Be Our Guest Breakfast: First Look Review

The Magic Kingdom‘s Be Our Guest restaurant is one of Walt Disney World’s most popular places for lunch and dinner, and for a limited time you have a third mealtime to try to get a sought-after table inside the Beast’s enchanted domain. from now through June 18, you can enjoy an early morning meal in a castle other than Cinderella’s, thanks to the brand-new Be Our Guest breakfast service that began on March 20.

I made my reservation through My Disney Experience at Be Our Guest breakfast on the first day they became available for booking, securing a table for Two at 8:25 a.m. on Monday morning, 35 minutes before the Magic Kingdom’s official opening. This would my first pre-rope-drop entry into the park in many years, and even the early weather and wet weather didn’t dampen my spirits.

Be Our Guest Breakfast Early Entry

A friendly reminder: always remember how ridiculously long it can take to enter the Magic Kingdom, and pad your travel time accordingly. Despite hitting the road before dawn, over an hour before my reservation, and parking within walking distance of the TTC, I still entered the park a couple minutes after my appointment. Thankfully, that didn’t prove to be a problem.

Guests with pre-opening dining reservations are directed to the far left after passing through the Magic Kingdom’s entry touchpoints. Several cast member armed with touchpads scan MagicBands to confirm times, which took only a quick second in my case; if your reservation isn’t tied to an RFID device, your mileage may vary.

Guests without breakfast reservations wait here outside the tunnels beneath Main Street’s railroad station.

Shortly, we were strolling up an empty Main Street U.S.A., the castle made misty by the drizzling rain. Being almost alone in this park is always a surreal experience, and one I’m used to having late at night.

The quiet also afforded us a clear view of the central hub’s north side, which has been almost entirely stripped of the construction walls that crowded this area on my last visit.

Finally, we passed through the castle into Fantasyland, curved clockwise around the Carousel (the area immediately in front of Princess Fairytale Hall is roped off until rope-drop),…

…and approached Be Our Guest just in time to see Seven Dwarfs Mine Train making a test run.

Be Our Guest Breakfast Check-In and Ordering

Once at the gates before Beast’s bridge, our MagicBands were again swiftly scanned, and we were sent directly to the front doors, with no sign of the exterior queuing I’ve witnessed during lunch.

We were handed a menu with the prices and selections all printed on one side. I asked for a second menu and was told to share; perhaps they don’t have enough on hand yet.

Our wait in the corridor of talking armor was also mercifully short, and we were soon handed a “rose” and directed to an ordering station, where a live cashier assisted us in making our selections. By this time, we had been asked several times how many people were in our party, so I didn’t attempt to order fewer meals than we had reserved for, or order a kids meal for an adult.

They were filming (possibly for a commercial) in the queue, but it didn’t noticeably slow our line down.

I did note that vegetarian and gluten-free options are offered, and that the pay stations are ApplePay enabled; our cashier seemed amazed as I tapped my iPhone to complete our order.

All told, it was only five minutes from the time we arrived for our Be Our Guest breakfast until we were finding seats in the atmospheric West Wing (ironically, I sat at the identical table during my recent experience with Be Our Guest lunch preordering), which was busy but not quite as packed as I’m used to seeing it.

There were also a number of tables available in the main ballroom.

The side room with the ornate music box was closed to diners when I arrived, then opened briefly and closed again. Even when closed for seating, it was still available for viewing and taking photos.

Be Our Guest Breakfast Food and Beverages

Thirteen minutes after we placed our order, a food cart “magically” arrived with our meals. Every breakfast starts with a shared tray of pastries. This is the portion for two adults.

 

The tray include a sweet bun, two tiny muffins (blueberry and bran), a croissant, and a flaky chocolate pastry. For the entrees, we ordered the signature open-faced poached egg and bacon sandwich, and the meat and cheese platter.

 

The egg sandwich appears to be the big winner on the Be Our Guest breakfast bill of fare. The eggs were perfectly runny in the center, the bacon crispy, and the presentation rustic yet contemporary.

Our only complaint that our dish was delivered luke-warm instead of piping hot. Also, the cup of fruit on the side contains the standard assortment of grapes and under-ripe melon.

 

If you are feeling European, the meat and cheese board is a a selection of sliced cured meats (including a thin-sliced serrano ham and slightly spicy sopressata), a couple small wedges of brie, and a half loaf of crusty bread, all served on a slab of wood.

A small dish of delicious orange marmalade accompanies the spread, along with a single sliced strawberry that barely qualifies as a garnish. However, there are no pickles or mustards, as is typical of a charcuterie plate, and only one type of cheese is included.

I’d love this meal in the mid-afternoon with a big glass of wine, but my taste buds may be a bit too American to appreciate this style of eating at the break of dawn. Either way, while the portion may appear small, it was more than sufficiently dense in protein and carbohydrates to satisfy my appetite.

Speaking of wine, there are sadly no mimosas or bloody marys served here. Every meal does include your choice of beverage, but here’s a trick: bottled drinks like juice and Perrier are single-serve and delivered with your meal, but fountain sodas and hot drinks are self-service and unlimited.

 

Double up by ordering a bottle of orange juice, then also grabbing a cup of coffee or cocoa from the drink stations in each dining room.

 

Be Our Guest Breakfast Summary and Value Analysis

Is breakfast at Be Our Guest a good value for your time and money?

Let’s start with the positives:

• The interior of Be Our Guest restaurant is beautiful, and eating there is currently the only way to see it.
• Lunch and dinner reservations at Be Our Guest are extremely popular, and you may have better luck booking breakfast on a given day.
• Be Our Guest breakfast is cheaper than dinner, and can be cheaper than lunch, depending on what you order.
• The food quality of everything we sampled was very good, especially compared to the Harry Potter breakfasts at Universal Orlando.
• If you book the first reservation of the morning and eat quickly, you may be able to beat the crowd coming from the front to the queues of popular rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

On the flip side, here are some negatives:

• At $19.99 plus tax for adults ($11.99 for kids 9 and under), this isn’t a cheap breakfast, and unlike Crystal Palace it isn’t all you can eat. Assuming standard Disney quick-service prices for the beverage ($3.79 for orange juice and $2.29 for coffee) and a couple pastries ($3-$4 each), the entree portion is valued around $10. That price is high (though not outrageous) by theme park standards, and may motivate you to skip lunch altogether in order to recoup some savings.
• Also unlike Crystal Palace, Be Our Guest breakfast is NOT a character meal. The only time the Beast appears at his restaurant is during the table-service dinner.
• Unless you eat early and quickly enough to finish well before rope drop, you’re wasting the most valuable touring time of the day by breakfasting at Be Our Guest. Because we lingered over our meal and looked around the restaurant, we didn’t depart until nearly an hour after arriving, by which time a busy day in the park was well underway. If you are trying to see as many attractions as you can in one day, it’s much more efficient to eat breakfast at your hotel or on the way to the parks.

If you still decide you want to dine here but can’t secure a reservation on your chosen day, try asking in person outside the gates shortly before the breakfast service concludes at 10 a.m. During my visit, walk-up guests were being accepted with no waiting as I was departing.

Have you tried Be Our Guest breakfast yet, or are you planning to? Let us know in the comments below!