The colorful check in stands in Animation Hall lobby at Disney's Art Of Animation Resort

Disney World Hotels Changing their Credit Card Policy

Disney World is a popular vacation destination, and guests often visit repeatedly. One reason I think this is true is because of how easy Disney makes everything.

You can get a pick up at the airport so you don’t have to rent a car.  You can make a FastPass+ reservation so you don’t have to wait in line.  You can use a MagicBand to make payments so you don’t have to carry cash.

Disney is about to change their policies regarding paying with your MagicBand, though. Guests checking in at any of the Disney resort hotels on or after February 27th, 2019 will notice the change. You will be informed during your online check-in through MyDisneyExperience or, if you’ve already checked in online, at the front desk when you arrive.

Until now, guests checking in signed a promissory note of sorts saying that they would pay for any charges incurred on their account, but the card wasn’t actually charged until check out.

Disney is changing their credit card policy for guests checking in to Disney Resort Hotels.
Disney is changing their credit card policy for guests checking in to Disney Resort Hotels.

Going forward, if you put a credit card on file on your MyDisneyExperience account, Disney will place an authorization hold on the card for the balance due plus $100 to cover estimated purchases. If (when) your purchases exceed that amount, additional holds will be placed in increments of $100.

This new policy is consistent with industry practices, but Disney is just a little late to the party. It also solves a problem of significant charges being rejected as potentially fraudulent or exceeding the limit available on the card.

If you don’t want to put a credit card on file, you don’t have to, but you won’t be able to pay with your MagicBand or charge anything to your room. You can, however, put a card on file then apply cash or gift cards against the balance due to avoid the credit card actually being charged.

Disney’s new incremental credit card holds: a good idea?