All day dining a good deal?

[dizzyinwdw]

Hi all
We are planning to do Seaworld Orlando for a day on our trip down in 2 weeks. I'm looking at tickets and wonder if the "free" all day dining ticket for SW orlando is a good buy? There are no menu prices on the website for the different restaurants; DSs also have multiple food allergies so we will be limited in what they can eat. My kids are picky eaters as well so they will want pizza while the rest of us would LOVE BBQ! How does the All day dining plan work?
TIA!

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

There is so much less information here than for WDW vacations that I often find myself frustrated by the lack of answers. I have not been to seaworld in over 20 years; however, I have been researching an upcoming trip. What I have found is that you can search here on menus and get some information with photos of some menus. You can also look up food allergies on the park's website for their statement on the designated restaurant that is better at handling allergies in the park and an option to bring in more snacks/food than those with non-allergies are allowed. Into all of this information I have considered the time and money cost associated with putting our things in a locker for each thrill or wet ride.
IDK what you'd eat or ride throughout a day so I can not possibly say what value you may or may not get out of the dining deal. Our tickets are "included" with DC tix, so a "free" dining isn't an option for our trip. What is the difference in cost between the cheapest tix you could get without "free" dining and with "free" dining? We do not plan to use dining deal on our SeaWorld days because on those days we plan to spend half a day in each Aquatica and SeaWorld and eat lunch in between the parks rather than in a park. We do plan to use the dining deal when we spend an entire day at sister park Busch Gardens. If we use the dining deal, we will carry almost nothing with us and what we do have fits easily in zippered pockets of our hiking clothing - so we will save time/money vs. needing a locker. We will eat one meal (maybe two?) and many trips through the restaurant lines for just a side and drink. We plan to go to participating restaurants during off times so that the time in line to get a drink and side (we call this a snack even though it must be obtained at a participating restaurant rather than a snack cart) is about equal to the time we are saving not putting a cooler of allergy snacks in a locker. YMMV.

 

[Lynne G]

The dining plan works by allowing a person to get food and drinks from the restaurants that accept the plan during the hours the restaurants are open. Some close before the park does. No sharing is allowed, and you can go through the food line for a meal, side or dessert and drink as many times as you want. You can also go through the food line and just get a drink or what ever combination. We liked to go in and get a drink and fries, a drink and dessert and sometimes entree and drink. I would only use the dining plan if you are staying the whole day, and the hours are long enough to get at least 2 entire meals. When it was hot when we went in the summer, the dining plan was useful on the long day we had. In the winter, we enjoyed it when again, we went were we had a small breakfast, and lunch and dinner there. Take a look at the places that accept the plan. There are not many, and are spread out in the park. I do think the combined ticket is a great deal, as there is a variety of food in the included restaurants. While the website may not have a complete menu, it does list the kinds of food found in each restaurant. I'd use that as your guide. For the allergies, I would call SW. I found they are good at giving information over the phone and by email.

I hope you will enjoy SW.

 

[newestkg06]

I found this article really helpful, but of course, she is arguing for it. We decided to do it because the cheapest tickets we could get were $75 (so a savings of $20). I suppose we could have waited to see if a better sale would come along, but the cheapest I saw was $65 in Feb. I just was doubting they would have another big ticket sale with the summer (and we go in Sept). With the bigger restrictions on what you can bring in to Sea World in terms of food (no meals, just water and small snacks), and that we plan to be there from open until close, we think we will get our money's worth. I'm looking forward to not having to carry around a small cooler for drinks and snacks and getting fresh fruit for snacks for the kids.
http://familytravelsonabudget.com/theme-parks/sea-worlds-all-day-dining-deal/

 

[DOOM1001]

There are certain situations that make the all day dining deal worth it:

1.Are you going to be at the park most of the day?If you can get 2-3 meals in its more than worth it
2.If the park has longer hours like in the summer or during the holidays,the more likelihood to be able to get more use of it.
3.If you're going during the hotter summer months you might be able to get your moneys worth just in water bottles and sodas as you can just go through the line to get drinks,so long park hours and hot weather make the dining deal a must
4.Just like going through the line for drinks you can go through for a dessert or a bowl of strawberries for a snack.

If you get at least 2 meals its worth it as each entree will be in the $8-$12 range,drinks around $3 and desserts or sides $3-$4,so two meals will cover it and if you get other drinks or snacks or even another meal those will all come out free.If you're a light eater it might not be worth it but it can be a great deal for some.As far as the restaurants that offer it unless they've changed it pretty much all the counter service restaurants are included.

 

[NorthshoreTigerFan]

I'm going to more or less repeat what others have said above, but here is how I look at it. My first assumption is that I will be at the park all day because if I'm only going for half a day then I don't think it makes financial sense. If I don't use the plan, then I probably would skip dessert. I assume that an average adult entree plus drink will cost me $12 or $13 (you can eat cheaper, but you can also eat more expensive). So if I eat two meals on my own I'm looking at about $25 and that doesn't take into account a snack or bottles of water throughout the day.

If I do use the plan, then my inner glutton comes out and I will get dessert because it's part of the plan. I also won't hesitate to stop in and get a bottle of water, soft drink or coffee when I want to. If I add all that stuff up I'm probably looking at $40 to $50 for myself. Luckily my wife isn't as much of a pig as I am but I would bet she would consume around $30 to $40 worth of food and water throughout the day. My kids will kill them on the plan just on fruit and bottled water. So to me it's worth it.

But once you take into consideration food allergies and picky eating kids, all bets are off. At that point I think only the parents can determine whether the dining plan is worth it or not. Good luck!

 

[squirrel]

How does it work if you have a 10 year old and the all-day plan is more than what they would eat? Can the rest of your group/family be on the all-day plan and just pay out of pocket (child's meals okay?) for the 10 year old?

 

[FLOIR]

There is no requirement that everyone in your group have the ADD (this is just inside the park, I am not looking at any ticket purchases you may be considering). The only requirement is that no one shares a meal with someone using the ADD.

You get a wristband when you purchase the ADD and only the person wearing that specific wristband is allowed to consume food received under that specific wristband. I do know of at least one instances where individuals looked like they were being escorted from the park because they were seen sharing meals (it looked like a group of 3 or 4 were eating using only 1 wristband).

 

[RabFlmom]

We were there last week and it looked like getting a bottle of water was not included with the wrist band any more. They use blue dots or red dots to show what was included and water had the wrong color. Didn't ask but chose not to get the plan this time because we only planned the 1 meal. Didn't think it was as good a value if I had to get soda instead of bottled water. I rarely drink soda and need plain ole water when out in the heat. If it was included even 1 meal would have been worth the price for all day because we were there about 8 hours which means I would have gotten at least 4 or 5+ bottles of water which adds up to almost $15 for the water. We paid for our meal at Voyagers.....1 meat platter each(now $13.89 if I remember correctly)+ soda and lemonade(around $3) for 3 of us and it came to just under $50 with our discount. We did not get the side or dessert that is included in the band. That would have added about $4 more to each meal.

 

[DaisyFoote]

We just went to SeaWorld the other day and got the all day dining. We really regretted it. First of all, the food wasn't very good at all. At lunch, the fries were cold and the roll was hard. For a mid day snack we got pizza from Seaside Pizza which was very thin. For supper I really wanted to go to the place the served fajitas. There was a really long line and they only had one lane open. We stood in line for about 10 minutes without even moving. We finally decided to move to a different restaurant. I got a club sandwich which was very dry and the bread was hard. My friend who was with me said the cheesecake she got wasn't even good. I wished we would have saved the $35 for each of us.

 

[RabFlmom]

That's a shame that you had a bad experience with the food. The brisket at Voyagers and everything else there was really good when we were there. Can't say I have ever had a bad meal, but then I even like their cheese cake. I even look forward to SW Christmas Cookies and their BBQ. We have always joked that I eat my way through SW sometimes when we go. Srite them an e-mail and let them know your disappointment so they know they need to improve.

 

[NorthshoreTigerFan]

I went the week of Memorial Day and bottled water was included then. We did ADD two days and paid out of pocket one day. I found that if you are going to be there all day, then it is worth the cost. I personally drank about about $25 worth of water those two days we did the plan. On the day we didn't do the plan, I think I just got one bottle of water and refilled the bottle at water fountains throughout the day.
Overall, the meals were hit-and-miss. Come of them were good (Terrace BBQ was surprisingly good), and some of them not so much... If you keep in mind you are eating park food and adjust your expectations accordingly, then I think most people would find the food to be good. Not great, but good.

 

[2girlsmom]

I agree with the group, if you are there all day, then ADD is a good deal, even for my very picky eats like a bird kid (over 9 so adult on the plan). She will get a pastry usually for breakfast and a drink, usually pasta or pizza for lunch with dessert and drink, usually 3 or 4 extra drinks, and 1-2 "snacks" throughout the day, and then frequently will also get dinner.