Opinions on using cash or credit card at Disney.

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

You can do a combination. Put a CC on your MB account so you can charge everything to your room. It is so convenient, especially for F&W festival booths. No digging for a card or cash. Then if you want to pay with gift cards or cash, just store it in the safe and go down to the concierge desk and make payments everyday. You can also just go down and request a printout of your charges whenever you want to keep track. I do carry my Disney VISA (for the character photos and discounts) and about $20-40 just in case.

Can I ask every day or is that a little much

 

[Vylette Rose]

Mb's with cc linked are pretty much the best option. Is there a chance for an issue, certainly, but it is not something that happens often. And truthfully, there is a chance for a problem with any payment method.

Can I ask every day or is that a little much

You can ask as often as you like!

 

[disneylove16]

They let you run up a certain amount based on the resort, so let's say 1000 for a moderate. Once you get close, they'll charge your card. Other places, like Universal's Loews hotels will place a hold $200 hold for each night, I usually ask for only $100 though.

And yes do switch to a credit card! Get yourself a nice travel or cash back card and gain a few rewards for your spending! Put it away once you get home if you don't like to use them day to day.

Edit 1500 to 1000

Thank you for replying! I'm not sure I understand correctly. So even if I don't make charges to my room, they'll put a hold on my cc? I know they need a cc on file for incidentals, but I prefer to only use cash.

 

[JacknSally]

Thank you for replying! I'm not sure I understand correctly. So even if I don't make charges to my room, they'll put a hold on my cc? I know they need a cc on file for incidentals, but I prefer to only use cash.

Yes, any hotel will do this. You just need to make sure you don't charge anything back to the room and you'll be fine - the hold usually drops off within 7-10 business days after check-out. If you do charge something to the room, just go by and pay the balance in cash on or before the night before you check-out. If there's anything to be charged to your card, the system will do it automatically around 2 or 3am on check-out day, so you want to be sure you take care of it before then if you don't want it to be charged.

 

[KittyKitty]

There are Chase cash machines are all the resorts, and parks. Probably at other places too. Since I have a Chase debit card, I travel with less than $50 cash, and get more at the resort when I need it. I also have a ccard attach to my magic band.

 

[NYCgrrl]

You can do a combination. Put a CC on your MB account so you can charge everything to your room. It is so convenient, especially for F&W festival booths. No digging for a card or cash. Then if you want to pay with gift cards or cash, just store it in the safe and go down to the concierge desk and make payments everyday. You can also just go down and request a printout of your charges whenever you want to keep track. I do carry my Disney VISA (for the character photos and discounts) and about $20-40 just in case.

You can also just put cash or gift cards on your rm acct when you check in. That means you might not even have to pay for the safe usage.

 

[tsme]

We bring a little cash for those just in case times. But mostly we use our credit card, NOT a debt credit card. Actually the only time we use our debit cc is to get cash from our bank. I feel it's much safer to use a credit card.

 

[useakiss]

Some of these post are just more reasons for me not to add my debit credit card to my MB

You should never use a debit card anyway because it's direct access to your actual checking/savings account. Always use a proper credit card for something like MB or any sort of online purchase because at least you'd get reimbursed. And honestly, I'd use a proper credit card for most purchases, too, because there are build-in insurance protections you don't get with cash/debit.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

You should never use a debit card anyway because it's direct access to your actual checking/savings account. Always use a proper credit card for something like MB or any sort of online purchase because at least you'd get reimbursed. And honestly, I'd use a proper credit card for most purchases, too, because there are build-in insurance protections you don't get with cash/debit.

Let me explain my self mine is not a "real debet card " I have to load load cash on to it for it to work I have the same privileges as a debit card holder with out being tied to a bank

 

[evilqueenmindy]

i take fairly frequent day trips to Disney, and I've found that since Disney started taking Apple Pay, my life is much easier. I still bring a little cash in case of issues, or a card if I'm doing table service, but for just a day trip, it's super convenient. (For a resort stay, I'm all about the MB)

 

[disneylove16]

Yes, any hotel will do this. You just need to make sure you don't charge anything back to the room and you'll be fine - the hold usually drops off within 7-10 business days after check-out. If you do charge something to the room, just go by and pay the balance in cash on or before the night before you check-out. If there's anything to be charged to your card, the system will do it automatically around 2 or 3am on check-out day, so you want to be sure you take care of it before then if you don't want it to be charged.

Thank you, I don't remember them putting a hold last trip, but tbh I didn't pay much attention. A PP said deluxe resorts put a $1000 hold, that can't be right. Do you know how much they authorize on check in? (Again, assuming we don't charge anything to our room)

 

[bdiddy]

We use a combination of everything. Usually we have some Disney gift cards, a card with our rewards points on it. And our Disney Visa and sometimes our debit card. DH will use cash if he's buying something little like a quick drink or snack. We've never run into any issues at any Disney properties with credit card theft. We just got back from Disneyland too and no problems there either.

 

[Wonder05]

If we have Gift Cards can we pay with those at the desk?
Like if my daughter wanted something and my husband was carrying the GC and was on a ride with our son But I was with her then could we use our MB and then before it was charged to CC pay off with a GC?

 

[pammydw]

We buy and use Disney gift cards. You can register up to five cards on disneygiftcard.com. If you lose one or leave it somewhere, you can immediately log on and transfer the balance to another card (up to $1000). But, I'll add that we always take a credit card as backup.

Thanks for sharing this! Will definitely be using for our next trip. We always end up with mostly gift cards, especially our daughter. I love that you can transfer balances!

I personally like to have a little cash on me, we have our cc on our magic band and then the gift cards. All ways works for us!

 

[MommaBerd]

Thanks for sharing this! Will definitely be using for our next trip. We always end up with mostly gift cards, especially our daughter. I love that you can transfer balances!

I personally like to have a little cash on me, we have our cc on our magic band and then the gift cards. All ways works for us!

Just know that you can't transfer partial balances. I wish you could...

 

[Brian Noble]

I use a credit card, and don't think twice about it. I probably have a card compromised about once every 2-3 years, and while it is a pain, it's only a bit of time lost, not money.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

For those that use the magic band if you see a change you did not make does Disney do anything about it or is it money lost

 

[NYCgrrl]

For those that use the magic band if you see a change you did not make does Disney do anything about it or is it money lost

I haven't linked funds to my MB yet (our intial WD trip was a "look see" as it were) but I would think any discrepancies would be between me and the issuing bank not the vendor. Should I see a charge I don't understand or dispute, my first call is to the bank. Most start by asking for my side, then start a formal dispute/open an investigation w/ the vendor if need be. 9 times out of 10, I've either forgotten a charge and my memory is jogged by the bank's questioning or in the case of an obvious discrepancy, I get my money back. I'm comfortable knowing that there are laws on the books controlling the interaction which unfortunately is not the case with debt cards.

I'll admit knowing one c/c company that was just too far behind the times for my comfort: Cabela's. They felt that all correspondence had to be done by "snail mail" and I hadn't the patience. Straightened everything out and then asked them to close down my account even though it made a temporary ding on my credit history.

I understand they are now owned by a new company so maybe things have changed. No longer makes a difference in my life because I've more useless camping equipment than I need and am selling extra stuff off, LOL.

 

[gillep]

If we have Gift Cards can we pay with those at the desk?
Like if my daughter wanted something and my husband was carrying the GC and was on a ride with our son But I was with her then could we use our MB and then before it was charged to CC pay off with a GC?

Yes, I pay at least part of my balance with a GC every trip. Just visit the concierge desk at your resort and let them know that you would like to apply a GC. You will need to do this the night before checkout, at the latest, as your CC will be charged very early in the morning of your checkout day, it is possible to reverse a CC charge, and then apply gift card(s), but it is much faster to just make sure that you go before the card is charged. Now if you are charging a lot to your MB, your credit card may be charged before check out too, as each resort tier has balance limits that trigger charging the card, but I don't remember what these amounts are these days, so to be safe you may want to apply your gift cards more often, it is a very easy process.

 

[gillep]

For those that use the magic band if you see a change you did not make does Disney do anything about it or is it money lost

This has never happened to me, and I have charged to my MB dozens of times, but if it did, I would expect the concierge at the front desk of my resort to be able to assist me. All of the charges list whose MB was used to charge the transaction, and all transactions require a PIN number to be entered, so it is unlikely for it to happen, and their should be a good paper trail to follow. If for whatever reason the concierge is unable to reverse the transaction, I would contact my credit card company.