Connections Vouchers After Action Report...

[dcfromva]

Our visit to WDW was 23 Aug-1 Sept. We used 13 breakfast vouchers, 3 Kingdom Lunch Vouchers and 8 Quick and Casual vouchers. The good news is that I estimate we saved about $130.00 using the vouchers. It was nice have a portion of our food costs paid for in advance.

The bad news is there was so much variation in the process that towards the end of our vacation, we were all getting really tired of the hastles. ( Towards the end, I found I had the best results with handing over my voucher and asking what I could order with it. )

Some places were extremely accomodating whereas other places were just the opposite.

What we ordered:

8/24/02 The Land Food Court, used Connection Quick and Casual Vouchers (cost $11.00 each). This was our first experience with the vouchers. DS ordered bottled water which they refused to allow as a drink. At a different counter, DH ordered bottle water and had to ask to speak to a manager in order to have it allowed as his drink. The bottled water bugged me because in the case of the Quick and Casual Lunch or Dinner, the description for the drink says "One (1) non-alcholic drink"--the description goes into more detail and futher excludes Alcholic beverages, frozen drinks and souvenir drink mugs. I figure in order for bottled water to be excluded, it should have been in the excluded list. Problems getting the bottled water was a continuing theme throughout our visit...
I split the Tuna sandwich with DH and shared fries with DS for my lunch. There was plenty for the 3 of use to eat.
DS ordered at BBQ place. Pork Sandwich (with fries), Regular Orange soda, Turtle Brownie.
Total (incl tax) $11.42
DH ordered at Sandwich, Soup and Salad place: Tuna Value Meal, Turtle Brownie and Bottled water
Total (incl tax) $11.60
-DC

 

[simonmunro]

Tell us more! You had all those vouchers, what happened at all the other places? I know you're probobly busy but could you just add a little more. Which places did you find most accomodating? Thanks so much in advance, sorry to grill you for details.

 

[dcfromva]

8/25/02 Breakfast Kona Cafe—Our first experience using vouchers at the Kona, our server seemed to have an attitude about the vouchers. In the end, it worked out okay.
DS ordered Tonga Toast and Tomato Juice and I ordered fresh strawberries without using a voucher. The total $14.39 with tax plus $4.00 tip=18.39
DH used a breakfast voucher for his breakfast. (Breakfast voucher costs $17.50)
DH ordered Big Kahuna (with onions and peppers in the eggs), coffee, orange juice and raisin bagel. Total: incl tax and 15% tip= $20.89

8/26/02 Breakfast Kona (DS and DH used 2 breakfast vouchers $17.50 each) Server was extremely accomodating.
DS ordered: Fresh strawberries, tomato juice, steak and eggs
DH ordered: Fresh Strawberries, Coffee, orange juice, Big Kahuna (with onions and peppers) and plain bagel.
Total incl tax and tip: 48.42

8/29/02 Breakfast Kona Café --Server was very nice.
(Steak and eggs, coffee, juice and bagel, sausage gravy and biscuits 1 voucher) $29.94 incl tax and tip

8/31/02 Breakfast-Kona Cafe--Server was very nice.
Used 1 voucher for Calabash Breakfast, strawberries, coffee, juice and bagel $25.23 incl tax and tip

9/1/02 Breakfast-Kona Cafe
Used 1 voucher for Steak and eggs, strawberries, rye toast, juice and coffee $26.87 incl tax and tip


We thought the Kona served a pretty nice breakfast. DH and I shared breakfast each day. It worked our well, because I don't drink coffee or juice at breakfast. I had a bagel (or toast) and strawberries each day and sometimes, I had the steak. DH likes to have a big breakfast in the morning, so he ate everything else. In every case, DH left an additional tip as the vouchers only cover 15%.

 

[dcfromva]

We were very fortunate to book CRT Princess breakfast on 8/28/02.
We used 4 vouchers for this. I don't have a copy of the bill, but I believe the price is $15.95 per adult plus 6% tax and 15% tip bringing the price to approx $19.30. ($1.80 savingsX 4). However, my Mom and I ordered bottled water as our only drink and we were presented with a bill for $6.00 at the end of the meal.

On 8/30/02 we were very fortunate to have ressies at the Princess breakfast at Norway.
We used 4 vouchers for this--My mom ordered bottle water as her only drink and we did not receive a bill for the bottled water at the end of the meal. I asked the manager about it (or rather she came over when she saw the puzzled look on my face and she explained that she included the bottled water on the voucher). We left a pretty nice additonal tip here. We really liked this breakfast!

I don't know why there is a difference.

 

[dcfromva]

8/25/02

Lunch—Cosmic Rays The server here was very, nice.
I used $11.00 Q & C voucher and ordered:
Chicken Caesar salad (very fresh and delicious salad), soup, Ice cream cookie and large orange soda (large drink, no problem!)
Total: (incl tax) $13.97
We did not use a voucher for DS's separate order: Cheeseburger with fries, carrots, child orange soda
Total: (incl tax) $7.92

DH and I shared my meal. (Well, DS immediately ate my ice cream cookie dessert before eating his lunch--no worries about it melting ). DH was happy with the Orange soda, soup and a few of DS's fries--he said after eating big breakfast, he didn't really want a big lunch- So this worked out well.

 

[dcfromva]

8/30/02 Kringla Bakery Lunch.
I used 1 Q and C (11.00) voucher here. I really like this place!
I ordered 1 fruit tart (delicious!), Dasnai water (no problem!), fruit cup (fresh and delicious!) and an open face Ham sandwich. Total with tax $14.03.
I gave the ham sandwich to my son. I wished that we would have each used a voucher here, though--The sandwiches here don't lend themselves to sharing. I will definately go back to have lunch here again. The food was great! DH didn't want to eat here--so he didn't order anything (oh well make note for next time, ditch DH and then go to Kringla bakery for lunch )
-DC

 

[simonmunro]

Thank you! These posts are great. Lots of people like to order these just to know a big portion of your vacation is pre-paid. It's more important to me to be pre-paid and have a great experience than to save any big money or anything. If your meal is reasonable close to the price of the voucher it seems you'd have the same experience as cash? I hope.

 

[dcfromva]

simonmunro,
When I started out, my goal was just to break even. DH and DS were very good about making sure they at least broke even when using the vouchers. (I wasn't sure how they would take to the vouchers).
Before we left, I spent a lot of time checking out various menus to see what our food options were and to check on prices. If we couldn't break even, then we would not use the vouchers. As a result, we only used vouchers for about 1/2 of our meals. In some cases, we had scheduled a sit down meal at night for which there is no qualifying voucher.
I, too liked the idea of a pre-paying our expenses. I think the vouchers went a long way towards keeping a cap on our expenses--which was very good.

The following are the meals that were not on vouchers (I am missing a couple receipts for misc. minor food expenses.) Adults included Me, DH, DS-14 and my Mom.
8/23 Kona Cafe (Dinner X3 adults)............ 81.74
8/24 Bistro De Paria (Dinner X3 adults).....142.67
8/25 Portobello Yacht Club (Dinner X4)......117.41
8/26 Leaning Palms (Lunch X2).................. 17.92
8/26 Grand Floridian Cafe (Lunch X1).......... 14.00
8/26 Tony's Town Square Cafe (Dinner X4). 76.53
8/26 Kona (dessert X4).................................31.28
8/27 Concourse Steak house( lunch X1).......25.75
8/28 Yacht club Gallery (lunch X3).................34.22
8/28 Mama Melrose (Dinner X4)....................93.54
8/28 Kona (dessert X1) ..................................7.82
8/29 Flying Fish (Dinner X4).........................112.98
8/29 Kona (dessert X2)................................ 17.39
8/30 Ohana (Dinner X4)...............................121.54
8/31 ESPN (Lunch X2).................................. 29.84
8/31 Plaza Restaurant (Dinner X4).............. 68.61
Total 993.24

Breakfast vouchers (17.50 X13=227.5)
Q & C vouchers (11.00 X 8=88.00)
Vacation Kingdom (29.50 X 3=88.50)
Voucher total $404

 

[dcfromva]

I have two more reports--1 for Concourse Steakhouse (Vacation Kingdom Vouches) and the other for Beaches and Cream. (B & C was our best bargin and the server was very nice!) But, it will have to wait until tommorrow! ...
-DC

 

[BethR]

Thanks, DC, for doing these very detailed reports on using your vouchers!

 

[dcfromva]

8/27/02
This is where the variation in the voucher process was really highlighted.
I was really looking forward to this restuarant and I was really disappointed. First of all, I had made two ressies. Each ressie was for a table of 4. (My sister's family of 4 was also with us). Since we had planned to use vouchers for this meal (and some of us were sharing, etc.) and my sister's family and my family always ask for separate checks, I figured that it would be less complicated if we each got our own table.
We were not asked our seating preference, we were taken to a big round table that had 7 place settings on it apparently with a plan to squeeze everyone in and add another place setting. I think the hostess thought we would like to be all together. My DH asked if we could have two tables (later, he confided to me that he didn't not want to be squeezed in.) The restuarant was almost vacant and there were only a few tables which had anyone seated at them. We were seated at two tables next to one another. I don't know if this caused a problem or offended anyone...
Seated at our table was myself, DH, DS-14 and my Mom. Our plan was to use 3 Vacation Kingdom vouchers for the 4 of us and maybe add an appetizer/drink for a separate charge. The VK vouchers cost 29.50 each.
The first major problem--Mom wanted to order bottled water as her drink. The server said Mom could not have it using the voucher and suggested some other drinks (so much for my Mom picking the drink of her choice). My Mom has many health problems and cannot have caffeine, sugar or carbonated drinks--which essentially leaves only water. She will not drink the water that comes out of the tap in Orlando. My Mom did not want to make a fuss, so she said she would skip the drink. DS wanted a smoothie. Smoothies are not allowed on the voucher--so, at first I thought make DS order a regular drink. But, DS really wanted a smoothie--so, we planned to pay for it separately. But, then DS didn't wanted to order a steak, he wanted a Cheese steak sandwich ($10.99) as his lunch and he didn't want an appetizer.
At this point, we had to re-evaluate using 3 vouchers.... The new plan: We would use 2 vouchers DH and I would share and we would pay for an extra salad. We would pay for DS's meal separately. I would use the drink from Mom's voucher. I ordered lemonaide which was awful (it didn't taste like they used filtered water to make the lemonaide).
On the voucher, we ordered the following:
DH ordered Five Onion Soup 3.99, 8oz Grilled Filet Mignon 23.99, lemonaide (1.99 -I think), Chocolate Cake ( 5.95--a guess). estimated total $43.50
On Mom's voucher, we ordered Steakhouse salad 4.29, Kanasas City Steak 21.99, lemonaide 1.99 (for me) and Key Lime Pie 5.95(for me) estimated total $41.40

We didn't get an itemized bill of the items that were on the vouchers--so I had to guess on a couple of the prices.
Separately, we ordered a Steakhouse Salad $4.29, a Smoothie 4.29 and a cheesesteak sandwich 10.99. My sister pointed out that the soup was less than the salad and I should have ordered the salad on the voucher and the soup separately--DH said he thought the server would probably fix it without us saying anything (ya, right--she didn't of course). I figured--it's only .30 difference--no big deal.
When we were served our meal, after two bites of Garlic Smashed Potatoes, I found a whole red potato that was completely rotten (it was totally black inside). I lost my appetite completely. We debated whether to tell my sister and her party about it--because it pretty well made everyone at our table lose their appetite. We brought it to the attention of our server who offered to get us another side dish. We declined--she brought two orders of onion rings which we did not want. We brought our two desserts back to our room. We were not comp-ed anything for the rotten side dish. We paid using our vouchers and and additional $25.75 for the salad, Smoothie and cheesesteak sandwich tax and tip. To tell you the truth, after this experience, it will be really difficult for me to return to the Concourse Steakhouse. However, the story does not end there....

 

[dcfromva]

8/27/02
Meanwhile, over at my sister's table, they had similar problems--they have a 3 yr old and a 7 yr old. They had children's vouchers, too (as well as adult vouchers). The server said the children had to order off the children's menu and since there were no appetizers on the children's menu--the children could not get any appetizers.....

8/31/02
Well, since I didn't tell my sister about our problem with the smashed potatoes--I figured it was best not to mention it AFTER lunch and didn't really plan to tell her about it.
So, on Saturday, my sister's family along with my son went back to the Concourse Steakhouse. (DS decided to ditch his old parents and hang out with "the younger crowd" --DH and I went to MGM to play the Millionaire game--they went to the MK). This time, the experience was completely different. The children were permitted to order an appetizer off the adult menu, bottled water could be ordered using the voucher and they even permitted DS to order a smoothie (which it even says on the voucher that it is not permitted).
When my Sister told me about her 2nd experience at Concourse Steakhouse, I was really scratching my head. How could the process be so varied? The rules almost seem to be up to the individual server. I have been pondering what a person could do in order to guarantee a good experience using these vouchers.....

 

[patsal]

We have always been able to order smoothies with the lunch vouchers. It states speciality drinks in souvie cups are excluded, but the smoothies were always allowed. Also, if you are told that the kids cant't have an appetizer ask to speak with the manager. None of the restaurants have a child's appetizer menu, so the kids are to order off the adult menu for that only. Some places have kids dessert menus and they must order from that menu. I really wish they would get their act together with this. I think I may write to Disney before I go in April so I can carry the written response with me when I go to some of the restaurants. I didn't print out the response they sent me confirming the "process" for children, and I am kicking myself.

 

[dcfromva]

Beaches and Cream is the Crown Jewel in the Connections Vouchers program.

We were served quickly and efficiently and we didn't have any restrictions. The Server was very nice.

We used 2 Q& C vouchers for DH, DS-14 and myself.
DS ordered a milkshake (no problem!) 4.99, Double Burger 8.99 (fries was the side)
DH ordered a soda pop 1.99, single burger (we ordered a double--but got a single--but, it wasn't a problem as we had a lot of food to eat) 6.99 (fries was the side) and The Famous Kitchen Sink 21.99. Total 54.39

I had shown pictures of The Famous Kitchen Sink to DS-14 before we left on our trip--so, he really, really wanted to order it. It was a real thrill when they delivered it to our table! But, I have to tell you that the pictures do not give you any idea as to how much ice cream, cookies, candy and toppings are really in that concoction! There must be about 150 gallons of ice cream in that thing (well, 150 gallons might be a slight exageration-- ). We started off delicately dishing up a scoop of ice cream and a cookie and a candy for each of the 3 of us--we didn't even make an impression in it. In the end, in desperation, we each took a spoon and starting going after it--right in the serving dish! However, when we left, I doubt we ate more than 20% of it. I told DH that it was fun to order it once, but I think it would be better to order a No Way Jose sundae or a Banana Split next time--The sundaes I saw served up at the other tables looked enormous.

 

[dcfromva]

patsal,

It states speciality drinks in souvie cups are excluded, but the smoothies were always allowed.

I'm thinking that maybe the vouchers might have changed. This is what my Vacation Kingdom voucher has written on it:

edited to add close up (I can't read the other image as well)

Our experience by the time the server took our drink order we could tell if there was going to be a problem (ie no bottled water--I ask myself--where does it say on the voucher no bottled water?). It totally ruins our meal if the manager has to be called....and these vouchers cost a pretty penny to have a ruined meal. I would like to do something about it--I was trying to think of a strategy for future planning.....This is what I thought of-- if the server gave us a problem with the bottled water on our initial drink order, we politely tell her/him in that case, we are going to leave and haul ourselves out of the restaurant to eat elsewhere (to save the expensive vouchers for a more positive experience). Or, do you think that would that be horribly rude? (I really don't know if I would have the nerve to actually do that ).
-DC

 

[patsal]

Wow, I have a voucher left from June's trip that doesn't have the "frozen drink" phrase on it. I know what you mean, I'd really like to walk out, but I don't think I could really do that. I would consider not using the vouchers and only tipping on the smaller quantity of food I would purchase, though.

 

[Muffy]

Thank you so much for the info on these vouchers. I am going to stay away from Concourse Steakhouse! No, i do not think it would be rude to tell them you will go elsewhere with your voucher. You should of been given the bottled water and i would of pushed the point. It really does sound like the waiters make up the rules on the spot?! hump!

 

[Gillian]

We had a very good experience at the concourse steakhouse with our vouhers! It really does depend on the server. I don't see why they wouldn't allow bottled water, as everything you order increases their tip. Ours was encouraging us to order more.

the potatoes were not a problem & I'm glad I didn't know about it!

We used 2 vouchers for lunch last week. I just asked our server what was included.

I don't have the total right here, but we ordered smoothies, tomato stack, shrimp, the t bone steak, the filet, side of mushrooms, side of asparagas, 2 desserts, one with a side of ice cream, 1 coffee, 1 cappaccino. Everything was included in the coupons. we didn't eat dinner that night!

 

[rebbeca]

Do the vouchers include both hot and cold beverages or just one?

 

[Gillian]

I assumed that you get 1 drink, hot or cold, not both. I was very surprised that we were allowed to get 2 each, but I didn't complain