BOG is great but please be respectful of other guests when taking pictures

[ThunderMom16]

Just wanted to submit a quick dining review of Be Our Guest. My family of 5 had reservations on 5/29 at 4:45pm. This was an early dinner for us (usually eat around 7) but it was the only time I could get during our trip. Overall, the experience was excellent. Check in was easy and castmembers were very friendly. We were asked if we had a preference as to where we wanted to sit and said that we did not. We were seated in the West Wing, between the Rose and the Beast's portrait, with perfect views of both. However, sitting in a great location leaves you with lots of traffic and camera flashes while you're trying to enjoy your dinner. I'll discuss that in detail later in this post.

Now onto the review of our food - I ordered the French Onion Soup. It was excellent. No one else ordered an appetizer. Three of us ordered the steak, one ordered the shrimp & scallop puff pastry, and one ordered salmon. Everyone enjoyed their dinner, especially those who ordered the steak. My steak was cooked perfectly and I personally loved the truffle mayo for my pommes frites (french fries). My DS (18) ordered the puff pastry and liked the inside but wasn't a huge fan of the pastry (that would have been my favorite part).

We all ordered dessert (we were on the regular dining plan) - two strawberry cream cheese cupcakes, two passion fruit cream puffs, and one chocolate cream puffs. All were deemed excellent.

Our server (Sue) was excellent. She was very social and joked with us about the special permission required when dining in the West Wing. We asked her about the Grey Stuff and she brought some out for us to try. It was good. She kept our drinks filled and table cleared of dishes when we were done. If you happen to get seated in her section, consider yourself lucky.

The ambiance of the restaurant and especially the West Wing is great. You really do feel like you're in the movie. Details are exceptional. My only complaint has to do with others dining at BOG. I completely understand wanting to visit the West Wing to take pictures of the rose and of the Beast's portrait but please be respectful of others who are in the middle of their dinners. There were many times during our dinner when people were standing at our table to get the "perfect" picture of the falling petal or of the moment the beast's portrait changes. For example, my DD (12) happened to take a great picture of the changing portrait from our table on her iPhone. A woman who was there attempting to take the same photo saw that my daughter got the photo she was trying (and failing) to take so she came up to my daughter and asked her to text her the photo. We were in the middle of dinner. A stranger was asking my minor child to send her a photo. Weird. My DD told her to ask me. There was no way I was going to let my daughter text a stranger so I told her that I would text it to her and she gave me her number. She was thankful but I just thought that was a little much. I can't imagine camping out at someone's table for 2-3 minutes at a time to get that picture (or asking a child to text it to you). I wish the castmembers would ask people to be considerate or put some sort of structure around how and when to take pictures so to limit the impact on others. As I mentioned before, I understand wanting to take the pictures (we did too) but just think about others so that you don't negatively impact their experience.

So overall, BOG was great. We at at 5 other places for dinner (Liberty Tree, Cape May, Garden Grill, Kona, and Via Napoli) and all were excellent, but BOG was our favorite meal, even with the interruptions.

I hope you try it and enjoy your meal as much as we did. And I also hope that others taking pictures are considerate of others.

 

[cab0ad]

same thing happened to us! we chose to sit at a table in the ballroom right next to the snowing windows and families kept shoving their kids right up there to get pics of them by the windows! they would literally be taking pics OVER our table to get to their kids by the window!

 

[aaarcher86]

Is there even a way to get the rose to come out on a picture? I certainly couldn't make it happen.

If you have a great picture of the rose in the West Wing imma need you to text it to me

Seriously though - that definitely puts a damper on the experience. Hopefully when the newness wears off it will settle down a bit. Next trip I'm hoping to be near the snowing windows. If people are shoving their way around my table I will kill them. ACTUALLY kill them.

 

[kgsmith]

Wow, I can't believe what people will do for a photo! We ate dinner in the ballroom, and I wouldn't go into the West Wing after our meal. DS11 and I just stood in the doorway. When he asked why we couldn't go in I said, "Because people are trying to enjoy their dinner!"

 

[bluejasmine]

Oh dear I planned on asking for west wing and I will say excuse me! We are eating dinner and celebrating our anniversary do you mind? Lol.

ASMU/POR Dec 16-22, 2012 & BWI Sept 8-15, 2013

 

[bowbat]

We're just back from Disney, and I would say "be respectful of other guests" is something park guests need to be reminded of in all sorts of situations.

I will also add that you handled that situation with a LOT more grace than I would have.

 

[kmb584]

We dined in the West Wing in April and had a similar experience. People were hovering over our table (and food) to get photos of the rose and Beast's portrait. It became a little much at times as it would go from no one in the room except those of us at tables to swarms of people snapping pictures.

 

[pigletto]

I think some of it can be chalked up to the servers telling guests to feel free to go look around in the other rooms and take pictures? I know ours did in February and my honest to goodness first thought was "That would be a little annoying to the people eating in there". So we didn't. But I can see thinking it's a great idea after being told to do it.

We sat beside a giant open mouthed dinosaur at TRex last year. A steady stream of people walked up and stuck their heads in the mouth while someone snapped a picture. Honestly.. it happened about 20 times. It got comical after awhile, especially since I had 2 very giggly teenage girls with me. At one point a woman walked up and put her baby in the dinosaur mouth and that was it, my giggly teenage companions completely lost it and laughed until I thought they would fall out of their chairs.

It was distracting but funny. I remember thinking the same thing though.. I can't imagine being practically on top of someones table to get a shot of something

 

[pigletto]

Is there even a way to get the rose to come out on a picture? I certainly couldn't make it happen.

If you have a great picture of the rose in the West Wing imma need you to text it to me

Seriously though - that definitely puts a damper on the experience. Hopefully when the newness wears off it will settle down a bit. Next trip I'm hoping to be near the snowing windows. If people are shoving their way around my table I will kill them. ACTUALLY kill them.

We were right beside the snowing windows in Feb. A few people came around to take a picture or two if I recall but there was enough space and they were out of the way enough that I barely noticed. It wasn't bad at all

 

[goofy4tink]

It's the same at a lot of restaurants. Try eating down by the tank at Coral Reef!!! I've had my drink spilled in my lap when some little kid tried to shove past my seat to get right up to the tank!!!

We ate at BoG last week...had a 9pm ADR so it wasn't very crowded at all when we finally finished. Last Dec we ate in the West Wing. And yes, other guests go in to get photos as well. We didn't experience anyone coming close to our table in order to take photos though!! And when my dd and I ate there, in the main ballroom, we did head over to the West Wing to take a photo or two. We tried to be sure we didn't impact anyone that was eating there.

But in all reality? This is the type of restaurant that is going to have guests roaming around, taking photos. It is not a private, intimate setting. So, you just have to take what comes along.
But then again? Having a stranger ask a child to text them the 'perfect' photo of the rose? Way over the top. I would have said no, right up front. And to please step away from my table. There is plenty of room there to take a photo of both the rose and the Beast/Prince without getting in a diner's way!!!