What selection of $'s do you take?

[Azza1987]

Morning All,

Yesterday I was in Tesco so just bought a few $'s ready for next year, but I was thinking what types of $'s do you take? Like a certain amount of % in small bills ($1/2 or 5) Mid range ($10 & $20) or large bills of ($50 & $100)?

I know alot of people mention leaving tips, and It would be handy to have a few 1's etc but I don't want to carry a huge wedge of 1's? Just your thoughts/experiences would be great! I'll probably be taking $1000 in cash and $1000 on a pre paid card and the credit card in case of emergencies!

xxxx

 

[wilma-bride]

We don't usually take too much cash but generally we take larger bills, plus maybe half a dozen $1 bills. I also have a change purse, which I keep all my US coins in, which we use for tolls and such.

 

[wayneg]

Never take more than $100, bring back about $90. Only cash I spend is tolls, everything goes on a fee free credit card(Post Office)

Check your insurance if you are taking so much money, most insurance policies only cover £200-300.

 

[Kath2003]

Like Wayne, around $100 or whatever we have left over from the last trip.

Some singles are useful for vending machines and tips (we usually get $2/day in singles for house keeping), then whatever. Change is useful too, especially quarters. But, you will get lots of singles and coins when you buy stuff using cash so it doesn't really matter (we don't use much cash so that's why we ask for singles, and we usually have some change lying around).

Like Wayne said, check your insurance. You won't be covered for hauling bags of cash around - and it's unnecessary.

 

[LeaversOnTour]

We only ever take cash. Hate the pre paid cards (past experience was rubbish). We also find carrying a passport around for proof with the travellers cheques a real pain too.

With $1000 i wouldnt be too worried about Travel Insurance. If there is more than 1 of you travelling, these limits are per person. However always worth making sure you Household Insurance covers possessions away from the home, and includes cash.

We recently ordered from ASDA and they sent us all small bills, nothing over $20.00 bill. As long as you have enough small bills for the first couple of days you'll be ok. Once you start spending you can retain the small bills for tipping.

 

[LeaversOnTour]

Like Wayne, around $100 or whatever we have left over from the last trip.

Some singles are useful for vending machines and tips (we usually get $2/day in singles for house keeping), then whatever. Change is useful too, especially quarters. But, you will get lots of singles and coins when you buy stuff using cash so it doesn't really matter (we don't use much cash so that's why we ask for singles, and we usually have some change lying around).

Like Wayne said, check your insurance. You won't be covered for hauling bags of cash around - and it's unnecessary.

Although we obviously dont carry all of it around with us. All the hotels have a safe, as long as you use it (you would be suprised how many dont) you should be fine.

I have worked as a claims handler for a major Insurance company for about 10 years. Only ever encountered a handful of claims for Disney/Orlando. Mostly people walkign away from a bench and leaving their stuff behind! Never dealt with a pick pocket or any other type of theft. this is not to say it doesnt happen, just an observation.

Although I actually had my buggy stolen in Seaworld this year

 

[wayneg]

Although we obviously dont carry all of it around with us. All the hotels have a safe, as long as you use it (you would be suprised how many dont) you should be fine.

I have worked as a claims handler for a major Insurance company for about 10 years. Only ever encountered a handful of claims for Disney/Orlando. Mostly people walkign away from a bench and leaving their stuff behind! Never dealt with a pick pocket or any other type of theft. this is not to say it doesnt happen, just an observation.

Although I actually had my buggy stolen in Seaworld this year

Last place I would put cash is a safe. I know 2 people personally who have had money removed from them. I have also seen at least 2 threads over the years with pics of smashed safes in villas. Not sure if its UKDEB who also had cash taken from her safe. Its an obvious place for cash and most are easy to gain access.

 

[chmurf]

Be aware that many places (tolls, some stores, etc) will not accept bills larger than $20. Some will, but most won't.

We never take anything larger than $20 for that reason.

We usually take $500 or $600 from travelex online because we have no fee (works for french travelex only) and we usually end up withdrawing $400 over the course of 3 weeks

Reason for this is that we only trust major stores when we use our Credit Card.
We use cash for gas for example. We also use cash for small purchases (less than $50 because our bank's fees are not in our favor when the amount is smaller than $50, hence using a CC is more expensive than paying the $2 a Chase ATM will charge us when withdrawing any amount of cash)

But we do a lot of offsite shopping

I guess it all depends how much your bank will charge you for purchases in USD
If you don't have bank fees it's best to use the credit card.

Only one thing would speak in favor of taking large amounts of cash. It's the currency trend. If you expect the sterling pound to loose dearly over the us dollar over the course of your stay, you might prefer taking a large amount of cash if you get a fair exchange rate. But it would have to be a tremedous loss of value to make it worth risking to have your wallet be robbed at the airport ...

Also, not all change bureaus are able to get you $1 bills. (where I live for example it's absolutely impossible to get $1 bills, I have to change some twenties into $1 once in the US)

 

[disneyholic family]

I usually carry at least $1,000 in cash but typically use very little of it
I have it "just in case"
I do use some of it for tips - porters, valets, doormen etc
I typically take 1,000 in hundred $ bills and another $500 in smaller denominations: 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50
The thousand is buried somewhere in my purse, the five hundred in my wallet for easy access.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[LeaversOnTour]

Last place I would put cash is a safe. I know 2 people personally who have had money removed from them. I have also seen at least 2 threads over the years with pics of smashed safes in villas. Not sure if its UKDEB who also had cash taken from her safe. Its an obvious place for cash and most are easy to gain access.

If you decide to "hide" your cash rather than keep it in the safe, an insurance company will definately not pay out. No matter how "secure" you think it is.

I guess the answer is to carry it with you all the times, but i definately wouldn't do this. I make sure I have a good insurance policy and i know the exclusions. Then if the worst happens at least i know i am covered.

Although i have to say if i was staying in a Villa then i probably wouldnt use a safe. They are easy pray. One of the reasons we dont stay in a villa. We tend to stay in Hotels, but this is just a personal preference.

 

[wayneg]

If you decide to "hide" your cash rather than keep it in the safe, an insurance company will definately not pay out. No matter how "secure" you think it is.

I guess the answer is to carry it with you all the times, but i definately wouldn't do this. I make sure I have a good insurance policy and i know the exclusions. Then if the worst happens at least i know i am covered.

Although i have to say if i was staying in a Villa then i probably wouldnt use a safe. They are easy pray. One of the reasons we dont stay in a villa. We tend to stay in Hotels, but this is just a personal preference.

There is no safe place for cash, thats one of the reasons I don't use it anymore.

 

[MrRomance]

Although we live in the UK, my wife is American and I lived out in the US for about 5 years. You won't have any problems with $50 bills or smaller, but a lot of stores are VERY reluctant to accept $100 bills. Avoid those at all costs!

As PP's have said, those pre-pay cards seem to be the way people go, but personally, I hate them. Also, you get pretty dire exchange rates in most cases. Depending on who you bank with (and if your bank card is equipped with Cirrus etc) it can work out in your favour by using your bank card to withdraw cash when you're out there. Our bank doesn't charge, but many do, so you'd need to check with your bank to see if you get any charges for doing that.

Another concern that people need to have is with immigration. They can (and this has happened to me a few times on trips to the US) ask how much money you have for your stay. If you watch those border control programmes, you've probably seen this. They ask this to make sure you can support yourself (and that you don't plan on staying illegally!) and if you don't have evidence of enough money to support yourself, they can deny you entry. When this happened to me, I had my bank card and was told by the immigration officer that I had no evidence that I had enough money to support myself and unless I had a statement dated THAT DAY they would need to hold me until they could check into it. Those pre-pay cards will have a receipt (usually) but unless it's dated that day, they can get awkward and they did with me and I was denied entry.

We always take cash to prevent any problems but you also run risks carrying so much cash.

 

[chmurf]

Another concern that people need to have is with immigration. They can (and this has happened to me a few times on trips to the US) ask how much money you have for your stay.

I've not been asked in february at EWR, but in october the immigration officer at PHL did ask me.

 

[joolz1910]

I took my Nationwide Select credit card, which I used for my KTTW card. It is a no fee credit card. I also took around $400 in cash for tips and small purchases. This worked out really well for us as a family of 5 on the DDP.

I also took my Tesco credit card and my Barclays debit. It is always good to take several cards as my Tesco card was used fraudulently while I was there. I would have had a bit of a nightmare if that was my only source of money!

 

[wiigirl]

There is no safe place for cash, thats one of the reasons I don't use it anymore.

ditto...or atleast minimize the usage...

 

[queendisney]

We normally take approx $1000 in cash and no bigger the $50 bills..
We have never in all the times we've gone had any problems with the safe in the hotel. The rest we take in t/chq and also hate the pre-paid cards. We also put our passports etc in the safe and again no problems. I don't think we have just been lucky I think its a safe place...I always try to get quite a few $1 bills and put them aside for housekeeping...

 

[monica23535]

I use take $1000 broken down like this: 100 in 1s, 400 in 5s and 500 in 10s. The wad wasn't too big and it worked out great for the all the tipping we did.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

As soon as we get to WDW I get a disney gift card from downtown disney and load it up with cash. This we use for our disney purchases and when it runs out I just take cash out and load it back up. Easier than carrying cash in the parks and if you dine at disney. They even take it on the cruiseline. Then cash everywhere else olive garden etc. I like 10, 20 and 50 and any 100 's I use for the gift card.

 

[Azza1987]

Morning Guys,

Thanks for all your responses really helpful! A bit worried regarding carrying a wad of cash too. I think I may suggest taking $500 in a mixture of small & large bills and then using the credit card for everything else and then just paying it in full when we get home. There shouldn't then be any interest on it & also less risk of it all going missing!

I haven't bought our insurance yet (or ETSA's, or my new passport ) but I never get one of those cheap policies anyway, the company i usually use are quite reputable etc etc.

I can't wait now, Christmas will come & go and then I can start a proper count down to the holiday! My only worry is I'll get there and we won't have enough money, thank god for the free DDP at least we wont starve hahaha! xxxxxxx

 

[MrRomance]

Lots of options shared by PP's but each one carries it's own risks.

A review of this forum and others will tell you that a lot of people have experienced credit card fraud in FL. The disney gift card idea is great, as long as you don't lose it! If you lose a $50 bill, you can live with it, lose a gift card loaded with $1000 and that's a different matter. The pre-pay cards often have fees per transaction. Cash can be lost.

I don't think there is any "right" answer. I disagree with the issues with the safe. We've used the safe every visit and never had any problems but we attach the key to our car keys and keep it with us. A lot of people who experience theft from their safe think they can "hide the key in the room" because they don't want to carry it around with them in the parks. You'd be amazed how many people put their money in the safe then "hide" the key in the room!