Ok, it's a week overdue and I am sorry. We got into line for LUNCH at the Be Our Guest Restaurant at 10:15a since they said they were going to open at 10:30 and that the line backs up very quickly since they weren't "officially" open yet. We were about 20th or so in line so we were just barely on the bridge right outside of the castle doors.
Side note - If you are ever just standing outside, stare up at the mosaic above the front door and tell me that the Prince's eyes (no one knows his name, but apparently it is rumored to be Adam, another story, so I'll spare you) don't look like those plastic fish eye looking things that are on cheap plush toys. Look up there some day, you'll see what I mean.
Back to the review... You first walk in and see the Ball Room in all its glory. I'm sure most of you have seen pics by now. Here is one of the chandelier and ceiling:
They then lead you through a passageway on the right which has six suits of armour (3 on each side) in it. These SoA each have their own personality as one whispers, one snores, etc...
You then go into the Beast's study where you place your order. They meet you at the door, ask you how many is in your party and how you are going to pay. Cash transactions go to the left side with a CM that takes your order and credit card/room key orders go to the right side of the room and order at the kiosks. They give you a round RFID plastic rose as shown here:
This is where it will backup and they may have to make changes. We were in this room for far too long waiting on other guests to order. Guests were confused on how to use their Dining Plans, Credit Cards, etc... When you do finally order, you start by placing your rose on the RFID reader. Then order, then pay. It prints out a receipt and you take it to a CM at the entrance to the Ball Room that explains to you that you can choose to eat in the Ball Room, the West Wing or the "Rose Room." We chose the West Wing as I think it is the best themed of the areas. It is VERY dark, so I couldn't get very good pics. Here is the rose:
Here is a pic of the painting above the fireplace: (It does something really cool when the lightning flashes... but I can't give away ALL of the secrets!)
You grab your own silverware and set your rose down on your table. If you run around to sight-see and you still have the rose in your hand, you will be chastised severely. You also get your own drinks and they are done fountain style just like the resorts. I assume they will allow the refillable mugs but I am not sure. They had plenty of CM's patrolling the areas, so if it's not allowed I assume they will let you know. By the time you get your REAL silverware and drinks, the food is being wheeled out to you on a very fancy cart with a glass top so you can see the food. Unfortunately, I did not get a good shot of this cart.
My mother and sister were with me so we decided to try 3 different things. I got the turkey sandwich, mom got the beef sandwich and my sister got the ham and cheese sandwich with a French fancy name. The turkey sandwich was very good, with thick cut real turkey, not processed thin slices. It had a good mayonnaise type sauce on it. Mom's steak sandwich was overcooked so it was a little tough and it did not have a sauce on it so it was very dry. We also ordered a french onion soup, so this became the "French Dip" sauce for her sandwich and made it much better. My sister's ham and cheese was very good. Basically, it was a grilled cheese with thick ham slices. Everything was decent, nothing spectacular. We ordered three different desserts as well as we all gravitated to something different when we looked at the menu. Mom got the Chocolate Mousse Creme Puff, which was a flakey shell with mousse inside. It was very good. My sis got the lemon merange cupcake and said it was ok, not very good. I got the triple chocolate cupcake. It was wonderful, but it is not very big. These are basically 2-3 bite cupcakes. It was a chocolate cake filled with a chocolate creme and chocolate frosting on top. You need to like dark chocolate to like this one, which I do, so it was very good. As far as food goes, we probably won't go back here for lunch as it wasn't anything spectacular. But the ambiance of the rooms was amazing so everyone should try it at least once. We may go back when we start getting tired of usual burgers/chicken nuggets for lunch.
Here are a couple of bad photos of the Rose Room:
Sorry guys, I didn't want to use flash and bother people while they were eating and my camera is pretty bad without the flash.
Well, that's it. I hope it helps. Decent food and awesome atmosphere makes it a Disney "Must Do"... at least once.
One of my really good friends is the instructor, who now lives in Chicago, so it will be nice to catch up with him, but otherwise I would much rather be working outside!
