Be Our Guest | Rant & Review

There are two things I strive for here on the 2 Foolish Mortals website. The first is to give you as much information as possible to help you make the most out of your next Walt Disney World vacation. The second is honesty. . . . . . and that’s where things can sometimes take quite the turn. The thing about honesty is that sometimes it can come off as being rather critical or even brutal, which isn’t what most people want associated with their Walt Disney World vacation. However, I’ve always felt that I’d rather tell you my honest [brutal as it may be] opinion of things so that they can make an educated decision rather than gloss over things because “YAY DISNEY”. After all, you’re probably paying a small fortune to visit Walt Disney World, wouldn’t you want to know if something is a colossal waste of money? I know I would. In fact, if there’s one thing you can count on here at the 2 Foolish Mortals website [other than Haunted Mansion references] it’s my honest opinion about the topics I discuss.

Keeping that in mind, today we’re talking about the Be Our Guest restaurant at Magic Kingdom.

Now, before we jump into the meat and potatoes of this topic, let’s cover a few important details. My last visit to Be Our Guest was prior to the changes that may [or may not] have been put into place. That said, I may be making reference to some things that have been changed in the name of health and safety. I also am going to discuss the breakfast at Be Our Guest, which at this time has been discontinued. We’re going to cover all of these areas anyway for reasons that we’ll get more into as we go.

Odds are that you’ve heard something about Be Our Guest and you may even have added it to your must see list for your next trip to Walt Disney World. The restaurant is themed to Beauty and the Beast, as the name suggests, and is most notable for its theming. With guests entering Beast’s castle and being seated in one of 2 recognizable rooms [as well as one that was shoehorned in to accommodate more guests], it’s hard not to get excited about enjoying a meal inside a classic Disney film. Of course, things aren’t always what they seem . . . . . at least that’s what we found out during our visit.

Our visit to Be Our Guest started with a breakfast reservation made months in advance. We knew that it was a popular place to eat and figured it would be a fun way to kick off our family vacation. We chose breakfast, mainly because it was the only meal that appealed to the group of us. With a few picky eaters and prices being astronomical, breakfast seemed like the best option. When the day of our reservation arrived, we met up and made our way over to Magic Kingdom. Our time rolled around, we went up to the podium and were called forward to enter.

Just before entering the actual restaurant, a cast member informed a member of our party that she would have to leave her wheelchair outside. This was not that big of a deal. . . or at least, we didn’t think it would be. [This particular member of our family is capable of walking short distances and standing for limited amounts of time, but needed a wheelchair to get around all day at the parks.] As there would only be a relatively short distance between the entrance to the restaurant and our table, we parked the wheelchair outside and made our way in.

Here’s where things go sideways. . . .

During breakfast [and I also believe the same is true for lunch] Be Our Guest is not a “table service” location. Though you can make a reservation, will be seated at a table and food will be brought to you by a server, it’s not table service; it’s counter service. What this means is that you will stand in line to order, order through a kiosk, get your own drinks, utensils and napkins. As it turns out, this also means that you will not have a table waiting for you, even if you’ve made a reservation.

As I described above, we waited in line to use the kiosk and then ordered our food before being led into the dining area of the restaurant by a cast member. It was at this point that we thought we would be led to our table, because we had a reservation. Unfortunately, the function of this cast member was to walk us around the restaurant until there was a table available for our party. After a lap and a half around the restaurant, including laps of each room, the frustration set in. It had already been about 20 minutes of being on our feet at this point, since parking the wheelchair outside, and there was no table in sight. With part of our party staying over by a few spare chairs between rooms, my husband and I continued to follow the cast member who took us on another lap of the restaurant before finally having us stand by a table where a family was finishing up their meal. She informed us that this is where we would be sitting and left us there to wait for the family to gather their things.

Once left on our own, awkwardly standing by the table waiting for this family to leave, it didn’t take long before we were joined by the cast members who were prepared to bus the table. At this point, though we were standing about as far back from the table as the room would allow, I felt terrible. Standing by a table like this while a family is trying to collect their belongings was the rudest thing I think I’ve ever done while at Walt Disney World. . . . . and it wasn’t even something I did willingly. [Not that I would willingly be rude. . . . you get the idea.] Being someone who has, over the course of my lifetime, been fortunate enough to visit Disney World multiple times, the idea that my presence might have soured the experience for a family who might be on their first [or only] trip makes me feel gross. Frankly, the fact that we were put in that position in the first place. . . . .

Look, I understand that mishaps and hiccups happen. I also understand the difference between an honest mistake and terrible service/business practices. This falls into that second category. Though it’s annoying, and frankly upsetting, that a restaurant would call forward a group of 6 [one of whom is in a wheelchair] despite there being no tables available, the thing that really gets me is how finding a table was handled. There was no need to have a group of 6 walking laps around an already crowded restaurant and instructing the group to stand at an occupied table to pressure [just going for honesty here] a family to leave quicker. The way I see it, that’s just unacceptable.

Once the family had left and the table had been cleared, we flagged down the rest of our party and had them come sit at what was a very sticky table. [Unfortunately in their haste, the cast members did not do a very good job cleaning the table.] This is when our dining experience began.

The first thing to hit our table was a plate of pastries. This is what you might describe as the restaurant’s bread service. The section included 1 cinnamon roll, 2 mini muffins, 1 chocolate chip twist and a croissant for the table to share. The pastries were rather small, which would make this spread ideal for a part of 2 or a small family, but didn’t cut it for a party of 6.

Next came the entrees. With there being 6 of us, all with different tastes, we had the opportunity to see almost every one of the menu options live and in person. Some looked delicious and interesting; others did not. As far as taste and quality is concerned, I don’t think anyone at the table was so much as impressed with their meal. I certainly wasn’t, but the real tell for this experience was listening to the people in our party who had visited before and felt that this was a decrease in quality.

The real question, though, is whether or not breakfast at Be Our Guest is worth the $29 per adult that you’ll be paying to enjoy the pre fixe menu. My answer is absolutely not. In terms of food, the price being charged at Be Our Guest is flat our insulting. For example, a similar breakfast platter to the one I had at Be Our Guest can be purchased at Walt Disney World Resort hotels for $11.99 and includes waffles and a biscuit. If you’re looking for a more memorable breakfast experience, you can have it at one of the many restaurants that offer character dining for even as little as $5 more per adult. . . . . and it’s all you care to enjoy.

Of course, there are also going to be people out there who want to make a reservation at Be Our Guest so that they can experience the inside of Beast’s castle. I totally related! Truthfully, that was why we made a reservation at Be Our Guest in the first place. Unfortunately, a reservation at Be Our Guest doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to get that jaw dropping experience that you might be hoping for. As I mentioned at the top of this discussion, only 2 of the rooms are themed in a recognizable way and there is no guarantee that you’ll end up sitting in either of them. It’s also worth noting that you might not have the opportunity to wander around the restaurant to take pictures and enjoy the work that was put into the place because of crowd levels. There’s also no guarantee that the Beast will make an appearance, which is another perk that I’ve heard some people discuss when talking up this restaurant.

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At the end of the day, I know that there are people who will dine at Be Our Guest during whatever time of the day best suits their needs and pay whatever Disney asks for the experience. It’s the nature of the tourism beast. . . . but that doesn’t make me any less disappointed with Disney on this one. Of course, Disney has currently discontinued breakfast at Be Our Guest, so we’ll have to see if it comes back and what it looks like when it does.

For me, the thing that would make the experience better is if Disney fully committed to what it is that they are offering [at least for breakfast]. Commit to being table service or commit to being counter service. Don’t say you’re one thing and then make guests pay for another. If the goal is to offer counter service so that Be Our Guest available as an option to more guests [presumably with tighter budgets] bring the price point down so that it’s comparable to similar options around the resort. This is especially the case if what you’re offering is the counter service quality food. On the other hand, if what you’re looking to do is give guests a table service experience, offer table service quality food and a full table service experience. . . . . like having your table ready for you when you’re called up for your reservation or providing enough bread service for your entire party to enjoy. Of course, like with most things at Walt Disney World [especially nowadays], we’ll just have to wait and see what is to come in the future.