After watching Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for the first, or, let’s be honest, the 10th time, did you dream about sitting at the head of the dining room table inside of Beast’s Castle for a lovely French breakfast of croissants and jam or for a hearty dinner of beef bourguignonne while listening to Lumiere sing Be Our Guest?
Well, luckily, we have had the opportunity to visit Beast’s Castle in Magic Kingdom by checking out Be Our Guest’s quick service breakfast. This is one of the most beautiful restaurants on Walt Disney World property but there are questions about whether it’s worth all the hype. Well, we will aim to answer that question below.
Our Be Our Guest Breakfast Review
The Be Our Guest quick service restaurant is located inside Disney’s Magic Kingdom at the foot of the Beast’s Castle in Fantasyland. Be Our Guest restaurant serves French-American style cuisine, with breakfast and lunch being quick service, and dinner is table service. Breakfast is served from 7:30am to 10:30am and costs between $15.00 and $28.00 per adult.
The Be Our Guest restaurant is one of the most popular restaurants at Walt Disney World, so dining reservations are strongly recommended for any meal. Also, remember if you do make reservations and need to cancel, that you do so at least 24 hours beforehand to ensure you are not charged the $10 per person fee by Disney.
The Dining Rooms
Walt Disney World certainly outdid themselves when it comes to where you can dine while at the Be Our Guest restaurant. You can select from 1 of 3 distinct dining areas, each designed to immerse guests in the heartwarming mystery and romance of Beauty and the Beast:
• The Grand Ballroom – Go for “baroque” in this magnificent ballroom with its high, domed ceiling, chandeliers and snow-laced Gothic arches.
• The West Wing – Dine in the Beast’s mysterious West Wing study and perhaps you’ll even spy his enchanted rose.
• The Castle Gallery – Get swept up in the romance of Belle’s private library, and inspired by the larger-than-life figures of Belle and Beast dancing.
We’ve had the opportunity to dine in each of the three rooms either for breakfast or lunch. The Grand Ballroom is very big and beautiful, but it feels very cafeteria-like because of how large the room is and how many people are in there. With that many people it tends to be very, very loud. But it does have these giant picture windows and it looks like it’s nighttime and snowing.
The West Wing is very cool, and one of the most unique dining areas at Disney World, but it is very dark and hard to see your meal. It can be a little scary for little ones since there’s a lightning storm that goes off every once in a while and can be a little too intense. Also, with the enchanted rose in the room, if you find yourself seated near said rose, you may have a lot of people hovering around your table to get a picture. If you don’t sit there during your meal, you should definitely at least walk through the room.
Our favorite section by far is the Castle Gallery. To me it’s a good mix between the Grand Ballroom and the West Wing. It’s much quieter and brighter than the other two, and is larger than the West Wing but not as large as the Grand Ballroom. And the statue of Belle and Beast dancing adds to the overall atmosphere.
The Process
We’re going to talk specifically about the quick service breakfast at the Be Our Guest restaurant. We’ve had dining reservations for lunch there before, but have yet to have dinner there. We hope to do that soon, though, and once we are able to secure our dining reservations and partake in the dinner option, we’ll do another dining review.
So, let’s talk about the process since it is a bit different from other quick/counter service locations at Walt Disney World. At Be Our Guest you walk in and line up in the entryway. There are knights in armor on each side (they talk and sneeze and stuff, so that’s pretty cool) as you walk in. You walk up to one of the cast members at the register and they will scan your magic band. If you do not have a magic band, they will hand you a red rose that is basically a magic band puck. Then you’ll place your order.
It’s worth mentioning that you can still share meals at the Be Our Guest restaurant – you don’t have to order per person, though it kind of comes off that way. If you’re on the dining plan, it doesn’t make sense to split the meal, but if you’re paying out of pocket, then splitting a meal would be the way to go, as it’s not cheap. Also, to me, dining at the Be Our Guest restaurant is more of an experience than a place to eat a filling meal.
So, once you order your food, you pay and then go find a seat. Which is the most frustrating and anxiety-ridden part of the meal. This place is always pretty full and it can be frustrating if you really want to sit in the West Wing only to find out there are no seats available in that area.
I may have failed to mention that even though this is a quick/counter service meal, you still need to make reservations. Be Our Guest Restaurant breakfast is a Walt Disney World quick/counter service in the same way Disney’s Art of Animation is a value resort; it blurs the line between the two. You order your food like a quick/counter service restaurant, but then you go sit down (wherever you can find a seat), and then they bring you your food as if it were a table service restaurant.
A server will come and find you – no matter where you are sitting – and bring you your food on this little rolling cart with a glass dome top that they lift up and serve you your food.
Our Be Our Guest Breakfast Experience
Disney World reservations can be really hard to come by, especially for pre-park opening breakfast reservations, but I had no problem this time. I was even able to modify it the morning of and get an earlier time slot.
The Food at Be Our Guest
Let’s talk about what is offered at the Be Our Guest breakfast. This is an expensive breakfast, even for Disney World. Every item on the breakfast menu is $29.00 (and as I mentioned, 1 quick service credit on the Disney Dining Plan, making it an excellent value). Now, that does include a plate of pastries that you can share with the table and the portion sizes are a pretty good size.
There’s the Feast a la Gaston, which was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and roasted potatoes served with fresh fruit. There’s an assorted cured meats and cheese tray, with Alpine-smoked ham, Serrano ham, soppressata, and cheese served with marmalade and fresh fruit on a toasted baguette.
An open-faced bacon and egg sandwich which is poached eggs, applewood-smoked bacon, and brie on a toasted croissant also served with fresh fruit.
Scrambled egg whites with chicken sausage, roasted tomatoes and fresh fruit.
A vegetable quiche with mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, ion, goat cheese and chives served with fresh fruit.
A croissant doughnut, which is a fried doughnut topped with banana-caramel sauce, pastry creme, and chocolate ganache, with a side of fresh fruit. Again, all of these options also come with a selection of pastries.
This time we split the Croque Madame, which is an open-faced ham sandwich topped with a fried egg, Gruyere cheese, and Bechamel with fresh fruit and a selection of pastries. This is two good sized pieces of bread layered with ham, cheese and Bechamel sauce.
My only gripe with sharing this dish is it only comes with one egg and it sits in the middle of both pieces of bread. If this meal came with two eggs – one on each slice of bread – then this would be a very sharable meal. The egg was cooked pretty well for a Disney World quick/counter service restaurant. I would have preferred the egg to be a bit more runny.
The Drinks at Be Our Guest
They also have some beverages, which includes a souvenir castle goblet for $15.00 that lights up, as well as a Be Our Guest cup for $5.00, both with your choice of fountain drink, But since we were celebrating a birthday, and you can now order alcohol at certain Magic Kingdom restaurants, we decided to live it up a little and got a Mimosa for $11.00 and a peach Bellini for $11.00.
The mimosa was really light, and the peach Bellini was also very good. If you’re thinking of doing Mimosas or something for breakfast, we would recommend trying for a brunch at California Grill or they have a Mimosa flight at Kona Cafe. But if you want to start your day at Magic Kingdom with an alcoholic beverage at breakfast, this isn’t bad.
And at breakfast you can also get a red Sangria for $11.00, a Schofferhofer pink grapefruit Hefeweizen, Stella Artois (STELLA!), or Kronenbourg 1664 beer gfor $9.25, or a Blanc de Blancs Brut, a Riesling, a Chardonnay, and a fancy Cabernet Sauvignon for various prices.
The Dessert at Be Our Guest
And to finish it off, they have dessert, which is the Master’s Cupcake for $4.99. It has the “Grey Stuff” which I hear is delicious. Don’t believe me, ask the dishes. Ha ha! We’ve had the cupcake before and it’s not bad. The grey stuff is actually like ground up Oreos mixed with whipped cream. It’s a good size cupcake for five bucks and hey – you’re already drinking alcohol for breakfast so who’s gonna judge you for eating a cupcake? I mean, a cupcake is basically a muffin with, like, a hat. Completely acceptable.
Be Our Guest Breakfast For The Kids
In addition to the breakfast entrees mentioned above, there is also a kids menu, and all those dishes are $16.00 each and come with a selection of pastries. There’s the Crepes de Cogsworth, which is chocolate hazelnut ganache crepes with berry compote and whipped cream. Philippe’s Toasty Oats, which is steel-cut oatmeal served with golden raisins and brown sugar. Fifi’s French Toast, Brioche bread served with fresh fruit. Scrambled Eggs de Maurice, which is eggs served with cheddar, applewood bacon and fresh fruit. And Chip’s Cereal, which is your choice of cereal with milk and fresh fruit.
The kids got the Crepes de Cogsworth and Fifi’s French Toast. Both of these orders were a really good portion size – an adult could eat them and be satisfied, especially with the side of pastries. We ended up packing up what food they didn’t eat and took them on several rides with us, then they sat in our fridge for two days before throwing them away.
Basically, if you are looking to split a meal, order one adult, $29.00 breakfast (which you are totally allowed to do), and it comes out to $14.50 per person. Or if you have no plans on sharing, you can order off the kids menu and it’s only $16.00 (and really is enough food for an adult with the added pastries).
Let’s take a look at the lunch menu and see how it compares to breakfast from a cost/value standpoint.
What Lunch & Dinner at Be Our Guest Has to Offer
The French onion soup is actually AMAZING. And it’s only $7.99, which is a really great deal. The French dip sandwich is $17.49 and is served on a baguette with Au Jus and pommes frites (French for French fries – that doesn’t make much sense since French is in the name of the fries, but its French, and they’re fancy).
This sandwich is also really good and a pretty good portion – it comes with a good amount of fries, too. On one of our visits, we split the French onion soup and the French dip sandwich and it was very filling. If I remember correctly, my in-laws had the Croque Monsieur, which is grilled ham and Gruyere cheese sandwich with Bechamel and pommes frites for $15.99.
Now it just amazes me that the lunch items here are significantly less than the breakfast items. I get that each breakfast entree also comes with pastries, but it’s a $10 difference between every adult breakfast item and the most expensive lunch item. Lunch items range from $14.79 for the Spring Chicken Salad to a braised chicken Coq Au Vin style for $18.99.
And of course, not to leave out dinner, there is the prix fixe dinner menu. We have yet to have dinner here, but it is a three-course menu and this dining experience will run you $62.00 per adult and $37.00 per child (tax and gratuity not included). If you are using the Disney Dining plan, dinner is two table service credits, and they do take Tables in Wonderland that provides a 20% discount off of food and alcohol.
With the prix-fixe menu at Disney World, you get to choose one appetizer, one entree and one dessert.
Your choices of appetizers include:
- Escargot in herb-garlic butter and toasted gremolata
- French onion soup with toasted croutons, gruyere and provolone
- Maine lobster bisque garnished with creme Fraiche and poached lobster
- Piment d’Espelette spiced tuna with fava bean puree and Florida citrus with a miso and ginger silk
- Mixed field greens with drunken goat cheese (insert drunk goat sounds here), hazelnut brittle, and asparagus with a stone fruit vinaigrette; and an assorted meats and artisanal cheese selection.
Entrees include:
- Herb-salted pork tenderloin, a crispy pork belly, corn puree, fava beans and green garlic pistou
- Smoked ricotta and corn tortellini;
- Spice-dusted lamb chop with roasted sunchokes, baby squash, Romanesco, and royal trumpet mushrooms with a lamb demi
- Center-cut Filet Mignon with Robuchon Yukon potatoes, seasonal vegetables and cipollini marmalade with a lamb demi; pan-seared sea scallops with spring pea risotto, seasonal vegetables, fried artichoke hearts and micro basil
- Poulet Rouge chicken with confit fingerling potatoes (if a French fry and a baked potato had a baby, that’s what they taste like), haricot verts, heirloom tomatoes and a sauce meuniere.
And finally for dessert there is a Dessert Trio, which includes:
- Almond macaron with lemon jam and raspberries;
- White chocolate “Chip” cup with Grey Stuff and crisp pearls
- Dark chocolate truffle filled with dark chocolate Grand Marnier ganache
Our Final Thoughts of Be Our Guest
I think the Be Our Guest restaurant can tend to get somewhat of a bad rap and has gotten a bad review or two, but we’ve never had a poor experience dining at Beast’s castle, whether it’s the food or the service. Yes, I think it is overpriced, but again you have to think about where you are – you’re in Magic Kingdom inside the Beast’s castle. It’s part experience, part food.
The only downfall I can think of is say you really want to eat in the West Wing and you can’t find any tables – it’s the smallest of the three dining rooms. You end up standing over people waiting for a seat to open up and it can feel a bit awkward.
Overall, I think this is a neat little restaurant inside Disney’s Magic Kingdom, especially if you are a big fan of Beauty and the Beast. It’s definitely more of a quick service/table service hybrid and it’s priced more like a table service restaurant. It has some tasty food and we really enjoyed the Be Our Guest Breakfast we had.
If you enjoyed this review of Be Our Guest breakfast review, be sure to check out our other Disney World restaurant reviews such as our Geyser Point Bar & Grill Review. Also, don’t forget to follow us on social media and listen to our podcasts on the Capture the Magic podcast network.
