WDW money question

[Plumbob]

Hi Everyone !

My family & I are off to WDW this November for three weeks ( 1st timers )

Can you tell me what you think is the best way to carry money these days ( been a few years since I've been to DL ) In the past , I've had the Commonwealth bank travel card & AMEX travel cards & had troubles with both....
Any opinions would be appreciated !

 

[Terapin]

A VISA card will be accepted pretty much everywhere. The rooms have safes if you are carrying cash. You can also put money on your room charge account and use your key card to charge things. Bring a driver's licence for ID however - you'll need it for the room card charging, and likely the VISA as well.

 

[Charlie_Y]

There are also heaps of products available so that you can load a pre-paid Visa with US dollars, and avoid the international transaction fee. Your bank might have one, and Qantas, Virgin and the money changers (eg: Travelex, etc) also have one.

 

[welley]

DH & I always take cash. Occasionally we will use our credit cards... but generally everything is paid for by cash. When we go in December we are taking cash (which we already have due to the USD$ falling.)

If you are going to WDW you wont need to take cash (or cards) on a daily basis. They have the wrist bands which you can use for everything... Room key, WDW entrance, food, etc. It's fantastic. No need to carry money with you. I still did, just in case.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

We used a combination of cash (AMEX via Aust Post prior to leaving) and our own credit cards over there. We used mainly cash in the parks though, just because it was easier for us at the time (early in the trip and still had plenty! LOL).

We stayed offsite so no magic band charging for us, cash it was. Though we found with the two of us we didn't spend a lot of money in the parks.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Oh, and a tip for cash - keep your $1 bills in your pocket or separate to the rest of the money so you don't mix it up when tipping etc.... all USA money looks the same, we came close to tipping a couple of doormen a lot more than we should have because we were in a rush!

 

[jacs1234]

I suggest you give your wife the cash so she can carry it around in her purse to spend at will.

 

[Princess Jes]

We did a combo of the CBA travel card and cash.
The travel card is good to put down on your room for room charging and cash for tipping etc.
At the world, we didn't use cash at all really. MB all the way.

We did have an issue with one travel card but the second worked fine

 

[jettgrrlaust]

I usually take cash for smaller things like buying snacks, coffees, lunches etc and use my credit card for larger purchases like special dinners and expensive souvenirs. The only reason I would suggest a travel card is because our $$ is so bad and they say it might drop further and travel cards can lock in a certain rate. Also, another $$ tip is to get out a large amount of cash at a time ie. $200 and upwards, this means you only get hit once with the overseas withdrawal fee/ conversion fee and that should last you a little bit to pay cash for the smaller things. The key is to try and avoid the fees on your cards for the smaller items if you can cause they can add up over your trip without you realising when all you had to do was pay cash. Hope this helps! I'm on my count down to my second WDW trip January 2016

 

[Princess Jes]

The CBA travel card doesn't charge fees except for a minimal (like, $3.50) withdrawal fee, no conversion fees) and you can either load it with USD and lock in a rate, or just load AUD and withdraw as you need it at the daily spot rate. That way, if you are close to the end of your trip and just need a little bit, you aren't exchanging then exchanging back, effectively losing out on the buy back, if that makes sense.

I've successfully been using mine in bali for the last 10 days with no dramas. Just putting AUD on and withdrawing what I need as I need it

 

[Mum from oz]

We use a combination of travel card, cash (Amex from the post office), travellers cheques and for out next trip we have a 28 Degrees master card.