Advice needed from Brits re currency

It's been several years since we last visited Florida. Last time we travelled we took some cash and Travellers Cheques. Time has moved on and we are now considering what is the best method of paying for items. One option is to bring some cash and the rest on a prepaid Travel Card. Are these cards accepted for payment in the parks and local restaurants or have you found some establishments not happy to accept them. Would welcome your thoughts on the matter. Need to decide what we are doing soon. Many thanks.

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Originally Posted by Disney Doodle

It's been several years since we last visited Florida. Last time we travelled we took some cash and Travellers Cheques. Time has moved on and we are now considering what is the best method of paying for items. One option is to bring some cash and the rest on a prepaid Travel Card. Are these cards accepted for payment in the parks and local restaurants or have you found some establishments not happy to accept them. Would welcome your thoughts on the matter. Need to decide what we are doing soon. Many thanks.

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I had a lot of problems with pre pay card so this year have reverted back to Travellers cheques which I purchased in John Lewis.

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Originally Posted by tadshome

I had a lot of problems with pre pay card so this year have reverted back to Travellers cheques which I purchased in John Lewis.

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Thanks for your reply. Are you able to let me know what sort of problems you had, i.e. was it with the chip and pin? We were seriously considering getting a preloaded currency card (FairFx), but had concerns as to whether chip and pin would be accepted everywhere. I thought that the places you could use Travellers Cheques are now more limited. However as it has been seven years since we last visited we are open to advice.

Not so much the chip and pin, payments were taken twice and took several days to be refunded and card frozen when trying to use it twice in quite quick succession.

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Originally Posted by tadshome

Not so much the chip and pin, payments were taken twice and took several days to be refunded and card frozen when trying to use it twice in quite quick succession.

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Thanks for this information. Will have to give it some serious thought. Can I ask whether you used FairFx or was it another company. Just wondering whether it was a company problem or the pre-loaded card in general.

It was a FairFx card. Ended up using my debit card some of the time.

Just curious as to why you wouldn't just use a regular credit card and/or debit card for your purchases and to obtain USD once you get over here? It's probably the most convenient way to go and the most widely accepted. I haven't used Travelers Checks when traveling abroad from the US for probably 20 years or more. As far as international transaction fees, there are credit cards out there with no fees. And if there's a fraudulent or erroneous charge you can dispute it through the credit card company. But maybe it's different if you're traveling here from the UK?

Disney systems are not a fan of the prepaid cards and in some cases will only allow around 85% of the total card to be used, (not sure why). Many guests will use a credit card llinked to their bands and then make a cash payment (or giftcard payment) so that their actual credit card is not charged. Please keep in mind that your final payment is typically taken in the early morning hours on your actual check out day. Showing up on your check out day just prior to leaving and wanting to make a cash payment, requires the cast member to take the cash payment and then credit your credit card back for that amount, which can then take several days to be credited back to the card. If you want to make your final payment in cash, stop at desk the night before you leave and you will not have the issue of waiting for the credit to be posted back to the card.