Entertainment Book Coupons

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Wondering if you guys could help me understand how the Entertainment Book works. We are considering purchasing one for our upcoming trip and are trying to figure out if it would be worth it to do so.

The book is currently on sale for $28 with free shipping (even to us folks up here in Canada ).

I know we would use one of the coupons for our rental car for our Christmas trip. Assuming we use a $25 off coupon, that would almost pay for the book.

I have also read that there is a $5 T-Rex coupon in there. That would mean we're up by at least $2.

I see lots of other Entertainment book retailer's coupons (restaurants, in particular) on Ebay....places like Steak & Shake. But it's not specifically noted as one of the coupons in the Orlando book, according to this list:

http://www.entertainment-savings-offers.com/orlando/book/restaurant/list/

Or is a Steak & Shake coupon included in every city's book, so not specifically listed on the Orlando summary?

For car rentals, can you use the dollar-off coupons in conjunction with a different corporate discount code other than the Entertainment Book corp. discount? (i.e., a Visa discount code + the Entertainment book $25 coupon)

I am hoping one of you who has purchased the book can point me in the right direction. If we decide to purchase, we will need to order soon for our Christmas trip as they have indicated it could take 3+ weeks for the book to be delivered to our Canadian address.

 

[amcnj]

Sorry, I have not purchased that specific book, but in general the entertainment books have local offerings as well as some regional and national ones. Hopefully someone with the book in hand can tell you what specific businesses that edition contains.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Sorry, I have not purchased that specific book, but in general the entertainment books have local offerings as well as some regional and national ones. Hopefully someone with the book in hand can tell you what specific businesses that edition contains.

Thanks .

Bumping up in the hopes that someone else can chime in with some answers as well.

 

[Bete]

Usually, you can't combine entertainment book coupons/discounts/other promo options on the same deal. You can try, but I'm not hopeful. They will usually give you the best offer with whatever you have that way. You can't normally double dip with these discounts.

If you can break even using the car rental offer and T-Rex than I would do it. There will be a few other offers you can use and it will be paid for and then some.

You are going to have to rely on soimeone with an Orlando book to give you your answer on the Steak and Shake. I know sometimes National chain offers are not across the board. There are special pages in the book that won't be shown on your link that can have a offer; so, maybe, you will get lucky that way with something you like.

Another thought could be to try the Entertainment book app and see what results you get there for Orlando. It may be a little different and it might be worth a look.

I have used the entertainment book for over 20 years and I have learned you need to be flexible to get some good offers/deals. You seem very specific about what you want and it may not work out to big savings for you. If I can break even I always get one. You really have nothing to lose. We have used them many times on vacation. We kept track once and it saved us $900 many years ago in Chicago. I will say through the years the entertainment book has not proven to be the same value as it was years ago.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Usually, you can't combine entertainment book coupons/discounts/other promo options on the same deal. You can try, but I'm not hopeful. They will usually give you the best offer with whatever you have that way. You can't normally double dip with these discounts.

If you can break even using the car rental offer and T-Rex than I would do it. There will be a few other offers you can use and it will be paid for and then some.

You are going to have to rely on soimeone with an Orlando book to give you your answer on the Steak and Shake. I know sometimes National chain offers are not across the board. There are special pages in the book that won't be shown on your link that can have a offer; so, maybe, you will get lucky that way with something you like.

Another thought could be to try the Entertainment book app and see what results you get there for Orlando. It may be a little different and it might be worth a look.

I have used the entertainment book for over 20 years and I have learned you need to be flexible to get some good offers/deals. You seem very specific about what you want and it may not work out to big savings for you. If I can break even I always get one. You really have nothing to lose. We have used them many times on vacation. We kept track once and it saved us $900 many years ago in Chicago. I will say through the years the entertainment book has not proven to be the same value as it was years ago.

Thanks Bete. I didn't mean to sound as specific as I obviously did , Steak & Shake was just one of the US chains that I could think of that (a) we plan to eat at and (b) I have seen on ebay with an Entertainment Book coupon. We would be open to many other chains as well......TGI Fridays, Chilis, Friendlys, Cici's, or whatever happens to be in there. Same goes for attractions (mini golf in particular), and heck, maybe there would be something other great idea included in the book that we wouldn't have done otherwise.

I am surpised more posters here on the Budget Board haven't bought the book. I thought it would be a popular item among the budget conscious. But what do I know?

 

[Bete]

I am surpised more posters here on the Budget Board haven't bought the book. I thought it would be a popular item among the budget conscious. But what do I know?

Many that stay on-site with Disney don't want to go any where else. They want to be on Disney property. Many do not rent a car. Still others get a place where they can cook and they do most of their eating at their resort, villa, townhouse, etc. Still others go for the free Disney dining promo and they wouldn't need the entertainment coupon book.

It does take some time to venture out and many on Disney trips are going for shorter times and they don't want to use any time getting any where. They want to stay in the park and eat. Time is money, too.

I have used the Orlando entertainment book, but I like restaurant.com for the Orlando restaurants we use there, now. With some sales at restaurant.com I can do better than the entertainment coupon book for us. Also, restaurant.com coupons allow you to get appetizers and such for their deals.

All that counts is you get the benefit you want with the entertainment books.

 

[mrudman]

We always buy the book every year, and always come out pretty far ahead.

In ours, there's always local restaurants that are buy 1, get 1 meal free. So that adds up fast for us.

And just a couple weeks ago, I booked a hotel using the hotel bucks that the books now offer (for registering online), to save me about $15 off our hotel rate (this was off their best offer also).

We've used the movie passes in the past which saves us couple dollars per person admission.

I can't really speak to the Orlando book since I don't know what's offered in it, or what you'd be using.. but just based on what you've mentioned you'd be doing, I'd say you'd come out ahead.

 

[littlezar]

Wondering if you guys could help me understand how the Entertainment Book works. We are considering purchasing one for our upcoming trip and are trying to figure out if it would be worth it to do so.

The book is currently on sale for $28 with free shipping (even to us folks up here in Canada ).

I know we would use one of the coupons for our rental car for our Christmas trip. Assuming we use a $25 off coupon, that would almost pay for the book.

I have also read that there is a $5 T-Rex coupon in there. That would mean we're up by at least $2.

I see lots of other Entertainment book retailer's coupons (restaurants, in particular) on Ebay....places like Steak & Shake. But it's not specifically noted as one of the coupons in the Orlando book, according to this list:

http://www.entertainment-savings-offers.com/orlando/book/restaurant/list/

Or is a Steak & Shake coupon included in every city's book, so not specifically listed on the Orlando summary?

For car rentals, can you use the dollar-off coupons in conjunction with a different corporate discount code other than the Entertainment Book corp. discount? (i.e., a Visa discount code + the Entertainment book $25 coupon)

I am hoping one of you who has purchased the book can point me in the right direction. If we decide to purchase, we will need to order soon for our Christmas trip as they have indicated it could take 3+ weeks for the book to be delivered to our Canadian address.

Using your link, I changed to access my local 2013 book which I already bought because my youngest son's school does it as a fundraiser. I compared the fine dining restaurants and the informal/fast food/takeout coupons and the ones listed are exactly the same as in the book - nothing more, nothing less. The only difference is for fast food, the website listed the same restaurant separately in multiple cities (so one was listed 4 times) but there's only 1 coupon that's good at any of those locations, if that makes sense.

That said, if you don't see it listed on that site, I wouldn't count on it being in the book. Hopefully someone local has bought the book already and can look for whichever coupons you are interested in.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We always buy the book every year, and always come out pretty far ahead.

In ours, there's always local restaurants that are buy 1, get 1 meal free. So that adds up fast for us.

And just a couple weeks ago, I booked a hotel using the hotel bucks that the books now offer (for registering online), to save me about $15 off our hotel rate (this was off their best offer also).

We've used the movie passes in the past which saves us couple dollars per person admission.

I can't really speak to the Orlando book since I don't know what's offered in it, or what you'd be using.. but just based on what you've mentioned you'd be doing, I'd say you'd come out ahead.

Using your link, I changed to access my local 2013 book which I already bought because my youngest son's school does it as a fundraiser. I compared the fine dining restaurants and the informal/fast food/takeout coupons and the ones listed are exactly the same as in the book - nothing more, nothing less. The only difference is for fast food, the website listed the same restaurant separately in multiple cities (so one was listed 4 times) but there's only 1 coupon that's good at any of those locations, if that makes sense.

That said, if you don't see it listed on that site, I wouldn't count on it being in the book. Hopefully someone local has bought the book already and can look for whichever coupons you are interested in.

Great feedback, ladies . Thanks for your helpful input!

I think we will order the book. Heck, its only $28, at the very least, we will come out $3 ahead .

 

[JeffreyY]

If your trip isn't soon you might want to wait, it will go down more. We got the last years Orlando book for $6 in July for our Aug. trip. Even at that low price we did not make back our $. We were not able to use the T-REX coupon because we had the Landry's card and were not allowed to combine. The other restaurants we thought we would use we didn't end up going to. It's a great book we use it at home all the time but it didn't work out for our vacation.

 

[alyssa810]

if you can use ebates in Canada, they were doing cashback of 35% (double the normal 17.5!). I just picked up the Orlando book for $30 - it was $5 off with free shopping AND I bought through ebates so I'm getting $10.50 in cash back AND I used my discover card for an additional 5% cashback (on online purchases this quarter for an additional $1.50)
Not bad, and we'll use the T-rex coupon and a few others here and there...usually I just get my local book, but this was a pretty sweet deal.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

If your trip isn't soon you might want to wait, it will go down more. We got the last years Orlando book for $6 in July for our Aug. trip. Even at that low price we did not make back our $. We were not able to use the T-REX coupon because we had the Landry's card and were not allowed to combine. The other restaurants we thought we would use we didn't end up going to. It's a great book we use it at home all the time but it didn't work out for our vacation.

I am pretty sure we will get our money's worth..........with the $25 off our rental vehicle at Budget, $5 off at T-Rex, $3 off at Friendly's, we are already ahead, then I can almost assure you we will use at least one (more reasonably, two or more) of the buy-one-get-one-free mini golf coupons, as well as the 2-for-1 admission offers for the various I-Drive attractions.

After that....maybe we can pay it forward and share some of those we won't use with some other Disers. If there are those that are of no use to us, I am happy to help out another family.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

if you can use ebates in Canada, they were doing cashback of 35% (double the normal 17.5!). I just picked up the Orlando book for $30 - it was $5 off with free shopping AND I bought through ebates so I'm getting $10.50 in cash back AND I used my discover card for an additional 5% cashback (on online purchases this quarter for an additional $1.50)
Not bad, and we'll use the T-rex coupon and a few others here and there...usually I just get my local book, but this was a pretty sweet deal.

Wow....you got a fantastic deal!

Sadly, I didn't see your post until AFTER my order had been placed, but I may still check into the availability of ebates in Canada (to be honest, I have no idea if that's an option for us or not ). Might be good to keep in mind for future purchases!