Please teach me about food vouchers.

[yecats]

I am going to join the Hotwire Savings Club for a month in order to get my tickets from them for WDW and please don't get me wrong, I've been to Disney plenty but have never gotten food vouchers (2 adults going on trip, no kids). I know a little bit about the Q&C (not about the prices per adult voucher) and know that you can use them them for best results at Pepper Market and Beaches and Creams but really don't know too much else. Please explain the difference between the Q&C and the VKL vouches including prices and best place to buy them if Hotwire isn't the best as far as pricing?

I have ps's for most character dinners and know I can't use them there but I do have a couple of dinners planned at Le Cellier (usually we get steak and fish dinners plus appetizer and dessert). We also plan most lunches at places like Columbia Harbor House, Cosmic Ray's, Electric Umbrella, etc. Do these vouchers save any money at all at those places for lunch?

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and helping me to get the most for my $$.

 

[LisaZoe]

I think the best source for basic information on vouchers is in the thread that is "stuck" to the top of this board. While it mentions Connections vouchers, it is really about the vouchers sold by many places, including Hotwire.

As for best deals, that thread lists the restaurants where you are most likely to save money. I found it was sometimes not much, a buck or 2. By looking over the menus for the restaurants (I used the ones on allearsnet), you can do some math and see if it will be a good deal for you.

Once you've done that, if you still have questions, post them on this board and you should get a lot of responses. Some people swear by them, others don't think they are worth the effort. I think a lot depends on the individual's eating habits (i.e. if you don't want the dessert it's pretty hard to end up saving money). I'm kind of in the middle on this.

On our recent WDW trip, I bought 4 Q&C and 4 Breakfast Feature vouchers. I used 3 Q&C and 2 breakfast (DD isn't yet 3 so she mostly ate free or we shared). I saved a few dollars on the breakfasts as I used them for character meals. For the Q&C, I broke even at Pecos Bills, saved $2-3 at Cosmic Rays and saved the most at Beaches & Cream - mostly because of the dessert. It was nice to have some pre-paid meals but I doubt I'll get the Q&C again as I probably wouldn't have eaten at each of those restaurants (especially B&C) and would have been just as satisfied, and better off, eating a bit lighter.

 

[maggiew]

The Q&C vouchers are good at counter service places. You can use these for lunch or dinner, kid or adult. One size fits all. These cost $11.50. As you mentioned, the best deal for these are Pepper Market and Beaches and Cream. They are also a pretty good deal at the EPCOT restaurants (Tangerine Cafe, Lotus Blossum Cafe, Yakitori House.) YOu may save a dollar or two at other IN PARK counter service places.

The Vacation Kingdom Lunch vouchers are good at sit down places and are only good during lunch hours. These cost $31 adult and $12.75 kids. A good place to use these is Rainforest Cafe. We used one kid and one adult voucher and it fed 4 of us. We did the same at Alfredos. Some have had success (significant money savings) at Le Cellier.

One thing that we do to save money is to eat our sit down meals at lunch and then do the counter service at dinner. The lunch meals are less expensive and is usually the same menu or close to it than the dinner menu. Although some people don't like to have a big meal in the middle of the day, we find it is a nice break and provides a nice air conditioned atmosphere in the middle of a hot day. We can save more touring time by eating counter service at dinner when it is usually cooler. (We go in the summer.)

We purchase enough vuochers for the meals that we will definitely do (we have favorites) where the vouchers work out to be a savings. We pay cash for the other meals and just "wing it". We do not live and die by the vouchers and let them control our touring.

If you are doing any character breakfasts, the breakfast vouchers are a good deal - especially the princess ones.

Remember the vouchers cover tax and tip (where appropriate).

Maggie

 

[callahanjulie10]

I love the VK vouchers- they save $$ anywhere you go as long as you share the voucher! My DD and I always share and DH get his own. The only place they won't is buffets. We won't go to WDW without these ever again because they allow you to eat things you would normally never order due to $$. We love them

 

[ellyn2000]

My first experience with them was on a WDW trip with our scout troop/pack. I've made sure to have them each trip since. DD and I often share a meal and that makes the value even greater to me. I've never had any problem using them and the restaurants that accept them are listed on the back. Hope you have a positive experience, too.

 

[yecats]

Thanks to you all for your replies. Right after I posted and began to log off I noticed the first thread about the vouchers and read some of it which explained a lot. Personnally I am somewhat up in the air about what to do as we can be a bit finicky about food and if there are lines (for instance B&C) we usually don't like to wait for more than 15 minutes. In one sense, I want to order a few as I know that I am staying one day at CSR and will eat at the Pepper Market. ? I have there is can you order the steak and still get the side (or only can order certain side item, someone had a recent post and seemed like he could get a side but from the post sounds like sometimes it isn't given, he had to ask someone when he ordered). I could also possibly make it over to B&C as I'll be at the BW so I think 4 Q&C's would be okay. As they have an expir. date it does make me leary to purchase more than that.

P.S. - to LisaZ, your little princess looks beautiful and so very happy.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Here is a link to our dining report in which we used quite a few vouchers. It also explains how much we saved with them WE LOVED THEM!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=654516