Silly room charging questions :)

[arc82]

Hi all - 28 days until we arrive at AKL for our first deluxe and first club level stay! I've been on several trips before, but never used my room charging privileges. I plan to use it this time for dining, etc, and pay down the balance with GCs.

When we get the bill at a restaurant (or pay at the counter for QS), is it as simple as saying that we want to charge it to the room and scanning our Magicbands? Are there any locations that do not allow room charging? And finally, if I did online check in, should I pay a visit to the check-in desk anyway to make sure we're good to go with our room charging privileges before heading off to the parks? I set up a pin for both myself and FH and have a credit card linked to my MDE account.

Thanks all! Happy magical new year!

 

[tnolan]

We have eaten at restaurants in the parks for years and have never had them say we couldn't charge to our Magic Bands. When we eat at Rose n Crown in Epcot, we even usually split the charge between a Disney Rewards card, (with accumulated points) and our Magic Bands.

 

[buzznina]

We always use our MBs to charge to our room and then go and payoff the balance every couple of days. If you have a CC on file and linked with a PIN then there is no need to stop at the check-in desk unless you want to verify everything is working. Also; there is no guarantee that you will bypass the check-in desk with online check-in, we have used it 3 times and was texted only once.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The places that don't take the magic band are usually carts or small stands.

 

[purple figment]

You cannot charge to your Magic Band at any of the venues in the Swan and Dolphin except for the Disney gift store in the lobby. Also, Shades of Green.

 

[tink2]

We found last May that even the small carts had a magic band charging device. I don't think we ran into any place that we couldn't use our magic bands.
So much easier than carrying around a wallet!

 

[Wood Nymph]

And finally, if I did online check in, should I pay a visit to the check-in desk anyway to make sure we're good to go with our room charging privileges before heading off to the parks? I set up a pin for both myself and FH and have a credit card linked to my MDE account.

Thanks all! Happy magical new year!

If we do not get the text that our room is ready before we arrive at the resort then we stop at the front desk to check on our room. They can give you the approximate location of where your room will be so it is an opportunity to change it. If you have done online check in and added a credit card and set your PIN, then you should be good to go when you arrive. But you can always stop by the front desk first if you want to be sure.

The nice thing about using your MB for purchases is that you get a record of every transaction and who made it. Then you can look up your balance due on your MDE app on your smart phone or device. It is a nice new feature of the MDE app.

 

[Karl66]

We always do online check in but we still like to stop at the front desk to check in there too just to confirm that everything is good to good. We also like chatting with the desk CM. Makes us feel welcome and truly at home. Charging with magic bands is easy. The only place I haven't been able to use one is with the balloon vendors. All the snack carts I've seen are set up for electronic purchases, either MB or credit card.

 

[SirDis]

We went twice last year and we had to stop in at the resort to change our pin for room charges...it kept the pin we used on the first trip and I couldn’t remember what it was

 

[MinnieMSue]

Yes balloons is the one place we have found that doesn’t take magic bands for payment. I did hear you can go into emporium and pay for one there and show your receipt to the vendor but I don’t know if that is true or not

 

[Quellman]

Yes balloons is the one place we have found that doesn’t take magic bands for payment. I did hear you can go into emporium and pay for one there and show your receipt to the vendor but I don’t know if that is true or not

Animal Kingdom Lodge had a craft table this holiday season with ornaments. Cash only or receipt from the gift shop. Wouldn't be surprised if it worked like this for balloons too.

 

[arc82]

Thanks all, this is very helpful! Really looking forward to our trip. 25 days!

 

[BK2014]

DW and I are traveling with her parents in a few weeks. I have created her parents' MDE accounts and have been making all the plans for them. When we get to our resort, can we go to the front desk to set up a specific credit card and pin for just her parents' magicband purchases?

 

[starry_solo]

DW and I are traveling with her parents in a few weeks. I have created her parents' MDE accounts and have been making all the plans for them. When we get to our resort, can we go to the front desk to set up a specific credit card and pin for just her parents' magicband purchases?

Yup!

 

[AngiTN]

I just found another reason to stop at the desk that had never been mentioned to me, in all our prior stays
When we arrived at WL on Saturday I had gotten a text that out room wasn't ready. I stopped at the desk to add the CL access offered there. The CM confirmed that our room wasn't ready but she would note that we'd arrived and that would move out room up in the queue for housekeeping. No idea of there's any truth to it or not. We did get a ready text about an hour later

 

[Miffy]

Perhaps I'm wrong about this, but if you put charges on your MagicBand, don't they get automatically sent to your cc that's on file every couple of days? So if the OP wants to pay these charges with GCs, wouldn't they have to go to the front desk pretty often to pay down the balance? Or can the OP use the GC at check-in to be the payment method associated with the MB charges?

 

[AngiTN]

Perhaps I'm wrong about this, but if you put charges on your MagicBand, don't they get automatically sent to your cc that's on file every couple of days? So if the OP wants to pay these charges with GCs, wouldn't they have to go to the front desk pretty often to pay down the balance? Or can the OP use the GC at check-in to be the payment method associated with the MB charges?

No it's not every couple of days
Unless you are doing some serious charging
Each resort level has a limit. $2000 at deluxe, mod is that or $1500. Not sure about value
They'll run it of you get close to that or if you go through a lot of it really really in your trip (like by day 2 of a 8 day trip)
Otherwise they done run till wee hours of the morning on check out day
And any time they have run the card they can reverse the charge of asked
They have always said they can not put credited funds on the account in advance, nor take a gift card in place of a credit card. Never hurts to ask though

 

[Miffy]

No it's not every couple of days
Unless you are doing some serious charging
Each resort level has a limit. $2000 at deluxe, mod is that or $1500. Not sure about value
They'll run it of you get close to that or if you go through a lot of it really really in your trip (like by day 2 of a 8 day trip)
Otherwise they done run till wee hours of the morning on check out day
And any time they have run the card they can reverse the charge of asked
They have always said they can not put credited funds on the account in advance, nor take a gift card in place of a credit card. Never hurts to ask though

Ah, AngiTN. Thanks for explaining this. I apparently have never understood exactly what happens. Lately I've been using my cc, since a year ago, they put all my MB charges on my sister's cc instead of mine, even though I'd registered my cc to link to my MB.