Hi everyone! We will be making our dining reservations in two days and I'm panicking that I will have regrets if I don't book the Be Our Guest dinner. Right now our mock schedule has us eating lunch at BOG. I'm afraid that if I don't book a dinner at our 180 day mark that I will have regrets for the next 179 days! Thoughts on lunch vs dinner at BOG. Which is better and why?
I would make the decision based on the menu and my family. There is really only one option at dinner that a couple of mine would even want. But, there are several things at lunch they could choose from. So my first choice would be lunch. One of the drawbacks for lunch right now is the line to get in. It is very popular. So the question is, will it still be that way 6 months from now. No one really knows. With a dinner ADR, you still have to wait, but you kinda expect that with an ADR anyway. I don't expect to wait in a line for 30 minutes for QS. I say all that to say my family will wait to eat at BoG once it is not quite so busy.
We had lunch there in December. The wait to get in was about 20 minutes. The service was great, the food was good but not great (basically we had salads/sandwiches) and the building was gorgeous. The entire experience was worth it to see the building. I have since heard that the wait for getting in at lunch can be an hour or more. I am not so sure that waiting outside in the sun for an hour or more for sandwiches would be worth it at all. You can look at the menus and see if the food looks better to you at one versus another. But keep in mind that lunch there will take a good chunk of time from your day.
We did BOG last November and Dinner was probably the best meal of our trip. Have not done lunch but I would try for an ADR for dinner, you can always cancel it later but I do think you will regret it if you pass on making one.
I would make the dinner reservation if you can get one. I was in the same boat as you when I made our ADRs in March. I didn't think that we would have dinner at BOG, but made a reservation just in case. Since then, my husband has changed his mind and really wants to eat there for dinner. I am so glad that I have that reservation!
You can book it and then cancel later if you later decide lunch is really what you want. I decided against booking dinner for our trip. The lunch menu appeals to us just as much as dinner does so that's what we'll do. I'm really hoping the hour waits will be a thing of the past by the time October rolls around
I would also try for the dinner reservation as well but keep in mind many posters have remarked that they couldn't even get ADRs on their 180 day mark. (but of course you can keep on trying). I'm guessing you're looking at the end of October for your trip? The lunch waits shouldn't be terrible around that time as late October right around Halloween there's sometimes a drop in crowds compared to most times of the year (unless its a day for MNSSHP)...anyway...it's really a matter of opinion as far as doing lunch or dinner.....but again if you can get the dinner ADR go for dinner. (also keep in mind I have heard even waits for dinner with ADRs can be long-45 min to an hr) We enjoyed lunch very much and waited about 20-25 min which wasn't bad (the temps were still comfy)-late Oct. can go either way (but certainly not like the dead of summer heat)...that being said I don't think we'd wait an hr or more but we also already been there, most have reported waits seemingly like they would be that long but were not...I'm curious to see what happens during the summer... Feel free to take a look at our BOG Lunch Experience if you haven't already seen it... Our Be Our Guest Lunch Experience
I unfortunately can't compare the two since I have only eaten lunch there on two separate occasions, but I can highly recommend lunch. We went in December and just last Sunday 4/28 and waited about 30 min each time. Our food was great! We had the tuna nicoise salad, french onion soup, the braised pork, and the strawberry cream cheese cupcake. Everything was quite good with the real standouts for us being the salad and the cupcake. I would say, grab a reservation if you can for dinner and at least that will give you the option to decide. Then if you decide to go the lunch route, you can always cancel dinner if you do so more than 24 hrs in advance I believe with no penalty.
Be Our Guest dinner was our favorite meal of our last trip (just got back 2 days ago)!! The theming was amazing, the food was excellent. We loved that the Beast walked through every half hour and that we got to take pictures with him afterwards. Service was outstanding (we had an awesome waitress named Buffy). We all agreed that it will be a must do for next years trip!!! I would book dinner if I were you in order to get the whole experience.
We had lunch and dinner at BOG last month and enjoyed both experiences. If you think you'll have regrets if you don't book a dinner, it would be better to make the dinner reservation now. You can always cancel it, but trying to get a res close to your vacation date will be much harder. We had lunch there on one of our earlier MK days. Our dinner res was for several evenings later. That way if we didn't like it at all we would have time to cancel dinner without penalty, (although we're pretty much of the "let's try it at least once" mindset) so cancelling was very unlikely. Thoughts on lunch: Enjoyed our entrees - we had the steak sandwich and braised pork. Food is brought to you in the large wheeled carts that are used at dinner for the desserts. Food is on dishes and not paper plates. Likewise, silverware, rather than plasticware although you have to get it yourself. You can walk around and see all three rooms. No reservations so it's easier to make a last minute decision about when to go for lunch. You also choose your own table. Thoughts on dinner: Everything was well prepared and nicely presented. Service is on the fast side - our entrees arrived before we finished our apps. Just like at lunch you can walk around and see all 3 rooms, although only 2 are used for dinner seating. At dinner the Beast is available for a photo op after you finish eating.
