Preloading magic bands with cash or credit card access

[ElsieLew]

I'm going to be chaperoning a high school choir trip to WDW. We are staying on-site, and each student has a magic band. There will be multiple kids per room. Is there a way to link a credit card to an individual magic band or put money on an individual band before we arrive? (Several parents wanted to put spending money on a band or provide credit card access before the kids leave). It is even possible to do this? Thanks!

 

[tjmw2727]

The MB is linked to a room charge only no cash or pre loading. IDK how group bookings work but I have had two different credit cards on a room in the past for room charging, my self and my sister. Not sure if Disney will want 4 separate credit cards on file for each room for room charging?

We also had a couple mixed up charges on the first day but after straightening out at the front desk the rest of the trip was correct.

If they have any kind of meal plan that would be accessible from the MB.

 

[My3SweetSuns]

Pretty sure you can only do this at the front desk of the resort - and that’s for adding individual credit cards to different magic bands.
If they want to use gift cards to pay their balances, they should settle up at the front desk the night before checkout.

 

[ElsieLew]

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for your help!

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

Or the parents could buy Disney Gift Cards and the kids use those for purchases. They are high school so losing the card should not be a problem as a younger child might have.

 

[CAS239]

Yes the best bet is to just tell the parents to give the kids a gift card to use.

Charging to the bands means the room is being charged

 

[ZoZo]

As others have said, you’re not loading money or a credit card on a magic band. By using a magic band, you’re simply charging to your room (which has a credit card on file).

I would also go with gift cards, rather than trying to put more than one credit card on a room. I tried that with a friend several years ago, and all of our charges kept going to my friend’s card since the room was in her name. We did each have separate credit cards with separate PINs linked to our individual magic bands, but my charges kept going to my friend’s credit card. After multiple trips to the front desk to straighten this out, I gave up trying to charge using my magic band and switched to cash/credit card. It was a huge hassle!

That was several years ago, and maybe they’ve improved things, but I wouldn’t count on it. I’d go with gift cards for each kid, and no charging to the room.

 

[Fangorn]

It is highly unlikely that with a group such as this, Disney or the organizers would even allow charges to be made to an individual room, let alone to any given band. Charging privileges are only possible when a credit card is put on the account by the organizer. That card would be on the hook for any and all charges made to the room(s). I can't see the folks in charge actually wanting that to happen

The gift card thing is by far the simplest and most straightforward option.

Steve

 

[tobikaye]

A few pluses to gift cards to let parents know:

1. There is a website were you can combined gift cards and check balances.
2. Take a picture of the full code of the gift card so if it is lost, they can move the money to a different Disney gift card.
3. The parents can check the spending on the gift card to make sure their child has enough or add additional gift cards if needed.

I would suggest parents send 2 gift cards, one with little or no money on it that they keep in the room. Then if the main card is lost, they can transfer the balance to the one left in the room. I would write something on each card to identify each.

 

[KCEMOM]

My daughter went to WDW with her band/choir. They were unable to use their MBs to charge back to their rooms. They were only used for tickets, FPS, and resort room entry.

 

[Minnie368]

Unrelated but maybe helpful for you to talk to the kids about ahead of time- we went with my kids’ high school cross country team in October and the FP system was a nightmare. 53 people on one reservation. We made 3 FP for everyone each day ahead of time but after that the kids would go to the kiosk to make additional ones. All 53 people came up and they were accidentally changing and cancelling other people’s FP. Our “team Mom” had set up a My Disney Experience account with our team reservation so everyone was together under the same account. I’m not sure if there is another way to do this. But we’re going again with my daughter’s softball team and we will definitely have a little session on how to schedule/modify FP.

 

[ElsieLew]

Thanks for the tips! And all the kids sharing the same FP reservation wasn't even on my radar!