Money, credit card, or traveler's checks?

[3 Princes & 3 Princesses]

We are not sure if we should bring our money in cash, put it in one of those bank credit cards, or traveler's checks. Any suggestions?

[disneymom15]

I usually bring cash (lock it up in safe) and a credit card. I know that you can do travelers checks in the form of a credit card (pre paid). My friend used a pre paid on his trip and didn't have any problems.

[mickey&missy]

Cash and credits card. like the pp said, lock the cash you aren't taking in the safe. Don't carry a large amount with you. Credit cards are way more convienent because you can link it to your room key, if your staying on property, and use it in the parks. Plus, your protected if it gets stolen.

[vizsla]

We take a minimal amount in cash, and charge the everything else to the credit card.

[brownie]

We don't bring much cash. We charge everything to our room (we've always stayed onsite) and put it on our Disney VISA.

You could get a Disney World gift card or put the cash on your hotel account if you are staying at a Disney World hotel, if you didn't want to have to carry around a lot of cash.

[mttafire]

With the exception of our Disney Visa rewards card..We like to use cash.

[TennesseeTink]

DH and I are not big on credit cards. We have one that we carry with us but we only use it at the front desk so we can charge to our room. We carry a small amount of cash into the parks(put the rest in the safe), just for places that are cash only, like the drink carts. The rest we charge to our room and pay off in cash at the end of our day.

I've always been super-paranoid about carrying cash into theme parks. I'll check all day long to make sure I haven't lost any. Kinda stressful. That's why I prefer to charge to the room and leave most of the cash behind.

Also, FYI any place in the parks that take cash will also take a traveller's cheque. You can also cash them in at the front desk of your resort.

[The Flying Dutchman]

The Mrs. and I swear by cash at WDW. We save for months ahead of time, taking out 20-40 a week to put in a special place to make sure that we don't spend it. Once at the world, we take ~100 out of the envelope and put the rest in the room safe, replenishing our cash everyday in the morning in case we spend it or need some more. This way,we know exactly how much we have spent and how much we have left, ensuring that we don't spend any money that we don't have and get surprised with a huge bill later on!

[grumpyguy]

i was never big on using credit cards but...at disney i have discovered the convience of using
"the key to the world" room card.for your vacation,if you use the dining plan i have found
that i really didn't need to carry hardly any cash to the parks.i wear shorts with velcro pockets
and then no worries!!on checkout last year our cm who took care of us printed out our room receipt and exclaimed "it looks like you two had a lot of fun!!" the receipt was about 6ft long.

[Jeff G]

We always use travelers checks. When we visit WDW I take a budgeted amount of money for each day so when I get my checks I make sure I have the same denomination for each day. When we arrive at our room I take my first days allotment and put the remaining checks in the safe. Each morning I replenish the amount I carry on me to the budgeted amount per day and bank the rest (which we save for the down payment on the next WDW trip). You can use the checks just about anywhere in WDW provided they have ample cash to change the larger checks.

I've tried the credit card tied to the room a few trips back and that worked great as well but I found that we lost track of the budget and spent a lot more that year vs. other years.


I also like the travelers checks because they are guaranteed should something happen to them.

[MickeyandTink]

We take a minimal amount in cash, and charge the everything else to the credit card.

I like to make sure I have enough cash on hand for places that don't take credit cards (i.e. concession carts) or for small purchases (usually under $5). Credit cards for everything else.

[cfoshe]

my DW is the best, she take money out of each paycheck and stuff it into envelopes. she has an envelope for every day. She know how much she needs for each day in cash. She even does it for the money to get down and back for WDW. If one day we do not spend all of the money, it gets stashed back for extras. When we get home from WDW we own no one. and thats a great feeling.

[motherhamv]

Usually I save and purchase Travelers Cheques, then when we arrive I apply it to the room and use the room key. I don't like walking around with a lot of cash on me.

This year with everything so hectic, I saved and put a credit balance on my CC. Then I will bring a little cash and use the room key.

[crazeedizneefinatic]

We use cash and CC. Paying cash helps us keep the spending under control. It puts everything in perspective when your handing over cash as opposed to a CC that is easy to say "I'll pay it off when the bill comes". It's there in case we need it for something (wink wink!). We budget for each day and usually come home with extra cash, which is nice.

[Disney Doll]

We take a little cash just for tips and small purchases. Otherwise we put everything else on our Am Ex. I think it's safer than cash because we are protected if the card is lost or stolen. DH and I each have a card and that's how we're used to paying for things at home anyway. We're pretty good about keeping our spending in check. I usually budget way more than we need so I don't have to worry about every little transaction. Plus, we earn reward points with the card which we can use toward our next trip.