Meal Deal- Worth it?

[tracyd3]

Has anyone used the meal deal and been happy with it? It says it includes one entree and one dessert. When you look on the allears website to see the menus, the restaurants that are included don't have many, if any, desserts on their menus. I saw one menu that had dippin dots but then I saw another one that had Gelato and Italian ice but it said it wasn't included with the meal deal. It also seems like a lot of cheeseburgers and chicken fingers and pizza. Also, by being limited to the 6 restaurants (3 in each park) are we missing out on good restaurants or are they pretty much the same menus. Another question is, does anyone offer breakfast? If not, they assume that you are only eating lunch and dinner.

If I decide to do the meal deal, can you go into a restaurant during the day just to get fries, onion rings or side dishes like that for a snack? I have a 13 year old who would probably like to do that.

Any information on the subject of the meal deal would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Metro West]

Unless you like to eat a lot during the day, I don't think you're missing anything plus there are other restaurants you would enjoy more than the standard theme park fare. In IOA...I would strongly recommend Mythos or Thunder Falls Terrace and at the Studios...I would say Lombard's, Louie's (on Meal Deal) or Finnegan's. Here is the link to the Meal Deal page:

http://www.universalorlando.com/tickets/meal-deal.html

 

[BellyBaby]

DH and I just came back and considered the meal deal, but the selection wasn't great. We decided to share a meal 3x per day instead of larger portions less often (we get sleepy if we're stuffed). Averaged less than $10 per meal x 3 = $30. vs. $40. that way if we wanted a treat that's not included (popcorn, ice cream) we still had $10 per day and still spend the same $, instead of buying the treats on top of the $40 meal.

 

[tracyd3]

Thanks for the advice. I was kinda leaning away from doing it. Still didn't make a definite choice yet though. It would cost my family $80 for the meal deal. (not including the beverage mug) We budgeted for $100/day for food. I just don't know how much food we would eat on one day given the heat and the hours of the park only being to 6:00 or 7:00. Also, I planned on my 5 year old sharing food with me (he doesn't eat much and we usually share our food when we go places and it is plenty for both of us). From what I have read the parks frown upon sharing food on the meal deal.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for the advice. I was kinda leaning away from doing it. Still didn't make a definite choice yet though. It would cost my family $80 for the meal deal. (not including the beverage mug) We budgeted for $100/day for food. I just don't know how much food we would eat on one day given the heat and the hours of the park only being to 6:00 or 7:00. Also, I planned on my 5 year old sharing food with me (he doesn't eat much and we usually share our food when we go places and it is plenty for both of us). From what I have read the parks frown upon sharing food on the meal deal.

Yes...sharing food is not permitted and I think you would be better off doing meals of your own choosing.

 

[noice]

I bought it a while ago, and it was rather disappointing. I was only able to eat 3 or 4 meals (which i wouldn't of normally ate), making it hardly worth it. Also around lunch time, the lines are about 30 minutes long to get a meal at participating locations.

The meal deal cup isn't as good as the souvenir cup. You have to refill it at participating vendors making it a hassle to get refills. It's also 3$ more than the souvenir cup, which would pay for 4 refills in the souvenir cup. Another thing is, you can bring the souvenir cup back and get discounted refills, but you can't bring the meal deal cup back because they check for your wristband.

In my opinion the deserts are awful, and the food isn't the best either. So unless you plan on eating more than 4 meals, I would say just buy them separately.

 

[mickeysfavoritefan]

Suppose you were travelling with 3 teenagers, including a bottomless pit of a teenage boy. Would the meal deal be worth it in this instance?

I suppose I should include that we are travelling to US for 4 days and 1 day at Wet and Wild. We are staying at Royal Pacific and participating in the Luau for dinner one evening, Mythos on one day, and pasta at a Portafino restaurant one evening. We are spending 2 days in each park. We were thinking of doing the meal deal for 2 days 2 parks. Will it be worth it or not, I am unsure since the only meal prices I know are Disney meals, which are pretty high. How do the meal prices compare. Can anyone tell me the cost of a souvenir cup and refills. Is it a better deal than the refillable meal deal beverage?
Sorry so many questions.
mickeysfavoritefan

 

[tracyd3]

Okay, now I am confused about the cups at the park. I thought the only refillable cup was the souvenir cup. It says it costs $8.99 on the Universal website. You have to have a meal wristband to use the cup. So you have to buy the meal plan to be able to purchase the refillable cup. Are there two different type of refillable cups??

 

[dragonfly32837]

Yes. The Meal Deal sipper cup is $8.99 and blue and the refills are free at participating Meal Deal locations. And you must have the meal deal wristband for the refills. The regular souvenir cup is red and id costs $6.99. The refills are .69 cents at any cart. They also sell a men in black souvenir cup and a homer simpson souvenir cup. I just don't know how much they cost.

 

[geffric]

Suppose you were travelling with 3 teenagers, including a bottomless pit of a teenage boy. Would the meal deal be worth it in this instance?

I suppose I should include that we are travelling to US for 4 days and 1 day at Wet and Wild. We are staying at Royal Pacific and participating in the Luau for dinner one evening, Mythos on one day, and pasta at a Portafino restaurant one evening. We are spending 2 days in each park. We were thinking of doing the meal deal for 2 days 2 parks. Will it be worth it or not, I am unsure since the only meal prices I know are Disney meals, which are pretty high. How do the meal prices compare. Can anyone tell me the cost of a souvenir cup and refills. Is it a better deal than the refillable meal deal beverage?
Sorry so many questions.
mickeysfavoritefan

Last time I had teens and they got more than money's worth out of the meal deal... If yours eat and eat and eat some more.. than it is worth it.. plus you don't have to get it for everyone.. only the ones that really eat..

We are going in July and taking 2 teens boys - 16 years old- and they will have the meal deal.. it isn't worth it for me as I don't eat as much but they are looking forward to eating with it..

 

[tracyd3]

Dragonfly,

Thanks for making the souvenir cup situation make sense.

 

[dragonfly32837]

Dragonfly,

Thanks for making the souvenir cup situation make sense.

You are welcome.

 

[noice]

I was told today that you can bring back the meal deal cup w/o the wristband and get discounted refills. Also refills are .79$ right now, so with tax .85$.

 

[macraven]

i'm in the minority as i love the meal deal.

when i am at the parks for a full 5 days, i do one day for the meal deal but only at the studio side. the rest of my stay there i do city walk, hrc and mythos for dinner.

IFFF has a great assortment of foods. it is not just hamburger and fries there.
Louie's is the other place i pig out at.
the best pizza in the parks.

i don't do a both park meal deal, just the one side and only at 2 of the places.

i do it on a day that i am just picture taking or shopping or only doing shows in the park.

it's very easy for me to get my money's worth at IFFF and Louie's easily.

the places close 30 minutes prior to park closing.

i go the last time right before that time period if i am hungry or not.
i just take the food with me then.

there is no way i can eat only one slice of pizza.
i always go back for a second slice at Louie's.

i'm not interested in the desserts so i take a pass on them.

 

[dsnypaul]

A coworker just returned and said while they were at Universal, they could sign up for a Universal Credit Card and get 50% off of stuff at Universal. He said that this included the Meal Deal, so their family enjoyed the Meal Deal at half off.

I'd sign up for a credit card to get 50% the meal deal. Has anyone ever heard of such a good deal?

 

[macraven]

A coworker just returned and said while they were at Universal, they could sign up for a Universal Credit Card and get 50% off of stuff at Universal. He said that this included the Meal Deal, so their family enjoyed the Meal Deal at half off.

I'd sign up for a credit card to get 50% the meal deal. Has anyone ever heard of such a good deal?

i have the original universal mc from years back.
did the sign up at the park.

this past year, universal has changed to the official credit card of the american express one.

i received the email about it and didn't switch over to it.
i know the discounts are there for it but it is a different AE card than the regular one.


i know there are no discounts on the meal deal as they already are discounted. by saying that i mean, the AAA or AP do not give you a discount when you buy the meal deal.

with the AE official UO cc, maybe they are doing that special of 50% off the meal deal.
they do a lot of things to entice guests to sign up for their cards.

if you are interested in signing up for the UO AE, go to the uo website as the have info on it there.

and if you do, enjoy the discounts you get.

just thought of something, maybe the 50% discounts are only good if you sign up in the park and for that sign up day only.
did your coworker get 50% off every day of her visit to the parks?

if so, you might want to wait and sign up then.

 

[dsnypaul]

Yes he said they signed up at the park and it sounded like got a 50% discount for that one day only.

 

[dragonfly32837]

It is a 50% discount on Meal Deals and sipper cups. They give you a coupon if you are instantly approved and get your card right then and there.

The thing is that you have to use the card to pay for the meal deal. The coupon is only valid on that day that it is issued and you can buy a maximum of eight meal deals and eight sipper cups with it. If it is a family of four they can purchase four for one day and four for the next day. They just have to purchase them on the same date that the coupon was issued.

 

[tracyd3]

I will have to check that out when we get there. That means that my family of 5 would be $40 and could eat all day! A couple of days ago I decided against the meal deal, but now that seems like such a great deal. I don't think that anyone answered my questions about going into a restaurant on the meal deal list and just getting fries or something like that during the day as a snack. Is that allowed??

Does anyone know if you can just use the credit card for the meal deal and then pay if off immediately and cancel the card with no other fees or anything?