So who else travels with cash, at WDW?

[disneyfan55]

I haven't used travelers checks is such a long time. I wonder if all banks still have them available. I am going to check the next time I go on a trip. I don't use a debit card. Too many horror stories out there. At least if a cc gets compromised it doesn't overdraw a check book that is used for bills. I will re think using TC if available. Also, in general I wonder if they are as widely accepted as say ten yrs ago. This is a great thread!

 

[GeneralTso]

I do a combo.

I always have about $200 cash on me whether I'm on vacation or home. I just like to have cash, it feels like if zombies attack or the grid goes down, I'll have a little cash

I've been stockpiling Disney gift cards from Target, using the 5% off. We use those for incidentals like churros and stuff around the park and DTD. Whatever we don't use we use the balance on the room on our final day.

Bulk goes on credit cards. We earn points so like to use it then pay it off every month.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I always bring cash to disney. We have never done the charge to your room thing and won't put our cards on our magic bands. I will always bring cash. I bring a disney giftcard also with a bunch of money on it.

 

[btk2333]

I haven't used travelers checks is such a long time. I wonder if all banks still have them available. I am going to check the next time I go on a trip. I don't use a debit card. Too many horror stories out there. At least if a cc gets compromised it doesn't overdraw a check book that is used for bills. I will re think using TC if available. Also, in general I wonder if they are as widely accepted as say ten yrs ago. This is a great thread!

Just out of curiosity- what is a traveler's check? I've heard of them but never actually seen one or known anyone to use them

 

[JanaDee]

The Grand has electronic safes.

Hmm, now you have me trying to remember if our GF room from our October stay had a key or a keypad.

 

[meriface11]

I literally can't remember the last time I used cash to purchase anything. We carry no cc debt and pay our bills off in full every month. I also earned $600 in disney rewards dollars this year. If I didn't charge everything, I would be out the value of those rewards. We do keep a small amount of cash in the house for an emergency.

 

[disneyfan55]

Just out of curiosity- what is a traveler's check? I've heard of them but never actually seen one or known anyone to use them

They are a check issued through American express and some other banks where you pay your bank with cash or withdrawal from an acct in exchange for a check you sign in from of the bank employee for a set amt of $$$. You countersign when using it as cash. They are replaced if lost or stolen. Up until about 10 or so yrs ago a big item for banks to sell. Not so much cc or dr card use. Maybe 165 yrs rather than 10.

 

[baileysmommy06]

Great idea!

Thanks for that idea of using a prepaid card. Did you just use the one that you got from a store or do they send you one?

 

[MichelleVW]

Another cash only traveler here. I don't even give the front desk my card for "incidentals". I bring $5000 with me and usually only spend about half of it.

Holy moly! I can't imagine traveling with $5K in cash on me! Once or twice we sold something and were paid half of that in cash and I was freaking out until I got it to the bank! If you card gets stolen you get that back...if you lose your wallet your money is gone forever. Too risky for me.

Me too! I rarely find anyone else that feels this way. To me, cash is already taken out of the bank account, so it is effectively "gone" already. Whether I spend it or keep it in my wallet doesn't really matter, so I might as well spend it, lol! Although I get a nice little rush when I do buy something with cash, because it feels like it was "free", since it isn't going to show up on the CC statement

I don't even have an ATM card, I just use my CC for everything. When I need a few dollars in cash for something, I have to beg DH for it, lol!

Oh yes....once the money is in cash form it becomes "free" money in my brain and so much easier to spend.

I don't understand the people that don't use Credit cards to rack up points lol. We get so much money back in cash reward money from Discover's 5% offers and shop Discover and my Disney Chase Visa. Pay them off in full every month and would hate to lose all that reward money by paying in cash.

 

[Jenn55]

I can't possibly be the only one who uses cash on a Disney vacation. I understand that some people register the magic bands with their credit card information, so they don't have to carry cash, and/or their credit cards. I do the opposite. I carry about $50 cash each day, and my credit card. I don't spend much on my Disney vacations. I am not into a lot of souvenirs, and gave up long ago collecting pins, and other cute Disney collectibles. I don't do many ADR's and if I do, I might sometime use the credit card there. Otherwise, my cash is definitely enough to cover my food. Special purchases, emergencies, and or a unique item that I might find can always be bought with my credit card. I travel alone, and my cash allotment has almost always been enough. So who besides me uses cash, rather than putting everything on a credit card that they linked to their magic band?

Last time we went, we only had 3 ADR's and I had made a previous trip down to buffalo, from toronto and was able to pick up about 500$ worth of gift cards and those we used to our meals and the stuff we bought. I only took about 300ish cash and that was used for taxis and stuff for our 2 days at universal. It was also just DS and I and I had sandwhiches for him for most meals, as that's all he requested and when we go to theme parks he doesn't eat a lot. This time around the hubby is coming with us and as far as I know there's no trip planned to go down to the states before disney, dec 2015 so,well probably take cash, as they don't ship off the website anywhere outside the states.

 

[itchin2go]

I normally post about what "I would do", rather than tell people what to do.

I am going to divert from that strategy.

Everyone should carry at least a bit of cash at Disney World.

We learned this the hard way.

On our first trip, we wanted to snack around the world at Epcot. You wouldn't believe how many carts and kiosks would only take cash! We felt like idiots. Never again.

I use credit cards and gift cards for many things, but ...

SOME PLACES ONLY TAKE CASH!

Do yourself a favor and make sure you have at least a little cash with you in the parks.

 

[isaboo]

I normally post about what "I would do", rather than tell people what to do. I am going to divert from that strategy. Everyone should carry at least a bit of cash at Disney World. We learned this the hard way. On our first trip, we wanted to snack around the world at Epcot. You wouldn't believe how many carts and kiosks would only take cash! We felt like idiots. Never again. I use credit cards and gift cards for many things, but ... SOME PLACES ONLY TAKE CASH! Do yourself a favor and make sure you have at least a little cash with you in the parks.

. I completely agree with this!

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

I normally post about what "I would do", rather than tell people what to do.

I am going to divert from that strategy.

Everyone should carry at least a bit of cash at Disney World.

We learned this the hard way.

On our first trip, we wanted to snack around the world at Epcot. You wouldn't believe how many carts and kiosks would only take cash! We felt like idiots. Never again.

I use credit cards and gift cards for many things, but ...

SOME PLACES ONLY TAKE CASH!

Do yourself a favor and make sure you have at least a little cash with you in the parks.

I also agree with this. You can also run into the situation of your magic band not working or the system is down. Some cash is a good idea.

 

[NashBridges]

My question regarding the disney gift cards is, how accepted are they at CS places and at kiosks. I'd worry about buying a bunch and lots of places not accepting them. Or do you charge everything to your MB/room, then use the gift cards to pay that off?

 

[isaboo]

My question regarding the disney gift cards is, how accepted are they at CS places and at kiosks. I'd worry about buying a bunch and lots of places not accepting them. Or do you charge everything to your MB/room, then use the gift cards to pay that off?

I charge to my magic band and pay room balance with the cards. I also carry a bit of cash just in case

 

[btk2333]

I normally post about what "I would do", rather than tell people what to do.

I am going to divert from that strategy.

Everyone should carry at least a bit of cash at Disney World.

We learned this the hard way.

On our first trip, we wanted to snack around the world at Epcot. You wouldn't believe how many carts and kiosks would only take cash! We felt like idiots. Never again.

I use credit cards and gift cards for many things, but ...

SOME PLACES ONLY TAKE CASH!

Do yourself a favor and make sure you have at least a little cash with you in the parks.

We occasionally have some cash; however, I've never run into a time when I've wanted to get something that needed cash... and if it did it's usually like a balloon or something like that... Most of the time if some place doesn't take a credit card I just go somewhere that does

 

[MichelleVW]

I normally post about what "I would do", rather than tell people what to do.

I am going to divert from that strategy.

Everyone should carry at least a bit of cash at Disney World.

We learned this the hard way.

On our first trip, we wanted to snack around the world at Epcot. You wouldn't believe how many carts and kiosks would only take cash! We felt like idiots. Never again.

I use credit cards and gift cards for many things, but ...

SOME PLACES ONLY TAKE CASH!

Do yourself a favor and make sure you have at least a little cash with you in the parks.

I've been a lot since they came out with the magic bands and most places have the ability to pay that way. We have used them at popcorn carts and everywhere else and have yet to find a place that we can't use them. I've heard balloon people don't have the ability...but we aren't balloon people.

 

[wdwfan]

We use some cash, some gift cards, and magicband/room. That works for us.

 

[MichelleVW]

I just looked at my reward money from my Disney Visa and I've gotten a litter over $1300 in the past year. Haven't looked at the Discover yet. We pay EVERYTHING possible with the cards (and also have the premier Visa with 2% on gas/groceries/restaurants and Disney). But I know we've got at least $500 back from the Discover but probably more. So that's almost $2000 in free money for the year. That's really helpful when going on vacation! Everything gets paid off every month and we don't carry a balance...so our credit cards work for us. I can't imagine giving away almost $2000 a year because I didn't use credit cards.

 

[Magick29]

We always take cash for meal tips and souvenirs. For those of you that take cash, do you keep it in the room safe? I always worry that we will come back at the end of the day and find the safe empty....