Universal Dining Plan

[lissiesmum]

I was wondering it there is a dedicated thread to the Universal dining plan on here? I was looking specifically for what exactly is included as snacks, what restaurants participate, and do you find it was worth it if you tried it before? I'd be looking for info on the plan that includes the sit down meals. Thanks for your help

 

[macraven]

I did not check but did you look at the food sticky?

 

[NicoleLarson]

I was wondering it there is a dedicated thread to the Universal dining plan on here? I was looking specifically for what exactly is included as snacks, what restaurants participate, and do you find it was worth it if you tried it before? I'd be looking for info on the plan that includes the sit down meals. Thanks for your help

From everything that I have read, there's pretty much zero savings with the sit down dining plan and in most cases you lose money. I think most every restaurant participates, there's a section on the UO website that details all of the restaurants that are included. We sometimes get the quick service plan and just FYI the snack and beverage entitlements are interchangeable. For example, this past weekend we got 2 kids quick service meals. We did Leaky Cauldron breakfast which is a flat $12.99 which includes a drink, plus they got an extra drink so we got 2 $5 Gilly waters. For snacks we got $8 butterbeer, $7.50 ice cream from Floreans, $8.50 bavarian pretzel and an $8 big pink donut. Remember this can always be bought right on the spot so no reason to pre-buy. I know this isn't what you were really asking for but just thought I would let you know our experience.

 

[lissiesmum]

From everything that I have read, there's pretty much zero savings with the sit down dining plan and in most cases you lose money. I think most every restaurant participates, there's a section on the UO website that details all of the restaurants that are included. We sometimes get the quick service plan and just FYI the snack and beverage entitlements are interchangeable. For example, this past weekend we got 2 kids quick service meals. We did Leaky Cauldron breakfast which is a flat $12.99 which includes a drink, plus they got an extra drink so we got 2 $5 Gilly waters. For snacks we got $8 butterbeer, $7.50 ice cream from Floreans, $8.50 bavarian pretzel and an $8 big pink donut. Remember this can always be bought right on the spot so no reason to pre-buy. I know this isn't what you were really asking for but just thought I would let you know our experience.

Thank you

 

[lissiesmum]

I did not check but did you look at the food sticky?

I will look for it thank you

 

[nkereina]

We did the same as PP - just purchased the QS DP at the point of sale when it made sense based on what we were purchasing. For whatever reason, the Universal dining plans are not as popular as the ones at WDW. I have read multiple times that the savings is minimal at best. For us, we just like to have total flexibility at Universal and we do that best with express passes and no dining plan.

 

[Bethany10]

I looked into the dining plan from a pre-paid point of view. Part of truly relaxing on vacation for me means everything is paid for in advance as much as possible. I literally did a spreadsheet where I did "test" meals based on what I knew everyone would eat to see if there was any kind of cost savings. There really wasn't, and I had some personal stuff happen right before our trip which meant we didn't commit before hand. Honestly, I totally forgot about it when we were down there and we wound up not eating in the park that much, for us meals became a time to sit down in the air conditioning usually outside of the park.

If you really want to see if the value is there I recommend pricing out sample meals and going from there.

 

[Surr]

Do they still offer the American Express discount for the Quick Service Plan? We did it a couple of years ago with the refillable cup and seemed to be a good deal then. It seems like you had to purchase it at a specific location though.

 

[Surr]

Do they still offer the American Express discount for the Quick Service Plan? We did it a couple of years ago with the refillable cup and seemed to be a good deal then. It seems like you had to purchase it at a specific location though.

I checked and they do still offer it, 10% off Dining Plan with Refillable Cup. Must be purchased at a Dining Plan Kiosk and show the offer on the UO App. https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/corporate-partners/american-express

 

[Dockside Bayer]

I looked into the dining plan from a pre-paid point of view. Part of truly relaxing on vacation for me means everything is paid for in advance as much as possible. I literally did a spreadsheet where I did "test" meals based on what I knew everyone would eat to see if there was any kind of cost savings. There really wasn't, and I had some personal stuff happen right before our trip which meant we didn't commit before hand. Honestly, I totally forgot about it when we were down there and we wound up not eating in the park that much, for us meals became a time to sit down in the air conditioning usually outside of the park.

If you really want to see if the value is there I recommend pricing out sample meals and going from there.

The dining plans are good at most places at CityWalk too, right?