Pop with free dining upgrade or GF with discount

[imobsessedwithdisney]

I know this is probably a dumb question but I was all set with a 10 Day August trip to Pop. It’s me and my 2 dd’s ages 9&7. We had 10 day PH with water parks with a preferred pool view and I upgraded the free qsdp to the regular ddp. Total for the trip was $3780.
Today I found was able to get another reservation for the same 10 days but this time at the GF in a garden view outer building with a 8 day base and 1 day to a water park for $3870 (no dining plan).
The loss of the 2 park days is fine bc one day we will do mnsshp and the other a water park.
I am sad about losing the “free” dining.
I know this is stupid but which reservation would you keep?
Thanks for any responses!

 

[mom2rtk]

1) How much do you think you'll spend on dining for the 3 of you?

2) Are you willing to give up some TS meals to stay at GF?

3) Do you think your girls will appreciate the GF enough to give up the TS meals?

4) Can you afford to just add to the budget to add the dining costs?

5) Will you be in your resort enough to enjoy it, or do you spend all day in the parks every day and just use it as a place to sleep?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Well, what would you budget for food at GF? Would the additional expenses there hurt?

 

[imobsessedwithdisney]

Those are good questions to ask myself. We have a few things that we were really looking forward to such as Ohana dinner, California Grill brunch, Garden Grill and Crystal Palace breakfast and Coral Reef dinner.
When I only had Pop booked I was seriously considering upgrading to dxdp (even though we probably wouldn’t have taken much advantage of the apps and desserts) which would have cost an additional $623. So basically the “free” dining at pop would have cost me appx $850. So in my head I would be comfortable budgeting $850 for food if we stayed at GF. Lol I realize this all sounds very convoluted but I hope it makes somewhat sense written out.
I think both my girls and I would definitely appreciate the pool, beach and monorail and we would spend enough time at the resort to take advantage of the nicer accommodations.

 

[mom2rtk]

Those are good questions to ask myself. We have a few things that we were really looking forward to such as Ohana dinner, California Grill brunch, Garden Grill and Crystal Palace breakfast and Coral Reef dinner.
When I only had Pop booked I was seriously considering upgrading to dxdp (even though we probably wouldn’t have taken much advantage of the apps and desserts) which would have cost an additional $623. So basically the “free” dining at pop would have cost me appx $850. So in my head I would be comfortable budgeting $850 for food if we stayed at GF. Lol I realize this all sounds very convoluted but I hope it makes somewhat sense written out.
I think both my girls and I would definitely appreciate the pool, beach and monorail and we would spend enough time at the resort to take advantage of the nicer accommodations.

But you won't be able to do many of those meals with an $850 food budget for the week. If you're not feeling pulled one way or the other, I would sit down with some menus and see what you can get for $850.

Staying at GF is very tempting. But we loved those unique dining opportunities (especially the character meals) when the kids were younger. It was part of the experience for us. But nobody can say if the resort experience or the dining experience is more important if you can't afford to freely spend on both. Only you can decide which is more important.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Agree. You won't be doing all those meals on $850. Maybe one or two, but over 8 days that is a mostly QS budget.

 

[imobsessedwithdisney]

But you won't be able to do many of those meals with an $850 food budget for the week. If you're not feeling pulled one way or the other, I would sit down with some menus and see what you can get for $850.

Staying at GF is very tempting. But we loved those unique dining opportunities (especially the character meals) when the kids were younger. It was part of the experience for us. But nobody can say if the resort experience or the dining experience is more experience if you can't afford to freely spend on both. Only you can decide which is more important.

Thank you for the reply!! I think sitting down with a pen and paper is my best bet. My girls and I have been to Disney many times and they could actually care less about the character meals lol. They are much more into the resort and parks. My 7 year old lives on pasta with butter but my 9 year old eats like an adult. This was one of the reasons why I was thinking of upgrading to dxdp bc the kids meals aren’t going to cut it and neither of us are big fans of the majority of food you would find at a QS. That being said 27 dining credits would most likely be impossible for us to use and we feel like we would be in restaurants all day.
apparently I’m all over the place and need to sit down and create a plan that works. If I was able to add a dining plan to this reservation I would but I’m not able to. So I suppose to be fair to the numbers I should say my food budget is appx $1200, which is what the ddp would cost me. But again like you recommend sitting down with a paper, pen and menus is probably the best choice.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thank you for the reply!! I think sitting down with a pen and paper is my best bet. My girls and I have been to Disney many times and they could actually care less about the character meals lol. They are much more into the resort and parks. My 7 year old lives on pasta with butter but my 9 year old eats like an adult. This was one of the reasons why I was thinking of upgrading to dxdp bc the kids meals aren’t going to cut it and neither of us are big fans of the majority of food you would find at a QS. That being said 27 dining credits would most likely be impossible for us to use and we feel like we would be in restaurants all day.
apparently I’m all over the place and need to sit down and create a plan that works. If I was able to add a dining plan to this reservation I would but I’m not able to. So I suppose to be fair to the numbers I should say my food budget is appx $1200, which is what the ddp would cost me. But again like you recommend sitting down with a paper, pen and menus is probably the best choice.

With 1 adult and 2 disney dining children, I think $120 a day is a totally doable. I've traveled to WDW quite frequently with DS, we have never done the dining plan and, even if we went to a signature in the evening, I don't think we ever spent more than $100 a day on food. We would typically eat breakfast in the room, do a QS meal and one sit-down a day. If you stick to the must-do restaurants you mentioned and then rounded the rest of your meals out with QS and more reasonably priced a la carte TS, you should be fine. I would stay GF!

 

[larissawbb]

You could get discounted gift cards to stretch your food budget a little.

 

[imobsessedwithdisney]

With 1 adult and 2 disney dining children, I think $120 a day is a totally doable. I've traveled to WDW quite frequently with DS, we have never done the dining plan and, even if we went to a signaturein the evening, I don't think we ever spent more than $100 a day on food. We would typically eat breakfast in the room, do a QS meal and one sit-down a day. If you stick to the must-do restaurants you mentioned and then rounded the rest of you meals out with QS and more reasonably priced a la carte TS, you should be fine. I would stay GF!

Thank you! Thanks what I’m thinking too. For example a TS at MM for a kids meal isn’t all that much more then a QS especially since none of us drink soda and we don’t usually have dessert.
A few mornings we can even bring some granola bars from home to have.

 

[Sue M]

I’d go with GF. For me it’s 100% more enjoyable than a Pop stay. I’d be ok with giving up some TS and do more QS. There’s many QS places I like. And at GF you also have within easy reach both Poly & CR that have great QS restaurants. I also enjoy eating at the GF Beach pool bar & Grill. They have nice outside tables on the lake. Rooms are large. No worries about pulling up and down a Murphy bed, and loss of table. Balconies, lovely grounds, watching MK fireworks and Electric Water Parade from resort.
I have some trips that I just do 2 or 3 of my fav TS, and QS the rest of the time. It’s very freeing not being tied down to ADRs and just eat when and where you want.

 

[jods]

We always choose the deluxe as well. We enjoy eating and will do 1ts meal a day. The resort is part of the experience to me. Both kids are still disney kids prices so even ohanas won't be ceazy $$. Look at your must do adrs and go from there. Use a dining plan calculator to get an idea of cost. We still buy 2 mugs when not on the plan.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thank you! Thanks what I’m thinking too. For example a TS at MM for a kids meal isn’t all that much more then a QS especially since none of us drink soda and we don’t usually have dessert.
A few mornings we can even bring some granola bars from home to have.

We're the same. We both drink water at meals, so that cuts down on costs. We also limit ourselves to one dessert a day, so if we have a sweet snack or ice cream as a snack, we don't order dessert either. And the kids meals at the a la cartes really aren't very expensive. If you like pizza, Via Napoli is a great place to share and you can only share there if you aren't on the dining plan! And there are some great QS places! We really like Tangierine Cafe, Sunshine Seasons and Les Halles des France in EP and Satul'i Canteen in AK. For something fun, we like to go to Trader Sam's and Nomad Lounge for "mocktails" which are $4.99 (they have large shareable apps there as well). We did a whole monorail tour once - started at Trader Sam's for mocktails, went to GF to look around and then ate dinner at Cali Grill. I'm sure I spent less than $100 on that entire evening.

 

[Shanti]

I know this is probably a dumb question but I was all set with a 10 Day August trip to Pop. It’s me and my 2 dd’s ages 9&7. We had 10 day PH with water parks with a preferred pool view and I upgraded the free qsdp to the regular ddp. Total for the trip was $3780.
Today I found was able to get another reservation for the same 10 days but this time at the GF in a garden view outer building with a 8 day base and 1 day to a water park for $3870 (no dining plan).
The loss of the 2 park days is fine bc one day we will do mnsshp and the other a water park.
I am sad about losing the “free” dining.
I know this is stupid but which reservation would you keep?
Thanks for any responses!

I would pick GF. It will be wonderful to stay there in August, when you might want to take midday breaks due to the heat. It has very nice pools, too. Much more pleasant experience than staying at a value.

That price sounds like a steal for 10 nights at GF, especially including tickets. Did you get that offer directly from Disney?

 

[vinotinto]

Try this:
https://www.distripplanner.com/
You can specify 0 desserts.
I think the 4 current reservations that you have will run you around $400. Cali Grill brunch being the biggest expense at $80 for you and $48 for each of your kids. So, if you faced a difficult decision, you could drop CG.

I think you can do the 10 days for $1250. You and your DD can probably share an app and an entree and the youngest DD can get the plain pasta. Or share a couple of adult QS entrees for breakfast and lunch. Just review some of the menus and do a little number crunching to make sure it works for the budget. So, after you check to see if you can do the 10 days for $1200, the question is, will $5070 work within your budget? It's about an extra $120 / night over Pop. That's a great deal, and certainly worth it if it's within your budget and you plan to take advantage of time at the resort.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I would get some water and groceries delivered for breakfasts and some sandwiches/snacks, buy some gift cards to use for table service dinners (maybe at lunch time, less expensive), and enjoy my stay at the GF! It's probably not going to be something you can do all the time so the trip will be very memorable. I would take some days just to enjoy the resort, as well.

 

[Princess Merida]

Grand Floridian!! It’s beautiful and if your kids aren’t too worried about character meals you could probably keep dining at $850 if you bring breakfast, snacks and waters or juices.

 

[MichelleCanada]

I would get some water and groceries delivered for breakfasts and some sandwiches/snacks, buy some gift cards to use for table service dinners (maybe at lunch time, less expensive), and enjoy my stay at the GF! It's probably not going to be something you can do all the time so the trip will be very memorable. I would take some days just to enjoy the resort, as well.

My DH and DS6 stayed at GF for 14 days last year and loved it. I agree with Pea-n-me, get a small about of groceries, snacks and water to have in your room. We had cereal or pb&j in our room before we set out for the day. We took snacks (granola, apple slices, water) with us to parks and didn’t buy much while we were there. We went to the movies on the grass at GF during our stay and they gave us big bags of sealed popcorn each time. We often took those with us to the parks as well. The QS at GF had made to order salads - so we had a pizza and salad at lunch that the 3 of us shared at the pool and it filled us up when we stayed at the hotel. We purchase one RFID cup to get lemonade throughout our time at the resort as well $18.99 for the entire stay. It was great to be on the monorail for park days!

 

[Sue M]

Thank you! Thanks what I’m thinking too. For example a TS at MM for a kids meal isn’t all that much more then a QS especially since none of us drink soda and we don’t usually have dessert.
A few mornings we can even bring some granola bars from home to have.

We always have breakfast in room. Packing instant oatmeal packets, and throwing a couple of bags of bagels in suitcases is easy. Can pick up a container of cream cheese from resort store, and I use food court toaster. We also buy resort mugs. I’m not a soda drinker but I like the lemonade and ice tea. Some resorts also have vitamin water.

 

[buzzrelly]

I'd say add another $1000 to that GF quote for your food. If you can afford that and want to pay that, then the answer is obvious. If not, stick with POP and you'll still have a great time, PLUS you won't worry about you food expense all week.

EDITED to add…I haven't done the DDP in years, it's just not the way we prefer to eat. BUT…I go down with gift cards or my Chase rewards to pay for our meals so I don't come home to a huge credit card bill.