Why are our on-going charges not available on-line or at least on the television?

[JCfan]

Pet Peeve Time: Why can’t I view my on-going charges for my WDW resort stay or DCL trip on my television or on-line? Having been in IT for many years, I understand technology and systems very well. It can’t be that hard, no matter what kind of legacy or back-end systems they have, to integrate the applications and present the on-going charges to the guests. Virtually every other hotel and cruise line offers this.

Currently, the only way to check on your bill is to go to the front desk and ask. I’ve begun asking every day. Perhaps if enough of us do this, then maybe Disney will see the value in offering access to your bill either on-line or via the internal system on the TV.

What do you all think?

 

[Marionnette]

Pet Peeve Time: Why can’t I view my on-going charges for my WDW resort stay or DCL trip on my television or on-line? Having been in IT for many years, I understand technology and systems very well. It can’t be that hard, no matter what kind of legacy or back-end systems they have, to integrate the applications and present the on-going charges to the guests. Virtually every other hotel and cruise line offers this.

Currently, the only way to check on your bill is to go to the front desk and ask. I’ve begun asking every day. Perhaps if enough of us do this, then maybe Disney will see the value in offering access to your bill either on-line or via the internal system on the TV.

What do you all think?

Disney doesn't want you to realize how much money you're spending. If you did, you might cancel the last few ADRs or decline to purchase those last-minute souvenirs. The more difficult they make it to see a running total of your expenditures, the easier it is for you to keeping spending.

 

[Shanti]

Disney doesn't want you to realize how much money you're spending. If you did, you might cancel the last few ADRs or decline to purchase those last-minute souvenirs. The more difficult they make it to see a running total of your expenditures, the easier it is for you to keeping spending.

This. It's the same reason that a $500 per night Disney resort room doesn't offer any decent Disney movies or cartoons on its TV. They want you out of the room, spending money somewhere. And they don't want you reflecting on how much money you've spent thus far. Electronic access to your expenditures would be bad for their bottom line.

 

[JCfan]

Agreed! Seems a little short sighted though. I would think that if some guests go home with a financial hangover they're less likely to remember their trip fondly and be back as often. And for those of us on top of things, it really is an annoyance.

 

[maxiesmom]

Agreed! Seems a little short sighted though. I would think that if some guests go home with a financial hangover they're less likely to remember their trip fondly and be back as often. And for those of us on top of things, it really is an annoyance.

I just go down to the desk every few days and get a print-out.

 

[SL6827]

Above posters are correct. IMHO this move by Disney is extremely selfish, but actually very smart. But that is not to say you can't beat them at their own game here. Next March when we go back I plan to use gift cards for almost every single purchase. I am going to get one and place our food, snacks, and drinks budget on it. I am also going to do this with our souvenir budget, a gift card for each individual, and one just for a smaller miscellaneous budget on it. I plan to not putting charging abilities on our bands at all. Now I will have to wear a lanyard daily, but I do that anyway.

By getting 4-5 very different and distinct cards for each category and registering them on DisneyGiftCards.com, I will be able to look at the available balances on each card at any time. But most people will not go this route and take the necessary steps to do so, and Disney knows this. I admit, they got me a bit this past February, I'll give the points in accomplishing what they wanted to with us. (over spent by around $150-$180) But it will not happen next year, with us at least.

 

[bluezy]

You could always just use your credit card (rather than charging back to the room) for all of your purchases. Then you could view your account and see your totals any time you want to. I know that using a credit card is not nearly as convenient as using a Magic Band, but if someone wants to have easy access to their spending, that's an option.

For me, I just stop at the front desk and get a printout. I do like to check it once or twice during our stay not because I want to see how much we've spent, but because I want to make sure nothing was accidentally charged to our room that wasn't our charge. I'm sure that's much easier to get taken care of if you're still on property.

 

[fbb]

What do you all think?

Pretty sure my wife asked them not to.

 

[tvguy]

I think they don't, because they haven't lost any detectable business by not doing it. People may say they want it, but not doing it isn't impacting sales.
We went to WDW for the first time ever in June, and our first experience with magic bands.
We got a paper receipt with every purchase and it went in my wallet. Every night I checked what we had spent the low tech way, no TV or computer/tablet/smartphone needed.

 

[JCfan]

We've worked around the issue too. We annotate our spending in our mobile managing your money app and keep receipts, then confirm what's on our bill each evening to catch mistakes,etc. (and there have been some).... We are a little obsessive about knowing what's going out. We just find the lack of ability to see the bill real-time troubling and I thought I'd vent here and encourage others to request their bill more frequently so maybe collectively we could add a little encouragement to Disney to start offering self-service for bill viewing.

 

[Lvsdisney]

I think they don't, because they haven't lost any detectable business by not doing it. People may say they want it, but not doing it isn't impacting sales.
We went to WDW for the first time ever in June, and our first experience with magic bands.
We got a paper receipt with every purchase and it went in my wallet. Every night I checked what we had spent the low tech way, no TV or computer/tablet/smartphone needed.

THIS. And also, check your receipts too! We purchased 2 cupcakes at the MK store and were charged for 4. I thought the amount seemed a little high when I looked at the receipt (DH was the one who actually purchased them). I went to the desk at ASMu and they were able to credit those 2 cupcakes back to our account. No isssues!

 

[Keira1387]

Unless something has changed, DCL does have the option on the tv in the room. That's how I keep track.

 

[usnuzuloose]

They do not want you know what you spend. But it is nice to know that some people do want to know and make sure you are not getting charged for something that may not be yours as well.

 

[SL6827]

Unless something has changed, DCL does have the option on the tv in the room. That's how I keep track.

Really? That's good. They just priced me out after our 2nd cruise.

 

[MillauFr]

This. It's the same reason that a $500 per night Disney resort room doesn't offer any decent Disney movies or cartoons on its TV. They want you out of the room, spending money somewhere. And they don't want you reflecting on how much money you've spent thus far. Electronic access to your expenditures would be bad for their bottom line.

I think they should just turn over their entire IT systems to Amazon Web Services. With Amazon running the show Disney would be able to suck you dry before you even left your room buying tons of souvenirs.

 

[jmmess]

Pretty sure my wife asked them not to.