Festival of Fantasy parade or Be Our Guest lunch?

[Stefien Quix]

What’s the “acceptable window”? I wouldn’t risk being late for a BOG ADR. They may or may not seat you.

It's generally accepted that they'll accept anyone within 15 minutes of their reservation. I think it's reasonable to believe that we should be able to get to the host by 1:30 after a 12:50 ETB FP.

 

[Stefien Quix]

It's generally accepted that they'll accept anyone within 15 minutes of their reservation. I think it's reasonable to believe that we should be able to get to the host by 1:30 after a 12:50 ETB FP.

Sorry, this whole discussion (the Enchanted Tales with Belle piece) is moot. I just realized I misread my FP+ reservation anyway. It's for 10:50, not 12:50.

 

[Jrits]

Parade! We all love it! BOG lunch is just mediocre IMO

 

[Gingerfun1]

I'm a big fan of BOG for breakfast personally, especially if you can get in before the park opens.

 

[Stefien Quix]

I'm a big fan of BOG for breakfast personally, especially if you can get in before the park opens.

My vacation is in less than a month. I'm unlikely to have options for BOG. I was lucky to snag this one.

 

[dachsie]

From what I've seen & read, even if the ETB runs abnormally long, I should still be able to make the reservation, on the late side, but still within the acceptable window for them to accept the reservation.

Maybe if they take you right at 12:50 which is doubtful. And BOG does not have to accept you if you are late, its up to the CM.

 

[Stefien Quix]

Maybe if they take you right at 12:50 which is doubtful. And BOG does not have to accept you if you are late, its up to the CM.

Yeah, but it's a moot point anyway. Like I mentioned above, I misread my FP+. It's 10:50, not 12:50.

 

[dachsie]

Sorry, this whole discussion (the Enchanted Tales with Belle piece) is moot. I just realized I misread my FP+ reservation anyway. It's for 10:50, not 12:50.

Oh that's good! I think you will be fine for both with pre-order

 

[dachsie]

Yeah, but it's a moot point anyway. Like I mentioned above, I misread my FP+. It's 10:50, not 12:50.

Yea, I hadn't gotten that far yet.

 

[Stefien Quix]

So, DW is the real B&tB fan(atic), so the BOG is more for her than anyone else, so ultimately, I'm going to leave this decision up to her. DD has never done Disney, so she'll be thrilled with anything we end up doing (and let's be honest, that's going to the case with all of us won't it?).

Personally, I'm not a big parade person (or a standing-around-in-the-heat-when-I-can-help-it person), and I am an Eat-All-The-Things person, so even a sub-par food experience holds more appeal to me than a parade.

And I kinda like the thematic notion of doing Enchanted Tales with Belle, than wandering over to Gaston's Tavern and being entertained by Gaston while pre-gaming on some nosh there before heading over to Be Our Guest.

My takeaway from responses thus far seems to be that those that would choose one over the other would choose the parade, but those who don't like to choose think that, if I really wanted to I could probably squeeze them both in.

AND we'll be around for MNSSHP, so we won't be missing ALL the parades, so there's that too (although I'm sure I'm comparing apples to oranges here).

 

[cel_disney]

The two parades are very different...hard to compare a chipper Rapunzel and Flynn to gravediggers and the evil queen! Ha!

I am wth you though on the waiting part - we DONT wait for them - we usually arrive 5 minutes or so before it passes by and you would be surprised at how well we can see! I like to grab a frozen banana from the ice cream cart and enjoy the parade! Won’t be as good without the dragon so hopefully he magically appear even without fire before your trip! We

 

[sjlogghe]

We like the food at BOG! I haven't had lunch there in a few years, so maybe it's gone downhill ... but we all really liked the french onion soup and the Croque Monsieur sandwich. On our trip last week, we did BOG breakfast - which was really good!

I would keep checking for a different BOG reservation. I got ours about 2 or 3 weeks before our trip. And I kept checking up until our trip to compare times, I did see a few different options occasionally. Otherwise, I think with pre-order option, and not having to be in front for the parade, you should be able to make it. Especially since the parade starts in Frontierland, and takes a little bit to get to the front of the castle, so if you go that way to watch the parade I'd think that will buy you an extra 15 minutes too.

Sidenote: When did the parade change to 2:00?!?! I was so confused when I first started reading this thread, because I thought, how can you NOT make a 3:00 parade with a 1:15 quick service lunch? Ha! In April it was 3:00, and just 2 weeks ago on the 9th when we were there it was 3:00!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

When did the parade change to 2:00?!?!

It usually changes to 2pm during party season. It should go back to 3pm once the parties are over for the year.

 

[kwdw]

I love lunch at BOG (the pork dish) - but - if this is your first trip to Disney and you have never seen the parade - and this is your only day to see the parade - you need to go to the parade. The parade is a great atmosphere, it's happy, it's fun, it's full of celebrating life. No way I would tell a newbie to miss the parade for a BoG lunch.

You MIGHT, note MIGHT, be able to rush the BoG lunch - but then you are not going to get a great viewing spot for the parade. Note that some people line up an hour in advance of the parade. For small groups - I think 30-10 minutes is sufficient time to line up in advance.

I get that the dragon is missing from the parade and that's a bummer - but its still a great experience.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

They are both great. If your DD is a big Beauty and the Beast fan, I would lean toward BOG. I would keep checking to see if you can snag an earlier reservation so you can fit the parade in as well. Things do tend to open up as you get closer to your vacation dates. You can sign up for a Touring Plans reservation alert to help you look for another time.

 

[dachsie]

It was posted in a similar thread that the parade wont arrive at castle until 2:15 and their Ressie was 10 mins later than yours and they were advised they could make it with mobile ordering. I think you will be fine

 

[Stefien Quix]

Thanks everyone! After a talk with DW, we decided to cancel the BOG ADR. A happy DIS'er was able to pick it up on the September Cancellations thread. I've got TouringPlans hunting for a dinner ADR for BOG, so we'll keep our fingers crossed for that!

 

[cel_disney]

Thanks everyone! After a talk with DW, we decided to cancel the BOG ADR. A happy DIS'er was able to pick it up on the September Cancellations thread. I've got TouringPlans hunting for a dinner ADR for BOG, so we'll keep our fingers crossed for that!

Dinner and meeting the beast would be MUCH better!!! I think this is a great choice!!

My experience is that these reservations still open up frequently right down to the day of!

 

[Stefien Quix]

Dinner and meeting the beast would be MUCH better!!! I think this is a great choice!!

It was meeting the beast (or rather the lack of ability for lunch) that ultimately decided her