Cash Question

[H20Babie]

Ok, I know I've brought this up before, but now we're getting to the nitty-gritty. I've saved, and saved, and saved, and saved ... but what do I do with it?

Do I throw it on my Visa and set up my Key in order to charge to the room?

Or do I throw my traveller's cheques down onto the Key and charge to the room? Can I even do this (put TC's onto the room for charging purposes)?

I will be bringing some actual cash for our travel days (7 hours of flights with no meals included), snacks and our one day at Sea World , but other than that, I am soooo confused!

Visa = secure & convenient but then there's the interest
TC's = secure and no interest but darn-tootin' inconvenient

Please help!

PS. Staying at POR, so I know there's the $1000 charge limit

 

[CleveRocks]

VISA won't charge you any interest if you pay the charge off in total by the end of the grace period, so no downside there.

Yes, you CAN put down travelers checks to back up your room charge. Credit card, debit card, cash and even Disney Dollars work, too.

As far as the room charge limit, keep in mind the $1000 is an UPPER limit. You can choose to set up a room charge with a $753.02 limit if you want. Once you reach your limit, you can simply set up another one for whatever amount you want, up to and including $1,000.

Both times I went to WDW recently, I think I had about $200 in cash for the week, and only spent that at the airports and for tips. I set up room charges with my debit card, and am happy to never leave Disney property.

 

[H20Babie]

VISA won't charge you any interest if you pay the charge off in total by the end of the grace period, so no downside there.

Thanks, Eric.

Yea, but that's my problem ... Visa's maxed out (single, student mom here). I can pay it off with what I've saved but ... then I'm using it for vacation, and I'm back to paying interest! Lol (well, not really).

Can I just put TC's only on the room in order to charge so I don't have to worry about carrying them around?

 

[CleveRocks]

As I said, you can use cash, credit, debit, TCs or Disney Dollars to back up the room charge. I agree, in your case don't mess with the credit card.

 

[GenerationX]

Here's my advice:

Use the savings to pay off the Visa. Put down the Visa to allow you to charge to your room with the Key. Use your Key for everything. Unload your traveller's cheques at Sea World or, near the end of your trip, at POR to pay down what you've charged to the Key.

Have fun! :wave:

 

[CleveRocks]

Here's my advice:

Use the savings to pay off the Visa. Put down the Visa to allow you to charge to your room with the Key. Use your Key for everything. Unload your traveller's cheques at Sea World or, near the end of your trip, at POR to pay down what you've charged to the Key.

Have fun! :wave:

I think she has limited funds, and is asking to help her choose between using the savings to make room on the VISA and then use the VISA for the room charge expenses, OR using the savings to buy travelers checks to back up the room charge. I don't think she can sufficiently pay down the VISA AND buy a sufficient amount in travelers checks, KWIM?

 

[BRER STITCH]

You can certainly put the room on your VISA and use your room key to spend at the parks and charge everything to your room, however....

The safest thing to do is...put your Visa card down when you check into the resort "for incidentals". You will have to do this anyway. But....DO NOT use your room key for charges.

To better budget your trip, buy Disney or Visa Gift Cards for each day of your stay. For example, if you are going for 7 days, buy 7 gift cards and write the day of the week with a "sharpie" on the back of each one. If you have $300 to spend, divide it by 7 and put that amount on each card - one for each day ($42 for each day).

Every morning, grab that day's card and hit the parks. Each time you use the gift card, your receipt will indicate how much money you have left for the day. Any leftovers can be carried forward to the next day.

It works out great when you are on a budget. No cost for the Gift Cards, no surprise bill when you check out of the resort, no overspending, and a set amount of funds each day that you've already pre-paid!

The earlier you buy the cards, the less worried you will be about expenses when the trip rolls around. If at all possible, give and request them for Birthdays, Christmas, and other Holidays through the year. It's a great way to save for a vacation all year without even realizing it.

Also, If you can....switch that charge card of yours over to a Disney Visa and earn dollars back towards your trip every time you make a charge!

GOOD LUCK!

:wave:

 

[H20Babie]

I don't think she can sufficiently pay down the VISA AND buy a sufficient amount in travelers checks, KWIM?

You are correct. I finish my year at the end of April, and I go back to work for the summer months, which, of course, I use to help pay down debt before my final year.

The safest thing to do is...put your Visa card down when you check into the resort "for incidentals". You will have to do this anyway. But....DO NOT use your room key for charges.

To better budget your trip, buy Disney or Visa Gift Cards for each day of your stay.

Why do they need an imprint of a credit card when you check in, if you are not going to charge? Everything has been paid for in full.

I have looked into both of these, but being from Canada, the Disney gift cards from here are in Canadian dollars and thus will not work in the US. Also, being Canadian, I cannot apply for a Disney Visa.

PS. I leave in 30 days! :sohappy:

 

[shoppingnut]

To better budget your trip, buy Disney or Visa Gift Cards for each day of your stay.

Buying Visa gift cards for each day would be costly since the charge per gift card is about $4.95.

Also, you do not have to put a credit card down on the room if you do not want to, it is not required. They do not need an imprint of your credit card upon check in.

 

[eroyee]

:wave: You can order a disney gift card from disney catalog stores and I dont think it would be canadian dollars there. you could call and ask. also, disney dollars work real well. we used them a lot, plus the disney gift card. didnt hardly charge anything to the room. you dont have to give a charge card unless you want purchases charged to your room. thats your choice. have a magical trip. How lucky only 30 days. we have 280. boo hoo!!!

 

[BRER STITCH]

Buying Visa gift cards for each day would be costly since the charge per gift card is about $4.95.

Also, you do not have to put a credit card down on the room if you do not want to, it is not required. They do not need an imprint of your credit card upon check in.

Many banks do not charge their own customers for the Visa Gift cards.
Still, $5 a day is less than what the late fees or interest would be on a credit card that is up to its limit. In any event, if that bothers you too much, then just get ONE card with the whole week's balance on it.

While it may not be mandatory to put a credit card down when you check in, it certainly is the common practice of every hotel chain in the world. If you are not going to charge anything to the room, it does no harm to present the card when they ask for it. :shrug:

 

[nicnic]

Hi, We stayed at POFQ in october last year. When we checked in (our room was already paid for) we were asked if we would like to put a credit card down for any room charges, yes we said. Around the parks we put most purchases onto our room key and got them delivered, keeping check how much we spent, I cant remember if my hubbie said he also checked this via our t.v!? Anyway, the day we checked out I went to the desk to settle the room charges and I was able to pay this with my American Dollar travellers cheques and cash, with not a penny on my credit card, the card is only taken for back up in case you do not pay your bill and leave, then they will use it!! I will be doing this again in June when we return, but I was not aware there was a limit, must keep that in mind, I am a big shopper and with that room key you can get VERY carried away!!!
Have fun and I hope this helps.

 

[shoppingnut]

Many banks do not charge their own customers for the Visa Gift cards.
Still, $5 a day is less than what the late fees or interest would be on a credit card that is up to its limit. In any event, if that bothers you too much, then just get ONE card with the whole week's balance on it.

While it may not be mandatory to put a credit card down when you check in, it certainly is the common practice of every hotel chain in the world. If you are not going to charge anything to the room, it does no harm to present the card when they ask for it. :shrug:

While it might be common practice, it is not necessary. And, if you do present the card they will assume you want to have charging privileges because that is what they are asking you. Since she does not have any room on the credit card, this would only cause her embarassment when they try to get the $1000 (or whatever it is) pre-approved on the card and she is declined.

 

[CleveRocks]

While it may not be mandatory to put a credit card down when you check in, it certainly is the common practice of every hotel chain in the world. If you are not going to charge anything to the room, it does no harm to present the card when they ask for it. :shrug:

PLEASE stop spreading misinformation about WDW resorts. They absolutely 100% do NOT need any sort of credit card or security deposit "for incidentals." I realize that almost every other hotel on the planet does, but NOT Disney World resorts. FACT. Please ask them at 407-WDISNEY if you don't believe me. I'm going on cold solid fact, not opinion.

 

[shoppingnut]

Hi, We stayed at POFQ in october last year. When we checked in (our room was already paid for) we were asked if we would like to put a credit card down for any room charges, yes we said. Around the parks we put most purchases onto our room key and got them delivered, keeping check how much we spent, I cant remember if my hubbie said he also checked this via our t.v!? Anyway, the day we checked out I went to the desk to settle the room charges and I was able to pay this with my American Dollar travellers cheques and cash, with not a penny on my credit card, the card is only taken for back up in case you do not pay your bill and leave, then they will use it!! I will be doing this again in June when we return, but I was not aware there was a limit, must keep that in mind, I am a big shopper and with that room key you can get VERY carried away!!!
Have fun and I hope this helps.

Yes, but in order to pay cash for the items you charge at the end of the trip, you must have that available credit, which they will pre-approve you upon check in, on your credit card in order to use it. It sounds like the individual may not have such available credit.

 

[CleveRocks]

While it might be common practice, it is not necessary. And, if you do present the card they will assume you want to have charging privileges because that is what they are asking you.

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[CleveRocks]

To better budget your trip, buy Disney or Visa Gift Cards for each day of your stay. For example, if you are going for 7 days, buy 7 gift cards and write the day of the week with a "sharpie" on the back of each one. If you have $300 to spend, divide it by 7 and put that amount on each card - one for each day ($42 for each day).

Every morning, grab that day's card and hit the parks. Each time you use the gift card, your receipt will indicate how much money you have left for the day. Any leftovers can be carried forward to the next day.

It works out great when you are on a budget. No cost for the Gift Cards, no surprise bill when you check out of the resort, no overspending, and a set amount of funds each day that you've already pre-paid!

I love your budgeting ideas!

Just a cautionary tale about VISA gift cards, however. I know nothing of Disney gift cards, but first of all, with a VISA gift card you won't be given a remaining balance on any receipt after making a purchase. Perhaps that's a Disney card thing (a beautiful perk!), but it's not a VISA gift card thing.

The cautionary tale about VISA gift cards, at least the ones sold by the bank I had the misfortune of dealing with, is that when you make a purchase at a restaurant they automatically add something like 30% to the total, to allow for any tip you might manually write onto the receipt. I understand the concept behind it -- you have a $100 gift card, your bill is exactly $100, the charge clears, and when you're presented with the receipt you write in a hefty tip. Well, when the merchant goes to get reimbursed, there will only be $100 available and not the tip money. Hence, the bank hedges against that.

The problem with that on a DAILY card is that it can take several days if not a week or more until those "excess" funds are available on your card again. In other words, if you use my bank's VISA gift card to charge a $75 meal at Chef Mickey's, even though the receipt you sign will say $75 (and you tip in cash), and additional $22.50 will be held as unavailable on that card until the bank receives the paperwork and decides to make that $22.50 available to you again.

But if the Disney gift card doesn't operate that way, then you have a really cool plan to help someone discipline themselves!

 

[H20Babie]

As Pooh would say, "Oh bother!"

Okay, this is what I understand: I CAN hand over my TC's upon check in, and charge to the room with my Key, WITHOUT having to get my VISA pre-approved, because the TC's WILL cover any charges.

Thanks for all the help. (I may be confused, but I'm really quite cute and smart )

(Oh, and I am not so un-selfdisciplined that I do not have a budget for this trip. Like most here, I am an avid planner and have everything down to a T, with emergency money built in).

 

[Elonwy]

I'm also from Canada and have used traveller's cheques because they are safe (just remember to keep your cheque numbers and the assistance phone # in a safe place AWAY from your cheques)

I also found the cheques an easy way to stick to a budget and used them like someone previously suggested with the Disney/Visa gift cards.

I would divide the cheques up into a budget for each day and ONLY take that amount with me (IE: $40-60 USD per day)

The good thing is that they give you US dollars back in the change so you will have some cash around if you need it and you can just add the change onto the next day. One thing I would do is save the leftover cash and on the last day hit downtown Disney with my budget for the day plus all the leftovers and do a big shopping spree before heading home.

This also works for your Sea World day as you can take that days budget in the T. Cheques or you can use the US$ leftover from previous days.

Also, as someone who HAS had their wallet stolen (no not on Disney property) I like the security of travellers cheques (I got my money back within 24 hours!)

Good luck and have fun!

El.

...12 more sleeps to WDW! :sohappy:

 

[CleveRocks]

Okay, this is what I understand: I CAN hand over my TC's upon check in, and charge to the room with my Key, WITHOUT having to get my VISA pre-approved, because the TC's WILL cover any charges.

100% correct!

No need for any sort of credit or debit card to stay at a WDW resort or enjoy any of the amenities. When you check in, they won't ask you for a credit card for "incidentals."

When they ask if you want to set up a room charge, tell them you want to do so with travelers checks. Be prepared to spend a few minutes signing your name in the CM's presence.

Oh, and why did you have to go and say you're "cute"???!!! Now my wife won't let me talk to you anymore.:ROFLOL: