WDW’s “Be Our Guest” restaurant really is putting its servers to the test

Jim Hill

12 years ago

When many Guests enter New Fantasyland at The Magic Kingdom and see the Beast’s Castle looming in the distance, their initial thought is “Ooh! I wanna go on that ride.”

Which explains that trio of Cast Members that you’ll typically find stationed along the bridge that leads up to this impressive-looking structure. As these folks cheerily explain to all those looking to enter this building’s queue (especially when lunch is being served), “Be Our Guest” isn’t really an attraction. But — rather — a dining experience.

Mind you, the Imagineers hadn’t planned on staffing “Be Our Guest” ‘s entrance bridge when they initially designed this enormous eatery. But as has been the case with a lot of the day-to-day operational issues associated withnthis New Fantasyland restaurant, “Be Our Guest” has been kind of a learn-as-you-go experience for everyone involved with the official launch / initial break-in period of this massive new restaurant.

Don’t get me wrong. When it comes to theming & detailing (not to mention the amazing cutting-edge technology that powers the lunchtime dining experience at “Be Our Guest”), this New Fantasyland restaurant is second to none. If anything, the Imagineers may have done the whole theming & detail thing a little TOO well.

Case in point: This restaurant’s West Wing area. In order to accommodate the numerous light-driven effects (which happen on a 15 minute-long cycle, by the way) that happen in this section of “Be Our Guest,” the West Wing is deliberately kept dark. How dark? So dark that the servers who work in this room during dinnertime were recently issued flashlights, so that they can then help Guests who have been genuinely struggling to read their menus in the extremely dim lighting in this part of the restaurant.

And speaking of that 15 minute-long cycle … Guests who get seated in the West Wing tend to linger a lot longer over dinner (i.e. two hours versus an hour and a half. Which is how long a WDW visitor who’s seated in “Be Our Guest” ‘s ballroom area typically dawdles over their dinner at this elaborately themed eatery). If only because these Guests want to be sure that they’ve see all of the effects in action (EX: the petals dropping off of the enchanted rose, the lightning strike that transforms the Prince’s face in that painting to the face of the Beast) before they then vacate the premises.

Which wouldn’t be a problem (After all, the Imagineers put all of these details in here because they wanted people to soak up this romantic atmosphere, feel like they’d walked straight into this classic Disney animated feature). Except for the fact that when Walt Disney World began taking dinner reservations for “Be Our Guest” back in August, the assumption was that the longest that people would typically take to do dinner at this New Fantasyland restaurant was an hour and 15 minutes.

So as you can imagine, with people hanging on at “Be Our Guest” for 15 – 45 minutes longer than expected, the impact that this is having on WDW visitors who have reserved the later seating times at this highly themed eatery is pretty significant. I’ve heard stories of some Guests who were finally seated an hour and a half to two hours after their original seating time.

So what is management of “Be Our Guest” doing to try and alleviate this issue? To be honest, given that Walt Disney World’s dining reservations can now be booked six months in advance, there isn’t a lot that they can do right now other than just muddle through. Do what they can to accommodate the Guests who have already booked reservations for this New Fantasyland restaurant (EX: If you show up at 3:30 p.m. for a 4 p.m. dinner reservation, the staff at “Be Our Guest” will then make every effort to seat you and your party immediately. With the hope that this will then get you in & out of their eatery that much quicker) while at the same time cutting back on the number of seatings that will be available for booking at “Be Our Guest” starting in mid-2013.

Now what’s kind of interesting about this extra 15-to-45 minutes that people have been dawdling over dinner at this New Fantasyland restaurant is that many Magic Kingdom insiders believe it’s the alcohol that’s making them do this. That — because “Be Our Guest” is the only restaurant at the Magic Kingdom where beer and wine is now being served — a lot of people aren’t automatically bolting their dinners so that they can then go out & get back in line for Space Mountain & The Haunted Mansion. If anything, they’re lingering so that they can then order a second $6.25 mug of Kronenbourg or another $16 glass of Lasseter Family St. Emilion Red Blend.

Don’t worry. The folks at Walt Disney World will eventually get this all sorted out. If anything, they’re hoping that — when Fast Pass Plus starts to come online next year — that many WDW visitors will just opt to use that program’s order-a-quick-service-meal-in-advance-as-you’re-standing-in-line-at-some-attraction app when it comes to doing lunch at “Be Our Guest.” Which (it is hoped) will significantly cut back on the number of Guests standing in the brutal Florida noonday sun on that bridge as they wait to enter this elegant new eatery.

In fact, just this week, Disney is field-testing Fast Pass Plus at “Be Our Guest.” With WDW visitors who have been recruited to take part in this test being issued gold rose-shaped pagers once they place their lunchtime orders. Which supposedly guarantees these Fast Pass Plus test participants super-fast service.

But when it comes to New Fantasyland, folks … Well, for all this talk of “New Fantasyland is now officially open at The Magic Kingdom,” the fact of that matter is that this part of that theme park is still very much a work-in-progress. And what with all of the work that still needs to be done on Princess Fairytale Hall and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride, it may actually take ’til January of 2014 ’til New Fantasyland is operating the way that WDW management had initially hoped it would. Delivering a top quality Guest experience to all those who venture back into this newly reimagined portion of that theme park.

Which is why — if you arrive at “Be Our Guest” for dinner over the next six months or so and find that they’re not immediately able to seat you — my advice / request is that you cut the Cast Members who are working at this New Fantasyland restaurant a little slack. After all, it’s not their fault that — because of this eatery’s exquisite theming and/or the availability of alcohol — that Guests who are already inside are hanging on in the place 15-to-45 minutes longer than expected. Which really is putting “Be Our Guest” ‘s servers to the test.

Your thoughts?

EDITOR’S NOTE: My apologies for it being so long between stories here on JHM, folks. But while I was down at Walt Disney World last week taking part in the New Fantasyland media event, I got food poisoning. (And — no — it wasn’t because of something I ate at “Be Our Guest,” Gaston’s Tavern or any of the party food that was served over the course of this three day-long event. If anything, I think I just got a bad orange while I was visiting the Hospitality Center. Which meant — not to get too graphic here — that I then spent most of last week’s media event not eating while I became overly-familiar with dozens of Disney World restrooms). Then — to add insult to injury — once I got back home to New Hampshire, my laptop immediately blue-screened.

Nancy and I are headed out later today to a data recovery service see if any of the photos & interviews that I got at last week’s event can now be saved. As for my Samsung … Since it’s still under warranty (I only bought the thing back in February), I’m sending it off shortly so that its hard drive (which seems to have a bad sector) can then be replaced.

But in the meantime, I’m borrowing Nancy’s laptop to use to file new stories on JHM & the Huffington Post. More to the point, I’ll be steering clear of oranges for the foreseeable future. So please hang in there. Things should get back to normal shortly.