Dining from an international visitors pov

[Fuzzymarkone]

Hello,

Whilst I am from the UK, decided to post here instead of the UK forum as might be of benifit to visitors from other countries as well.

Past trips have been happy to use my phone at start of day whilst at hotel, then maybe once or twice throughout the day if needed but otherwise have kept it put away in order to avoid accidentally getting international roaming charges on something unexpected (gonna have to use it more next time >.<) I also always used to use cash only as it gives the set budget and am not worrying about the banks exchange rates on the day.
Whilst gift cards are an option, would be a bit messy, and am still taking an item from wallet and handing it over....

With regards to dining how have people found getting around not using their phones? has it been easy enough to receive a normal menu at all sit down places?
Has anyone had any issue with getting to the end of a meal and wanting to pay by cash or at quick service when not used mobile order? how was it resolved if had no other ways to pay?

Maybe a video idea going dining with no phones and cash only. ^^

 

[BadPinkTink]

Hi, I'm from Ireland and currently planning a trip to Disneyland California in January 2022.

I have an USA Sim card which I bought on my last visit in 2019. I will activate it after Christmas, nearer to my trip. I saw on my 2019 trip that Disney was moving a lot of guest experiences to the App. I used mobile dining in 2019 and found it amazing.

I also have a pre paid currency card from the Irish Post Office. I have used this on on my 2019 and many previous trips with no issue. There is an App now, and I am adding money to it each week, so that by the time of my trip I will have the amount of money I want on it. I have never had any issue using it in Disneyland. I either use it on the Disneyland App for mobile ordering or I hand it to servers/ shop assistants and its swiped like a normal credit card.

Before Covid I would usually bring half cash and put half on the pre paid currency card. The cash I would use for tips and for small purchases.

This time however, I'm going to do 1/4 cash and 3/4 on the pre paid currency card.

Outside of Disneyland, I will be using the pre paid currency card for most things, like car services,, restaurants, shopping etc.

Just to add, the prepaid currency card is in US Dollars. So I only have the currency charges when I load it up. I try to load large amounts of currency, so that I only get charged a few currency charges. When I use it in Disneyland I am spending in US Dollars, not Euros.

 

[I_love_Cruising]

I will charge to my magic band and then pay off our room charges with cash.

You can also put your phone in airplane mode and only turn on Wifi. This will prevent accidental roaming charges and even preserve battery power.

 

[Centopar]

I'm from the UK. Airplane mode and WiFi are your friends here - you can also talk to your network provider about a bolt-on if you want to use cellular coverage. I've been with both Vodaphone and O2 on US trips, and both have charged £5/day for unlimited data. I've been happy to swallow that price, but your mileage may vary!

 

[B-Ride]

I would definitely recommend a US Sim card. On our last trip from Canada we found the Wi-Fi in the parks to be pretty spotty. Luckily our son was in the US doing a PhD so he set us up a mobile hot spot we could use. However for other trips we pick up a US Sim card.

As for money we tend to charge everything the room and pay our bill with a credit card that doesn't charge an extra fee for currency exchange. The rate on cash is always higher than electronic transactions so we avoid it as much as possible.

 

[twincruisers]

With regards to dining how have people found getting around not using their phones? has it been easy enough to receive a normal menu at all sit down places?
Has anyone had any issue with getting to the end of a meal and wanting to pay by cash or at quick service when not used mobile order? how was it resolved if had no other ways to pay?

I will say that you will likely need to use your phone a lot more to enjoy all that WDW has to offer.

That said you can use cash in most place. All the sit down places will let you pay in cash but they did not offer paper menus to us, only QR codes to scan.

QS is not as easy for you since they didn’t accept cash at most of the places that I tried with the exception of the F&W booths at Epcot. It was either credit card or MB as options in those cases.

 

[starry_solo]

We only ate at one sit-down place in the 10 days we were at WDW recently. We asked for a paper menu and received it. So, you shouldn't have any problem getting one (and you can keep it as a souvenir). You can use cash to pay there.

At a quick service restaurant, there is a cashier for non-mobile orders that will hand you a paper menu (possibly laminated, I didn't look too close). You can use cash there too.

 

[leebee]

I don't own a smart phone at all and had no issue navigating WDW in August. I didn't mobile-order QS anywhere, just walked up, ordered, and paid. For our TS meals, when they asked if I knew how to use the scan feature I said that I don't have a phone and they gave me a paper menu. Everyplace we went was accepting cash (although I always use my credit card).

 

[Fuzzymarkone]

Thank you for the responses and thoughts.

I'm from the UK. Airplane mode and WiFi are your friends here - you can also talk to your network provider about a bolt-on if you want to use cellular coverage. I've been with both Vodaphone and O2 on US trips, and both have charged £5/day for unlimited data. I've been happy to swallow that price, but your mileage may vary!

Had a look at my provider (Tesco) and as far as I can tell (may be reading wrong) if not my "home from home" is £5 a MB....oO.... So will likely do the usual take the sim out put it somewhere safe and just use the wifi.

That said you can use cash in most place. All the sit down places will let you pay in cash but they did not offer paper menus to us, only QR codes to scan.

QS is not as easy for you since they didn’t accept cash at most of the places that I tried with the exception of the F&W booths at Epcot. It was either credit card or MB as options in those cases.

We only ate at one sit-down place in the 10 days we were at WDW recently. We asked for a paper menu and received it. So, you shouldn't have any problem getting one (and you can keep it as a souvenir). You can use cash to pay there.

At a quick service restaurant, there is a cashier for non-mobile orders that will hand you a paper menu (possibly laminated, I didn't look too close). You can use cash there too.

I don't own a smart phone at all and had no issue navigating WDW in August. I didn't mobile-order QS anywhere, just walked up, ordered, and paid. For our TS meals, when they asked if I knew how to use the scan feature I said that I don't have a phone and they gave me a paper menu. Everyplace we went was accepting cash (although I always use my credit card).

Seems like a few different experiences of rules regarding scan phone/paper menu, which could just be down to the location/server/availability of paper menus. Had the thought might just print off menus before travel, then can dig it out if need be.
QS should be ok as nearly all that I can think of, have the menu on the wall above counter.

I have the dining credit from the 50th package deal so will use that for the first few days, see how things play out. if need be a daily gift card loading might be the way (credit card/charge back to room is just not my thing).

 

[Centopar]

Had a look at my provider (Tesco) and as far as I can tell (may be reading wrong) if not my "home from home" is £5 a MB....oO.... So will likely do the usual take the sim out put it somewhere safe and just use the wifi.

Wow - I just had a look at the Tesco phone site, and you're absolutely right. That's appalling! I'm guessing you're not in a position to switch at the moment. (I've just switched from Vodaphone to O2 for work reasons, and it was a righteous pain in the backside.)

Another option I failed to mention above is a 4g or 5g dongle, which you can basically use as a hotspot for your phone. I used to use one in a period when I was in the US a lot, but before my company started giving us work phones.

https://www.amazon.com/5g-wifi-hotspot/s?k=5g+wifi+hotspot (US Amazon)

Whether or not this makes sense for you depends on how long you'll be in the US for (and whether you'll be travelling more often than just once).

 

[aviva5675]

Just to note that with Genie+, if you plan on using it you will be on your phone much more than before. I know this isn't specific to dining, but just a heads up for people from overseas planning to come and thinking of phone plans.

 

[Moliphino]

Wow - I just had a look at the Tesco phone site, and you're absolutely right. That's appalling! I'm guessing you're not in a position to switch at the moment. (I've just switched from Vodaphone to O2 for work reasons, and it was a righteous pain in the backside.)

Another option I failed to mention above is a 4g or 5g dongle, which you can basically use as a hotspot for your phone. I used to use one in a period when I was in the US a lot, but before my company started giving us work phones.

https://www.amazon.com/5g-wifi-hotspot/s?k=5g+wifi+hotspot (US Amazon)

Whether or not this makes sense for you depends on how long you'll be in the US for (and whether you'll be travelling more often than just once).

I've rented wifi hotspots when traveling outside the US, that's probably an option, too.

I think this is the company I just used in Spain, they operate in the US, too.
https://travelwifi.com/portable-hotspots/rent/sapphire-2