Walt Disney World has a handful of flagship dining experiences that have become iconic over the years. Among those are Chef Mickey’s, Cinderella’s Royal Table, California Grill, ‘Ohana, and more. We’d add Be Our Guest Restaurant to that list, which is now been popular for over a decade, offering Magic Kingdom’s second in-castle meal and themed design inspired by Beauty and the Beast.
Ask 10 different Walt Disney World fans whether they agree with this “iconic” assessment and you’re likely to get 10 very passionate answers. Some love it, just as many hate it. When it comes to overrated restaurants at Walt Disney World, Be Our Guest Restaurant is the one we hear mentioned most frequently by readers. For our part, we’ve been fortunate with positive experiences at Be Our Guest Restaurant and have dined here over a dozen times since it debuted over a decade ago.
With that said, a lot has changed since Be Our Guest opened, and the restaurant is inarguably a shadow of its former self in some regards. The table service dinner expanded to replace the beloved counter service lunch. Once one of the best uses of a Disney Dining Plan credit, breakfast still isn’t back. The prix fixe service that debuted to replace the a la carte table service menu has been scaled back and some entrees have been simplified. Actually, that last point is precisely why I returned to Be Our Guest Restaurant for this meal–an expanded special events menu that sounded very intriguing and begging to be reviewed…
Before we get started, if you’re planning ahead for 2025 or even a normal lunch, you might want to instead read our more comprehensive review: Is Be Our Guest Restaurant Still Worth the Money? That covers the normal menu and what the experience is like now, cuisine quality, Advance Dining Reservation difficulty, and more. It also addresses whether Be Our Guest will be worth it on the Disney Dining Plan.
This review focuses on Be Our Guest Restaurant during the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, when the following special menu items are available:
- Pumpkin Crème Caramel with sour cherry jam and pumpkin seed brittle
- Roasted Beef Marrow Bone: Pinot noir-beef marmalade, toasted baguette, and pickled mustard seeds
- Beef Short Rib and Purple Potatoes braised with red wine, figs, peppers, and a touch of dark chocolate
- Cast Iron Trout: Charred calamari, squid ink breadcrumbs, black garlic, and saffron aïoli
- Roasted Poulet Rouge Chicken: Caramelized pumpkin, pomegranate, and pumpkin seed sauce
- The Handsome Brute: Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Chambord Liqueur, pomegranate juice, and lemon juice garnished with a sugared rim and raspberries
I searched high and low on Google and scoured social media for information on what time this special menu started during the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.
Lo and behold, it was right there on the official online menu: “Starting at 6:00 PM on Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party event nights, Be Our Guest Restaurant will serve a special themed menu including modified seasonal and Halloween-inspired dishes.”
By this point, it was too late for me to make an Advance Dining Reservation for 6 pm, my desired time slot. Honestly, I’m not sure whether I would’ve even if it were an option. I like to take the 60-90 minutes before Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party to do laps of Magic Kingdom, checking out things during the mix-in that are relevant to my research or strategy guides.
My hope was thus that the online menu was wrong, or that the restaurant would offer some wiggle room to party attendees. So I made the latest possible ADR during mix-in, which was 4:40 pm on the date of my event. I continued to check day-of for a later time, all to no avail.
Fast-forward to MNSSHP party day, and I headed to Be Our Guest Restaurant around 2 pm to see whether it’d be possible to order from the special party menu. Long story short, none of the Cast Members knew for sure, but one seemed to confirm that I’d be able to, so long as I had my party bracelet. I decided to roll with this, knowing it was still a gamble and I might have to eat the cancellation fee.
A bit of an aside, but while I was waiting for a Cast Member to ‘radio in’ my question and get an answer, 3 different groups of guests approached Be Our Guest Restaurant and asked whether it’s a ride. I’m not surprised this happens–I’m sure Cast Members get asked “is this a ride?” about everything from the Woody’s Lunchbox to the Tangled Toilets (although the latter would quickly be answered by entering the “attraction”). It was just wild to witness 3 times in the span of ~5 minutes.
After checking into Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party a little after 4:15 pm, I made my way over to Fantasyland and checked into Be Our Guest Restaurant.
There was very clearly a shift change that happened since my visit earlier in the day, as every Cast Member at the restaurant knew all about the special menu for MNSSHP and they were proactively advising guests of it. Although things could always change, I’m thus pretty confident what follows is the unofficial policy–not the above quote from the online menu.
Starting at 4 pm on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party dates, guests dining at Be Our Guest Restaurant are asked whether they’re staying for the event. If so, they need to show proof of party admission (they were encouraging guests to go grab wristbands from PhilharMagic). Guests with valid admission to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party are able to order from the special event menu.
Guests who do not have MNSSHP tickets are given yellow wristbands. This presumably dictates which menu they receive once seated and how they’re treated upon exiting if it’s after 6 pm. (I say “presumably” because I suspect there’s a YMMV element with the menu–but I only dined here as a MNSSHP guest, so I don’t know how it worked in practice for anyone else.)
Note that although this is written about MNSSHP, I’d assume the same will apply for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Heck, I wouldn’t be shocked if the special menu is mostly or even exactly the same.
Once seated, my server came by with a menu–that appeared to be the regular dinner menu with the above Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party options highlighted–along with a chef’s special flier for a limited-time entree option of Steak Frites: Slow-roasted Butcher’s Steak, House-cut French Fries, and Choron Sauce.
As noted above, Be Our Guest Restaurant currently offers an all-day prix fixe menu for lunch and dinner. This costs $70 per adult and $41 per child, plus tax and gratuity (minus any discounts). The meal also includes a regular drink (Coca-Cola products) and bread service, which is not offered at all Walt Disney World restaurants.
I was seated at the very front of the restaurant, in the corner of the Grand Ballroom. Sarah and I have actually been seated in this same spot (plus or minus a couple of tables) on two previous occasions. I don’t mind it. No other parties next to you or overhearing your conversation, and you’re away from the action but still get to enjoy the atmosphere.
One of the biggest criticisms of Be Our Guest Restaurant is that it’s loud, crowded and chaotic. The Grand Ballroom main dining hall is cavernous and tables are tightly packed, making it feel like a fancy mess hall. We’ve voiced this concern in past reviews, and that the Grand Ballroom is our least favorite dining room at Be Our Guest Restaurant.
If it’s your first time at Be Our Guest, we recommend requesting to be seated in a different room. The West Wing is my favorite of the rooms, but it has a foreboding feeling and dark look that can make it scary for small children. The Castle Gallery is more intimate, brighter, and quieter–making it a good pick for families. You can always walk around the Grand Ballroom if you so desire (go up to the windows and check out the snow!).
Every dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant starts with bread service. To my surprise, this wasn’t the standard hard-as-a-hockey-puck dinner rolls, but instead a warm and soft French baguette. This is just like the baguettes sold at Le Halles Boulangerie Patisserie in World Showcase’s France pavilion at EPCOT.
Despite being a party of one, I received an entire baguette! This is such a minor thing–those baguettes aren’t exactly expensive–but it has a major impact on the quality of the meal, making a strong first impression. I really hope this is a permanent change, because it’s the type of attention to detail that has an outsized impact. It’s the “big little things” that cumulatively add up to make a big difference, and Walt Disney World needs to relearn how much they matter.
For appetizers, there are normally five different choices, with the obvious choice from a value-for-money and quality perspective being the Escargot de Bourgogne. I know a lot of fans love the French Onion Soup, and they’re right–it’s good. But it’s objectively terrible from a bang-for-buck perspective.
However, this meal was all about the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party menu, so I ordered the Roasted Beef Marrow Bone with Pinot noir-beef marmalade, toasted baguette, and pickled mustard seeds.
The roasted bone marrow was why I booked this ADR in the first place. I love this dish, and have found it’s one that Walt Disney World can do quite well at its steakhouses. I was slightly skeptical that Be Our Guest, an in-park restaurant that is focused on churning people in and out, could pull it off as well, but wanted to find out.
This bone marrow appetizer is phenomenal–and sizable. It’s one of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten at Magic Kingdom, and a highlight of all the menus Be Our Guest has had over the years.
The bone marrow provides a rich, creamy, and fatty flavor that’s sweetened by the marmalade. It’s succulent and melt in your mouth delicious–really a next-level dish that I’d expect from a Signature Restaurant at one of the resorts. (Be Our Guest is technically a Signature Restaurant, but it’s not even remotely the same.)
I highly recommend the Roasted Beef Marrow Bone, even over the escargot. We’re both going back for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and I’m already preparing to make an ADR in the hopes that this sticks around for that special event so we both can try it. (There’s nothing “Halloweeny” about Roasted Beef Marrow Bone. Well, maybe the ‘bone’ part?)
There are also five entrees on the normal menu at Be Our Guest Restaurant–the Seared Pork Tenderloin, Trout Amandine, Pan-roasted Squash, Roasted Poulet Rouge Chicken, and Grilled Filet Mignon. The added options for MNSSHP are the Beef Short Rib, Cast Iron Trout with Charred Calamari, and a twist on the Roasted Poulet Rouge Chicken (with caramelized pumpkin).
I’m a fan of the Pork at Be Our Guest, but objectively, the Grilled Filet Mignon is the best pick of the entrees at Be Our Guest Restaurant. Our experiences with both this cut of meat and the preparation thereof have been unequivocally positive. Some fans have reported differently, but we’ve always been impressed. I’d go as far as to say that it’s on par with some of the Signature Restaurants. Preparation differs, but the quality of the cut is about the same.
Suffice to say, the Grilled Filet Mignon is what you should order if you’re a carnivore doing the regular lunch or dinner menu at Be Our Guest Restaurant. The Grilled Filet Mignon is also what you should order if you’re doing the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party special menu at Be Our Guest Restaurant.
Wanting to stick with the actual MNSSHP menu, I ordered the Beef Short Rib and Purple Potatoes braised with red wine, figs, peppers, and a touch of dark chocolate.
I had debated between this and the Cast Iron Trout with Charred Calamari, and in retrospect, should’ve done the latter. My stomach was already feeling the weight of the bone marrow and an entire loaf of bread, and this was another heavy dish on top of that before heading back out in 93 degree heat. The Cast Iron Trout would’ve made for, at minimum, a better balanced meal.
This isn’t to disparage the Beef Short Rib. It was very good! It was incredibly tender, falling apart when cut with the fork. The meat was flavorful, and juicy with a complex savory and sweet (and slightly acidic) dynamic thanks to the accompaniments. It has a little bit of fat for flavor, but not so much as to render any of the meat inedible. In isolation, I really liked the Beef Short Rib.
My quibble is that the portion wasn’t that large, only slightly bigger than the Short Rib I had ordered from Earth Eats only one day earlier. That dish stuck with me and is one of the highlights of the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. It only costs $8.50. Now in fairness, there are Beef Short Rib dishes at Tony’s, Kona and Jiko–and those cost $31, $38, and $52. But I’ve had the latter two and they’re bigger and better than this.
Again, this Beef Short Rib at Be Our Guest Restaurant is very good. My problem is mostly a matter of buyer’s remorse as I instantly regretted not ordering the Cast Iron Trout–even before my entree arrived. On top of that, the unfavorable comparison to the Earth Eats dish. But that might apply equally to you, so I’m presenting my thought process here as something of a cautionary tale.
Finally, the meal concludes with dessert. Normally, this means the Dessert Trio: Lemon Jam Macaron, Chocolate Tart topped with the Grey Stuff, and a Dark Chocolate Truffle. This trio is fun, but nothing special–it’s all style and no substance. It reminds me of individual items you could get from a buffet, except not unlimited. Given that it’s (supposedly) a Signature Restaurant, Be Our Guest should offer a fully-fledged dessert menu.
From that perspective, ordering the Pumpkin Crème Caramel with sour cherry jam and pumpkin seed brittle was a no brainer. Fancy name aside, this is caramel pudding. You might say it’s flantastic. Seriously.
The pumpkin flavor in the creamy custard added an earthy sweetness to the rich and semi-bitter flavor of the caramel dessert. The sour jam didn’t do much for me when paired with the pumpkin, but I appreciated the pumpkin seed brittle as added texture for the flan. (I did end up eating the cherry jam with some leftover brittle–much better that way.)
Now this Pumpkin Crème Caramel is actually a dessert that’s worthy of a Signature Restaurant. I don’t want to oversell it, as it’s not my favorite (or even top 10) Signature dessert of all-time, but it’s a great taste of fall with quality that’s miles above the normal dessert trio at Be Our Guest Restaurant.
Earlier this summer, Beast returned to meeting guests in his study after dinner for an actual meet & greet with photos, autographs, hugs, and Top Gun (it should be a requirement that every character perfect this). Cast Members reported that this was in ‘trial or test mode’ and know we know why–because it ended!
Party Season has brought scaled back daytime meet & greets due to ongoing staffing shortages, and if I had to guess, this would be why Beast stopped doing the post-dinner meet & greet. But if so, why revert to it in July only to undo the change from August through December?! I was really looking forward to that flawlessly executed Top Gun high-five with the main man, but I guess now it’ll have to wait until (at least) 2025.
In any case, there’s once again a character ‘presence’ to the extent that the Beast walks through the various rooms waving at guests. I don’t know how frequently this occurs, but it happened twice during my dinner. Probably around every half-hour, as I tried to get in and out fairly quickly.
Beast only goes down the widest pathways, so whether you see him up close or from a huge distance depends on whether you’re seated in the middle of the room. It’s an okay system…for 2020. Four years later, the smile and wave while pausing ever-so-briefly for selfies just feels lame. Especially given that this meal is now $70 and is treated as a 2-credit Signature Restaurant on the Disney Dining Plan. Do it right, Disney.
Ultimately, my special meal for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Be Our Guest Restaurant was really good–and it could’ve been great had I made the right move and ordered the reliably-excellent Filet Mignon or perhaps the riskier Cast Iron Trout. I’m still inclined to say that it’s “good again” rather than something more, as Walt Disney World fan opinions of this restaurant have been hurt by unrealistic expectations.
We still recommend Be Our Guest Restaurant as one of the most iconic dining experiences in Magic Kingdom and even Walt Disney World as a whole. You just have to go in knowing that it’s a Disney experience and not a real-world fine dining establishment. That Signature Restaurant status seems to trick people.
It’s impossible to dismiss all of the complaints about Be Our Guest Restaurant. Being a high-capacity restaurant, bad experiences are inevitable. But so many of those can be minimized or avoided entirely by requesting the right room, and ordering the highest-value and best items. Enjoying Be Our Guest Restaurant for what it is–a memorable meal with that will stand out in the minds of Beauty and the Beast fans years–if not decades–later. With the ambitious special menu items for MNSSHP, you’re more likely to have a memorable meal that makes that high price tag seem worth it.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Be Our Guest Restaurant? Will you be doing the special menu for MNSSHP or MVMCP? Is Magic Kingdom’s popular Beauty and the Beast restaurant worth the hefty price tag? Is Be Our Guest Restaurant overhyped and/or overrated? Would you rather do a table service meal elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, or is this the best option? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
