Tips for replacing wads of cash at Disney World?

[jaceraden]

Hi all.

I am wondering if there are any tips/tricks out there instead of carrying wads of money or using a CC at Disney World? I hear talk about gift cards and prepaid Visa cards. Where does one get these? (I'm in Canada if that matters). Can you use these to pay for tips on table service meals?

Any other thrifty tips to throw this way while we're at it?

Thanks!!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Kinda thrifty here. We always use a CC and we pay it off each month. If gift cards are lost it is just like losing cash. We do have a few, but only because our local Kroger has a promotion that gets us an extra gasoline discount. I guess you could use a prepaid card of some type if you wanted. Another reason we use a CC is because we get "cash back" on purchases. Our card happens to pay 2 percent.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I think the Disney gift cards are good, but the prepaid Visa's have a fee, don't they when you buy them? I think it is around $5.00.

 

[CdnCarrie]

You don't need to carry much cash. Just charge things to your room.

 

[jaceraden]

I am totally credit card stoopid. Which ones give a % of cash back? I certainly like that idea better. No way I'm going to do the prepaid card if there's that steep of a fee involved.

What do you do as far as tipping goes? By my estimate, that's a lot of small bill cash to be hanging onto for bellhop, wait staff, maids, etc. for a 10 night stay.

 

[sissy_ib]

I am totally credit card stoopid. Which ones give a % of cash back? I certainly like that idea better. No way I'm going to do the prepaid card if there's that steep of a fee involved.

What do you do as far as tipping goes? By my estimate, that's a lot of small bill cash to be hanging onto for bellhop, wait staff, maids, etc. for a 10 night stay.

I just tip at restaurants on the card I am using. I hardly ever use a bellhop but even when I do, that is only twice during you stay. Maids, I don't tip, but if you do, yeah, that is every day. As for credit card rewards, you would have to look up companies that give rewards in Canada. Do you have a debit card?

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

There are several rewards/cash back cards out there. We use the Fidelity American Express card the most. You do have to set up a cash management account with them. There is no annual fee. We get 2% back on every single thing we buy. There are no quarterly promotions that you are forced to sign up for in order to get a reward. It is just on auto-pilot 24/7/365.

 

[OhMari]

If you check in you can put the cash on your key card and it will subtract the balance to how much you have on the card, if you use it for any kind of purchases, like dining, drinks, etc.

Bellhop gets $2 a bag, cleaning lady usually gets paid $2 a person for each person in your room. Tipping is 18% for waiters or waitresses. You can pay 20%. For exceptional service.

 

[bellebud]

we put cash on our room cards when we check in, then charge everything to the room card.

dh always has singles and fives on him for the bellhop (like another poster said, it's only 2x's for the trip).

When we use mousekeeping (which we usually don't), I always pre-envelope the tips for them, so they just stay in the room tucked somewhere and I put 1 envelope out each day we use them.

restaurant tips get put on your room card charge when you pay the bill.

everything in the parks can be paid for with your room card.

we never carry cash in the parks - no need to.

 

[gracelrm]

About the Travel Visa- my bank has them and I can also purchase them at AAA. AAA has less of a service charge than my bank. I think there's more security for a lost Travel Visa than for Disney Gift Cards!

 

[peigirl]

We always get travellers cheques. I usually figure out how much cash I will need for a few days and the front desk at the resort changes them into cash for me. We do put the room on a CC and have charging privleges but mainly pay cash for meals, gas, shopping, etc. We have never had a problem cashing them out anywhere in Florida (even in the parks). The only place we had trouble was in Maryland and Conn on the drive home.

Paula

 

[luvmy3]

I dont ever carry wads of cash, I just use my debit card but I am going to see if I can load GCs onto my account like you can with cash. I do have a rewards CC but I get a better discount buying Disney GCs at Target online (using Redcard) through a rebate site.

 

[ICF]

You don't need to carry much cash. Just charge things to your room.

that only works when you stay on site....

To the OP -- as others have said, charge everything to a reward CC of your choice and then payoff the balance when the bill comes.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Pre paid Visa can have monthly fee's as high as $10.

There are Chase ATM machines all over Disney. All the resorts have a machine as well as the parks so if you don't want to carry a lot of cash this is a good option.

Starting July to Sept Chase is rewarding those who have the Freedom card with 5% cash back for theme park purchases and YES Disney is on the list of theme parks! For those of you who still need to pay off you Disney vacation and have booked your trip directly with Disney now would be a good time to get a Freedom card and get 5% back. 5% of say $3000 hotel booking could net you $150 back!

 

[caro2]

If you stay on property you have to put a credit card down for incidentals. We charge everything to the room so we can see the exact amount we spent when we check out. Same would apply for staying off property. Put everything on your credit card and you can see the grand total of your trip when you get home. It gives you a realistic amount to expect on your next Disney tip. We use a credit card with air miles. We put everything on this card (throughout the year too) and by the time our next Disney trip comes around we have free airplane tickets.

 

[bookgirl]

I've used gift cards and if you have them then use them for sure. I like having one for F&W because I can control my budget (both my cash budget and my calorie budget) that way.

However I used my KTTK card this last time for some stuff and as long as you kept a good running talley it was really easy to just whip out that instead of having to carry all your cards as well as your KTTK. I tend to keep track of spending when I'm using the account closer than when I'm using cash. Weird but true for me, at least on vacation.

I probably will go to only my KTTK on my next trip (except for my f&W budget) as well.

I do take some cash for tips and I will often have just 20 in my pocket as a backup, if anything flubs electronically.

 

[BigAlsGal]

I'd go with Disney gift cards. You can get them at Target and other places. Maybe replace half your cash with gift cards. That way you're not stuck with a bunch of gift cards if you don't spend that much.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you stay on property you have to put a credit card down for incidentals.

Just to clarify: guests can do this, but don't have to. Guests cam put some form of payment on their room account for incidentals - credit/debit card, gift cards, cash, travelers' checques... - but it's not required. The guest simply wouldn't be able to charge back to the room.

 

[atwmommy]

If you pay for a meal with the disney gc, can you also tip on it, or should you leave a cash tip?