WWYD?

[astag05]

We will be visiting DW for 8 days w/o the dining plan but plan on a table service meal daily... Would you use a gift card to pay for your meal or would you just pay cash? I do not want to link my debit card to my MB and we do not use credit cards. This is our first visit so I'm not sure what to do... Thanks for your help

 

[Disneylover99]

We often pay cash. Sometimes we use a credit card. You should use whatever you're comfortable with.

 

[supersnoop]

What would I do? I'd put a credit card on my room account, charge meals to the room, and pay off the room charges with gift cards that I purchased at a discount.

If you won't use a credit card, then you probably aren't purchasing gift cards at a discount, so you should probably stick with cash.

 

[Nancyg56]

What would I do? I'd put a credit card on my room account, charge meals to the room, and pay off the room charges with gift cards that I purchased at a discount.

This is what we do. I secure my room with a credit card, charge most things back tot the room, and pay the bill the evening before we check out. I do not like to carry much cash when I am in the parks or dining.

 

[Hopefully]

We too charge back to the room using our Magic Bands, then we pay the charge the night before checkout with our Gift Cards. If you pay the night before the charges never hits the card on file. I too don't like carrying a lot of cash or the gift cards into the parks. They are locked in the room safe until I use them.
Good Luck

 

[myrtleturtle]

We use gift cards that we get with discounts.

 

[dancin Disney style]

If you charge everything to your room via MB you should go to the desk every couple of days and pay it off. Don't leave it until the end as they can put it through onto your card before check out day. Each resort level has a charging threshold....once you charge up to that threshold they process it to the card on file.

Personally, I don't think it's any big deal to carry around gift cards to use for payment. I would never depend only on my MB as a form of payment. I would always carry a backup payment option in case the bands don't work....which happens.

 

[cluvsdisney]

If you can get discounted gift cards, I would do that keeping in mind you don't want to buy more gift cards than you expect to spend so you're not stuck with cards with a balance. The discount won't matter if you end up buying something just to use it up the remaining balance.

Otherwise I would just pay in cash.

 

[MrsJamesPSullivan]

You can also give them cash when you check in to be used for charging meals and souvenirs to your room. When you check out they give you back any money you haven't used.

 

[robinb]

What would I do? I'd put a credit card on my room account, charge meals to the room, and pay off the room charges with gift cards that I purchased at a discount.

If you won't use a credit card, then you probably aren't purchasing gift cards at a discount, so you should probably stick with cash.

This is exactly what we do.

FWIW, it is perfectly safe to have your debit card on the MB. You need a PIN number to charge against the MB so no one else can charge against it if it is lost.

 

[Hopefully]

You can also give them cash when you check in to be used for charging meals and souvenirs to your room. When you check out they give you back any money you haven't used.

Have you done this??? In the past they would not let me put gift cards on my folio as a credit prior to there being a balance of charges.

 

[SSRFred]

You can pay cash or use gift cards or you can use your debit card to pay for each individual meal without linking it to your magic band.

 

[wdwrich]

You can also give them cash when you check in to be used for charging meals and souvenirs to your room. When you check out they give you back any money you haven't used.

Have you actually been able to do this? Many reports on these boards state that guests have tried this approach, but were told it isn't currently possible.

 

[disnut8]

We will be visiting DW for 8 days w/o the dining plan but plan on a table service meal daily... Would you use a gift card to pay for your meal or would you just pay cash? I do not want to link my debit card to my MB and we do not use credit cards. This is our first visit so I'm not sure what to do... Thanks for your help

I'd use the gift cards - but understand that Disney will sometimes "stop" a gift card that is not a Disney gift card if the balance on the card has gone below what would be considered a normal meal and tip. Example - we were given gift cards for our trips and they were not Disney cards. So, if we had a $100 AmEx card and we used $50 of it for a meal, we'd have $50 left. If we went into a restaurant a little more expensive the next night, the card would be declined. So - get Disney gift cards as those will be taken until the last cent.

 

[Brokakaycharanla]

Have you actually been able to do this? Many reports on these boards state that guests have tried this approach, but were told it isn't currently possible.

We went in 2014. Long story short, there was a charging error on Disney's end and our money wouldn't be refunded to our credit card by the card company fast enough for my tastes. A manager came out to deal with the issue and told the CM handling our check in process that you can put cash on hold for charging because not all guests have credit cards. So, it may be a case of pressing the issue to get someone knowledgeable enough to do that for you. We were at ASMovies.

 

[bumbershoot]

You can also give them cash when you check in to be used for charging meals and souvenirs to your room. When you check out they give you back any money you haven't used.

They haven't done this since MBs really got going. At least not that has been reported here.


OP we used to get GCs for our DLR trips. Not at a discount, either (easily available discounted Disney GCs are a relatively new thing). It was just a good way for us to carry the money around and pay for things. So I'd do that if you don't want to use cards; leave the excess cash in the safe back at the resort. Keep the receipts for the GCs *separate* from the GCs so if you lose the GC you don't also lose the receipt.

 

[Art 1]

We will be visiting DW for 8 days w/o the dining plan but plan on a table service meal daily... Would you use a gift card to pay for your meal or would you just pay cash? I do not want to link my debit card to my MB and we do not use credit cards. This is our first visit so I'm not sure what to do... Thanks for your help

I usually use cash for all my purchases.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Not sure if it's different with a package but I was easily able to add more cash that what I'd charged to the room in August. It'd charged maybe $60 to the room and was able to give CS $900 in cash to charge against for the rest of our stay.

 

[pumba]

the kids always give us gift cards for Christmas...and we use it whenever we want..we pay the room when we arrive at the front desk with our credit card., because we just get room only....then use the gift cards for our meals (plus we have tables in wonderland card)...we pay out of pocket for all our meals..gift cards are kept up on our spending...so we know ...our TS meals are dealt with the gift cards or our credit card...we dont usually take cash with us...this works the best for us

 

[Mlkim]

Where does everyone buy the discounted disney gift cards?