Spending at Walt Disney World

If you’re staying on resort then you can set up your MagicBand or MagicBand+ to pay for items when out and about at the Disney parks and on the resorts.

MagicBands

While this saves you carrying cash/cards around with you at the parks please remember everything gets charged back to your room (you’ll still need cash for tipping in table service restaurants).

The Disney policy for credit cards on file is that $100 dollars is held on your card for up to every $100 you spend on your card. What this should mean is that if you’ve spent $0-$99 then Disney will hold $100 dollars. If you spend $100-$199 then Disney will hold $200 on your card. If you don’t want Disney to hold this amount on your card you can have them take your card off file at check in but then you won’t be able to charge anything back to your room so you’ll have to pay by cash/card.

Disney Giftcards

I’ve seen a lot of recommendations for buying Disney giftcards and using those for spending so you can keep track of how much you’ve spent and budget more easily.

Revolut Card

A Revolut card allows you to store multiple currencies at a time in your account and then spend those currencies fee free. You can convert up to £1000 per month (0.5% charge over £1000) from Great British Pounds (GBP) to a foreign currency. This gives you the opportunity to convert GBP to US Dollars (USD) when the exchange rate is favourable. The app allows you to keep track of the money on your account and shows you where you have spent it. You can also use it to withdraw cash from ATMs abroad (fee free up to £200 per month or up to 5 transactions, 2% charge over £200).

Starling card

Starling bank allow users to spend fee free on foreign currency and uses the Mastercard exchange rate for all foreign currency transactions. The Mastercard exchange rate is favourable compared to allowing shops to convert the currency before taking the card payment, so always decline this option at the till and leave the currency conversation up to Starling. Starling allow you to withdraw foreign currency from cash machines abroad without a fee for up to £300 per day or 6 transactions per day. Like Revolut, the app allows you to keep track of spending.

Other payment methods

Other forms of payment accepted are:

• Cash (American dollars or Disney dollars if you happen to have any from previous trips)
• All major debit/credit cards.
• Contactless payments (Apple pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay).