Latest / Mom Street USA / 94. Is Universal Right for Me? Pt. 5 - Food

Transcript

94. Is Universal Right for Me? Pt. 5 - Food · Mom Street USA

• 0:06
  Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
• 0:07
  My name is Jackie AKA Wishes Mama and I am joined for this
• 0:11
  hub episode by our good friends Duck and Jess AKA Beanie Duck.
• 0:15
  And you have found part 5 and the final part of our Universal
• 0:20
  series for now. There will be future universal
• 0:23
  episodes of course, but the final part of this series of is
• 0:26
  universal right for me. And today we are going to be
• 0:29
  talking about food at Universal. So that was what we kind of felt
• 0:33
  like was the final topic we needed to really cover to give
• 0:36
  everybody an overview. Although we kind of went a
• 0:39
  little bit more in depth than just an overview on this series.
• 0:43
  But this is the final topic that we felt like would be helpful if
• 0:46
  you are trying to make the decision if Universal is right
• 0:49
  for you. So that is the plan for today.
• 0:51
  Duck and Jess, how are we doing on this lovely, lovely day
• 0:55
  today? Very excited to talk about food,
• 0:58
  it's one of my favorite topics. I love it.
• 1:01
  Yes, Duck is a connoisseur of all types of food and snacks and
• 1:07
  beverages and park offerings, so I'm sure they will have some
• 1:11
  good insight for us on this episode.
• 1:15
  Do keep in mind that to kind of help streamline the food episode
• 1:19
  and information, we are really going to only highlight a few
• 1:23
  places at each park. It would be 10 hours if we were
• 1:28
  here and talking about every single food offering and what
• 1:31
  they had and what was good for kids and what wasn't.
• 1:34
  We're not getting into all of that.
• 1:35
  So we're, we're sticking around 3-4 maybe per area for each
• 1:43
  universal park. And we're also going to talk
• 1:45
  about city walk a little bit too, because I feel like they
• 1:47
  have so many food options there and it's right outside two of
• 1:50
  the parks. We got to make sure that we we
• 1:52
  cover that as well. So there are tons of food
• 1:54
  options. Again, we're going to go over
• 1:56
  some of it, but be sure to take a look at those menus before you
• 1:59
  go. They are all readily available
• 2:02
  on the Universal website. You can find lots of information
• 2:05
  about that there. Also keep in mind there are tons
• 2:08
  of alternate food choices for like festivals and events.
• 2:12
  We went over all of that in part three of our series, which is
• 2:15
  episode 89 of Mom Street, where we talked about different events
• 2:18
  at Universal. So if you're looking for that
• 2:21
  information, we touched on it briefly.
• 2:24
  We're not going to talk about those menus tonight.
• 2:27
  We're just going to focus on kind of year round offerings
• 2:30
  that they have at the different locations inside the park.
• 2:34
  So again, do a quick social media search or a quick Google
• 2:37
  search for those event menus. If you are going to be visiting
• 2:41
  during like Mardi Gras or HHN or holiday season, any of those
• 2:46
  types of things that where they have those extra food offerings
• 2:50
  for that. That all being said, before we
• 2:53
  jump into specific restaurants, let's talk a few basics on
• 2:58
  universal food and Universal dining because it is a little
• 3:01
  bit different than what you can find at Disney.
• 3:03
  So we want to kind of go over some of it's the same, some of
• 3:06
  it's a little different. So we're just going to cover the
• 3:07
  basics before we kind of jump in.
• 3:10
  Let's Rock. So there are just like a Disney
• 3:13
  A and pretty much any other theme park.
• 3:16
  There are a few different denominations, if you will, a
• 3:20
  few different types of food service locations that you will
• 3:24
  find throughout the parks. So we'll start with table
• 3:27
  service, which when you think of it, it's like the full the sit
• 3:30
  down, there's a Hostess, there's a menu, food comes to your
• 3:34
  table. There is generally no, you have
• 3:36
  to go up somewhere and retrieve it.
• 3:37
  You know, the salad bar has since been retired post COVID.
• 3:40
  So that's that's sort of that sort of option is, is, you know,
• 3:45
  when you think about like a true sit down restaurant, that's what
• 3:47
  we're talking about when we say table service, there are very
• 3:52
  few true table service offerings within the parks.
• 3:57
  So really when we're talking about table service, we're going
• 4:00
  to think either it's at a higher end resort, so it will
• 4:04
  physically be in one of the hotels or it's going to be in
• 4:07
  city walk. There's really not much in the
• 4:09
  parks, which is pretty different from Disney where there are a
• 4:13
  wide variety of options available.
• 4:15
  Every single park, pretty much everything in Universal Park
• 4:18
  works proper is going to be a quick.
• 4:20
  Service, yeah. And I will mention that we're
• 4:22
  not really going to touch much on the resort offerings just
• 4:27
  because, again, for the sake of time and for the sake of
• 4:29
  streamlining the information. So if that's something you guys
• 4:33
  want in a future episode, please just like shoot us a message,
• 4:36
  leave a comment, let us know if you want more information about
• 4:39
  kind of resort offerings because there are lots of good
• 4:42
  restaurants at the resorts as well.
• 4:43
  We're just focused on the parks and City walk for now.
• 4:47
  You're right, we have to, we have to keep somewhat of a
• 4:48
  stove. We have eaten at a few of the
• 4:51
  different restaurants in the resorts that we have stayed at.
• 4:54
  So we are happy to, you know, like Jackie said, if anybody has
• 4:58
  questions, comments, concerns, if you just have a question, you
• 5:01
  can always DM us. You know, our, our, our handles
• 5:03
  everywhere are Mom's Street. So yeah, absolutely.
• 5:06
  We're happy to to do a full episode or if you just have a
• 5:09
  quick question or two, just shoot that over to us.
• 5:12
  The thing to know as we're talking about the table service
• 5:15
  is that a, a buffet would also fall under this.
• 5:20
  Really the only buffet that is available year round is a
• 5:25
  singular character meal because that is, which is like
• 5:29
  dramatically different than Disney where like you can't
• 5:32
  throw a rock, Please don't throw a rock in Disney.
• 5:34
  But hypothetically speaking, you can't throw a rock without
• 5:37
  hitting a character meal. You know what I mean?
• 5:39
  It's they're, they're very plentiful there, so.
• 5:41
  I think that's the favorite, like my favorite statement that
• 5:45
  you've made thus far. I'm not straight.
• 5:48
  You can't throw a rock. Please don't throw a Disney, but
• 5:51
  you can't throw a rock without hitting a character dining.
• 5:55
  If you were to theoretically throw a rock, hypothetically,
• 5:59
  statistically speaking, you would hit a character meal
• 6:02
  location. But yeah, so there is only one
• 6:08
  character meal that is offered regularly.
• 6:11
  And then there's the second one, which is seasonally, we talked
• 6:13
  about a little bit in the last episode in episode 89, that's
• 6:18
  the Grinch breakfast buffet. So we talked about that a little
• 6:21
  bit. But really to focus on the one
• 6:24
  that is year round, that is a Marvel character dinner
• 6:28
  specifically, which is also pretty different from Disney
• 6:31
  because they'll do most males character breakfasts are are,
• 6:34
  you know, one of the more popular options for that.
• 6:36
  But it is explicitly a buffet dinner that is available here.
• 6:41
  So it's in, of course, in Islands of Adventure in the
• 6:44
  superhero area in Cafe 4, you'll get Captain America, Spider Man,
• 6:49
  Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm and Rogue.
• 6:52
  I have seen pictures of this somewhat recently and Rogue is
• 6:57
  suspiciously absent. So I don't know if they just,
• 7:00
  you know, maybe Rogue had to go off and do some saving or what
• 7:03
  was going on there. But this is they say that the
• 7:07
  characters should be available. Please note that.
• 7:10
  Well, of course they're going to have the big ones, Captain
• 7:12
  America, Wolverine, other ones, may, you know, be on an as
• 7:15
  available basis. Do you mean that Rogue may have
• 7:19
  gone rogue? That's everybody.
• 7:22
  Tomato. Tomato.
• 7:23
  Wrap. It up.
• 7:25
  We've done everything we needed to do this.
• 7:28
  This, unfortunately, is the final episode of Mom St.
• 7:32
  Thank you so much for joining. US.
• 7:34
  I'm sorry, I could, I couldn't help it.
• 7:37
  I just, I just couldn't help it. It was teed up waiting for me.
• 7:41
  I know everyone who is just listening to this could not see
• 7:44
  the visual of Jackie slowly leaning into the mic.
• 7:48
  And I'm like, you know what? I know it's coming.
• 7:50
  And I'm just. I can't.
• 7:52
  Ask yourself right in. It's like a train wreck, you
• 7:54
  just can't look away and there's no stopping it.
• 7:56
  Listen, I'm not funny very often, and that was also not
• 7:59
  funny, but I can pretend that it it's a.
• 8:01
  Good one, it was a good one. I will give it to you happily.
• 8:04
  It was a good one. You saw your chance and you
• 8:07
  took. It I did.
• 8:08
  I definitely did. OK, What else can you tell us
• 8:10
  about the character dinner? Yes.
• 8:13
  So to just to just give you while we recover over here to
• 8:17
  give you just an idea of prices. So for adults, we're looking at
• 8:22
  5699 plus tax. Adults are considered anybody 10
• 8:27
  and up for universal and for kiddos it's 3199 plus tax.
• 8:32
  Now the other thing to know is as I as rogue has gone rogue,
• 8:36
  the other the other thing to know is the rest of the team may
• 8:39
  also go rogue in that this is not available every day of the
• 8:42
  week. It is available most evenings,
• 8:47
  most of dinner times during like the slower periods because they
• 8:51
  don't want to cut off that whole, you know, food option,
• 8:56
  but it's usually available between three and four times a
• 8:59
  week during those peak summer times.
• 9:01
  So if this is something that like you and your kiddos would
• 9:04
  really like or even you as an adult, if you just really love
• 9:07
  Captain America had no exclusions here.
• 9:09
  If this is something that you're really into, yes, he's my fave.
• 9:12
  Also he. Is my favorite.
• 9:16
  If if this is also something that you're interested in, just
• 9:19
  make sure that you're checking like 2:00-ish weeks before you
• 9:23
  can call them up, call universal up and just, you know, make sure
• 9:26
  that you know during your trip you'll be able to schedule your
• 9:29
  day around it so that you'll be able to make that reservation.
• 9:33
  Speaking of how to make reservations, so the you can
• 9:38
  make the reservation online or you can call Universal directly.
• 9:43
  Their number is 407-224-3663 readily available online.
• 9:49
  If you don't have a pen and paper at the ready right this
• 9:51
  moment. They do use third party for
• 9:56
  their online reservations. So there is a website link.
• 10:00
  If you just literally Google, you know, Universal dining
• 10:03
  reservations, that will be the first search result and you can
• 10:05
  go ahead and make your reservation wherever you need
• 10:07
  to. What is interestingly different
• 10:10
  for Universal versus Disney is that you don't have to put a
• 10:14
  credit card down to hold your reservation.
• 10:17
  So I'm sure as everybody knows that Disney, you put your credit
• 10:20
  card down. What is it if you cancel within?
• 10:24
  The shift changed it in the last like year ish to a 2 hour
• 10:28
  window. It used to be like 24 hours and
• 10:32
  that kind of thing. But yeah right now at Disney
• 10:34
  it's a 2 hour cancellation window that you have.
• 10:37
  So anywhere before 2 hours and you won't be charged the
• 10:40
  penalty. OK, perfect.
• 10:43
  So there is no penalty at Universal, which is, you know,
• 10:49
  there's really only one within the Universal parks.
• 10:52
  So that's not super surprising. What is important to know
• 10:55
  though, is that that may not be true for the locations in City
• 10:59
  Walk because those locations in City Walk are all third parties.
• 11:03
  So while they can still be managed on the same page where
• 11:06
  they will, the Universal dining reservation page will link you
• 11:09
  to the appropriate like OpenTable or whatever it may be
• 11:12
  that that restaurant uses. There are some instances,
• 11:15
  especially during popular season for some of the more popular
• 11:19
  options which we'll talk about a little bit later.
• 11:21
  There is a chance that that you have to put down your credit
• 11:23
  card and you may be charged. That is just going to be at the
• 11:26
  discretion of that restaurants policies.
• 11:29
  Yeah. And I can't imagine that too
• 11:30
  many of them probably have a credit card, you know,
• 11:34
  requirement because a lot of them are chain restaurants and
• 11:37
  outside restaurant, like you said, they're, you know, almost,
• 11:40
  I think all of them are third party.
• 11:41
  So you're not typically going to see that, which is a really big
• 11:44
  difference from Disney, right? Because every Disney reservation
• 11:48
  that you make is, well, the majority of them are Disney
• 11:51
  owned and operated and they are all going to need some sort of a
• 11:53
  credit card. Yeah, no, that's it's absolutely
• 11:56
  a surprising difference. I can only think of one off the
• 12:00
  top of my head and gets vino or vivo, the Italian kitchen.
• 12:04
  I think when we had gone to go look at making a reservation the
• 12:07
  last time that we were there, I just wanted to see what times
• 12:09
  were available. They required a credit card.
• 12:12
  Now that was during a busy weekend.
• 12:13
  They may not do it all the time. And of course, restaurants
• 12:16
  always update their policies. So, you know, just make sure
• 12:18
  that you were, if you have to put the credit card down, make
• 12:21
  sure that you're able to plan your day or cancel ahead of that
• 12:23
  window so you don't have a problem.
• 12:26
  Yes, and check the cancellation policies because they're
• 12:29
  probably all different. It's not going to be 1 blanket
• 12:31
  policy like you see at Disney. Those ones are all going to have
• 12:34
  their own individual. So be sure to take a look at
• 12:36
  that. Agreed.
• 12:38
  So now that we have covered the table service thoroughly in
• 12:42
  depth, there are two other types of, you know, dining experiences
• 12:47
  at Universal. You're going to have your quick
• 12:49
  service or your counter service. This is by far the most common
• 12:53
  thing in universal. Almost all of the places that
• 12:56
  you can and and you know will, if you go there, eat at
• 12:59
  universal are some sort of like quick service type situation.
• 13:03
  So think about it like a food court or fast food.
• 13:07
  You'll stand at a counter, you'll order, you'll pay, and
• 13:10
  then there are some places where it can be delivered tableside
• 13:15
  and there are other places where you will just stand and wait for
• 13:18
  them to prep your order, call your number, and then you can go
• 13:21
  sit down. Now, the third type is a food
• 13:25
  cart. They're like little kiosks or
• 13:28
  carts that are dotted around. They have like far fewer
• 13:32
  selections. They are mostly for drinks and
• 13:36
  they might have like the odd pretzel or popcorn or something
• 13:40
  like that. So that is really just like if
• 13:43
  you're dying of thirst and you need something cold, you need a
• 13:45
  soda. There are also some adult
• 13:47
  beverages that are usually available at some of these
• 13:49
  carts. But it's it's just like you're
• 13:51
  very quick. I'm feeling some popcorn in the
• 13:53
  water type of situation. Yeah, it seems like there are
• 13:56
  far less snack carts at Universal than what you find
• 14:01
  around the Disney parks. I feel like in Disney you can
• 14:04
  stand like anywhere on one of the main roads and like, do a
• 14:06
  circle and look around and find a popcorn cart, right?
• 14:09
  Like, that's what it feels like. But Universal is, is a little
• 14:13
  bit different in that way. They do exist, but they're a
• 14:15
  little bit fewer and a little bit more far between.
• 14:18
  Yeah, yeah. And I, I wonder, I mean, there's
• 14:21
  like any number of reasons for, right, staffing issues,
• 14:24
  whatever. I think part of it is also
• 14:26
  because they now have, and they've always kind of had
• 14:29
  festivals to some degree year round, right?
• 14:32
  The festival, the food carts that are specific to those
• 14:35
  festivals sit theoretically where like a popcorn cart would
• 14:39
  Ray, right? So whereas Disney can just like
• 14:42
  they choose to like keep those offerings all day, right?
• 14:45
  Like if there's like a special cookie at Christmas time or what
• 14:48
  have you, some of it may be available only during the after
• 14:51
  hours party, but a lot of those treats are going to be available
• 14:54
  through the full day. When Universal does like an
• 14:57
  after hours like Halloween Horror Nights, that food is
• 15:00
  exclusively available during the event.
• 15:03
  There is no serving before. So I think that's probably part
• 15:06
  of it is where these stands would go are the event stands.
• 15:11
  Right. And they're, again, they're not
• 15:12
  open necessarily all the time or they may not have the same
• 15:15
  offerings during the day that they maybe would have in the
• 15:18
  evening, especially for something like a Halloween
• 15:20
  Horror Nights. Now something like Mardi Gras is
• 15:23
  going to be an all day offering for the most part with this
• 15:26
  stuff because they don't have any like specific extra ticketed
• 15:29
  events during that Mardi Gras. And again, we talked all about
• 15:33
  those special events. So if you want more of that
• 15:34
  information, that was what did I say earlier, part three of our
• 15:37
  Universal series. So hop back a few episodes to
• 15:40
  find that. All right.
• 15:41
  And then much like Disney, Universal also has mobile
• 15:44
  ordering available for some other quick service locations.
• 15:47
  So it is available through the Universal app.
• 15:50
  So when you're in the park, there's a button that appears on
• 15:52
  the home screen of the app and it says order food.
• 15:56
  So this will bring up a list of food options that support mobile
• 15:58
  ordering, and it's sorted by the distance from where you
• 16:01
  currently are in the park. Which was not always the case
• 16:05
  and is the best feature that they have added.
• 16:07
  I have to say it is a lifesaver because even if you didn't
• 16:11
  necessarily want a mobile order, which you should, but if for
• 16:14
  whatever reason you didn't, it is extremely handy to understand
• 16:18
  your distance in relation to whatever your food option is.
• 16:21
  Because if you're getting hungry, you want to know what's.
• 16:23
  Closest. Exactly.
• 16:24
  So true. Yeah, So when?
• 16:25
  You're at global ordering, you can see what's closest to you at
• 16:27
  the time. And so some of the restaurants
• 16:30
  do offer table side delivery, others will be pick up only for
• 16:34
  table delivery. So you wouldn't be able to
• 16:36
  complete your order and like kind of like I'm here thing
• 16:39
  until you're actually like seated at a table because it's
• 16:41
  going to ask you for your table number so that the server
• 16:43
  bringing the food, you know, can find where you are.
• 16:46
  Locations that do table delivery as of when we were researching
• 16:49
  for this episode are in Universal Studios, Richter's,
• 16:53
  The Leaky Cauldron and the Minion Cafe in Islands of
• 16:57
  Adventure, Circus Macgurkis, Thunder Falls Terrace 3,
• 17:00
  Broomsticks Cafe 4, obviously on the non character dining nights
• 17:04
  and the Captain America Diner in Epic Universe.
• 17:08
  Meteor, Astro Pub, Pizza Moon, Burning Blade Tavern, Das
• 17:12
  Steakhouse, Hooligans Grog and Gruel, Meat Hall, Toadstool Cafe
• 17:17
  Cafe Lair de la Serene. Did I say that right?
• 17:20
  You're always give me the French names and I don't know how to
• 17:22
  say them. It is at this.
• 17:25
  Point normally me that has to pronounce those, so I'm glad to
• 17:28
  hear someone else doing for once.
• 17:31
  LA Goblin Noir and the Oaken Star Tavern.
• 17:35
  So for pickup orders, you'll go and wait in the line or the
• 17:38
  pickup area that is designated for that location.
• 17:42
  Some of them have multiple pickup lines, kind of like in
• 17:44
  Disney. If you've ever, you know, placed
• 17:46
  a mobile order there, it'll tell you go to, you know, lane 2 or
• 17:49
  lane 5. So you would need to just look
• 17:51
  at your order ticket and see where it's telling you to go to
• 17:54
  grab your tray. So if you're more ordering
• 17:56
  through the app, the only method of payment would be to use a
• 18:00
  credit card or gift cards that you've loaded.
• 18:03
  Onto the app, no you. Can't actually.
• 18:05
  I'm so sorry. You cannot use a gift card.
• 18:06
  I'm sorry. No, no, that's OK.
• 18:08
  It seems a little counterintuitive.
• 18:10
  It is really difficult to use a gift card at Universal from
• 18:15
  experience, right? Like so when we take our trips,
• 18:18
  our our annual pilgrimage to Universal, it's around my
• 18:21
  birthday. So usually I am gifted a
• 18:23
  universal gift card and it's like they don't want you to
• 18:28
  spend the gift card. It's so difficult.
• 18:31
  Not everywhere takes it. You can you, you can't use it on
• 18:34
  a lot of things. If you are using it in certain
• 18:37
  locations, it has to cover the full thing.
• 18:40
  So like I know it's, but it's only in certain shopping
• 18:43
  locations. Is that true?
• 18:45
  Like if you go to like the Tribute Store or that main store
• 18:49
  that's in Citywalk where you can buy a little bit of everything,
• 18:51
  that doesn't matter. But if some of these, like
• 18:53
  smaller side stores, like some of the gift shops, I don't know
• 18:56
  if it's like the way that their POS system is set up.
• 18:59
  Like I'm not sure what the deal is, but more than once I've been
• 19:01
  told that like there's not enough balance on this and we
• 19:04
  can't deduct the $3.07 that you have on the gift card.
• 19:08
  You have to pay another way. It's very, very strange.
• 19:11
  So strange and so different from what you experience at Disney
• 19:15
  where they like. It's super easy to use.
• 19:18
  Yes. Wild.
• 19:20
  That's so crazy. Yeah, I mean, I think we've made
• 19:22
  this clear that there are a lot, there's a lot of things that
• 19:25
  Universal does well and has like really like updated and kept
• 19:28
  ahead of. But there are certain things
• 19:30
  that I'm like, this is a bizarre choice.
• 19:32
  And this is definitely because somebody set the system up in
• 19:36
  1997 and that guy has retired. So if we change it, it'll break,
• 19:41
  right? Like I work in tech.
• 19:42
  I understand that that guy, once he retired, all knowledge is
• 19:45
  lost, right? But maybe can I use this $3.07
• 19:49
  on the? Gift card, please Yeah, that's
• 19:52
  so interesting. When I will say just a note
• 19:54
  about the whole like table delivery thing.
• 19:56
  This is vastly different than what Disney does, right?
• 20:00
  At Disney, you have to go up to the window.
• 20:02
  It's a little bit sketchy at busy times to find a seat and
• 20:05
  figure, you know, kind of coordinate all of that.
• 20:08
  I really like that Universal has that option because basically
• 20:12
  what happens is if they are one that does the table delivery,
• 20:15
  you'll go in and the. Team member will like ask you if
• 20:19
  you've placed your order and they will like guide you to a
• 20:22
  table that is available, which is really nice.
• 20:24
  So a lot of those restaurants, I think they primarily I think
• 20:28
  they're doing it to avoid people just like sitting and not
• 20:31
  ordering and not eating right because they have the team
• 20:33
  members that are kind of monitoring all of that.
• 20:38
  But I think it's really nice because as a mom with, you know,
• 20:42
  if I'm ever there and I've got a stroller or, you know, multiple
• 20:45
  kids that I'm trying to corral and find a table.
• 20:48
  Like we were walking around Pinocchio village house on my
• 20:50
  last trip at Magic Kingdom, trying to find a table before we
• 20:54
  could even go to get our food because it was just like it was
• 20:57
  chaos in there. And it was like there were at
• 21:00
  the at the time, there were nine of us.
• 21:02
  So it's like trying to find tables for all of us.
• 21:05
  And we had multiple kids that were not in strollers and we're
• 21:07
  walking and like, I want to go with you.
• 21:09
  And it's like, Oh my gosh, my brain was going to explode.
• 21:13
  So the table delivery would have alleviated all of that stress
• 21:17
  because they would go, here's the table for you and I would
• 21:20
  have come, thank you so much. We could.
• 21:22
  Sit and corral all of the ship. Friend Yeah, exactly.
• 21:26
  So really, really nice that Universal has that.
• 21:28
  I wish that that's something, and maybe it will be something
• 21:31
  that Disney adopts in the future.
• 21:32
  But a service like that is very, very helpful.
• 21:35
  And don't get me wrong, if you need help at quick service
• 21:38
  locations at Universal or Disney, ask someone, right.
• 21:41
  If you need help carrying your trays because you're 1, grown up
• 21:44
  with three kids and you don't have enough hands that are
• 21:47
  reliable to carry food back to your table, ask for help.
• 21:51
  I have, I have seen, you know, cast members carrying trays at
• 21:55
  quick service locations to help parents get food stuff to their
• 21:58
  table. So by all means, ask for help.
• 22:00
  But I really like that service that Universal offers.
• 22:03
  Yeah. It's really handy.
• 22:04
  And I will say on the topic of seating universal, I don't know
• 22:08
  how they did it. I don't know if it's just like
• 22:10
  efficiency in the way they design their buildings.
• 22:13
  They almost always have enough seating.
• 22:16
  We have gone at very, very busy times and it is extremely rare
• 22:20
  for us to not find a place to sit.
• 22:23
  I mean like indoor in the air conditioning comfortable, right?
• 22:26
  Like we've gone to some peak times.
• 22:28
  And I think it's just the nature of the way that they have set up
• 22:31
  their buildings. They're really like optimized
• 22:33
  for maximum amount of tables with still leaving plenty of
• 22:37
  room to navigate. Like they still are very
• 22:38
  comfortable if you have strollers or any kind
• 22:40
  accessibility device. So they do a pretty good job of,
• 22:45
  you know, keeping the flow going and keeping tables open as well
• 22:49
  as having enough availability for their locations.
• 22:52
  Well, and I think my suspicion, and as I was doing research for
• 22:56
  this, I think part of that is that Universal does not allow
• 23:01
  outside food brought into their parks, which is a major, major
• 23:06
  difference again to the Disney parks who will allow you to
• 23:09
  bring full picnics in, right. So I think Disney sees more of
• 23:13
  their quick service location tables being taken for people
• 23:17
  who have brought in food and maybe bought food too, but
• 23:20
  brought in the majority of their food.
• 23:22
  So they just in general don't have as much of A way of doing
• 23:27
  kind of crowd control, so to speak, in their quick service
• 23:31
  restaurants because they can control how much mobile order
• 23:34
  they offer per hour, right? And that's going to be how many
• 23:38
  people come into their restaurant at Disney.
• 23:40
  They can control that, but they can't control the outside of
• 23:43
  who's going to try to bring food in and sit, you know, those
• 23:45
  types of things. So I think that probably also
• 23:48
  has a a major difference between Disney and Universal seating at
• 23:53
  their quick services. Yeah.
• 23:54
  No, that's a really good point. I didn't think her out.
• 23:56
  Yeah. I thought about it because we
• 23:58
  always take our food into Disney and as I was reading through the
• 24:01
  Universal thing. Now, granted, we don't we if
• 24:04
  we're going to sit at a quick service location, we're going to
• 24:06
  order something from a quick service location, right?
• 24:08
  Like if we're going into Pinocchio Village House, we're
• 24:10
  not just going to take up a bunch of tables and not order
• 24:13
  any things, especially if it's during peak season or peak time
• 24:16
  during the day. But I was reading that and I was
• 24:19
  like, huh, That's good to know for future reference because
• 24:22
  we're so used to just taking our lunches in with us because we
• 24:25
  literally do it every day when we go into the parks of now.
• 24:28
  There is an exception to that which I'm actually going to talk
• 24:30
  about in this next section, but because I do briefly want to
• 24:33
  talk about allergies and food allergies at Universal.
• 24:37
  If you want information about food allergies at Disney, last
• 24:40
  episode Stevie and I did a whole breakdown on what that looks
• 24:43
  like at the Disney park. So check that out if you're
• 24:46
  looking for Disney information. But as far as Universal goes
• 24:49
  with their food allergies, they do have accommodations that are
• 24:54
  available for any questions in the most up to date list of
• 24:57
  allergy free items at Universal Orlando.
• 25:00
  They do have an e-mail address thattheysuggestthatyoucontactbeforeyourtripandthatisfood.allergy@universalorlando.com
• 25:09
  and again, readily available. Just do a quick Google search
• 25:12
  for for allergy options and that'll pop right up.
• 25:16
  Similar to Disney, you can always ask to speak to a chef or
• 25:20
  a manager at any restaurant within the resort or any of the
• 25:24
  hotels once you're there. So if you are, you know, once
• 25:27
  you get seated or once you, you know, decide where you want to
• 25:29
  eat, you can always request to speak to somebody about allergy
• 25:33
  concerns. You're going to want to let them
• 25:35
  know again, which guest in your party has the food allergy or
• 25:38
  intolerance, what that is. And Universal Culinary staff
• 25:42
  will make every effort to prevent that allergen from
• 25:44
  coming into contact with any part of that guests meal.
• 25:48
  It should be noted, however, Universal Orlando does not have
• 25:52
  separate food preparation facilities in which to prepare
• 25:55
  allergy free foods. So there is occasionally the
• 25:58
  chance that allergens may have been introduced to one or more
• 26:01
  ingredients before they even reached the kitchens at
• 26:05
  Universal Orlando. It's not going to be perfect,
• 26:08
  right? So just keep that in mind as you
• 26:12
  are planning your meals and planning accordingly depending
• 26:15
  on the severity of your allergy and what your allergy or
• 26:18
  intolerance may be. So again, we talked about
• 26:21
  outside food is not allowed at universal.
• 26:24
  However, security will make exceptions if you have allergies
• 26:30
  that are in your travel party. So all you have to do at
• 26:33
  security is if you're taking food and you just have to let
• 26:36
  them know, hey, you know my kiddo or myself or whoever has
• 26:40
  this, you know, they have celiacs or they are they have an
• 26:44
  allergy to peanuts or any of that type of thing.
• 26:48
  And security has no problem letting letting those items into
• 26:51
  the park at that point. Just a quick note that if you
• 26:54
  are carrying food in, only soft sided coolers smaller than 8 1/2
• 27:01
  inches wide, 6 inches high, and six inches deep are permitted.
• 27:05
  So take a look at that if you're planning to carry.
• 27:08
  You know a soft sided lunch box in with you if you have allergy
• 27:12
  concerns. One of the things to note also
• 27:15
  that I I meant to put it in the notes for you is that glass
• 27:19
  bottles are not permitted. So as you're bringing this in,
• 27:22
  just make sure that nothing is in a breakable glass container.
• 27:25
  All plastic please. Yeah.
• 27:27
  And I would also imagine, and I didn't exactly look it up, but
• 27:31
  I'm fairly certain that alcohol is a big no no to bring into the
• 27:34
  park as well, similar to the policies that Disney has on all
• 27:38
  that. So if you're bringing food in,
• 27:40
  again, I would hope that if it's an allergy concern, there's no
• 27:43
  need for you to bring alcohol in.
• 27:46
  You know, who knows, but just just don't do it right.
• 27:49
  Look up what their stipulations are.
• 27:50
  Look up what you're allowed to do.
• 27:52
  Follow the rules is the is the main point we're trying to make.
• 27:55
  Yeah, we haven't had an issue bringing water bottles into the
• 27:57
  park, but I think that's about it.
• 28:00
  Yeah, and they do allow water bottles, reusable water bottles
• 28:03
  to be brought in. That's not a problem at all.
• 28:05
  It says that very explicitly on their website.
• 28:08
  Like water bottles are totally fine, but anything other than
• 28:11
  that not allowed unless it's an allergy or a dietary issue that
• 28:15
  you have going on there. That also being said, if you
• 28:19
  have a religious food accommodation that you need
• 28:22
  while you're visiting the parks, Universal can provide kosher and
• 28:27
  I don't know how to say that word Halal Halal right meals.
• 28:31
  Apologies if I said that incorrectly in the parks, but
• 28:35
  they have to be ordered in advance.
• 28:37
  So this is something that you have to contact Universal before
• 28:41
  your trip if you want that to be considered.
• 28:46
  So these meals are prepared in separate facilities and they are
• 28:50
  just a set rate of $85 per person for a three course meal
• 28:54
  that includes salad, entree and dessert.
• 28:58
  And then? It's per meal.
• 29:01
  Yes, per person per meal. So then universal request at
• 29:04
  least a five day advance notice, and you can e-mail that same
• 29:10
  allergy, same allergy e-mail address that I gave you earlier
• 29:13
  to arrange those meals as well. So at least five days in
• 29:16
  advance. That way they can prep their
• 29:18
  kitchen and everything when it comes to that.
• 29:21
  And do note that our good friend Lem from Live Laugh Lem in the
• 29:25
  live chat here is noting that HHN rules are a little bit
• 29:29
  different in that if you're carrying water bottles in, they
• 29:32
  have to be empty. Yes.
• 29:34
  So an excellent point because more than once I've seen people
• 29:38
  try to sneak alcohol in. So just again, if you're going
• 29:41
  to events, if you're going to the parks, just do a quick read
• 29:45
  through on what's allowed and what's not allowed, regardless
• 29:47
  of when you're visiting or what you're visiting for, just to
• 29:50
  make sure that you're following the rules.
• 29:53
  I must look very unsuspicious because I've definitely brought
• 29:55
  like a water bottle full of liquid into HHN but.
• 30:00
  You bring our like the water bottles with like the reusable
• 30:02
  ones with like a filter on them. So we don't think anybody thinks
• 30:05
  we're bringing that hippie in our Britta.
• 30:06
  Or is it or if you're entering in early, you know what I mean.
• 30:10
  I wonder if they start checking that just at more at like HHM,
• 30:14
  not like the stay in scream or the early, you know what I mean?
• 30:17
  Like times that you can get in. Maybe that's the difference.
• 30:19
  Or, or perhaps my Scooby-doo attire just screams.
• 30:22
  I'm I'm I'm not trying to do anything nefarious, if
• 30:26
  unproblematic. I am not committing illegal
• 30:29
  acts. Scooby and the gang would catch
• 30:33
  me so quickly. That's true.
• 30:36
  But yeah, so that is kind of your allergy and special dietary
• 30:40
  brief information. Again, contact Universal.
• 30:43
  Look up on the website what you need to know for that.
• 30:46
  So the another thing to know that's kind of different from
• 30:51
  the way that Disney does it is the Universal's refillable mug
• 30:55
  situation. So it sounds a little odd as I'm
• 31:00
  going to be explaining it because there are like 2
• 31:02
  separate mugs and where you can fill them, etcetera, etcetera.
• 31:05
  It's different from Disney. So all of the dining locations
• 31:10
  at Universal have the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines.
• 31:14
  So that's the one with it. It's the big Coca-Cola machine
• 31:18
  with the screen where you can pick like a billion different
• 31:20
  flavors, and it's perfect for mixing sodas.
• 31:22
  It's really sick, but there's like 10:00-ish or so in every
• 31:27
  park. And the way that this works is
• 31:30
  you have to purchase a cup, the cup that will work with the
• 31:34
  machine, and then you get free refills on any machine
• 31:38
  throughout that specific day. So if you're purchasing a new
• 31:42
  cup, it is 1899 per cup. They have like different designs
• 31:49
  on them, right? Like there's a couple classic
• 31:51
  universal ones, like they always have like that vintage 80s
• 31:55
  looking one with all of the icons.
• 31:57
  They usually have like an ET one and a Jaws one.
• 31:59
  But they'll also have like a theme to whatever's happening
• 32:04
  then, right? Like their events like a Mardi
• 32:05
  Gras one or an HHN 1, something like that.
• 32:08
  So the offerings change pretty regularly.
• 32:11
  These can be bought at most of the counter service locations
• 32:15
  throughout the park, excluding any of the Harry Potter dining
• 32:19
  locations. There is something different in
• 32:21
  there which I'm actually not even going to throw in.
• 32:23
  It's like a butter beer specific mug.
• 32:25
  We don't need to go down that rabbit hole.
• 32:27
  It gets it gets insane. A note to save your receipt just
• 32:31
  in case anything goes sideways. But they're pretty.
• 32:34
  The cups are pretty good. There's a a chip on the bottom
• 32:38
  of them. It's an RFID chip, and so it
• 32:40
  reads the fact that it was purchased and or activated that
• 32:44
  day, and then you just stick it under you pick your soda flavor
• 32:47
  and you're good to go. Should you purchase the cup and
• 32:51
  then be coming back another day? You can re sort of like quote UN
• 32:56
  quote reload that cup, right? You can reactivate it for
• 33:00
  another day that you did not purchase it on, and that is 1199
• 33:04
  for the day. Now I get this question.
• 33:07
  I've seen this question all the time.
• 33:09
  It does not matter when you purchase the cup.
• 33:11
  You could have purchased it five years ago.
• 33:12
  You could have purchased it yesterday.
• 33:14
  They will still be able to reactivate that cup for 1199.
• 33:18
  Now, it's possible the RFID chips work on small batteries.
• 33:22
  Sometimes those batteries die, right?
• 33:24
  It's the same technology that magic bands work on, right?
• 33:26
  So if you think about those older magic, like first Gen.
• 33:29
  magic bands, they don't really work anymore because the battery
• 33:31
  died. They will replace the cup.
• 33:34
  They'll replace the cup, and then you will just have the 1199
• 33:37
  charge. I've seen it happen every single
• 33:39
  trip where somebody brings like a cup from 2016.
• 33:42
  And the cast members, like I remember when they came out with
• 33:44
  this, right? Like it's always a fun
• 33:46
  conversation. But yeah, so it does not matter
• 33:49
  how old the cup is when it was purchased, they can still
• 33:51
  reactivate it. And that being said, if you
• 33:54
  don't want to purchase the reusable 1, you can purchase
• 33:57
  single use ones as well, but you won't be able to access the like
• 34:02
  soda part of the machine without having a cup that has the RFID
• 34:07
  chip in it. So even the single use ones that
• 34:09
  they give you will still have those in it.
• 34:11
  It's the same way that Disney does it to prevent people from
• 34:13
  stealing drinks other than water from their machines.
• 34:17
  Right, which is actually a really good point.
• 34:19
  Water is available. Ice and water does not matter.
• 34:23
  Universal does not want you to have heat stroke on their
• 34:25
  property. At any of these machines you can
• 34:27
  access ice and water. I will say regularly during HHN
• 34:33
  the machines have run out of ice by like 10:00 at night.
• 34:37
  So like it, it happens, right? You'll still have access to the
• 34:39
  cool water, but the ice may not always be available on
• 34:42
  particularly hot days. So on and so forth.
• 34:45
  But if you are in real desperate need of ice, you can usually go
• 34:48
  up to the counter and they will, they will figure out a way to
• 34:51
  accommodate you. There's usually an ice maker in
• 34:53
  the back. Yeah, I think Universal just has
• 34:55
  an issue keeping the ice stocked in those because I feel like it
• 34:58
  at like 11:00 AM sometimes they're out of ice too.
• 35:00
  So you may or may not get ice, hopefully cross your fingers,
• 35:04
  but definitely water for sure is always available.
• 35:06
  Yes, yeah, you can definitely hydrate it just may not be with
• 35:09
  the optimal temperature water. Yes, OK.
• 35:13
  Going back to the reusable. Cups yes, yes.
• 35:15
  So if you are purchasing the reusable cups, the more it's,
• 35:19
  you know, the classic, the more you buy, the more you save,
• 35:21
  right? So if you were buying 2, they
• 35:25
  are 1699 per cup. When you buy three or more, that
• 35:29
  goes down to 1499. I have never seen anybody buy
• 35:34
  more. I think I saw somebody buy 10
• 35:36
  cups once and they were still the 1499 if I remember right.
• 35:40
  I think it was just like a large family gathering or perhaps a
• 35:43
  tour group. I'm not really sure.
• 35:45
  But yeah, so, so the discount really is the lowest that they
• 35:48
  go. Is that 1499?
• 35:50
  Oh, so another thing that's important to note is that if you
• 35:54
  want something that is not in the freestyle machine, like a
• 35:57
  lemonade or a tea that is available at a quick service,
• 36:02
  most of the time that just ask the team members and they will
• 36:05
  be happy to get it for you. It is largely included.
• 36:08
  That is sometimes not true with certain specialty drinks.
• 36:12
  Of course, it's not true with any alcoholic drinks, but there
• 36:16
  I usually if it's like a specialty lemonade, it may not
• 36:18
  be included, but just plain lemonade, plain iced tea, those
• 36:21
  are included in the refills. They're just not in the
• 36:23
  machines. And special note that the some
• 36:27
  of the machines have special like secret menus based on
• 36:32
  location so if you want to know more about that we won't spoil
• 36:35
  it for you. But if you want to know more
• 36:36
  about that, do a quick Google search on what that looks like
• 36:40
  because I think they even have them at Epic Universe too.
• 36:43
  So they no, no full spoilers. The ones that are in Universal
• 36:49
  Studios in IOA are like true secret menu.
• 36:53
  You like have to do a fun little thing to get to them.
• 36:56
  I believe the ones in epic every land has their own unique flavor
• 37:02
  and that I believe is just readily available on the screen.
• 37:04
  Still a super fun little thing, but I'm definitely going to try
• 37:08
  over single flavor in Epic when we go there.
• 37:10
  I'm so going to be honest, as soon as I saw a video on it, I
• 37:14
  was like, oh, this is like #2 After going on the Wolfman ride,
• 37:18
  this is number 2 right? Later time go.
• 37:20
  Wolfman and the Secret menu drinks.
• 37:23
  This is like the two things that I care about is Wolfman and
• 37:25
  soda. You know what I mean?
• 37:26
  So no. Yeah, I will note that our good
• 37:29
  friend Victoria is in the chat here and she mentioned something
• 37:32
  that I want to see what you guys know about it.
• 37:34
  She said that she loved the refillable mugs and it saved her
• 37:38
  life when she was there to be able to get more.
• 37:40
  But she also said something about I CS being a big hack with
• 37:44
  that. So what do you know about?
• 37:45
  That duck that is very true. Thank you Victoria.
• 37:49
  So just like some I said, some of the other items are included
• 37:53
  right, like an iced tea or a lemonade.
• 37:55
  I CS are also included with your reusable cup purchase.
• 37:59
  Awesome. So if it is awesome.
• 38:01
  So if you are a big icy person or you just like feel like
• 38:04
  something super cold because Florida gets hot, any icy flavor
• 38:08
  at any location is included with the refillable cups.
• 38:12
  That is a, a good call out. Absolutely.
• 38:14
  So I, I alluded earlier that there is like a separate type of
• 38:19
  mug and that is the resort mug. It is, I cannot make this clear
• 38:24
  enough. I have seen a lot of upset
• 38:25
  people at the resort machines, the, the cup that you were
• 38:30
  getting in the park and the cup that you were getting at the
• 38:32
  resort. Two different things.
• 38:34
  They are not interchangeable. They will not work.
• 38:38
  Those RFID chips will say Nope, sorry, not for you.
• 38:42
  So the way that the resort mugs work is that for $20.00 for the
• 38:46
  whole length of your stay, you get the cup and unlimited
• 38:49
  refills, right? So that $20 is cup and refills
• 38:53
  to your heart's content. But they are explicitly and
• 38:56
  only. I must emphasize this enough.
• 38:59
  They are only available at your resort where you purchased it.
• 39:03
  There are usually multiple. They don't let you.
• 39:06
  You do resort to resort with that resort hop.
• 39:09
  The ship is specifically designated with an ID for the
• 39:13
  machines that are in your resort.
• 39:16
  There's usually a couple, it depends on your resort, but
• 39:19
  usually there's one down by the pool if your pool has like a
• 39:21
  little food or bar area and there's usually one in like the
• 39:24
  grab and go section that's like towards the front where you
• 39:27
  check in. In most resorts you can only use
• 39:30
  it at your specific resort. Once Upon a time you could use
• 39:35
  it across resorts but since they kind of discourage like pool
• 39:38
  hopping and you know going back and forth, it is only at the
• 39:42
  resort at which you purchased it.
• 39:45
  There may be 1 exception and that could be the Endless
• 39:48
  Summer, Dockside and Surfside because they share so many
• 39:51
  amenities. I actually would have to look
• 39:53
  into that. I'm not sure, but everything
• 39:55
  else I know for a fact is only your home resort where you
• 39:58
  purchased. That's a game changer though,
• 40:01
  like because we always get the resort mugs at Disney because
• 40:04
  Disney if you don't know offers the resort refillable mugs.
• 40:07
  They do not have an in parks option but you can fill it at
• 40:10
  any resort at Disney. So if you are resort hopping to
• 40:14
  go to a quick service location like we stayed at Art of
• 40:18
  Animation, we took the sky liner to the Riviera to go to Primo
• 40:21
  Piato. We took our mugs with us and
• 40:23
  we're able to refill them there. Can't do that at Universal so
• 40:28
  that's good to know. And it's interesting because I
• 40:31
  don't want to say Universal discourages hopping exactly, but
• 40:35
  Disney, a lot of like Disney is very, very like easily
• 40:41
  accessible across the board. Like you can very easily make
• 40:44
  reservations at one resort and get there no problem, especially
• 40:47
  for places like the Poly that have like character breakfasts
• 40:51
  and what not. So they want you to go to these
• 40:53
  other resorts. They want you to experience them
• 40:56
  at Universal. It's almost like a little bit, I
• 40:58
  don't want to call it an exclusive club, but like you're
• 41:01
  the resort that you're at is the resort that they kind of want
• 41:04
  you to stay. At right, Yeah.
• 41:07
  Sort of exception is the ones that are on the water because
• 41:10
  there is the water taxi. But even then it's like it's not
• 41:14
  super easy to get. You have to like change once you
• 41:16
  get to Citywalk. So they're not big on, unlike
• 41:20
  Disney where it's like just take the sky liner to the other
• 41:22
  resort and have your reservation, you know it,
• 41:25
  Capelinos Towers or whatever it may be.
• 41:27
  I think that's the difference. There's so many character meals
• 41:29
  at Disney and there's so many like things that would draw you
• 41:33
  to the restaurants at the other resorts.
• 41:34
  Like most of the resort restaurants are like they're not
• 41:38
  anything special in in that sense of like that there's a
• 41:42
  specific character meal or like something like that that you
• 41:45
  would want to go for. So it's just a little bit
• 41:47
  different in that sense. They're definitely built with
• 41:52
  individual resort in mind, right?
• 41:54
  The resort that you are the, the quote UN quote resort that you
• 41:57
  are at is, is your hotel and the parks that is it the right
• 42:02
  there, there is no real transportation between hotels at
• 42:07
  Universal, unlike a Disney where they want the whole thing is the
• 42:11
  resort. They sort of want to focus on
• 42:13
  your experience at Universal being the hotel that you were
• 42:17
  staying at and the parks and City Walk.
• 42:19
  Of course that's that's the way I think that's the difference in
• 42:22
  the way that these things are set up.
• 42:24
  Again, the the the mugs at Universal, rightfully so,
• 42:28
  knowing that you can't use them at more than one place are
• 42:30
  cheaper than the ones at Disney. Disney, I believe if I remember,
• 42:34
  we just bought them, I think they were 2499 for the length of
• 42:38
  your stay, but you can take them to any location that you go to.
• 42:41
  So we filled them at a ton of different because we did a lot
• 42:44
  of resort hopping on this trip, whereas the Universal ones are
• 42:48
  20 for just your resort. I think the Disney one, even
• 42:51
  though it's more as a better deal if you know, especially if
• 42:54
  you know you're going to go to some of those quick service
• 42:56
  locations. But we would just carry ours
• 42:58
  around sometimes. And if we went by, you know,
• 43:01
  even if we weren't going to Primo Piato, we could stop into
• 43:03
  Primo Piato and fill our mug while we're riding the sky liner
• 43:06
  and wandering around resort hopping, even if we're not
• 43:09
  eating there, you know? Absolutely.
• 43:11
  It's not. And the other thing is that like
• 43:14
  I think at Disney, it's more common to have multiple resort
• 43:17
  days and you built into your trip.
• 43:20
  It's far less common in a universal trip, right?
• 43:22
  You're mostly there for the parks.
• 43:24
  You might have a day and so like maybe if you have a kiddo who
• 43:28
  really love soda or you really love soda and you can convince
• 43:31
  your family to share the one mug, it's probably worth it to
• 43:35
  just get the one you know. But I would not the the large
• 43:39
  the consensus. We've never bought it at
• 43:41
  Universal and the consensus online seems to be unless you
• 43:44
  are doing exactly that, convincing everybody to share 1
• 43:48
  cup of soda, or you are doing like you have a long stay and
• 43:52
  you're doing multiple days in your hotel, probably not worth
• 43:56
  it. Right.
• 43:57
  I mean, even at Disney, my kids are six and eight.
• 43:59
  We don't buy them for them. My husband and I will buy them.
• 44:02
  And then like, if we are eating a meal at the food court there,
• 44:05
  we'll fill one with lemonade or Powerade for them and one with
• 44:09
  soda because my kids refuse to drink fizzy drinks.
• 44:12
  It's a whole thing. I know it's OK.
• 44:16
  They're less. They're little sensory
• 44:18
  overloads. I know.
• 44:19
  I. Feel that so deeply because I
• 44:21
  also don't like most fizzy drinks.
• 44:24
  So does the exception, because my love for Coca-Cola overrides
• 44:27
  everything. But like, like Jess is drinking.
• 44:30
  I call them. I call them spicy.
• 44:32
  Waters. Spicy waters, yeah.
• 44:33
  Because I can't do it. I don't like it.
• 44:35
  So I'm fully with your children. Yeah.
• 44:37
  So we don't bother to buy them their own because we can just
• 44:41
  make it work with what we have. So, and do note that if you are
• 44:45
  buying these at any Universal Disney in the parks at Universal
• 44:49
  in the resorts, the other places, they all have a timer on
• 44:53
  them. So you can't just like unlimited
• 44:55
  like unlimitedly. Is that a word?
• 44:57
  It is now reseal your mugs like you can just stand there and
• 45:01
  like chug it. There's like a 5 to 10 minute
• 45:04
  timer depending on where you are and which mug you have that you
• 45:06
  can't like constantly refill. So do keep that in mind,
• 45:10
  especially if you're sharing like keep that in mind if
• 45:13
  you're, if you're going to be getting one mug for multiple
• 45:16
  people that you do have a timer on when you can go back and
• 45:19
  refill again. Yeah, you can usually get.
• 45:21
  So here's here's a pro tip for you.
• 45:23
  If you can get a team member over there, they can override
• 45:26
  it. So like if you have a kiddo that
• 45:28
  just like chug the soda that you were supposed to be sharing and
• 45:31
  you're locked out for another 10 minutes, you can just be like,
• 45:33
  hey, my kid really liked this Cherry Coke.
• 45:36
  Can we please, can you please. They'll do it.
• 45:39
  It's not any big deal. Yeah, so true.
• 45:42
  All right, What else do we need to know?
• 45:43
  I think there's a couple other things about these resort mugs
• 45:46
  before we move on. Yes.
• 45:48
  So when it comes to cops, certain events like Halloween
• 45:51
  Horror Nights and Mardi Gras will have specialty cocktails at
• 45:56
  those temporary booths that we talked about earlier.
• 45:59
  Those booths sell special themed cups.
• 46:02
  They're called Blinky cups because that's they blink,
• 46:05
  right? They have the little like light
• 46:06
  up thing, strobe light on the bottom.
• 46:07
  It's a lot of fun at HHN when you're just like looking down
• 46:11
  like a dark spooky area and you just see these like little
• 46:14
  blink. It's incredible.
• 46:15
  It's truly like the ambiance unmatched.
• 46:19
  But yeah. So they will sell the Blinky
• 46:20
  cups. You can purchase those cups.
• 46:23
  So, so you know, it's usually one price if you want the blinky
• 46:25
  cup and cocktail or you just want the cocktail and like a
• 46:28
  disposable cup. But when you buy the Blinky
• 46:32
  cups, you can get discounted refills and those refills are
• 46:36
  good through the rest of the event.
• 46:38
  So if if you are going back, like we have lots of friends
• 46:41
  that do HHN for multiple nights. In fact, they're there for like
• 46:44
  weeks at a time basically as if you purchase it once and you
• 46:48
  bring it back, there is no tracking that you bought it,
• 46:52
  then it is good for the rest of the season.
• 46:54
  You can bring it back and and get that refill discount.
• 46:58
  That's a major tip to to take advantage of that now, take
• 47:03
  advantage of it safely and be smart with your consumption.
• 47:07
  Yes. However, that's really awesome.
• 47:09
  Well, and it's also good because they offer mocktails at the same
• 47:12
  locations. Most of the most of the drinks
• 47:14
  will have a mocktail counterpart in.
• 47:18
  When we first started going to HHN, it was like, really, they
• 47:21
  were very heavy on alcohol. Maybe only one or two locations
• 47:24
  would have mocktails. Last year, most locations that
• 47:27
  soft that served like a specialty themed cocktail had a
• 47:32
  mocktail version. Yeah, a mocktail counterpart.
• 47:34
  Or they can just make a non alcohol and you're so like, and
• 47:36
  those discounts will apply for the mocktail.
• 47:38
  So if you maybe had one too many or you were just sustaining from
• 47:42
  alcohol for whatever reason, but you want a fun blinky cup, you
• 47:45
  can absolutely still participate in the blink, Yeah.
• 47:47
  Yeah, there we be. Here.
• 47:48
  You want the Blinky Cup? You right there, you can
• 47:50
  participate in the Blinky Cup. If you didn't, if you're not
• 47:54
  watching us on video, I just did a little happy.
• 47:56
  Dance about that, because blinky cups are fun.
• 47:58
  Exactly. We'd have to get Jackie to HHN
• 48:00
  first, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 48:01
  Sorry, that's not going to happen.
• 48:02
  I. Think I'm just going to buy you
• 48:03
  a blinky cup and ship it? I see you with the blinky.
• 48:07
  Cup. Does it say you're going to lure
• 48:08
  me into HHN? Look at the Blinky cup, Jackie
• 48:12
  Con. Come on, I'll see you in the
• 48:14
  fog. Come on.
• 48:18
  Goodness. OK, to pull Jackie back in with
• 48:23
  the Blinky Cup, now that we have talked through the basics,
• 48:27
  right, We've talked through the types of food locations that are
• 48:31
  available. We've talked through some of the
• 48:32
  drink, you know, stipulations. I'll say we're going to shift
• 48:37
  over to recommendations for families with kids, right?
• 48:41
  Of course, that's the focus of Mom Street at Universal.
• 48:44
  So we're going to talk about the different food locations.
• 48:46
  We're going to talk about some of their offerings.
• 48:49
  These choices we explicitly picked because they are largely
• 48:54
  kid friendly or they might have good options.
• 48:57
  Even if they don't have an explicit kid menu, they are
• 49:00
  good, you know, family friendly kid options are available.
• 49:05
  A good chunk of these we've eaten at, some of them we
• 49:08
  haven't. So this is like, we just sort of
• 49:09
  like crowd sourced some of this information because unless you
• 49:13
  live locally, I would be shocked if anyone can eat their full way
• 49:16
  through a theme park. I'm going to ask with you.
• 49:19
  So tragically, for better or worse, we are not local.
• 49:22
  So some of these places we've eaten at, some of them we
• 49:25
  haven't. Perfect.
• 49:26
  So we're going to start at Universal Studios and again,
• 49:29
  we're just going to highlight a few options of the many that
• 49:32
  they have. So the first one we're going to
• 49:35
  talk about is Louise Italian Restaurant.
• 49:37
  And this is one that is good for lunch and dinner.
• 49:40
  And you will hear that a lot as we go through these.
• 49:42
  There are not very many need breakfast options in the parks
• 49:46
  that we would recommend. There are some, but breakfast is
• 49:50
  a little harder to come by at Universal than you would find it
• 49:52
  like Disney. So just plan accordingly.
• 49:55
  Remember you can't bring food in, so maybe plan to grab
• 49:58
  something at your resort. Plan to have some food in your
• 50:01
  room. You know, depending on what your
• 50:02
  needs are with that if. I can make one pro tip
• 50:06
  recommendation the first night of your trip, go to city walk
• 50:10
  and get Voodoo Donuts. That's what we do.
• 50:13
  So what we do is that we will get like a half dozen or
• 50:17
  sometimes 8, depends on how long we're there.
• 50:19
  We'll buy them. We'll have a little treat the
• 50:21
  first night that we're in and then their specialty Donuts we
• 50:25
  will treat as break a vacation breakfast, right?
• 50:28
  That's right. Listen, when you're on vacation,
• 50:30
  it's airport rules, right? Any food anytime totally goes.
• 50:34
  There is no structure. Absolutely so and truly nothing
• 50:39
  is as life changing as having a peanut butter Oreo donut for
• 50:44
  breakfast. Dude.
• 50:46
  It is incredible. But truly like it.
• 50:48
  It's a really good option if you were like a sweet breakfast
• 50:51
  person really like a great option to just have right in
• 50:55
  your room. You can just, you know, do that
• 50:57
  and head out or if you want to be a little bit healthier or
• 51:00
  whatever the grab and go because if you want to not live your
• 51:05
  life on vacation, No, we've, we've done this too, where we've
• 51:08
  gone down the first night that we got there down to the grab
• 51:11
  and go area and we'll just grab like a fruit cup or cereal,
• 51:15
  cereal. We've done oatmeal before,
• 51:16
  right? Like they have all those little
• 51:18
  like instant packets that you can just like make with hot
• 51:20
  water. So those are also really good
• 51:22
  quick options before you head into the parks.
• 51:25
  There's also Starbucks in Citywalk, Islands of Adventure
• 51:28
  Studios. I don't know if there's one in
• 51:30
  Epic because we haven't been to Epic.
• 51:32
  Yet I actually don't know that. I genuinely don't know.
• 51:34
  I haven't. Linked it up yet?
• 51:36
  Victoria says there are two Starbucks locations in Perfect
• 51:39
  there. Thank you.
• 51:39
  So no matter which park, you can at least get breakfast there.
• 51:43
  If I may read a quick quote, there's a convenient chaos near
• 51:46
  Dark Universe. Wow.
• 51:48
  Look at that. Isn't that just?
• 51:50
  Perfect, I can get caffeinated right before I go run away to go
• 51:56
  live with the monsters in the castle.
• 51:57
  Let's be honest. I love that.
• 52:00
  Yes. All great ideas to to plan your
• 52:03
  breakfast ahead. OK, back to Universal Sushi.
• 52:06
  Yeah, Louie's Italian restaurant lunch and dinner options.
• 52:12
  As the name implies, it is Italian food at this location.
• 52:16
  They do not have a specific set kids menu at this location.
• 52:20
  So this is one of those that doesn't have a kids menu, but
• 52:23
  has a lot of kid friendly options because they have a
• 52:27
  pretty wide menu. If you are someone who enjoys
• 52:30
  Italian food, they've got pizza, fettuccine Alfredo, spaghetti,
• 52:33
  they've got different salads, meatball Subs, all very kid
• 52:36
  friendly options that you can get at that location.
• 52:40
  Moving on to another location is Finnegan's, which again a lunch
• 52:44
  and dinner option there. It is an Irish pub style
• 52:48
  restaurant. They do have a kids menu.
• 52:50
  This kids menu is a little bit smaller and maybe not maybe
• 52:55
  maybe doesn't apply to every kid because me looking at this, I
• 52:59
  would be like kind of for my kids.
• 53:02
  But if you've got kiddos that really like fish, they've got a
• 53:04
  grilled salmon, they've got cheeseburgers, they've got like
• 53:07
  a fruit plate. If you've got royal picky eaters
• 53:09
  that don't really eat a ton and just just need a little bit of
• 53:11
  something to snack on and then they do have chicken tenders as
• 53:14
  well. The adult menu here has a
• 53:17
  typical pub fair, so they've got fish and chips, shepherd's pie,
• 53:19
  New York strip steak, burgers and those types of things.
• 53:23
  So if that is more your kiddos alley, you can definitely order
• 53:26
  for them off of the full menu or you know, split something with
• 53:28
  them if you need to. And for those who are of age,
• 53:32
  this is a very popular spots to partake in some adult beverages
• 53:36
  at this location. So you might be able to get the
• 53:40
  best of both if you need to. Again, consume responsibly,
• 53:44
  especially if you're with your children in a theme park.
• 53:47
  Just throwing out there. Safety first, but you are on
• 53:50
  vacation so a little treat is always warranted.
• 53:53
  Yes. Exactly.
• 53:54
  Another location at Universal Studios is the Leaky Cauldron,
• 53:59
  and this is a really popular one that a lot of people know about
• 54:01
  in the Harry Potter area. This one does have a breakfast
• 54:04
  option at it and also lunch and dinner.
• 54:08
  They have just kind of a generic kids breakfast on their kids
• 54:11
  menu, so you can look more into that if that's something that
• 54:14
  you might want to to check out For their lunch and dinner.
• 54:19
  They have Mac and cheese, fish and chips.
• 54:21
  They have a mini pie, so either cottage pie or fisherman's pie.
• 54:25
  If that is something that you feel like your kiddo would
• 54:27
  enjoy, they have that option for you there.
• 54:31
  Minion Cafe is another really fun themed option that you can
• 54:35
  do for kiddos at Universal Studios.
• 54:37
  Again, lunch and dinner there. Shocking.
• 54:40
  It's Despicable Me themed. Who?
• 54:43
  Would have guessed that we would have known from last Mayans.
• 54:46
  That's just not descriptive enough.
• 54:48
  I think they need to rename it. And it's not in your face yellow
• 54:53
  either. You know it's fine.
• 54:56
  RIP Monster Cafe has all I have to say.
• 55:00
  It's OK. It was.
• 55:02
  It was a good update. As much as it pains me to say it
• 55:04
  was time for something new. Yeah.
• 55:06
  Yeah, and we did talk about the minion area earlier in the
• 55:09
  series, so hop back over there if you want more information
• 55:11
  about that. They do have a kids menu,
• 55:14
  surprising no one because it's a very kid friendly area I have
• 55:17
  thought. That this was going to be like
• 55:19
  the Victoria and Alberts of Universal.
• 55:23
  Can you imagine they actually did?
• 55:25
  That that I actually have to say even if they did.
• 55:28
  It for like one night only would be the funniest of free will
• 55:31
  that they could employ the juxtaposition of like fancy
• 55:35
  attire with the minions all. It would be.
• 55:38
  They have to make it a character meal too and have the minions
• 55:40
  serve you your dinner. Everybody is like dressed to the
• 55:44
  nines. Absolutely, yes.
• 55:48
  That would be pretty incredible. Their kids menu is super fun.
• 55:52
  I actually wrote down the name of the the offerings that they
• 55:56
  had here because it was really, really fun.
• 55:58
  So they have the mega melt, which is grilled cheese.
• 56:01
  They have shrunken moon balls with flying sauce, so spaghetti
• 56:05
  and meatballs with that one and Mr. Grew's PB and Jelly as well.
• 56:10
  And they also have little minion shaped tater tots, minion tots
• 56:14
  there that are very, very popular and they have some of
• 56:17
  the best and most consistent food in the park.
• 56:20
  I, I reckon it's probably because they're one of the newer
• 56:23
  locations in the park, so they kind of have expanded some
• 56:27
  offerings that maybe Universal was lacking previously.
• 56:30
  I also think because it's so popular, some of the less
• 56:34
  popular locations, the food may have time to sit in between
• 56:38
  being cooked and being served. Like you're going to try to head
• 56:42
  to dinner rush or whatever. But this is probably the busiest
• 56:45
  quick service location. Exactly.
• 56:48
  So they cook it and then it's immediately purchased, you know,
• 56:50
  so there's very little time that your food would be sitting
• 56:53
  because it's so popular. Right.
• 56:54
  Yeah, that makes sense. So those are kind of four good
• 56:57
  options for your kiddos at Universal Studios.
• 57:00
  Again, not going into all the detail, not going through every
• 57:03
  location, but those four are solid choices.
• 57:06
  If you heard something on there that you know your kiddo will
• 57:08
  like, you've got a good choice there.
• 57:10
  So we'll move over to Islands of Adventure and talk about some of
• 57:13
  their food offerings there. So first up is The Three
• 57:16
  Broomsticks. So this is another breakfast,
• 57:18
  lunch and dinner location. So this is again, Harry Potter
• 57:21
  themed. There is a kids menu here that
• 57:24
  features an English breakfast, pancake breakfast, American
• 57:27
  breakfast, and continental breakfast and a porridge
• 57:29
  breakfast. A lot more breakfast options
• 57:31
  over here and then on the kids menu for lunch and dinner is
• 57:36
  fish and chips, chicken legs, chicken fingers and Mac and
• 57:39
  cheese. Next up is the Green Eggs and
• 57:42
  Ham Cafe. So this one is in the Zeus, Zeus
• 57:46
  Landing or was quite kind of hike of it.
• 57:48
  So this one is in Seuss Landing. And this is another lunch and
• 57:51
  dinner only location. So there's no true kids menu
• 57:54
  here, but it is a kid friendly area.
• 57:56
  I mean, it's in Seuss Landing. And so they do have a lot of kid
• 57:59
  friendly foods. Think things like tater tots and
• 58:01
  even edible cookie dough. And that location is more of a
• 58:05
  kiosky stand kind of. It's not like an indoor seating
• 58:09
  location. So keep that in mind.
• 58:11
  They have less offerings there, which is why we don't see a kids
• 58:14
  menu there. Yeah.
• 58:16
  And then there is Mythos, which is a lunch and dinner location.
• 58:19
  So this is kind of a fusion restaurant of Mediterranean,
• 58:22
  Asian and American food, so quite the mix there.
• 58:27
  So think a lot of lamb, couscous, and some Pad Thai all
• 58:31
  served in one location. They do feature a kids menu
• 58:34
  though so they have penne pasta, beef skewers, grilled cheese,
• 58:40
  chicken fingers, cheeseburgers and cheese pizza.
• 58:43
  So a lot of kiddo and like picky eater friendly options there.
• 58:46
  Yeah, I think all of the American options are the kids
• 58:49
  menu. Yeah.
• 58:52
  It's like American adjacent and the rest is like lamb cous cous
• 58:55
  pet pie, right? Exactly.
• 58:57
  I will say I'm not sure that Mythos is long for this world
• 59:01
  because Mythos is over in the Lost Continent area, which has
• 59:06
  with the closing of Poseidon, there's nothing over there
• 59:09
  anymore. So I suspect they're going to
• 59:12
  keep this open probably even through any sort of rethink that
• 59:15
  they do right there. It's just it's a good food
• 59:17
  location, right? It's very accessible.
• 59:19
  It's like right on the path as you're heading back, you know,
• 59:22
  towards through the park. So I don't think that they will
• 59:25
  close at anytime soon. I just suspect whenever that
• 59:29
  retheme gets underway, they will also retheme Mythos too,
• 59:32
  whatever the new location will be.
• 59:34
  Yeah, that makes sense. So Speaking of new themes and
• 59:37
  new locations, we're going to run through a couple of food
• 59:40
  offerings at Epic Universe. So of course, we have the
• 59:43
  Toadstool Cafe, which is in the Nintendo area.
• 59:47
  I'm sure you have seen a billion photos of all of the food on
• 59:50
  here. It's like, it's like super
• 59:53
  Instagrammable, right? All of their food has like a
• 59:55
  cute little theme. The burger, the little Mario
• 59:58
  burger. It comes with a little hat and a
• 1:00:00
  little mustache is on the butt. It's so cute.
• 1:00:02
  It's so cute. It's so cute.
• 1:00:04
  So of course, everything here is Super Mario themed, as you would
• 1:00:08
  expect. The kids menu is a little slim
• 1:00:12
  here. It's technically just burger and
• 1:00:14
  spaghetti, but there are other things on the menu.
• 1:00:16
  If you have a kiddo who's, you know, really into Mario, they're
• 1:00:21
  probably going to want to order it anyway because they're going
• 1:00:23
  to see the little question mark block tiramisu go by and they're
• 1:00:26
  like, I want that, right, Right. And then just stick them on the
• 1:00:33
  Mario Kart ride and let them do laps you'll wish.
• 1:00:35
  To let them punch some blocks and Nintendo World.
• 1:00:38
  It's a perfect area for them to be hopped up on sugar.
• 1:00:40
  I got to tell you. So yeah.
• 1:00:42
  So, so while there is only like 2 things on the technical kids
• 1:00:46
  menu, if if you have a kiddo who has a big appetite or maybe
• 1:00:50
  slightly older, there's plenty of like very fun themed options
• 1:00:53
  on the menu for them to pick from.
• 1:00:56
  Now there's also Pizza Moon in Celestial Park, that's a
• 1:01:00
  luncheon dinner. Oh, I didn't say Toadstool Cafe
• 1:01:02
  is only a luncheon dinner location, no breakfast.
• 1:01:05
  So back to pizza. And then that is also a luncheon
• 1:01:07
  dinner location. There is again one of those
• 1:01:10
  things where there's no technical kids menu, but it's
• 1:01:14
  pizza, pasta salad. So if you have a kid who likes
• 1:01:17
  Italian food, who likes pizza, they're going to be in heaven
• 1:01:19
  here. So we are proudly and annoyingly
• 1:01:24
  from New Jersey and we are very skeptical about pizza.
• 1:01:28
  But I have heard fantastic things about the pizza from
• 1:01:33
  Pizza Moon. So I actually this is like one
• 1:01:36
  of the top things on my list that I want to try it food wise
• 1:01:39
  and epic. I don't know.
• 1:01:40
  Unless they're importing their water from the tri-state area, I
• 1:01:43
  don't know. Listen, that's really for
• 1:01:46
  bagels. I think we can get away with a
• 1:01:47
  pizza crust that's not the same water, but you never know.
• 1:01:51
  But yeah, so I've heard, like, really like raving things about
• 1:01:55
  it. So I think this is going to be
• 1:01:56
  one that we, we, you know, prioritize checking out.
• 1:01:59
  A lot of their pizza is tends to have a few more toppings on it
• 1:02:03
  then you would find it like standard pizza places.
• 1:02:06
  So keep that in mind. If you're like someone who your
• 1:02:09
  kiddo will only eat cheese pizza and that's it, you may just want
• 1:02:12
  to double check the menu to see if there's something that you
• 1:02:14
  can either pull stuff off of or, you know, kids you never know
• 1:02:17
  with. Yeah, if it touches their
• 1:02:19
  cheese, will they not eat it depends on the day sometimes.
• 1:02:23
  So take a look because they do have some more kind of, I don't
• 1:02:28
  there's not even exploratory or adventurous, but it's just a
• 1:02:31
  specialty. Yes, specialty pizza for sure on
• 1:02:34
  there. Any vodka pizza, you get a meat
• 1:02:36
  lovers pizza right? Like those kinds of things where
• 1:02:38
  there is like some more exciting topping options yes and and I I
• 1:02:41
  believe they offer plain cheese pizza, but you might sometimes
• 1:02:46
  kids, it's just over stimulating.
• 1:02:48
  You're totally right. It might just be too many
• 1:02:50
  smells, too many exciting things.
• 1:02:51
  It just might not happen right. Like you know your kiddos best
• 1:02:54
  SO. Yes.
• 1:02:57
  OK, And then the third option that we have to just discuss
• 1:03:00
  quickly within Epic is Hooligans grog and gruel, which might I
• 1:03:05
  really my brain shut down trying to read that the first time It's
• 1:03:09
  but so that's in the how to train your dragon area.
• 1:03:12
  As the grog and gruel portion might allude to, this is a lunch
• 1:03:16
  and dinner location. It's a little different though,
• 1:03:18
  because it is technically a snack stand versus like a
• 1:03:23
  straight up quick service sit down type of location.
• 1:03:27
  There are no kids menus here either.
• 1:03:30
  But because it's a snack stand, there's you know, a variety of
• 1:03:33
  offerings here and you know, you know, quick bite type option.
• 1:03:37
  So there is a Mac and cheese cone which I have seen a lot of
• 1:03:40
  positive things about of. The Instagram shot right there
• 1:03:44
  is the Mac and cheese cone. 100% And it's not just like stump
• 1:03:48
  food, right? It's not just Instagram food.
• 1:03:50
  I've heard really good feedback about it.
• 1:03:52
  So that is definitely something that I also want to try when
• 1:03:54
  we're there. But there is APB and J Mac and
• 1:03:59
  cheese, which is pork bacon and jam Mac and cheese.
• 1:04:03
  There is the Dragon Fire chicken Spire, which is Nashville style
• 1:04:08
  pulled chicken hot honey on top of Mac and cheese, right.
• 1:04:11
  So this is a Mac and cheese snack stand in with different
• 1:04:14
  toppings and different, you know, forms, etcetera, etcetera.
• 1:04:19
  I love that they like they're all in a cone.
• 1:04:21
  So it's just like so handy to just like again, it's a snack
• 1:04:24
  stand, so just like walk and eat it as you go.
• 1:04:27
  So depending on whether or not your kiddo can handle that, you
• 1:04:30
  may need to find seating in order to to hold.
• 1:04:34
  That cone, yeah. Or yeah, or pull the mom thing
• 1:04:37
  where you're feeding them out of your cone, right?
• 1:04:40
  Because we, that's just as mom's what we do.
• 1:04:42
  So just be aware that you have to hold the cone, because if you
• 1:04:47
  have one and your kiddo has one, you may need to plan accordingly
• 1:04:50
  for that. Yes, just just just for some,
• 1:04:53
  you know, forethought yes, exactly.
• 1:04:58
  And and just like everywhere else, there's plenty of other
• 1:05:00
  locations in Epic. That was just our quick
• 1:05:02
  snapshot. There's basically every location
• 1:05:06
  has one to two food places and then some snack stands.
• 1:05:09
  So, you know, open that app if you're not sure if you're hangry
• 1:05:13
  and you're all the way back in, I don't know the the Mario
• 1:05:16
  section and you don't feel like that the Toadstool Cafe or
• 1:05:19
  there's a long wait. Just see.
• 1:05:20
  Oh, that's the other thing. Toadstool Cafe can have a long
• 1:05:23
  wait during popular times because it is so Instagram able.
• 1:05:27
  There's a lot of people who are desperate to go in there to get
• 1:05:30
  that Instagram shot, myself included.
• 1:05:32
  I'm not. I'm not above it.
• 1:05:34
  And I've heard that of all of the kind of general theme parks
• 1:05:38
  under the umbrella in the Orlando area, that Epic really
• 1:05:43
  upped the game with food. So I think no matter where you
• 1:05:46
  go there, you're going to be happy again.
• 1:05:48
  We just pulled out three super kid friendly options that are
• 1:05:52
  good for you. So I think you'll you'll be
• 1:05:54
  happy with any choice there from what I've heard.
• 1:05:57
  Agreed, you can't go wrong at Dust Steakhouse.
• 1:06:03
  OK, so we are now leaving the parks and heading over to
• 1:06:07
  Citywalk to talk about some of their food offerings.
• 1:06:10
  Citywalk has about a billion and a half options because it's
• 1:06:15
  essentially an entertainment. District right at Disney
• 1:06:17
  Springs. Yeah, that Universal.
• 1:06:18
  Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
• 1:06:20
  It's it's a smaller Disney Springs and there is a lot, and
• 1:06:23
  I mean a lot of food options. So there's some pretty safe
• 1:06:27
  chains that are in there, right. If you have maybe picky eaters
• 1:06:30
  or you just need to get something really quick and you
• 1:06:32
  just don't even want to think about looking at a menu.
• 1:06:34
  They have places like a Burger King, they have a Moe's, they
• 1:06:37
  have Bubba Gumps, right. So like there are some
• 1:06:39
  definitely some very familiar options.
• 1:06:41
  But the cool thing about them is that they also have a lot of
• 1:06:46
  independently run interesting, unique restaurants that like can
• 1:06:51
  really thrive because of where they are.
• 1:06:53
  And you know, in the Orlando area, they might not too as
• 1:06:56
  well, but here in this entertainment district where
• 1:06:59
  there's lots of people interested in trying new things,
• 1:07:01
  there's a good variety in there. So one of the places that we
• 1:07:06
  really like is the NBC Grill. So that is a lunch and dinner
• 1:07:10
  spot. It's a I'm going to call it a
• 1:07:13
  family friendly sports bar, which sounds kind of like if
• 1:07:17
  those two counterintuitive. Yeah.
• 1:07:18
  Those, those words shouldn't be strung together.
• 1:07:21
  But think about it kind of like a Buffalo Wild Wings, right?
• 1:07:23
  It's not like we've been there Plenty people are having a good
• 1:07:27
  time. There are some bars there,
• 1:07:29
  right? You know, of course it's, you
• 1:07:30
  know, but there's giant TV's everywhere, playing every sport
• 1:07:34
  that you could ever imagine. But every time we've been in
• 1:07:37
  there, there's been plenty of younger kiddos, families.
• 1:07:40
  I've seen babies. Yeah, right.
• 1:07:42
  So like it's not like a strictly a bar when you think of like a
• 1:07:45
  sports bar atmosphere, you know what I mean?
• 1:07:48
  So there is a kids menu in here that would include sliders, a
• 1:07:52
  veggie pasta, the good old reliable chicken fingers, kettle
• 1:07:56
  grilled chicken, Mac and cheese and a cheese flatbread.
• 1:08:00
  Then we're heading over to probably every kids favorite
• 1:08:04
  location to eat tooth some chocolate emporium, which I
• 1:08:08
  swear they don't just serve chocolate.
• 1:08:10
  I know, I know. It sounds like they.
• 1:08:12
  I thought that until I did all this research, I was like
• 1:08:15
  chocolate emporium chocolate. Cool.
• 1:08:17
  Yes, you would think that's all that they serve, but it's themed
• 1:08:23
  to be a Chocolate Factory, so that's sort of where it comes
• 1:08:26
  in. They serve plenty of chocolate
• 1:08:29
  though, so don't worry. If you're really hankering,
• 1:08:31
  that's a great place to go and they do have a.
• 1:08:33
  Store in the front that sells all kinds of different chocolate
• 1:08:35
  and candy goodies. Yes.
• 1:08:37
  Yes, if you want to just do a drive by real quick and you you
• 1:08:40
  don't want to you don't want to get entangled in the chocolate
• 1:08:42
  based menu, you can just in an hour quick.
• 1:08:46
  They are most famous for their over the top milkshakes, right?
• 1:08:52
  I think these were really popular circa like 2012, but
• 1:08:54
  they have really kept up the tradition and they are still
• 1:08:56
  very popular here. So if you think about like those
• 1:08:59
  really crazy creations, they have like a funfetti one that is
• 1:09:02
  a funfetti milkshake. So it's like vanilla ice cream
• 1:09:06
  with sprinkles and a whole slice of funfetti cake on top.
• 1:09:12
  So those those, yes. Oh yeah.
• 1:09:14
  If there's a Key Lime Pie, one that has like my slice of Key
• 1:09:16
  Lime on top, right. So like those crazy milkshake
• 1:09:20
  concoctions that were super popular a couple years ago, I
• 1:09:23
  say a couple years ago. It's like more than a decade
• 1:09:25
  ago. I know.
• 1:09:27
  Anyway, I could feel myself crumble to dust.
• 1:09:31
  But yeah, so. So they have those like over the
• 1:09:33
  top. You know, milkshake creations
• 1:09:37
  are the most popular thing there, right?
• 1:09:39
  It's a big dessert place. But they do also offer food.
• 1:09:42
  They have a pretty varied menu actually.
• 1:09:44
  It was a little surprised we have not eaten there.
• 1:09:46
  We have shopped there. But they have a kids venue of
• 1:09:50
  course. So they have chicken fingers,
• 1:09:52
  mini burgers, marinara, gargonelli.
• 1:09:55
  They have chicken with rice and waffle options, right?
• 1:10:00
  I thought that was so interesting.
• 1:10:01
  I was like, they have a a waffle all day long.
• 1:10:03
  It's just, it's just a waffle with because I was like, oh, is
• 1:10:06
  it like chicken and waffles or something?
• 1:10:08
  No, it's just a waffle. Yeah, just a waffle.
• 1:10:10
  Well, because they they offer on the adult menu, they have like
• 1:10:15
  Belgian waffles, right? So like they have like waffles
• 1:10:17
  and fruit or waffles and 14 lbs of Hershey syrup, which sounds
• 1:10:21
  rad, you know what I mean? Like if you want a milkshake
• 1:10:23
  with a waffle waffle in it, I'm sure they'll do it right.
• 1:10:27
  Yeah, they got to offer a kids waffle.
• 1:10:28
  If they offer a grown up waffle. It's so true If it.
• 1:10:31
  Feels like it would be a total miss that they didn't just throw
• 1:10:35
  the waffle on the menu. It's already there.
• 1:10:38
  Right. Literally.
• 1:10:39
  Exactly. So once you are sufficiently
• 1:10:44
  chocolated out you can you can exit to some vivo.
• 1:10:48
  Italian Kitchen is another really popular option.
• 1:10:52
  It's so popular, in fact, that this is probably one of the only
• 1:10:57
  maybe one of two that I would recommend if you're there during
• 1:11:00
  a busy season, I would recommend seeing maybe if you make a
• 1:11:04
  reservation, if you're there on like a Friday or a Saturday
• 1:11:06
  night, because they're it's it's Italian food.
• 1:11:10
  It's very familiar. It's very popular.
• 1:11:12
  So when there's a lot of people in the area, they're going to
• 1:11:14
  want it, But also like it's just a good restaurant, right, Very,
• 1:11:18
  very well loved in the area. So people go there locally from
• 1:11:21
  date night. You also have people coming and
• 1:11:23
  traveling. So just check that reservation
• 1:11:25
  might be a good idea for a Friday or Saturday.
• 1:11:28
  This is a lunch and dinner spot too.
• 1:11:30
  So they do have kids menu. Of course, that would, you know,
• 1:11:34
  makes makes sense because you can just classic chicken fingers
• 1:11:36
  or you can pizza, right? So, so very, very safe options.
• 1:11:40
  So they do have chicken fingers, they have pizza, they have plain
• 1:11:43
  cheese pizza as well as a pepperoni pizza.
• 1:11:45
  If your kiddo likes pepperoni. They have grilled chicken
• 1:11:49
  breast, they have a shrimp skewer, a meatball sandwich and
• 1:11:51
  a fettuccine Alfredo. Then we're moving to 1 is my
• 1:11:55
  maybe my favorite named restaurant of all time Cowfish.
• 1:11:59
  It's it's so fun. So this is a sushi and burger
• 1:12:05
  place, which is where the name right, right.
• 1:12:07
  It's where the cow and the fish come in.
• 1:12:09
  It sounds unhinged. I'm going to be totally honest
• 1:12:12
  with you. It sounds that's a fusion that
• 1:12:14
  the first time I heard it I was like, why?
• 1:12:16
  Right, that'd be good, this. This menu caught me off guard
• 1:12:19
  for a minute when I was reading it, so I was like, wait a
• 1:12:21
  minute. Yeah.
• 1:12:22
  Wait what? Yeah.
• 1:12:23
  You wouldn't, Yep, you would not expect it, but it is actually
• 1:12:27
  one of our favorite places. We really try to go there every
• 1:12:31
  trip. It's really good.
• 1:12:33
  So they do have a kids menu. So they have Dragon Bites, which
• 1:12:39
  is grilled chicken. They have Ninja Nuggets, which
• 1:12:43
  are chicken Nuggets. They have Gorilla cheese, which
• 1:12:46
  is grilled cheese, PB and J sushi roll Mac and cheese, but
• 1:12:51
  it's Mac and cheese with AZ so you know, it's rad super.
• 1:12:54
  They have cowfish mini burgers, which are just, you know,
• 1:12:58
  playing little, you know, mini sliders.
• 1:13:01
  They have California roll tempo shrimp tempura rolls as well as
• 1:13:04
  a vegetarian roll on the kids venue.
• 1:13:07
  So it seems a little a little odd, like I said, but they
• 1:13:11
  actually have a pretty good variety for kids menu and for I
• 1:13:14
  think a lot of kids like a plain burger is a pretty safe bet.
• 1:13:18
  So if your family is interested in going, just make sure you
• 1:13:20
  check with your kiddo that they would be, you know, good for,
• 1:13:24
  you know, some chicken Nuggets or something similar if they're
• 1:13:26
  not into trying sushi. But hey, listen, I every time we
• 1:13:29
  go there, I see some kids house sushi, right.
• 1:13:32
  So if you have an adventurous kiddo who likes sushi, this is a
• 1:13:37
  great spot because they have fantastic sushi.
• 1:13:40
  That is just so fascinating to me.
• 1:13:41
  But now I kind of want to take my kids to make them try the
• 1:13:44
  sushi there because I feel like they're more will it.
• 1:13:47
  Like if I try to bring sushi home, they're going to want none
• 1:13:50
  of that, absolutely none of that.
• 1:13:52
  But Andrew really likes sushi, so I'm like, well, this place
• 1:13:56
  might be a really good in between so that everybody can
• 1:13:59
  get a little bit of what they want.
• 1:14:01
  Yeah. Yeah, it's and it's everything
• 1:14:03
  that we've ever gotten there from appetizers to dessert to
• 1:14:06
  drinks really good. I I really can't speak highly
• 1:14:09
  enough of cowfish there. I really we enjoy it every time
• 1:14:12
  we go there. Nice.
• 1:14:14
  OK, so we're leaving our our gorilla cheese and heading over
• 1:14:19
  to big fire, which is it's like a pizza place that's a lunch and
• 1:14:23
  dinner place They offer again, kids menu.
• 1:14:26
  So they have chicken fingers, the cheeseburger sliders, Mac
• 1:14:30
  and cheese, chicken and beef skewers, as well as the grilled
• 1:14:33
  4 oz sirloin. So it's if if your kiddo likes
• 1:14:38
  steak this but doesn't want to, maybe you don't want to spend
• 1:14:42
  the money for a 12 ounce New York shrimp, this is probably a
• 1:14:45
  good idea. Yeah, I thought that was so
• 1:14:47
  fascinating because you very rarely see a kids menu steak.
• 1:14:52
  Like it just doesn't happen that often.
• 1:14:54
  You see the Mac and cheese and the burgers and the, you know,
• 1:14:57
  that kind of stuff. But like to see a a true like a
• 1:15:00
  sirloin offered. It's like, huh?
• 1:15:03
  Yeah, it's surprising. Also, I called this a pizza
• 1:15:05
  place. It's not pizza place.
• 1:15:07
  This is a steak place. So it's it's like the American
• 1:15:10
  Grill I think is what the official denomination is.
• 1:15:13
  I realized I was like, that's not, that's not, that's not
• 1:15:16
  right. I'm like this, that's
• 1:15:17
  immediately wrong. But yeah, so I we actually tried
• 1:15:22
  to get into this place once and they were not open.
• 1:15:24
  So they say that they're open for lunch and dinner, but double
• 1:15:27
  check the hours because they are open for lunch and then they are
• 1:15:30
  they close and then they are open for dinner.
• 1:15:33
  It is not one that opens that is open continuously through the
• 1:15:36
  afternoon so. Yeah.
• 1:15:37
  And that may be the case for some of these other ones.
• 1:15:39
  So just double check, especially the ones in City Walk, the ones
• 1:15:43
  inside the parks, you're going to find more, you know, longer
• 1:15:46
  hours typically speaking, but also like some of those will
• 1:15:49
  close early if there's events or things like that.
• 1:15:52
  So just always double check those hours to make sure.
• 1:15:56
  Now we have to give an honorable mention to Margaritaville
• 1:16:00
  because I love Margaritaville. It is not explicitly for
• 1:16:05
  children. I would like to be clear the
• 1:16:07
  place near Margaritaville not thought of for children now, but
• 1:16:12
  it they do have a kids menu. We regularly see families bring
• 1:16:16
  in, you know, older kiddos, you know, so they play nonstop Jimmy
• 1:16:21
  Buffett. If if that's your vibe, you're
• 1:16:23
  right, Victoria, pour one out for Jimmy.
• 1:16:25
  Pour some salt out for Jimmy and there's a little burping volcano
• 1:16:30
  every 20 minutes. So if your kiddo is down with a
• 1:16:34
  surprise burping volcano because it always elicits lots and lots
• 1:16:37
  of giggles every time we're in there, then this may be a safe
• 1:16:40
  option for you to enjoy safely. A little Margarita and they're
• 1:16:45
  actually pretty good seafood in there.
• 1:16:47
  If they say we've we go, you know, not every trip, but we've
• 1:16:51
  been several times before and it's pretty solid.
• 1:16:54
  So it's a good they also have an outdoor bar.
• 1:16:56
  So if you are just, you know, maybe maybe having a little date
• 1:16:59
  night, maybe there's someone else able to watch the kiddos
• 1:17:02
  that's a good option for. You, yes.
• 1:17:03
  Now, I will mention that if your kiddos are people who do not
• 1:17:07
  enjoy places like Rainforest Cafe or like the T Rex
• 1:17:12
  restaurant at Disney Springs, maybe not Margaritaville, but if
• 1:17:18
  they love those places and they love that kind of chaotic
• 1:17:21
  atmosphere, that may be an OK choice for them.
• 1:17:25
  Yeah, it may be over simulating even for you as an adult because
• 1:17:28
  again, it's, I'm not kidding. It's just Jimmy Buffett blaring,
• 1:17:31
  Yeah, the whole time, which for some people may be a vibe.
• 1:17:34
  For people's that's a vibe. Yeah, Yeah, All right.
• 1:17:37
  It's a vibes. But I just, I can't take my kids
• 1:17:39
  there so. Totally understandable.
• 1:17:41
  Yeah, that's absolutely fair. Yeah.
• 1:17:45
  So we just again, not like aimed at kids that it is.
• 1:17:48
  It is a Margarita themed restaurant.
• 1:17:50
  But just throwing that out there as an option for for folks who
• 1:17:53
  are interested in the burping volcano.
• 1:17:58
  OK. We do just want to mention also,
• 1:18:01
  we talked a little bit about this earlier in the episode that
• 1:18:04
  each of the resorts does have their own dining locations.
• 1:18:07
  Again, we weren't touching on them today.
• 1:18:09
  We were just focusing on City Walk and the three parks.
• 1:18:13
  So much like Disney, the higher end resorts will have some of
• 1:18:16
  the fancier options. So we talked about there aren't
• 1:18:18
  a ton of table service restaurants in the parks.
• 1:18:20
  There are more outside of the parks than inside the parks,
• 1:18:25
  while the lower value tears will have the more casual dining,
• 1:18:28
  like a food court style. So again, same thing that you
• 1:18:31
  see at Disney, you also see at Universal when it comes to all
• 1:18:33
  of that. And then I think just some other
• 1:18:36
  final thoughts that I had and I can just you can feel free to
• 1:18:39
  chime in as well. They have a lot of really
• 1:18:43
  similar options for kids at the Universal restaurants to what
• 1:18:46
  they have at Disney. But I also think that's just not
• 1:18:50
  universal as in the park, but universal everywhere, that those
• 1:18:54
  are just the kid menu options that you find, right?
• 1:18:56
  Some of these places are going to have a few different options,
• 1:18:59
  which is really nice. Some of them are only going to
• 1:19:01
  have the standard. So you always just kind of have
• 1:19:03
  to take a look at the menu. What we typically do for our
• 1:19:07
  kiddos especially is Now granted, our kiddos would be
• 1:19:10
  happy eating pizza and Mac and cheese every night that we're at
• 1:19:14
  Kizzy or at the parks, right? To be fair, me too.
• 1:19:17
  Right. However, their stomachs would
• 1:19:19
  probably not appreciate that you know as much.
• 1:19:22
  So I am a type A shocker to no one whoever listens to Mom
• 1:19:27
  street. So what I will do is I will look
• 1:19:30
  at the restaurant options and I will try to pick varying kids
• 1:19:33
  menus for the kids. So if one night we're going to
• 1:19:36
  do pizza, then the next night I want to try to pick a place that
• 1:19:40
  doesn't have pizza as their main offer.
• 1:19:42
  So that way the kids have some variety, especially if you've
• 1:19:45
  got kiddos that really, truly like to eat a variety of
• 1:19:48
  different things. They're going to be the ones
• 1:19:50
  that want to try the sushi rolls.
• 1:19:51
  You know, you want to make sure that you kind of think ahead
• 1:19:54
  with that. So I like to plan out
• 1:19:56
  restaurants because of that. So that way I'm not just last
• 1:20:00
  minute deciding to go somewhere and it's like, oh, they only
• 1:20:02
  have these two offerings and that's what you've had the last
• 1:20:05
  two nights. Sorry, kid.
• 1:20:06
  Like I try not to do that to my kid the best that I can.
• 1:20:10
  So in a responsible parent and varying their.
• 1:20:12
  Diet. I try a little sometimes.
• 1:20:16
  Granted, I think my son ate pizza like 4 times on our last
• 1:20:20
  Disney trip because that's just what it was.
• 1:20:24
  Right. Some of it is it's vacation,
• 1:20:25
  just let him have it sometimes, but I do.
• 1:20:28
  Having variety is good. Yes, exactly.
• 1:20:31
  So keep that in mind. Also do keep in mind that though
• 1:20:34
  we suggest to these places, oftentimes a lot of the quality
• 1:20:39
  at these places is still theme park food, with the exception of
• 1:20:42
  some of the city walk locations, right?
• 1:20:44
  That's a little bit different. But generally speaking, you're
• 1:20:47
  not going to have the best meal in the world inside of an
• 1:20:51
  Orlando theme park, whether it be Universal or Disney.
• 1:20:53
  Now, some of the offerings are, you know, Michelin stars and top
• 1:20:58
  rated and all of that. So don't get me wrong, they do
• 1:21:01
  exist. But generally speaking,
• 1:21:03
  especially quick service locations, it's just going to be
• 1:21:06
  theme park food. And again, we talked about
• 1:21:10
  earlier at the very beginning to circle at back, Universal is
• 1:21:13
  severely lacking on character dining.
• 1:21:16
  So my suggestion would be if you want characters, grab an Uber
• 1:21:21
  and head over to a Disney resort and go, you know, do a Cape May
• 1:21:26
  breakfast with Minnie and friends or to go to Topolino's
• 1:21:29
  and grab some breakfast there or a dinner.
• 1:21:32
  You know that would be your better option for characters.
• 1:21:37
  Unless your kid really wants to meet Captain America.
• 1:21:39
  Yes, which I'm not telling my oldest that they have that
• 1:21:44
  because that would he would be like and why haven't we gone?
• 1:21:47
  And I will be like, well, you see, we just haven't because
• 1:21:53
  Disney World doesn't have Captain America.
• 1:21:56
  I'm so sorry. Because Mickey politely told me
• 1:21:59
  that he was a little more lonely than Captain America.
• 1:22:02
  Captain America has lots of friends.
• 1:22:04
  Mickey needs a few more friends to hang out with him, that's
• 1:22:07
  why. Does he though?
• 1:22:08
  Does he though? I don't think as far as your
• 1:22:11
  kiddos need to know he does but I very lonely.
• 1:22:14
  My 8 year old is too smart. He would be like, Nah, mom, so
• 1:22:18
  you know. OK, well, well kiddo, I want to.
• 1:22:23
  That's what it would really be. And then he would be like, OK,
• 1:22:29
  they know. They know that by now.
• 1:22:30
  So yes, if you're looking for character dining, unfortunately
• 1:22:33
  Universal is probably not going to have either of the characters
• 1:22:37
  you're looking for and or the availability because that
• 1:22:39
  character dining is so limited there.
• 1:22:43
  Duck and Jess, do you guys have any kind of final thoughts on
• 1:22:47
  Universal Foods? I think utilize the app to check
• 1:22:53
  menus is my biggest recommendation.
• 1:22:57
  They make it very easy. It links right to it, right?
• 1:23:00
  The app is extremely easy to navigate.
• 1:23:01
  You just have you your location, you can zoom in on it.
• 1:23:06
  You can filter on what you're looking for in terms of
• 1:23:08
  attractions, restaurants, restrooms, right?
• 1:23:10
  Like I actually really like the Universal app.
• 1:23:12
  I think it's pretty well designed.
• 1:23:14
  That seems to be a hot take, but here we are.
• 1:23:16
  I I think from like AUI perspective, it's very easy for
• 1:23:19
  you to see what you're looking for and then you can click on
• 1:23:23
  the location and check their menu very, very easily on those
• 1:23:27
  menus. They will also have more details
• 1:23:29
  on is this vegetarian friendly? Is this vegan friendly?
• 1:23:32
  Is this spicy? Is this right?
• 1:23:33
  Like there's much more information on those little like
• 1:23:36
  menu keys that you see everywhere.
• 1:23:39
  Epic Universe, actually I was when I was looking at it, has
• 1:23:42
  like a really clear key as to what everything is.
• 1:23:46
  They haven't updated the other menus.
• 1:23:48
  They are still the older ones. So it's a little less clear.
• 1:23:51
  It's still, if you, you know, usually can scroll to the bottom
• 1:23:54
  and see what the key is, but it's a little less clear than
• 1:23:56
  Epic. So I have hopes that they will
• 1:23:59
  update the rest of their menus. Fingers crossed if you never
• 1:24:01
  know, but yeah, so just just double check on the app because
• 1:24:06
  you never know what you might be feeling.
• 1:24:08
  I'm 1, I don't plan my day necessarily around food, but I
• 1:24:11
  do like to know what my options are.
• 1:24:13
  And if somebody with various sensitivities, it is good to
• 1:24:16
  know you know what what is available and what I'm thinking
• 1:24:20
  around my park day. So utilize the app, double check
• 1:24:23
  those menus, and you'll be in good shape.
• 1:24:25
  Yeah, and I noticed too, when I was looking at Epic Universe
• 1:24:28
  menus, even on the Universal website ahead of time, they had
• 1:24:31
  a lot more detail listed. So they had more of where they
• 1:24:34
  included, like the menu descriptions, where some of the
• 1:24:37
  places for Studios and Islands of Adventure did not have that.
• 1:24:41
  They just had the title of the entree and that was it.
• 1:24:45
  So hopefully that's something that Universal is working on,
• 1:24:48
  because I do know that that has been a frustration in the past
• 1:24:51
  that people weren't able to find enough information online to
• 1:24:56
  kind of help guide them for that in the app.
• 1:24:59
  As far as the app goes, it does function very similarly to my
• 1:25:02
  Disney experience when it comes to the food aspect and like
• 1:25:05
  ordering food and things like that.
• 1:25:06
  So if you're familiar with that or you've done it over there,
• 1:25:09
  you should have no problem doing that at Universal.
• 1:25:13
  If you or somebody, if the description isn't enough for
• 1:25:15
  you, if you're in the park, you can click the mobile order and
• 1:25:20
  go to that menu and there's pictures 9 times out of 10.
• 1:25:23
  So you can get a better visual representation of like what
• 1:25:26
  exactly you're ordering. Again, it might not give you the
• 1:25:28
  full information that you need, but it's a little bit better
• 1:25:31
  than just like trying to fly blind on that one.
• 1:25:33
  Yeah, absolutely perfect. Well, all of that being said,
• 1:25:38
  this now officially concludes this first Universal series that
• 1:25:42
  we did here on Mom Street. I hope that this has been
• 1:25:45
  helpful to our audience. I know that prior to them
• 1:25:49
  joining us on our hub episodes, you know, we didn't have a ton
• 1:25:53
  of Universal experience, so it's really great to have that now on
• 1:25:57
  our team. So I really appreciate all you
• 1:26:00
  guys, your work and your input and your information that you
• 1:26:04
  provided. I sure learned a lot.
• 1:26:06
  So I have a feeling that our, our audience learned a lot about
• 1:26:10
  Universal too. And I think, you know,
• 1:26:12
  ultimately the goal was to help you decide whether or not, if
• 1:26:16
  you're already going to be down in the Orlando area, you know,
• 1:26:19
  you're going to Disney for a few days, is it worth it to take a
• 1:26:22
  few days over at Universal for your particular group?
• 1:26:26
  I think we probably convinced a lot of people that yes, it's
• 1:26:28
  worth at least giving it a good look, right?
• 1:26:30
  Hopefully, you know, because they have a ton of options.
• 1:26:34
  And I think we talked, you know, long and hard about this early
• 1:26:36
  on in the series that there's such a stigma around Universal
• 1:26:39
  being a teenagers and adults park and the older kids and the
• 1:26:43
  big thrill rides and stuff. But there's so much more that
• 1:26:46
  you can find at these parks. So definitely worth looking
• 1:26:49
  into. And as always, if you guys have
• 1:26:52
  additional questions or want additional information, please
• 1:26:55
  reach out to us. You can find us if e-mail is
• 1:26:57
  yourthingwearemomstusa@gmail.com if you'd rather or just send us
• 1:27:02
  Adm. You can find us at Mom St.
• 1:27:04
  USA on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, those places.
• 1:27:09
  And if you're listening and you haven't like, you know,
• 1:27:11
  subscribed or followed us, you should do that because we post
• 1:27:14
  lots of fun content and lots of clips and highlights of our
• 1:27:18
  previous episodes, maybe things that you have missed.
• 1:27:21
  So definitely be sure to do that for us so you don't miss out on
• 1:27:25
  any of the fun that we always have over here.
• 1:27:28
  It may be chaotic, but it's fun for sure.
• 1:27:33
  And all of that being said, speaking about not missing
• 1:27:36
  anything, Next up, we are continuing our hub episodes.
• 1:27:41
  We are hopping back over to the Stevie side of the hub for our
• 1:27:45
  next episode. So we'll see what she has for us
• 1:27:48
  on the next episode, but that is what is coming up next.
• 1:27:52
  But for now, thank you guys all for being here.
• 1:27:54
  Thank you for listening. We appreciate you and we will
• 1:27:57
  catch you on the next episode of Mom St.
• 1:27:59
  USA. Thanks everyone.
• 1:28:01
  Bye, bye, bye.