BOG Lunch or Dinner?

[planning42012]

Which is better lunch or dinner at BOG and why? Thanks!

 

[TechieRose]

That really depends on what you want out of your meal, your budget, and what the group you are going with is like. My husband and I as two adults want dinner all the way - have a good meal, a glass of wine, not be in a rush to eat and get out to do more things. Also, if you are looking for "fancy" dinner is definitely the more fancy meal at the restaurant, lunch is much more your standard Disney sit down lunch meal.

Budget wise for dinner you'd probably be looking at in the range of $50 for two adults and a kid for a kids meal, two sandwiches, and two drinks. For dinner you are looking at starting around $80 for a kids meal, two adult meals, and non-alcoholic fountain drinks.

I think for experience dinner is the better experience as well but I haven't been there for lunch.

 

[Anal Annie]

Food wise - dinner is better. Lunch is just lunch with the main thing being that you're in a nice place to eat it. But of course it's considerably less expensive so what's your budget? We have gone for dinner about times and tried lunch once just to see what it was about. I thought the whole process was tedious and the line moved slowly. If you're looking for a nice meal then definitely do dinner.

 

[JoannaTN7]

Until Tangled came out B&B was my absolute favorite Disney movie and when I saw that the ball room was a real place in the real world, I almost burst into tears. I am TOTALLY going for dinner there because I don't want just a QS meal. That movie has a very special place in my heart and I want the sit down, breathe it all in, you're in the castle, yo! experience. That's just me, though. Of course, part of the challenge is getting the reservation! If I can swing it, dinner all the way! Good luck!

 

[PaintsWindColors]

Dinner at BOG is in a league of its own, highly recommend!

 

[COscrapper]

I was going to post the exact same question - we have 2 boys who aren't that into characters, so I'm wondering if it's worth it to pay more for dinner. Does the beast walk around and interact with you like at a regular character meal? Or do you have to get up and wait in a line to see him (def not interested in THAT)? Is the food any better at dinner?

I looked at the menu and the dinner food doesn't look all that spectacular to me...and I read that you can preorder your lunch to cut down on wait time, right?

 

[ariane37]

Which is better lunch or dinner at BOG and why? Thanks!

I was going to post the exact same question - we have 2 boys who aren't that into characters, so I'm wondering if it's worth it to pay more for dinner. Does the beast walk around and interact with you like at a regular character meal? Or do you have to get up and wait in a line to see him (def not interested in THAT)? Is the food any better at dinner?

I looked at the menu and the dinner food doesn't look all that spectacular to me...and I read that you can preorder your lunch to cut down on wait time, right?

We've had dinner there 6x and lunch once, so you can probably guess which meal we enjoy more-
Every dinner has been great with very good service. We've eaten in every room. The atmosphere is VERY different at each meal. Lunch is more chaotic; lots of people walking around since you get your own drinks, silverware etc. and for some reason it seems louder (but that's probably just me). You also find your own table at lunch, not a negative just a difference. The food for us was "eh" but that's going to depend on each person and what you think of the lunch menu vs. the dinner one.

At dinner of course you're seated by your host/hostess and the whole thing is more "formal". Not formal as in signature or over the top fancy, but fancier than lunch. People do still walk around a bit taking pictures and looking in the rooms they aren't seated in, but it seems they do it less at dinner. Then you have the Beast who only appears at dinner.

To answer your question COscrapper, he is "announced" every 30 minutes or so, walks through every dining room and "retires" to his library, where you can then go and meet him after you finish eating. Sometimes we've waited behind one or two parties but we've never had a long line. You can have your picture taken but he doesn't sign autographs. For the record I have 2 DS's and they've been going to BOG since they were 10 and 7. Never had a real interest in the castle per se and just a small interest in meeting the Beast, until we got there Younger DS now almost 11 still enjoys meeting him and having his picture taken with him. And so do I!

You can pre-order at breakfast and lunch. You can do this online 30 days prior to your reservation and it does usually cut down on your wait time. My preference obviously is dinner but if the menu doesn't interest you at all, lunch might be a smarter choice to save some $$ but still see the inside of the castle

 

[mkla2015]

Dinner is much better than lunch in my opinion. Lunch is QS and is crowded and a little chaotic. Dinner is TS and more relaxed. BOG dinner has been our favorite meal on our last 2 trips. The service is great, food is awesome, and meeting the beast is fun.

 

[Poola]

I posted a similar question a while back. Most people said lunch and dinner are entirely different. Some preferred lunch, and some preferred dinner. So with no clear-cut answer to my question, I made ADRs for both. We are eating dinner first, then the next day lunch. I was afraid that would be too much BOG, but I am looking forward to both experiences.

 

[samsteele]

The food is better quality but more $ at dinner. However, my dinner experience was not great. Almost 45 min wait for my ADR on the bridge (they either lost my ADR or didn't much care) so big bite out of my park time, rushed by the waiter once I got in, just as loud & hectic as lunch & seated in the back of the main Ball Room within elbow's reach of the next table where the pre-teen kept flipping his knife onto my table. I've had dinner x1, lunch x4 and breakfast x1. I wouldn't do dinner again. Lunch is much less $ and you still see the inside of the castle. I continue to go for lunch whether OOP or if on Fall Free Dining. Dinner is now a once & done. If you really just want to see the inside of the castle, go for lunch. IMO a better dinner experience can be found at eg Sanaa (if you want quiet & good food) or Raglan Road (better food & great entertainment).

 

[slbgnb]

I looked at the menu and the dinner food doesn't look all that spectacular to me...and I read that you can preorder your lunch to cut down on wait time, right?

This is me. I really wanted to dinner for our Sept trip, but nothing on the dinner menu appealed to me or the kids. The lunch menu had much more in the way of food that we liked. I went ahead and booked lunch, because I really want to try it, but would have liked to have had the more relaxed, "formal" dinner....and the Beast!

 

[planning42012]

Thank you for the feedback. I was also wondering how long would you plan for dinner? I have a 6:30 reservation, but Wishes is suppose to be at 8:00 that night. Would 1.5 hours give us enough time to have dinner and still find a place to view Wishes or would we be better off doing lunch? Is there any chance park hours would be extended and Wishes would be pushed back? TIA!

 

[Megara5115]

We have done both and I would definitely pick dinner. While lunch is good for qs I enjoyed the ts dinner experience and our food was great!!!

 

[disnerella]

We also enjoyed the more relaxed dinner environment than the hectic lunch environment. Our server was superb but, TBH, our kids didn't love any of their food - just the beast.

 

[tinkerbella16]

We've done both and prefer dinner over lunch. Lunch was just so hectic, we did not care for the food at all, and the experience was just not good. We pre-ordered, and I got my food when the rest of my party was done eating.. and this was after telling a CM 3 different times. We said never again for lunch. We went there for dinner and it was night and day. The food was delicious and the experience was completely better, which is why we prefer the TS experience there. We were able to have a relaxed meal without people all over the place looking for tables, and the service was excellent. Meeting the Beast on our way out was the icing on the cake! We have a dinner ADR for our September, and cannot wait to go back, but we wouldn't bother with lunch again.. we'd rather stick to our true QS favorite and go to Columbia Harbor House for lunch.

 

[ForeverAlice]

Both are good. We prefer the dinner.

 

[Raeven]

Dinner, we would not go back for lunch again.

For dinner we got to take our time, and didn't feel rushed. We loved sitting in the ballroom too. We got french onion soup, steak, and I tried the grey stuff for dessert and everything was pretty delicious. (I did think the grey stuff was a little too sweet for me though). It was one of the more expensive meals we had, but we really enjoyed it. We also liked meeting the Beast after.

Lunch felt very rushed. There were few tables available in the West Wing (I wanted to try it after doing the main dining room for dinner). We ended up at a much bigger table because that was all that was available, and we felt like they were trying to rush us through our meal so they could give the bigger table to someone with more people in their party. We were under the Beast's picture and people took pictures with the flash on the whole time. We ordered the roast beef sandwiches, and for dessert I got the chocolate cupcake and my boyfriend got a lemon creampuff (the only gluten free dessert). We thought the sandwiches were awful, but the desserts were good. We agreed after that we didn't feel the need to go back for lunch again (at least not anytime soon), but are thinking about going back for dinner this December.

 

[rastahomie]

On the Dining Plan, is BOG considered a "signature" meal requiring two table-service credits, or a regular meal requiring one?

 

[phinz]

I wasn't impressed with lunch at all.