Painful Canadian Dollar

[alohamom]

I remember our first Disney Christmas vacation in 1994 and the dollar was $0.64. Makes today's dollar look good

Oh my goodness, I was just thinking about the same thing yesterday. We did a lot of travelling to the US when our kids were quite little because my husband had to go to various places for training and we would tag along with him. His flight and the hotel was always covered so with some creative mid week pricing we were usually able to join him, especially when it was near Anaheim

but when I think of the exchange back then it was brutal! I remember talking one time with a friend who is banker and I asked him "Do you think the dollar will hit 75 cents? That would be amazing if it did" LOL, I guess it is perspective!

Of course I wish it was at par but like @sherilaine said that usually means higher gas etc here and the cost of commuting eats up a ton of my household budget so for me it balances out

 

[PanamaMike]

I remember our first Disney Christmas vacation in 1994 and the dollar was $0.64. Makes today's dollar look good

I was there in October 1994 but as I was working in the USA at the time I had no exchange rate to worry about.

 

[Carolynleanne]

I totally remember going as a young child and it was nearly half! I don't know how my parents managed it.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Same. My first time was in August 1990. I was 13. It was very hot. And likely expensive LOL

 

[FindingTheMouse]

As an American now living in Canada I have a different perspective. There was a time in the early 2000's where I was a resident of Canada, but couldn't legally work in Canada. I had a job across the border in the U.S. and would commute back and forth every day. It was nice having the extra 40%-ish percent increase in my pay just because I lived here and worked there. Living and working here full time now I can feel the pain of the exchange. We hope it will come closer to par some day, but don't expect it.

 

[Riff_rocker]

Anyone have any tips for exchange rates? Different banks? Or buying gift cards? ...same boat for us....first time we went it was almost par....... now this exchange rate is killer

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

If you are able to buy Disney gift cards, you would at least save any foreign transaction fees your credit card might charge you. You can use them to pay for your resort, tickets, food, etc

 

[hdrolfe]

Anyone have any tips for exchange rates? Different banks? Or buying gift cards? ...same boat for us....first time we went it was almost par....... now this exchange rate is killer

If you are able to buy Disney gift cards, you would at least save any foreign transaction fees your credit card might charge you. You can use them to pay for your resort, tickets, food, etc

This is what I am doing for our August trip. Saves a little bit any way!

 

[Riff_rocker]

This is what I am doing for our August trip. Saves a little bit any way!

Good to know!! Where can I buy them at???

 

[cdnSpinalTap]

Anyone have any tips for exchange rates? Different banks? Or buying gift cards? ...same boat for us....first time we went it was almost par....... now this exchange rate is killer

Unless you are buying and selling US currency regularly to take advantage of low exchanges rates, the best spot exchange rate you will get will be on your Visa or Mastercard, with MasterCard usually being slightly better. This will be better than any walk in bank rate or exchange rate you would get at the hotel using Disney Gift cards. This is of course assuming you are using a credit card that provides foreign exchange benefits to reduce or eliminate the usual 2.5% foreign exchange fee. My favourite is the free Rogers World Elite Mastercard that nets you 1.5% back on foreign exchange purchases.

You can check the daily MasterCard exchange rate here: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

 

[hdrolfe]

Good to know!! Where can I buy them at???

Depends on where you are. I am in Ottawa and have bought them at Loblaws, Shoppers Drugmart, and seen them also at Petro Canada. There is a thread on here with some people listing where they have seen them depending on where you live.

 

[dis_guy]

We tried the Gift Card idea on our recent trip. It worked like a charm. We had 3 $500 CAD cards and it really eased the pain of that credit card bill at the end of our stay. Our $500 cards converted to the same $377 and change each time I used them during the week. I checked on a currency app and this was about $2 more than the daily rate, so Disney is certainly being a bit better than fair on the exchange rate they use. We just put everything on our magic bands and went every couple of days and applied the GC to our balance. I did have to mention that they were Canadian GCs and that they'd need to enter the number. We'll certainly do it again to avoid those ForEx fees on our credit card.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

And if you can accumulate the cards over time, it won't feel like such a hit to the wallet!

 

[Mikey15]

Depends on where you are. I am in Ottawa and have bought them at Loblaws, Shoppers Drugmart, and seen them also at Petro Canada. There is a thread on here with some people listing where they have seen them depending on where you live.

If you have a credit card that gives rewards at Grocery, Pharmacy, or Gas you can earn yourself a little bit back this way too. I’ve seen them at Shoppers, but if you have a Visa that’s 3-4% back on Gas/Grocery and can find them at Loblaws, Petro, etc., that’s the way to go.

 

[roxysmum123]

In for a penny, in for a pound. We still go and haven't really changed our travel style much. We've cut out our long weekend trips that we'd do but we still get there once or twice a year. However, I'd LOVE for Disney to offer SOMETHING to Canadians - taking Disney gift cards at par would be amazing, but I did find out that you can use them there and save the CC exchange fee so might take advantage of that next trip.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

In for a penny, in for a pound. We still go and haven't really changed our travel style much. We've cut out our long weekend trips that we'd do but we still get there once or twice a year. However, I'd LOVE for Disney to offer SOMETHING to Canadians - taking Disney gift cards at par would be amazing, but I did find out that you can use them there and save the CC exchange fee so might take advantage of that next trip.

Yup, that's what we were chatting about above...every little bit saved counts!

 

[Mikamarii]

Anyone have any tips for exchange rates? Different banks? Or buying gift cards? ...same boat for us....first time we went it was almost par....... now this exchange rate is killer

We have a US dollar account and US dollar credit card, both free through our bank. The US dollar chequing account saves on bank rates, which when transferring a few thousand dollars can add up year over year.

The US dollar CC saves us on fluctuating exchange rates. One thing I found out is that major credit cards will essentially use the higher (or lower depend on how you look at it) of the rates between purchase and posting meaning the larger purchases could fluctuate quite a bit from what you were expecting

So prior to leaving we have our US budget laid out and when we feel we are at the best rate we transfer it to the US dollar account. We bring a small amount of cash with us and us the CC for everything. This way when we get back its not a shock and just pay the CC off with what's in our account. If we are under it saves for the next trip, if over we transfer the remaining in.

In addition, with RBC, our US card gives us points. We transfer those point to our WestJet car for free flights!!

 

[Mikamarii]

We did a DCL cruise in Sept so have nothing planned this year and are saving for another DCL cruise next January so hoping the rate can stay stead until PIF date in Sept!

We were lucky in that we bought DVC in 2011 when the dollar was actually over the US dollar ($1.06 I believe). That timing really helped us soften the blow between rising room rates and lower exchange rates.

 

[Reepicheep]

We were lucky in that we bought DVC in 2011 when the dollar was actually over the US dollar ($1.06 I believe).

I remember that time very well. We went for a DVC presentation at Disneyland in the summer of 2010, and again in July of 2011. With the dollar trading so high, we were very, VERY close to making a decision to purchase, but ultimately decided not to. We decided, for us, that staying at the Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotel as a "regular guest" made more economic sense than doing the DVC purchase. I think we would have made the purchase, if Disney had been able to guarantee that the yearly maintenance fees wouldn't rise in price faster than the inflation rate.

 

[iZon]

For our first trip in 1986 it cost $1.42. We got a Canadian 60-day pass for $45. Of course, we were only there for a week. Over the years it’s been as high as $1.60 and as low as par or better. It was par when we took our first cruise in 2012 and been sinking ever since. We just suck it up. And when I looked at hotel prices out west in the Rockies it didn’t make WDW look so bad.