2980 WOW, is it the RL model?
We love ours it has as much room as G & I need. I dont know if you have children still at home, we dont, just the dog. (Smokey). are you getting the one with the table and chairs or the booth?
get the table, you can rotate it, and you dont have to open the slide to get to the frig. good luck . About it being shorter I don't know what you call shorter but the 2980RL from tip to tip is 33feet and 8 or so inches.
TT2