Is it really worth buying meal vouchers?

[lisaes]

Hi! I notice a lot of these vouchers being sold on e-bay. Are they really worth it. I would be mostly interested in the sitdown service ones. I would not be eating at any of the resorts but only the parks. The restaurants that I am interested in are Sci-Fi, Rainforrest and 50's and of course a couple of character breakfasts (CP and Chef Mickey's). I can't imaging being able to eat an appetizer, entree and dessert in the middle of the day and then continuing on with the parks. I have read that people share their food but would'nt you have to be limited on what you ordered? How would you share a burger? I definitely don't think it would be worth buying for a child would it? Thanks for your input!

 

[Jamieb]

It really depends on where you purchase your vouchers and how much you plan to eat. They can be a great savings at some places and more or less break even at others. Some people use one and share it themselves or use one and let the kids share.

In this thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=435889 on the budget board you can find out all you need to know about the vouchers and where to get them at a cost that makes more sense when figuring out how much you will save using them

You may also want to look over at http://allearsnet.com/din/dining.htm to get an idea of what things cost for the various restaurants.

 

[Julia M]

I have also looked into buying the vouchers. I may buy a couple, but have decided they aren't the best move for our family.

We are only planning to definitely do one b'fast (dd and I)

We are planning lunch or dinner at SCi Fi, but even at lunch, with what we'd probably order, we don't get our moneys worth from a $31 voucher.

I may pick up a few Q & C vouchers for lunches, as we will be doing counter service.

I think they work best for people who have definitive plans about where they will eat, and are willing to choose places that get the vouchers best value.

Or, for people who want to have things prepaid, and don't care about getting the "best" value for their money.

Or, for people who have a really hard time saving, so if they collect a hundred bucks or so, can buy vouchers, so they "can't" spend the money.

The reason I would buy them is if my parents travel with us. They usually pick up the price of meals for us. If we have a few vouchers, we can "force" my dad into letting us pay for a few meals (ie, if we don't spend them, they are useless to us at home)

I prefer to keep buying travelers checks, so I have my collection of funds for the trip.

 

[crisi]

You share a burger by cutting it in half with a knife.

Check out the menus at www.allearsnet.com. See if you can order $31 worth of food. Don't forget the voucher includes tax and tip, but will not include alcohol.

If you order the most expensive stuff on the menu you may save a few dollars.

Don't order them from eBay, where they sell for more than they are worth.

Remember that Disney does not sell these to people to help them save money - they are sold through group sales - so that if you have a sales convention at Disney you can give all your sales people a day park ticket and a meal voucher. Kids vouchers are seldom worth it.

From the little you've written, it doesn't sound like they will be a value to you.

 

[SnowWitch]

If your eting at the Rainforest Cafe they can be a good deal. I believe the voucher for this is $37.50, if you look at the menus following the link above you will see it would be great depending on what you order.

Many like to prepay. So they purchase the vouchers.

For our group, we own at the BWV's so we are within short walking distance to Beaches and Cream. So I always try to get 4 or 5 Q&C's just for that. And 1 or 2 VKV's for the Rainforest Cafe!

 

[BCV2003]

One thing to note. We recently used a lot of vouchers for our trip for meals that were planned.

We used four VKL vouchers (2 adult/2 child) at Rainforest Cafe at AK. When I showed our very helpful server what we were going to be using, he said that he thought that the child vouchers could be used for any meals on the menu, not just child items. So he went to check and when he returned told us yes, that they had the same value. There were 10 of us, 5 adults and 5 children. We used the vouchers for adult entrees (two meals were split between three people) and ordered kids meals for the children. There was more than enough food for everyone and even had one volcano and two other desserts. Our bill ended up coming to $26. We did tip very well on that $26 though because our server was more than helpful in maximizing our benefits. This was our best savings using the vouchers.

We also used vouchers for character breakfasts (PSB and Cape May) and Q&C vouchers for Beaches and cream and some counter service. It's nice that they cover tax and gratuity as well.