How much do you spend on food at Universal???

[TravelMommy]

Was wondering what people typically find they spend daily (we know Disney inside and out and are venturing to Universal only our next trip) and if there are any budget friendly tips you might have for eating at Universal? It has been some time since we visited and I wanted to know your best tips! Ps do any Citiwalk restaurants do specials/early bird specials?? TIA!!!

 

[Laketravis]

We aren't big breakfast or lunch eaters, but we had dinner at some nice places in the parks and at City Walk last week and the bill for three of us would come to around $70.

Add in some pretzels and Icees throughout the day for another $30 and we averaged roughly $100 per day.

I was surprised to see some relatively inexpensive options available. At City Walk, the Antojito's next to Margaritaville is a good deal. In Universal Studios, Lombard's seafood place is a good deal as well.

 

[TravelMommy]

I have put those on my list and it is good to have a starting point to narrow down my budget,thanks!

 

[johnvree]

For a family of four, I budget $300 a day -- $50 for breakfast, $50 for lunch, $150 for dinner, and $50 for snacks. I usually come under that, but not by much.

 

[TravelMommy]

I think I will do the same,sounds like a good way to budget! Thank you!

 

[Bluer101]

Family of 3 and budget $150, that's $50 per meal. But normally don't even come close to that. We are also not expensive eaters or drinks. The more we save the more we can go.

 

[pigletto]

I think our family of four averaged about $200 a day when we were last there. That was maybe a croissant and a Starbucks in the morning (or something similar), a counter service lunch somewhere, and a sit down dinner in City Walk in the evening. That's a rough estimate, but I would say $40 for breakfast, $50 for lunch and $100- $120 for dinner.
We definitely didn't need to spend that much and could have cut corners here and there.

 

[Sunnywho]

...

 

[goofy!]

We were there last week with a party of 6 adults. We paid $100 a day to be upgraded to club which took care of breakfast, waters, pops and if we made it, appetizers and dessert.

With the AP preferred pass, our dinners in Citywalk averaged around $100 - $120. Occasional snacks such as ice cream, again with AP, averaged $30.

The high end was around $40 per person / per day. Our meals also included alcohol, margaritas at Margaritaville and beer and wine elsewhere. We ate at Margaritaville (several times), Vivo Italian Kitchen, Finnegans in Studios and lunches at Circus McGurkus (not our favorite but only one that had space at the time) and Leaky Cauldron.

 

[Laketravis]

With the AP preferred pass, our dinners in Citywalk averaged around $100 - $120. Occasional snacks such as ice cream, again with AP, averaged $30.

Dang it, I didn't even realize we could have gotten discounts with our AP's.

 

[Go Vols]

We usually budget $125 for our family of two adults and a toddler. We also stay on club level which covers breakfast and snacks.

 

[johnvree]

We were there last week with a party of 6 adults. We paid $100 a day to be upgraded to club which took care of breakfast, waters, pops and if we made it, appetizers and dessert.

With the AP preferred pass, our dinners in Citywalk averaged around $100 - $120. Occasional snacks such as ice cream, again with AP, averaged $30.

The high end was around $40 per person / per day. Our meals also included alcohol, margaritas at Margaritaville and beer and wine elsewhere. We ate at Margaritaville (several times), Vivo Italian Kitchen, Finnegans in Studios and lunches at Circus McGurkus (not our favorite but only one that had space at the time) and Leaky Cauldron.

The upgrade for us to the club level was $50 per night from a normal deluxe room. For a family of four, if you take advantage of only breakfast in the lounge, it almost pays for itself.

I actually don't like getting the club level at Universal. I feel like the evening offerings can almost serve as your dinner. That's good from a cost-cutting perspective. But not if you want to hit some of the restaurants. I always feel too full after eating in the lounge.

 

[georgina]

If you have a AAA membership it is 10% off almost every food place, inside the parks and at Citywalk. I forgot to use it many times when we were purchasing snacks, but usually remembered for the bigger meals.

 

[pigletto]

If you have a AAA membership it is 10% off almost every food place, inside the parks and at Citywalk. I forgot to use it many times when we were purchasing snacks, but usually remembered for the bigger meals.

And somehow we forget every.single.time. to use our CAA discount.
Next trip I'm going to tape the card to my forehead.

 

[coastgirl]

I believe there's a change to the AAA/CAA discount. It's my understanding that it only applies to totals over $50. So it wouldn't work for snacks, and some meals. We are getting the preferred-level AP (one in the party is all we need), in part because the AP discount is similar to the AAA discount, but applies to amounts less than $50 as well.

 

[coastgirl]

And somehow we forget every.single.time. to use our CAA discount.
Next trip I'm going to tape the card to my forehead.

That'd be cute, Pigletto. You could put it in your lanyard with your ticket if you wear one. That'd probably be more comfortable in the FL heat!

Meant to say, also, interesting thread, and useful to me as well. We tend to stretch our budget by eating lots of grocery-store snacks and convenience foods, and using our rental car for off-site restaurants, unless we really want to try something onsite or we just want to fuel ourselves and keep going. This trip we are staying onsite for part of the the trip, so will probably eat on-site more than we have in the past.

 

[radar74]

I believe there's a change to the AAA/CAA discount. It's my understanding that it only applies to totals over $50. So it wouldn't work for snacks, and some meals. We are getting the preferred-level AP (one in the party is all we need), in part because the AP discount is similar to the AAA discount, but applies to amounts less than $50 as well.

We were able to use our AAA discount on food at Cabana Bay and it was under $20. But we were not able to use it on merchandise at Harry Potter because it was under $50.

So I'm not sure what the rules actually are.

This was on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

 

[coastgirl]

Good clarification info, radar--thanks!

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

One of the budget eating tips we have used at the mouse park is to split larger meals. This is often cheaper than two smaller meals for us.
Are there any large platters or huge salads that may work similarly for us at USF or IOA?

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Bring in a loaf of bread and a jar of mustard and buy a turkey leg! That would feed our family for a couple of meals at least ;-) !