What is the best value?

[scoopmorgan]

I stress over unexpected costs on vacay, so I am considering the quick service dining plan. For those of you whom have tried either cash or QSD, which is the better value? I know we will need Freestyle Cups, but should they be purchased with QS dining plan, or is there another option? We will need them for several days, and I know they are "renewable" but I see all sorts of costs and am totally confused. Please help me make my budget....

 

[janicept]

I love your kitty pic.

If you like having a fixed cost in mind I guess the dining plan would be the way to go. I like to look at the menus and pick what foods I want to try. If you don't go to the park frequently there is likely a long list of places you want to go. If I only went once a year I would like to split meals with my husband so I could eat more things.

This is my fav site for menus: http://touringplans.com/universal-orlando/dining/menus

DIS has some info about the dining plans. http://universal.wdwinfo.com/universal-information/universal-dining-plan/
This link also shows the restaurants that take the plan. I would estimate a quick service meal would cost about $12, a snack would be about $4, and a drink would be about $4 so that's right at $20 which is the cost of the plan. I've never bought it before but I believe you can purchase it after you're in the park. That way you can go day be day and see what you want to eat.

I'm cheap so I only ever drink water from the drinking fountains at the park.

 

[kohlby]

Look at the menus before you go and decide based on that. We found that the QS plan that you can buy in the parks saved us money on our 3B's chicken and ribs and frozen butterbeer day. Those meals are big so we didn't buy plans for all in our family and shared the food. It did not make sense the rest of the time for my family. As for the Freestyle cup, we found we don't need it every day. We get sugared out - and don't want to waste it on our frozen butterbeer day. You can buy it for less as part of a meal plan, and then just reactivate it the days you want it. We have always been fine using two cups for five people.

 

[agavegirl1]

Depends on how you eat. Hubby and I prefer apps and drinks for lunch for example. Also like to eat at City Walk. We do OOP due to the limitations of the dining plan to certain places we don't particularly care for.

 

[jagafen]

We bought 2 QSDPs for our upcoming trip, the ones that included the freestyle cup. We'll sparse them out over the course of the vacation so that we're able to get max bang for our buck. The cups will be redeemed on our first day though (at least one will!). For us, getting the dining plan for each person, for each day wouldn't work out. But getting a few and using the inclusions when it benefits us made more sense.

 

[derekw]

If you're really tight on budget...Universal parks are great with bringing in snacks/drinks in backpacks. We were there a few weeks ago brought in two backpacks with juice boxes, water bottles and PBJs/snacks etc. You could also get the Freestyle cups additionally. I think we would have done that if the weather was hot (it was perfect 75 the whole time we were there so not as thirsty and didn't end up buying the cups.

 

[wagman67]

derekw is spot on, and if you are staying onsite, it is great to pop over to your room for a break and some food.

 

[bchbetha]

You can budget by buying Universal gift cards for your anticipated expenses. That way the $ will have been spent so when you're there you won't be obsessing over cost.
Free cups of ice water are money savers.

 

[scoopmorgan]

Great tip; thanks!

 

[Westcoastwild]

I think it depends on your habits?

Some people can't help but micromanage. Dining plan works best/ it's a cost they can see upfront and it removes a lot of park stress.Some people know they'll "cheat" on the dining plan- I get tempted by table service. Either quick service dining plans don't pay off because I don't use it enough OR I eat too lightly for it to make sense.

The cups depend solely on your soda intake. I drink soda if I can get away with it. But I never drink it in hot weather because too much salt. So no cup in the summer, cup off season.

So I guess what I'm saying is that you know your family, and you'd have to base it off that.

 

[chs27]

On our trip in 2014, we found a lot of shops don't participate in the dining plan. When at Disney, the food plan works better. Keep having to duck head into each candy shop, trying to use our snack credits was infuriating. Whereas if we had not had the dining plan, I would have just bought a cupcake from Sues landing or a flaming Moes from the Simpsons area.