Giddyap and Go = good choice for us

[seals]

So glad I read the recommendations for the Giddyap and Go on this board and I want to further the recommendation! We are always on a budget and food is a big expense (esp at WDW) with 3 tween age boys and DH and I. We prepared a few meals at our campsite but also we were on VACATION and I didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking and cleaning up. Our first night last week, after 10 hours in the minivan and an hour or so of campsite setup, I suggested we go try this Giddyap and Go I'd read about.

For around $24 including tax we got 11 pieces of chicken (it says 10 but both times we got 11; you can get all white meat for more but I'm not sure how much more), 3 pieces of corn bread and 3 biscuits (you can do either or mixed), two good sized sides (we chose mashed potatoes with gravy and mac and cheese both times; other choices are fries or baked beans I think). We asked for paper plates, they have utensils, napkins, salt/pepper there. We brought water bottles and mixed in Crystal Light packs. We sat at a table on the porch and ate. It was so good we went back another night before bringing our marshmallows to the campfire for dessert. 10 thumbs up from us. We've eaten at Trails End before but now that my twins are 10 it would have cost us around $150 (or the price of 6 Giddyap and Gos!) and that was well beyond our food budget.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I just found out about the Giddyap & Go fried chicken dinner myself. My kids LOVED the chicken at Hoop Dee Do and want to eat it again on our next trip, but we won't be doing the show this time. I thought about taking them to Trail's End until I read about the chicken to go. We will be getting it on our next trip for sure! I'm glad your family liked it so much.

 

[MICKEYLOVINMOMOF5]

So glad I read the recommendations for the Giddyap and Go on this board and I want to further the recommendation! We are always on a budget and food is a big expense (esp at WDW) with 3 tween age boys and DH and I. We prepared a few meals at our campsite but also we were on VACATION and I didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking and cleaning up. Our first night last week, after 10 hours in the minivan and an hour or so of campsite setup, I suggested we go try this Giddyap and Go I'd read about.

For around $24 including tax we got 11 pieces of chicken (it says 10 but both times we got 11; you can get all white meat for more but I'm not sure how much more), 3 pieces of corn bread and 3 biscuits (you can do either or mixed), two good sized sides (we chose mashed potatoes with gravy and mac and cheese both times; other choices are fries or baked beans I think). We asked for paper plates, they have utensils, napkins, salt/pepper there. We brought water bottles and mixed in Crystal Light packs. We sat at a table on the porch and ate. It was so good we went back another night before bringing our marshmallows to the campfire for dessert. 10 thumbs up from us. We've eaten at Trails End before but now that my twins are 10 it would have cost us around $150 (or the price of 6 Giddyap and Gos!) and that was well beyond our food budget.

We are a family of 7, I feel your pain on the cost of eating at WDW, the GAG is a great option for us bigger families, even if you buy 2 it's cheaper than taking everybody to the buffet. I try to plan our meals in advance and do some crock pot action while camping, saves me a bunch of money.

 

[bama_ed]

It coulda been me.

I've recommended the GAG before in my March and April 2011 trip reports. Like you we get it the evening we check in and set up. We are so focused to get to the Fort that we don't stop on the way in for groceries and once we set up we're hungry. GAG fits the bill.

As a reminder to folks, individuals can get the Lone Rider for $8 (2 pieces of chicken with sides) if you don't need the 10 piece GAG.

I mean, here's what it boils down to.

The Trails End buffet is good but expensive for dinner.

The TE takout pizza has been voted down on this board (but has a few supporters).

The GAG gets a thumbs up.

The HDDR is loved by everyone nearly who attends but as a show it's pricey for consideration as another meal.

Whether it's HDDR, TE buffet, or GAG, it all comes out of the same kitchen in the back.

Finger lickin' good.

Bama ED

 

[ob1quixote]

Bama Ed, can you add your opinion of Mickey's BBQ into your FW dining synopsis above?

 

[MadFF]

lol, the buffet at Trail's End is okay at best, but as to cost... my teenage son dents Disney's profits when he eats there! For him, all-you-can-eat is heaven!

And he is skinny as heck! (how do teenagers do that??)

I think when we are at Fort Wilderness in October we'll try the GAG. Kind of an odd thing to call food, gag?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Ewwwwwww...GaG...thank goodness I know the chicken is delish!!!

 

[bama_ed]

Bama Ed, can you add your opinion of Mickey's BBQ into your FW dining synopsis above?

Honestly I know and have heard the least about the BBQ.

What I do know is that you see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale and maybe more characters. But it's not a photo session or a time for autographs. There is live country music with line dancing and the characters will come out and dance with you and the kids. So the characters are truly interacting with people and not posing or signing. <If I am wrong on this let me know.>

It's seasonal and done in the spring-summer-fall and it's outdoors in the evenings which can still be downright HOT sometimes. But if you are the "Dumbo Do or Die" type who wants to please your young Prince or Princess with character time this certainly fills the bill.

The food is more bbq-like and not exactly what's at TE or HDDR. I think it has ribs and chicken but the sides may be different. But for character dinners who goes for the food anyway or cares what it tastes like?

What I do know for a fact is it costs only about $5-10 less than the cheapest HDDR seats. So sometimes it's chosen by people who can't get in to HDDR. HDDR appeals to children of all ages from a pure entertainment standpoint. They may not get all the corny jokes but they'll enjoy the singing, laugh at the funny faces that 2 Bits makes, and clap along when everyone else does.

So IMO if your kids are hung up on wanting to see/sing/dance/play with the characters, do the BBQ. If they're happy you're happy right? If they're not hung up, do HDDR since the price difference is minimal.

I always justified the HDDR once every other trip or so by saying the TE buffett is $24 for an adult. Add $3 for a drink ($27) plus $3 tax (10%) and $5-6 gratuity per person. That comes to $36.

For $51 (cheapest HDDR which includes tax and gratuity) I get free refills of beer or sangria which are included in the price (ok the beer is Bud or Bud light but it's still cold and good). That's worth about $10 to me (I drink my kid's share too) - so now the TE equivalent is $46. So for $5 more I get a funny show to laugh at. It's certainly worth that much.

So there is something for everyone in terms of choices but it just depends on what you want. I'm cheap most of the time but I will splurge for the HDDR if my other alternatives cost nearly as much.

Bama ED

 

[ob1quixote]

Thanks Ed!

Every time I have been to FW, it has always been on a tight budget. Last trip we splurged for TE breakfast buffet. Outside of that, our dining has been at camp with the occasional counter service at the park.

Chances are future trips will be tight as well, but it is good to know where the best bang for the buck is!

 

[LarryJ]

Thanks Ed!

Every time I have been to FW, it has always been on a tight budget. Last trip we splurged for TE breakfast buffet. Outside of that, our dining has been at camp with the occasional counter service at the park.

Chances are future trips will be tight as well, but it is good to know where the best bang for the buck is!

A little off topic but ...

While not budget oriented or limited and now it's only two of us for the most time there is no way we could eat out even two meals each day for our typical 45 day stay at FW. We generally plan to eat out every 3 or 4 days and limit the sit down dinners to like 2 to 3 with the rest being lunches split between sit down and CS and generally it's sandwich based where we get two different ones and then share and still have some to take back to the trailer. Below are some of our favs for sit down and CS lunches:

Sit down:

1. Tony's in MK - great sandwiches
2. Plaza Restaurant in MK - again great sandwiches
3. Olivias at Old Key West - conch fritters/soup/sandwiches
4. House of Blues in DTD - a lot of food for the price

CS:

1. Chicken GAG at TE - an arrival day tradition now and get at least 3 to maybe 4 lunches with the leftovers for just the two of us ... we hate the cowboy beans side and the FF while soggy crisp up nice in the toaster oven and turn out quite good redone that way.
2. Flame Tree in AK - good BBQ and nice outdoor eating tables
3. Fish and Chips in UK/EPCOT
4. Earl's sandwich in DTD
5. Peco's Bills/Tortuga Restaurant in MK - great taco salad and a fixin's bar to die for


Since 1985 I think we have eaten at every sit down and CS restaurants at WDW including all the resorts except the following:

Schula's, Bluezoo, Il Munio at the Swan/Dolphin - The prices and menus just don't do it for a dinner

Backyard BBQ at FW - no desire and no kids, no go or even a desire and don't think they even offered it when our sons were pre teens.

ABC commissary and Hollywood and Vine - MGM

Concourse Steak House at CR - like Shula's I will cook my own steak at the trailer for 1/4 of the price and it will be Filet or Strip/T-bone/Porterhouse

Capt Jack's in DTD - Just no desire

Even for a lot of the sit down lunches like at Mama Mia's at MGM, etc. we will often get like 3 appitizers and split them with left overs for a mid night snack or next day lunch augment.

While it's restricted to those with access to the SOG Mangino's actually has the best pizza offered at WDW (and you can get it to take out, but we haven't done that yet and it is on our short list) and until the seafood prices went way up their Seafood buffet was to die for ... Cape May is a real distant second.

Our favorite really nice sit down for dinner used to be V&As until we saw them relax the dress code down to T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops along with babies and very young children and I ain't paying $200 and up per person for that atmosphere so now it's Bistro in France in Epcot or Jiko at AK. Narcoossee's is again a far second. Even Artist's Point and the Ca. Grill are on the downside and the biggest disappointments were Kouzzina (Cat Cora's BW restaurant), Flying Fish at BW and Le Cellier in Canada/Epcot.

Larry

 

[RNmomnFL]

I believe the GAG all white-meat chicken is only $3 more. This is based on prior experiences. We always have left-overs when we get the GAG even though we have seven or more of us.

 

[Elise79]

How is the GAG packed? Just wondering if it transportable?

 

[2goofycampers]

They are packed to go. Easily carried.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

LarryJ: "While not budget oriented or limited and now it's only two of us for the most time there is no way we could eat out even two meals each day for our typical 45 day stay at FW."

WOW...a 45 day stay at Disney's Fort Wilderness! You must be the envy of 99% of the people on this board. Good for you!!!!

 

[LarryJ]

LarryJ: "While not budget oriented or limited and now it's only two of us for the most time there is no way we could eat out even two meals each day for our typical 45 day stay at FW."

WOW...a 45 day stay at Disney's Fort Wilderness! You must be the envy of 99% of the people on this board. Good for you!!!!

As Paul Harvey used to say and here is the rest of the story. We are retired and are blessed in being financially secure so costs are not a concern and have two sons who until last year were on the West Coast and both were FA-18 Naval aviators and deployed at lot with crazy schedules, etc. We found that we get during our Dec/Jan trip a Passport and then use it again the next Oct/Nov time frame so we have a lot of the holidays covered for one price of admission. It's also 1,000 miles one way for us and we reserved a very long vacation in the hopes that sometime during that extended time frame both of our sons and families could join us for like a week period and gave them the flexibility of dates to coordinate between the two of them so we have been fortunate to get everyone together for at least 4 or 5 days every year or so. We also, do a lot of non park stuff like visiting other resorts during Xmas and this is our one biggie vacation of the year with maybe another not so costly month or two trip one other time. We are no longer weekenders just getting away for a weekend before hitting the ole grind stone so to speak.

Larry

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

LarryJ, sounds like you did what my parents did - worked hard all your life and saved up so you can enjoy retirement years filled with travel, children and grandchildren. My parents bought timeshare weeks in all their favorite places and invite the kids/grandkids along on some trips. You are giving your family the most wonderful gift - memories of time spent together!