? So I can stop by the desk in the evening and drop some cash to pay off my days charges. Or do they charge the card as each purchase is made?





They are ages 18-25. Fresh out of high school, in college, or young single parents (grandbabies are under 2). While I understand credit cards seem to be a necessity for some, they just aren't possible for everyone.

 

[Starbrite]

You can go down to the front desk and apply the gift cards or cash to your balance to prevent them charging it all to your card. I always pay off my balance with my debit card before we leave, so it doesn't get charged to my credit card. I usually go down several times through our trip and pay the balance due at that time.

For my teen, I have him pay using his debit card and I just transfer the money to his account, but you may not have the easy access to do that if they are adults.

Thank you so much! If this is the case, yes my plan was to just swing by the desk and pay it off before they actually charge the card.

 

[Anthony1971]

For CS meals you will need to mobile order. In order to do this you will have to use a credit card or Debit card Or Disney gift card as these are direct charges. so Maybe x amount on gift cards are an option? Possibly you can call your credit card and pay x in advance so you have a negative balance? I can not help on when things are charged we almost always use a credit direct at CS and TS. The little we did charge to the room was charged the last day. I did not see any holds on my card until check out day day as well. However the amount they did hold was higher than what was owed. No one has to have charging privileges to the room BTW.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Disney is not cashless, you don't have to charge to the room - just pay cash at the restaurants and stores if you are worried about the charges. Otherwise, you can go down to the desk and pay off the charges. There will be a $100 hold for each room that you have that card attached to, you won't be able to group all the rooms together into one big charge pool.

 

[lanejudy]

I have been reading that they send through the actual charge to the credit card after every $100 in purchases. Is that true?

They don't send an actual charge through for every transaction, but each time you hit $100 or more they will put through a new "hold." And this will be by room even if you put the same credit card on multiple rooms. I believe with the holds in place, they don't send the final charge through until early morning of check-out day. So, yes, you could stop by the front desk to pay down the balance. The "holds" will stay in place on your credit card, but there won't be more until you surpass the prior balance. For example: meals and souvenirs are bought throughout the day, coming to $325 total. There will be a total of $400 in holds on your credit card. But you use cash to pay down that balance at night. The next day the $400 hold is still on your credit card but your balance starts over at $0 so you won't have more holds placed unless new charges total over $400.

What may be confusing the issue is mobile ordering. You cannot charge mobile orders to the MB. Those get charged at the point of service. So if you are in MK and order lunch at Pinoccio's, that charge will go directly through to the credit card.

What's the best way to limit the actual charges sent through to my card, and not have to carry around wads of cash all day in the park?

I recommend giving each adult child/family unit a gift card. They can use that for mobile ordering and any other charges. Skip using the MB for charges except maybe if you are all doing a TS meal together and you pick-up the tab.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Charge everything back to the room. Pay down the balance when you get to the hotel each night. Or, you can create a positive balance by applying cash or gift cards to your account when you arrive. I usually have about ten gift cards that I apply to my account when I check in. It gives me a positive balance then every time we spend money with the magic bands, it comes off of that balance. I check nightly to see what my balance is.

 

[gatour]

It is easy to get a get a negative balance on your credit card especially if you pay your credit card on line through a linked checking account. For my credit cards I can go in at any time and make a payment even if payment isn't due. There is always an option to pay current balance or pay another arbitrary amount. Sometimes I do this when I know I will out of pocket when the next bill is due. So it shows a negative balance.

I even do this for a credit card that I physically cut a check for. I get the next paper bill and it shows a negative balance.

 

[disney-inspired]

I recommend giving each adult child/family unit a gift card. They can use that for mobile ordering and any other charges. Skip using the MB for charges except maybe if you are all doing a TS meal together and you pick-up the tab.

I agree with lanejudy, I think gift cards will be the easiest option for you. You can buy them ahead of time to prevent a large CC bill during the trip.

 

[crzy4dsny]

If you are looking to pay cash you can go to the desk on your last night and pay your balance. I'll usually do it before bed around 10:00 pm. From what I understand they charge your card around 2:00 am, they do not charge your card each night, only on your last night. We use our magic bands to make purchases and let the charges go to the room balance. If you mobile order I believe those charges go right to your credit card. You do not have to mobile order even though they are pushing it real hard. There has been an occasion where the desk didn't have change. For example the bill was about $978 and I only had $100 bills, so I just paid $900 in cash and put the rest on my debit card.

 

[HopperFan]

We just went with our adult kids and we gifted them all .............. gift cards. They paid for themselves in person or via mobile ordering. Worked great.

I stopped charging back to the room years ago, all the holds, having to check charges and getting stuff fixed. Not worth all the hassle. I can pull a card out just as easy at my MB and guess what, I spend less.

 

[Dashzap]

Each resort tier (value moderate deluxe) has a certain dollar amount threshold. When your charges back to the room reach that threshold, thats when they charge your card plus an extra $100 hold.

So how often they're applying your charges to your credit card depends on how much of a bill you've run up.

 

[focusondisney]

Are you intending to actually take enough cash to pay for this trip? Or are you planning to use a bank card to pay each day? I can’t imagine traveling with the kind of cash you would need to pay for this trip. I’ll go along with using gift cards. If you are set against them, the other option would be leaving the money in your bank account, charging to the room, then paying the balance every night with your bank card. Or as a PP said, use your charge card, then pay that off nightly online. I just can’t imagine carrying enough actual cash to pay for a trip with 10 people.

 

[AnnaS]

We don't carry much cash ourselves. Some cash for traveling, tips, etc.

You have a few options and they have all been mentioned. Buy gift cards - I would buy them at home so you don't need to carry too much cash.

You can start out by giving each party $500 in gift cards (maybe break them down into $50's or 100's). If that does not cover it, give additional gift card/s or supplement with cash.

You can apply a credit to each of their room account when you arrive - cash/gift cards. Check on it every few days. I surprised my son one trip and applied a credit on his account towards the end of the trip.

Extend your credit - put your credit card down for each room and pay it off every few days.

I pay my credit card on-line (Disney Visa) every few days in full (don't wait for end of cycle). It does not allow me to pay much credit beyond what I owe.

Good luck which ever method you decide to use.

Keep us posted with some highlights of your trip

 

[kristenrice]

My experience in October was a bit mixed. We dined at a few restaurants (Steakhouse 71 and Topolino's) and our $150+ dinners were charged to the room BUT the charge went to my credit card almost immediately. I use my Chase Disney Visa and I got an alert shortly after we left the restaurant which caught me off guard because I knew we had charged it to the room. I went to the desk at the resort and paid down my room balance with my gift cards that night, which was my intention all along, and the "charge" to my Visa (which was only a "pending" charge) did eventually fall off a few days later. We ate at a few other TS places as well as multiple CS places and this did not happen consistently, so I don't know if it there is a "hard limit" to the dollar amount or if it varies by venue, but it was a change from our previous experiences. This would definitely pose a problem for the OP with the amounts that they are talking about. There could be some very large pending charges which could tie up a lot of available credit.

 

[LYSE]

Family dynamics aside just don't charge to the room and use gift cards or cash