What do I need to know about booking Universal, Florida

[tryingtokeepmyheadabovewater]

Interested in booking trip to Universal Studios, Florida. Dh, myself and 3 kids. Summer hols. Have started getting prices etc from trailfinders. Interested to hear from mnetters who have already done this type of trip:

1. Accomodation

?worth staying on site in universal accommodation (dh and I do not want to drive/hire car) or stay off site. Am I right to think we'd lose a lot of time travelling if we stayed off-site? Not afraid of early starts, but would prefer to get up early to be first at parks, not travelling from another site

2 Can uk customers buy dining plan (similar to disney's, does that exist?)

3 who did you book with? Would you recommend or not?

4 what have I not thing of/what do we need to consider

thanks

Any advice?

we stayed onsite, free shuttles to/from parks were great, we did hire a car though as Florida has so much more to offer! and nowhere is within easy walking distance really. we had 2teens when we went and IMO there's not enough to entertain all day everyday in the Universal Parks. And we did everything! we did rope drop once, not really worth it either, very busy and massive queues. we found it way more efficient to go do something in the morning eg. gatorland and then head to the parks around 3pm. Most we ever really queued was 20min at this time of day as everyone who'd been there since rope drop was knackered and ready for off! Parks still open till 8/9pm so plenty of time do see/do everything.
no disney type dining option, and we found the food options in the parks abit meh/fast foody tbh. Although some nicer places at city walk. but so much more if venture out off parks.
we went in the summer hols. booked with virgin. best holiday ever!