What Do We Do Now That The Dining Plan is Gone at Universal Orlando?

By Jon Self

Right before the July 4th holiday weekend, Universal Orlando has discontinued their full service and quick service dining plans. This came as a surprise to many in the theme park community. Pietro Maximoff’s first line of dialogue in Avengers: Age of Ultron was:” You didn’t see that coming” In fairness, Pietro and Universal Orlando, I did not see that coming. When Disney is promoting that their dining plan would be returning at some point, I did not see that coming! When the news broke on July 2nd in the morning, I was messaged by several theme park writers saying all my work on how to maximize the Universal Orlando version of the dining plan was no longer valid. Yes, I did not see that coming. In fairness, when the news broke, I was proofreading a potential article entitled: The Universal Orlando Resort Dining Plan Demystified. Well, maybe you are like me and sometimes used the dining plans at Universal Orlando. Now you are confused what to do. As of writing, I have spoken with multiple travel agents that were also caught off guard by this change.

This is what we know for sure: Both varieties of the Universal Dining Plan are no longer being sold in person or online. If you have already booked a full-service plan or have credits with a quick service plan/card, those will still be honored through the end of the year. Overall, this seems like a curious move with Walt Disney World talking about a return of some version of a dining plan. 

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