Stephanie,
Thanks for asking me a question at planDisney!
Typically when you are charging something on your
MagicBand, like for instance purchasing a souvenir at one of the great stores on Main Street U.S.A. in the
Magic Kingdom Park, the charge would go to your
Disney resort hotel account balance right away. From there a few different things could happen.
Gift Card Credit
If, like me, you have moved some of the value of a gift card over to your resort hotel account, the MagicBand charge would be deducted from the positive balance you have on your account. So, some of that gift card credit would be spent.
Credit Card On FileAssuming you have not put any money down on your resort hotel account already, either with a gift card or cash, Disney still does not then
immediately charge the credit card you have on file. They will wait until some predetermined amount of money is tallied up on your account before they would then charge that amount to the credit card. What that number is can vary, so ask the Cast Member at the front desk about that amount. But that means that if you have returned to apply gift card credits to your account before that automated charge is made, you could still apply that gift card value before your credit card gets charged.
For me, it is about making sure I go back to the front desk periodically and add more of my gift card balance to the account before that credit card billing is triggered. Of course, on our family vacations we often spend a bit more than we ever had on gift cards, but this practice helps me walk the line between not losing any of my gift card money if we happen to spend less than that amount and avoiding a large credit card charge that might have been lowered by the remaining monies on my gift cards.
Clear as mud, right? But the bottom line to your question is that a MagicBand charge goes to your room account right away and will be applied either to any gift card balance you have placed there, or in the absence of that positive balance, to your credit card when charges reach a certain amount.
BONUS TIP #1As mentioned in earlier answers, but worth repeating now, is the fact that you should not put all your gift card balances over to your resort account at the start of the trip. Why? Well, Disney cannot refund any of those transfers to you, so if you put $100 of a gift card onto your resort balance and only spend $90 of that, you lose the $10 balance.
When I go, I put down only that amount that I know I will spend, and every couple of days I will return and use more cards as I get closer to spending that credit balance.
BONUS TIP #2Remember that you can always check your balance from your
My Disney Experience app!
Please do
write me back if you have follow-up questions, or if I did not hit your question exactly how you meant it.
Have a Magical Vacation!
Doug