Tried + Tested: Be Our Guest Restaurant at Walt Disney World
“It is with deepest pride, and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair. As the dining room proudly presents: Your dinner!”
Beauty and the Beast is certainly one of my favourite animated movies from Disney, so when I had the opportunity to visit Walt Disney World I simply had to dine at the “Be Our Guest” restaurant.
Situated within the “New Fantasyland” area of the Magic Kingdom, Be Our Guest serves up a combination of American and French-inspired cuisine for breakfast and lunch as a quick-service restaurant. In the evenings, Be Our Guest transforms into a table-service restaurant.
On my visit to Walt Disney World, I enjoyed a late-lunch at Be Our Guest, so here are my thoughts on the experience:
Reservations
As with many dining locations across the Walt Disney World Resort, Be Our Guest is incredibly popular – therefore reservations are strongly recommended. If you are staying at a Disney resort hotel, dining reservations can be made up to 180-days in advance of the date when you wish to visit, which is a very long time away. I was extremely lucky to find a last-minute reservation about three weeks before my trip. Admittedly I was searching on the MyDisneyExperience (MDX) app multiple times each day.
If you do make a reservation, make sure you fully understand the restaurants cancellation policy if you cancel after the designated cooling-off period. Just in-case you loose out on a few dollars per person.
Ordering in advance
For breakfast and lunch, you can actually browse the menu and order your meal online or via the MDX app up to 30-days in advance. It sounds crazy, but it is ever so easy. If you are fussy like me, you can ever change or cancel your advance order selections right up until you check-in at the restaurant. I actually did this in the end as I wanted to test the system.
Ordering at the restaurant
If you didn’t order in advance, you can place your order via touch-screen terminal, pay for your purchase and then you are given an RFID rose to place on a table. Your food will magically find it’s way to you. Okay not magically, but that’s where the RFID trick comes into play. It is quite fun watching the Cast Members wander around pushing wooden trolleys trying to locate where you are seated.
My Meal
I ordered the Carved Turkey Sandwich which was served on a typical French Baguette with rocket and accompanied with Pommes Frites. That’s French Fries to you and me. The sandwich is served with mayonnaise, however I asked for this to be removed when I ordered online.
The bread was very soft which made the sandwich easy to eat and it wasn’t too bad at all. There is also something special about fries at Disney. They aren’t quite as good as the famed Pommes Frites from Cafe Orleans at Disneyland Park in California; but they were still good.
Overall Thoughts
Be Our Guest is a great restaurant to visit when you are roaming around the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Is it worth the hype? I’d say it depends on what you are looking for. If you seek a decent (but not five star) meal in beautiful surroundings, then yes. I think next time I will have to experience Be Our Guest at dinnertime when the restaurant transforms into a table-service location.
But how much did that sandwich cost?
Hi there, JRG. The cost is $15.99 for the sandwich and a 22oz fountain drink is $3.29. When I visited the prices were slightly lower, but since then Disney have increased the prices of several items across their dining establishments.
We just ate there 2 weeks ago for breakfast and were slightly underwhelmed. Breakfast is pretty much $25 for each entree which is a bit steep for what we got. I think the only saving grace is we had an 8:15am ressie which meant that after we ate, we were able to get in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before they officially opened the park (which we did not have a fastpass for). Once they opened the park we were on this ride in about 5 minutes. I kinda look at these early reservations as paying $25 to get an extra fastpass w/ breakfast thrown in 🙂
No disrespect to your travel and more power to you. However, I always wonder when I read Disney reviews (Pizza in Motion does quite a few), at what Walt Disney would think if he was alive today. As a child, our family of five could visit Disneyland on a blue collar budget and still have a great time. Now, even with inflation, the cost is astronomical. Stuff like renting cabana’s to see the fireworks, paying for fast passes and line cutters, and so on. Even the food, like you mentioned (at $25/head). Great if you have money, but there are so many people who can’t afford to visit the place, and I’m sure that wasn’t Walt’s idea. He often was near bankruptcy with his films, and he certainly deserved whatever riches came his way before he died, but this is now all about the shareholders. Guess I’m glad my childhood is over; I shan’t visit again.
@JRG I hate to disagree but I don’t think Walt is turning in his grave that the blue collar worker can’t afford a cabana. If u really look at cost…even the most budget constrainted park goer…they get their money worth. Disney is expensive..I will never debate that….but it’s not cheap to run the parks and keep up the Disney Standard.
They have to make money..and at least cover costs. And yes, Be Out Guest is expensive…maybe even over priced. But the base ticket price is relatively afforfable. And you can being in your own food. When 100% of people in attendance wants to eat somewhere you need to price accordingly.
I’ve stayed at value resorts and eaten 100% quick service before….and had just as good of a time as recent trips….where money hasn’t mattered as much.
It’s Disneyworld….just enjoy it!