A little angry at Universal Youth Program

[ccvh]

The kids’ band is going to Universal next month as part of the Universal Youth Education Program. Now, they were given a very good price in park tickets as a group participating in the program, so I’m only a little annoyed with them about this, not really angry. But they sold our trip organizer on purchasing the kids all a meal card for each day. I thought it was their usual quick-service dining plan. Turns out, for $19 each kid can get a QS combo with and entree and a side, and a beverage. Looking at the menus, the kids will be hard-pressed to break even on the meal. There are very few QS meals that are over $15. My son’s favorite is Bread Box, and his meal choice with tater tots and a drink will be $14.

I wish Universal wasn’t trying to make up for the discounted tickets with ripping them off on the meal cards. It makes them look bad. They’d look better if the tickets weren’t quite as cheap and the meal card was a good deal. The kids and their parents all know exactly how much their meal card cost and the math is too easy to realize it was not in their favor.

As a passholder, I want everyone going to love Universal.

 

[bumbershoot]

Can the drink be butterbeer?

Is the $14 inclusive of tax?

 

[EveDallas]

Maybe be annoyed at the organizer for not during research on prices before buying the meal plan? I'm assuming it wasn't a mandatory purchase in order to get the tickets.

 

[schumigirl]

Meal plans never seem to be a real bargain from what I can see, honestly have never purchased one and never plan to, but agree with EveDallas.......blame the person purchasing......if it wasn't a must buy product to get the cheap tickets.....not Universal`s fault.

Prices are all out there.

 

[Lori74]

I would guess the organizers weren't necessarily thinking about the price so much as one less thing to worry about. A card is easier to carry than cash, and less likely the kids would spend their money on other things, then not have any money left to eat.

 

[Tigerlulu]

But in our band, what the meal plans do is ensure every teen has a meal since some will spend all their money and not save it for food.

 

[damo]

They could purchase the spare ribs platter with a drink at Three Broomsticks which would be $16.99 plus a salad $3.99 plus $3.50 for a drink plus tax. Good deal in this case. Like any meal plan, it never pays to purchase the cheapest thing on the menu.

 

[ccvh]

Yes, the thought was that the kids might spend their cash on junk and not have money left to eat on, so a meal card was recommended. The purchaser did not realize the poor deal, but says the Youth Programs contact told her this was the best thing to do, and the only other choice was the regular Universal Dining Plan. She saw the UDP cost $4 more, and thought this was better since it cost less, not realizing it didn’t include the other drink and snack. She also didn’t realize that there were so few places you would break even, much less come out ahead. She thinks we might be able to use it at Citiwalk restaurants, but actually I think it’s only Bread Box and Hot Dog Hall of Fame, both of which have ONLY meals that cost a lot less than $19. I’ve always thought the usual UDP was a poor value. The park tickets were a very good price, so we are coming out ahead overall. It’s just annoying that the Youth Programs doesn’t have at least a reasonable deal.

They’ll break even with the spareribs platter and a drink, that’s one meal that would do it, but I was thinking they cannot get the salad, too. The way it is written: Valid for one (1) Quick Service combo meal (one entree platter, one combo extra) + one non-alcoholic beverage”. The parenthesis make me think they mean the meal includes the platter and the sides that are with it. As the spareribs platter includes corn on the cob and roasted potatoes, is that the so-called combo extra, or do they also get another side? If they do then it actually is a good deal and I take back all I said and am no longer disappointed. I wonder if there is any way to find this out before you get to the register at the restaurant?

 

[damo]

Yes, the thought was that the kids might spend their cash on junk and not have money left to eat on, so a meal card was recommended. The purchaser did not realize the poor deal, but says the Youth Programs contact told her this was the best thing to do, and the only other choice was the regular Universal Dining Plan. She saw the UDP cost $4 more, and thought this was better since it cost less, not realizing it didn’t include the other drink and snack. She also didn’t realize that there were so few places you would break even, much less come out ahead. She thinks we might be able to use it at Citiwalk restaurants, but actually I think it’s only Bread Box and Hot Dog Hall of Fame, both of which have ONLY meals that cost a lot less than $19. I’ve always thought the usual UDP was a poor value. The park tickets were a very good price, so we are coming out ahead overall. It’s just annoying that the Youth Programs doesn’t have at least a reasonable deal.

They’ll break even with the spareribs platter and a drink, that’s one meal that would do it, but I was thinking they cannot get the salad, too. The way it is written: Valid for one (1) Quick Service combo meal (one entree platter, one combo extra) + one non-alcoholic beverage”. The parenthesis make me think they mean the meal includes the platter and the sides that are with it. As the spareribs platter includes corn on the cob and roasted potatoes, is that the so-called combo extra, or do they also get another side? If they do then it actually is a good deal and I take back all I said and am no longer disappointed. I wonder if there is any way to find this out before you get to the register at the restaurant?

I would contact the program and see exactly what the deal entails. From what I can see, the $18.64 price tag for the youth dining card includes tax.

https://www.universalorlandoyouth.com/Contact-Us/Default.html

Most of the combo meals that I see (and there are lots of them if you look at the menus) come with a milk shake and are around $16.00 and go up to $17.00 not including tax. Beverages are around $3.50 not including tax, so it seems to be priced reasonably if you add a $14.00 non combo meal. I would want to make sure you researched it in advance so you know which restaurant to go to and not be scrambling all over the place and wasting time. Check out places like Thunder Falls Terrace.

 

[megan17]

Yes, the thought was that the kids might spend their cash on junk and not have money left to eat on, so a meal card was recommended. The purchaser did not realize the poor deal, but says the Youth Programs contact told her this was the best thing to do, and the only other choice was the regular Universal Dining Plan. She saw the UDP cost $4 more, and thought this was better since it cost less, not realizing it didn’t include the other drink and snack. She also didn’t realize that there were so few places you would break even, much less come out ahead. She thinks we might be able to use it at Citiwalk restaurants, but actually I think it’s only Bread Box and Hot Dog Hall of Fame, both of which have ONLY meals that cost a lot less than $19. I’ve always thought the usual UDP was a poor value. The park tickets were a very good price, so we are coming out ahead overall. It’s just annoying that the Youth Programs doesn’t have at least a reasonable deal.

They’ll break even with the spareribs platter and a drink, that’s one meal that would do it, but I was thinking they cannot get the salad, too. The way it is written: Valid for one (1) Quick Service combo meal (one entree platter, one combo extra) + one non-alcoholic beverage”. The parenthesis make me think they mean the meal includes the platter and the sides that are with it. As the spareribs platter includes corn on the cob and roasted potatoes, is that the so-called combo extra, or do they also get another side? If they do then it actually is a good deal and I take back all I said and am no longer disappointed. I wonder if there is any way to find this out before you get to the register at the restaurant?

I ran a field trip to Universal in October with about 30 kids and we had the meal plan you described. Originally I thought we had the regular dining plan too (we booked through a travel company that does youth trips), but when we got there they gave us a paper that listed what was included. Turns out each card was just for one entree and a drink at certain restaurants, including tax. It did include a few table service restaurants though and that turned out to be a good deal. One night we all went to Hard Rock Cafe and though it was a limited menu for the dining card, it included a variety of items from the regular menu. The card included soft drinks and tip too, so all we had to do was order and everything was taken care of. The kids really enjoyed our big meal out, especially with all the lemonade and soda refills

Some of the other places we ate were the Jurassic Park counter service restaurant in IOA (standard chicken fingers and burgers, but milkshake was an option as the drink), three broomsticks (butterbeer was not an option as the drink), leaky cauldron, and breadbox sandwiches at citywalk. The Harry Potter restaurants were a pretty decent deal with the card if they ordered the pricier entree. Most of the places would give you a smaller menu that explained the options available with the youth card before you order.

Overall it worked pretty well but I think the standard meal plan would have been better, since it would have included an extra snack and given more options.
The worst part of the plan was that it didn't include the food court at our hotel (cabana bay), so we had to take a bus to city walk for dinner even on the days when we weren't in the parks. We visited Kennedy Space Center one day so that was a really late dinner having to bus to city walk after being out all day.

Hope that helps! Might be a little late based on the original posting date...
I found this post when searching for Disney Youth program meal plan info since we are planning to do Disney for next year's trip!

 

[ccvh]

Not too late for your posting, megan17, as we are going in a week and a half. Can you tell me which table service restaurants were included? Our agent cannot tell me, and suggested we ask at the restaurant. That’d be a hassle, to traipse all over Citiwalk asking. I already gave the kids a talk telling them that they need to be smart about the value of the meal they use it for. We figured Thunder Falls and the Harry Potter restaurants were a good deal, but the Bread Box (which would not be a great deal for about any meal. Lots of them want to eat at Toothsome and Cowfish, but I would imagine they aren’t included. I’m really surprised they can’t tell you when you buy the cards.

 

[megan17]

I found the information paper they gave me about the meal card!
Table service at City Walk is: Hard Rock, Margaritaville, Bubba Gump (not sure if this is counter service or table service)
I attached copies of the paper. Hope this helps anyone going with a youth group!