Money on magic band

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
It charges to your room. Values resorts get $500 limit, Moderates get $1000 limit, and Deluxes get $1500 charging limit before they have to charge it to
Your card. Once they charge it to
Your card when you reach those limits you can start over again with the above amounts. :)
 

cspencer96

Well-Known Member
How much money do you reccomend putting on our magic bands?
To counter the person who said this isn't possible, you do have some options but it isn't simple putting funds on the Band. One of those is to simple place a credit card on file for your resort account, and everything is charged to it at the end of your stay. If you'd like to regulate your spending a bit more, you also can also add money to your resort account at the front desk, like an account just for that stay. I believe you can also purchase a Disney Gift Card and have them link it. The best way to get answers is to call MyMagic+ Support at (407) 939-4357, or just look up the number for your Resort and speak with someone at the call center assigned for your resort.
 

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
To counter the person who said this isn't possible, you do have some options but it isn't simple putting funds on the Band. One of those is to simple place a credit card on file for your resort account, and everything is charged to it at the end of your stay. If you'd like to regulate your spending a bit more, you also can also add money to your resort account at the front desk, like an account just for that stay. I believe you can also purchase a Disney Gift Card and have them link it. The best way to get answers is to call MyMagic+ Support at (407) 939-4357, or just look up the number for your Resort and speak with someone at the call center assigned for your resort.
You cannot have them link a gift card to the bands. What you can do is pay down the charges to your room you did with your magic band with a gift card at the front desk. You still have to link a credit card to room but before they charge the card (once you reach the max room charge limit they charge it to the credit card or at the end of your stay whichever comes first) you can go to the front desk and pay it down with a gift card. Hope that made sense. You definately can't link a gift card directly to band or your room. Maybe they will change that soon but for now that is how it works. :)
 

MICKEYMOO42

Active Member
Original Poster
We were thinking about getting gift card with a set amount on them then using them throughout the trip so we know how much were spending and plus it's safer to travel with (not that we wouldn't have cash on us) even though it most likley wouldn't last us the whole trip.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
We were thinking about getting gift card with a set amount on them then using them throughout the trip so we know how much were spending and plus it's safer to travel with (not that we wouldn't have cash on us) even though it most likley wouldn't last us the whole trip.
Why not bring enough that will last you the whole trip?
 

IMFearless

Well-Known Member
I realise you have to link a credit card to get the charging privileges - makes sense.

Can you however, pay off some or all of the balance, with a gift card or cash before you start spending on the band?
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
I realise you have to link a credit card to get the charging privileges - makes sense.

Can you however, pay off some or all of the balance, with a gift card or cash before you start spending on the band?

If you are staying at a Disney hotel, I will answer that with a qualified "maybe"... (If you're not at a Disney hotel, there is currently no way to pay for purchases via your Band)

My knowledge of using cash is from the room charging system before MagicBands. Since the Bands didn't actually change the room-charge system, only gave a new way to access the existing system, I'm going under the assumption that what I'm about to outline is still available.

The normal way to deal with paying with cash or gift cards is that you set up a room charging account using a credit/debit card (no hold is put on the actual card), and then stop by the front desk to pay-down your balance using the cash/gift-card. This has to be done *before* either of the two situations where your balance would be auto-charged to the card on file, which are a) when you hit the pre-set charging limit, or b) in the overnight hours before your checkout morning.

But, there is a lesser-known feature in the room charging system. Not all of the front desk staff knows how to do it, and often will require a manager. The CM can set up a pre-paid balance using cash. The limit is set at the total amount of cash you give them. You can then debit from this balance when you charge to your room. While possible, I believe this is discouraged since it would involve refunding cash to the Guest at checkout.

There are drawbacks to this plan, though. First, the system can't be combined with a credit card. So you can't use up the money and then automatically switch over to a credit card. Second, when you approach your limit, you may get declined despite there being money on the account. If you have $15 on there and try to charge $25, it'll come back as simply a denied charge since it sees it as being a over-the-limit charge. The store register system cannot automatically figure out how much is left, charge that amount, and then have you use another form of payment in the store like it can for a Disney gift card.

So your better bet might be to stick with the usual plan where you open the account with a credit/debit card and then pay down the balance with cash/giftcards. That's what I do when I have giftcards to use...

-Rob
 

IMFearless

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Love having the bands, really like everything about them, it's just that with credit cards from the UK it is invariably cheaper to pay one large transaction than several smaller ones, as obviously we have exchange rates etc.

For that reason, I tend to try and limit the number of individual transactions on the card, it almost makes sense to pay a big chunk in one go at check-in. In the past I've had things happen like one charge night of check out, and then another for things bought the next morning etc.

Also we quite often do split stays, so it's nice to know how the system works to be able to get full advantage.

Next trip I have a whole load of dollars which I came back with from this trip, but with the Magicbands it seemed silly to carry cash. As I am intending to literally be out of the airport, DME and then on Disney soil the whole entire time, I don't think we'll even bother with a groceries trip, so I may just as well pay off the room charges with them. That's the good thing, being in the UK the dollars are useless here so it's a great way to save between trips, there's no risk of them getting spent on anything but the mouse.
 

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