Happy Mother’s Day!! How about a day at Disneyland or Disney World just for mom?
If you’re looking for the perfect way to celebrate Mother’s Day, check out these special dining options at Disney World and Disneyland! [Read more…]
food IS a theme park
Happy Mother’s Day!! How about a day at Disneyland or Disney World just for mom?
If you’re looking for the perfect way to celebrate Mother’s Day, check out these special dining options at Disney World and Disneyland! [Read more…]
The uber-popular restaurant, Be Our Guest, serves a quick service lunch and table service dinner at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Sharing her dinner experience, guest author Rebecca Elliott takes us inside the Beast’s Castle!
My family and I have always been big Beauty & the Beast fans. Which made it such a surprise that, prior to the grand opening of the new Fantasyland in 2012, Disney World didn’t have a whole lot of Beauty & the Beast attractions.
All that changed with the opening of Be Our Guest, a spectacularly themed restaurant set in the Beast’s castle. It’s almost as if Disney is trying to make up for its previous lack of Beauty & the Beast material by creating this over-the-top, lavish dining experience.
As you can imagine, dinner reservations are hard to come by. Guests staying on site are able to make advance dining reservations (ADR) 180 days in advance. Since our plans came together rather spur of the moment, we attempted to make a reservation about 60 days out. Of course, none were available. However, we kept trying several times over the next week and, unbelievably, someone must have cancelled and we got our reservation for 6:30pm.
Hats off to the designers and Imagineers that brought the Beast’s castle to life. Every nook and cranny of this restaurant makes you feel like you’re in the movie. We checked in at the desk at the foot of the bridge outside of the restaurant, then crossed over and waited outside the castle until our buzzer went off.
It was fun to take in the details even the exterior of the building had to offer. Giant lion statues flanked heavy wooden doors with a tile mosaic above the threshold featuring the famous enchanted rose. (Roses became almost like Hidden Mickeys; they are featured consistently throughout the décor. It was fun to find them everywhere, from the napkins, to the chairs, to the sculptures and more).
Entering the castle is truly like entering the movie. Theming in Disney restaurants has always been ambitious, but Be Our Guest is their best interpretation of a film in real form. Don’t rush to the restaurant – you’ll want to take a closer look at the gargoyles holding up the archway. Even more, you don’t want to miss the tile mosaic of Belle and the Beast dancing, which is a re-creation of the very last scene in the movie.
We were greeted by a cast member at the inside host desk who informed us we would be eating in the West Wing. I nearly fainted. I had no idea where our reservation would be, and I certainly didn’t think it would be in the West Wing. We were very, very excited!
It is perpetually evening in the castle, no matter what time of day you go. To get to the West Wing, the cast member guided us through the Ballroom. Holy smokes! Stepping in there was like stepping into the scene of Belle and the Beast dancing, with Mrs. Potts singing, “Beauty & the Beast” in the background. The ceiling is painted with cherubs and clouds, the crystal chandeliers let off a soft, warm glow, and when we looked out the windows overlooking the terrace, it was snowing! We had read about this, but until we saw it, we didn’t realize what a truly magical effect it was.
We made our way to the West Wing, which was equally dramatic. The setting is a dark and stormy evening. Thunder and lightening can be heard and seen in the background. There is the painting of the Beast as a young man, complete with claw marks, just like in the movie. (Tip: Keep an eye on the portrait; it changes into the Beast himself with a flash of lightening!)
The most dramatic element of the West Wing is the enchanted rose. It floats beneath a glass dome, its petals falling. I have no idea how they created this effect (hologram?), but again, it is just like the movie.
My daughter and I decided to take in the Rose Gallery. Here is where things got a little confusing. The Rose Gallery is huge – not as big as the Ballroom, but certainly bigger than the West Wing. And it was empty. There were a couple of tables with guests, but the rest of the dining room remained unseated. This was perplexing, because reservations were so hard to come by. It looked as if the few tables that were seated were overflow from the main dining room. The rest of the tables weren’t even set. I understand this room is typically full at lunch. Why not utilize it at dinner? (Editor’s Note: At dinner, the Rose Gallery is often used as a food preparation area instead of a seating area.)
I should mention here another feature of the dining room. About every 15 minutes or so, a clock chimes and you can hear the Beast being introduced. Because we were seated in the West Wing, we saw him make his entrance into the dining room. He walked out, waved to the diners, and made his way to the picture taking spot at the other end of the restaurant, greeting guests along the way.
We thought this was a fun touch. The picture area is the quick service ordering spot during lunch. On our way out, we had our picture taken with him. He was very kind and accommodating.
Guests exit the restaurant through a hallway lined with suits of armor. I was reminded of the scene in Beauty & the Beast when Cogsworth gives Belle a tour of the castle. They walk through a similar hallway. Make sure you listen closely – some of the suits of armor talk!
We were seated and promptly greeted by our server, who informed us that Be Our Guest offers beer and wine, the first restaurant ever to do so in the Magic Kingdom. We don’t drink, but noticed several guests were taking advantage of this new offering. Instead, all three of us ordered the all-natural lemonade sweetened with organic cane juice and topped with wildberry foam. It was delicious. (FYI, even though this drink is non-alcoholic and we didn’t order it in the commemorative chalice, there were no refills and it is not considered a fountain beverage.)
The menu at Be Our Guest is French themed, thought not authentic French. Still, it was one of the better meals we experienced on our trip. We were participating in the Disney Deluxe Dining plan, so each of us ordered an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert.
To start, I selected the assorted cured meats and sausages. Please note, this dish serves two, but I made a pretty good dent in it all by myself! It is served with a whole loaf of bread, some delicious pate, cured meats (prosciutto, ham), sausages, mustard, cornichons, some tart jam, and cheese. I truly enjoyed this dish. A lot of Disney food tends to the mildly seasoned. This dish was bursting with savory flavors and a variety of textures. It was very satisfying, and could easily serve as an entrée.
My daughter tried the [Read more…]
By AJ 36 Comments
We are absolutely thrilled to bring you our first review of dinner at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Welcome guest author Amy Gagliardi with details of her experience during an unexpected Be Our Guest Restaurant preview night!
Serendipity is one of my favorite things about visiting Disney. The unexpected coincidence of events that can make any moment a truly magical memory has come to be what I expect from each visit. This is how I came to dine at Be Our Guest Restaurant. It was quite by accident and good fortune.
My husband Peter was given a tip by a server at dinner one night that Be Our Guest would be taking walk ins the following night. He recommended we go to the podium and ask if we could dine and that is exactly what we did.
With a simple walk to the outside reservation podium, we were able to be seated for any time that we selected. In addition to myself, our party of five consisted of my husband, a friend of the family, our youngest daughter Faith and her boyfriend Jon.
We were thrilled and filled with anticipation as we were escorted beyond the heavy wooden castle doors and through a foyer, which brought us to the Ballroom dining room in which we were seated. The hostess and server seemed as delighted to be a part of the dining experience as we were. The congenial warmth of the staff contributed to a feeling of hominess even in such a grand surrounding.
We were invited to wander at will throughout the 3 dining areas. We truly felt like guests as we strolled through the West Wing and Rose Gallery and wondered in awe.
The rooms connected to each other with smooth thematic transitions.
The dimly lit rooms, common to each sitting area, reinforced an enchanted fairy tale atmosphere supporting the Beauty and the Beast story line.
From our table in the Ballroom we could see the large painting of the Beast as a handsome prince, which stands tall in the West Wing. At intervals we could hear a crashing of distant thunder and at that moment, like a stroke of a clock, the face on the portrait would turn to its Beastly counterpart.
With faux snowfall gently trickling across a midnight blue back drop behind a window on the back wall of the Ballroom, we relaxed into our seats to view a rose theme at out table.
From the rose on the cover of the menu to the rose-like folding of the deeply red napkins, we were transported to another time. The room was filled with [Read more…]
By AJ 35 Comments
For those who haven’t heard about this fun new spot yet, Be Our Guest Restaurant will (soft) open to great fanfare on November 19th in the New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
Enchanting diners with references to the “Beauty and the Beast” film, a rose motif and French atmosphere will be showcased throughout the restaurant.
Yesterday we reported on the Be Our Guest Restaurant beer and wine menu that will be offered during the dinner meal. The big news here is not that French wine will be uncorked inside the Beast’s Castle, it’s that alcohol will be served for the first time within the Magic Kingdom. Historically, Walt Disney had kept Disneyland a “dry” location with the exception of the private Club 33. The Magic Kingdom had followed this tradition.
But now that we’ve raised our glasses to toast Be Our Guest, it’s time to take a look at the food!
For dinner-time, the meal will be more elegant with table-service, French wine, and seating available in the West Wing and the Ballroom. The Be Our Guest dinner menu adds additional appetizer choices and more gourmet entrees.
For Starters, one of the dinner menu options is Mussels Provencal with White Wine, Tomato, Garlic, Onion, Basil, and Butter.
The Charcuterie Plate includes assorted cured meats and sausages served with [Read more…]