Are dining vouchers a good idea?

[WDWINJUNE!]

We are going to Disneyland in August and planning to eat dinner at Goofy's Kitchen and breakfast in the park with Minnie. There will be 3 adults, 1 child and our 18 month old. Are the dining vouchers you can buy a good idea or not? Where is the best place to order them? I was thinking of getting them to have that part of our budget already paid for..thanks for any suggestions

 

[DisMike]

The vouchers are generally not a good idea. They save you no money and can only be used for meals.

There are plenty of places to eat nearby and in DTD. Unless you're going at high season you usually don't even need reservations. This isn't WDW where having a meal plan really can make sense. At DLR it makes little to no sense.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Character meal vouchers - yes, usually *I like them so long as they cost the same or less - I see it as a way of prepaying for meals. The Dining Plan - no IMO and most other DLR DISers.

Here are some recent threads on this subject ~

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[Luv Bunnies]

I've never used the vouchers, but from what I've read, they're not a good deal. Basically, you buy the vouchers dollar for dollar. There's no discount or special deals available. The biggest problem is that you can't get change when you use them. For example, if your meal costs $9.50 and you use a $10 voucher, you don't get your 50 cents back. You basically have to forfeit it.

I am also one who likes to pay as I go on vacations. I don't like the surprise of getting a huge credit card bill when we get home. One option is to carry cash, but that's not always the safest thing to do. You could also buy traveller's checks and pay for meals with those. Or, deposit your vacation savings into your checking account and use your ATM card to withdraw a little at a time whenever you need it. I frequently do that so I can pay for things in cash without carrying around a huge amount.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip!

 

[cougarfan84]

The ONLY benefit that I really hear about the vouchers is that they give you the ability to prepay for your meals before you go so you don't have to worry about that cost later on. IMO, that's a pretty small benefit as I would rather just put that money away and reserve it for my food money for the trip.

 

[DizNee Luver]

We found the vouchers a great way to pre-pay meals, but found using them a bit of work. You have vouchers for different amts ($5, $10, $15) & you need to figure out which ones to use so you don't lose money on them. You will not get change back if you don't use the full amt. So you're using a voucher to pay a chunk of the tab & then paying with cash/card to cover the balance. The vouchers for the character meals can save you money, but call Disney Dining & get the current prices before purchasing them.

We found putting money onto a Disney gift card was the best fit for our family. We were able to go on allears.net & pre budget meals/prices & then put the money on the gift card. The card could be used for food & souvenirs & we never had to stop & hold up the line trying to get the right vouchers, cash to pay our bill.

For some people, they like the plan, but you don't get any kind of deal on them....so you don't save money using this plan. (and if not really careful, you can actually lose money going this route)

 

[WDWINJUNE!]

Sorry I wasn't more clear..I was talking about the character meal vouchers not the dining plan. Thanks for your help!

 

[skiingfast]

Sorry I wasn't more clear..I was talking about the character meal vouchers not the dining plan. Thanks for your help!

And this is the answer you wanted.

Character meal vouchers - yes, usually *I like them so long as they cost the same or less - I see it as a way of prepaying for meals. The Dining Plan - no IMO and most other DLR DISers.

Here are some recent threads on this subject ~

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The Character Meal vouchers can work better or the same as paying out of pocket. If you are surely going to do the meals it's a good option to look into deeper.

 

[Queenbillabong]

Sorry I wasn't more clear..I was talking about the character meal vouchers not the dining plan. Thanks for your help!

The character meal vouchers can be a good idea and you can usually get them for a bit better price than if you pay at the counter - depending on if you have an AP discount. Check out Get Away Today. The premium character meal is $39 per adult and $20 per child. This includes tax and gratuity.

If you pay at the door, the prices for dinner are $35.99 per adult and $15.99 per child, plus 8.75% tax and 18% gratuity added (so adult is $45.62). The gratuity is automatically added, but you can change the amount if you tell them to when they ring up your order.

I like to pay for these beforehand too for budgeting purposes