Avg Cost of Food for 4 days in park??

[mom2mykids]

We will be in the parks for 4 days. Arrive on a Wed and check out on Mon.

Looking at the meal deal, it would be $85.16 for the 4 days and if we add the drink it's $123.48. So it works out to be meal deal w/drinks around $30 a day or w/o drink about $21

Not looking to do any fancy meals, probably only quick service. I can't find current menus w/ prices. Allears is from 2008!! With the deal I see there are only about 3 places in each park that participates.

1) I was wondering what is average for food per day?

2) Have you done the deal, is it worth it?

3) Or can you find food fairly cheap as park food goes?

4) And does any place serve breakfast, if so is it included on the meal deal?

 

[ky07]

We will be in the parks for 4 days. Arrive on a Wed and check out on Mon.

Looking at the meal deal, it would be $85.16 for the 4 days and if we add the drink it's $123.48. So it works out to be meal deal w/drinks around $30 a day or w/o drink about $21

Not looking to do any fancy meals, probably only quick service. I can't find current menus w/ prices. Allears is from 2008!! With the deal I see there are only about 3 places in each park that participates.

1) I was wondering what is average for food per day?

2) Have you done the deal, is it worth it?

3) Or can you find food fairly cheap as park food goes?

4) And does any place serve breakfast, if so is it included on the meal deal?

I am not agianst the meal deal but the selection is very limited and if your not a big eater then its not worth it
I have found it cheaper to just get what ever we wanted to eat without the doing meal deal

 

[torinsmom]

I found the food to be about the same price as Disney, about $7-$9 for a meal and then the drink. It may be cheaper to do the refillable cups, but we didn't want to lug them around. You can get free ice water, but it is a small cup without a lid; not like Disney's free ice water.

Marsha

 

[justprettynpink]

We will be in the parks for 4 days. Arrive on a Wed and check out on Mon.

Looking at the meal deal, it would be $85.16 for the 4 days and if we add the drink it's $123.48. So it works out to be meal deal w/drinks around $30 a day or w/o drink about $21

Not looking to do any fancy meals, probably only quick service. I can't find current menus w/ prices. Allears is from 2008!! With the deal I see there are only about 3 places in each park that participates.

1) I was wondering what is average for food per day?

2) Have you done the deal, is it worth it?

3) Or can you find food fairly cheap as park food goes?

4) And does any place serve breakfast, if so is it included on the meal deal?

Most entrees are about $8-9 each (like the previous poster stated)

We have done the meal deal twice. I have 3 teenage sons with hollow legs.
You are only allowed to get one entree and one dessert (jello, cookie, or cake) per trip which is fine if the parks are not crowded. No sides are included although french fries do come with the entrees.

If the parks are crowded the food lines can be very long (there are no wait times listed nor are there express lanes). Another thing that happened this last time, there would be two people between us and placing our order. Those two folks turned into 12 people.

Meal Deal places do not open until 10:30 or 11 and do not serve any breakfast foods.

I'm not sure I can come out cheaper not doing the meal deals but I will spend less time in food lines by not doing them.

Just my experience.

 

[francie57]

We have never done the meal deal since it is limited and we are not big fast food people. We find that the counter service meals are like the others have
said, around $9. There are some really nice places to try that the meal deal won't include. We haven't found the counter service meals to be extremely expensive.

 

[poeticdiabetic]

Can I add my $0.02?

I did the meal deal one year and I found myself eating my weight in burgers, pizza, etc. It's not the same as WDW because the menu is limited, especially dessert. We were glad to experience it, but we wouldn't do it again.

But this is what we did. It may or may not serve your purposes, but here goes:

We would always eat lunch at the Citywalk food court. That place is great! Yes, you leave the park to go eat lunch, but Citywalk isn't that far away. Plus, it gave us a break and Citywalk reminds us of stepping into some weird place where the world is a big music video. We liked it a lot!

So in the Food Court, they have the Whopper Bar, a Panda Express and a Moes. First of all, the Whopper Bar is worth going to Citywalk all by itself! They cook your whopper to order and they have these free add-ons that really personalize your whopper. Even if you don't eat Burger King (we don't normally) you will like the Whopper Bar. (And for about $7 a meal... including drink? You can't beat that!)

Plus, Panda Express and Moes is like the Panda Express and Moes at your house. It gives you a great change of pace and you know what your food tastes like.

Dinner? We left the parks and ate on International Drive somewhere. We were normally done with the parks by 5PM anyhow, so it made sense to leave and explore Orlando. Plus, it kept costs down considerably.

As far as prices for the fast food entrees at US/IOA- I saw high $8 to mid $9 range in prices. And it was mostly burgers and fries, Pizza, Chicken Parms, and spaghetti. Oh, and some Asian noodle dishes that makes you wish you went to Panda Express (IMO). The burgers are good, though. The rest was kinda bland for me, so I found myself eating too many burgers on the plan. That's why Citywalk Food Court was our thing.

 

[firsttimer2007]

That sounds great but...

how far is the citywalk food court from the entrance of the parks?

 

[damo]

That sounds great but...

how far is the citywalk food court from the entrance of the parks?

About 1 minute.

 

[mom2mykids]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, opinions and experiences!

I have to wonder if I wouldn't eat too much trying to make sure I got my moneys worth, LOL.

When we go the park is only open till 7pm so we might just do late dinners out of park anyways.

 

[patster734]

Most restaurants (both counter service and table service) offer AAA discounts on food and non-alcoholic drinks. We've never done the meal plan because we like eating at Mythos at IOA and Finnegan's at US. Both restaurants aren't on the meal plan, but both offer AAA discounts!

 

[Planogirl]

I find that the best counter service places are not included on the meal plan so it's not worth it to me. We love Thunder Falls Terrace for example and have to eat there at least once every trip.

I must try the Burger King bar. It sounds intriguing and I don't even like Burger King.

 

[mom2mykids]

Ohhh, I have AAA so thats good to know about the discounts. IS there a listing somewhere of the places that give AAA discounts? I read about some of the stores giving a discount and I think I read that it's maked on the maps but I'm not sure. Wonder if the resturants that give discounts are marked also?

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Most of the food carts also honor the AAA discount -- you can get a discount on your pretzel and drink before the Beetlejuice show! The AAA discount is also good at most of the CityWalk restaurants -- including Margaritaville, which really can't be beat for a family fun experience!

Maria

 

[TwingleMum]

I find that the best counter service places are not included on the meal plan so it's not worth it to me. We love Thunder Falls Terrace for example and have to eat there at least once every trip.

I must try the Burger King bar. It sounds intriguing and I don't even like Burger King.

Whats good at Thunder Falls???

 

[poeticdiabetic]

I find that the best counter service places are not included on the meal plan so it's not worth it to me. We love Thunder Falls Terrace for example and have to eat there at least once every trip.

I must try the Burger King bar. It sounds intriguing and I don't even like Burger King.

Me neither. Burger King is banned at our house at home. We don't eat there at all. But the Whopper Bar is an attraction for us. It's one of the reasons why we like US/IOA.

The reason why is that I like eating my Whopper with trimmings that I like. For instance, I always eat at least one Whopper with lettuce, tomato, pickle, A1 sauce, jalapenos and onion rings. They make it right there while I watch in this open kitchen and I have fries and a Coke Zero.

I wish someone could post all of the toppings on here; including those that costs extra. (All of my toppings are free, )

It's a cool place. We look forward to it every trip.

 

[amshowers]

The meal is not near as good as it used to be. We haven't used since the raised the price for the in park/citywalk deal, and limited the food choices. If you do have so big eater it may be worth it, you do not have to buy it for your whole party. The choice of restaurants are pretty good at US, but I advise against the meal plan at IOA. We don't care for the meal deal restaurants at IOA, so many better food choices.

 

[Mfarquar]

I agree with the previous posters. I'm not a fan of the locations for the Meal Deal. Every year my husband and I consider it, but can't get over the idea of eating burgers and pizza the entire time. We have eaten at most of the places on the list, but once was enough in our experience!

We are big fans of Blondie's at IoA (sometimes you just want a made to order sandwich on a hot day - not something that's warmer than you are for fried!). Usually we eat there for lunch and do Finnegan's at the Studios for dinner while waiting for Halloween Horror Nights to begin (we go in the Fall). We have found Finnegan's to be a great deal with good food, and a lot cheaper than Disney table service restaurants.

However, we do always seem to spend A LOT more on counter service at Universal/IoA. I think it's because sides like fries usually aren't included and I seem to remember the drinks being a bit more (sometime like $2.75 or $3.00 for a water?). Maybe we just drink more because there are fewer rides with air conditioned lines/less shade than at Disney? Not sure, but that's our experience.

We never do the drink deal because to my understanding it cannot be purchased without the Meal Plan and we don't like lugging around the souvenir cups (you have to store them in lockers before most rides).

 

[patster734]

Me neither. Burger King is banned at our house at home. We don't eat there at all. But the Whopper Bar is an attraction for us. It's one of the reasons why we like US/IOA.

The reason why is that I like eating my Whopper with trimmings that I like. For instance, I always eat at least one Whopper with lettuce, tomato, pickle, A1 sauce, jalapenos and onion rings. They make it right there while I watch in this open kitchen and I have fries and a Coke Zero.

I wish someone could post all of the toppings on here; including those that costs extra. (All of my toppings are free, )
It's a cool place. We look forward to it every trip.

http://legacy.bk.com/en/us/campaigns/whopper-bar/usa/universal-citywalk/menu.html#toppings

 

[poeticdiabetic]

http://legacy.bk.com/en/us/campaigns/whopper-bar/usa/universal-citywalk/menu.html#toppings

Thanks! That's it...

Man, that place is great!

 

[Planogirl]

Whats good at Thunder Falls???

My son and I normally get a smoked chicken and rib platter. He eats the chicken and fries and I eat the rib, corn on the cob and muffin. I might also throw in a dessert if I'm extra hungry but I tend to eat lightly when it's hot out.