Be Our Guest as character dining?

[Patricia Melton]

Excuse me, Adam.

And I have absolutely no interest in eating at this place if it's going to be a loud, screaming mess that in any way resembles a Chuck E. Cheese. Must every dining experience involve characters and some kind of show? Are peoples' attention spans so low now that they can't just enjoy a nice meal in a well-themed restaurant without having a "show" to entertain them? There are plenty of other dinner shows on property if you require entertainment with your meal (and I have nothing against them-HDDR is one of my favorite things to do-I just don't think they belong at EVERY meal).

However, this "show" doesn't surprise me in the least, since it's just Disney continuing to cater almost excusively to the stroller crowd, which seems to be the only demographic they care about these days.

It's been 30 years since I've been a member of "the stroller crowd" as you so condescendingly called it.

I'm almost 60 and I am thrilled by the thought of waiting for a table at Beauty and the Beast. I am excitedly counting down the days until it opens.

I'm sure there are areas of the parks and restaurants that you enjoy that I would not want to go to. There's no need for you to rain on other people's parades who are excited about this new restaurant which will be different from anything else Disney has ever done.

I hope it does so well that a Princess and the Frog restaurant is created in DLR on New Orleans Square that has the same kind of feel but with characters from my favorite movie and is a real life Tiana's Palace.

 

[ellie-badge]

This isn't really on topic, but the discussion over Beast's name is driving me absolutely crazy.

A popular artist/Disney fan on deviantART (briannacherrygarcia, formerly known as bri-chan) went to I believe Comic-Con some odd years ago and asked somebody who worked on Beauty and the Beast if Beast's name was really or ever intended to be Prince Adam. He supposedly said no and explained that Beast never had a real name, and that Prince Adam was a fan-made name for his human form.

So, really, he doesn't have much of a name... he's just known as The Beast, or just Beast. Keep in mind that this was at least three or so years ago that I read this, so for all I know Disney could have made Prince Adam an official name for The Beast during that time or something. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

IMO, it'd be kinda awkward calling The Beast something else. He's always just been The Beast to me.

 

[ellie-badge]

I hope it does so well that a Princess and the Frog restaurant is created in DLR on New Orleans Square that has the same kind of feel but with characters from my favorite movie and is a real life Tiana's Palace.

I'm still waiting for France to re-theme their one restaurant to Gusteau's or even Ratatouille (the name of the restaurant at the end of the film). It could still be high class as it should be (as I personally can't see the restaurant a character dining experience or anything like that at all), but one would think it'd be a bit more popular if themed to the restaurant featured in the Pixar film, but I digress.

 

[Patricia Melton]

I want to tell a personal story about the culinary impact of Ratatouille and Beauty and the Beast on my niece and nephew. Both of them watch these two films a lot because when I babysit for them every day after lunch they are allowed to pick one movie to watch before we do school lessons. I bet they watch both of these movies at least twice a month.

Afterwards, they ALWAYS ask me some new question about food. I have cooked just about everything from Beauty and the Beast for them that we can identify and am about 2/3 through all the things that they have seen in Ratatouille. I even watch old episodes of Julia Child that I had on VHS with them because they wanted to learn more about French food because of the movies. They also watched Julia and Julia with me and I never would have imagined they'd sit through such a grown up movie but they liked seeing the cooking scenes. We played a game where they would draw anything they could remember from the Disney movies and they identified a whole lot of stuff. I was very impressed.

So for those people who enjoy putting Disney down or saying it's such a bad thing to have restaurants based on the movies, I want to tell you that for my niece and nephew at least two Disney cartoons really inspired these two kids to expand their horizons and become interested in all sorts of food.

We now love watching Top Chef, Food Network Star, Chopped, and other food shows together because of the introduction Disney gave them to French food in those movies. I would LOVE to be able to take them to a Gusteau's or Ratatouille restaurant in EPCOT. They would be so thrilled! I heard there is a Ratatouille restaurant on one of the Disney cruise ships and I'm thinking of taking my niece and nephew on that when they are in high school and can really enjoy being on a cruise. They would be so delighted to dine in a place with the spirit of that industrious little chef Remy.

This is the magic of Disney...inspiring imagination in kids that would not exist otherwise. The jaded Disney perpetual critics out there seem to miss that part.

 

[Patricia Melton]

This isn't really on topic, but the discussion over Beast's name is driving me absolutely crazy.

A popular artist/Disney fan on deviantART (briannacherrygarcia, formerly known as bri-chan) went to I believe Comic-Con some odd years ago and asked somebody who worked on Beauty and the Beast if Beast's name was really or ever intended to be Prince Adam. He supposedly said no and explained that Beast never had a real name, and that Prince Adam was a fan-made name for his human form.

So, really, he doesn't have much of a name... he's just known as The Beast, or just Beast. Keep in mind that this was at least three or so years ago that I read this, so for all I know Disney could have made Prince Adam an official name for The Beast during that time or something. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

IMO, it'd be kinda awkward calling The Beast something else. He's always just been The Beast to me.

Disney has been referring to him as "Prince Adam" while in human form for some time.

He was called Prince Adam years ago when my daughter was in the Disney college program and she was a friend of Tinkerbelle's. She was also friends with a very nice blond haired boy who was a friend of Prince Adam and he would accompany a friend of Belle's around for meet and greets and the parades. He called his clothes his "Prince Adam costume". This would have been probably the mid-2000s. After September 11th, but I think before 2005. I can't remember exactly when she was down there in Orlando doing the program.

I also noticed that Disney officially calls him Prince Adam on merchandise that my niece has. I distinctly remember his name being Prince Adam on the back of this one pack of little dolls she got -- because we practiced reading the names aloud. Snow White's prince is just called "The Prince" which we thought was odd, since he had no name. Cinderella's prince was just "Prince Charming", and we talked about his name being just Charming instead of William or Henry or whatever. Belle's prince was "Prince Adam", alongside "Prince Phillip" from Sleeping Beauty as having real names. Aladdin was just called "Aladdin" and had no "Prince" in front of his name.

Next time I am over their house, I will see if my niece still has that box in her closet. It was a set of little prince dolls that went with little plastic princess dolls she already had. This was before Princess and the Frog came out because the set did not include Prince Naveen.

 

[luv]

OP, I don't understand why you wouldn't want the Beast to do M&Gs. I think it would be cool to shake his paw.

I don't think he'd be able to circulate, though. He's so big and Disney squeezes tables in so close to each other...he wouldn't fit!

But I don't see why it would be a problem if he did.

Nobody cares about Prince Andrew. I don't see them dragging him out. I didn't even know his name until this thread.

This restauarant is the thing I'm most eager to see whenever it all opens up.

 

[BrightImagine]

This isn't really on topic, but the discussion over Beast's name is driving me absolutely crazy.

A popular artist/Disney fan on deviantART (briannacherrygarcia, formerly known as bri-chan) went to I believe Comic-Con some odd years ago and asked somebody who worked on Beauty and the Beast if Beast's name was really or ever intended to be Prince Adam. He supposedly said no and explained that Beast never had a real name, and that Prince Adam was a fan-made name for his human form.

Hi Ellie-badge (love your name!) I agree that this was probably true at the time the question was asked. But just in the past year the name Prince Adam has been used in a game and in decor at Port Orleans. If it indeed originated with fans and then became adopted by Disney... Wouldn't that be interesting? Can't think of any other example of that happening!

At least he sort of got a name now, unlike poor The Prince. I am always tempted to ask friends of The Prince what his name is. (And now Once Upon a Time is confusing the issue even further...)

 

[ellie-badge]

Thanks for the info, Patricia Melton and missbunny! I must say I am rather intrigued and somewhat surprised that The Beast's name is officially Prince Adam now. It is pretty cool that they possibly made the decision based on the popularity of the name among fans, though. Now we just have to give Snow White's Prince a name!

 

[doctornick]

Excuse me, Adam.

And I have absolutely no interest in eating at this place if it's going to be a loud, screaming mess that in any way resembles a Chuck E. Cheese. Must every dining experience involve characters and some kind of show? Are peoples' attention spans so low now that they can't just enjoy a nice meal in a well-themed restaurant without having a "show" to entertain them? There are plenty of other dinner shows on property if you require entertainment with your meal (and I have nothing against them-HDDR is one of my favorite things to do-I just don't think they belong at EVERY meal).

However, this "show" doesn't surprise me in the least, since it's just Disney continuing to cater almost excusively to the stroller crowd, which seems to be the only demographic they care about these days.

I must admit that I couldn't disagree with you more. Given that this entire experience is based on BatB, it would IMHO -- and in the views of many guests -- be very odd to not have some of entertainment from the film. From the start, they indicated that Lumiere would be involved (as other have said, probably like Remy at Chefs De France which is a small but very adorable addition). If there Belle and Beast welcome you before seating or "entertain" with an occastional dance or addressing the dinners, I think that would only enhance the dining experience.

Do all restaurants in WDW need to have a "show"? Of course not, and the majority do not. I mean, if you want elegant dining without a "show", you can hop on the monorail and have a ton of options for that and there's other sit down dining in the MK itself without a "show".

And I really don't get the Chuck E. Cheese reference. When I picture Chuck E. Cheese, I picture kids running around, lots of arcade games, and long tables with mixed parties. BOG doesn't seem anything like that at all. Just because something could be attractive to younger children (in addition to adults) doesn't make it a kids oriented place.

I dunno, it seems odd to me that someone would be upset about the prospects of having Beauty and the Beast appear in a restaurant based on Beauty and the Beast.

 

[sshindel]

Sorry about bringing back a thread from a few weeks ago, but this is something I had not been sure if we had word from the official or unofficial sources on here.
I'm trying to decide if I want to join in on the mad dash for ADRs in a few weeks for BOG during our stay, or if it's not worth it. Have we had confirmation that, outside the food offered and "sit down vs. quick" style service, is there anything else that is going to be different between lunch and dinner? If my main goal here is to get in, see the place, be able to take my little kids to "eat in Beast's castle", am I going to be missing something here by skipping ADRs for dinner and just figuring I'll grab a QS lunch sometime and see the whole thing? Are there going to be "Adventurer's Club" style interactive decorations (moving / dancing plates, wall hangings, etc), or is it basically going to be just better food served by a waiter? Despite what people's thoughts on Character or Show dining, sometimes it's the best way for my family to enjoy a good meal together when the kids would rather be out riding rides than sitting at a table.

 

[WDWYankee15]

I think there are still a lot of questions as to what exactly BOG is and is not. Hopefully Disney will put out some more OFFICIAL details soon, but I am sure some insiders might be able to share a few details here. I would guess training and interviewing has been going on as the opening is not to far off now.

 

[Lucky]

Excuse me, Adam.

And I have absolutely no interest in eating at this place if it's going to be a loud, screaming mess that in any way resembles a Chuck E. Cheese. Must every dining experience involve characters and some kind of show? Are peoples' attention spans so low now that they can't just enjoy a nice meal in a well-themed restaurant without having a "show" to entertain them? There are plenty of other dinner shows on property if you require entertainment with your meal (and I have nothing against them-HDDR is one of my favorite things to do-I just don't think they belong at EVERY meal).

However, this "show" doesn't surprise me in the least, since it's just Disney continuing to cater almost excusively to the stroller crowd, which seems to be the only demographic they care about these days.

There are quite a few adult-oriented restaurants in the deluxe resorts and elsewhere at WDW. BoG is in Fantasyland - the most kid-oriented area in the most kid-oriented park.

 

[WDWYankee15]

There are quite a few adult-oriented restaurants in the deluxe resorts and elsewhere at WDW. BoG is in Fantasyland - the most kid-oriented area in the most kid-oriented park.

Very good point.

 

[ellie-badge]

There are quite a few adult-oriented restaurants in the deluxe resorts and elsewhere at WDW. BoG is in Fantasyland - the most kid-oriented area in the most kid-oriented park.

You hit the nail right on the head.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

He is Prince Adam, Prince of Eternia, Defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull.
This is Cogsworth, his fearless friend.

Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day he held aloft his magic rose and said "By the power of Disney, I have the power!"

Cogsworth became the mighty BattleCogsworth and he became Beast, the most powerful man in the universe.

Only three others share this secret: their friends Lumierre, Mrs. Potts and Chip. Together they defend The Magic Kingdom from the evil forces of Gaston.

So does he have a twin sister named Adora?
Defender of the Crystal Castle? Only three people know her true identity...Light Hope, Madame Razz, and Kowl.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

If it indeed originated with fans and then became adopted by Disney... Wouldn't that be interesting? Can't think of any other example of that happening!

My copy of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters from 1992 lists the guy as "The Beast / Prince", along with "Charming" for Cinderella and just "The Prince" for Snow White. I think the name "Adam" was made for The D-Show CD-ROM, [possibly as a joke I read elsewhere online, but I obviously can't confirm]. That its caught on by the company is similar to "Master Gracey", whose "Cannon" status changes on a regular basis. I don't like it to be honest. I prefer to go by what is either said in the movie (like Eric, Phillip, Naveen, Edward etc.) or what was written for production notes at the time. I also see fan names given to the Prince and Queen in Snow White and they're even worse.

Besides, I like the (frankly silly) moment in the movie where Belle cries out "Beast!" becuase she's (allegedly) spent all this time with the guy, but never bothered to ask what his name is. It's joked about in the audio commentary, but it was probably the result of limited/rushed production time*. Maybe they felt they didn't have enough time to set up another scene where she finds out what it is, or why he (or someone else) wont tell her. That would have been interesting.

*There's a 20/20 special from the time of the movie's release where Jeffery Katzenberg is shown going over scenes in minute detail and commending him for doing so. Guess he missed some spots.

 

[J03Y]

i'd like the mood of the movie and the dark feeling the castle gives you, but i don't want the characters running around. especially not in the night when they're trying to be fancy. maybe they can make a special part of the lobby where you can have character meet and greets? or maybe places designed for kids and meet and greets? it's a fancy restaurant, it should at least be a little serious.