Be Our Guest Restaurant at Walt Disney World was ahead of its time…and not necessarily in a good way. In fact, you could argue that’s true of New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom as a whole, as it has now been surpassed by somewhat similar expansions at the international parks. But nowhere is this more obvious than when it comes to eating inside the castle from Beauty and the Beast.
That’s because when it comes to Beast’s Castle, Tokyo Disneyland put Be Our Guest Restaurant to shame with the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. Walt Disney World diehards might argue that’s not a fair comparison since Magic Kingdom built a ride whereas TDL built a world-class ride. But nothing dictated the facade had to be a “toy castle” perched atop a small cliff (with poor forced perspective), save for budgets.
Adding a bit of insult to injury, TDR has once again shown WDW how its done with high-capacity in-castle dining. Rather than sticking with Beauty and the Beast, the restaurant we’re talking about here is based on Frozen…as is probably obvious from the title of this post. Even though they’re totally different films and franchises, as suggested above, this venue is most comparable to Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom.
Royal Banquet of Arendelle is a counter service restaurant in Fantasy Springs, the new port-of-call at Tokyo DisneySea themed to Peter Pan, Tangled and Frozen. Somewhat like New Fantasyland over a decade before it, Fantasy Springs blends multiple intellectual properties into a single land in way that works. See our Fantasy Springs Review: Great Land, Good Port for more on that.
Frozen Kingdom is the name for the Arendelle area, and it’s set after the events of Frozen. Queen Elsa has embraced her powers to create ice and snow, and the Kingdom of Arendelle has been returned to its former glory. At the far end of the Frozen Kingdom are towering snow capped mountains with several cascading waterfalls. In the distance, near the summit of North Mountain, Elsa’s ice palace glistens proudly, covered in snow. On this side of the land, you’ll find Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, which is one of Disney’s best rides anywhere ever.
This same courtyard is also home to two dining spots. The first of these is Oaken’s OK Foods, which is just a walk-up window snack spot. The other is Royal Banquet of Arendelle, which is the counter service restaurant located inside Arendelle Castle. Royal Banquet is a behemoth 570-person capacity restaurant, with multiple indoor dining rooms and a covered outdoor dining area with views of the fjord cliffs and mountains in the distance.
Before venturing inside Royal Banquet of Arendelle, we’d be remiss if we didn’t discuss the exterior. This is no simple facade or a bit of window-dressing to conceal a big box restaurant like Be Our Guest. To the contrary, Imagineering has gone all-out and created a truly in-castle dining experience.
Arendelle Castle is massive and, to continue borrowing Walt Disney World comparisons (sorry non-Americans, but the Vacation Kingdom looms large and it’s our top frame of reference) is like a mash-up of aspects of the Norway pavilion at EPCOT.
What you’ve got with Royal Banquet of Arendelle is basically Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in scale and scope combined with the style of the smaller stave church. That’s true both outside and inside, actually. This shouldn’t really be a huge surprise–it’s also consistent with Arendelle Castle from Frozen!
The stunning exterior is largely made of ornate wood paneling, trim, and shingles. It’s punctuated by sharp peaks and Nordic architecture–a perfect replica of Arendelle Castle from the films. No detail is spared, right down to the balconies and stained glass windows.
The highest points of Arendelle Castle maintain a high degree of detail, even in spots where it’s arguably “unnecessary” to maintain suspension of disbelief. This is to be expected of OLC, but something you’d probably never see in a comparable restaurant built today at Walt Disney World. Again, look no further than the sharp contrast between this and the toy castle of Be Our Guest.
I’d go as far as to say that Royal Banquet of Arendelle is the visual highlight of the Fantasy Springs ‘skyline.’ It’s better than the Frozen ride or anything in the Peter Pan or Tangled minilands.
Inside Royal Banquet of Arendelle, there’s a large ordering bay where guests pick up their food.
At present, guests need a Mobile Order just to enter the restaurant, and there’s no ordering at the cash registers inside. We’d expect this to change sooner or later, as we’ve noticed that Mobile Order hasn’t really caught on at Tokyo Disney Resort (strides have been made, but Japan isn’t a cashless country). But for now, demand exceeds supply, so the Mobile Order spots are filling up.
The ordering bay is decorated with paintings, fake cakes, and royal chinaware on display. There’s also a self-service water station (we love these), and more of these can be found in each of the dining rooms.
After picking up their food, guests can choose among four seating areas inside Royal Banquet of Arendelle.
There’s also another area outside facing the attraction, affording views of Elsa’s ice palace, waterfall and fjord. It’s a beautiful spot to sit and soak up the scenery, but all of our meals at Royal Banquet of Arendelle thus far have come when it’s been hot outside.
The most formidable of the interior dining rooms is the Great Hall where Elsa’s coronation was held.
The arched ceiling features rosemaling floral decorative paintings on each panel and along the beams, with grand chandeliers and more light fixtures hanging down from posts. This instantly transported us back to the rural churches we visited in Norway’s countryside several years ago. Well…minus the hundreds of Japanese guests eating lunch. But it was definitely transportive when empty!
Unsurprisingly, the Grand Hall is where everyone wants to eat at Royal Banquet Hall of Arendelle. Well, aside from the bloggers. The lighting is a bit too dark and cool for ideal food photo conditions. But it’s definitely the most atmospheric and well-themed rooms in the restaurant. I could see decompressing here at the end of a long day in Fantasy Springs some night.
The other rooms are the Portrait Gallery, Library and (I think) the Dining Room.
Every single space in Royal Banquet of Arendelle is exceptionally designed, but none of them reach the thematic high bar of the Great Hall. That dining room is just so well done–everything from the architecture to the atmosphere to the way the tables are arranged is unparalleled. It’s everything I had hoped the Ballroom at Be Our Guest would be.
Here are more photos of the various dining rooms at Royal Banquet of Arendelle:
What we really appreciate about all of the dining rooms is the level of detail. Since these spaces are so sprawling and packed with seating, it’d be easy for them to feel impersonal and cavernous.
Instead, they all feel warm and lived-in thanks to the family portraits adorning the colorful walls, along with family heirlooms and personal possessions. There’s a stone fireplace; bookshelves, toys and trinkets; meticulous wood paneling; detailed wallpaper–the list goes on and on.
It’s honestly refreshing. Instead of details being budget-cut as “unnecessary,” it really feels like Imagineers were able to go above and beyond here. They went above and beyond with so many little things to really sell the spaces–it’s what makes a house a home…or castle a home, I guess.
Of course, none of this matters (or at least, matters a lot less) if the food doesn’t deliver.
Royal Banquet of Arendelle is technically a counter service restaurant, but much like other spots at Tokyo DisneySea, it occupies a space between regular ole counter service and table service. At least, from the perspective of cost and quality.
This ends up being the most expensive counter service restaurant at Tokyo DisneySea, which prices that are higher than some table service restaurants in the park. Set meals here currently cost 3,500 yen, which is more than we paid for pizza and dessert at Ristorante di Canaletto.
Like most restaurants at Tokyo Disney Resort, entree options are limited at Royal Banquet of Arendelle.
This is even more extreme than normal. The set menu consists of the following:
- Smoked Salmon Trout and Orange Salad
- Potato Gratin
- Bread
- Olaf’s Marshmallow-Chocolate Mousse
- Choice of Soft Drink
- Lobster and Redfish Pot Pie or Beef Pot Pie
Starting with the last item–the main course–the beef pot pie is very filling and hearty hunks of meat throughout.
The flaky pastry is fantastic, working well with the soupy stew inside the pie. It’s not all beef inside–there’s also cauliflower and pasta filling. The meat is delicious, perfectly prepared and tender. The whole thing works pretty well, but at the same time, it’s just a pot pie. This isn’t going to blow anyone away.
The beef pot pie is potentially a satisfying dish for cold winter nights, but it’s not something I’ll order again any other time of year.
The seafood pot pie is the superior choice, filled with lobster and redfish in a creamy sauce. I’m a sucker for exactly this type of dish, variations of which are pretty common throughout Tokyo Disney Resort.
This felt like a higher quality twist on those, which are normally cheesy gratins. They’re also normally a lot cheaper. But you get what you pay for, I suppose, as the seafood pot pie delivers an elevated dish that’s better than those and its beef counterpart.
We’d recommend the seafood pot pie over the beef pot pie, but this still isn’t a ringing endorsement. The thing is, though, you need to order something to get in the door (for now) and these are your only options (for now).
The potato gratin is a bit different than what we’ve encountered elsewhere.
This consists of three baby potatoes at the bottom with a creamy sauce, topped with a crunchy layer of potato on top. This is a bit soupier than I would’ve liked, but it’s hard to argue with potatoes in cream sauce. The topping also added a nice texture. All things considered, I liked this.
The salad with smoked salmon and mandarin oranges is an interesting combo, but the kind of thing you might find as a side throughout Japan.
It’s actually a great medley of flavors.
What you see is what you get, for the most part, with the dinner roll.
It’s semi-sweet, but nothing like milk or melon bread. I assume the whole point of this is to dip into the pot pies to soak up the stew or cream sauce. The roll files that role admirably.
Finally, there’s the chocolate mousse with an Olaf mochi on top.
This is a good dessert, with a mousse similar to chocolate pudding and a delicious marshmallow mochi with a tangy lemon filling. The flavors here work well, but honestly, I’d rather just have a trio of the mochi (a la the little green alien ones for which Tokyo Disneyland is famous).
There are also souvenir sets available at Royal Banquet of Arendelle. Just in case 3,500 yen is too darn cheap for a meal!
We didn’t buy either of these things. We did get the novelty dessert cup from one of the other Fantasy Springs restaurants. They are the perfect size to double as espresso cups and they’re dishwasher safe.
Ultimately, we love the setting of Royal Banquet of Arendelle. It’s a standout among standouts at Tokyo DisneySea. We’d highly recommend eating here to step inside the castle, and that means buying one of the above special sets. (That is, unless you do the Vacation Package, in which case you can flash your drink tickets and walk in for a ‘free’ beverage–do that instead of eating here if you’re eligible!)
When it comes to the food, Royal Banquet of Arendelle becomes a harder sell. There are two components to this. The first is the cost. If you asked me what I felt all of this is “worth” based on the pricing at other restaurants at Tokyo Disney Resort, I’d probably come back with a price about 1,000 yen lower than the actual price.
The second is in terms of stomach space. There is just so much great food at Tokyo DisneySea. If you have limited time–two days or fewer–it’s really difficult to recommend allocating one of your ~4 meals to Royal Banquet of Arendelle. Although the food is high quality and sufficiently tasty, it’s just not memorable enough.
There’s nothing special about it and you won’t find yourself craving it months later. For us, that’s a problem…and the opportunity cost coupled with the real cost is why Royal Banquet of Arendelle is a tough sell that has us torn.
Planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort? For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea Trip Planning Guide! For more specifics, our TDR Hotel Rankings & Reviews page covers accommodations. Our Restaurant Reviews detail where to dine & snack. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money post. Our What to Pack for Disney post takes a unique look at clever items to take. Venturing elsewhere in Japan? Consult our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto, Japan and City Guide to Tokyo, Japan.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you dined at the Royal Banquet of Arendelle? What’d you order? Did you love or hate the Frozen food? Think it’s worth the higher cost for the higher quality, or would you prefer to get the cheap burgers and sandwiches at the Tangled tavern? Thoughts on how the Frozen restaurant stacks up to other options at Tokyo DisneySea from a thematic perspective? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Any questions? 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!
