Opinions on using cash or credit card at Disney.

[markb681]

While I agree that I charge back everything to my room via Magic band...BUT I'm beyond mad at Disney's accounting...I just took a WDW vacation back in May and used my Amex for charge backs...Well Amex was running a promotion that I would get 10% back at ALL restaurants for a 90 day period...well my GF and I spent almost $1900 on food and Disney charged my credit card as "Incidental Room Charges" ! So instead of getting 10% cash back thru Amex...I only got the typical 2% and of course Disney says there is nothing they can do to correct it!

 

[gillep]

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)

I have never had a WDW resort hotel put a hold on my card. The pp may have been talking about the charging thresholds for each tier of resort. Each resort type has a threshold dollar amount that if you reach they will charge your card on file, if you do not reach this amount before the early morning of your checkout day then they charge your balance to the card on file at that time. If you do not charge anything to your account then you will not have any charges on your room folio, this is of course separate from any balance that you may owe upon check in for a room only reservation.

 

[gillep]

While I agree that I charge back everything to my room via Magic band...BUT I'm beyond mad at Disney's accounting...I just took a WDW vacation back in May and used my Amex for charge backs...Well Amex was running a promotion that I would get 10% back at ALL restaurants for a 90 day period...well my GF and I spent almost $1900 on food and Disney charged my credit card as "Incidental Room Charges" ! So instead of getting 10% cash back thru Amex...I only got the typical 2% and of course Disney says there is nothing they can do to correct it!

This is correct, and how it has worked at any hotel that I have ever stayed in. If I eat at a hotel restaurant and charge to my room (where my Amex is linked and eventually charged) it is categorized at 'travel', or something similar, whereas if I use my Amex directly at the hotel restaurant it is coded as 'restaurant', WDW is the exact same just on a much larger scale.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

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.

So you always have to punch in your pin when you use your mb for your purchases

 

[markb681]

This is correct, and how it has worked at any hotel that I have ever stayed in. If I eat at a hotel restaurant and charge to my room (where my Amex is linked and eventually charged) it is categorized at 'travel', or something similar, whereas if I use my Amex directly at the hotel restaurant it is coded as 'restaurant', WDW is the exact same just on a much larger scale.

While it may be NORMAL...its definitely WRONG! Cause they screwed me out of $190 and I'm sure i'm not the only person at Disney who has credit cards that offer cash back % points for certain categories...BUT with Disney just tossing a stuffed Mickey Plush into the same bucket as a Lobster tail...other people are getting cheated too!

 

[gillep]

So you always have to punch in your pin when you use your mb for your purchases

Yes, every time you make a purchase, TS restaurants have a hand held MB scanner that they give to you to enter your PIN.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I have to say linking my card sounds a 100 times saver then when I made the post that I never would

 

[evilqueenmindy]

This is correct, and how it has worked at any hotel that I have ever stayed in. If I eat at a hotel restaurant and charge to my room (where my Amex is linked and eventually charged) it is categorized at 'travel', or something similar, whereas if I use my Amex directly at the hotel restaurant it is coded as 'restaurant', WDW is the exact same just on a much larger scale.

I book a lot of corporate travel, and this is true of all hotel charges anywhere.
If you charge something to your room, whether it's a meal, a spa treatment, a trip to the hotel store, it all gets charged as part of your total hotel bill, and treated by your credit card company as one category.

 

[flortlebap]

We just charge to our MB. it has a limit though.

 

[NYCgrrl]

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.

Should you still be on site makes a ton of sense to me to follow your suggested path first.

 

[fla4fun]

I'm confident that in today's environment WD, like other hotels, has at least one back up system if their main system goes down. Otherwise how would you enter your rm safe to get to the cash you've squirreled away there...not to mention the room itself?

I have been there at least once when they had to issue key cards to every guest because the MB system wasn't working. No dining credits, no room charges, no room access, nothing. It took a little over 24 hours to resolve. I happened to be checking in at the time (got an email to go to the front desk instead of one with my room number) and they said since I had set up a card when I did online check in, I didn't have to come back to the desk to have my band fixed when the system came up. They were having to manually take down cc info from guests that didn't do online check in and then link the cards when the system came up. It was a mess.

I do a combo of MB and cash, and have a cc in case I need it.

 

[KimBean]

We use our magic band. However I keep a log. We are on DDP so every time we swipe I will track credits. And then anytime we use MB for money I will log that as well. I will set up budgets like tips, souvenirs, alcohol. Then deduct from each budget to make sure we don't overspend. I already have the money for the trip so I'll put it on an empty card as pay off as soon as I get home.

 

[KimBean]

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

I never add my debit to anything.

 

[Doug S]

I use credit card or Disney gift card for almost everything. I only carry single dollar bills around to tip anyone who helps me at the airport or hotel. Personally not a huge fan of MagicBand room charges. I like having everything show up on my credit card one-by-one because I use Mint to track & categorize my purchases.

 

[MaC410]

I like using my Magic Band for charges also. The only bad thing about it is how easy it makes it to keep buying things!

 

[scrapquitler]

Credit Card always vs. cash. If you use your credit card, or someone uses it fraudulently, you lose NOTHING. If you use cash and you lose it, you lose it all and don't get it back.

Even better: Use your MB to charge to your room if you are staying on site.

 

[scrapquitler]

I learned my lesson this past trip. In the future, I'll be using the card on file and my magic band.

Cash isn't replaceable if lost.
Credit cards can be replaced but if you're on vacation, you're kinda screwed.
Having a card linked to your band ensures that you don't have to get it out to use it. (I had a card either not returned by a server, or it got left in the billfold or something, either way, I lost a card this year). Just make sure to keep track of your expenses so that you know everything is being tallied correctly.

If your card is lost/stolen while you are on vacation, you CAN have the credit card company overnight you a new one to your resort.

 

[NYCgrrl]

If your card is lost/stolen while you are on vacation, you CAN have the credit card company overnight you a new one to your resort.

But ONLY if you do your research and ask questions before you go on vacation.
The man's card was issued by Signature Bank (d/k whether it's a Visa or MC) and they insisted it had to be mailed to our home address .
I already knew that the 2 cards (an AMEX and Sapphire) I brought to DW were easy to replace since I'd already lost one on an overseas trip and with that experience in hand bothered to ask ALL my cards what their replacement card policies were.

 

[mamamelody2]

Last year we had a CC linked to our MB (mostly used for tips on our free dining table service meals) and each of our kids had a $100 gift card for souvenirs. I also would bring along $20 or so cash just in case. Worked great! Love MBs!

 

[melana]

I do Disney like I do any other trip, except for gift cards. I take cash and have my credit card. For Disney, I will have a gift card.

I like cash, sometimes things happen and you need it. Even though I have my cc on file for my magic band, I always take some cash with me to the parks. You just never know what may happen. I don't take a large amount. I use my GC to pay off my balance.