Travellers Cheques in Disney/Universal

[hulldisneyfan88]

I am wondering if any of you can offer me some advice. As the dollar is getting stronger I went to change some money at the local Thomas Cook. I asked for half cash and half in travellers cheques. Her response was that they do not stock them as not many places take them and she advised that I get a pre-payment card. I do not want to get one of these cards as you have to check on line or via a number to get your balance and to draw money out at an ATM costs £2 a go.

I was wondering if anyone knows if travellers cheques are still widely accepted at Disney and Universal. We will not be going off site as we are not hiring a card.

 

[snookhams]

I wonder if they were on a commission to sell you the card - Travellers Cheques are accepted just like cash almost everywhere, some of the carts might not take them but used them for 12 trips and they were fine, we used the fairfx card last year and will be using it again this year. The only time we have been asked for identification when using TC's that I can remember is at MCO on one occasion.

 

[foxxxy83]

I got same reply when I spoke to Thomson. They said America are tryin to fade out Travellers Cheques as they take longer for the companies to process through their banks. My mum used to work nights in a bank processing cheques, travellers cheques and counting cash and she confirmed that this is true, travellers cheques do take longer to process. Not sure if this IS genuinely the reason or not but seems feasible given the global recession. I'd recommend droppin your hotel a quick email to see if they know? We're stayin at Hilton Bonnet Creek and have been told they will cash $200 in traveller's cheques at their bureau de change with no fee per day. Hope this helps!

 

[queendisney]

we had no problems at all last September or at anytime prior to that trip with T/Chqs. We always order them from Travelex and collect airside at Gatwick. We tend not to get too big a bill with the highest being $50.

 

[wayneg]

Unfortunately they make far more money out of the cards they supply. Relatives went in over the weekend for some cash, the cashier asked if they wanted a card instead, told her no, they just wanted cash and rest would be going on credit card, the cashier then went on to tell a load of lies about sky high credit card fees and the card would save a fortune.
Just like car rental reps, they will tell you anything to get a sale out of you.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

Another one with exactly the same experience here too, she was very pushy so i picked up my money and went to the post office. We may be old fashioned and in the minority these days but travellers cheques work for us.We use to change ours at our Disney resort no problem. They will however only change a max of $200 per day.

 

[edinburghlass]

Less places are issuing TC's, I usually use Marks as if I pay with my credit card its not treated as cash and if I time it right I could have more than a month to pay, however M&S stopped issuing TC's at the end of April so I had to buy a bit earlier than I wanted for May.

Last year my daughter used a PO prepaid card but she was useless at working out what she had spent on it and part way through we couldn't access her account online so she wanted TC's this year.

A couple of times I got cash in the resort and the rest of time we had no problems in stores on or off site, except as someone mentioned at a cart, in our case it was the small shop/big cart at China and it just took several CM's and a bit of time and much chat in Chinese until it was sorted.

 

[Tony Toon]

When we started going to the US back in 1997 travellers cheques worked like cash. Everyone took them and just gave you cash as change. We became aware two or three years ago that places were no longer so happy with them and just as is the case here with cheques, retailers (first noticed it in Walmart) had notices up saying that in the future they would not be accepting travellers cheques. They are definitely still more widely accepted than cheques are in the UK but we prefer to rely on fee free credit cards (Post Office) and cash. I also bring my Nationwide debit card (2% commission plus a £1 charge and a $2 ATM fee)in case I need extra cash from an ATM. Not as cheap as my credit card but more convenient to me than a currency card.

Mrs TT

 

[MrRomance]

There are 2 things going on here. It is true that the US are not as keen on travellers cheques as they used to be. Last time I took them (a few years back now) I had some problems particularly with larger denominations. Some retailers aren't taking them but generally it's not a huge issue. I couldn't be bothered with the signing and ID along with problems with some retailers so I just quit taking them and go with cash instead.

The other issue is TA's are on commission to sell the currency cards. I refuse to use them because most of them come with charges to spend my own money!

 

[queendisney]

When we started going to the US back in 1997 travellers cheques worked like cash. Everyone took them and just gave you cash as change. We became aware two or three years ago that places were no longer so happy with them and just as is the case here with cheques, retailers (first noticed it in Walmart) had notices up saying that in the future they would not be accepting travellers cheques. They are definitely still more widely accepted than cheques are in the UK but we prefer to rely on fee free credit cards (Post Office) and cash. I also bring my Nationwide debit card (2% commission plus a £1 charge and a $2 ATM fee)in case I need extra cash from an ATM. Not as cheap as my credit card but more convenient to me than a currency card.

Mrs TT

We bought a load of items from Walmart in September last year and paid by T/chq (must have been around about $300+) and they didn't say a thing, just took them, no grumbling. We took a few $1000 in T/chq last year and not one single place refused them when we went shopping in Mall of Millenia, The Florida Mall, both Premium outlets and various other places...we love our shopping Hated the pre paid card when we had one and went back to T/Chqs

I won't be a happy bunny if Walmart stop taking them...! I might just take cash instead from now on if it starts to get difficult. I know that TX never try and sell me a card and don't say anything when I purchase T.chqs.

 

[Laurafoster]

My grandparents took them on their last trip (no amount of my gentle persuasion convinced them on a credit card). The only place they had a problem was one of the snack carts, and that was mosrly because it was a large denomination.

 

[strawberry blonde]

We had absolutely no trouble at all this June with t/c. The only thing I did notice was that I was asked for id in most places whereas in previous years I was rarely asked. Not a problem, I just showed them my photo driving licence

 

[hulldisneyfan88]

Thanks for all your help!

I have managed to get in contact with Disney who have said they will accept Travellers Cheques.

Hadn't even considered getting them on line but will have a look into it now that I know.