Where to Eat: Dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

December 18, 2014, 9:13 PM · Since its opening in late 2012, Be Our Guest Restaurant in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom still reigns as a most desired dining reservation. This place definitely shows the creative magic that Disney Imagineers can instill in the most unique settings. On our recent trip, we decided to dine here for dinner, just like we did back in December of 2012. I wanted to know if it was still as amazing a dinner experience as it had been that first time.

Holiday decor

When we walked up to the podium, it was deja vu all over again. People were lined up hoping that they could possibly get someone's canceled reservation. It was all for naught. Once we checked in, we were sent over the bridge and as we were walking, our name was called for seating. One of the new aspects (at least new to us) was that along with the castmember, we were given a special individual to guide us to our table. Lumiere was given to my boys to hold along the path to our table. His softly lit flames and smiling face set the mood as we left the foyer and made our way into the ballroom.

With Lumiere

It doesn't matter how many times I enter in here, the ballroom still takes my breath away. It is as if we have stepped out of reality and into one of the loveliest scenes from Beauty and the Beast. The ballroom was decorated with garland, wreaths, and a Christmas Tree. When you examine the decorations, you see stained glassed figures of Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip. It wasn't the characters that struck me as unique, it was the fact that they were in the same design as the stained glass window in the restaurant and of course the movie. That attention to detail that is sometimes overlooked and taken for granted adds to the uniqueness of this dining experience during the holidays.

On the tree

For dinner, the boys and I had the grilled strip steak. It came with pommes frites with mayonnaise for dipping and steamed green beans. The steak was cooked perfectly and the pommes frites were just an added bonus.

Steak

Chuck decided to branch out away from steak and seafood. He ordered the herb-crusted lamb rack. The lamb has a stone-ground mustard demi-glace and comes with vegetables. Chuck found that his lamb was cooked well and stated that this is something he would recommend.

Lamb

While eating, the Beast made his appearance in each of the dining areas. He then awaited his guests for pictures in the study. During your meal, it is hard to not notice the carts that the waiters are pushing about filled with desserts. Our cart was soon pushed for us to decide. This is always the difficult part of the visit. I have had their triple chocolate cupcake, the master's cupcake, and the lemon-raspberry cream puff in the past. All of these are excellent. This time, I ordered the Grey Stuff. This is a crisp chocolate cookie with the infamous grey stuff on top. It was good, though in my opinion not to the same level as the cupcakes and cream puffs. The guys ordered the triple chocolate cupcake for their dessert. It is still as rich and delectable as usual.

Desserts

All in all, Be Our Guest is still an excellent addition to the Magic Kingdom's dining options. Dinner here will not disappoint if one is able to get a reservation. The ambiance itself is well worth a visit during the holidays.

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Replies (3)

December 19, 2014 at 4:06 AM · This place definitely shows the creative magic that Disney Imagineers can instill...

I don't get that. Here it is, beasts castle in all it's glory and it's degraded into a restaurant. Storywise that doesn't make sence. No royaly transforms it's proud castle or palace into a deining hall. Sure there are real castles in europe where you can grap a bite but that is long after the original owners are gone and often in repurpused stables attached to the castles courtyard to not upset the beautiful interieur of the castle.

December 19, 2014 at 9:02 AM · We really enjoyed lunch here a couple of months ago. It was easily one of the better "counter service" options in all of Walt Disney World. However, the difficulty in getting into the place is hugely frustrating. We never got the FP+ invite, so resorted to the 10:30 AM walkup strategy, which resulted in a nearly 30 minute wait just to order. What I found surprising was the ample space in the restaurant, particularly when compared to other WDW dining rooms, and with that a large amount of wasted space.

However, the food is definitely worth the wait, and a nice touch that it is served on real china and brought to your table like a table service restaurant.

Getting a dinner reservation here appears to be as difficult as Cinderella's Royal Table. We were so focused on getting our V&A's Chef's Table reservation that by the time we booked that and starting making the rest of our reservations, Be Our Guest was already booked for dinner. Granted the restaurant had limited hours and days for dinner reservations because of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party nights during our most recent visit.

December 20, 2014 at 5:59 AM · This looks like an amazing place. It's really too bad that it's become so hard to get into where off-site guests really have no chance at all. From what I've heard, it's even tough for on-site guests, even for lunch.

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