Pros & Cons Of Carrying Cash When Visiting Disney
The debate over whether or not you should carry cash when traveling has been going on for at least as long as I can remember. Both sides of the argument usually have a laundry list of reasons to support their position and, as someone who has spent a lot of time traveling over the past 15 years, I’ve heard ‘em all! Of course, not every reason provided during these arguments will be ideal for every person, situation or destination. That’s why today I want to focus on this topic. So grab yourself a cup of something delicious and let’s chat about the pros and cons of carrying cash when traveling. . . . more specifically when traveling to Walt Disney World.
Before sprinkling a bit of pixie dust on this topic, let’s cover some of the basics of carrying cash when you travel. Like I said just a minute ago, there are a lot of opinions on this topic floating around out there. Most of the time, although it’s not always the case, when you start a discussion about this topic the first thing to come up is something regarding safety. Proponents of carrying cash will often tell you that having cash is the best and safest option, because it’s a way to pay for what you need in the event that another method of payment [particularly electronic] fails. On the other hand, there are those who think carrying cash is not the safest option because it makes you more prone to lose the money or become a victim of theft.
In reality, it’s not quite as simple as this basic example of an either/or.
Whether or not you and your travel companions should be carrying cash during your next adventure depends on a number of factors and [though it might be a controversial opinion] safety isn’t one of them. . . . or at least, it’s not at the top of the list. Your focus should be on things like your destination, the most common form of payment there, the type of places you intend to eat/shop, the way you plan to travel and the things you intend to do when arriving at your destination. All of these things will play a role when deciding on what form of payment you’ll be leaning into during your travels. For example, cash would be more appropriate in most cases when you’re avoiding chains and sticking to hole-in-the-wall restaurants and shops. On the other hands, if you’re only going to be eating at chain restaurants or visiting well established places [such as Walt Disney World], it becomes less necessary to carry cash. Naturally, this list could go on and on with different considerations being made for international travel, road trips and so on.
With all that having been said, most of the happy haunts who have materialized here today are focused on one place in particular. . . . Walt Disney World! So we’re going to shift our discussion a little bit to focus on the pros and cons of carrying cash while at the Happiest Place on Earth.
TINK! We’re gonna need some pixie dust over here! ! ✨
When it comes to choosing a payment method for your Walt Disney World vacation, my primary position has always been that you should go with something that you known works best for your family. I know. . . big surprise there! For us, this has always been cash. The reason cash has been our go-to form of payment over the years is simple, it’s what we find to be the easiest way to stay on budget. However, carrying cash isn’t always Mickey Premium Bars and Turkey Legs. Some might even argue it’s even less so in 2021. So let’s break down some of the pros and cons!
First, let’s talk about the reason that we always use cash when traveling; budgeting. Now, full disclosure, budgeting works different for everyone and how you manage the money you’re spending will vary depending on any number of factors. For us, budgeting is always easier when there’s physical cash in your wallet that you can look at and determine how much you have available or, as is so often the case when vacationing at Walt Disney World, how much you have left to spend. [We’ll talk more specifically about how we did this in a future discussion about budgeting, saving money and all the other money related things you might want to know when planning your vacation.] This, at least up until 2020, has been the main pro for us when it comes to carrying cash.
Of course, things changed in 2020 with the pandemic and we’ve since changed our tune. There are two reasons for this. First, there’s the matter of cleanliness. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone that cash isn’t the most clean thing on the planet; especially changing hands as much as it does. This is something we’ve always been well aware of, but the pandemic has made us a bit more cautious not only for our own health and safety, but for those who we’re asking to handle the money when we choose cash as a payment. In other words, we’re well aware that we might be comfortable handling cash to pay someone, but don’t dig the idea of contributing to the potential risk they may have to face.
Health and safety aside, there’s also the matter of the coin shortage. . . . .
Now, I’ll be completely honest, I’m not sure what the current state of the situation is, but there are a lot of places around that still have signage posted stating “please pay with exact amounts or use card” in our area. I’m not sure what the situation is at Walt Disney World specifically. This is just another current downside to using cash to pay, at least at the moment. Long story short, both of these reasons could probably be filed under cons when it comes to carrying cash.
Since we’re already on the subject of cons we might as well jump right into the next one; mobile ordering. If you’re not already familiar, mobile ordering is the process of ordering and paying for food from your mobile device through the My Disney Experience app. In the past, mobile ordering was all about convenience.However, with the current state of things, the goal of mobile ordering has shifted to keeping guests and cast members safe. So what exactly is the problem here? Well, nothing. . . unless you’re planning on using cash to pay while on your Walt Disney World vacation. Without some form of an electronic payment [credit card, Apple Pay, Disney gift card or Disney rewards] you will find yourself unable to utilize the mobile order service. This means having to stand in line to order and purchase your food, but it also may mean that you’re unable to order from some of the locations that are mobile order only. This is something to take into consideration, especially if you’re visiting Walt Disney World in the near future.
👻 Attention Ghouls: It is my understanding that, at the time of writing this, some locations around the Walt Disney World resort are only open for mobile order. As the list of locations that now accept mobile orders have expanded significantly since the parks reopened in July of 2020, it is difficult to confirm exactly for which locations this may be the case. I appreciate your understanding on this one and welcome you to share any more information you may have on which locations are “mobile order only” if you have it.
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At the end of the day, the debate over whether or not cash is the way to do when traveling to Walt Disney World will likely rage on. There are those who think it’s the way to go and those who think it’s not worth the presumed risk. That said, as a person who often decided to go with cash payments when visiting Disney, it’s hard not to recognize that the scales aren’t as balanced as they once were when it comes to cash payments. Though there is absolutely no part of me that feels as though cash payments will become phased out completely, I think it’s fair to say that in this current moment they’re not the best option.
Of course, we’d love to hear what you think. What are your pros and cons of carrying cash when at Walt Disney World? Do you think you’ll switch to card or cash because of the way things are operating right now at Disney? Share all of your thoughts with us in a comment down below. We’d love to hear what you have to say!