UPDATE: Please note that as of February 25, 2015, FastPass+ is no longer available, as Be Our Guest Restaurant began to accept Advanced Dining Reservations for lunch. For further information, please click here.
I took a quick trip to Walt Disney World last week and had the opportunity to experience several new technological initiatives related to Dining at Disney World.
I’ve written these up in several posts for DFB, and today we’ll cover my review of the new FastPass+ system being rolled out at Magic Kingdom’s Be Our Guest Restaurant!
Stay tuned over the next week to see more new technology innovations that are affecting Disney dining in Disney World!
Be Our Guest FastPass+
First up, I was invited to test a FastPass+ reservation to the Magic Kingdom’s Be Our Guest restaurant at lunch. The invite came via email with a link to the WDW website.
The email told me to log into my My Disney Experience account and enter my resort reservation number. Once logged on, I was allowed to choose which day I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.
Choosing which day to dine at BOG.
Then we were allowed to choose whether we wanted “FastPass+ Expedited Arrival” or “FastPass+ Direct to Table.”
Expedited Arrival allows you to skip the line into the restaurant. “Direct to Table” allows you to completely order your meal in advance so that it is ready for you when you walk in the door. I chose “Direct to Table” — more on that in a sec.
Then we selected which of the available dining times we wanted. The only times presented to us during the test were early (before 11:50 a.m.) or late (after 1:45 p.m.) My guess is that Disney is trying to offload guests to less popular times.
Because I had selected “Direct to Table,” I was brought to a new set of screens where I could choose to order meals for my husband (my traveling companion for this trip) and me individually or as a group.
We then saw the restaurant’s menu, just as if we had been ordering from one of the touch screen kiosks in the standby line.
I ordered the Tuna Niçoise Salad and a helpful screen popped up asking me if I wanted my dressing on the side or tossed into my salad in the kitchen.
There was even a link to nutritional information for every item on the menu. Truly, this is a great step forward with Disney making it easier than ever to make mindful dining choices.
Our food selections were totaled up, but we could have made modifications to them later if we had chosen to do so.
We could also make changes to our dining day or time, pending availability.
On the day of our reservation, we checked in at the appointed spot, currently a cart located near the exit to Mickey’s PhilharMagic.
At check-in, a cast member looked up our reservation on an iPad and we were presented with a yellow “rose.” The yellow rose is similar to the red “rose” that a walk-up guest receives when placing his order at the terminals inside the restaurant. It basically functions as a GPS tracker, identifying you to the system and telling it where you are.
A cast member at the check-in station links your rose to your reservation via a device attached to the iPad.
When we checked in, the WiFi system in the park was having a bit of a hiccup, so the cast member had to reboot the iPad. But even with the glitch, we were all set with our rose in about four minutes and were told to proceed straightaway to Be Our Guest.
At the restaurant, we had ZERO wait to get in. A cast member scanned our rose and confirmed our party name.
At this point, just to push the envelope a little, I asked if I could change my meal order. (After all, I had ordered my food several days earlier and now found that I was hungrier than the salad I had initially thought I would want.) I learned that while not every pre-ordered meal can be changed, most average meals can.
The cast member changed my salad into a roast beef sandwich on her iPad. We tapped a few confirmation buttons and then were told to take our yellow rose and put it on any table in the restaurant. This entire transaction took about a minute.
My husband went to get our sodas and silverware, and by the time he got back, our food appeared on a cart next to our table. The total time from when we got to the check-in stand to when we had food in front of us was about ten minutes, including the iPad reboot glitch and my entree change.
Lunch!
Overall
I wish I had something critical to tell you about the Be Our Guest FastPass reservations, but I got nothin’. Truly, everything about it was fantastic. I’d be thrilled if reservations like this became available at other quick service venues.
I certainly wouldn’t use QS reservations all the time, or even most of the time, but it would be a terrific tool to have in my trip planning arsenal.
Erin Foster is the Disney Food for Families columnist and a behind-the-scenes guru here at Disney Food Blog! Check out more of her posts here.
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Hey Alan – I think you’re right. I’m going in early September and had the same experience a couple of days ago. I think it will probably open up 3-4 weeks out from the start of the vacation day. I’m going to keep trying anyway.
I’ve been told the window for Be Our Guest lunch reservation fastpasses is about 30 days from check-in. So I started trying for the last couple of weeks, checking periodically throughout each day. Today was my lucky day!…27 days from our check-in date. Unfortunately, I could only snag a reservation for our arrival day. So I took it anyway, thinking I might be able to modify to a later date. Not so easy! After pre-ordering our meals, I went back to modify my date, but was given a message that if I wanted to modify I would have to delete my order and lose my FP+. Needless to say, I kept everything as is. I didn’t want to take the chance of losing it. Luckily, as we’ll be driving from St. Pete’s Beach that day, we’ll be able to make reservation time. Not perfect, but still exciting!
Hi! Really awesome article for the be our guest restaurant.
I have a question. I wonder if you can help me.
I will go to Magic Kingdom twice within 7 days.
I was trying to make two fastpass+ reservations for be our guest restaurant.
But the website keeps saying that ‘When you select a different day your previous FastPass+ selection and planned meals will be deleted. Do you wish to continue?’ – so does it mean that I can only reserve one fastpass+ meal?
Thank you very much.
Chi, since the fastpass+ system here is only being tested, you may be eligible for only one FP here during your stay.
It was an awesome experience. I am so happy we got the invite and that I took advantage of it!! The food was delicious, we all got something different, but of course we shared:). The turkey sandwich was very good, as was the roast beef, but the pork stole the day. It was the best lunch we have had at Disney!! The restaurant was sold out by 11am the day we were there!
The 12-digit number associated with your magic bands is the Reservation ID. It might be somewhere in your reservation documents, but you can also call and get it.
Good luck!
26 Days out & still no invite to BOG for lunch 🙁
Any suggestions? Are they still doing this? Yes we are Resort Guests – Check in October 25th,2014
TIA
This sounds like a great option if you get it, but for the rest of us who weren’t lucky enough, beware! We got in the standby line around 10:15. Once they opened the doors, the line slowly started moving. Great. Well, by the time we were approaching the castle, anyone and everyone who had the fast passes were let in ahead of us. Don’t get me wrong, I have used fast passes before and we love them, but once we were next in line to go into the castle, we counted at least 50 people go in ahead of us. We waited at least 10 minutes just to move into the castle. And now that we’re here, there are a multitude of preorders going in ahead of us too. It was much simpler when it was just a first come, first served basis. I’m not an ignorant Disney guest, I just want it to be fair. Bottom line, if you don’t have a fast pass, prepare to wait while anyone and everyone who has a fastpass gets to be in front of you!
Is the FP for Be Our Guest still *invitation only* and is it only for lunch quick serve? Do any reservations ever open up for dinner? Thank you!
Jojo — FP for Be Our Guest is invitation only, but several guests have figured out a way to buck the system and get a fastpass online. You can see details in the comments here: http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2014/04/13/review-fastpass-lunch-at-be-our-guest-restaurant-in-disney-worlds-magic-kingdom/. Reservations are booked pretty solid for dinner, but there could be cancellations. Good luck!
Thank you AJ. I’ll give it a try. I hate to be so caught up in all the hoopla, but this might just be our last trip to Disney with our kids (maybe we’ll be lucky enough to take our grandkids someday) and it seems as though the experience of this restaurant is something to see. I never kid myself into thinking the food will be any different or better than any other, that’s for sure. Thanks again for the info and the wishes!
No luck. Tried all 7 days of our trip and each time it indicated that there were no fastpasses available for that day and to try another day. Kind of frustrating. I guess it’s for those with an invitation – however you get that – and for the lucky ones.
Jojo — There CAN be stand-by availability! Check at guest services and at the restaurant itself at 10:00 or 10:30 on your Magic Kingdom day mornings. Sometimes they just have the line as usual! You never know. Good luck!!!
How do I request the invite to get the fast pass for lunch. We are going in February. Thank you for your help.
OMG OMG OMG! less than a week from our trip I was able to get a reservation for lunch! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! 😀
Be Our Guest Lunch changed over to ADR from the “secret” FastPass+ system TODAY! Now it can only be booked using the regular dining reservations page. I assume 180 days in advance (I made mine for May 2).
Taylor, thanks for your post! I’ve been trying , unsuccessfully, to get dinner reservations for several weeks now. When I saw your post I jumped over and was able to get lunch reservations – I’m quite excited!