Exchange cash? Use credit card??

[Ormond gigli]

what does everyone do money wise on the trip?

Am I better off exchanging a bunch of cash before I go? Using credit card the whole time?

Amy tricks or tips?

 

[SaraMc]

I myself prefer to use cash. We usually charge everything to the room and then pay off the balance before we leave.

 

[BLAZEY]

I myself prefer to use cash. We usually charge everything to the room and then pay off the balance before we leave.

This is waht we do. Easy to know how much you are spending with the exchange rate being a known factor.

 

[rxbeth]

I have some cash on hand but otherwise charge to the room and pay off at the end. I have a US dollar VISA and banking account so I already have the exchange factored in that way.

 

[isabellea]

I charge to my Amazon Visa to save the 2.5% forex fee. I also get some cash from our BMO USD account for small expenses but the bulk of our expense go on the Visa.

 

[Sue M]

I have a USD acct and USD Visa (CIBC). So I transfer $ to USD acct monthly, when exchange rate is up a little. Before I leave I load up my USD Visa with $$$, calculating how much I'm likely to spend on meals and put a little less on card. Don't want to have a + balance when I get home.
I use the Visa to buy a Disney GC when I arrive at resort gift shop. I find it very useful for keeping track of spending as every time you pay with GC, you get your balance.
I don't like carrying a lot of cash. If you loose it, you're out of luck. I take some cash, but not much. Maybe $200.
Using a Disney Gift card, if it's lost, you aren't out the $ providing you've kept the receipt buying the card. They can track what cash was remaining on card.

 

[RheBot]

I used to only bring cash, but now that the dollar isn't great at the very least I get cash back on my visa so I think I'm going
to just bring a bit of cash and solely use my visa!

 

[DavidL]

We drive from London Ontario to Orlando and we carry normally around $1000 to $1300 in US cash with us to pay for restaurant meals and other small expenses. For gas and hotels we use our Amazon VISA to avoid the 2.5% Foreign Exchange fee. When we get to Disney World, we put the Amazon VISA on file so that when we use the magic band to charge it ends up on that VISA.

The 2.5% Foreign Exchange Fee that most Canadian credit cards charge really is a hidden charge that can add 2.5% to the price of your vacation. The fee isn't listed as a separate line item - it is buried in the exchange rate by most cards. It is unfortunate that Amazon VISA are no longer accepting applications.

 

[Hockeyfan17]

To help us avoid the 2.5% fee, we changed money into USD and then when driving through the US, we used the cash to buy Disney Gift Cards at Sam's Club. They were $480 for a $500 GC. We then pay off the resort with GC's, charge everything to the room, and pay that off with GC's as well.

 

[isabellea]

To help us avoid the 2.5% fee, we changed money into USD and then when driving through the US, we used the cash to buy Disney Gift Cards at Sam's Club. They were $480 for a $500 GC. We then pay off the resort with GC's, charge everything to the room, and pay that off with GC's as well.

Except that you paid the 2.5% forex fee when changing your money from CAD to USD at the bank... But I agree that the savings you do at Sam's club offset that fee a little. You also need a Sam's club membership...

 

[Hockeyfan17]

We actually have a connection with a bank and actually do save the 2.5% exchange fee.

 

[Mike2023]

We used to do the cash thing. Was a great way to save as I would change some money every paycheque then I would have the entire trip paid off be the time we left. That would sometimes have me traveling with thousands of dollars in cash so I stopped doing that after a few trips.

A couple of years ago we opened a US savings account and a US credit card with RBC and use that. Same idea, I transfer money each paycheque to my US account and use the US visa exclusively then in the US, pay it all off when we get home.

 

[buyerbrad]

I always pay with cash to try and maintain some-sort of budget. Since we fly out of Detroit, I also always leave $150 in the car to pay for the car parking, and duty free liquor and gas instead of carrying it with me.

 

[Sue M]

I always pay with cash to try and maintain some-sort of budget. Since we fly out of Detroit, I also always leave $150 in the car to pay for the car parking, and duty free liquor and gas instead of carrying it with me.

If you buy a Disney Gift card when you arrive, I find them very helpful for maintaining the budget as each time you pay with it, you get a balance printed on the receipt so you always know how much you have remaining on the card and what you've spent. Plus it's safer than carrying cash around, and easier.

 

[zebsterama]

For this trip we used the Rogers Platinum MasterCard for as many purchases as possible - the card is on our Disney experience file: so everything including hotel/purchases/tickets at Universal, Disney tickets, Dis deluxe dining, all Dis resort/park purchases (on our magic bands) etc etc - even paid our Dis cruise with it. Reason being is that it offers (annually I believe) 4% cash back on all foreign exchange purchases (even when they're online).

This helps to offset the forex and adds a little bit more.

We also bring some cash - primarily for tipping where the credit card can't be used.

 

[TommyJK]

It is unfortunate that Amazon VISA are no longer accepting applications.

Ooh, that's unfortunate. Glad I got one last year.

 

[bankr63]

We actually have a connection with a bank and actually do save the 2.5% exchange fee.

Care to name names? I'd love to sign up with a bank or trust that doesn't charge forex!

 

[Mike2023]

I always pay with cash to try and maintain some-sort of budget. Since we fly out of Detroit, I also always leave $150 in the car to pay for the car parking, and duty free liquor and gas instead of carrying it with me.

Keeping on budget is important for sure as when using a credit card you can lose track. I made a nicely formatted file for my phone that will update me day to day. Basically I enter expenditures each day and it will let me know how much budget I have left for the day. Any unspent budget will roll over to the next day.

We always know we will be our costs for the trip before going in and generally have it all saved before hand.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

We used to use the Sears MC because it had no forex fee. They now charge a forex fee so we switched to the FIDO MC by Rogers. It charges a 2.5% Forex fee but gives you 4% cash back on foreign transactions. So we are actually saving 1.5%. Happy with the card so far.