WWYD? Grand Floridian or POR...let me explain!

[Emme]

First off it's just hubby and I. We got a great rate through a travel agent for the Grand Floridian garden room for $3,000 for 8 nights and 8 day basic park tickets beginning of Sept. Free dining came out and we looked into different offers. We can get PORiverside for same time frame/same amount of days...free quick service dining, king room, and hoppers for the same price.

This is a no brainer right...just keep the Floridian? I guess I'm a bit undecided as that we love POR, we save about $800+ on food, definite king bed, and hoppers are nice...

Any input?

 

[VAfamily1998]

Personally, I don't see "free dining" as that great a thing. I know it just depends on the individual(s), but I just don't eat the way the dining plans have it formatted. Since it's not a good enough deal for me to purchase, I don't think giving it to me for free would lure me away from a nicer (imo) resort.

The King bed also wouldn't be a big deal--Dh and I are fine in one queen bed, so receiving a room with two queens instead of 1 king would just mean we had an extra bed in the room.

Typically I'm a huge fan of parkhopping, but most of my trips only involve 3-4 days in the parks. Since you have 8 days, I don't think park hopping is as necessary.

I would totally go with GF in your situation.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If it were the TS plan I would say go moderate. But if I were you I would stay with the GF.

 

[Traver Freeman]

I don't think you'd be saving $800+ on food with the quick service dining plan. We got free dining a few years ago with the regular dining plan. 3 adults spent $1,000 on food with the regular dining plan that lets you eat at table service restaurants every night. We even had a few buffets which are more expensive.

If it's the SAME price. I'd go deluxe, but that's because I've never stayed deluxe and would love to. If I could stay deluxe for the price of our POR reservation we have right now, it would be a no brainer to switch for me.

 

[FelisLachesis]

Hoppers are $75+tax per ticket, not per night per ticket, just per ticket. So if you wanted to upgrade to hoppers, it would be $150+tax ($159.75) total for both tickets. Y ou could upgrade your tickets at any park or at the concierge desk at the hotel.

@Traver Freeman is right, the POR dining plan is Quick Serve. Unless you're planning on just eating at counters all trip, and not going to any sit down restaurants. If you can pull off an 8 day trip eating nothing but burgers and sandwiches, go for it.

The QS dining plan for 8 nights costs $741.44 ($46.34/night), the standard dining plan costs $1077.28 ($67.33/night). So if you want to upgrade to the standard plan, that's an additional $335.84 to upgrade, or $20.99 per night.

So the question is, does $3000(room)+$1077.28(buying standard dining plan)+$159.75(add hoppers)= $4237.03 at Grand Floridian
or $3000(POR package)+$335.84(upgrade dining plan)= $3335.84 at Port Orleans worth it?

The difference is about $900 to "downgrade" to Port Orleans, and to keep everything else equal.

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

So if I am reading this correctly, you can stay at GF for 3000.00, basic park tickets and no food OR POR with QS and park hopper and king bed ...not knowing how much you eat, $100.00 for 2 per day can certainly be done (but at $50.00 per day per person it really takes thought when ordering) which would bring the GF up to $3800 (at the very least) and still with no park hopper. Hard to beat the monorail and GF is such a lovely resort with watercraft option as well....if budget allowed I would love to stay at GF as a super treat but only if you are realistic about your food budget and it's a bucket list item ....that said, there are so many food options with QS (not all burgers and fries) and 8 days without a park hopper isn't ideal (can you add the hopper to the tickets?)--we find that all day at Hollywood Studios or even AK is too much - we usually wind up at MK or WS wandering around late afternoon or after dinner so park hoppers are important to us --we have stayed at POR many times and it is our favorite moderate..we are not at the resort that much and we do drive to the parks (except MK) soooo, for me, personally, I would probably wind up at POR because i can easily see $1000.00 in saving for food (over the $3000.00 room/tickets at GF plus food) and we get park hoppers
Hope my thought process made sense!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If this is the same TA deal we did she can't change her tickets upon arrival. She would have to change them with the agent before arrival. And you can't add on any DP. You must pay OOP for food.

 

[Pkltm]

For me it would depend on how you tour and eat. Our last two trips we really enjoyed the QS menus, never ate a sandwhich or a burger.

 

[100acreHiker]

You will not regret a stay at the GF!

 

[Judyfun]

While the dining plans does not fit my needs, I also love just being at a resort and being at Grand Floridian would be the cherry on the ice cream sundae for me

 

[Wood Nymph]

We have stayed at both POR and GF and they are both nice places to stay. If you plan to spend all your time at the parks and very little time enjoying the resort, then stay at POR. It is a lovely moderate resort, although the bus service can be "not so good" at times.

GF is a luxury. You walk into that lobby and you are awestruck, especially if the pianist or the orchestra are playing. Your beds will be super comfy. You will have robes in the closest and turn down service nightly, with chocolate left on your pillows. You will have the monorail and a boat to MK for transportation, as well as buses for AK, DHS and Disney Springs. You can watch the MK fireworks from the resort and hear the music, too. Grab some lunch at the beach pool and eat it while enjoying the view of Bay Lake. Walk to the Poly for lunch at Captain Cook's or dinner at Ohana.

Two quick service meals are only expensive if you are buying a lunch and a dinner. Breakfast is cheap.

The resort you choose all depends on how you want to enjoy your vacation.

By the way, we had a free upgrade from the Beach Club to the GF for our trip this past December. I don't think we will ever be able to stay at the GF for that low of a price again. I think you are getting a good value for the quality of resort like GF.

 

[Branflakes]

Stay at the GF. The resort in and of itself will be a big part of your vacation. Upgrade to park hopper for the additional $150 total. And eat a little lighter than you would normally. Believe me, a stay at the GF, with the resort, the pools, the monorail, boat launch, watching fireworks and general upscale feel, you will enjoy that more imo, than a "free" Not really "free" dining plan at a resort that cannot compare to the Flagship that is The Grand Floridian.

 

[klacey1]

Keep your Grand reservation. That's an amazing price and as lovely as POR is, it really can't compare to the Grand! Like @Branflakes said, just the feel of being at that resort is special.

 

[Emme]

Thanks everyone for all the input!!! We've never stayed at GF...

 

[FelisLachesis]

If this is the same TA deal we did she can't change her tickets upon arrival. She would have to change them with the agent before arrival. And you can't add on any DP. You must pay OOP for food.

Fair enough, I wasn't aware of the restrictions on this deal!

I've noticed, that for the most part, paying for DDP and paying OOP for food is roughly equivalent. I say roughly because of how the variables change. in DDP, people are more inclined to order more expensive food, while OOP, people tend to hold of on ordering that steak as much, and maybe not as many appetizers.

Regardless, DDP or OOP varies mostly on how much you like to eat. Smaller eaters benefit by not having the DDP. Healthy eaters might enjoy the DDP and the options it opens. When trying to determine the budget for a trip, the cost of the DDP, whether using it or not, is a good starting point for the food budget.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Fair enough, I wasn't aware of the restrictions on this deal!

I've noticed, that for the most part, paying for DDP and paying OOP for food is roughly equivalent. I say roughly because of how the variables change. in DDP, people are more inclined to order more expensive food, while OOP, people tend to hold of on ordering that steak as much, and maybe not as many appetizers.

Regardless, DDP or OOP varies mostly on how much you like to eat. Smaller eaters benefit by not having the DDP. Healthy eaters might enjoy the DDP and the options it opens. When trying to determine the budget for a trip, the cost of the DDP, whether using it or not, is a good starting point for the food budget.

I agree. We did this TA deal and paid OOP for food. We tried places we normally wouldn't because they weren't "worth the credits" when we did FD. We really enjoyed ourselves.

 

[Emme]

If this is the same TA deal we did she can't change her tickets upon arrival. She would have to change them with the agent before arrival. And you can't add on any DP. You must pay OOP for food.

Yes the same deal...