Walt Disney World has a handful of flagship eating experiences which have turn out to be iconic through the years. Amongst these are Chef Mickey’s, Cinderella’s Royal Desk, California Grill, ‘Ohana, and extra. We’d add Be Our Visitor Restaurant to that record, which is now been standard for over a decade, providing Magic Kingdom’s second in-castle meal and themed design impressed by Magnificence and the Beast.
Ask 10 totally different Walt Disney World followers whether or not they agree with this “iconic” evaluation and also you’re prone to get 10 very passionate solutions. Some like it, simply as many hate it. In terms of overrated eating places at Walt Disney World, Be Our Visitor Restaurant is the one we hear talked about most often by readers. For our half, we’ve been lucky with optimistic experiences at Be Our Visitor Restaurant and have dined right here over a dozen occasions because it debuted over a decade in the past.
With that mentioned, so much has modified since Be Our Visitor opened, and the restaurant is inarguably a shadow of its former self in some regards. The desk service dinner expanded to exchange the beloved counter service lunch. As soon as among the best makes use of of a Disney Eating Plan credit score, breakfast nonetheless isn’t again. The prix fixe service that debuted to exchange the a la carte desk service menu has been scaled again and a few entrees have been simplified. Really, that final level is exactly why I returned to Be Our Visitor Restaurant for this meal–an expanded particular occasions menu that sounded very intriguing and begging to be reviewed…
Earlier than we get began, in the event you’re planning forward for 2025 or perhaps a regular lunch, you would possibly need to as an alternative learn our extra complete evaluation: Is Be Our Visitor Restaurant Nonetheless Well worth the Cash? That covers the traditional menu and what the expertise is like now, delicacies high quality, Advance Eating Reservation problem, and extra. It additionally addresses whether or not Be Our Visitor might be price it on the Disney Eating Plan.
This evaluation focuses on Be Our Visitor Restaurant through the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration, when the next particular menu objects can be found:
- Pumpkin Crème Caramel with bitter cherry jam and pumpkin seed brittle
- Roasted Beef Marrow Bone: Pinot noir-beef marmalade, toasted baguette, and pickled mustard seeds
- Beef Brief Rib and Purple Potatoes braised with purple wine, figs, peppers, and a contact of darkish chocolate
- Solid Iron Trout: Charred calamari, squid ink breadcrumbs, black garlic, and saffron aïoli
- Roasted Poulet Rouge Rooster: Caramelized pumpkin, pomegranate, and pumpkin seed sauce
- The Good-looking Brute: Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Chambord Liqueur, pomegranate juice, and lemon juice garnished with a sugared rim and raspberries
I searched excessive and low on Google and scoured social media for data on what time this particular menu began through the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration.
Lo and behold, it was proper there on the official on-line menu: “Beginning at 6:00 PM on Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Celebration occasion nights, Be Our Visitor Restaurant will serve a particular themed menu together with modified seasonal and Halloween-inspired dishes.”
By this level, it was too late for me to make an Advance Eating Reservation for six pm, my desired time slot. Truthfully, I’m undecided whether or not I might’ve even when it had been an possibility. I prefer to take the 60-90 minutes earlier than Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration to do laps of Magic Kingdom, trying out issues through the mix-in which can be related to my analysis or technique guides.
My hope was thus that the net menu was improper, or that the restaurant would provide some wiggle room to occasion attendees. So I made the newest doable ADR throughout mix-in, which was 4:40 pm on the date of my occasion. I continued to verify day-of for a later time, all to no avail.
Quick-forward to MNSSHP occasion day, and I headed to Be Our Visitor Restaurant round 2 pm to see whether or not it’d be doable to order from the particular occasion menu. Lengthy story brief, not one of the Solid Members knew for certain, however one appeared to verify that I’d be capable to, as long as I had my occasion bracelet. I made a decision to roll with this, figuring out it was nonetheless a big gamble and I might need to eat the cancellation payment.
A little bit of an apart, however whereas I used to be ready for a Solid Member to ‘radio in’ my query and get a solution, 3 totally different teams of company approached Be Our Visitor Restaurant and requested whether or not it’s a experience. I’m not shocked this occurs–I’m certain Solid Members get requested “is that this a experience?” about every little thing from the Woody’s Lunchbox to the Tangled Bathrooms (though the latter would rapidly be answered by getting into the “attraction”). It was simply wild to witness 3 occasions within the span of ~5 minutes.
After checking into Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration a bit after 4:15 pm, I made my manner over to Fantasyland and checked into Be Our Visitor Restaurant.
There was very clearly a shift change that occurred since my go to earlier within the day, as each Solid Member on the restaurant knew all in regards to the particular menu for MNSSHP and so they had been proactively advising company of it. Though issues might all the time change, I’m thus fairly assured what follows is the unofficial coverage–not the above quote from the net menu.
Beginning at 4 pm on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration dates, company eating at Be Our Visitor Restaurant are requested whether or not they’re staying for the occasion. If that’s the case, they should present proof of occasion admission (they had been encouraging company to go seize wristbands from PhilharMagic). Company with legitimate admission to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration are capable of order from the particular occasion menu.
Company who do not need MNSSHP tickets are given yellow wristbands. This presumably dictates which menu they obtain as soon as seated and the way they’re handled upon exiting if it’s after 6 pm. (I say “presumably” as a result of I believe there’s a YMMV ingredient with the menu–however I solely dined right here as a MNSSHP visitor, so I don’t know the way it labored in apply for anybody else.)
Word that though that is written about MNSSHP, I’d assume the identical will apply for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration. Heck, I wouldn’t be shocked if the particular menu is generally and even precisely the identical.
As soon as seated, my server got here by with a menu–that seemed to be the common dinner menu with the above Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration choices highlighted–together with a chef’s particular flier for a limited-time entree possibility of Steak Frites: Sluggish-roasted Butcher’s Steak, Home-cut French Fries, and Choron Sauce.
As famous above, Be Our Visitor Restaurant presently affords an all-day prix fixe menu for lunch and dinner. This prices $70 per grownup and $41 per youngster, plus tax and gratuity (minus any reductions). The meal additionally features a common drink (Coca-Cola merchandise) and bread service, which isn’t provided in any respect Walt Disney World eating places.
I used to be seated on the very entrance of the restaurant, within the nook of the Grand Ballroom. Sarah and I’ve truly been seated on this similar spot (plus or minus a few tables) on two earlier events. I don’t thoughts it. No different events subsequent to you or overhearing your dialog, and also you’re away from the motion however nonetheless get to benefit from the environment.
One of many largest criticisms of Be Our Visitor Restaurant is that it’s loud, crowded and chaotic. The Grand Ballroom principal eating corridor is cavernous and tables are tightly packed, making it really feel like a flowery mess corridor. We’ve voiced this concern in previous opinions, and that the Grand Ballroom is our least favourite eating room at Be Our Visitor Restaurant.
If it’s your first time at Be Our Visitor, we advocate requesting to be seated in a unique room. The West Wing is my favourite of the rooms, but it surely has a foreboding feeling and darkish look that may make it scary for young children. The Fort Gallery is extra intimate, brighter, and quieter–making it a great decide for households. You may all the time stroll across the Grand Ballroom in the event you so need (go as much as the home windows and take a look at the snow!).
Each dinner at Be Our Visitor Restaurant begins with bread service. To my shock, this wasn’t the usual hard-as-a-hockey-puck dinner rolls, however as an alternative a heat and tender French baguette. This is rather like the baguettes bought at Le Halles Boulangerie Patisserie in World Showcase’s France pavilion at EPCOT.
Regardless of being a celebration of 1, I obtained a whole baguette! That is such a minor factor–these baguettes aren’t precisely costly–but it surely has a significant impression on the standard of the meal, making a powerful first impression. I actually hope this can be a everlasting change, as a result of it’s the kind of consideration to element that has an outsized impression. It’s the “huge little issues” that cumulatively add as much as make a giant distinction, and Walt Disney World must relearn how a lot they matter.
For appetizers, there are usually 5 totally different selections, with the apparent alternative from a value-for-money and high quality perspective being the Escargot de Bourgogne. I do know quite a lot of followers love the French Onion Soup, and so they’re proper–it’s good. However it’s objectively horrible from a bang-for-buck perspective.
Nonetheless, this meal was all in regards to the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration 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 within the first place. I really like this dish, and have discovered it’s one which Walt Disney World can do fairly properly at its steakhouses. I used to be barely skeptical that Be Our Visitor, an in-park restaurant that’s centered on churning individuals out and in, might pull it off as properly, however wished to search out out.
This bone marrow appetizer is phenomenal–and sizable. It’s among the best dishes I’ve ever eaten at Magic Kingdom, and a spotlight of all of the menus Be Our Visitor has had through the years.
The bone marrow offers a wealthy, creamy, and fatty taste that’s sweetened by the marmalade. It’s succulent and soften in your mouth scrumptious–actually a next-level dish that I’d count on from a Signature Restaurant at one of many resorts. (Be Our Visitor is technically a Signature Restaurant, but it surely’s not even remotely the identical.)
I extremely advocate the Roasted Beef Marrow Bone, even over the escargot. We’re each going again for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration, and I’m already making ready to make an ADR within the hopes that this sticks round for that particular occasion so we each can strive it. (There’s nothing “Halloweeny” about Roasted Beef Marrow Bone. Nicely, perhaps the ‘bone’ half?)
There are additionally 5 entrees on the traditional menu at Be Our Visitor Restaurant–the Seared Pork Tenderloin, Trout Amandine, Pan-roasted Squash, Roasted Poulet Rouge Rooster, and Grilled Filet Mignon. The added choices for MNSSHP are the Beef Brief Rib, Solid Iron Trout with Charred Calamari, and a twist on the Roasted Poulet Rouge Rooster (with caramelized pumpkin).
I’m a fan of the Pork at Be Our Visitor, however objectively, the Grilled Filet Mignon is the most effective decide of the entrees at Be Our Visitor Restaurant. Our experiences with each this minimize of meat and the preparation thereof have been unequivocally optimistic. Some followers have reported in another way, however we’ve all the time been impressed. I’d go so far as to say that it’s on par with a few of the Signature Eating places. Preparation differs, however the high quality of the minimize is about the identical.
Suffice to say, the Grilled Filet Mignon is what it’s best to order in the event you’re a carnivore doing the common lunch or dinner menu at Be Our Visitor Restaurant. The Grilled Filet Mignon can also be what it’s best to order in the event you’re doing the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration particular menu at Be Our Visitor Restaurant.
Wanting to stay with the precise MNSSHP menu, I ordered the Beef Brief Rib and Purple Potatoes braised with purple wine, figs, peppers, and a contact of darkish chocolate.
I had debated between this and the Solid Iron Trout with Charred Calamari, and looking back, ought to’ve performed the latter. My abdomen was already feeling the burden of the bone marrow and a whole loaf of bread, and this was one other heavy dish on high of that earlier than heading again out in 93 diploma warmth. The Solid Iron Trout would’ve made for, at minimal, a greater balanced meal.
This isn’t to disparage the Beef Brief Rib. It was excellent! It was extremely tender, falling aside when minimize with the fork. The meat was flavorful, and juicy with a fancy savory and candy (and barely acidic) dynamic because of the accompaniments. It has a bit little bit of fats for taste, however not a lot as to render any of the meat inedible. In isolation, I actually appreciated the Beef Brief Rib.
My quibble is that the portion wasn’t that giant, solely barely greater than the Brief Rib I had ordered from Earth Eats solely someday earlier. That dish caught with me and is without doubt one of the highlights of the 2024 EPCOT Meals & Wine Pageant. It solely prices $8.50. Now in equity, there are Beef Brief Rib dishes at Tony’s, Kona and Jiko–and people price $31, $38, and $52. However I’ve had the latter two and so they’re greater and higher than this.
Once more, this Beef Brief Rib at Be Our Visitor Restaurant is excellent. My downside is generally a matter of purchaser’s regret as I immediately regretted not ordering the Solid Iron Trout–even earlier than my entree arrived. On high of that, the unfavorable comparability to the Earth Eats dish. However that may apply equally to you, so I’m presenting my thought course of right here as one thing of a cautionary story.
Lastly, the meal concludes with dessert. Usually, this implies the Dessert Trio: Lemon Jam Macaron, Chocolate Tart topped with the Gray Stuff, and a Darkish Chocolate Truffle. This trio is enjoyable, however nothing particular–it’s all fashion and no substance. It jogs my memory of particular person objects you may get from a buffet, besides not limitless. On condition that it’s (supposedly) a Signature Restaurant, Be Our Visitor ought to provide a fully-fledged dessert menu.
From that perspective, ordering the Pumpkin Crème Caramel with bitter cherry jam and pumpkin seed brittle was a no brainer. Fancy identify apart, that is caramel pudding. You would possibly say it’s flantastic. Severely.
The pumpkin taste within the creamy custard added an earthy sweetness to the wealthy and semi-bitter taste of the caramel dessert. The bitter jam didn’t do a lot for me when paired with the pumpkin, however I appreciated the pumpkin seed brittle as added texture for the flan. (I did find yourself consuming the cherry jam with some leftover brittle–a lot better that manner.)
Now this Pumpkin Crème Caramel is definitely a dessert that’s worthy of a Signature Restaurant. I don’t need to oversell it, because it’s not my favourite (and even high 10) Signature dessert of all-time, but it surely’s a fantastic style of fall with high quality that’s miles above the traditional dessert trio at Be Our Visitor Restaurant.
Earlier this summer time, Beast returned to assembly company in his examine after dinner for an precise meet & greet with pictures, autographs, hugs, and Prime Gun (it needs to be a requirement that each character good this). Solid Members reported that this was in ‘trial or check mode’ and know we all know why–as a result of it ended!
Celebration Season has introduced scaled again daytime meet & greets because of ongoing staffing shortages, and if I needed to guess, this may be why Beast stopped doing the post-dinner meet & greet. But when so, why revert to it in July solely to undo the change from August by December?! I used to be actually trying ahead to that flawlessly executed Prime Gun high-five with the primary man, however I assume now it’ll have to attend till (at the very least) 2025.
In any case, there’s as soon as once more a personality ‘presence’ to the extent that the Beast walks by the varied rooms waving at company. I don’t know the way often this happens, but it surely occurred twice throughout my dinner. In all probability round each half-hour, as I attempted to get out and in pretty rapidly.
Beast solely goes down the widest pathways, so whether or not you see him up shut or from an enormous distance is dependent upon whether or not you’re seated in the course of the room. It’s an okay system…for 2020. 4 years later, the smile and wave whereas pausing ever-so-briefly for selfies simply feels lame. Particularly provided that this meal is now $70 and is handled as a 2-credit Signature Restaurant on the Disney Eating Plan. Do it proper, Disney.
Finally, my particular meal for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration at Be Our Visitor Restaurant was actually good–and it might’ve been nice had I made the proper transfer and ordered the reliably-excellent Filet Mignon or maybe the riskier Solid Iron Trout. I’m nonetheless inclined to say that it’s “good once more” slightly than one thing extra, as Walt Disney World fan opinions of this restaurant have been harm by unrealistic expectations.
We nonetheless advocate Be Our Visitor Restaurant as one of the iconic eating experiences in Magic Kingdom and even Walt Disney World as a complete. You simply need to go in figuring out that it’s a Disney expertise and never a real-world high quality eating institution. That Signature Restaurant standing appears to trick individuals.
It’s inconceivable to dismiss the entire complaints about Be Our Visitor Restaurant. Being a high-capacity restaurant, dangerous experiences are inevitable. However so a lot of these could be minimized or averted totally by requesting the proper room, and ordering the highest-value and finest objects. Having fun with Be Our Visitor Restaurant for what it’s–a memorable meal with that can stand out within the minds of Magnificence and the Beast followers years–if not many years–later. With the formidable particular menu objects for MNSSHP, you’re extra prone to have a memorable meal that makes that top price ticket appear price it.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study motels on our Walt Disney World Lodges Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a novel take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Trip Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every little thing you should know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Be Our Visitor Restaurant? Will you be doing the particular menu for MNSSHP or MVMCP? Is Magic Kingdom’s standard Magnificence and the Beast restaurant definitely worth the hefty price ticket? Is Be Our Visitor Restaurant overhyped and/or overrated? Would you slightly do a desk service meal elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, or is that this the most suitable choice? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!