Food for a family of six

[fvols98]

Hi

This will be our first trip to Universal Orlando. We have two connecting rooms at the RPR in June. My question is how can we keep food costs down. I have Kelly's book and have read it extensively. I wanted to ask some experts. What restaurants will offer the best value for our money? I have a budget of $150/day. We will be there for 5 days. Is this too However, if there are some additional pointers I would love to hear from you. We are driving so we will have access to a car. By the way 2 adults and 4 kids (21, 18, 6, and 4) are in the family. I need a honest assessment of food costs and some good recommendations so we can get the budget realistically planned.

Thanks

 

[cheetara]

Hi

This will be our first trip to Universal Orlando. We have two connecting rooms at the RPR in June. My question is how can we keep food costs down. I have Kelly's book and have read it extensively. I wanted to ask some experts. What restaurants will offer the best value for our money? I have a budget of $150/day. We will be there for 5 days. Is this too However, if there are some additional pointers I would love to hear from you. We are driving so we will have access to a car. By the way 2 adults and 4 kids (21, 18, 6, and 4) are in the family. I need a honest assessment of food costs and some good recommendations so we can get the budget realistically planned.

Thanks

Hi
I thought I would add my 2 cents since we just got back from Universal this past weekend and we had 5 people in our group.

For a good and reasonable priced dinner we went to Bubba Gumps our last night there and it was Fabulous food. Cost us for 2 adults a 17 yr old and 2 kids under 12 $65.00 with tip.

We also had late lunch at Cici's pizza (all you can eat pizza buffet on I Drive and they have a 10% off coupon too) one day also that cost around $35.00

We had burgers and fries at Mel's Drive in at Univeral Studios one day for late lunch - $48.00 for 5 burger meals with soda. (soda seems to be separate from actual meal combos, weird)

Then the other nights we went to AppleBees & fixed stuff at our rental home so that probably not helpful. Breakfast we had at perkins right next to park one day at that was $30.00 and the kids were filled until dinner time!

We got snacks throughout the parks during the day. Buckets of popcorn, refillable sodas, pretzels, etc that was relatively low in cost and if you get the refillable options in reality not a bad option.
Hopefully this helps a little.

 

[bopper]

We have a re-fillable "mummy" canteen (I think you can still buy them where you buy pictures) that you can get refills for 69cents through out the park. Our family shares it.

I would consider buying breakfast items and having it in your room (cereal or bagels) and not going out.

Also, do you all need to have an entree? Often if one person gets an entree and one person gets an appetizer and they share, that is plenty of food.

 

[ky07]

We are a family of 4 and we have found when we eat at citywalk just like the other poster we share appetizers and DW even shared her food with youngest DS cause it was too much for her.
An example is when we ate at Margarittaville we all for shared the volcano nachos and was really enough for me.
Nascar Grille is reasonable and we had an appetizer and DS's had huge hotdogs and fries and me and DW had burger and fries and it came it about $65.00 .
Also remeber if you are a AAA member that it gets you 10 % off food and merchandise just show your AAA card.

 

[mark2311]

There's plaenty of cheap places for food around the Universal an I-Drive area. Would agree with the poster above about CiCis, think it was $4 when I was last there and they had 10% off coupons so thats a cheap meal and the pizza's not bad. Also there's a Golden Corral across from the main gate of Universal if memory serves me correctly. You've probably heard of it before but everyone call eat their fill for a relatively cheap price.

Keep a look out for all the Orlando coupon books as there is often a good deal to found amongst these.

Plus get to Margaritaville for a burger, last time i went that was one of our cheapest meals because everyone got a burger, and they were great

 

[ky07]

There's plaenty of cheap places for food around the Universal an I-Drive area. Would agree with the poster above about CiCis, think it was $4 when I was last there and they had 10% off coupons so thats a cheap meal and the pizza's not bad. Also there's a Golden Corral across from the main gate of Universal if memory serves me correctly. You've probably heard of it before but everyone call eat their fill for a relatively cheap price.

Keep a look out for all the Orlando coupon books as there is often a good deal to found amongst these.

Plus get to Margaritaville for a burger, last time i went that was one of our cheapest meals because everyone got a burger, and they were great

Glad you brought that up and yes there is a golden corral on kirkman and if you go to Major blvd there is a TGI fridays and go around the bend and there is a Cracker Barrel and if you don't have a car it is only a $5.00 taxi ride or a 10 min walk from citywalk

 

[mark2311]

I thought Cracker Barrel was great for breakfast. Eggs in a basket, mmm

 

[ky07]

I thought Cracker Barrel was great for breakfast. Eggs in a basket, mmm

Great choices for dinner also

 

[donaldduck352]

If you don't want to drive once you park @ the resort take the I-Drive trolley.The websiteis www.orlando-internationaldrive.com/trolley/index.html.
It gets pretty hard to navag Orlando area if you never drove it.

 

[donaldduck352]

Forgot to mention .There is a Thousand rest on I-Drive
I'll post a website I know of in alittle to help you out on this.

 

[leanne11]

I remember eating at the kitchen at hrh and the buffet was $15 $ a piece and it was OK...
the next day we got smart and across the street was Ponderosa...all 3 of us ate for $15..it was fine..

 

[Disneyhappy]

We usually stay club level and with a family of 4 or 5 in the room, we find it very cost effective for breakfast, snacks, and drinks. However, with a party of 6, I am assuming you will have 2 rooms which would nto be as cost effective. Last October we stayed at HRH without the club amenities. My nephew wanted to get alcohol for the room because the hotels prices were expensive for someone with a wooden leg (not really, he is 6'6" and he can hold a lot of liquor when he chooses to drink). I went with him to the store and ended up buying an extra styrofoam cooler, bottled water, breakfast items and lots of snacks. I did not realize how easy it was to do this and it really saved us a lot of money. Since you are driving, you may be able to bring these items from home. $150/day is definitely doable, even on site but like other posters mentioned, there are some great offsite choices.

 

[wdwgypsy]

Although it was not something I would do I had an acquaintance tell me that he and his wife bought the meal deal bands. They then went to one resturant and got food for the kids then to another for themselves. When I told him I thought that was stealing he gave me a look like I was from another planet.

How about pop tarts and juices in the room for breakfast, a good midday meal and some PBJ for later that evening??

And yes get the refillables!! Or take a bottle of water and refill it all day.
Hydration is important. Sodas are not enough. Water Water Water
Want me to count the number of times I have had to help people suffering from heat exhaustion or dehydration injuries at a theme park? US / IOA staff is usually there pretty quick which is a plus.

 

[lorax123]

If you are going to UO for 5 days, have you considered getting the Preferred AP for one memeber of the party? While it's double the cost of the 7 day pass, you get some serious discounts. 10% on almost all on-site restaurants, plus 20% on sovenirs. And you might find you can re-book your two rooms for a lower APH rate, sometimes that saves enough to pay for the additional cost of a PAP.

Other than that get a couple refillable mugs. Consider sharing them, we share one between the 3 of us and it was $1.68 for re-fills, free for ice water.

Enchanted Oak usually has such huge portions, it's easy to share. Most of the sitdowns have huge appetizers and are easy to share.

$150 a day, i don't think is unrealistic. But I never took a 21 and 18 year old. They may be expensive to feed.

 

[ATAfamily]

We are a family of 5 and to help keep costs low we will have Flipper's Pizza deliver pizza directly to the hotel (RPR) and eat at the pool. Flipper's also has pasta dinners, salads, & subs. We've also eaten there (at Flipper's) and it was very good and reasonably priced. We also do cereal, bagels & pop tarts in the room for breakfast.

 

[fvols98]

Thanks for all the pointers. We do have an AP. It was well worth the purchase. As a result we were able to get rooms at RPR for $139, saving over $500 off the cost of the hotel. Yeah!!!! Regarding Flipper's, do you meet the driver in the lobby or exactly how does that work? I definitely think we will do breakfast in the room. Once again thanks.

 

[turning40withMickey]

Are these readily available in the parks? I saw you can get them with the meal deal, but we are not doing the meal deal. Where do you pick them up? Where can they be refilled? THanks

 

[damo]

Are these readily available in the parks? I saw you can get them with the meal deal, but we are not doing the meal deal. Where do you pick them up? Where can they be refilled? THanks

You can purchase them all over the place and they can be refilled at all of the drink places.

 

[ATAfamily]

Thanks for all the pointers. We do have an AP. It was well worth the purchase. As a result we were able to get rooms at RPR for $139, saving over $500 off the cost of the hotel. Yeah!!!! Regarding Flipper's, do you meet the driver in the lobby or exactly how does that work? I definitely think we will do breakfast in the room. Once again thanks.

Yes, when placing the order we gave them our cell number. When the driver is in the lobby he calls our cell and then we just pick up our order from him in the lobby.

I believe they have a website if you want to do a search for it: flipperspizzeria

BTW, awesome rate on the room with your APH

 

[lorax123]

That is a great rate! Good job. Sounds like you have everything under control. With an AP discount and eating off-site for a meal or 2, $150 a day can be done.
Have fun!