Tips for Making Be Our Guest Restaurant Reservations
Advance Dining Reservations can be booked for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, and here’s our strategy & tips for scoring those hard-to-get ADRs. After being shut out of getting ADRs there more times than I care to admit, I think I have some helpful tips to offer to ensure that you’re able to score those elusive reservations.
At first, I thought it was simply a matter of waiting for the initial hype of the restaurant to die down, as we were unable to get ADRs during our first couple of trips shortly after it opened. Fast forward almost 4 years later, and it’s still the most popular restaurant in all of Walt Disney World. In fact, I wasn’t even able to score a dinner ADR at Be Our Guest Restaurant until our recent trip. Some of this is because I simply don’t plan 180 days in advance anymore, which is when the window for booking ADRs opens for the restaurant.
In fact, ADRs are often long gone by the 180 day mark. That may not make sense, but the first tip isn’t really a tip so much as it is a simple fact of life: if you’re staying on-site at a Walt Disney World hotel, there’s a good chance you’ll be shut out for dinner even at the 180 day mark. This is because on-site guests can start making ADRs 180 days before the start of their trip, not the day before they want to dine. In other words, if you’re staying on-site and have a 7-day vacation starting on September 26 (180 days from today), you could make ADRs starting today not just for September 26, but for the duration of your trip, whereas off-site guests could only make ADRs for September 26 or sooner.
Given that there are around 80,000+ guests staying on-site in Walt Disney World on any night, this is a lot of people who potentially can book reservations for Be Our Guest Restaurant before the window for off-site guests even opens. Granted, the vast majority of guests know nothing about ADRs and won’t try book reservations at the 180 window, but around 1% of those guests could book dinner and the restaurant would fill up.
If you’re staying on-site, it’s good practice to try booking Be Our Guest Restaurant as soon as your window opens, and for as far into your vacation as you can. It’s going to be easier to score an ADR later in your vacation, since fewer people will have access to those farther-out dates when your booking window opens. In other words, if you’re doing a 7-day vacation, book an ADR for day 6 or 7 and plan your park days around that ADR. You might even make a couple of ADRs so that you can cancel one after park hours are released. If you’re not staying on-site, well…good luck. Try right when your 180 day window opens, and repeat as necessary for subsequent days of your trip.
Let’s just assume for a second that you’re unable to score one of those coveted ADRs far in advance of your trip. Fortunately, there are other options…
There used to be ADR booking tools, a couple of which had a membership fee and enabled you to set up watches for availability within your parameters. However, Disney shut these services down, and they no longer exist. (We present this as words of caution–don’t pay a membership for a site like this, as it won’t work!)
The next option is something I have tried (albeit not for Be Our Guest Restaurant), and that’s calling 407-WDW-Dine at about 49-50 hours before I want to eat at a particular restaurant that I’ve seen fully booked online. This doesn’t always work, but I’ve had pretty good success with snagging last-minute ADRs for restaurants that were previously booked.
Although the systems online and over the phone are supposed to be identical, I swear I have better luck last-minute over the phone…but perhaps that’s just in my head.
The final option is walking up to Be Our Guest Restaurant on the day-of. This works best if you’re a small party, and Sarah and her sister, along with numerous other people we know, have been able to get reservations this way. I’ve personally tried it and had success, too, but have only been given times that conflicted with other plans…so I guess that’s not really success after all.
I think this works best when Cast Members first show up to the kiosk out in front of the restaurant and then again at right around 4 pm. Again, that could be in my head, too. Just anecdotal experience that may not translate to a wider sample.
As for the mechanics of making the ADR itself, it’s pretty simple.
I normally prefer the My Disney Experience app, but that’s just personal preference. It’s just a matter of clicking the dining tab at the top, and then clicking Be Our Guest Restaurant.
Then you click “Find a Table.” You’ll note that at present, the times for breakfast aren’t listed, but you can make breakfast ADRs during the test period through June 18. We’ve heard word that breakfast at Be Our Guest Restaurant is incredibly popular, so we would be surprised if this test isn’t made permanent. Look for an announcement on that in the near future.
Success! Availability for breakfast at 9:50 am only 2 months out!
Or…not. Thwarted by a classic My Disney Experience error message. Given all of the errors I’ve had with the app, I’m beginning to suspect the app developers are not fans of this blog and have programmed it to not work for me. Okay, I’ll remove the tin foil and try out the website…
Trying the same date on the website, and I once again see availability. Different time, but it’s there. Will I finally taste the sweet flavors of a victorious breakfast at Be Our Guest Restaurant? SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT PHOTO’S CAPTION TO SEE THE GRIPPING CONCLUSION OF THIS LEGENDARY SAGA.
VICTORY IS MINE. Well, it’s mine once I get through the payment screen, but you don’t need to see my credit card details. Rest assured, I did get the ADR.
Dinner is a totally different story. Even 180 days out, there’s nothing. Same for 179, 178, and so on, days out. While breakfast and lunch are popular at Be Our Guest Restaurant, the higher capacity for these meals means that it’s much easier to score reservations for them. I’ve had no trouble snagging ADRs for lunch in the past, and based on playing around with the system now, it seems like breakfast is roughly the same. Just be prepared to try out a few different days and be flexible if you’re not booking too far in advance.
Overall, the key to Be Our Guest Restaurant ADRs is persistence, staying on-site to get the 180+ day window, and booking as soon as your window opens. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the headache for dinner, but then again, I’m on the lazy side. Sarah really enjoyed her dinner there, and after several lunches here over the course of the last couple of years, Be Our Guest Restaurant has slowly grown on us and taken the crown as our favorite Magic Kingdom restaurant. It’s a must-visit for lunch, especially if you’re unable to score the elusive Be Our Guest dinner reservations. The prices for breakfast seem a tad on the steep side, but we figure we’ll try it once and see if it’s worth the money. Regardless of when you go, Be Our Guest Restaurant is worth visiting at least once, if only to experience the exceptional ambiance.
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Your Thoughts…
What do you think of Be Our Guest Restaurant? Have you scored ADRs here? Is it worth the effort? What meals have you eaten here? Share your thoughts in the comments!
We’ve gotten reservations both times we’ve tried. I think the key is being willing to take whatever times are available (we’re eating dinner at 9:25 in July). And yes, you really do have to book 180 days out from your first day of a stay. The decor is amazing, although last February, they though we’d be thrilled to be near the fake snowy window… but we’re from New England and just wanted to be warm. 🙂
I was able to snag a BOG dinner reservation for my impromptu trip last week. I tried every day for a week and finally got one for 5:40pm! This was the second time we ate there, and both times I got a reservation was when I was checking the website in the morning around 8am. Be sure to not pass up the French Onion Soup. It’s delicious!
We have reservations for 4 lunch and dinner BOG this Sunday Easter. We called Disney dining last week. So thrilled.
Another tool that I just learned of yesterday would apply here: disneydiningbuddy.com it’s similar to the sniping service you mentioned, but you pay $8 per restaurant you request rather than a membership fee.
I agree that it somehow seems wrong – although I’m not sure wrong to use it, or just wrong to pay an extra $8 to get a food reservation. But I suppose some could factor it into the price of a meal (party of 6 at CRT? What’s an extra $8?), or liken it to tipping a concierge at a hotel.
for me, I just made a daily routine to spend 1-2 minutes while eating lunch to check the website, and one day a reservation popped up!
I keep checking but haven’t managed to find one for any time that we’re there. There’s a 10:30 lunch slot before we arrive that day, but that is all. :/
I got one! Some were released for breakfast!
I guess we are lucky.
In May we are returning to WDW since our last visit in 2009 and I looked for an opening on June 1 for breakfast and it was available. Booked it via the my magic + app. First time that I use this system and I think it works great, no complaints yet. We really want to see what all the fuss is about.
When I was in Disney last May, I wasn’t even going to try to get a dinner reservation at Be Our Guest. But as we were in Magic Kingdom, my boyfriend and I decided we would try to eat there. We tried walking up to the reservation desk out front several times to see if anything was open – but no luck.
Finally, one of the hostesses suggested that we try to combine parties of 2. We found 2 other parties of 2 that were also trying to get a reservation and formed a large group of 6 – and got a table right away! Inside, there are many tables that seat 8, so they won’t seat parties of 2 at them. Eating dinner with our new friends was one of my favorite experiences! One pair was a young couple from England and the other was a mother/daughter pair from Mexico – we were a very diverse group and I had fun getting to know them in the awesome Be Our Guest ambiance.
So if you’re a small party that is trying to eat dinner at Be Our Guest – go ahead and try forming a large group with some other small groups who are also trying to score a reservation. You might just get lucky!
For two seconds then until I looked at the numbers I thought you were the people who dined with us on our first trip. We are an English couple and did exactly the same thing with two other families.
Ours was in 2013 on our honeymoon. We went to the kiosk outside the main gates for BOG every night that we were at MK trying to get lucky. One night, we were about to come away after being disappointed again, when the lady at the kiosk made an off-hand comment about only having a table that could seat nine guests available that evening. Lightbulb! She agreed that the table would need at least seven guests for her to give it away. We turned to the other people waiting and asked them to join us for dinner. Eventually we teamed up with two other families. Making friends made the meal that little bit more amazing. In fact the waitress was so impressed by our little story that she took it back to the kitchens and we were served the then-elusive ‘grey stuff’ at the end of our meal!
I’m staying thru DVC in Sept & my 180 window + 10 just opened on Saturday. I went online thru MyDisneyExperience at 6am EST (midnight HST!) and was able to get a 920pm ADR for BOG for a Saturday night. Just today after reading this article, I tried to see if there were any BOG dinner ADRs & I was able to find a few. Maybe the key is staying at on-property & planning ahead?
FYI-not all restaurants would let me book online at my 180+10 window thru MDE. I still had to call in at 7am EST (1am HST) to book ADRs for Boma, Yachtsman, Garden View Tea Room & Tusker House. Skip directly to a CM because the automated option doesn’t acknowledge your Disney hotel reservation & have your reservation # ready.
I hadn’t booked a Disney resort hotel until after I made most of my dining reservations, so you don’t necessarily need to stay on site to get reservations at BOG. However, I’m talking about visiting in May. Trying to book BOG now for the Fall when there will be a free dining promotion is another matter. Dinner at BOG using dining plan credits is not a good value, however, with desserts barely topping $4.
I think calling is always best. We are going in may with a large group. In feb I tried to do all our adrs online but it kept telling me there was no availability. I finally cracked and called and after getting through the annoying voice system the cast member was able to get reservations everywhere we wanted for our entire group of 15 with no problem.
For bog the disney website and all the and all the adr system crashed until about 230pm central on the first day you could make lunch reservations. I finally was able to make a reservation for 10 online and then called and the cast member was able to change it to 15 no problem.
Even for hotels, online i tried to book at pop century for 2 adults, an 8yo, and 2yo twins and it said that exceeded the capacity. I called and again no problem with my booking.
For disney ive been disappointed with website, app and even the voice system on phone. At least when i finally get to a cast member they are always extremely helpful and able to accommodate almost any request.
Even with the ADR’s is Be Our Guest still considered counter service for lunch (and breakfast)?
Yes! And you can preorder your meal 30 days in advance and it will be ready when you get there!
Tom, are you guys going to be at WDW on May 7th? My husband and I are heading down that weekend too. Thursday is actually our first day there and we have ADRs for BOG for lunch that afternoon! We will keep an eye out for you around the parks!
We tried the BOG in Dec of 2013 and I have to say, I wasn’t very impressed with the food. The decor was stunning but I rather spend my pennies at the California Grill, that was an amazing dinner and worth every single penny, plus you can’t beat the view!
Our last trip was a late-planned decision, with on 4 months from the initial decision to 1st day on vacation. Needless to say, ADRs for Be Our Guest were long gone. Which was difficult, because it was one of the top experiences my wife wanted for this visit.
Like others, I obsessively checked the MDE app nearly every day to see if anything popped up. I was resigned to attempting to camp the line for lunch by the 2 month mark.
Then, late one night as I checked one last time before bed- several reservations popped up for the date of our Magic Kingdom day. As I hurriedly tapped the screen I was afraid it was some kind of glitch. I wasn’t 100% sure it was confirmed until I received the e-mail.
Needless to say, I was a hero that night, and when the evening came around- it was certainly worth the effort.
So, keep checking folks. Don’t give up!
you chose the Kermit icon!! The layers of mystery slowly are revealed,..
We haven’t been able to snag dinner reservations to Be Our Guest yet (we don’t get to try very often), but my wife and I typically call about 24 hours before we’d like to dine, right around when people would have to be cancelling their reservations to avoid the late-cancellation surcharge. I’d say this works >50% of the time when trying to get a reservation at a usually ‘unbookable’ restaurant. We’ve also had success checking for space first thing in the morning on the day we’re planning to dine. I think this is due to some people cancelling right before midnight of the day of their reservations.
We’re a young couple without kids, so we like to play things by ear and not make many reservations. We usually don’t even know what park we’re going to until the day before. This method isn’t foolproof, obviously, but I think it gets us the best opportunistic chance of getting a res at a place like Be Our Guest without compromising our touring style. Then again, we haven’t gotten to eat there yet. 😉
We went to Be Our Guest for dinner last week, having booked a reservation exactly 180 days in advance of our trip (we were staying offsite, so I guess we were just lucky to get the reservation right at 180 days). But…I just don’t get the hype of this place at all! The food was only so-so (my french onion soup was really overly salty, and my shrimp/scallop in puff pastry was very “meh,” especially the frozen and generally pretty unimpressive shrimp. Really, they were icky). Our server was amazing, and the desserts were certainly good, but with all the hype around “the grey stuff,” to me it wasn’t any more amazing than a really good dessert elsewhere.
Not only that, but our party of 5 was placed in the library room on the right, which was nothing more exciting than a banquet hall. The library room, by the way, is apparently only recently open for dinner, and it was not even half full. I was astounded to see a room only half full, knowing of the difficulty in getting a reservation here. Wouldn’t management want to fill the entire place to capacity as often as possible? I just kept thinking about all the people who were probably unable to get a reservation that night, and how unfortunate it was that the room was more than half empty.
I’d so much rather take the $150 that it cost me for meals for 2 adults and 2 kids and spend that money at Boma, Flying Fish, Narcoossee’s (which I know you don’t love, but which I consistently adore), or even Earl of Sandwich. Be Our Guest? I just don’t get the hype.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. BOG for dinner is way over hyped and certainly not worth the effort it can take to get a reservation there. I’ve tried it twice now and both meals were not good at all. I say if you can’t get a reservation for dinner, don’t stress about it. Go for lunch or breakfast if you really want to see the inside. The atmosphere is the best thing about this place, especially if you are a beauty and the beast fan.
My husband and I tried breakfast at BOG the day after it opened (3/21) and we both thought it was pretty disappointing. There are so many other delicious options for breakfast around the MK area (The Wave, Kona Cafe, Trail’s End) that are less money and true table service restaurants. You’re paying more just to eat inside the castle but don’t reap any of the benefits that a table service meal would have (i.e. servers, non-styrofoam mugs, not waiting in line for 15 minutes to order your meal,Table in Wonderland eligible… I could go on). For FL resident AP’s like us, a $20 prix fixe breakfast at BOG doesn’t hold a lot of value since we can see inside the castle any time.
This past October, I had no plans to go to BOG since I’d been there before. While walking past it during MNSSHP, a CM outside the restaurant asked if we were interested since they had open tables. My friends and I decided to go for it (because alcohol). I think since BOG doesn’t take reservations after a certain time on party nights, there’s a good chance they’ll have open tables later in the night if you stop by.
I was able to snag a dinner reservation for this past October. We booked inside the 180 day window, and it was full for dinner everyday when I first checked. I checked MDE every day, multiple times a day, for our stay. It helps there were only two of us, but after a month or two of that I found one for later at night, after nine, but found one nonetheless. Persistence is a great way if you really want it.
I can’t agree with this comment more – I took it to heart and my perseverance paid off. When I first checked MDE about a month and a half before my trip, there was no availability for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I checked back almost everyday, sometimes twice or three times a day (I’m a big foodie and Beauty and the Beast fan!). First, a breakfast reservation came up – I took it but continued to search for lunch and dinner because I like to ride as many rides as possible in the morning. About 2 weeks later, a lunch reservation opened up, so I took that instead. Finally, very early this morning, a week before the trip, I secured a dinner reservation for 7:20pm (ideal!). I was also only booking for 2 people, so that may have helped, but when at first you don’t succeed…
Upon our last visit to WDW, we tried and tried and tried for an ADR, 180 days out, at Be Our Guest. Once We realized that it was not in the cards for us, we decided on lunch. We were told by good friends of ours that they had asked about the lunch time rush, and they were told to show up around 10:30am to stand in line for a lunch seating. We did just that and while only standing in line for about 20-30 mins, we were able to get in and have our Be Our Guest lunch! I kind of wish they would have left lunch a non – reservation meal, so I don’t believe this will be a good method anymore. I guess for our next WDW visit in October I will have to be a little more mindful of that 180 window and try, try, try! “Try the grey stuff, it’s delicious!”