Universal Studios Quick Service Meal Plans

My recommendation is to skip the meal plan. First of all, what I found online is that it includes an entree, a snack & a drink. Only 1 drink.

My hubby & I went to Universal in Florida a year ago (Nov '12). Great theme parks, you will have a ton of fun!!

I found some info for you regarding food, see these links:

https://www.universalorlando.com/Images/Mythos%20Menu%205...
Mythos Restaurant menu with prices - this is the "fine dining" restaurant in Islands of Adventure

https://www.universalorlando.com/Resort-Information/What-...
Carry-in guidelines - drinks & snacks are OK.

http://www.orlandoinformer.com/2013/visiting-universal-or...
The Low-down on park policies - more details about carry-ins

http://www.orlandoinformer.com/universal/three-broomstick...
Three Broomsticks menu & prices - we LOVED the food here!

Based on just the 3 Brooms menu prices, it looks like you & your daughter can have a meal there for easily under $20/person. FYI, we both prefered the pumpkin juice over the butterbeer. And don't waste your money on the "refillable mug" for the butterbeer, you still need to pay for the refills, & it is a pain in the arse to carry around.

You can bring in drinks, snacks (fruit, veggie, etc. some people get away with sandwiches, no guarantee. see policies & make a judgement call). My advice is to eat a hearty breakfast, bring a small snack, & plan for a nice dinner later.

I don't know what your itinerary is for your stay in Florida - we bought a 3-day hopper pass for Universal. That gave us one day each in Univ. Studios & Islands of Adventure, & then the 3rd day to go back to one for 2nds... we loved Islands, that's where the Harry Potter park is.

There is also mini golfing after hours in the City Walk (along with a number of fine & casual dining restaurants). They have black-light, & 2 themes, either Sci-Fi or Horror. We had a blast doing that (& taking pictures @ every hole!)

When you are waiting in line for rides, if there is an option to "ride single", TAKE IT! They use individual people to fill up rides that seat 4 or 6, but have empties when groups of 3 or 5 are in line. It's not like you & your daughter are going to talk while the ride is going, & we were able to ride the Harry Potter "Forbidden Journey" 3 times in 45 minutes (the wait time for the normal line)

Also, the Men In Black ride is a DO NOT MISS! You get to shoot the aliens

In short, go & have a ton of fun. We tend to not spend much $$ on theme park food, but there are some good places if you want the experience. T. =-)

We never did meal plans because they were so limiting. You can only order certain items and at certain locations. Plus we didn't eat a lot anyway so we never spent more than a few extra dollars. Not worth it to me.

I wouldn't bother with Universals meal plan. I don't think their meals are as expensive as Disney and you can pick up one of their plastic cups and get refills for 99 cents while you are visiting.

There are some very nice restaurants on the City Walk (you have to go through to get to either park) so maybe plan a nice dinner in one of them.

Have fun.

My family of four went there last June and I did the meal thing for the first day we were at universal and was very disappointed. We did not do it the next day and it actually cost us less than the first day. We did buy two of the drink cups, those refills are free the first day you buy them and 99cents the next day. We shared the cups and it was perfect. Also alot of places didnt charge us the refill price because we did water.
Universal is so much fun. Try the butter beer. so good. and non alcoholic.
Enjoy

20 a person a day? Or for the 2 days? If it is for the 2 days, YES! Maybe even if it is for the 1 day. I haven't been to Universal, but I've been to Disney, and other Six Flaggs parks. Park food is expensive. Each drink is about $4. Each snack is $3-4.

I did it one day when we were there. If you plan on only eating once during the day-it doesn't pay but if you go early and eat an early lunch and then eat again late afternoon-early evening-then it would pay for itself.
Loved Universal-and yes-I totally second Tara's suggestion to do the single rider line-you will get on a lot of rides a lot quicker and it's not like you have to ride together to really enjoy the ride and a lot of the times-you may still get to ride together or just in the next car-etc...

There was a Spiderman ride that was really great and the Hulk rollercoaster was pretty good.

My opinion on the butter beer is to only order one and see if you like it first. You really need to like butterscotch and my youngest didn't like it so there was $4-5 bucks down the drain but we did eat at the Three Broomsticks and it was ok. You really pay for the setting you are in-IMO.

Have fun!!!!