Leaving the parks for lunch

[tikkipoo]

For our next trip, we are considering staying on property for a couple nights. How reasonable would it be to leave the parks for a mid-afternoon break, go back to the hotel and run out to grab something for lunch from off-property? It's hard to know if it is a good idea since I don't know how far it is from the hotels to the parks.

Thanks!

 

[Bluer101]

Sure you can but would I do it, no. I like being there and not going anywhere. But the parks, CW, and hotels are all very close together. From there it depends where you want to do lunch off site.

In a day we are back and forth a few times from parks to hotels. That one benefit of Universal.

 

[KorbensMomma]

The parks are close to the hotels, at least the deluxe. You can walk to the parks from the hotels. If staying at RPR sometimes it's faster to walk to the park than take the boat.
HRH & PBH both have walking trails also, and pedicabs (bicycle pulled).

As for leaving for food, once I park my car I don't get it again until I leave, so sorry no help here.

 

[HM]

We did this several times on our trip last month (stayed at HRH). We had great weather, so we left the parks to take in the sun at the pool for a few hours before going back to the park around dinner time. The parks were open until 9-10 while we were there, so it was nice to spend some time out of the crowds and then have several hours to still do things at night.

We ate lunch one day at Kitchen at HRH and liked it a lot. Had lunch at Moes another day. Dinner at Margaritaville one night. Mostly we ate in the parks though.

You could certainly go to your car and eat offsite, but we didn't use our car once we were there. Lots of choices on site and in the park, so we didn't feel the need.

 

[schumigirl]

You can walk to all 3 deluxe hotels or get the boat back midday in no time at all.

But to take the time and drive off site just for lunch, seems a lot of time wasted when you're only there for a couple of nights.

Both parks and citywalk have fantastic food choices.....have a look at the stickie at the top of the page, it's full of information as is the UniversalOrlando website.

If you still wanted to drive offsite you have lots of choices, within a few minutes you are in IDrive where you have so much choice.

 

[nkereina]

You can walk to all 3 deluxe hotels or get the boat back midday in no time at all.

But to take the time and drive off site just for lunch, seems a lot of time wasted when you're only there for a couple of nights.

Both parks and citywalk have fantastic food choices.....have a look at the stickie at the top of the page, it's full of information as is the UniversalOrlando website.

If you still wanted to drive offsite you have lots of choices, within a few minutes you are in IDrive where you have so much choice.

Agree - we found there were plenty of options of all price ranges at City Walk. But going back to your resort to get the car is much more doable at Universal than it would be at WDW.

 

[Seeker615]

I agree with the others.

There are a lot of great reasonable options in Citywalk and no need to grab the car and go offsite.

If you are staying onsite it is so easy to leave the parks and go to Citywalk or your hotel for awhile. We frequently took a break and had a meal in Citywalk and then headed over to the other park.

Universal's website has a great list of all the dining options.

 

[lazer]

We had a harder time finding places offsite than onsite! We went to ikea and the mall one day and it was such a struggle, we just ate at the pool!

 

[Darcy03231]

I think a lot depends on how many days you're there for.

We've found if its a short trip (2-4 days) we eat lunch either in the parks or in City Walk. While the on-site hotels aren't far away, we found it was a pain (and time consuming) to go back to the hotel, retrieve the car, go off property for lunch, etc., come back, re-park, walk back to the parks.....

For longer trips (5-7 days), we tend to venture off property more. Sometimes we take the morning at the pool, go off property for lunch, then to the parks in the afternoon/evening. Or go to the parks in the morning, then venture off property for the afternoon/early evening, etc.