Voucher / No Vouchers

[DolphinBoy]

I just got back from WDW and tried using a few Q&C vouchers this time. I know this is a hotly debated topic, so I just want to throw my 2 cents in. We found that basically we saved $2 - $3 on a meal with a desert. However, the question is that if we did not have vouchers, would we normally purchase deserts for lunch? As a result, we actually spent more money than if we bought a lunch without desert. So where is the real savings? The voucher basically just got us to purchase a desert.
In regards to the splitting a meal with a voucher debate...You can do that without a voucher. Sorry, my vote goes against vouchers.

 

[travellady]

I read through that long voucher's thread today and was amazed at how much food people ordered to save money. I realize you can split a meal but my DH, my DS, and I have very different tastes or just may not want the same thing. half the fun of going to Disney is eating what you want, when you want. And, I don't typically get dessert with my meals - I like to get dessert an hour or two later and it depends on what mood I'm in. Maybe ice cream, maybe a cookie, or candy. I suspect we'd end up wasting food or barely breaking even.

Seems like too much planning involved for my liking. I'll risk spending a few extra dollars so we can be flexible and not feel like we have to split.

 

[tcfdick]

I also looked into buying vouchers and decided they weren't worth the $$. We are not big eaters, so getting a desert, appetizer and meal would have been too much food even splitting everything and I know food would be wasted. I am glad that I found out that I can order a hamburger without the fries (this saves $ too) because that is another food item we waste because we can't eat them all.

 

[ripleysmom]

I would order the Q&C vouchers to eat at B&C one night since we do order dessert there. Other than that I am not sure that it was worth feeling like I had to plan where to eat so that I maximized savings

 

[DMRick]

I find I dont' save much when using them in the parks..unless we bring our daughter and her children..then $2-$3 savings is great for us, and the kids always want desserts.

Where our savings come into play (and the sharing or meals) is when we go to Pepper Market. The amount of food is overwhelming (IMO) for one person, and since our tastes after almost 37 years of marriage are compatable, we really save a lot. We pay just a bit over $11 and have plenty for two. We could share without the voucher, but since the food would cost way more without the voucher, there would be no savings.

At Beaches, we use the vouchers when we bring the "kids" (and even sometimes when we don't), and they get kids meals and eat our dessert..so it's still a great savings for us.

The lunch vouchers save us way more, at the RF of course.

So it's really individual. Works great for some, less so for others.

 

[CheapMom]

I saw a thread titled something like "Planning Your Day Around Q&C Vouchers" That is exactly why I won't use them- I don't want to feel like I need to find the best place to go to get my money's worth- I like planning my vacation - but not every miniscule detail. For us- I feel- they would not be a good deal- (especially if you figure in the cost of hotwire savings club)

 

[maggiew]

There are other reasons why people buy vouchers too, not just to save money. Many people like to use them to pre-pay for their food. They can buy one each paycheck, or something like that, and then by the time the vacation rolls around all their food is paid for and they don't have to comeup with $500 all at once. (If you do this, keep in mind the expiration date of the vouchers.) Another reason could be to give to your teenage kids who may be touring without you. Some feel it is better to give a voucher for food instead of money because who knows what the kids will spend it on??

We personally like the vouchers. I had studied the menu site so that I knew where we would like to eat based on what food they had. I also did it to get an idea about a budget. Then, I just bought Q&C vouchers for the places that were a great deal. When we stayed at CSR, I got several for the Pepper Market. Who can argue with a steak dinner with potatoes and grilled veggies, a drink and pie a la mode for $11.25???? Plus this was big enough for DH and I to share (I don't eat much and the steak was big. The kids ate the pie a la mode.) But it would have been a great deal even without splitting. When we stayed at the Dolphin, we got enough Q&C vouchers to eat at Beaches and cream twice. I got a steak sub, fries, drink and a fudge mud slide sundae (normally $8 or so) with the $11.25 voucher. At Beaches and Cream DH and I each used a voucher (he got the burger) and the kids got a kids meal that we paid with cash. Once we used 2 vouchers for the 4 of us and split. We also did several character breakfasts and bought breakfast vouchers for these. We may have saved $2 or so with each adult voucher, but when you multiply that by 2 (DH and I) and then by 4 (for each character breakfast) the savings add up. We did purchase the kids breakfast vouchers but you don't save much there. But it was nice to just pay with the vouchers and no problems!

We didn't plan our trip "around the vouchers", but since I knew where we would probably be eating I bought the appropriate amount of vouchers. We also had a lot of meals that weren't with the vouchers.

I think the debate about "vouchers or no vouchers" is kind of silly because it really is a personal decision. It depends on your touring style, your eating style, where you are staying, etc. The best bet for people deciding to use vouchers or not is to think about what you will be doing and then decide from there.

PS, you can join the Hotwire Savings club for a free trial (maybe $1?) I am not sure because I am a Connections member. But, I find value in remaining a member. I buy the gift cards for teacher gifts, birthday gifts for relatives, etc. We more than made up for the cost of the membership.

Maggie

 

[disneyjunkie]

Originally posted by maggiew
There are other reasons why people buy vouchers too, not just to save money. Many people like to use them to pre-pay for their food. They can buy one each paycheck, or something like that, and then by the time the vacation rolls around all their food is paid for and they don't have to comeup with $500 all at once. (If you do this, keep in mind the expiration date of the vouchers.) Another reason could be to give to your teenage kids who may be touring without you. Some feel it is better to give a voucher for food instead of money because who knows what the kids will spend it on??

We personally like the vouchers. I had studied the menu site so that I knew where we would like to eat based on what food they had. I also did it to get an idea about a budget. Then, I just bought Q&C vouchers for the places that were a great deal. When we stayed at CSR, I got several for the Pepper Market. Who can argue with a steak dinner with potatoes and grilled veggies, a drink and pie a la mode for $11.25???? Plus this was big enough for DH and I to share (I don't eat much and the steak was big. The kids ate the pie a la mode.) But it would have been a great deal even without splitting. When we stayed at the Dolphin, we got enough Q&C vouchers to eat at Beaches and cream twice. I got a steak sub, fries, drink and a fudge mud slide sundae (normally $8 or so) with the $11.25 voucher. At Beaches and Cream DH and I each used a voucher (he got the burger) and the kids got a kids meal that we paid with cash. Once we used 2 vouchers for the 4 of us and split. We also did several character breakfasts and bought breakfast vouchers for these. We may have saved $2 or so with each adult voucher, but when you multiply that by 2 (DH and I) and then by 4 (for each character breakfast) the savings add up. We did purchase the kids breakfast vouchers but you don't save much there. But it was nice to just pay with the vouchers and no problems!

We didn't plan our trip "around the vouchers", but since I knew where we would probably be eating I bought the appropriate amount of vouchers. We also had a lot of meals that weren't with the vouchers.

I think the debate about "vouchers or no vouchers" is kind of silly because it really is a personal decision. It depends on your touring style, your eating style, where you are staying, etc. The best bet for people deciding to use vouchers or not is to think about what you will be doing and then decide from there.

PS, you can join the Hotwire Savings club for a free trial (maybe $1?) I am not sure because I am a Connections member. But, I find value in remaining a member. I buy the gift cards for teacher gifts, birthday gifts for relatives, etc. We more than made up for the cost of the membership.

Maggie

I use the vouchers as a way to prepay our meals. Other than Beaches N Cream, I have no idea where we'll use them. I like the idea of having as many things paid for in advance as possible.

So far by getting the quick and casual vouchers, free breakfast vouchers from our 30 day tickets, and Rainforest Cafe GCs, we have about 9 meals taken care of.

I can't worry about saving an extra $$ by going to place A instead of place B.

 

[Blondiex46]

I also bought some to prepay and for the Rainforest which I know I will spend more that 31.50 cause I want to eat Lobster, lol, and only bought 1 for the boys. The Q&C ones I only bought 6 cause they are not big eaters and for b&C, etc. Also bought the breakfast one cause, isn't it cheaper to buy them for the Character Breakfast then to pay, well maybe not but bought them anyways..

 

[dgaston]

These reasons have already been posted, but they are the ones that keep me buying vouchers.

I like to pre-pay things for my trips. I have already paid the costs of our room as well as our behind the scenes tour.

I love being able to hand my DS15 a voucher and know that even while it might be used at Pizza Planet (again) he'll be getting something that resembles food.

DH and I like to share meals. This has actually led us to eat in places we hadn't tried when we were just paying with cash.

I really like the Kingdom Lunch Vouchers. This trip we're splitting one at the Brown Derby.

I especially like the convenience of the vouchers for Character and Buffet breakfasts--it's not a huge savings, but it does add up (Dole Whip for me!!)

 

[mugglemom]

We just returned from the World and we purchased vouchers! We bought mugs for our resort, brought granola bars for breakfasts, and one lunch I ordered an extra orange juice. Other than that we lived off our vouchers completely and we were very content!

The Q & C's at the Pepper Market were the best deal for us! One afternoon we had prime rib, grilled vegetables, stuffed baked potato, the most decandent gigantic chocolate cake and a drink all for one voucher! The meat alone was $26. So the $10.50 voucher was a great deal!

We used the VKL's at the RainForest(stuffed lobster and a huge steak) and at The Brown Derby(Steak and coconut shrimp). We shared vouchers each time!

We did not plan every step around our meals but we knew ahead of time where we hoped to eat and just fit it into our day!

I am beat right now but I will post tomorrow about all the great stuff we did!

 

[swilshire]

We also just returned from our first trip trying the vouchers. The Q&C vouchers saved us SOME money. We probably didn't save a lot because we would not have normally ordered drinks (water is good) and dessert, but the kids enjoyed trying the various desserts.

The Pepper Market was our favorite as well. We also tried Beaches and Cream and found it a good value. We actually left half of one of the desserts, which is NOT like my children.

We were not impressed with the Rain Forest Cafe and the Premium Voucher, but maybe it was because we received very poor service.

We will definitely do the Q&C for every trip, but I'm not sure I'll buy any more of the Premium Vouchers.

Sheila

 

[zandjmom]

Just got back from a trip last week and used 6 Q&C. The main thing I liked about them was that they were prepaid. We saved from $2-$5 with each one. Most meals were shared and to me, having the dessert made the meal "splittable"...just added a little extra.

At RFC, our bill was $97 and we used 1 adult VKL and 1 kids VKL. We had ribs and steak and still had food for another person. (There were 2adults and 2 children.) We did order 2 extra drinks that cost $7.00. There was also a $14 tip included that was nice.

I thought they were worth it even though we never made it to Beaches & Cream or Pepper Market.

 

[Lollipop Mom]

I like knowing that I have a few meals prepaid. We certainly don't plan on using vouchers for each and every meal but I have ordered enough to have one or two per day. If I don't use them, I know I can sell the left over ones on eBay so we won't feel obligated to use one just b/c it is there. We probably wouldn't order desert with each meal so a lot of the time I would just order cookies or brownies or something else that was wrapped up that I could just toss in the diaper bag and bring it out later when the kids wanted a snack. It was great for distracting them while waiting for a show or a parade to start and we didn't have to spend more money on a snack.

 

[itsmetigress]

i love using the vouchers...i get them when i can find the price around what they normally cost instead of some of the over inflated prices and while they might only save one or two bucks they are easy to use...my dh and i usually do the double cheese/extra bun thing..although we did go over to the GF to gasparilla and were able to get the large pepp pizza and a drink with it..i want to say the pizza would have been around $15-$16 plus the soda for over $2 so it saved alot there..we werent allowed to get the side or the dessert since we got the big pizza but it was 16 inch so we didnt need anything else and it was really good...

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by DolphinBoy
I just got back from WDW and tried using a few Q&C vouchers this time. I know this is a hotly debated topic, so I just want to throw my 2 cents in. We found that basically we saved $2 - $3 on a meal with a desert. However, the question is that if we did not have vouchers, would we normally purchase deserts for lunch? As a result, we actually spent more money than if we bought a lunch without desert. So where is the real savings? The voucher basically just got us to purchase a desert.
In regards to the splitting a meal with a voucher debate...You can do that without a voucher. Sorry, my vote goes against vouchers.

ITA, most of the "pro-voucher" posts are from people who look for "loopholes". Places that allow children to order off the adult menu, restaurants that allow you to order food that clearly isn't intended for one person (Kitchen Sink, RFC, medium size pizza) and you better not skip dessert. May work for some people but I was amazed that a poster was actually planning their day around where to use the vouchers.

 

[Disney Debbie]

Well, you must not be reading the same "pro-voucher" posts I am. They are not "mostly" people looking for loopholes! I really don't understand why this has to be a debate anyway. It fine to post your experiences and opinions - but I think it's pretty obnoxious to judge other people's choices.

I've never used them because I've never heard of them before now! But I don't see how they can't save us some money at a few places. We're staying at CSR so I can sure see how they'll save us money at the Pepper Market. I can see using the lunch vouchers when I want to try something that normally would be way more then I'm willing to pay. My DD and I split meals a lot - so I can see it saving us there as well. We'll be splitting a lot more food for the same price as what an entree and drinks alone would cost at some places. And since you can return unused ones within 90 days or sell them to someone else, I don't see the harm in having several and using them where they save you some money and not using them where they don't.

 

[Lewisc]

You're reading too much into my post. I am agreeing with OP. Using a voucher for meals in the restaurant I normally patronize, the way I normally order wouldn't save much money. I'll frequently skip dessert in favor of having dessert later in the evening. I understand that's a big no-no if you're using a voucher.

The word "loophole" doesn't have a bad meaning. I'm simply indicating the pro-voucher people have done a good job finding the places that seem to be allowing people to over order. Sorry, I consider being allowed to order the KS with one voucher a "loophole" that has since been closed. Children ordering off an adult menu while using an adult voucher is a "loophole". Nothing wrong with doing it since it's currently allowed. People are free to use these "loopholes" but there really isn't much recourse if and when these "loopholes" are closed.

People who don't intend to use these techniques will probably not get much benefit from the vouchers.

Sorry you don't like people giving a contrary opinion.

Originally posted by Disney Debbie
Well, you must not be reading the same "pro-voucher" posts I am. They are not "mostly" people looking for loopholes! I really don't understand why this has to be a debate anyway. It fine to post your experiences and opinions - but I think it's pretty obnoxious to judge other people's choices.

 

[maggiew]

Originally posted by Lewisc
ITA, most of the "pro-voucher" posts are from people who look for "loopholes". Places that allow children to order off the adult menu, restaurants that allow you to order food that clearly isn't intended for one person (Kitchen Sink, RFC, medium size pizza) and you better not skip dessert. May work for some people but I was amazed that a poster was actually planning their day around where to use the vouchers.

Personally I think this is a generalization and I don't particularly agree with it. Of course, there are people who try to look for the "loopholes", but I would not say "MOST" pro-voucher posts are like that. I personally take offense to this because I am not trying to take advantage of the system. We have used the Q&C vouchers at Beaches and Cream but never for the kitchen sink. We didn't even order onion rings (which cost more) just fries. Also a single burger, not a triple with bacon, etc. I still feel we got a good deal. We have used them at Pepper Market and I don't think we used any "loopholes" there either. I've never used the VKL vouchers before, but will try them at RFC this August. But I doubt we will order off the adult menu for the kids because my kids are picky and do not eat "real" food. Buying steak and lobster for them would be foolish. They will probably order off the kids menu - of course, get an appetizer (prob. the chicken tenders) and we will combine 2 vouchers for the volcano. We usually get the volcano when we go to RFC (we have 2 RFC by us and go there often.)

Just my opinions, of course.
Maggie

 

[HaleyB]

I have read many many posts on this topic and the general agreement on Q&C vouchers seems to be, they are a good deal at a few places, break even at many, and sometimes you spend more than you would have w/o them. They seem to work better for resort counters than in the parks. So we plan to give them a try, but not for every meal. We will use or not use as our tummies dictate. As for the forcing you to buy dessert with your meal, go ahead twist my arm, lol. I love sweets. And if you want there are often desserts that save well. I love the riscrispytreat Mickey heads, and they come in plastic wrap already. They make a great snack for latter. Lots of people get dessert to go and use it for brekfast the next day.
I plan to save receipts and do a detailed trip report, so I will let you'll know how it goes!