How much cash do you take?

[Jen C.]

DH and I are having a debate. We're leaving tomorrow for 8 nights. Night one at GF, the remainder at BC Club level, and on the free dining promo.
He wants to bring over 1k in cash down. I find this truly unnecessary, and a little nervewrecking. We usually charge souveniers to our card on file through our KTTW card. We will need little to no money for additional food items between conceirge and DDP. I say we bring no more than $500. Your thoughts?

[nls721]

I also charge everything to the room. I will only bring $200 or so w/ me and that is just to make sure if I want a snack at the Airport I am fine. Also, each day I will take probably $20 into the park. That way if I just want a bottle of soda I don't need to mess w/ charging to the room. But, that's the great think about Disney and the KTTW card, you don't need cash!

[Strmchsr]

In general I have maybe $20/day in cash and usually don't spend that since you can put almost everything on your KTTW card. I definitely wouldn't want to risk having that much cash on hand.

[Beast_fanatic]

We normally carry a total of about $200 on our trips, but we usually only carry $40 around with us and we put the rest in the safe.

[PittFan]

We just returned from a 10 day trip. We charged to our room and paid at checkout. Between credit cards and cash, we spent around $800, and believe me, we cut back towards the end of our trip. We only visited the pool bar 1 night the entire trip. We didn't go overboard on souvieners. There were 4 people in our party DW, DD, DS & myself. Count on $30 a day for gratuity on the DDP. I posted a thread with our exact amounts. Hope this helps.

[ISLE39]

I Sat And Figured Out What Cash I Will Need Almost Exactly. Im On The Free Dining Plan This Trip So Food Is Taken Care Of At Least Most Of It. So I Sat And For 10 Days Ill Need About 250-300$ Total Including Souveniers. I Have 210$ In Disney Rewards Dollars So I Will Probably Only Take 200 In Cash For Safety.

I Think 1000 Bucks Is A Lot Of Cash To Take. If Nothing Else And He Is Bent On Taking It I Would At Least Bring That In American Express Dollars. Having So Much Cash Would Scare The Heck Out Of Me If I Lost It.

[BMan62]

DW always wants to take $100 per day of our trip. I never have more than $100 in my pocket at any time and we rarely go through more than $40 a day. We are not souvenir people, so our expenses are pretty much limited to tips and drinks. Everything not in my pocket is in the room safe.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

I guess I'm the odd one out, I too will be bringing a lot of cash with me, but I will not be taking it to the park everyday....I will actually put a cash deposit down on my key to the world card for souveniers and only carry $30 or so in cash for tips each day...the rest will remain in the safe in the room

[tink179]

I definitely would not bring that much cash with you!!! When my family and I were at the World in January, I lost my wallet and had $200 in it. My wallet was recovered and turned in that night and I was able to pick it up in the central lost and found the next morning, but it was minus the $200! :mad:We had no cash for the rest of the trip, because we had our bank card in there as well that had to be reported as stolen just in case. Luckily now all the snack places take cards now too and not just cash! We've learned our less though. We will take some cash this year as well just in case, but will only take a little each day and leave the rest in the safe at the resort.

[WishingStar2006]

Even with free dining, you're still going to have tip plus appetizer (if you get one) and drinks (if you drink)...that can all add up quickly. However, I would still just charge these things to my KTTW card and settle up at the end, or have them charge the whole thing to your Disney VISA...you'll get 6 months interest free (yes, it's interest free on your KTTW charges, not just the package!!!) and be earning interest on the $1,000 you didn't have to take!

Have a great trip!

[mdhiggin]

We usually bring $200 also just in case, but we rarely use any of it, charging everything we can to our room. We probably wouldn't take more than $40 cash in our pockets just because it's not necessary. I only ran into one thing that didn't take credit so far and that was a rain poncho stand that was put up when it started raining. I'd be worried about losing a lot of cash, but not so much my credit card. That can be replaced without too much hassle.

[mdhiggin]

Our last trip we came back with the same amount of cash we brought, and I think they have ATMs in some of the lobbies now in case you come up short.

[RobWreck]

There are very few things that you need 'cash' for regarding a WDW vacation... aside from tipping the baggage handlers at the airport, drivers, mousekeeping, bell services and bar tenders, I can't think of too many other times you'd want/need cash. However, if your DH's goal is to avoid ringing up credit card debt, then perhaps he'd compromise and go for some cash-equivalents (like traveller's cheques). Once you identify WHY he wants to bring so much cash, then you can resolve how much actually needs to be in cash and how much can be carried in a safer alternatives without just slapping it on plastic.
Rob

[Sunshine1010]

If he insists on bringing that much money....just remember that the rooms have safes. You can store the money you aren't using in there.

I plan on bringing more cash on me this trip than I ever have before. I'll be on the dining plan, and I am going to pay the servers tips in CASH. I'm 'tired' of them saying: 18 or 20% ma'am....especially when they only show up at my table 1 time. This time, I control the tips and it will be based on their service. We'll put the cash we don't bring to the parks in the safe.

Also, if he does want to bring a lot of money, disburse it in different places. Don't let him put it all in his wallet. Put some in your pocket, wallet, your billfold, etc.

[brownie]

No more than $200 in cash, and that's just in case of emergency, if it's some place that only takes cash, or for certain tips. We charge everything, and you can pretty much charge everything at Disney World (even at some if not a lot of the snack carts.)

[justice11]

what is a kttw card, call me stupid.LOL!

[PittFan]

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you wanted to know how much cash to take with you on the trip for 10 days, not to the park. I think $100 a day is a safe bet. You don't have to carry it all with you. As I stated in my earlier post, we paid for our KTTW purchases in cash when we checked out. If your charging it to your CC you wouldn't need as much cash. Just from my recent experience.

[PittFan]

what is a kttw card, call me stupid.LOL!

No such thing as a stupid question. KTTW card is your room key with your park ticket and charging privledges should you choose to do so.

[SAHDad]

We rarely take much cash with us. We charge almost everything on the KTTW card (food is the primary expense, since we aren't big on souvenirs). The cash is mainly for snacks (b/c it's a hassle to figure out what some random $3.75 charge is for sometimes), tips, etc. Probably no more than $25 or $30 per day.

[Mrs Bus Driver]

I guess I'm the odd one out, I too will be bringing a lot of cash with me, but I will not be taking it to the park everyday....I will actually put a cash deposit down on my key to the world card for souveniers and only carry $30 or so in cash for tips each day...the rest will remain in the safe in the room

I have been wondering about doing this myself. Putting cash on my KTTW card and only carrying enough cash for tips. Sounds like a good idea to me :mickey:

[Tinkerbella16]

I usually bring $150.00 in Disney Dollars, and $350 in cash total. Not on the DDP, and always come home with extra cash!!

[mouseketeer mom]

We bring about $500.00 in cash, and we certainly don't always use it, but I feel more comfortable having it on hand. Also, part of that is made up of a stack of singles and fives...for bell services...airport tipping, etc...

[Checkers]

:mickey:We (DH & I) will be going next month (for 10 days, 11 nights) with my DD, SIL, 2 DGDs. We will be on the DP but will probably order appetizers (we all eat salads with our meals), cocktails, etc. so will need tip $, then there is the ME driver's tip, Bell Services, Airport skycap, valet attendant tip (we will be renting a car for a few days), mousekeeping tips. Plus, we will be going to F&WF and will probably use cash there. Since our stay is split between 3 different resorts, we will not be on the DP the entire time. With our DGDs being with us, you know how it is hard to say "no" to them! We will probably take a combination of cash, traveler's checks and use our Disney Visa for any purchases. Right now we are in the process of trying to figure out how much to take but I think we will probably take in the neighborhood of $1500. We always use the safe in our room and don't carry an extraordinary amount of cash with us and usually split it between us. I know this is a long post, but many factors come into play such as how many in your party, number of days, etc.

[Nurse Kim]

We are planning to take $2000. We aren't using any type of credit cards during our trip though. We will not carry this with us of course. We are booked for the dining plan but we may cancel that. It's a hard choice at this point. I think DH and I will both have some cash on us just in case.

[luv_cinderella]

what is a kttw card, call me stupid.LOL!

Key To The World

As previously stated, your room key, park tickets, and possible "charging" abilities. :mickey: