Pending charge WDW Front Desk?

[DonnaL]

Did online Check-in yesterday for our arrival later today at OKW and just rec’d text notification that the cc guarantee we used has been charged $100.00. I know there have been many changes in the little more than a year since we’ve been there, but, don’t remember this. The charge very clearly shows as WDW Front Desk?

 

[Ralphmiller007]

Online checkin (and having a linked credit card) now results in a 100 dollar credit card authorization upon checkin that will eventually fall off if you don't charge to your magic band. There are several long threads here on the boards about it. If you charge to magic band apparently they will continue to add 100 dollar incremental holds as you surpass 100 dollars in charges...check out some of the other threads about people's actual experiences with it.

 

[Chuck S]

I did online check-in for next month. Received a text that a $0 charge was run, like it has always been. So I assume they do the actual $100 pre-authorization on arrival day?

 

[Ralphmiller007]

A lot of people have noted it very early (right after midnight) on arrival day...as in before they got on their plane to head to florida.

 

[Ralphmiller007]

Here's a link to the biggest thread:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/new-credit-card-authorization-holds.3729383/page-51#post-60575537

 

[stewart715]

These changes are semi-new (within last year). They are making you pay along the way as opposed to at checkout. Nothing to be concerned about. If you don't spend any money, it will simply disappear from pending charges.

 

[CarolMN]

These changes are semi-new (within last year). They are making you pay along the way as opposed to at checkout. Nothing to be concerned about. If you don't spend any money, it will simply disappear from pending charges.

It's a good change for owners who rent. Less risk that a renter will use a fraudulent credit card and run up a large bill. That risk is probably minimal anyway, but there have been a few reports of owners stuck resolving this type of issue.

 

[bumbershoot]

So I assume they do the actual $100 pre-authorization on arrival day?

Yes.

Nothing to be concerned about.

Unless you are charging *and* have a lower limit credit card or are using a debit card. Then it’s something to be concerned about.

I’m so glad for those with lovely high limit cards. I hope you guys are very happy with the choices you’ve made (and hope no negative choices have been made for you). But please don’t believe that *no one* will be impacted by this.


While married we were impacted by checking out of Disney with charges, then going to universal with their high per-day deposit if you set up room charging. And vice versa.

 

[disney junky]

I had it explained to me a couple weeks ago. They charge the $100 at check in. Then they charge the card every fifth day as opposed to one large charge at the conclusion of the stay. In our case, it was a moot point since we were only there four days, but the $100 charge disappeared at the end of our stay and was replaced by the total amount.

 

[erionm]

They charge the $100 at check in.

It's a pre-authorization, not a charge.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

I did online check-in for next month. Received a text that a $0 charge was run, like it has always been. So I assume they do the actual $100 pre-authorization on arrival day?

I've seen reports (and in the threads others have posted) that the pre-authorization is charged at 6 AM on the date you're scheduled to check in.

 

[disney junky]

It's a pre-authorization, not a charge.

Just quoting the girl at the front desk.

 

[CarolynFH]

I'm following the main thread linked above and am very glad we don't plan to be there until January, when I hope this has settled down.

The new procedure was implemented on Feb. 27. As noted, very early on arrival day Disney places a $100 authorization (a hold, not a charge) on the CC on file, then each time your charges exceed $100 they place an additional $100 hold (i.e., if you spend a total of $175 on arrival day, you will then have a hold of $200 total on your card at the end of the day). You're welcome to go to the front desk and pay down the balance with gift cards or cash at any time, but any balance remaining is charged to your card on day 5, the total existing hold is reversed (credited), and a new $100 hold is placed. Different banks drop the holds at different times, sometimes up to a week after Disney drops it, so some people have ended up with double the amount of actual charges counting against their credit limits (e.g., they charged a total of $1200 to their CC so had $1200 in holds and then $1200 in charges put through, so their credit limit was reduced by $2400). Some have also received fraud alerts and had their CC accounts suspended due to the frequent holds being placed or frequent holds followed by credits as they paid down their balances with gift cards. New posts in the last few days report that on day 5, after Disney put through the actual charge their CC was disconnected from their MBs and the guests had to spend time at the front desk or with Guest Relations reconnecting their CC to their account or calling their bank to straighten it up and be able to use their CC again. One poster said they visited GR 5 times during a 9-night stay due to CC issues.

Not unexpectedly, many posters report using CC and gift cards at point of sale now rather than charging to MB, so that only the initial $100 hold is on their CC from the resort, and many report not doing online checkin at all or going to the front desk on arrival to remove charging privileges from their MB.

 

[Chuck S]

Not unexpectedly, many posters report using CC and gift cards at point of sale now rather than charging to MB, so that only the initial $100 hold is on their CC from the resort, and many report not doing online checkin at all or going to the front desk on arrival to remove charging privileges from their MB.

I think if this is as widespread as we are led to believe, the policy will change quickly. As we all know, Disney (well, all travel destinations, really) love collecting data to target their desired guests, if people stop room charging to magic bands, that free data stream dries up. If they see a drop in spending overall on souvenirs and such, you can bet it will change very quickly.

 

[CarolynFH]

I think if this is as widespread as we are led to believe, the policy will change quickly. As we all know, Disney (well, all travel destinations, really) love collecting data to target their desired guests, if people stop room charging to magic bands, that free data stream dries up. If they see a drop in spending overall on souvenirs and such, you can bet it will change very quickly.

Yes, more than one posting to that thread that they’re spending less because they’re more aware of the cost of every item. Some discussion that the $100 hold is ridiculously low for WDW, where a family can easily spend over $100 a day just on meals. I think they’ll at least need to increase the hold amount.

 

[Beachmom0317]

After following that major thread I’ve decided we will not be charging to our MB. Additionally, we arrive early on our check in date, so I may skip online check in and go right to the desk to avoid having to give a CC on file. It’s just too complicated to have to go through my bill and double check every charge and keep track of multiple holds to make sure they are all dropped (and dropped right at check out, not days later). Some people mentioned having to spend precious vacation time calling their bank to let them know all the frequent charges and holds aren’t fraudulent. Just seems like too much possible risk for the small convenience of using my magic band. Think I’ll just pull out my gift card/debit card out of my wallet lol

 

[CarolynFH]

After following that major thread I’ve decided we will not be charging to our MB. Additionally, we arrive early on our check in date, so I may skip online check in and go right to the desk to avoid having to give a CC on file. It’s just too complicated to have to go through my bill and double check every charge and keep track of multiple holds to make sure they are all dropped (and dropped right at check out, not days later). Some people mentioned having to spend precious vacation time calling their bank to let them know all the frequent charges and holds aren’t fraudulent. Just seems like too much possible risk for the small convenience of using my magic band. Think I’ll just pull out my gift card/debit card out of my wallet lol

We're not scheduled to be there until January, but if there's no resolution to these issues then I think we'll charge meals directly to CC but charge souvenirs to MB - for purposes of maximizing CC reward points. We don't buy many souvenirs anymore, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[DVC Jen]

We will be there in a few weeks and have decided we will not charge to the MB - but instead bring the cc we had planned on linking to the bands with us and just charge directly to it.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

I don’t understand the anxiety. It would only be a problem if your spending was within $100 of your credit limit. If you charge for meals directly, it just hits your account sooner.

 

[CarolynFH]

I don’t understand the anxiety. It would only be a problem if your spending was within $100 of your credit limit. If you charge for meals directly, it just hits your account sooner.

Hitting the credit limit isn’t the only problem. Some people have received repeated alerts or even had their CC suspended for possible fraud due to Disney placing multiple holds over the course of a day or two as the family makes charges to the room and have had to spend time calling their bank to straighten it out. And others have had their room charging privileges suspended on day 5 (after Disney actually charged the balance to the card) because for some reason Disney’s system de-linked their CC from their resort account, causing them to spend time getting that straightened out. Not the way we’d like to spend our vacation time, so we’ll charge directly to the CC even if it does hit the account sooner.