Be Our guest dinner length

[Waters Back Side]

Hi. New member and visiting Disney with my wife and 3 kids for a 3rd time.

Amazingly, we have never eaten at Be Our Guest. We will be in Disney from April 14th-21st. (Too early yet to book ADRs but have begun to think about it since the 180 days is approaching in a couple of weeks)The 21st is our last day and we fly home that night. The flight is at 8:20pm.

Based on our planning, it would be ideal to to Be Our Guest for dinner that day to meet the Beast. We want to get the earliest one possible....4pm.

Question is...based on experience do any of you think we can eat dinner, meet the Beast within an hour or will we need longer? If we can get the entire meal and experience in by 5pm, it should get us out, down Main St and to the resort bus in plenty of time to get back to the resort and take the Magic Express to the airport.

 

[sxeensweet]

No I would not chance that. Many factors can happen. They don't take you on time, the meal itself takes us at least 1.5 hours, getting out of the park in a timely manner with crowds that can be difficult etc. Also most airports need you there at least 3 hours before your flight to make sure you get through security on time due to TSA still being short handed. Plus if you're relying on ME you could very well miss it. I wouldn't do it.

 

[Tuvalu]

Your Magical Express pick up time will be at minimum 3 hours prior to your flight time. Like @sxeensweet said, there is no way you could be seated at BOG at 4 pm, eat, exit the MK and take transport back to your resort and make it for a 5:15 pm DME pick up.

And FYI, if you stow any bags with Bell Services on your check out day, you need to pick them up 15 minutes before your DME bus arrival time.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Thanks. The last time we took the Magic Express we went to airport and stayed in the airport hotel for a flight the next morning. We planned it like that.

So I never really knew how early they arrive in terms of a flight.

Had the Express said 6pm and Be Our Guest would take an hour and we knew we would walk straight out without stopping for anything I thought we would have a chance. I guess not. But I appreciate the feedback . We will have to consider this in our planning.

 

[Figgy1]

Figure at least 90 minutes. I'd book BOG for lunch. No Beast but you get to eat in the castle(a must see) and the food is better! You will need an ADR for lunch

 

[LadyBelle]

Or see if you can get a breakfast ADR at BOG. Still no Beast, but the atmosphere (and croissant donut) is worth it!

 

[Waters Back Side]

Hmm... we have heard the same that the food is actually better for lunch (and breakfast for that matter). And I assume we are still welcome to browse the 3 rooms etc. So the only thing we would miss out on is the Beast. I think we can live without that despite the fact meeting The Beast is a cool experience. It looks like we will use a Quick Service (and reserve it 180 in advance) for lunch that day. Or change something around and do BOG dinner on one of our other MK days. Thanks.

 

[Figgy1]

Hmm... we have heard the same that the food is actually better for lunch (and breakfast for that matter). And I assume we are still welcome to browse the 3 rooms etc. So the only thing we would miss out on is the Beast. I think we can live without that despite the fact meeting The Beast is a cool experience. It looks like we will use a Quick Service (and reserve it 180 in advance) for lunch that day. Or change something around and do BOG dinner on one of our other MK days. Thanks.

There is no just going in to look around! You need an ADR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lunch is the best bang for your buck

 

[Waters Back Side]

There is no just going in to look around! You need an ADR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lunch is the best bang for your buck

Yes I meant with an ADR for quick service we still have the ability to look around.

 

[Figgy1]

Yes I meant with an ADR for quick service we still have the ability to look around.

The nice thing about a a qs ADR is you get to pick the room you want to eat in

 

[Waters Back Side]

The nice thing about a a qs ADR is you get to pick the room you want to eat in

This opens up all new possibilities because we will be doing MK 2 1/2 days. We might quick service it twice with ADR's. And pick 2 different rooms. I also am aware for Breakfast and Lunch you can order in advance.

 

[Figgy1]

This opens up all new possibilities because we will be doing MK 2 1/2 days. We might quick service it twice with ADR's. And pick 2 different rooms. I also am aware for Breakfast and Lunch you can order in advance.

We just did it for lunch and got in and out faster than most qs places. That included picture time. We loved preordering and you can even preorder off the allergy menu if needed

 

[Waters Back Side]

Great photos!

The problem I was facing is the other two days at MK, we are doing the Royal Table (aware it is 2 TS credits) for my little girl and we must try Ohana for dinner (monorail to the Poly) and are going to try and time it perfectly for Wishes viewing from the restaurant (8:30ish reservation) the two MK nights. My wife and daughter really want the Royal Table to be dinner while I wanted Be Our Guest for dinner and was trying to see if there was any way to fit it in. But, in the end the best option, like you suggested is Quick service ADR for BOG lunch (maybe twice) and keep both Ohana and the Royal Table for dinner.

Plus now, (and this is a good problem to have) we can choose one more Table service sometime during the trip if we exclude BOG for dinner.

 

[carriebeth]

We ran into a snag meeting Beast recently. We walked up and were the only people to be in line. As we approached it was announced Beast would be leaving and returning in a few minutes. 1/2 hour later...still no Beast return. By this time the baby was really having a fit tired of waiting. Everyone else was pretty restless as well and we had fast passes we really wanted to use. We ended up leaving. There was no ETA for him and I have no idea what was keeping him so long! The line was out into the restuarant area when we left. I always allow 1 1/2 hours for sit down meals at least. Some don't take that long...many do.

 

[Figgy1]

Great photos!

The problem I was facing is the other two days at MK, we are doing the Royal Table (aware it is 2 TS credits) for my little girl and we must try Ohana for dinner (monorail to the Poly) and are going to try and time it perfectly for Wishes viewing from the restaurant (8:30ish reservation) the two MK nights. My wife and daughter really want the Royal Table to be dinner while I wanted Be Our Guest for dinner and was trying to see if there was any way to fit it in. But, in the end the best option, like you suggested is Quick service ADR for BOG lunch (maybe twice) and keep both Ohana and the Royal Table for dinner.

Plus now, (and this is a good problem to have) we can choose one more Table service sometime during the trip if we exclude BOG for dinner.

For you second qs meal I'd suggest Cosmic Ray's(Tomorrowland) lots of choices and a floor show. Most children and us kids at heart love

or Pecos Bill's good food generous portions and an excellent toppings bar

 

[Waters Back Side]

For you second qs meal I'd suggest Cosmic Ray's(Tomorrowland) lots of choices and a floor show. Most children and us kids at heart love View attachment 166640 or Pecos Bill's good food generous portions and an excellent toppings bar

We have eaten at Cosmic Rays and Peco Bills and love both and we also like Columbia Harbor House. We never rule out paying out of pocket for some of the QS restaurants if we want to try them and still save some QS credits for later. We will have the ability to have 3 QS meals at MK. So even if we do BOG twice we can go Cosmic Ray's as well. In fact we will probably eat there our first day at MK and our first meal since we plan to go to Tomorrowland first.

 

[tglancy]

Meeting the Beast can be hit or miss. Sometimes we get lucky and finish our meals right when he is getting to the greeting area, so we just wait in a small line and are on our way. Another time we were in line for a whole cycle. We always make sure that we don't plan anything for 2 hours after the ADR just to make sure we can get our picture with the Beast!

 

[Waters Back Side]

I wonder what sensible reasoning there is for the Beast to not walk around and greet families at the tables rather than just make an appearance briefly and meet at the end.

While it is accepted and understood, I never understood the reasoning for it. He used to stand with Belle at Epcot.

 

[tglancy]

I wonder what sensible reasoning there is for the Beast to not walk around and greet families at the tables rather than just make an appearance briefly and meet at the end.

While it is accepted and understood, I never understood the reasoning for it. He used to stand with Belle at Epcot.

I would assume it has to do with clearing the tables and getting more people in. If Beast is going table to table, there might be people waiting long after they finished their meal for the experience. The way it is, even if the wait is similar, the table is available for the next paying customer. Also, with it being in a set locale, they can have a photopass photographer there, which is another opportunity to make some money. Plus it's a HUGE restaurant that is always packed, so it would take hours for him to get through the restaurant once.

 

[dreamfinder]

I wonder what sensible reasoning there is for the Beast to not walk around and greet families at the tables rather than just make an appearance briefly and meet at the end.

While it is accepted and understood, I never understood the reasoning for it. He used to stand with Belle at Epcot.

Size and flow. Beast has problems moving nimbly, and many of those tables are close together. Never seen numbers, but the amount of tables in there seems to be a fair bit more than the character buffets. Also, the lighting in there seems to be of the romantic/mood lighting type, not really conductive to pictures. Keeping him in a single place where they can control the lighting makes the pictures better, offers peoples the ability to leave without meeting the Beast if they so choose (his sheer size may freak out younger children that do fine with Mickey & Co., and lets them shove more tables in without Beast having to learn pointe to be able to fit.

I think the only reason he even makes an appearance is due to the layout of the restaurant, and the ordering area where he meets for pictures isn't near any easy break area, so he needs to make the trek to/from when he goes on break.