still don't get it

[MKCP5]

I guess I am dense, but I am still not getting why the meal vouchers are such a great deal. Most of the restaurants that they are for are not expensive restaurants anyways. If you completely max out the charges and buy the most expensive combo there--including a smoothie which seems to be at the top of the list to make it worthwhile --then it seems to work. Otrherwise, not so much. Is it just a convenience thing? Please help educate this former Disney cast member who is just not seeing it.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

At $11.50/voucher-including tax and shipping-the Hotwire vouchers were a good way to ensure that you got a full meal for a decent price. Yes, they were for counterservice locations but when you factor in the 6.5% tax on all meals and the gratuity at the Pepper Market or Beaches & Cream, you actually came out ahead of the game or at least broke even. I don't feel the same can be said for the vouchers from dwtickets.com. Their Q&C vouchers are $16.95 each PLUS tax PLUS shipping.

An even better investment were the VKLs. They were for the sitdown restaurants (lunch hours only). Hotwire charged $31 for those vouchers which covered tax and gratuity. You could easily spend more than that on an adult meal that included appetizer and dessert. Unfortunately, no one sells them anymore.

 

[Christy]

Part of what we liked about them for our last trip is that it was one more thing that was already paid for!! We also used the breakfast vouchers for the princess breakfast and saved some money (probably not too much, but still-every little bit counts).

 

[maggiew]

For most places it wasn't a great deal - you usually broke even. But some people liked having their food prepaid or the ability to give your teenager a voucher and you know they will be eating a good meal. But, some places it was a really good deal. At Pepper Market, we were able to get the $17.95 ribeye steak with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies PLUS drink PLUS dessert and tax and tip. That was a great deal for the $11.95 we paid for the voucher. You get a similarly good deal at Beaches and Cream with the voucher. We even found it was enough food (with the dessert) to feed 2 people (1 adult, 1 kid). With the VKL lunch vouchers we ate a delicious meal at Alfredos with a pizza appetizer ($9.95), Pasta Sampler ($18.95), plus chocolate mousse dessert ($5????) , plus drink, tax and tip.

So, we ordered a few Q&C vouchers for a couple places (Beaches and cream and Pepper Market), but paid cash for the rest of our Counter Service. We also ordered a few VKL vouchers (adults and kids) to use at select places (Rainforest Cafe and Alfredos). We purchased the Breakfast Vouchers for the Princess breakfast and CRT and saved a few dollars per person (those all add up!!)

Maggie

 

[Chicago526]

I guess I am dense, but I am still not getting why the meal vouchers are such a great deal. Most of the restaurants that they are for are not expensive restaurants anyways. If you completely max out the charges and buy the most expensive combo there--including a smoothie which seems to be at the top of the list to make it worthwhile --then it seems to work. Otrherwise, not so much. Is it just a convenience thing? Please help educate this former Disney cast member who is just not seeing it.

I've never understood it, either. It's a good deal if you are going to eat at these places anyway, I supose. For me, personaly, all the places the other posters listed would be too out of the way for my family to want to eat at. The trouble wouldn't be worth the savings. We'll stick to spliting meals, two eat for the price of one, you'll never beat that!

 

[HaleyB]

I've never understood it, either. It's a good deal if you are going to eat at these places anyway, I supose. For me, personaly, all the places the other posters listed would be too out of the way for my family to want to eat at. The trouble wouldn't be worth the savings. We'll stick to spliting meals, two eat for the price of one, you'll never beat that!

Actually, if two eat for the price of one voucher, pretty often you save even more. If you think Beaches and Cream is not worth the effort of getting to you either don't love food the way some Disney fans do, or have never been there. It is well worth the effort in my book, but I am a food junkie and I admit it. You can eat for less, but you can't eat as well for less.

We never lost money on a $12 voucher and never ordered anything just to use the voucher. There was even a time we turned down a side at Mara because we didn't need it. If you tend to order drinks and sides the vouchers save money. My Mom always wants just ice water, the vouchers might not be so good for her.

Of course all this applies to the no longer available under $12 vouchers, I think the new higher priced ones would only save at a few places. The VKL vouchers are still fantastic, we saved a ton with them. The kids voucher at The Rainforest Cafe are great.

 

[MKCP5]

I guess I can see why some people would want to use them.. I think I would not want to make the effort to go too far and would probably not make out with them. Can you tell me what VKL is? I am still learning! Maybe those will suit me better! Thanks guys

 

[maggiew]

I really don't understand how people can think Beaches & Cream is too far out of the way. It is only a short 5 minute walk from the International Gateway of EPCOT to the Beach Club. Heck, we walked farther than that looking for a mickey bar in EPCOT when DD needed her Mickey Bar fix "right then".

Pepper Market is a little out of the way. But on our first trip, we went there on our arrival evening when we weren't going to a park. So it was a nice trip and we got to see the resort. We liked the look of CSR so much, that the next trip we decided to stay there. Which made using the Q&C vouchers even more convenient. We would eat an early dinner after taking our afternoon swim break before we went back to a park.

The VKL vouchers are the Vacation Kingdom Lunch vouchers. They were around $30 for an adult voucher and around $12 (if memory serves me correctly) for a childs. At Rainforest Cafe AKL, my DD was able to order off the adult menu for her meal and appetizer. We got the chicken tenders for an appetizer and DD had that for her meal. Then we got the steak entree and I had that. We did the same with our adult VKL voucher and my other DD ate the chicken tenders and DH had the steak. We combined the 2 vouchers worth of desserts and got the volcano dessert. At Alfredos, my DD was able to order an adult appetizer since they had no kids appetizers. My older DD ate her pizza appetizer (dinner plate size!) and my little DD ate the kids pasta. I ate the pizza appetizer from DH's voucher and he had the entree. We got 2 desserts with this. So all of that food for around $42 (it also included tax and tip). Plus a drink per voucher.

I am sad they no longer have these available.

Maggie

 

[jenjenmouse]

Weren't you asking about the magic your way dining package and not the vouchers? For $35 a day for adults and 9.99 for children you get one Table service meal, one counter service and 2 snacks per person per night. as long as it is not a buffet you can share meals and the meals can be used in any combination. This includes tax and gratuity. Every resturaunt I can think of and every counterservice is on the plan. Can you go cheaper on food? yes, if you want to eat in your room and share counterservice fast foods and get no snacks in the parks. Well, as you can tell, I'm using the plan on our next trip in 3 weeks AKL yippeeee

 

[jenjenmouse]

just read your post again and saw you were asking about the vouchers oooooops sorry! I never liked the vouchers either Not worth it to me either.

 

[rockin_rep]

I've never understood it, either. It's a good deal if you are going to eat at these places anyway, I supose. For me, personaly, all the places the other posters listed would be too out of the way for my family to want to eat at. The trouble wouldn't be worth the savings. We'll stick to spliting meals, two eat for the price of one, you'll never beat that!

I agree, add me to the list of those who don't understand.

I'm big on planning, which has allowed us to do everything at least twice, even during Easter weeks, but food and eating is low on our priority list.

I'm also big on saving money if possible, but sometimes TIME is more valuable than MONEY -- especially at WDW.

I guess our trips are so jam packed enjoying the attractions that eating is just a means to an end, a way of refueling for energy. As at home, we try to find healthy balanced items but there's too much to do at WDW to spend time going off site to save a buck (we'll save at home) or mess with vouchers - the trouble just isn't worth the savings. Plus, we just can't eat that much food that often.

JMHO!

 

[crisi]

I got it, but it didn't work FOR US.

As to B&C being far out of the way, keep in mind that a lot of people don't spend a lot of time in Epcot or are like us - we spend a lot of time there - but it usually involves eating - and we aren't going to Epcot for burgers. (hummm, burgers or tabouleh?). Its not too far from the front of MGM - but its a good half hour from pretty much anyplace inside the park. And once you get there, there is a good chance that if you are eating at mealtimes you'll add a 40 minute wait to "grabbing a burger and sundae" The time investment is more than the walk for B&C.

 

[welovedis]

I think like many have said it depends on your type of vacation. We stayed at BWV, which is just a short walk to B&C. If you staying at an Epcot resort, it isn't difficult to get to and since we travel in less busy months, we don't usually have a wait to get a table there at all.

Same thing with CSR, we loved having these available when we stayed there and they really paid for themselves at PM. If we weren't staying there I might still venture over for a nice meal with lots of choices.

We also have a rental car most times we visit so we are able to get to other resorts/locations more quickly than relying on WDW transportation. For some that might be another factor in deciding to use these at an "out of the way" restaurant.

If they don't work for you, then don't get them...no one is saying they are a terrific deal for each restaurant, but they work out great for some.

 

[NMW]

I don't get it either. For the life of me I can't see why people would want them back. I admit we have never used them. Quite honestly, I never heard of them until last year when I discovered this board.
However, I did read about them and the MYW dining plan seems much, much better. Also, for AP holders the DDE card seems like a much better deal. We got the DDE card and are really looking forward to using it for our food and alcohol on our next trip!
If we were not DVC members, we would have bought the MYW dining plan for sure. I think it's a great deal.

 

[CheapMom]

I saved a lot even at places other than Pepper Market and B&C but only because I ordered in such a way that I was getting the most expensive thing, plus side plus dessert- I would never normally order like that.
At the Japan counter service place one voucher covered a meal that came to $26.00 on the receipt. But in real life I never would have gotten a big meal plus a large side of sushi plus a big drink plus a peice of cake. IMO they were never a great deal but at $11.50 they were at least a fair deal.

 

[ckoncurat]

We used them on our last trip. $11.50 was ALWAYS less than the cost of drink, dessert, entree and side for us, and sometimes a LOT less. At The counter service in Morocco, our meal would come come to $20 or more. We never went out of our way to use them. Sometimes DH and I split one voucher meal, sometimes we each used one. We also LOVED the breakfast vouchers, which I think were $18.95 and $9.95? We used those for character meals.