Question about paying for room and food and so on…

[Esmerelda]

Ok, please bare with me. We have not been to Disney in 10+ years. When we arrive we will have a few hundred left to pay on our room at FQ. I would like to be able to charge our food with our magic bands but I’m bringing cash for that purpose. Can I give the desk cash for our purchases on the account? We do not want to rack up hundreds of dollars on our credit card for food (and or holds) and only want the remainder of our room charged to our card (we do not have a high limit on our card and we are good with that!) We plan on using mobile order so I thought this was the easiest way. If I’m missing something here, please let me know. if I’m making this complicated, please let me know. Thanks for any tips.

 

[SMF_mom23]

Great question. Following!

 

[cutigerlady]

In order to use mobile order you need a credit card linked to your MDE and it definitely charges the card as you place each order. You can link a gift card, so maybe use your cash to buy that in order to pay for your food? You could have them use any unused gift card funds to pay down the room balance the last evening. Just make sure you hold onto the physical cards.

 

[Dug720]

In order to use mobile order you need a credit card linked to your MDE and it definitely charges the card as you place each order. You can link a gift card, so maybe use your cash to buy that in order to pay for your food? You could have them use any unused gift card funds to pay down the room balance the last evening. Just make sure you hold onto the physical cards.

Slight technicality... You can use a gift card to mobile order, but you will have to put the number in each time you're ordering. You can't store the gift card on your MDE.

I've asked before about applying gift card funds to my resort to charge back to the room, but they have always told me they cannot do that. Some on here have speculated that it is because unused funds would have to go back onto the gift card and too many people threw them out, but I have a hard time buying that as the company clearly has a system to apply gift cards to accounts in advance as they do it on the cruise line. I don't know if cash would be any different.

But you are definitely correct in that mobile ordering does not go to the magic band but to the card on file unless you change it to another card or a gift card.

 

[igrsod]

I haven't been since the beginning of 2020, so things could have changed by then. What we did was have the credit card attached to the magic band, but when we got back from the parks each night, we would go to the front desk and pay for everything with cash or gift card. We had multiple people staying in the room, so we would get a printout, sort out who owed what for the day, and they would apply multiple payments in different amounts from each person. Not sure if that would still be possible.... but it's worth asking when you check in. Just pay it off each day before you head to the room.

 

[_19disnA]

Magic band links to a credit card you have previously placed on file so things can be charged. There are other threads on here talking about going to the front desk each day to pay off your balance, so might look for those. Probably one reason you can't link to a gift card is that is has a finite balance and charges will bounce once the balance is exhausted. I believe Disney started with some of their new daily charging policies when some people had trouble paying their bill at checkout time since their card limit had been exceeded.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Ok, please bare with me. We have not been to Disney in 10+ years. When we arrive we will have a few hundred left to pay on our room at FQ. I would like to be able to charge our food with our magic bands but I’m bringing cash for that purpose. Can I give the desk cash for our purchases on the account? We do not want to rack up hundreds of dollars on our credit card for food (and or holds) and only want the remainder of our room charged to our card (we do not have a high limit on our card and we are good with that!) We plan on using mobile order so I thought this was the easiest way. If I’m missing something here, please let me know. if I’m making this complicated, please let me know. Thanks for any tips.

Buy gift cards. You can't use your MagicBand to pay for Mobile Order. Your only options are credit card or gift card.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Magic band links to a credit card you have previously placed on file so things can be charged.

No it does not. This is 100% incorrect. The MagicBand links to your room folio.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

What we did was have the credit card attached to the magic band, but when we got back from the parks each night, we would go to the front desk and pay for everything with cash or gift card.

You didn't have the credit card attached to your MagicBand, you had the credit card attached to your room folio. This doesn't solve the OP's problem because you can't use room charging on Mobile Order.

 

[igrsod]

You didn't have the credit card attached to your MagicBand, you had the credit card attached to your room folio. This doesn't solve the OP's problem because you can't use room charging on Mobile Order.

I've never mobile ordered. So how does it work? Asking for future trips.

 

[_19disnA]

No it does not. This is 100% incorrect. The MagicBand links to your room folio.

It is a matter of semantics. You make a room reservation and can choose to put a credit card on file. If you do that is the one your Magic Band will be related to.

 

[Dug720]

I've never mobile ordered. So how does it work? Asking for future trips.

When you place your order, you will pay for it through the app. It will show your card on file, or you can enter a different credit card number or a gift card number - the charge goes directly to that. It is not linked through to your room because everyone can/is supposed to use mobile order at QS places and not everyone is staying on property.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I've never mobile ordered. So how does it work? Asking for future trips.

Credit card or gift card. Any applicable discounts (AP/DVC) applied automatically.

Credit card can be stored in the app, but gift card number has to be typed in every time, which is pretty annoying.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

When you place your order, you will pay for it through the app. It will show your card on file, or you can enter a different credit card number or a gift card number - the charge goes directly to that. It is not linked through to your room because everyone can/is supposed to use mobile order at QS places and not everyone is staying on property.

To their credit, it's loosened up a little bit recently. When I went in April, it was pretty much 100% mobile order only. In September, most locations had at least one register open for "standby" ordering. They were still steering people to the app but it wasn't as mandatory as it had been previously.

 

[Dug720]

To their credit, it's loosened up a little bit recently. When I went in April, it was pretty much 100% mobile order only. In September, most locations had at least one register open for "standby" ordering. They were still steering people to the app but it wasn't as mandatory as it had been previously.

Yeah. They always had to have an in-person option at the very least for those with allergies as at least initially many of the places did not have allergy options for mobile order. (Which I am sure led to some who just didn’t want to mobile order claiming allergies to get through the door.)

Plus the reality is not everyone has a smart phone, so they will have to offer some kind of alternative besides “bring your own or eat only table service”.

 

[Esmerelda]

I appreciate all of the feedback. Perhaps I could just use my debit card on my mobile ordering via the phone. That would leave the credit card out of the loop at the hotel, i will just leave the money in my bank account. I do plan to call WDW and confirm this. Thanks everyone.

 

[Turksmom]

Just a little warning about the debit card- I used mine once- only once! There was a glitch with the app and it charged me 3 times (while I was ordering for 8 people). It took seven days for my bank to release the authorizations

 

[CaptainAmerica]

OP, might I suggest you consider asking your bank for a higher credit card limit and just paying it back immediately after your trip? I know not everyone is comfortable with hundreds of thousands of dollars of available credit, but if your limit is so low that it's forcing you to consider all sorts of convoluted payment schemes for your vacation, it seems too low to meet your needs.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

OP. What do you think about buying gift cards to pay off the balance of the room? Then putting all of the food on your credit card for the mobile orders? You’ll just need to pay off the room a couple of days before you check in so they don’t charge the credit card.

 

[Dave006]

Slight technicality... You can use a gift card to mobile order, but you will have to put the number in each time you're ordering. You can't store the gift card on your MDE.

You can use something like the Notes app and just cut / past the Gift Card number from a note into the Mobile Ordering App.

Once you do it a couple of times you will get the hang of it.

Dave