I have never been there but my suggestion is try something new that you have never seen before and will not see often.(but make sure you have backup plan so that way if you find whatever you try to be absolutely repulsive)
From my experience (Only 1 year), the food in the arena was fairly mediocre. They did have a bbq service outside that was fairly decent though.
Just down the street from the arena is a Starbucks, a Subway, and some grill place. Along University Blvd and Alafaya Trail, there are plenty of other chain and local restaurants where you can get almost anything you want.
I can dig the subway. I understand what you mean about arena food. Arena food has never been spectacular. (Although Columbia was nice) I will try something new though!!
Hrmm let me try to post this again I hate when it crashes
As far as food goes in the arena, its about the same as you can expect from the usual sports venue. Crappy nacho’s hot dogs and the like. Sometimes they do set up a bbq tent outside which is better but there are still other options. On campus in the student union (which is about a 5-10 minute walk from the arena ) there is a restaurant called Wackadoo’s, a Subway, a Sabraro’s and a Steak Escape ( good philly cheese steak hot subs and the like. ) There is also a burger king opening there soon I’m not sure if its open yet, I’ll have to swing by tom. and check when its opening. Outside the student union right next to the book store there is also a Chick Fil’A.
Around the ucf area there is a plethora of restaurants and fast food joints suitable to any FIRSTERS needs. Trust me, firsters like to eat, college students like to eat even more. I believe team 1902 will have a list of restaurants in the area. Of course also if anyone has any questions about where things are located you can always find me or any of 1902 and we’ll be more than happy to give you directions or suggestions.
Down University Drive by UCF there are plenty of restaurants. Fazzolis, a good Mexican restaurant, krispee kreme, applebees etc. Team 1390 is working on making a Welcoming Committee (Dan, we’d love to combine resources with whatever info 1902 has) and would be more than happy to meet your team as you all get off your plane/bus or at your hotel before the event. We are hoping to have brochures and maps of attractions in the Orlando area, and whatever else information your team might be interested in visiting during your stay here. Please contact me, or have your adviser/teacher contact me and let us know how we can make your stay in Orlando more enjoyable. Looking forward to meeting you, and teams 1390/1604 welcome you to Florida!
also, it probably isnt too much of an intelligent idea to be walking around in huge groups in Orlando… which happens to be the capital of the US for the number of pedistrians hit (i think). stay safe.
instead of sending everyone to a restaurant, try giving a few people orders and have them go out and get everyone’s food. dont all go to the same place either --that will take forever, since there will probably already be a lot of people there. (actually, a smart idea might be to have a few people leave early–if you can spare them–to go get food before the huge rush comes) another idea which probably only applies to teams who are fairly close, is to actually bring your own lunches and pack them in coolers and leave them in your cars. make sure to park together, and at lunch time, just go out and eat in the parking lot (since you cant bring food into the venue).
the food at the Arena is okay… but kind of overpriced, so your best bet is to find food elsewhere if you can.
good luck and i look forward to seeing all of you there
Deffinately that would be great we will have a list of some of the more important things that would be in the area, food, home depot, even a walk in clinic just get a hold of me because we’d been putting an information package together so maybe we can just consolidate what we have.
