Got the Meal Deal and regretted it--caused greasy beached whale syndrome!

[IowaGirl]

Yes--greasy beached whale sydrome is a real medical emergency

I have been following Dr. Oz for more than two years, and have lost 50 pounds, so maybe I am not the one to review the meal deal, but I thought I would give you my spin on it....

Since we were staying onsite and were only eating cereal for breakfast, I thought the meal deal would be great. Also, we ususally stay at the parks pretty late, so I knew we would be eating at least lunch and dinner there.
The thought was we could grab a cookie or a salad at 10 am to tide us over, eat a late lunch and a late dinner.
We did that, and here were our problems:
1) We ate way more than we usually do because we could. We normally eat a large breakfast, take a granola bar or two and eat a late lunch and then a snack for dinner, like a pretzel when at a theme park.
2) It offered us more choices than we probably would have went for ordering normally, but it was all greasy fare. I saw salads on the meal deal menus, but many of them were pre-coated in casear dressing. The burgers and the pizza were tasty for theme park fare, but still way more greasy than I am used too, and to eat it twice a day really made me feel yucky. And fries were the only side dish--I got by without eating too many of them, but I was dying for some fruit or something else.

So we spent $21 on food per person per day when normally we would spend about $11.

3) i got the soda deal one day, and I have really cut back on my soda in the last few years, and I felt like I was going to blow up. I just normally drink lots of water, especially when it is super hot. I drank it though because I bought the cup and I shouldn't have.
4) The cookie as a snack got old real quick. And it was not that tasty. They also had these heavy cakes available as part of the meal deal, but they were not really worth having.

We only got the meal deal two days, and we all were dying for a regular sub sandwich or a pb&jafter those two days.

 

[macraven]

Yes--greasy beached whale sydrome is a real medical emergency

I have been following Dr. Oz for more than two years, and have lost 50 pounds, so maybe I am not the one to review the meal deal, but I thought I would give you my spin on it....

Since we were staying onsite and were only eating cereal for breakfast, I thought the meal deal would be great. Also, we ususally stay at the parks pretty late, so I knew we would be eating at least lunch and dinner there.
The thought was we could grab a cookie or a salad at 10 am to tide us over, eat a late lunch and a late dinner.
We did that, and here were our problems:
1) We ate way more than we usually do because we could. We normally eat a large breakfast, take a granola bar or two and eat a late lunch and then a snack for dinner, like a pretzel when at a theme park.
2) It offered us more choices than we probably would have went for ordering normally, but it was all greasy fare. I saw salads on the meal deal menus, but many of them were pre-coated in casear dressing. The burgers and the pizza were tasty for theme park fare, but still way more greasy than I am used too, and to eat it twice a day really made me feel yucky. And fries were the only side dish--I got by without eating too many of them, but I was dying for some fruit or something else.

So we spent $21 on food per person per day when normally we would spend about $11.

3) i got the soda deal one day, and I have really cut back on my soda in the last few years, and I felt like I was going to blow up. I just normally drink lots of water, especially when it is super hot. I drank it though because I bought the cup and I shouldn't have.
4) The cookie as a snack got old real quick. And it was not that tasty. They also had these heavy cakes available as part of the meal deal, but they were not really worth having.

We only got the meal deal two days, and we all were dying for a regular sub sandwich or a pb&jafter those two days.

the meal deal does not start until 11:00 am each day.

 

[Ileana]

I like having peace of mind to eat wherever I want rather than be restricted to specific locations, which is why we never get the meal deal.

We ALWAYS do Mythos when we go, so that right there kills the value of the meal deal for us.

If you don't mind eating greasy foods - it's not a bad deal I guess???

Also, you can always request that they do not put dressing on your salad but instead ask for it on the side.

Hope that helps at least one person!

Otherwise, was the food GOOD??? (despite its greasy nature) that helps families make their own decision

 

[happymommy]

That is one reason that "meal deal" totally doesn't appeal to me. I almost never eat burgers or fries - maybe one during a whole week at Disney, but then it's usually a veggie burger. Never fries - don't really like them. Not too into pizza either - none of the food on this appeals to me. I'd rather grab a granola bar, then wait and sit and have some real food - hot entree or something different like sushi.
Even on our recent Disney cruise, there were burgers, hot dogs, pizzas available all day long, but I more enjoyed the fruits and wraps during the day. All that greasy junk doesn't appeal to me either. I was glad at least to see they use whole wheat buns - my son ate so many hot dogs!

By the way - congratulations on the weight loss! It's funny how you view food differently when you are focusing on healthy food, isn't it? It just makes you feel good! Way to go!!!!!!!!!

 

[tlinus]

I REALLY don't want to sound mean - but it seems that you were in the mindset that "since I paid for this - I am going to get my money's worth" and went on a binge.

Sorry to hear that.

I know for a fact that you could get salads, and other healthier options like fruit for desserts with the meal deal.

As far as the sipper cup?? Maybe that was a bit too much.

Congrats on the weight loss - and you now know for future reference that you do not need the meal deal.

 

[Orlando313]

Yea I think that's how both Disney and Universal stick it to you. They give you the price and show you how much food you're getting, and you think, well my goodness, that's a good deal. So whereas my family brings cheaper drinks from home, and maybe some cheese crackers for a snack and share meals, we would spend WAY more on a Meal Deal. It's all about tricking someone into thinking someone is getting a good deal.

We did the Disney Dining plan a few years back before I moved to Orlando and I thought I was going to die after that trip. It was like the first or second year and you got an appetizer or dessert, and a main course. We never get appetizers or desserts so eating like that several days in a row made me so bloated.

At least Disney has some good restaurants to choose from. At Universal it's pretty much counter service the whole way.

 

[dsmom]

sorry you had trouble with the meal deal - you must not have studied the menus very carefully. We always do it one day out of every trip. They have a great fruit plate at both parks. We have also had a great garden salad and also a chef salad. I have gotten chinese food, a great meatball sub at Louies, a garden burger, a grilled chicken sandwich and a rice and veggie plate to name a few. We skip the sodas and drink the free ice water they give at all the resturants.

 

[macraven]

sorry you had trouble with the meal deal - you must not have studied the menus very carefully. We always do it one day out of every trip. They have a great fruit plate at both parks. We have also had a great garden salad and also a chef salad. I have gotten chinese food, a great meatball sub at Louies, a garden burger, a grilled chicken sandwich and a rice and veggie plate to name a few. We skip the sodas and drink the free ice water they give at all the resturants.

you must be talking about IFFF ....
it is so good.

that fresh fruit plate could feed an army, and it's on the meal deal.
salads there are fresh, the chinese section is pretty good, i always hit that spot........and then there is louies..........pizza at its finest. the meatball sandwiches there are as good as the ones we get in chi town.


it just depends on what you like to eat and how much you want to eat.

when it is hot in the summer time, i limit myself to salads and fruits so IFFF is good for me.
i get hungry again and then go for the other sandwiches.

if someone does the meal deal and it really is upsetting to them, go to guest services. its not that you are going to complain but to let them know how disappointed you are with the type of food and not presented to you in the way you assumed it would be. i'm reacting to what you said with too much salad dressing and grease on the food.

you would be surprised at the mummy dust they throw at you to make up for the issues or problems you encountered.

i'm not saying they give the joint away, but you will be treated with respect and they listen to you. more than likely they will apologize for the inconvenience or mis information you had received about the program and make it so you both are happy and satisfied with your day in the park.

i have never had to become angry to express myself with a problem in the parks to guest services. disney, yes i have but on isolated events.

you don't have to "defend" your position of complaint at universal to the TM's at GS. that is so refreshing. they listen and help.

 

[IowaGirl]

I knew that the menus were a lot of pizzas and burgers, I had really planned on not really watching what I ate too much. I never dreamed I would be so sick of it, yet feel like I needed to eat two meals there because I paid for it. Again, my own fault that I felt yucky, I am not blaming Universal at all.

I was able to get a garden salad without dressing the first day at Universal I think somewhere, but later that I never found another salad with out the caesar dressing already applied. Nobody's fault but my own.

I should have planned out the restaurants ahead of time at each park, because I did see the menus' on these boards ahead of time, but that seemed crazy to my family.

I did like the pizza at Louies, but the really all the menus were basically the same--burgers, fries, pizza, chicken stips. Bland chocolate chip cookies and two kinds of heavy cakes for desserts.

I never saw fruit anywhere....I really should have scoped that out ahead of time. I knew I had seen it on a menu at least one restaurant, but I stopped in what I thought was all of them over the two days and never found a fruit plate. And I looked very hard!

I just never thought I would feel so yucky after eating that way for a couple days in a row.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

We were there for the past 5 days and got the meal deal only 2 of them & never did the soda deal. We carry our refillable mug for when we want it and that is not that often since water is a better choice on a hot day. I stayed away from the burgers totally. I had only grilled chicken, salads, the fruit platter and chinese food. My DD only had Veggie burgers, salads & fruit platters. I did get one order of onion rings and regretted getting them due to the grease... but I do love them (just not my stomach ). The fruit platter is great. It fills you up and satisfies your thirst I could eat them all day!
Reason for doing the meal deal only 2 days is because the other days we did not stay in the park all day to eat three + meals. We left and went shopping and ate other places. The days we did not do the meal deal, I have to admit, I did spend and eat less... but I had other options.
The one thing that really pizzed me off this trip was that the lines for food seemed longer than some of the lines for the attractions, no matter what time of day it was. My DD went on the line for the fruit platter and by the time she got up there (20 minutes later) they didn't have any out & she had to get a salad. We did go back later & waited again but we both got fruit that time. I might think twice about getting the meal deal during peak season when the lines are that long. Some places have certian lines for Meal Deal only and you have to wait forever on those lines

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I knew that the menus were a lot of pizzas and burgers, I had really planned on not really watching what I ate too much. I never dreamed I would be so sick of it, yet feel like I needed to eat two meals there because I paid for it. Again, my own fault that I felt yucky, I am not blaming Universal at all.

I was able to get a garden salad without dressing the first day at Universal I think somewhere, but later that I never found another salad with out the caesar dressing already applied. Nobody's fault but my own.

I should have planned out the restaurants ahead of time at each park, because I did see the menus' on these boards ahead of time, but that seemed crazy to my family.

I did like the pizza at Louies, but the really all the menus were basically the same--burgers, fries, pizza, chicken stips. Bland chocolate chip cookies and two kinds of heavy cakes for desserts.

I never saw fruit anywhere....I really should have scoped that out ahead of time. I knew I had seen it on a menu at least one restaurant, but I stopped in what I thought was all of them over the two days and never found a fruit plate. And I looked very hard!

I just never thought I would feel so yucky after eating that way for a couple days in a row.

There is a yummy fruit platter at the International Food Plaza near the Simpsons.... but the lines there are always long

 

[patster734]

I like having peace of mind to eat wherever I want rather than be restricted to specific locations, which is why we never get the meal deal.

We ALWAYS do Mythos when we go, so that right there kills the value of the meal deal for us.

If you don't mind eating greasy foods - it's not a bad deal I guess???

Also, you can always request that they do not put dressing on your salad but instead ask for it on the side.

Hope that helps at least one person!

Otherwise, was the food GOOD??? (despite its greasy nature) that helps families make their own decision

And now that we've discovered Finnegan's at US, we won't be doing the meal deal there either!

 

[kellymonaghan]

Too funny! And I couldn't agree more.

This is my take on the Meal Deal:

Aside from the fact that the Meal Deal encourages us to overeat and offers only fast food options, I’m not convinced that the savings are all that great. On the other hand, if you like fast food fare and can eat three or four meals . . . well, you know who you are.

 

[Orlando313]

i have never had to become angry to express myself with a problem in the parks to guest services. disney, yes i have but on isolated events.

you don't have to "defend" your position of complaint at universal to the TM's at GS. that is so refreshing. they listen and help.

Off topic:

Gosh, I must have been talking to the wrong people at the park, because everyone I talk to at universal is rude and uncaring. and Disney? they always bend over backwards and kiss their own butts to help you out.

My parents just went in to GS last night to get their annual pass holder replaced because they washed it, they were going to rip out the water coupons that they had already used, they just wanted to have a holder again, but they refused to change it, with the lady not even knowing what the thing was. They were not helpful and not nice. So now my parents have to carry the HHN coupon and water coupons around in a plastic baggy because it's tattered and falling apart.

I must not be going to the same park as you.

 

[Seahag]

Off topic:

Gosh, I must have been talking to the wrong people at the park, because everyone I talk to at universal is rude and uncaring. and Disney? they always bend over backwards and kiss their own butts to help you out.

My parents just went in to GS last night to get their annual pass holder replaced because they washed it, they were going to rip out the water coupons that they had already used, they just wanted to have a holder again, but they refused to change it, with the lady not even knowing what the thing was. They were not helpful and not nice. So now my parents have to carry the HHN coupon and water coupons around in a plastic baggy because it's tattered and falling apart.

I must not be going to the same park as you.

seriously, someone kissed their own butt?? this i would like to see! LOL

but I do have a few questions, I'm a little confused ~ HHN Coupon? why would they carry a coupon for an event in October in the middle of August?
what are water coupons? for a water park? or for bottles of water?

doesn't almost every shop in Studios/IOA SELL lanyards for passes?? and aren't they made of plastic? (the part that holds the pass that is) So how would washing it destroy it?

just curious

 

[macraven]

Off topic:

Gosh, I must have been talking to the wrong people at the park, because everyone I talk to at universal is rude and uncaring. and Disney? they always bend over backwards and kiss their own butts to help you out.

My parents just went in to GS last night to get their annual pass holder replaced because they washed it, they were going to rip out the water coupons that they had already used, they just wanted to have a holder again, but they refused to change it, with the lady not even knowing what the thing was. They were not helpful and not nice. So now my parents have to carry the HHN coupon and water coupons around in a plastic baggy because it's tattered and falling apart.

I must not be going to the same park as you.

have any opinion that you want. if you want to talk about second hand information, something that happened that you did not see or hear but found out after the fact, i'm sure it would give you a jaded opinion on universal.

i'm not falling into the trap of this thread being stirred up.

you list things that are not even out yet.....hhn coupon.....?
you list things that do not make sense to me......water coupon?


it is obvious so i'll move on to another thread.

say what you want, think what you want.
that's what message boards are all about.

the only difference of messages boards on the darkside are, we all play nice. we disagree but it is usually based on personal experiences we have encountered.
no one can take away from that.

 

[inkkognito]

I'm guessing this is a reference to the Premier Pass; you get your HHN coupon when you buy it, as well as coupons for 8 free bottles of water. But I'm not sure why they would be carrying the tattered coupons around with them...no need to carry HHN till you're ready to redeem it, and we never bring more than one or two water coupons at a time because are you really going to redeem more than that on one visit? It seems odd to me that those coupons would have been in some clothing item that was going to be washed in the first place...ours stored in a safe place, not carried around in pockets.

 

[dsmom]

Hi Mac! I agree with you. How can anyone let one person influence your opinion of a whole park? I can tell plenty of disney horror stories but I refuse to get into that- I just notice a lot more lately of disney people coming over here with the EVERYONE is wonderful there and EVERYONE is evil here- I get sick of the generalizations- they really need to let it go....

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Lets drop that subject and get back to the meal deal.. and the greasy food

Yes, some of the food is greasy, but to each its own. Some of us can tolerate it and even like greasy food, some cannot. For those that cannot, there are other choices. No one forces you to purchase the meal deal. It isn't like you have to purchase it to get to stay in a room cheap . If someone doesn't like it, don't knock it, just don't purchase it.
There are times I purchase it & times I don't.
There is no big deal, what floats one boat doesn't float all.

 

[Seahag]

are the choices terribly limited? I would never do the meal deal personally, but for no other reason than no matter what was on the menu I would want something else....do they also restrict which places you can eat? is it only counter service?