Universal Studios Orlando - meal plan

[grt1]

Since I'm not a world traveller and haven't participated in any "vacation package" type deals I would like to get the opinion of you folks out there that have.

 

 

The wife and I are biting the bullet and heading south (hopefully) in early february and she wants to stay at Universal Studios and with that there is an option of getting a meal plan.

 

So I guess the question is : are they worth it? if anyone out there can help or provide suggestions, please do

[aplumma]

If you planned on eating fast food type stuff then you will be paying less than the price of the package deals. If you want a nice sit down dinner than usually the package deals are better in quality at a discount. What type of meal are they offering and how much per meal?

 

Art

[JohnF]

Since I'm not a world traveller and haven't participated in any "vacation package" type deals I would like to get the opinion of you folks out there that have.

 

 

The wife and I are biting the bullet and heading south (hopefully) in early february and she wants to stay at Universal Studios and with that there is an option of getting a meal plan.

 

So I guess the question is : are they worth it? if anyone out there can help or provide suggestions, please do

 

I expect the meal plan limits your choice of restaurants to in-house. It seems to me that part of the fun of staying in the Disney World area is the variety of places to eat at. If you are spending any time at Disney World then take advantage of some of the restaurants there. We had a nice buffet in the big traingular shaped building the monorail runs thru. I forget the name but it's one of the original buildings. Each of the different resorts has restaurants if you can figure out how to get to them free on the park rail and boat system. Lake Buena Vista has a few restaurants that might be fun for you. At one of them Mickey and or Minney will probably come to your table. I'm not suggesting you'll save any money but it's part of the fun. I've never gone to Universal but I expect it has lots of restaurants as well.

 

If you go to Epcot there are lots of restaurants representing lots of countries' cuisine. It's all fun.

 

Otherwise that area is loaded with restaurants in all price ranges. Some are in hotels but others are independent.

 

Sorry I can't give you any specifics but it's been years since we were there but for a number of years we made lots of visits to that area with and without our kids.

 

Don't be embarrassed about going to an over-sized kiddy park. It's great fun for us grownups too.

 

JF

[SBCregal]

a buddy of mine at work swears by the meal plan disney offers, says its part of the reason he goes as often as he does.

[skinny]

in 2007 the family went to disney we had their food plan and I found it great. took a bit to figure it out but the one we had then was two counters one sit down and a snack every day. the counters were sorta like going to a cafiteria and the sit downs there were several places to go. We found out we could eat at wolfgang pucks as a sitdown and you were allowed a appitizer,dinner,desert and non alcoholic drink and you ordered off the regular menue.

the other nice part was the way the trip was set up once we got on the plane we didn't really have to think about money other than for extras. I found when travling with the fam that was nice cause you didn't open the wallet and go oh no the cash is running low and curb your plans.

 

not sure if the studios are done the same but I bet it's got to be close

[bigugli]

I've only experienced 2 of the Disney meal plans and they are great. Allowing you to explore various facilities and cuisine, and completely removing food allowances from your daily planning because you've already covered it.

[Garnet]

Universal Studios is on International Dr. One of the giant tourist traps, all kinds of small shops easy walking and the Iride a bus system that travels the whole length. Theirs every restaurant on International Drive and Bass Pro Shop.

 

Food is not cheap in Florida and my guess is the meal plan will be best. It's been years since I've been to Universal. Don't think you could spend more than a day or 2. Bring really good walking shoe because blisters are in your future.

 

Don't get sucked into staying just off Disney 3 miles. When you get to the main gate of Disney you could be 20 miles away from your attraction.

 

You can buy peoples time share on Ebay very cheap. Most have shuttles to the attractions but you are on a very tight schedules that's way it's better to stay in Disney and get on there bus system, a cab ride back will $30.

 

Last year we stayed at the Hilton at the east end of International drive you will see several ponds some have bass in them.

[fishing n autograph]

nothing is really cheap at Disney....

 

I went to Universal in Los Angeles and didn't really enjoy it all the much. IMHO the actual theme park is much better