Question about Disney Dollars

[Eilonwy]

Not "Disney Dream Reward Dollars," but the regular old Disney Dollars that you buy at the Disney Store.

It's been close to 10 years since I bought any, and I was wondering where exactly I can use them at WDW. Or where I CAN'T use them at WDW.

I can use them for food anywhere on property, right? Counter and Sit-Down Service.

Can I use them for bike and boat rentals? How about mini-golf?

I can use them to buy passes, too, right?

What about for "groceries" at BWV or OKW shops.

I know these may be obvious things, but I just wanted to double-check.

I just took my two Ford test-drive cards and Webbie plastic card (with MyPoints cashouts) to the Disney Store and bought a bunch of Disney Dollars. Also used my Disney Visa to buy DD equal to what I've earned from surveys this year. $313 total!!! And I'm still waiting on about $82 worth of cashouts (Pontiac test drive, $25 webbie, and $7 for Greenfield).

Thanks everyone for all your help!

 

[mad4themouse]

If the concession is owned by Disney, you will be able to use $DD there. Places that will not take $DD would be outside companies operating within WDW like Rainforest Café and Wolfgang Puck's.

They are accepted at the concession kiosks, both sit-down and counter service restaurants and the various bike and boat rentals.

For the most part, you will have no problem being able to use those $DD. You can even use them to pay for your room! In fact, instead of carrying around so much Disney money, you can place them on your room account and then use your room key to charge back to your account.

 

[dtuleya]

you can place them on your room account and then use your room key to charge back to your account.

That's exactly what we did. Every time I had some extra $, I'd buy some DD and when we checked in, we had a large credit to "charge" our food against. That way we didn't come home with a big credit card bill.

 

[Eilonwy]

Thanks for the replies.

Since when we go we stay using my brother's DVC points I don't need to worry about paying for the room.

It's nice to know I can put them on my "account," but I think it would be more fun to pay with the DD everywhere. Since I try to budget (or am trying to budget) what we spend each day on food to keep our expenses "in check," I think I'm going to create an envelope for each day of our trip and then put DD equal to the amount of our budget for that day in the envelope. At least that's what I'm thinking right now.

Last time we went we did charge everything that we could back to the room (but didn't have a "credit" to charge against). We bought our passes ahead of time at our local Disney Store, a month or two before we went. So basically all that was on our bill was food and souvenirs. Since I kept track of everything in my Palm Pilot, it wasn't a big shock to see the bill at checkout.

Yes, I even created an Excel spreadsheet and used Documents to Go with my Palm, so I can tell you "to the penny" what we spent on our last trip. Gave me an idea how to budget for the next trip.

 

[Snow Brite]

you don't want to bring any home with you! When we had a store here, we could not exchange them for "real" money without a receipt.

So, use up all the dollars in your envelope every day. Even if you only need $4.50 for the pin you are buying, use a $10 DD and you will get the change back in "real" money.

Jennifer

 

[Eilonwy]

If I don't use them, I'll just save them for the next trip!

 

[mom42860]

OK since this is a thread about DD I am going to ask you fellow Disers a question. We won't be heading back to Disney until fall of 2006. I was thinking of buying DD towards the trip which I have done in the past. Do you think the trip is too far in the future to do this?

 

[Eilonwy]

I don't really know when our next trip is. My sig says 2004, but it could be sooner, could be later, depending on whether there's going to be an addition to our family or not, and when, if there is. (Still in the talking about/thinking about it stages.) If we don't make it back to WDW by 2004, I'll just hang onto the DD until we do.

If you have Webbies or something to cash in, then I say go ahead and get the DD. Just remember where you put them! I put mine in a "safe place" where I won't forget this time. We have 2 or 3 passes with one day left on each somewhere in this house because we didn't put them in a safe place when we came back from previous trips. My goal is to find them this summer!

 

[StormTigger]

Originally posted by mom42860
OK since this is a thread about DD I am going to ask you fellow Disers a question. We won't be heading back to Disney until fall of 2006. I was thinking of buying DD towards the trip which I have done in the past. Do you think the trip is too far in the future to do this?

mom42860, in my opinion it's never to far in advance to start planning for a trip to Disney, I know it gives me something to look forward to even when it is so far away!! As far as buying DD this early for a trip a couple years away, I know of a couple people who do this.

Personally instead of trying to keep track of all those DD, I have a Disney Gift Card (DGC) that I keep with me, and I try to add at about $5 a wk to it. Although the DGC can't be used at WDW at the moment (rumor is they are working on this), you can use it before your trip to purchase DD's right before your trip (hopefully by 2006 the parks will accept DGC's) or even to purchase your park tickets. Of course the danger of this is w/ Disney closing Disney Store's left right and side ways, you have to keep checking to make sure your store isn't going anywhere.

Also if you are planning on going, I suggest getting your park passes early. The tickets don't expire, but the price of admission keeps going up, so if you get them sooner rather then you will end up saving some money.
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Eilonwy: GOOD LUCK in locating those tickets! Last time I went I had just found a ticket that had one day on it left from 1994!!

 

[Eilonwy]

One of the tickets I KNOW about is a paper ticket from 1993 with one day and one Pleasure Island admission on it. I know there should be a second one of those in the house! They're from our honeymoon. Of course part of me DOESN'T want to use it for that reason.

 

[dtuleya]

I can understand why you wouldn't want to part with it. Did you ever thinking of making a color photocopy and keeping that as a keepsake?