Dining in Orlando can be one of the most expensive parts of your holiday, especially if you are paying for a full family’s meals every day. We don’t have children of our own so we’ve gathered some top tips that come highly recommended for dining with children in Orlando, including the theme parks!
Dining in Restaurants
TOP TIP – Kids Eat Free Cards:
While researching dining with children in Orlando, we came across a very interesting deal that we wanted to share! You can buy something called a ‘Kids Eat Free Meal Ticket’ which works in over 100 restaurants across Orlando including some CiCi’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Dominos and Dunkin Donuts! The card is valid for children up to the age of 11 and can be used when buying any adult meal or entree and costs only £10 per card per child! You might want to have a look at the locations to check whether or not the card will suit your family, but, at £10 each, you don’t have to be using this card every day to save some money!
You can find more information about the available restaurants, their offers and their locations on ticket buying websites but here are some links with more information to help you get started:
https://www.orlando-ticket-deals.co.uk/meal-tickets/kids-eat-free-card
https://www.orlandoattractiontickets.co.uk/Ticket/Kids-Eat-Free-Card
Note: Tickets seem to be set for 2018-2019 so check with the ticket company first to make sure that they will be valid for 2019/2020 holidays or if you will need to wait for new dates to be released.
Kids Eat Free at Other Restaurants too!
Many restaurants in Orlando have deals during the week which allow children to eat for free on select nights! For example, Manny’s Chophouse Restaurant (which we’ve recommended on our Restaurants page) offer ‘Kids Eat Free’ every Monday and Tuesday for children aged 10 and under.
Coupons:
Coupon books are a great way to save some money on meals in Orlando! You can pick these up in supermarkets such as WalMart (normally at the entrances or at the attraction ticket sales near the entrances) or at the entrance of restaurants such as Ponderosa. They will often have ‘Kids Eat Free’ coupons or money off meals coupons for you to use.
Eat Outside the Parks:
We love eating in our favourite themed restaurants in the parks, but this can be very expensive! Try to eat outside the parks as much as possible if you are looking to save money. A great way to save money is to try to have a buffet breakfast before you go to the parks in the morning as this will stop you becoming hungry quicker. Restaurants such as Sizzler, Ponderosa and Golden Corral have buffet breakfasts with a wide range of options to please everyone. These restaurants also offer buffet dinners from 4pm which are great for families! If you are staying in a hotel then make use of their continental breakfasts too.
We stay in a villa and always have breakfast before we go to the parks. Cereal, toast, waffles, pancakes and fruit can keep you going for hours before needing a big meal.
Dining in the Parks
TOP TIP – Refillable Cups:
We don’t visit Universal without our trusty refillable cups (bought in Universal of course!) This is a great way to save money and keep your family hydrated throughout your day at the parks. We have 3 cups which we are happy to share between 5 of us and at $1.49 for a refill, you can’t really go wrong! Often, we don’t even ask for juice, the parks will refill your cups with iced water for FREE!
Universal Studios:
Universal offer 2 different ways of using refillable cups:
- Refillable Character Cups: The refillable cups we used have been discontinued so you can now purchase character mugs instead. These can be bought all over the Universal Parks and are designed in the shape of various characters such as a Transformer or Spongebob. Your initial purchase of the cup comes with a free refill and costs between $15 and $20 each plus tax. To get a refill, you simply pay refill prices at any of the restaurants or food carts around the park. Each refill costs $1.49 plus tax and you can refill your cup as often or a little as you want! The great thing about these cups is that there are no extra charges and you can bring the cups back to the parks throughout your holiday.
- Coke Freestyle Cups: This option was introduced a few years ago and is really popular. You can buy a Freestyle refillable cup from restaurants or food stations around the parks for about $12.99 plus tax which will allow you FREE refills on the day or purchase! Great, but what happens the rest of your stay? Well, you can pay around $8 a day to have the cup reset to allow you unlimited refills each day you visit. Sounds expensive but when you compare that to paying around $3 for every bottle of juice you buy, it is definitely something to consider! Again, you don’t need one each. 2 cups for a family of 4 have suited us for years! Universal are also offering a deal which gives you money off if you buy more than one cup: I think it is around $12.99 for one, $10.99 each for two and $9.99 each if you buy 3 or more cups.
- Universal also offer refillable popcorn buckets! That’s right! For $7 plus tax you can have your very own plastic popcorn bucket. When you’re finished, simply return to a popcorn stand in the park and they’ll refill it for you for less than $3 plus tax!
Disney:
Disney currently don’t offer refillable cups in their parks. You can buy refillable cups if you stay in a Disney resort, however, you can only refill them at the resorts! We took our own bottles of water and just refilled them at the drinking fountains around the parks when we did Disney.
SeaWorld:
Seaworld offer the same format for refillable cups as Universal Studios. Buy your cup with unlimited refills for that day then pay each day to reactivate you cup.
Meal Plans:
Another way you can save money when eating in the theme parks is to consider purchasing meal plans. We have never bought a meal plan in Disney or Universal but we bought one for Seaworld and WOW! It was well worth it!
Universal:
Universal offer a Quick Service Dining Plan at roughly $22 per adult and $14 per child under the age of 9. This entitles you to one meal and soft drink, as well as a snack and soft drink. This deal can be used in most restaurants in the parks, however, items such as whole pizzas are not included. Snacks available on this deal include items such as churros, pretzels, regular ice cream, popcorn, cookies or funnel cakes. Some larger snack options such as hot dogs and turkey legs are actually classed as an entree meal and items such as Butterbeer in Harry Potter themed areas counts as a snack, not a drink.
Universal claim that their meal deal could save you around 30% and with the price of their food increasing since last year, it could be something to consider. For two adults, this deal would cost $44 plus tax and this summer (2018) a meal for two adults (with sides and a cup refilled at $1.49) cost us $35. There are savings to be made with the meal plans but only if you are careful with what you order. Personally, I don’t think I would save enough money to find the meal plans worthwhile for us, but it is something you should keep your eyes open for in the parks!
Disney:
Again, Disney only offer their Dining Plan to guests staying in their resorts and there are a range of packages to suit different budgets and different families. This website gives lots of information on the dining plans available and help breakdown the deals to help you work out which deal would best suit you and your family.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm
SeaWorld:
SeaWorld’s meal plan was by far the best value for money for eating at the parks! For £26 each adult (pricing rising to £27 in 2019) we added the SeaWorld All Day Dining Plan to our park ticket. This allows you to eat either an entree and side and soft drink, or an entree and dessert and a soft drink…every hour! That’s right! Every hour!
This was so worth the money as we ate breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and didn’t have to pay for anything on the day!
The dining plan can be added to your ticket through the ticket sales website, or if you bought your ticket from SeaWorld then their is an option on their website. Alternatively, you can buy the all day dining package at the park for $34.99 for adults and $19.99 for children ages 3-9. Just make sure you are there early to make the most of the meal plan!
Bring your own:
You can take your own snacks and drinks into the parks with you so long as they are not kept in a plastic cooler. Most parks have lockers which you can rent for the day where you can keep a bag with snacks or even sandwiches for lunches if you want. We’ve taken a bag with some apples and crisps before to help keep us going without needing to buy lunch and dinner in the parks.
Simply Orlando 