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Putting Spending Money on a PrePaid Debit Card?

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 15:16
twilightsparrow
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Putting Spending Money on a PrePaid Debit Card?

My husband and I were floating around the idea that we should put the money we set aside for spending on souvenirs, etc. on a prepaid visa card. Our entire trip, including dining, park tickets, etc., will be paid before we leave, but I didn't really want to carry around the spending money. How wise is it to do this? Do all locations at WDW accept a prepaid visa card for example? Should we keep only the cash we'll be using as tips on hand, or should we keep a little more? I was wondering if anyone has ever done this before.

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 15:21
Kristen K.
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I always put my spending money on a Disney Gift Card. The only cash I really carry is for tips.

If you don't want to carry around cash and you're staying at a WDW Resort hotel you can also just charge everything back to your room.

Mon, 07/30/2012 - 15:22
Mase
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For our spending money, we buy Disney Gift Cards, and we have an app on our iPhones that keeps track of how much is on each card. If we go over a bit... we have some cash or our debit card... but we try to stick to the Disney Gift Cards as much as we can.

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 17:40
twilightsparrow
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Yes...Disney Gift Cards is definitely another option. Mase, do you have the name of the app? I can add it to our iPhones also.

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 18:03
Mase
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twilightsparrow wrote:
Yes...Disney Gift Cards is definitely another option. Mase, do you have the name of the app? I can add it to our iPhones also.

Should just be Disney Gift Card

Here ya go!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/disney-gift-card/id402337389?mt=8

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 18:13
twilightsparrow
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Thank you. Smile

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 18:20
Mase
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twilightsparrow wrote:
Thank you. Smile

No problem. You will be able to take a picture to identify your Gift Card, so what I did was I put the owners name and then numbered them with a sharpie, and then took the pic. So I could tell them all apart. We usually have close to 10 cards sometimes... lol

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 19:11
The Cookie Crumbler
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twilightsparrow wrote:
My husband and I were floating around the idea that we should put the money we set aside for spending on souvenirs, etc. on a prepaid visa card. Our entire trip, including dining, park tickets, etc., will be paid before we leave, but I didn't really want to carry around the spending money. How wise is it to do this? Do all locations at WDW accept a prepaid visa card for example? Should we keep only the cash we'll be using as tips on hand, or should we keep a little more? I was wondering if anyone has ever done this before.

I like this idea! Definitely sounds like an option since we're paying for food as we go. The only hesitation I have about using a Disney Gift Card is that if we don't spend it all we wouldn't be able to use what's left for every day needs. And that app is pretty cool!

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Mon, 07/30/2012 - 19:34
Mase
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The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
twilightsparrow wrote:
My husband and I were floating around the idea that we should put the money we set aside for spending on souvenirs, etc. on a prepaid visa card. Our entire trip, including dining, park tickets, etc., will be paid before we leave, but I didn't really want to carry around the spending money. How wise is it to do this? Do all locations at WDW accept a prepaid visa card for example? Should we keep only the cash we'll be using as tips on hand, or should we keep a little more? I was wondering if anyone has ever done this before.

I like this idea! Definitely sounds like an option since we're paying for food as we go. The only hesitation I have about using a Disney Gift Card is that if we don't spend it all we wouldn't be able to use what's left for every day needs. And that app is pretty cool!

Thats what we thought as well... but since we go every year, we just apply it to the following year. Jess had some left over, so we were gonna save it, but we actually I think used it at a Disney Store. So yeah... there are ups and downs to it, but we look at it as its for Disney, and if we have left overs... then its less we have to save for our next trip OR its just extra money to spend... lol

And yes. The app is SUPER helpful. With 4 family members with multiple cards... I think we each had like 3-4 cards. So this kept everything in line very well.

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Tue, 07/31/2012 - 00:29
Ollie
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We take extra cash for tips and taxis. All else we charge back to the room on our room key/card.

I know that this could be dangerous to the budget, but we keep track of what we spend. Being on the dining plan makes it easy for us; we are pretty much beyond the souvenir overload stage and just establish the trinket budget!
Using the room key/card is like having a pre-paid card, sort of. wink AND we get miles!!

Pretty much - We did the gift card thing once, but was just one more card to keep track of, so we don't do that anymore.

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Tue, 07/31/2012 - 01:29
dontthrowsand
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I am thinking of using Disney Gift Cards.

I do use a travel Visa/master card from CAA in Europe. I quite like it and it works very well.

Tue, 07/31/2012 - 08:18
DisneyDee27
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I charge eats beverages and tips to the room. Each morning I stop at guest services and pay the balance with gift cards. I carry some cash but usually I charge everything. I pay for my trips with the gift cards as well. I love that gift card app...I found $20 once I thought all the cards were empty...nope that's a couple of pins woohoo clapping
Dee

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Tue, 07/31/2012 - 12:38
Kristen K.
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We do sometimes have leftover money on our gift cards, we just consider it "already saved" for our next vacation.

Tue, 07/31/2012 - 15:01
twilightsparrow
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DisneyDee27 wrote:
I charge eats beverages and tips to the room. Each morning I stop at guest services and pay the balance with gift cards. I carry some cash but usually I charge everything. I pay for my trips with the gift cards as well. I love that gift card app...I found $20 once I thought all the cards were empty...nope that's a couple of pins woohoo clapping
Dee

I love this idea Dee...it seems like I would prefer this method of pymt the best. It's so much easier to just charge our purchases to the room using our KTTW card, and then just paying with the gift cards since the balances are easy to track using the app Mase recommended. And since I always get up earlier than DH when we're on vacation I can take a trip over to the POR guest services and take care of the pymts every morning. Thank you all so much for the advice.

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Fri, 08/03/2012 - 13:23
Mase
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twilightsparrow wrote:
DisneyDee27 wrote:
I charge eats beverages and tips to the room. Each morning I stop at guest services and pay the balance with gift cards. I carry some cash but usually I charge everything. I pay for my trips with the gift cards as well. I love that gift card app...I found $20 once I thought all the cards were empty...nope that's a couple of pins woohoo clapping
Dee

I love this idea Dee...it seems like I would prefer this method of pymt the best. It's so much easier to just charge our purchases to the room using our KTTW card, and then just paying with the gift cards since the balances are easy to track using the app Mase recommended. And since I always get up earlier than DH when we're on vacation I can take a trip over to the POR guest services and take care of the pymts every morning. Thank you all so much for the advice.

I agree. I never thought of doing that. Maybe more because everything is on my Dads name, but that is a very great idea. My only worry would be going overboard...

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Fri, 08/03/2012 - 15:16
salejune
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this is great! I never thought of using Disney Gift Cards! How ingenius! When we go in December we'll definitely have to do this... like you said.. if any left over, you can use it the next year. I like the fact of not carrying around money. It's so easy to drop some or when paying give too much with bills sticking together etc...

Thank you!

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Fri, 08/03/2012 - 17:49
Mase
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Here is another plus to it. I know our local grocery stores use the incentive of... "Buy a GC, get double to quadruple points for Gas". Last year when I got the cards... I was able to get I think 2 free fill ups. I have an Explorer. 16.5 gallon tank! That was huge for me. So that was our original thinking of getting GC for Disney... free gas! lol

So basically... what I'm saying... if you do get them... go somewhere where you can get something back.

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Fri, 08/03/2012 - 19:46
PirateGirl
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That's a great idea! I can start getting gift cards now to use on my trip October '13 and not have to worry about carrying a lot of cash! clapping

Sat, 08/04/2012 - 16:50
twilightsparrow
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PirateGirl wrote:
That's a great idea! I can start getting gift cards now to use on my trip October '13 and not have to worry about carrying a lot of cash! clapping

I've been meticulously putting money aside for a year now to pay for our trip and to use for spending money. It's time to go buy some gift cards now... Big smile

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Sat, 08/04/2012 - 17:00
Kristen K.
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twilightsparrow wrote:

I've been meticulously putting money aside for a year now to pay for our trip and to use for spending money. It's time to go buy some gift cards now... Big smile

banana banana banana
Oh yea baby... time to do the Disney dance!

Sat, 08/04/2012 - 17:03
twilightsparrow
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Woohoo!!!

yeah

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Sat, 08/04/2012 - 18:54
Brad
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I've always kind of liked the prepaid card idea. Let us know how you find it!

Sun, 08/05/2012 - 04:50
DisneyDee27
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twilightsparrow wrote:
DisneyDee27 wrote:
I charge eats beverages and tips to the room. Each morning I stop at guest services and pay the balance with gift cards. I carry some cash but usually I charge everything. I pay for my trips with the gift cards as well. I love that gift card app...I found $20 once I thought all the cards were empty...nope that's a couple of pins woohoo clapping
Dee

I love this idea Dee...it seems like I would prefer this method of pymt the best. It's so much easier to just charge our purchases to the room using our KTTW card, and then just paying with the gift cards since the balances are easy to track using the app Mase recommended. And since I always get up earlier than DH when we're on vacation I can take a trip over to the POR guest services and take care of the pymts every morning. Thank you all so much for the advice.


I'm an early riser and usually there's no line at GS that early. I pay them off and it's a great start to my day knowing my balance is zero and I can charge it up again.

Mase wrote:
Here is another plus to it. I know our local grocery stores use the incentive of... "Buy a GC, get double to quadruple points for Gas". Last year when I got the cards... I was able to get I think 2 free fill ups. I have an Explorer. 16.5 gallon tank! That was huge for me. So that was our original thinking of getting GC for Disney... free gas! lol

So basically... what I'm saying... if you do get them... go somewhere where you can get something back.


I haven't paid full price for gas in years. Our giant eagle grocery store offers .10 off for every $50 spent Nd sometimes it's .20 off. We can get up to 30 gallons free. I fill up my car 12.5 gallons and have 3-5gallon cans in my trunk. I get every drop of that 30 gallons and can fill my car nearly 2.5 times. I pay off my trips including Disney cruises with gift cards as well so I'm always buying them. They don't go bad and they're accepted for just about everything. I did the same thing on the cruise with GC @GS. awesome clapping

twilightsparrow wrote:
PirateGirl wrote:
That's a great idea! I can start getting gift cards now to use on my trip October '13 and not have to worry about carrying a lot of cash! clapping

You can use them to pay off the trip. It's nice to have Disney money saved. Granted if you need that money it's tied up however I just buy $100 here, $50 there, $25 etc and when I know I can go big I buy a$500 card. I paid off a 7night cruise all in GC I think I drove my TA crazy laugh

I've been meticulously putting money aside for a year now to pay for our trip and to use for spending money. It's time to go buy some gift cards now... Big smile

It really is helpful. I use the Disney gift card app and they are easy to keep track of... biggrin

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Sun, 08/05/2012 - 13:27
Nancy D
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Mase wrote:
Here is another plus to it. I know our local grocery stores use the incentive of... "Buy a GC, get double to quadruple points for Gas". Last year when I got the cards... I was able to get I think 2 free fill ups. I have an Explorer. 16.5 gallon tank! That was huge for me. So that was our original thinking of getting GC for Disney... free gas! lol

So basically... what I'm saying... if you do get them... go somewhere where you can get something back.

LOVE IT, Mase!! That is a WIN! I swanee, you people are Disney GENIUSES!! Y'all have got this business down to a science!

Sun, 08/05/2012 - 20:23
Hardy0109
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disregarding everyone elses comments, so ignore me if I'm late, but I charge everything to the room. It's so easy, as long as you're staying at a Disney resort!

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Wed, 08/08/2012 - 23:30
angels444
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The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
twilightsparrow wrote:
My husband and I were floating around the idea that we should put the money we set aside for spending on souvenirs, etc. on a prepaid visa card. Our entire trip, including dining, park tickets, etc., will be paid before we leave, but I didn't really want to carry around the spending money. How wise is it to do this? Do all locations at WDW accept a prepaid visa card for example? Should we keep only the cash we'll be using as tips on hand, or should we keep a little more? I was wondering if anyone has ever done this before.

I like this idea! Definitely sounds like an option since we're paying for food as we go. The only hesitation I have about using a Disney Gift Card is that if we don't spend it all we wouldn't be able to use what's left for every day needs. And that app is pretty cool!

You also should consider that not all places will take the gift card. In the magic kingdom there are very few that don't, mainly food carts but Epcot and DTD have a lot of places that will not take the gift card.

I use my KTTW card for everything I can, but like I said not all places take the KTTW. I always take cash for my tips. That way we can tip and leave the restaurant without having to wait on the server one more time. I also tip the mousekeepers daily. I do it not only for the towel animals, this a whole different thread, but because the mousekeeprs that cleaned my room all week may not be the same one that does it on check out.

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Wed, 08/08/2012 - 22:49
The Cookie Crumbler
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angels444 wrote:
The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
twilightsparrow wrote:
My husband and I were floating around the idea that we should put the money we set aside for spending on souvenirs, etc. on a prepaid visa card. Our entire trip, including dining, park tickets, etc., will be paid before we leave, but I didn't really want to carry around the spending money. How wise is it to do this? Do all locations at WDW accept a prepaid visa card for example? Should we keep only the cash we'll be using as tips on hand, or should we keep a little more? I was wondering if anyone has ever done this before.

I like this idea! Definitely sounds like an option since we're paying for food as we go. The only hesitation I have about using a Disney Gift Card is that if we don't spend it all we wouldn't be able to use what's left for every day needs. And that app is pretty cool!

You also should consider that not all places will take the gift card. In the magic kingdom there are very few that don't, mainly food carts but Epcot and DTD have a lot of places that will not take the gift card.

Thanks! Do you mean Disney gift cards? If we do something like this, it'd definitely be a Visa card so we can use the leftover money at home.

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Wed, 08/08/2012 - 23:15
Kristen K.
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The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
angels444 wrote:
The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
twilightsparrow wrote:
My husband and I were floating around the idea that we should put the money we set aside for spending on souvenirs, etc. on a prepaid visa card. Our entire trip, including dining, park tickets, etc., will be paid before we leave, but I didn't really want to carry around the spending money. How wise is it to do this? Do all locations at WDW accept a prepaid visa card for example? Should we keep only the cash we'll be using as tips on hand, or should we keep a little more? I was wondering if anyone has ever done this before.

I like this idea! Definitely sounds like an option since we're paying for food as we go. The only hesitation I have about using a Disney Gift Card is that if we don't spend it all we wouldn't be able to use what's left for every day needs. And that app is pretty cool!

You also should consider that not all places will take the gift card. In the magic kingdom there are very few that don't, mainly food carts but Epcot and DTD have a lot of places that will not take the gift card.

Thanks! Do you mean Disney gift cards? If we do something like this, it'd definitely be a Visa card so we can use the leftover money at home.

Really? I have never been anywhere on Disney property that wouldn't take my Disney Gift Cards (with the exception of carts)

We always use Disney Gift Cards specifically so that we can't use them anyplace else. It means our vacation savings is only good for vacation and if we have left over (not that we ever do) it goes forward to the next trip!

Wed, 08/08/2012 - 23:44
angels444
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The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
angels444 wrote:
The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
twilightsparrow wrote:
My husband and I were floating around the idea that we should put the money we set aside for spending on souvenirs, etc. on a prepaid visa card. Our entire trip, including dining, park tickets, etc., will be paid before we leave, but I didn't really want to carry around the spending money. How wise is it to do this? Do all locations at WDW accept a prepaid visa card for example? Should we keep only the cash we'll be using as tips on hand, or should we keep a little more? I was wondering if anyone has ever done this before.

I like this idea! Definitely sounds like an option since we're paying for food as we go. The only hesitation I have about using a Disney Gift Card is that if we don't spend it all we wouldn't be able to use what's left for every day needs. And that app is pretty cool!

You also should consider that not all places will take the gift card. In the magic kingdom there are very few that don't, mainly food carts but Epcot and DTD have a lot of places that will not take the gift card.

Thanks! Do you mean Disney gift cards? If we do something like this, it'd definitely be a Visa card so we can use the leftover money at home.

As far I know every place but some carts will take the disney gift card in MK. Not all of the stores in Epcot are owned by Disney, some are third parties.and we have had a hard time using our gift cards. DTD there is a lot of stores and Restaurants not owned by Disney that will not take either KTTW or Disney gift cards.

You know what they say Visa goes everywhere.... or something like that.

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Thu, 08/09/2012 - 00:04
The Cookie Crumbler
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angels444 wrote:
I use my KTTW card for everything I can, but like I said not all places take the KTTW. I always take cash for my tips. That way we can tip and leave the restaurant without having to wait on the server one more time. I also tip the mousekeepers daily. I do it not only for the towel animals, this a whole different thread, but because the mousekeeprs that cleaned my room all week may not be the same one that does it on check out.

Oh yeah, well, tips are another thing entirely. I'm not going without cash, just don't want to carry wads of bills on me in the parks.

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Thu, 08/09/2012 - 00:23
twilightsparrow
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angels444 wrote:

I use my KTTW card for everything I can, but like I said not all places take the KTTW. I always take cash for my tips. That way we can tip and leave the restaurant without having to wait on the server one more time. I also tip the mousekeepers daily. I do it not only for the towel animals, this a whole different thread, but because the mousekeeprs that cleaned my room all week may not be the same one that does it on check out.

We have decided to link the KTTW card to one of our credit cards, use that to charge when possible and every morning I will take a walk over to guest services and use the Disney Gift Cards to pay off the charges every morning (as per DisneyDee's suggestion). We will be taking some cash with us for places and carts that do not take the KTTW. And we're also taking cash for tips and for mousekeeping.

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