BOG or HDDMR dinner to close out our trip?

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Hoping to get opinions from those who have done both. Which would you choose?

It will be me, DW, DD8 and DS2. We've never been to HDDMR and never been to BOG for dinner (had lunch there once on our last trip in 2014)

We are trying to choose which would be the best way to close out our 9-day trip this Dec. I've been trying to rearrange our schedule to fit both in but BOG is just not cooperating . We currently have both booked so we would need to drop one. I would prefer to drop one sooner rather than later because I'm sure there are others out there that could use it. TIA for all opinions

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Bumping this thread. Hoping for opinions.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We have done both of these. Both are great. I guess it kind of depends on what else you are doing and eating on the trip.

Be our guest dinner experience, to me is way nicer at dinner than breakfast or lunch. It's more relaxed and you really get to soak in the ambiance. And you do get to meet the beast after dinner. But it's not that much different. The food is good in my opinion but nothing that I am dreaming about going back for.

Hoop-Dee-Doo review is a full evening experience. Food is good but not as fancy. Food is also not food I am dreaming of from home. But solid fried chicken, ribs, etc... We loved it. My DH didn't know what to expect when we went and he loved it! My girls were 7 & 5 at the time and they enjoyed the show as well. You do need to leave plenty of time to get to and from depending on where you are staying.

But my vote would probably be Hoop-Dee-Doo Review!

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Thanks for your input!

We will be on the Deluxe Dining plan so we'll be experiencing a wide variety of DW restaurants. Travel time to/from HDDMR is a big downer because in all likelihood we probably will not return to MK our last night after leaving for 8:30 HDDMR. Then again, after 9 days in the parks we will probably be "burned out" at that point.

 

[vettegirl]

BOG is such a lovely experience and the picture with the Beast is so much fun.

 

[Candycane83]

Hi again! If the time is 8:30 for HDDMR vs an earlier BOG, I would pick BoG I just recently decided against HDDMR because of how long it takes. if your dinner is at 8:30, your dinner would end at 10:30, which is pretty late especially if you decide to have a full day at the park. on the food itself, I can't really comment because I have not been to HDDMR... For BOG, DH and I were lucky enough to eat there during the soft opening in 2012. He actually just requested to eat there twice tonight (giving me grief over finding a suitable time for another meal there ) that's how much it stuck with him.

 

[Hopefully]

We love HDDR and would choose it everytime, But I think the 8:30 is a bit late with a 2 YO on the last night. You need to be up, packed and out of your room by 11 AM the next morning, so not much of a chance to rest the next day.
Good Luck

 

[Lisa F]

I'm doing the 6:15 HDDR on our last night. I think it is a good way to wrap up the trip. From previous experience by the end of the last day (and my trip was only 7 days long, not 9) I was DONE, kiddo was DONE. I think it will be a nice relaxing but still special way to end the trip. We had dinner at Kona to end our trip last time and it was just dinner. I agree that 8:30 is pretty late though especially with a 2yo. BoG is probably a bit better than Kona in the special category but it is still just dinner. I would probably end with either a full character meal or HDDR to have a great sendoff

 

[ebradley23]

We just got home last night from our trip. We did BOG dinner earlier in the trip on our Halloween party night, and we did HDDMR for our last dinner of the trip. I wasn't thinking about it as our final dinner when planned, but I'm glad it was. We all had a blast - even my DS4. It was our first time for HDDMR, and we've been to BOG several times for dinner. While I like BOG, it isn't much fun. It's pretty much like any dinner you can go to at WDW with a meet and greet at the end. Yes, the restaurant is beautiful, but it's not enough to keep my child excited or interested for the entire meal. HDDMR was able to accomplish both.

 

[ebradley23]

Oh, and as for travel times - we found Uber to be a great relief during late nights or early mornings to shave off a significant amount of travel time. I wasn't sold on the service before the trip, since I'm a cheapskate and didn't want to pay when Disney provides free transportation. I was sold after day 1 when we wanted to do rope drop at MK, but didn't want to factor in an extra hour for travel time.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Hi again! If the time is 8:30 for HDDMR vs an earlier BOG, I would pick BoG I just recently decided against HDDMR because of how long it takes. if your dinner is at 8:30, your dinner would end at 10:30, which is pretty late especially if you decide to have a full day at the park. on the food itself, I can't really comment because I have not been to HDDMR... For BOG, DH and I were lucky enough to eat there during the soft opening in 2012. He actually just requested to eat there twice tonight (giving me grief over finding a suitable time for another meal there ) that's how much it stuck with him.

Hi again to you too! Was gonna ask this question over on the December thread but didn't want that thread to go off on a tangent. Everyone over there is awesome and it's got a great "flow" to it. Agreed that 8:30 is kinda late. ESPECIALLY on day #9 of our trip. I did see that there was a 6:15 slot available 2 days ago so probably going to swap for that. Good luck finding that 2nd BOG res. They're a real PITA to find.

We love HDDR and would choose it everytime, But I think the 8:30 is a bit late with a 2 YO on the last night. You need to be up, packed and out of your room by 11 AM the next morning, so not much of a chance to rest the next day.
Good Luck

Good advice just like Candycane83 above. Thanks so much! It's so easy to think that we will have an unending supply of energy/stamina when sitting in the comfort of our own home.

I'm doing the 6:15 HDDR on our last night. I think it is a good way to wrap up the trip. From previous experience by the end of the last day (and my trip was only 7 days long, not 9) I was DONE, kiddo was DONE. I think it will be a nice relaxing but still special way to end the trip. We had dinner at Kona to end our trip last time and it was just dinner. I agree that 8:30 is pretty late though especially with a 2yo. BoG is probably a bit better than Kona in the special category but it is still just dinner. I would probably end with either a full character meal or HDDR to have a great sendoff

Hey Lisa! You may remember from the December thread that I originally had HDDR booked on our MVMCP night. Thanks to your advice I jumped ship on that idea. Definitely would have been a BIG time crunch considering the premium price they're charging for party tickets. I'm kind of leaning towards HDDR for our last meal. While it will be sad to exit MK on our last night, we will be getting on the boat to go to our HDDR dinner. So I imagine it will feel like a long goodbye that night (if that makes any sense?)

We just got home last night from our trip. We did BOG dinner earlier in the trip on our Halloween party night, and we did HDDMR for our last dinner of the trip. I wasn't thinking about it as our final dinner when planned, but I'm glad it was. We all had a blast - even my DS4. It was our first time for HDDMR, and we've been to BOG several times for dinner. While I like BOG, it isn't much fun. It's pretty much like any dinner you can go to at WDW with a meet and greet at the end. Yes, the restaurant is beautiful, but it's not enough to keep my child excited or interested for the entire meal. HDDMR was able to accomplish both.

We are lucky in that we have a BOG lunch booked for earlier in our trip so we will get to experience it at least once. Our last day is shaping up to be a long one. Starting with a Chef Mickeys breakfast. We don't currently plan on taking a mid-day break so I imagine by 6:00ish we will probably be ready to say our "goodbyes" to MK.

Oh, and as for travel times - we found Uber to be a great relief during late nights or early mornings to shave off a significant amount of travel time. I wasn't sold on the service before the trip, since I'm a cheapskate and didn't want to pay when Disney provides free transportation. I was sold after day 1 when we wanted to do rope drop at MK, but didn't want to factor in an extra hour for travel time.

Me too! We have a few PPO breakfasts booked and I think Uber will be invaluable for those!

>>UPDATE<<
DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME....AND ITS HDDMR BY A NOSE!!!
While reading/replying to this thread I just got a text from TP for a BOG dinner on another night! It's for 6:00pm on our MVMCP night though, which is a little later than I was hoping for. I was researching the timeline of events for MVMCP and seem to remember that A Frozen Holiday Wish starts at 6:15. Does anyone know if this is accurate?

 

[Lisa F]

Hi again to you too! Was gonna ask this question over on the December thread but didn't want that thread to go off on a tangent.


Good advice just like Candycane83 above. Thanks so much! It's so easy to think that we will have an unending supply of energy/stamina when sitting in the comfort of our own home.


Hey Lisa! You may remember from the December thread that I originally had HDDR booked on our MVMCP night. Thanks to your advice I jumped ship on that idea. Definitely would have been a BIG time crunch considering the premium price they're charging for party tickets. I'm kind of leaning towards HDDR for our last meal. While it will be sad to exit MK on our last night, we will be getting on the boat to go to our HDDR dinner. So I imagine it will feel like a long goodbye that night (if that makes any sense?)

regarding the december thread, EVERYTHING is a tangent. Feel free to just jump in and start a new thread. no one can keep up with it all except maybe @Candycane83 lol.

Regarding how you are going to feel at the end of your trip... let me tell you a story. Buzz lightyear was the last attraction we did at MK. So we get on and ride it and suddenly 3/4 of the way into the tunnel it stops, presumably for wheelchair loading.... and we sat... and sat... and sat... then it started up again and i guess the cameras for the ride photo are sometime after that point. The picture of us on our last ride at WDW after a 1 week trip was so epic I made a christmas card out of it, which exactly sums up how we felt by around 4:30pm on our last day (maybe you saw it in the december thread but here is a reminder):

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I DO remember that pic. Hilarious and so true! Our last trip in 2014 was the same way. By day #7 we were Disney-ied out! But as soon as our return flight landed in NY we began discussing our next trip.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT

 

[Lisa F]

I DO remember that pic. Hilarious and so true! Our last trip in 2014 was the same way. By day #7 we were Disney-ied out! But as soon as our return flight landed in NY we began discussing our next trip.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT
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it is bittersweet. I am usually ready to go home but then I am ready to go back in like a month rather than 2 years, lol. I am a little nervous about planning my MVMCP so close to the end (I did MNSSHP at the beginning) but I figure by the last day we will be WIPED. OUT. also tired of eating

 

[LBlovesM&WDW]

I would prefer to be in MK and see Wishes on the last night (it's what we do) and I also wouldn't want to miss any party time sitting at a restaurant. I like both and would try to move Hoop day and time because yeah leaving at 10:30pm for a toddler might be hard.

 

[HopperFan]

Hoping to get opinions from those who have done both. Which would you choose?

It will be me, DW, DD8 and DS2. We've never been to HDDMR and never been to BOG for dinner (had lunch there once on our last trip in 2014)

We are trying to choose which would be the best way to close out our 9-day trip this Dec. I've been trying to rearrange our schedule to fit both in but BOG is just not cooperating . We currently have both booked so we would need to drop one. I would prefer to drop one sooner rather than later because I'm sure there are others out there that could use it. TIA for all opinions

There is no comparison as far as value and memorable. HDDR is a hoot, fun, entertaining, different, show and fun food the kids will love too. Such a great family event!

I bolded the part I did because we ate at BOG several times for lunch and breakfast before we had dinner. Was SO disappointing because it was virtually lunch except we skipped the order room, paid a lot more money and met the Beast. Not even the desserts were any different other than Master cupcake was now Grey stuff on hard inedible cookie. It was still crowded and loud and felt completely like a counter service. If you had never been before you might not have that feel, but I was bummed and won't go back for dinner.