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!
So, do you need a reservation even for the quick service lunch menu?
Wait I don’t understand. How can I make an ADR before 180 days?
If I have an 8:40 a.m ADR at BE Our Guest on a day the park opens at 9:00 a.m. without morning extra magic hours, will I be able to enter the Magic Kingdom at 8:00 a.m.?
You’ll definitely be able to enter the park earlier than 9:00 am. From experience, they usually allow those who have reservations to enter the park around 15 to 20 minutes before their reservation. So if you have an 8:40 am reservation, chances are they’re gonna let you in by 8:20.
Was up and looking for reservations for our October disneymoon this morning at 6 am and all we could get were lunch reservations. Lo’ and behold did a check at 11 am and we were able to take our pick of dinner reservations! We got a 6 pm on a Wednesday and 8 pm on a Saturday! I’m guessing something was wonky with the system in the morning, but I can’t complain. We’re looking forward to our first experience at BoG!
My husband and I are visiting for the first time in May. We booked our reservation the last week of January and made all our ADRs. We were not able to get reservations at BOG at that time. I downloaded the Disney app on my phone and just checked for openings anytime I had a free moment. It takes just about a minute or two to see if anything is available. After about a month of checking several times a day each day and getting the “check for a different date” notice, I was finally able to grab a 4:05pm reservation. Be persistent and don’t give up!
I have a reservation for dinner for Be Our Guest for 5 people on October 9th but cannot make it. I need a reservation for October 10th or 11th for Be Our Guest for dinner for 5 people. Anyone would like to trade?
Just use an ADR sniper. I go in 6 weeks, signed up to the ADR sniper 2 days ago and already picked up California Grill, Ohana, Le Cellier and Chef Mickey. Just waiting on CRT and BOG, also using it to check for times for restaurants I’ve already booked to get slightly better time.
Thanks for this info. When I first started trying to book the website was glitchy, and even though I was trying to book for November, it kept telling me the date I was looking for in August wasn’t available. And I was within my 180 days. So next time I tried was all booked, and have been trying for the last couple of months with no success. I wasn’t sure if it was a glitch on the website or if it was legitimately booked. Now I know. So this morning I resigned myself to checking daily till we leave, then using your tips and showing up pre-lunch and pre-dinner on any of the days we are there. But on a whim I decided to call the UK WDW reservations line and see if they had anything. As she was looking up for anything at any time during our 2 weeks stay a 10:45 lunch spot opened up on our 3rd day there. PERFECT!! Ok, so it’s not the seated dinner we were hoping for, but at this point we’re just pleased to get the experience. I’ll keep popping back on the off chance dinner opens up, but actually the time works out ok for us, so we may just leave it at that.
So while it may just have been flukey good timing, I’d say it’s worth ringing as well just in case 🙂
I was able to “score” a much wanted reservation for BOG but I had to settle for a 9:50 a.m time (only one available) which is breakfast; any tips on how do I move it to lunch time?
After checking daily on My Disney Experience App for openings, I am happy to report that I found one reservation for lunch 😉 we are beyond excited!
Always check around the 45 day mark for your trip. That’s when resort reservations have to be paid in full and people cancel them. That’s how we got ours.
Last fall, 2 out of 4 times I was able to walk up to the window at 3:50 and the said if we were willing to eat at 4pm the could fit us in. The food is pretty good but not worth standing in line for over an hour which I have seen some people do (for Lunch). I do have the advantage though as an Annual Passholder I don’t feel the pressure to eat there.
Yep, I’ve heard this trick works pretty reliably (and by pretty reliably, I mean 50% of the time, but that’s still better than the ADR system).
I tried booking for dinner after I read this article yesterday. My hopes weren’t very high since we’re going there in 2 weeks. But I managed to get a reservation on the second day I tried. First time even going to Disney so I’m suuuuper excited
Awesome, have a great trip! 🙂
The top picture of the entrance to BOG is magnificent! We’ve been to BOG many times, but that picture is a creative take that made it look unfamiliar at first.
We thought about trying it this time (fall of this year), but decided to put it off until another trip. We still have a ton of other restaurants we want to try, and the food at BOG doesn’t interest us as much. Someday though!
My husband and I tried and tried to get reservations at Be Our Guest for months/years… and never had any luck! This past year we got Disney passes (and we’re FL residents) so going up to WDW on a whim is much easier. A few months back, I was determined to get a a reservation so I found a random weekend in May and once the 180 day mark came around, I FINALLY got our reservation! I have to say, I love the app…. I use it all the time at Disney, and even was able to score Sci-Fi reservations the day of, which were previously not available (you really do just have to keep checking because people do cancel).
Thank you Tom, I had given up on dinner at BOG later this month. Taking your advice allowed me to score one during my trip. Always enjoy your posts! 🙂