Meal Vouchers. Are they worth buying?

[kabauer]

Finally down to under a month to go and can't wait. I belong to Hotwire Savings Club and they have meal vouchers for $11.50 for a "quick and casual" lunch or dinner. I imagine this is like Pizza Planet or similar. It includes entree, side(if not included in entree), dessert and non alcoholic beverage. I can't remember exactly what we paid when we went in 2001 for a lunch.

Any opinions on whether this is a good deal???. Has anyone used them in the past and saved money?

There are three of us going. DH, me and DD (6yr old).

 

[mad4themouse]

Lucky you, with less than a month to go! I'm a little jealous.

The vouchers can be a good value if you order the right stuff and eat at the right places. The vouchers will entitle you to an entrée, a sidedish (if the entrée did not include one), a non-alcoholic beverage and a dessert. It also covers tax and any applicable tips.

If you tend to eat a full meal, including dessert, then you will either break even or come out ahead on the adult vouchers. I wouldn't even bother purchasing child vouchers as they really limit your menu choices and you will only break even at best.

There's a good thread at the top of this page. Yes, it's long but try to read thru it as there are a lot of tips and personal experiences with vouchers that can really help you decide if it's worth the money.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Connections Meal Vouchers

And you can look at the menus from almost every WDW restaurant at AllEars.net - Menus From Around the World . This will give you an idea of prices and menu options at each restaurant.

If you decide to go with the vouchers for some of your meals, don't forget to come back here after you return from WDW and let us know how they worked out for you. Have a great trip!

 

[ceecee]

Since you already belong, I would get a few. You don't save that much except at select places. It's not worth the time and trouble to join and cancel for them in my opinion...but since you already are a member it may be worth it.

 

[mugglemom]

For us all it took was one meal at Pepper Market and we were in love with vouchers! Yes to really get a super deal you have to eat at certain places and some of those places are outside the parks at Resorts but we took the time and left the parks and used the vouchers at places between parks as we hopped.

For example we did a morning in MK, took a bus to Coronado Springs and ate at Pepper market then took a bus to AK and went on safari!

For one Q & C voucher there we fed two people and had prime rib au jus($26) and stuffed baked potato with the works on it ($7 or 8) grilled vegetables with the meat, a beverage, and a huge filo dough basket filled with cherries($8). We had a server who brought you to the table and gave you linen napkins and silverware and served you your beverage and got you anythng you needed. The voucher covered the tip too!

Not a bad deal for one voucher! Another time there we had wonderful steaks plus there were many other choices and a special in each section of the market. The prime rib was a special in the Grill Section.

We walked from Epcot one day, out the International Gate and went to the Beach Club Resort and ate at Beaches and Cream. Again we shared a voucher between two people and there was no way we could finish all of our dessert! We had a double cheese burger on a delicious whole wheat bun and fries with a beverage and some huge chocolate ice cream sundae. Portions at most places are more than enough for two people to share and the servers are quite use to people sharing! Again the tip is covered for your server.

 

[Lewisc]

Do a search. There are countless long threads discussing this. People who save a lot of money tend to use them in 2 places (Pepper Market and Beaces & Cream), order the more expensive items on the menu, always order desert and usually share meals. Your savings are modest if you just want to eat and order where you want. BUT one of the biggest negatives is people having to join and then cancel Connections. Since you're already a member you might as well order some. Pre-paying for some meals is good even if you don't have dramatic savings.

Curious do you know if they offer the DINNER vouchers. The should cost about $60 and are good in the expensive restaurants like California Grill.

Originally posted by kabauer
Any opinions on whether this is a good deal???. Has anyone used them in the past and saved money?

There are three of us going. DH, me and DD (6yr old).

 

[georgina]

I ordered some vouchers from hotwire earlier this week, and they arrived on Friday. We are planning to eat at Beaches and Cream, and will probably share one at Pepper Market (staying at Coronado Springs) and at Tusker House at AK. As everyone else has said, you have to think about what you will eat and check out the prices to decide if they are a good deal for you.

 

[wdwfam]

We just got back last week, and the Q&C vouchers were definitely worth it for us. For our family of four, DH, DS19, DD15, and myself, we usually used 3 each meal. Without a doubt the Pepper Market at Coronado Springs was the best deal. DH had steak, DD and I shared Prime Rib, and since DS doesn't eat beef or pork, he had a huge Chinese entree. The next day at Epcot, we shared three vouchers again and ate at Lotus Blossom Cafe. The person taking our order showed us what we could order. For example, one Q&C we order Orange Chicken with egg roll and rice, Chicken salad, side of fruit, and one smoothie. I think the fruit was the dessert in this instance. We used 1 VKL voucher at Rain Forest - three shared the following: chicken quesadillas, 14 oz. sirloin, 8 coconut shrimp, grilled veggies, garlic mashed potatoes, fruit smoothie and bananas foster for dessert. We ordered an extra side salad. Total out our pocket with the VKL voucher was $5. We gave an extra tip. We used them last year, and the kids thought they were kind of a hassle (except when they got the Kitchen Sink. This year we enjoyed looking at the menus to see the best deals. There are times when you only save a dollar or so, but the other times it sure makes up for it. Tusker House was a good deal too.

 

[gazeborob]

Has anyone had good luck buying vouchers from someone on ebay? There seem to a lot of them offered?

 

[disney4us2002]

I wouldn't advise buying on ebay as they cost much more than just joining hotwire or connections. I wish I knew how the sellers there have 100 or more vouchers to sell. I watched 4 auctions last evening by one seller, 2 for 12 vouchers and 2 for 4 vouchers and in each auction she cleared $27 - $51. Quite a profit there! She has auctions like that every few days. It has been at least 100 vouchers.

The newest listings on ebay are also saying you can order a porterhouse steak at Beaches & Cream and I can't figure that one out either. Allears has the latest menu (3/04) and it isn't listed.

 

[ripleysmom]

Honestly, I would only buy a couple to use at Beaches & Cream. It was just too much hassle trying to figure out where to eat to maximize our savings. The only way that you really save money in the parks is if you order dessert usually. Beaches & Cream is the only place that we would normally do that.

 

[dlstc]

I used Hotwire to buy my PHP (saved over $80) and bought some breakfast meal vouchers to use at character meal breakfasts. Here's my analysis:

CRT breakfast:
Total with 15% tax and tip (2 adults, 1 child): $60.91
Using vouchers: $47.50
Savings: $13.41

Chef Mickey's breakfast:
Total with 15% tax and tip (1 adult, 1 child): $31.67
Using vouchers: $29.25
Savings: $2.42

Total savings: $15.83

Of course, the more people you have, the more you might save.

I also ran an analysis on the Q&C, and, as others have written, unless you really were planning to order that much food anyways (like dessert too) it isn't a savings, and even when you do, not much.

Don't forget AK offers a great meal certificate deal for $11.99A/$5.99 kids which includes 1 counter service entree, 1 beverage, 1 popcorn OR ice cream bar and 1 bottled drink. These can be purchased at AK guest relations.

Diana

 

[vhoffman]

Well, here's my 2 cents. Money-wise, the vouchers can be a good deal. It depends on when and where you use them. I purchased about $250 worth of vouchers for our last trip, but came home with about half of them. I found I spent more time worrying about how to maximize my coupons and not enough time enjoying my time at the parks. You're going to the parks for fun, not to eat. Eating is something one does when one is hungry, and you find the best place to eat when and where you're hungry. Then you get back to the fun. At least, that's how I view my Disney trips. I bought the vouchers because I wanted to do our last trip on a tight budget. However, like I said, I found the vouchers interferred with our enjoyment of the parks. I remember dragging my family all over the place to maximize the coupons, and oftentimes ended up dissappointed. If you read much about the vouchers you'll see Beaches and Cream mentioned many times. Well, I thought that was the place to go and drug my family from the Swan all the way to the Beach Club, only to find that Beaches and Cream is a tiny little snack shop with barely enough room to turn around in. It was supposed to be a great place to use the vouchers because of the prime rib sandwich. Well, when we got there they were all out of the prime rib sandwich and just about everything else on the menu cost less than the voucher. We wasted a voucher just to get something. I had some Vacation Kingdom lunch vouchers and read the best value was the Rainforest Cafe at AK. Well, insofar as money goes, yes, we got a great deal. It about cut the cost of the meal in half. However, the voucher was only good for lunch, and AK closes at 5 pm. So we ended up spending about 2 hours eating instead of park time. My feeling is, they're not worth the hassle factor. Go and enjoy your trip, use some simple tricks to keep your food budget in line, and don't let the coupons control you. some budget suggestions that can be applied anywhere--drink water instead of a soft drink. You can save $10-$15 per meal by doing this. Split an entree. the portions are large at Disney. Order an appetizer instead of a main dish. Split a dessert. Go for lunch instead of dinner when the prices are less. Take breakfast stuff along to eat in your room, such as coffee, tea, poptarts, etc. The last day of our trip I forgot the vouchers in our room. My kids said, "Great. We can go where we want." Just my 2 cents!

 

[frannn]

We only used the vouchers at places we were going to anyway. My DH doesn't understand why we need to drive to the Pepper Market when we are staying at the AS, but I like the choices they have. We normally don't order desert, but since they come with the vouchers, it was an added bonus for a dollar or so extra. With the full meal and the desert, I may be able to share with DD11 next trip, which will save us a few $. The vouchers saved us a few $ at the AS food court, which was great, because that was convenient and we didn't (ok, I didn't) feel like I needed to watch the prices on what I ordered; I just got what I wanted. We usually take cash for our food, etc, instead of travelers checks or using the credit cards. The more vouchers we use, the less cash we have to take. I'm always afraid the cash will get stolen because DH carries a lot in his wallet (in case we see souveniers, etc). The breakfast ones definetly save $, and the Q&C are questionable. We used them mostly for dinner, so they were like the price of eating at a NY diner. The VKL are a bargain if you are sharing at RFC, at dinnertime. That is what we will do. I will buy one children's VKL to use at RFC, so the four of us (DH, DD11, DD2, and I) will have more than enough. It will be an added bonus if we can get an adult appetizer with the children's voucher. If not, not a problem.

 

[Castillo Mom]

I'm only planning on getting vouchers to use at restaurants that we're already going to anyway like the breakfast vouchers that we'll use for 2 character meals, Cape May and Boma, Q&C vouchers for Beaches and Cream, Tusker House, etc.