Cash / credit / debit cards

[OneLuckyLady]

I know the answer to this relys on how we each personally handle our finances but what works for you in terms of how you handle what money / debit cards / credit cards you bring to the parks? I thougt of bringing a set amount of cash and only bringing some of it with us each day to the park to keep us on somewhat of a budget and God forbid if I lost my purse or my husband lost his wallet we wouldn't be in a bad spot. I was also thinking of only one of us carrying a debit / credit card and leaving the others in the room for the same reason.

[TiggerRPh]

We use our bank credit card. We have a set amount in the account solely for the trip. We keep track of what is spent out of that "fund" so that we don't go over budget.

[supernova]

A little self restraint and it doesn't take any special tricks at all. I use my debit card and just keep track of what I'm spending. I don't set limits, but then I never really go overboard anyway.

[Deveney]

My hubby is one of those "Cash is King" type fella's that believes if you have the cash you want to spend in your pocket then you will never overspend.

What we do when we go to the parks is after check in and we get our Keys, My husband will give the front desk the cash he wants to spend and they put it on the room keys, so instead of linking a Credit Card to the room keys we just give them cash and it's the same principle, we can swipe the room keys anywhere and we ONLY spend what we set aside for spending money.

[TiggerRPh]

My hubby is one of those "Cash is King" type fella's that believes if you have the cash you want to spend in your pocket then you will never overspend.

Which is fine…but having all that cash on hand is not something we feel comfortable with. And then you have all that change too when you buy something.

We don't set spending limits. We just keep track of what we spend so we don't run over.

[Deveney]

Which is fine…but having all that cash on hand is not something we feel comfortable with. And then you have all that change too when you buy something.

We don't set spending limits. We just keep track of what we spend so we don't run over.

Oh, I don't think I worded my response correctly, We don't run around the parks with a bunch of cash in our pockets, we give the "cash" to the front desk who in turn puts it on our room keys, Which works out great for us, because you need your room key for fast passes, entrance to the park , etc etc.

[supernova]

Travellers checks?

[HauntedGabe]

We always use to travel with travelers checks. Our bank doesn't offer them anymore. I liked them because we would take them in $100.00 denominations. They were insured if you lost them. We'd break one at a meal, have cash on hand for beverages, snacks etc. I'd take a few with me to the parks each day and leave the rest in the safe in the room. Always knew what we had spent and what we had left. Carried credit card as a back up or emergency.

[WDW4Ever]

I have a debit card on me with <$100 on it at any given time. I keep myself to the $100 for as long as possible during the trip then add to it via the bank app on my phone and add to the checking account total in $50 increments. I have about $30 in cash on me for food. I don't eat much and I just do snacks. I'm usually there with friends, not family, and we go often enough that we don't need to do the grandiose dinners.

I hope that response makes sense!

[NC_WDW_Daddy]

I use our bank Visa Sharecheck card and self restraint. It has always worked for us. We also carry cash for snacks and drinks.

[eeyore79]

last month on our trip, we went down with about $600 to spend, we had $200 in cash, and left the other $400 on my bank debit card. i did not tie my card to my room card, just because i like using my card each time so it shows on my bank statement. i think next time we go i will take some cash and put it on the card just for more ease to use. the in room safe is free and great for keeping your extra money in! just dont lose the key!!

[OneLuckyLady]

I had no idea that we could put the 'cash' on our room keys! That is great! I was more conerned about the sfety of my money rather than the over spending. Do any of you kow what happen is you lose the keys?

[supernova]

Inform guest services and they'll put a stop on the old key and issue you a new one. I lost mine once (only to find it buried in my wallet the next day) and the card was replaced for me without issue. Then again, I never link the card to money or my credit card. So there was no concern there.

[julielizabet]

A prepaid credit card is the way to go! You don't have to worry about it affecting your bank acc't and any automatic debits, outstanding checks, etc. They've gotten a lot better since we last went almost 3 yrs ago, too.

The other nice thing about a prepaid card/Visa type gift card is that it allows you to save over time. I kept a stash of cash in my nightstand drawer. When it got to be enough, I'd throw the money on my card. This way I was also a lot less tempted to spend the cash. I kept the card out of my wallet, in my nightstand.

You could also get multiple cards for diff. people and/or purposes just to keep things easy and clean.

Another way to go would be to purchase Disney gift cards and/or Disney Dollars ahead of time.

[weepstah]

I was thinking that prepaid credit cards is a really good option too. I also really like that part about putting money upfront onto the room key (and not linking it to a credit card). But like some others, I'd worry about bringing down a big wad of cash. Losing it in the airport would really take the air out of the vacation!

As much as I like Disney, I personally would think twice before building up a big stash of Disney Gift cards or Goofy Bucks. The reasons are twofold -
1) You may not spend it all and then it ends up getting stuck in a drawer, or policies change, or whatever. In any case, it ends up like those casino chips you brought home from Vegas :P
2) You DO spend it all because it would be a waste not to.

I guess I would probably go the prepaid credit cards in big enough increments so that I don't have too many of them. Enough to have a pulse on the spending trends for the trip - if I burn through 2 of them in a day, that's a sign we may be hanging out at the pool tomorrow.