Am I missing something here on KL vouchers? Show me where the savings are?

[addie]

Last year we had a great time with the KL vouchers, and I remembered we saved quite a bit of $. I know the savings are there for B&C (Q&C) and RFC, but I thought I saved quite a bit last year at the Brown Durby and at Timp?

I just checked the menues and it looks like it's hard to even break even, in most cases you would lose $. Can anyone help me out on this?

Thanks!

 

[maggiew]

Did you remember to include tax and tip?

By the way, you said you used it at RFC last year. Can you order something like a steak with the ADD ON SHRIMP as your entree? The add on is like $6.99 depending on what you get.

 

[laf]

last month we went to RFC and the add-on shrimp was not included with the voucher. But our bill would have been $142--we used 2 vouchers and happily paid the $6.99 (plus tax and tip, of course.)

 

[TreeOfLife]

This sort of cracks me up.

I never saw much value in them either, and it seemed that the more you added up with a calculator the more money you lost.
Tax and tips are included and you could, at best, break even. That is assuming you have a wonderful waiter and have the face to leave nothing else but a voucher on the table. I know I can't. Only because if I do not leave some cash, I get the feeling I did not tip.

If you are like me, not into staying at a resort and using your vacation time to drive to another to eat burgers and sundaes then B&C won't seem like such a deal.

You are pretty much trapped into ordering the most expensive items on the menu. I never order steak or red meats. So if they don't serve white meat or seafood adding up to the value of the voucher, there goes my savings.

What seems to give a better value are the gift certificates to Red Lobster, HRC, etc. You get $2 for each $10 you buy, at least it covers your tip

 

[addie]

OK....I'm glad I'm not missing anything here. I was going to get vouchers for the whole trip, now I am going to do the following:

Q&Q -Beaches and Cream (because we are staying at beach club anyway)

KL-Only for Rainforest

The rest of the trip we will use cash and probably save $!!

I really do like the whole pre pay thing, so I think we will get Disney Dollars from our local disney store and use DD for meals.

Thanks everyone!!


maggiew-Last year they let us add on shrimp, I guess you never know!!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

laf,

How many people were in your party when you used 2 vouchers? We don't eat enough for it to be worth the 30 plus dollars per voucher if we each use one. I'm not sure if they let you share meals?

 

[DisneyKidds]

I agree that many times the vouchers don't save you anything. Furthermore, if you order food you normally wouldn't get so that the bill comes to more than you paid for the vouchers you are actually losing money. For some people the vouchers don't make sense.

That being said, we love the vouchers. Breakfast vouchers only save a $1 or $2 per person, but for 2 or 3 people over the course of a week that adds up to $25 to $30. The VKL vouchers are hit or miss. We like to only have one big meal per day (lunch or dinner). If we make it lunch we eat a lot, and would normally get some of the more expensive items on the menu. Looking at the menus, lunch at the Brown Derby and Concourse Steakhouse would run my wife and I about $90, including tax and tip. As such, the lunch vouchers do save us money. We will use lunch vouchers at BD, CS and RFC on our next trip.

Q&C - using these at B&C is a no brainer for us. We always get $50 worth of food (that we finish) for the cost of two vouchers.

You have to use the vouchers wisely, but they can save you money.

 

[JOC]

Letsbgoofy,
I'm not laf, but in December we used two VKL vouchers at AK's RFC for three adults and one 3 yr old. They let you share and there was more than enough food for us.

 

[Took]

My DH and I often split meals, with or without a voucher, and when we did so at Brown Derby last year, we got about $45-50 worth of lunch for one $29 voucher (we may have added $2 or so extra for tip b/c the waiter was good). We never felt uncomfortable nor did the waiter act as if we were "stiffing" him in any way. He actually seemed quite pleased to have us use the voucher so as to get the most value from it.

However, I'd agree that if you're not splitting meals and if trying to order enough "expensive" items to make the voucher pay forces you to buy food you don't want or need, then the vouchers are a waste for you.

It's really a personal decision that you should make based on your eating habits and preferences.

Took

 

[laf]

We usually used 2 vouchers for a party of 3: 1 adult, 1 teenage boy with a bottomless stomach, and light-eater DD. Twice we used only 1 voucher: Le Cellier-- purchased soup for 2 of us and split rest / did 1 burger plus the Kitchen Sink at B&C...and took home leftovers!

NO problem anywhere for splitting: at RFC my daughter used one appetiser (hot wings) as her meal, and we had 2 surf and turfs, then the kids split a volcano.

Waitstaff always very happy and helpful with voucher system and guaranteed 15% tip--no shame there! (we tipped on any extra items the vouchers didn't cover)

Sometimes, yes, we waddled out, and then didn't eat dinner, which you could see as another savings, lol.

We're going back this summer, and I'm definitely using more vouchers. I'm doing more of the Quick and Casual because of the dinner time option, and the price!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Thanks for the replys. I know we are getting some of the Q&C vouchers, but now I think we'll try a few of the others to use at RFC. If we can use two for the four of us we won't be wasting half the food and I won't feel guilty!

 

[mickeyworld]

I am new to vouchers and having been to WDW many times and I thought I had a good grasp on cutting costs, so.....would someone give me a link or take a minute to explain the voucher system, what the types there are etc.?

 

[Michelemouse]

mickeyworld -

The vouchers are available from www.connections123.com. You have to join their organization. The cost is $79.95 per year but they offer a $1 month-long trial membership. You can quit within that month and owe nothing more.

There are three kinds of vouchers. The Quick and Casual vouchers are $11.25 and good at counter service restaurants for lunch and dinner. They are also good at Beaches & Cream (at the Beach Club) and The Pepper Market (at Coronado Springs) and these two places generally offer the best value for the certificates. Each certificate is good for one entree, one side dish, one dessert and one non-alcholic, non-frozen drink.

The Kingdom Lunch vouchers are $30.50 each and are good at a number of sit down restaurants in the parks and resorts. They are each good for one appetizer, one entree, one dessert and one non-alcoholic beverage. At some of the restaurants it will be difficult to get the full $30.50 value of the certificates but they can be a very good deal at others (Rainforest Cafe, Le Cellier and Concourse Steakhouse come to mind).

The Breakfast vouchers are $17.50 and are good for breakfasts (including some character breakfasts) at some restaurants in the parks and resorts. The character breakfasts are really the only places where you will get the full value of these certificates and even then you will save only a couple of dollars per person. Probably worth it if you have a large group, but not as much so with just a few.

All certificates include tax and tip.

Some will report problems with Connections, but we have nothing but good things to report. I joined the service on 4/10 and have placed two orders. All vouchers have arrived and were just as ordered. I have also ordered discounted movie tickets through Connections. They also offer gift certificates to many restaurants and other offers. I don't know yet if I will keep the membership.

Good luck.

 

[jbthi]

Our favorite place to use the lunch vouchers is at Le Cellier in Canada. We always split a meal. My husband loves the Northern Lights frozen drink. It seems like we figured the meal to be around $38.00 not including tax and tip. I also get a side salad of their mixed greens and they usually just charge me 2.99 instead of the 6.99 that's on the menu. I also get an extra iced tea and that's all. We always leave a fairly large tip to make up for the waiter serving two people and just getting one meal. We just returned home from a 4 week trip to Disney and we ate in Canada at least 5 times.

We also shared a meal at the Brown Derby which saved a lot, and at the RFC which saved even more (we got the lobster and steak at the waiters suggestion and an expensive dessert in a sovenier glass) but we didn't enjoy the restaurant as much. We also ate at Rose and Crown and saved a small amount.

Ate many times at Beaches and Cream with a Q&C voucher. When kids and grandkids met us we even got a kitchen sink. Still didn't finish it with 7 eating.