Onsite stay--any tips to stretch the food budget?

[havaneselover]

I'm hoping to take my children on our first trip to universal the week before Labor Day for 7 nights. I have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points for 7 nights at RPR plus about half of our plane tickets. Was planning on buying Universal gift cards at Kroger for food and PTP 3 park 5 day tickets. Staying on site and not having a car I am concerned about food costs and looking for ways to keep this somewhat reasonable while still enjoying vacation. Planning to get a car service and requesting a publix stop on the way to the hotel, but I know the fridges are tiny. Anyway, would love some advice. Thanks!

 

[iivye]

Can you swing club level at RPR? Do you have an annual pass? If you have a pass (or are considering it) you might be able to get an APR discount on the club level which will give you the option of free snacks and drinks a few times a day.

 

[havaneselover]

Can you swing club level at RPR? Do you have an annual pass? If you have a pass (or are considering it) you might be able to get an APR discount on the club level which will give you the option of free snacks and drinks a few times a day.

I have toyed with that but it's about $500 more. Thought about the APR discount but then I can't book through Chase UR--not necessarily a deal breaker. Then I could do tickets and flights through UR. Just wish I knew what those rates would be.

 

[TommyJK]

If onsite without access to a car, the best I could suggest is having a look at the Bayliner Diner at Cabana Bay. It's more like quick service dining and is a bit less expensive in general than the table service restaurants at the various hotels or in Citiwalk. Have a look here:

http://stayinguniversal.com/menus/bayliner-diner-lunch-and-dinner-menu/

 

[danielocha30]

Eat your breakfast at your room, get at least One Coke Freestyle cup at the park you will pay $10 for the firsts time and after only $1 for soda refill and free water refill everyday after that, Universal restaurant a double cheeseburger goes for around $12 order at extra bun and you actually get 2 single ones with can cost you $10 of the menu, order only the sandwich not the combi meal, at Harry Potter the tree broomsticks have a great feast plate for $42 witch will feed 5 adults easily, at springfield, The Simpson they have huge donuts for $5 great snack to share and bring all kinds of snacks items to the parks, have a great trip!!!

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

How old are the children? That will play into the equation a bit. For us, if we can't stay club, breakfast is one of the tougher places to cut costs. We love the buffets, but they are pricey. If you can handle that at Publix, then you are off to a good start. Look at the menu sticky as well as the food pics. For example, the nachos at Bula Bar (poolside at RPR) or Margaritaville (CityWalk) will feed a small army. For $14-$18, they are pretty much a meal in of themselves. Also, the Food Court on CityWalk have some very reasonable deals. The app sampler at Hard Rock Cafe is very plentiful. My wife and I order that and one meal to share. A whole pizza at Louie's in Universal Studios isn't too far off the charts. As for snacks, the Big Pink in Springfield (and other gift shops) is very nice for about $5.

Pending the heat, we really only eat one significant meal per day, then snack. And stay hydrated!!!

 

[havaneselover]

How old are the children? That will play into the equation a bit. For us, if we can't stay club, breakfast is one of the tougher places to cut costs. We love the buffets, but they are pricey. If you can handle that at Publix, then you are off to a good start. Look at the menu sticky as well as the food pics. For example, the nachos at Bula Bar (poolside at RPR) or Margaritaville (CityWalk) will feed a small army. For $14-$18, they are pretty much a meal in of themselves. Also, the Food Court on CityWalk have some very reasonable deals. The app sampler at Hard Rock Cafe is very plentiful. My wife and I order that and one meal to share. A whole pizza at Louie's in Universal Studios isn't too far off the charts. As for snacks, the Big Pink in Springfield (and other gift shops) is very nice for about $5.

Pending the heat, we really only eat one significant meal per day, then snack. And stay hydrated!!!

Thanks!

My son will be 12 (he can be a big eater) and my daughter will be almost 14. Only vacations that aren't to the grandparents have been cruises and food is basically included so this is a little more stressful for me!

 

[bchbetha]

We aren't big breakfast people so a granola bar in the room or a pastry at Starbucks or the Bayliner were fine. I like an early lunch to beat the crowds. We split meals a lot as my little guy and I have comparable appetites.
We did free cups of water or the water fountain. I didn't want to carry a refillable cup with us (and we'd rather drink water anyway).
Pizza can be found at a lot of places like CityWalk and hotels- easily split and not expensive.
I'd split meals when you can and supplement with just little things vs meals for all.

 

[damo]

Nachos! Humongous servings at Bula Bar and Margaritaville that feed a multitude of people.

 

[chabs]

I would look into having the Chase rewards pay for your plane tickets, get at least one preferred annual pass for hotel and food discounts and then look at the cost for annual pass rates for hotel. Although don't count on AP rates in the summer-last year they never came out for the period of time we went in August last year. Labor Day is less busy so you might find AP rates for that. All you have to do is go on the UO website and key in APH in the promo code box to find out the AP rates. It's too early though for summer rates-usually more like 4-6 months out. There is an AP rate thread here that you can check and see what month they are up to now.

 

[danielocha30]

also Citywalk has a Panda express and Burger King both are good choices to save money

 

[Parker Clan]

Have to agree with breakfast in the room. We do this in Disney too, most days to save $$$

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

We have a stay at RPR coming up, and plan to do breakfast in the room. They have a Keurig coffeemaker in the room, and we drive so will bring cereal and paper goods, and will stop at a grocery to buy milk, fruit/juice, donuts, etc. We stayed at RPR in November and the options there are SO limited and SO expensive for breakfast. On the other hand we walked over to Cabana bay on our checkout day and had a very nice reasonably priced breakfast in the food court.

 

[schumigirl]

We have a stay at RPR coming up, and plan to do breakfast in the room. They have a Keurig coffeemaker in the room, and we drive so will bring cereal and paper goods, and will stop at a grocery to buy milk, fruit/juice, donuts, etc. We stayed at RPR in November and the options there are SO limited and SO expensive for breakfast. On the other hand we walked over to Cabana bay on our checkout day and had a very nice reasonably priced breakfast in the food court.

Orchids Lounge has reasonably priced offerings for breakfast.

 

[TwoMisfits]

In September, they sometimes have a deal for APs (preferred and up) to buy one counter service meal plan and get 1 1/2 off. That may be a way to save on meals in the park. If you have that type of AP, watch to see if the deal gets announced in August...
Out of the park, if you are stopping at the grocery, make sure you buy breakfasts, desserts, shelf-stable fruit, beverages, and stupid-easy shelf-stable meals (like chicken/tuna salad meals, bagged pepperoni/salami with crackers, peanut butter/nutella and bread if getting no microwave - whatever the kids eat). Anything you eat in your room will always be cheaper than eating out.

 

[Darcy03231]

We packed a soft-sided cooler in our luggage, along with zip lock baggies. We just kept filling the baggies with ice from the ice machine. Worked great. You could also buy a foam cooler at Publix. We had breakfast in the room every day (cereal, fruit, yogurt, granola bars), and most days had lunch there to (sandwiches, chips, fruit, salad).

 

[wookiebeck]

Grande nachos at the RPR pool = great value. Dippin' Dots in the park, not a great value.

Feast at Three Broomsticks, too much value. Me and my three giant teenagers had to throw out food (mostly salad greens, though).

 

[sandam1]

Echoing everyone else's statements, try to get breakfast foods and eat that meal in your hotel room. We did this on our last trip and saved a ton of money (and time) this way.

Also, if you can get everyone to get on board with drinking water instead of soda, you will save a TON of money. I have a Brita bottle that I carry with me and just refill at water fountains. I save my money (and calories) for the butterbeer.

I'm a huge fan of the Bayliner Diner at Cabana Bay. On our first two trips, we only ate there for breakfast. But then we ate dinner there on our 3rd trip and OMG! The food was super good (NOT food court food), plentiful and CHEAP (well, theme park cheap). Now at least one night per vacation we skip a sit-down dinner at City Walk and go to the Bayliner. If you are staying at RPR, you could always hotel hop to CB one evening, eat at Bayliner, go to the bowling alley or float in the lazy river.

One last tip - the food portions at Universal tend to be large. You can always consider sharing meals or ordering kid's portions or appetizers. Again it saves room (and $$$) for a mid-afternoon snack.

 

[gotomu212]

We usually eat breakfast (dry cereal or pastries) in the room and then for lunch we have a bigger sit down meal a little later maybe 2:30 or 3 which I think is fairly reasonably priced at Universal. After the late lunch we aren't too hungry for dinner and will split a few snacks or small counter service food. That's how we eat at home though too.

Avoid room service at all costs. That's the one place where I think you get pretty ripped off between food price, delivery charge, drink costs.

 

[havaneselover]

Thank for all the great suggestions. I ended up booking CBBR instead of RPR to save $ and have access to bayliner diner. We plan on spending some time at Volcano Bay so it should be convenient. We'll aim to do breakfast in the room (although I'm hoping the Starbucks has egg sandwiches because I like protein in the morning) and packing some lunches and snacks to take into the park.