GF Standard CL or Standard w/ Dining Plan

[pumpkin_tx1]

Hey everyone! My family (DH and DS 8) will be heading back to the World this June with a split stay. I’m trying to decide if for three nights at the Grand Floridian, should we do Standard room Club Level (Sugar Loaf) or Standard room with dining plan (1ts 1qs 2sn)? Price is almost exactly the same. Never done club level so looking for the inside scoop. Thank you in advance for any replies!

 

[Haley R]

That really depends on how often you plan to eat in the lounge. We just did our first CL stay at yc and we ate in the lounge a ton. We ended up canceling adrs so we could just eat at the lounge. If you don’t see yourself eating in the lounge often I would go with the dining plan

 

[mrsap]

If you haven’t done CL yet, I recommend you definitely try it!! But be warned, you will be addicted!! Good luck deciding!!

 

[Disneylover99]

If you’re planning on lots of downtime at your resort, try Club Level, but if you’ll be eating mostly in the parks, then Club Level isn’t really going to be the same price if you’re spending lots on food anyways.

 

[TJA]

Hey everyone! My family (DH and DS 8) will be heading back to the World this June with a split stay. I’m trying to decide if for three nights at the Grand Floridian, should we do Standard room Club Level (Sugar Loaf) or Standard room with dining plan (1ts 1qs 2sn)? Price is almost exactly the same. Never done club level so looking for the inside scoop. Thank you in advance for any replies!

When we stay CL, we utilize the CL lounge food/drinks as much as possible. We eat breakfast in the lounge most days, usually we're back at the resort in the afternoon for swimming/rest and grab a few snacks (SL will have soup which is a nice, light lunch), and then we usually stop in the lounge during the 5-7pm appetizer time before heading back to a park. Sometimes we're even back to the resort before 10pm to grab some desserts. Of course, beer and wine are available all day/night even if not out - you just need to ask a CM. As far as ADR's, we usually make them for mid-afternoon and that is our main "big" meal of the day.

We had a recent trip where we stayed in a non-CL room and did the DDP. It was such a blast! This trip was more carefree because we sort of only ate when we were hungry, rather than abiding by the times of the CL lounge. Don't get me wrong, we love staying CL, but it was just a different kind of trip eating our QS meal whenever we felt like it. We had the one TS meal ADR per day, which is also what we do when we stay CL.

Having said that, our plan going forward is to rotate our trips between CL and non-CL with DDP. We love both types of trips, so the only way I choose is to base it on what type of trip we want. More resort time = CL. More park time = non-CL/DDP.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would do the standard room with the dining plan. The dining plan is going to give you full meals and snacks that you can use throughout all of WDW. CL is only going to give you snacks and lighter meals that you can only access at the resort giving you much less flexibility. Both rooms will be identical except for the fact that they are located in different buildings.

 

[holden]

We recently stayed CL at GF and loved it! I'd highly recommend it! We ate breakfast there each day (mimosa anyone? and enjoyed the "dinner time" snacks and drinks. We also took wine back to our room for later in the evening.

 

[SharonZ]

I would also do the standard room and dining plan, it will definitely give your more flexibility in the Parks. If you are planning a leisurely trip, with spending time at the hotel around CL's offering schedule, you might want to try concierge.