I think I made my choice. I will get the 3DS but the original one, don't think I will mind the difference all that much, and I will also save $40 by doing so. 

Or is the XL really worth the extra cash?

I'm going to upgrade to the XL when I have extra cash, but no, it's not really needed.

I bought both at launch, and while they are both great, I would voted to save your money for the WiiU, because even though there are not very many games.. the good games that are out are long games, and they will last you a while. There are a lot of good 3ds Games that will do the same, but they really are only good if you have others to street pass with or play locally so if your friends have a 3ds then the 3ds is obvious, but for single player gaming the wiiU is better( but is still great for local party play)

2013 3ds year
2014 hopefully WIIU

and if you go with the 3ds yes its worth the $40 extra for the xl as it has a longer battery life, and better range for 3d,....... i don't play DS games, but if you do then it has a better resolution for those as well

3DS or save for another console that isn't a Wii U.

Save up for the ps4.

I forgot to mention to get Project X Zone which is a cross between Resident Evil & Mega Man & Street Fighter & Tekken & many other games, as an RPG game.

It comes out during "May" globally (excluding Japan because they already got the game earlier of course).

Also, after you do a Firmware update, you will gain up to 2 hours extra battery life for playing 3D games with the 3D ON. And that's a regular size 3DS.

Battery life will not really be an issue. I will hardly ever going to get my 3DS out of the house (just like my DS), so I will always have a charge available.