The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[tahqa]

It's such a contrast to the Diagon Alley equivalent, Leaky Cauldron, which is just as well themed, with just as nice (maybe nicer) food, unique drink offerings, the same 'rose' gimmick BoG has of them finding your food, in the form of a candle, but is quick service all day. Even when it has a long line... it's just a long line, nobody is forced to wait, but patient people will get served eventually.

If Disney did that I bet they'd make more money from the restaurant *and* guest satisfaction levels would go through the roof. Or if they want to keep the ability to have a long table service meal, maybe just close the West Wing off for the evening, a bit like Chef's Table at V&A. That way nobody is denied a peek around in the daytime, the 180 day crowd can get their ADR fix, and everyone's a winner.

I disagree about Leaky Cauldron. The food is overpriced and of poor quality. I've eaten at BoG, Three Broomsticks and Leaky Cauldron (several times) and I find the food at BoG to be better than at Broomsticks or Cauldron.

BTW, Orlando Food critic Scott Josephs calls the food at Leaky Cauldron "embarrassingly inadequate". -- http://www.scottjosephorlando.com/i...t-reviews/120-british/2660-the-leaky-cauldron

 

[bhg469]

I disagree about Leaky Cauldron. The food is overpriced and of poor quality. I've eaten at BoG, Three Broomsticks and Leaky Cauldron (several times) and I find the food at BoG to be better than at Broomsticks or Cauldron.

BTW, Orlando Food critic Scott Josephs calls the food at Leaky Cauldron "embarrassingly inadequate". -- http://www.scottjosephorlando.com/i...t-reviews/120-british/2660-the-leaky-cauldron

Be our guest serves cupcakes for dessert.. If that doesn't scream chap and uninspired I don't know what does. I can see for the daytime but no sit down restaurant should ever consider cupcakes on their menu.

I have heard much more positives about the food in DA than negatives. British food in general has a negative stigma surrounding it so it may play into that.

 

[danlb_2000]

The idea Jim was talking about was definitely individual pods.

I was having a hard time figuring out if we was talking about individual pods or everyone under one dome.

 

[twebber55]

I was having a hard time figuring out if we was talking about individual pods or everyone under one dome.

agreed
i have a hard time seeing the efficiency with individual pods but granted i lack a ton of creativity

 

[Reddog]

This might not have been the trailer intended to be with Agents of Shield..

I saw a commercial for the new episode last night and noticed they said "world BROADCAST premiere" of the new trailer. I assumed that meant it was the same as the one on the net.

 

[RSoxNo1]

agreed
i have a hard time seeing the efficiency with individual pods but granted i lack a ton of creativity

Agreed. It sounds like a logistical nightmare.

 

[tahqa]

Be our guest serves cupcakes for dessert.. If that doesn't scream chap and uninspired I don't know what does. I can see for the daytime but no sit down restaurant should ever consider cupcakes on their menu.

I have heard much more positives about the food in DA than negatives. British food in general has a negative stigma surrounding it so it may play into that.

I agree that cupcakes shouldn't be a dessert option in BoG. However, the entrees at BoG are much better quality than anything at Diagon Alley.

I'm very familiar with British Isles food and I'm not afraid of it. I've even eaten haggis and blood pudding in Edinburgh. However, the bangers and mash at the Leaky Cauldron were the worst that I've ever had. My wife had soup and salad and she was disappointed in the portion size as well as the price. The salad was literally a few chunks of lettuce, a couple of tomatoes and a few pieces of onion.

People feel adventurous when they eat British food... "oh look at me, I'm sitting in the Leaky Cauldron eating British food". Believe me, what they are serving in the Leaky Cauldron can not hold a candle to what is served in real pubs in London, Edinburgh or elsewhere in the UK.

 

[maxairmike]

I guess I don't have to worry about going off topic around these parts but I wanted to drop a tid bit of info that happened to me. Monday was the first day the Holiday package was available for CM's. For those who don't know the CM's receive a special discount for the Holidays, There are some black out dates such as Christmas and New Years but most of the dates are available.....till now. I called on the very first day at zero hour and the ONLY available rooms were the pool view at AKL. That's it....no Mods.....no Value rooms. I have been doing this for nearly twenty years and I never have experienced such a limit of accessibility.

IMO instead of Disney doing away with the Holiday offering to avoid the major PR hit they in essence did away with it by limiting access. This a long with limiting the main gate pass more and more looks as though they are finding other ways to cut and make the bottom line look better....

I think its terrible, there are CM's who only work there for these perks. There are others who simply look forward to this offering as a special gift for their families. Last year at CBR it was a ghost town, I suspect this year its going to be the same. So they are taking HUGE blocks of rooms out of service instead of giving them to their employees. Why? to save a buck.....Nice move Disney!

Now the CM's cant even afford to enjoy the place in which they work at. Most of these CM's booked a value at 60%, which allowed them to stay on property and enjoy what the guest they serve everyday do....not this year. Disney = The Grinch that stole Christmas.

Cast Member discounts pull down the all-important Per Room Guest Spending (PRGS), which is tied to the bonuses of some executives at TDO.

It's stuff like this that drives certain Disney executives in Burbank crazy. Revenue opportunities slip away at WDW because of counterproductive bonus targets at TDO.

It really is a case of penny wise and pound foolish.

Conversely, some in Burbank have been squeezing TDO to improve margins. Yet, somehow, they fail to see cause-and-effect. It's always "somebody else's fault", never "my fault".

I've also heard similar things from several friends. Most are indicating that when they can find rooms, they're no longer offered standard rooms (or choices of room levels), they only seem to be offering the higher priced room levels (water/park view, preferred, etc). So either they've started keeping the lower priced rooms away from discounts, or all of the lower priced rooms are consistently booked (I suspect a mix of both).

 

[dupac]

I agree that cupcakes shouldn't be a dessert option in BoG. However, the entrees at BoG are much better quality than anything at Diagon Alley.

I'm very familiar with British Isles food and I'm not afraid of it. I've even eaten haggis and blood pudding in Edinburgh. However, the bangers and mash at the Leaky Cauldron were the worst that I've ever had. My wife had soup and salad and she was disappointed in the portion size as well as the price. The salad was literally a few chunks of lettuce, a couple of tomatoes and a few pieces of onion.

People feel adventurous when they eat British food... "oh look at me, I'm sitting in the Leaky Cauldron eating British food". Believe me, what they are serving in the Leaky Cauldron can not hold a candle to what is served in real pubs in London, Edinburgh or elsewhere in the UK.

Bringing this conversation back around to the original point. Just because the food is better quality doesn't mean the current situation at lunch is okay. They've created a weird hybrid that's more exclusive than regular ADR restaurants. Off-site guest? Too bad, so sad. I'm in agreement that it needs to be traditional CS, or complete ADR if they can't handle the demand for the CS.

 

[tahqa]

Bringing this conversation back around to the original point. Just because the food is better quality doesn't mean the current situation at lunch is okay. They've created a weird hybrid that's more exclusive than regular ADR restaurants. Off-site guest? Too bad, so sad. I'm in agreement that it needs to be traditional CS, or complete ADR if they can't handle the demand for the CS.

I'll agree with you on this somewhat. It's not the hybrid model that's not working at BoG. It's the general lack of highly themed eateries. MK desperately needs to build more restaurants with the level of theming of BoG. They should build a pirates themed restaurant in Adventureland with an equivalent level of immersion. Then they should build something similar in Tomorrowland. Maybe a moonbase theme. I don't know. What I do know is that BoG will continue to be a mess until MK build more restaurants to relieve the pressure.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'll agree with you on this somewhat. It's not the hybrid model that's not working at BoG. It's the general lack of highly themed eateries. MK desperately needs to build more restaurants with the level of theming of BoG. They should build a pirates themed restaurant in Adventureland with an equivalent level of immersion. Then they should build something similar in Tomorrowland. Maybe a moonbase theme. I don't know. What I do know is that BoG will continue to be a mess until MK build more restaurants to relieve the pressure.

The demand of BOG for lunch shows it needs to be a table service restaurant all that time.

The technology is neat-o but the entire concept doesnt work.

And yes, MK needs at least 2 more table service restaurants. Woefully pittiful that theyre not getting on that.

 

[dupac]

I'll agree with you on this somewhat. It's not the hybrid model that's not working at BoG. It's the general lack of highly themed eateries. MK desperately needs to build more restaurants with the level of theming of BoG. They should build a pirates themed restaurant in Adventureland with an equivalent level of immersion. Then they should build something similar in Tomorrowland. Maybe a moonbase theme. I don't know. What I do know is that BoG will continue to be a mess until MK build more restaurants to relieve the pressure.

The hybridity (lol... words) that I was referring to is not the combo CS/TS but rather creating a CS (where there is the expectation of walking up and joining queue) where "reservations" are necessary but not accessible all guests.

I agree with the need for better restaurants in MK. Clearly there is a desire there that BOG alone cannot handle.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

The difference between BoG and Cosmic Rays in terms of themed entertainment experiences are like night and day.

 

[GoofGoof]

I'd argue it doesn't matter if anyone knows who Lou is. Google is your friend and if you google something for Disney, there's a chance he may show up.

I agree, but I still think the bulk of the people regularly visiting most of those type of sites are more regulars looking for updates or inside info.

There are some places online that have better info on WDW than the official site because they are better organized, setup and run. This site is one of them. If I want to see park times or info on a restaurant it's not always easy to navigate the official WDW site.

 

[TalkingHead]

Comcast quarterly earnings: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-comcast-earnings-20141023-story.html

From the article:

Universal Orlando's new Harry Potter land sent Comcast Corp.'s third-quarter theme-park revenue soaring 18.7 percent compared with the previous year, the company said in an earnings report today.

Off topic, but the awful layout of the OS website is still breathtaking.

 

[rle4lunch]

I agree that cupcakes shouldn't be a dessert option in BoG. However, the entrees at BoG are much better quality than anything at Diagon Alley.

I'm very familiar with British Isles food and I'm not afraid of it. I've even eaten haggis and blood pudding in Edinburgh. However, the bangers and mash at the Leaky Cauldron were the worst that I've ever had. My wife had soup and salad and she was disappointed in the portion size as well as the price. The salad was literally a few chunks of lettuce, a couple of tomatoes and a few pieces of onion.

People feel adventurous when they eat British food... "oh look at me, I'm sitting in the Leaky Cauldron eating British food". Believe me, what they are serving in the Leaky Cauldron can not hold a candle to what is served in real pubs in London, Edinburgh or elsewhere in the UK.

I've been to England and the UK multiple times. To say the food there is something other than 'meh', well, is a stretch. Bland is the word that comes to mind.

 

[doctornick]

I agree that cupcakes shouldn't be a dessert option in BoG. However, the entrees at BoG are much better quality than anything at Diagon Alley.

The terrible irony of cupcakes at BOG is that a French themed restaurant should have much better dessert options that are simultaneously actually thematically appropriate.

Same thing with cinnamon rolls at Gaston's. How does that fit the French provincial tavern theme?

 

[Next Big Thing]

The difference between BoG and Cosmic Rays in terms of themed entertainment experiences are like night and day.

Well, BOG isn't designed to be a quick service restaurant. It's a Table Service that pretends to be a quick service between the hours of 11a-4p.

If they need so much more quick service capacity, open back up the Adventureland Veranda. This should be Table Service all day.

 

[WildcatDen]

Wow! He is very full of ___________ isn't he?

Fixed that for you

 

[WildcatDen]

But still, more people have ______________ Kim Kardashian than have died of Ebola in America.

That may take a very long time. . . (hopefully?)