Room Charging 101
Here is EVERYTHING you need to know about room charge, including info on using a debit card versus a credit card:
A room charge can be set up with cash, travelers checks, Disney Dollars, a debit card (with VISA/MC logo), or a credit card. If you use plastic, Disney doesn't care if it's credit or debit ... makes no difference to them, and they do not treat those two types of plastic any differently. It's all one and the same to Disney.
If you use plastic to back up a room charge, your card will NOT be charged immediately, and there will be NO HOLD placed on the account. In other words, if you have $3,000 of available credit on your Mastercard, and you sign up for a $1,000 room charge, you STILL have $3,000 available credit on your credit card; no hold was placed on your card. If you are using a debit card and have $3,000 in your checking account, after you set up a $500 room charge account you will STILL have $3,000 available in your checking account.
If you use plastic, they will swipe the card, but again, they do not place a hold and they do not pre-charge the amount. What they do is get authorization for a charge of zero dollars and zero cents. By "pinging" the account in this manner, they make sure that it is a valid card on an existing account.
There is no daily limit. There is a limit for the room charge in general. If you hit that limit, you can simply set up another room charge.
The UPPER limit is dictated by your level of resort: $500 for Value resorts, $1,000 for Moderate resorts and $1,500 for Deluxe resorts. These are UPPER limits ... you can set up a lower limit if you like.
As I said, there is no such thing as a daily limit. Your balance just keeps adding up ... it is not reset every day.
If you use plastic, and you reach your room charge limit, you have the convenience of calling the front desk (or going there, if you feel like it) and verbally authorizing another room charge. If you used some form of currency, you'd have to physically go to the front desk and give them more currency to set up another room charge.
If you use plastic, your card will not be charged UNTIL one of the following occurs: you reach the room charge limit; or it's about 3:00 a.m. or so on your check-out day. If you use plastic, you will retain room charging privileges through 11:59 p.m. on your check-out day, meaning you can still use your room charge after you check-out of your resort. If you used currency to back up your room charge, you will receive an immediate refund at check-out of any amount leftover in the room charge account.
Room charge can be used ALMOST everywhere. The snack carts in the parks do accept them (as well as credit/debit cards). The only consistent place I know of in the parks that you can't use it is roving vendors who sell stuff in front of and behind the parades. Every venue at all of the Disney owned-and-operated resorts accepts room charge; the only exception would be if there happens to be a third-party vendor permitted to operate somewhere. At Downtown Disney, some places take it and some don't.
Not all cards have to have room charging privileges. You can choose to not allow your kids room charging privileges, for example.
At any time, you can go to your resort's front desk and get an up-to-the-minute printout of your room charge activity. It will include the date, time, exact location, and total amount of the purchase (if you buy 4 souvenirs at a shop, it will tell the total purchase amount but will not list how many items or a description of the items). It will also include the card number (if you and your spouse each have room charge set up on your card, one card will be #1 and one will be #2).
One very little-known fact is that you can set up two (or more) separate room charges within the same room. EVen a lot of CMs aren't aware of this. If you wish to do this, you have to tell the CM you want to set up a "share." You must use the word "share." If they say it can't be done, ask them to check the front desk manual and/or ask a lead for guidance. I once had a CM tell me I couldn't set up a room charge for less than my Moderate resort's $1,000 upper limit; I told her I was sure I could, and asked her to check wth a lead, and then two minutes later I had my $800 limit set up.
If you choose, you can periodically pay down your room charge balance at the front desk. For example, let's say you set it up with your VISA card but for some reason you don't want a large charge on your VISA card. Let's say you have a $1,500 limit on your room charge, and then a few days into your week's vacation you go to the front desk and pay off what you've spent so far, let's say it's $400, by giving them travelers checks. If you do this, you again have $1,500 available on the room charge. Nothing has been charged to the credit card, because you haven't yet reached the limit and it is not yet your check-out day.
Did I miss anything???
