Ways of prepaying for food other than the dining plan?

Legendary

Legendary

Active Member
jaklgreen said:
This is what I do. I put everything on my card and then pay it. That way I get my rewards. I don't get the whole "pre-pay" for the food thing. Why even bother with the gift cards. If you have the money for it, then just charge it to your room and pay at one time. It is more inconvenient to go and get gift cards and worry about loosing them or wondering how much is left on them, etc then to just pay it all at once at the end of your trip.
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There is really no inconvenience. We leave gift cards in the room safe, charge everything on the Magic Bands then pay the resort bill with gift cards at the end of our stay. Why?? Because when we spend several thousands of dollars on our vacation we end up saving several hundred buying discounted gift cards. Worth it to us.
 
Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
wdworlandlover said:
I do this as well. My cousin actually puts all her expenses on her Disney Visa each month and pays it in full before it accrues interest. She builds up a lot of Disney $ this way.
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If you pay your balance monthly, there's no downside to using the Disney Visa as your go-to credit card for general everyday expenses.

I should point out, though, that if you visit Disney World frequently (let's say, yearly or more) you're not going to accumulate enough points to make the card worthwhile.
 
Gabe1

Gabe1

Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
Reminder. Always take a photo of the back of gift cards. If lost makes it a quick stop on card and reissued.

Same goes for any hard ticket admission as not everyone uses MBs
 
jaklgreen

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
Legendary said:
There is really no inconvenience. We leave gift cards in the room safe, charge everything on the Magic Bands then pay the resort bill with gift cards at the end of our stay. Why?? Because when we spend several thousands of dollars on our vacation we end up saving several hundred buying discounted gift cards. Worth it to us.
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That makes sense if you get the discounted gift cards. If not, then there is no benefit from it.
 
Lensman

Lensman

Well-Known Member
cslafferty said:
We have done the dining plan in the past. DH loves it - he loves that everything is already paid for before the trip even begins; no credit card bills after we get home and no need to bring lots of cash. But, I have crunched the numbers and it’s cheaper for us NOT to do the DDP. I’m wondering if any of you have come up with creative ways of setting aside $$ so that it FEELS like the DDP - gift cards, separate debit card account, etc??
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How do you handle paying for the DDP and the hotel and other expenses? I think the answer will help people tailor their answers.

I mean, one not-so-great idea is to use a debit card to pay your resort bill, right?

jaklgreen said:
That makes sense if you get the discounted gift cards. If not, then there is no benefit from it.
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I think it's all the psychology of saving and paying vs. buying on "credit," but we will see...
 
cslafferty

cslafferty

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Lensman said:
How do you handle paying for the DDP and the hotel and other expenses? I think the answer will help people tailor their answers.

I mean, one not-so-great idea is to use a debit card to pay your resort bill, right?


I think it's all the psychology of saving and paying vs. buying on "credit," but we will see...
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We use our Disney Visa card to pay for the hotel, tickets, and DDP. We pay the balance every month so no interest charges. We use our accumulated points to pay for most souvenirs and daily expenses while we’re there.
We link our Disney Visa to our Magic Bands, but honestly we usually don’t accumulate much of a balance - sometimes we’ll use it to pay tips, and sometimes we use cash.
 
H

Hockey89

Well-Known Member
jaklgreen said:
This is what I do. I put everything on my card and then pay it. That way I get my rewards. I don't get the whole "pre-pay" for the food thing. Why even bother with the gift cards. If you have the money for it, then just charge it to your room and pay at one time. It is more inconvenient to go and get gift cards and worry about loosing them or wondering how much is left on them, etc then to just pay it all at once at the end of your trip.
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It is a mystery of the ages.... You have to pay for it anyway...
 
D

Dave B

Well-Known Member
Heppenheimer said:
If you pay your balance monthly, there's no downside to using the Disney Visa as your go-to credit card for general everyday expenses.

I should point out, though, that if you visit Disney World frequently (let's say, yearly or more) you're not going to accumulate enough points to make the card worthwhile.
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Why is that?
 
Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
Dave Ber said:
Why is that?
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1% on most purchases, 2% on groceries, petrol, and anything Disney-related. For our monthly credit card bill, that averages between $30-70 per month. So, at the upper range, multiply that by 12, and you have about $840 per year. A significant amount, but maybe not quite enough to eat for free if you're there for a trip of seven days or more.

But our visits are usually spaced a few years apart, so we should have enough to eat for free and more by the time of our next trip in 2020.
 
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Dave B

Well-Known Member
Heppenheimer said:
1% on most purchases, 2% on groceries, petrol, and anything Disney-related. For our monthly credit card bill, that averages between $30-70 per month. So, at the upper range, multiply that by 12, and you have about $840 per year. A significant amount, but maybe not quite enough to eat for free if you're there for a trip of seven days or more.
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So your Credit Card bill is only $30-$70 a month, I hope you are not using your Debit card OR cash FOR PURCHASES, YOU LEAVE A LOT ON THE TABLE DOING THAT.
 
S

Stitch in Wonderland

Member
CaptainAmerica said:
Even better than Red Card for people who don't have it... Get 4% discount at a wholesale club and pay with your best cash back rewards credit card for an additional 1-2%.


Up to $1,000 per card.
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Where do they have them that you can get 4% off? The only reason I haven't been buying them from Target is because I want the cash back rewards from my credit card. But I just wasn't sure if that made sense or not. But with your plan, I get the best of both it seems?
 
D

Dave B

Well-Known Member
Stitch in Wonderland said:
Where do they have them that you can get 4% off? The only reason I haven't been buying them from Target is because I want the cash back rewards from my credit card. But I just wasn't sure if that made sense or not. But with your plan, I get the best of both it seems?
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You get the 5% off using your Target Red Card
 
DisneyGigi

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
larryz said:
So you guys leave cash for the 18% tip?
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I always try to leave cash for tips. I don’t know why but in my mind I am afraid something comes out of it if I add it to the room. I will even over tip if I don’t have exact tip. Probably dumb but I am that way about anything like that. I just always tip in cash. Does anyone know if you leave it on room charge if they get it all?
Sorry for being off topic-
Back to original question- target, wholesale clubs and Disney Chase redemption cards are a great way to save and “prepay” for things. We do all 3.
 
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picklebee

New Member
If your DH likes the "prepaid" aspect of the plan, I would put that amount of money into a gift card and use that to pay for all the food on the trip - and whatever is left is yours to buy a fabulous souvenir ;) Unless you do a lot of character dining, we always have spent way less on our own.

Even when mobile ordering is more convenient, you can just stop by the front desk and have any charges you've accrued paid with the gift card.
 

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