I saw over on BlogMickey that Disney World has stopped accepting cash at several snack carts throughout the resort including “all but one” at Animal Kingdom. The signs at these cashless locations read:

CASHLESS LOCATION
Please pay with Credit Card, Disney Gift Card, or Mobile Payment
Disney Gift Cards are Available for Purchase at your Nearest Walt Disney World Merchandise Store

Let’s dive into this a bit…

Back in my day, they took cash at the snack carts, and Mickey Bars were a nickel!

Gift Cards Are the New Cash

The bottom line of that signage is, in some ways, the bottom line: “Disney Gift Cards are Available for Purchase at your Nearest Walt Disney World Merchandise Store.”

If you rely on cash, you’ll have to pop into a store to buy a Disney Gift Card if you want to shop at most of the snack stands at Walt Disney World in the near future.

This is obviously a bit annoying, and you’ll want to be careful not to overload the card and wind up losing the $97.63 Disney Gift Card in your junk drawer when you get home.

There are some cynical reasons one might give for this change, none of which I really think are the motivation:

People are likely to spend more if they don’t have to physically count every dollar and cent
People who buy gift cards that end up with some unused balance are giving the company free money

But I think the core motivation is probably pretty simple: operational efficiency. Handling cash comes with all sorts of security concerns and protocols, along with potential for errors and such.

It’s not as if electronic payment methods are perfect, either. Surely there’s more than a few people each day at these stands who see their card get declined and then just say “fine I’ll pay cash.” Now those people will have to divert to go buy a Disney Gift Card (I’d like to see some sort of gift card recycling situation set up, FWIW).

I’m sure I’m missing something, but it seems to me there are two groups most likely to be impacted by this.

The first are travelers from abroad. Many travelers prefer to use cash to credit cards when abroad. I can’t speak to specifics banks or credit card card companies, but I know many cards work just fine abroad, and credit card companies are (allegedly) getting better at not declining legitimate charges abroad. Some people might just have to try something new—or go the gift card route.

The other group would be people who, for one reason or another, operate outside the banking and credit card systems (including people who just “prefer” cash). I’m mostly fascinated to know how these people pay for their trips to begin with—I assume you’d use cash to buy a bunch of Disney Gift Cards at CVS?

For these people, I assume this is sort of par for the course, albeit a frustrating course for them. There are plenty of places where digital payments are the only acceptable form of payment, and we can at least be grateful that Disney World still has the option to convert cash into Disney Gift Cards.

Buy Gift Cards In Advance Of Your Trip

As a practical matter, people who worry they might be impacted should probably go about getting a Disney Gift Card in advance of their trip. This isn’t just a matter of conveniences, it’s also a matter of saving money. There are still some ways to get Disney Gift Cards at a discount, so buying one in advance of your trip—if you’re careful to not go overboard—might wind up being more cost effective than waiting until you’re in the parks.

Earn Points or Cash Back With Credit Cards

This change actually might be beneficial for those guests who will earn cash back or credit card points by shifting their spending from cash to credit cards. On my Chase Sapphire Reserve, for example, “WDW POPCORN CARTS” is a “dining” transaction that earns 3 Chase points per dollar spent. Those Chase points are worth at least one cent each to me, so a $6 snack stand purchase earns me 18 cents (3%) back. (FWIW, my most recent redemption was about 2.5 cents per point, so 3X points on dining is worth 7.5% back.)

You can quibble about the value of various points, but many cards also just have cash back / statement credit options, including at a 2% rate on all charges.

2% to 3% back might not seem like a lot, and if you’re only using cards at snack stands it probably won’t be. But a family of four can expect to spend around $1,633 on dining over a 5-night trip at Disney World. At 3% back, that would mean almost $50 back if this moved you to shift all your dining spend from cash to cards.

Which Credit Cards?

(Note: We aren’t financial advisors and this isn’t financial advice.)

Our longtime reader recalls this site originally focused on the intersection of points / miles and Disney trips. As such, there’s a “Best Credit Cards for Disney Travelers” post out there that I won’t link to here until it’s updated.

But the Chase Disney Visa Card is popular among Disney travelers, and our review is recently updated. Along with that card, the Citi Double Cash, Chase Sapphire (Preferred or Reserve), and American Express Gold are cards whose earning rates and redemption options are notable in the context of this post.

Cash is not dead

As a parting message, I just want to clarify that cash is not dead. Plenty of people seem to think that cash is just never used anymore and that Disney is basically “catching up.”

Some of this is just cultural / lifestyle. I’ve been to countries where I didn’t need cash for a weeklong trip, and I’ve been to countries where I only used cash the entire week (though that was 7 years ago, I admit).

More recently, we moved from Chicago to New York about three years ago. In Chicago we basically never used cash. In New York, we use it all the time. It’s not just the difference in the two cities, but also differences in our lives—more small purchases, for example.

And we were just at New York Comic Con this weekend. When you have hundreds of vendors and thousands of customers in a gigantic event space, your Wifi / cell signal may not be the best. Between that and some vendors just preferring cash (some preferred card), we were glad we had cash.

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

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Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

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Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.