UPDATE: Please note that as of February 25, 2015, Be Our Guest Restaurant began to accept Advanced Dining Reservations for lunch. For further information, please click here.
Have you been caught in the forever-line that is lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant?
Then you’ll love the news we are reporting today!
The SUPER popular Magic Kingdom restaurant has instituted a new Standby Policy for guests who show up for lunch without a FastPass+ reservation.
We’ve got all of the details right here!
Be Our Guest Restaurant Standby Lunch Policy
Guests at Magic Kingdom who would like to dine at Be Our Guest Restaurant in New Fantasyland may be able to skip the crazy long lines going forward — even if they don’t score a FastPass+ reservation.
Return Card for Be Our Guest Restaurant Lunch Dining
And if you’re thinking this looks a whole lot like the old FastPass system for attractions that used cards, you are on the right track.
Basically, if you’d like to eat at Be Our Guest Restaurant for lunch, which continues to be a quick-service affair, head over to New Fantasyland to the entrance of the restaurant.
You’ll be greeted by a Cast Member, who will give you a card like the one above. The card will provide a window with a time for your party to return to Be Our Guest. Once the cards are all passed out for the day, signs are set out that no more guests can dine at lunch for the day.
And the super awesome news? It means that lines like THIS will hopefully be a thing of the past!
Line to get in to Be Our Guest Restaurant for Lunch
After all, who wants to spend half their day in Magic Kingdom waiting in a line for lunch??
We were on hand this morning to get all of the details. The Cast Member explained the process to us in terms of “it works like a FastPass”. So be sure that you return during the window of time printed on your ticket. Note that the window is only 15 minutes! If you plan to use the Standby Policy, you’ll want to plan accordingly.
It’s also important to note that each member of your party must have a ticket, or they will not be admitted.
And since you’re coordinating paper tickets with FastPass+ reservations for attractions, the Cast Members confirm that the time will work for your party before giving you the tickets. In other words, there may be a little wiggle room in choice of time if you get there early enough.
Braised Pork, Coq au Vin Style — For Lunch!
So, who will this cool new policy benefit the most? Well, since FastPass+ reservations are only available to guests who are staying in Walt Disney World hotels, the standby tickets will be especially helpful for non-resort guests. However, anyone can obtain the tickets on a first come, first served basis.
Dinner continues to be a table service offering, so be sure to snag an Advance Dining Reservation if you’d like to eat at Be Our Guest in the evening.
As usual, this policy is subject to change. But hooray! We are so happy to see Disney taking steps to eliminate the line craziness for a restaurant that hasn’t slowed down since the day it opened!
Are you excited to see this new Lunch Standby Policy at Be Our Guest Restaurant? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
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Do they begin handing these out as soon as the park opens? And is the first time for 10:30? I was there the other day and got in line for lunch at around 9:30. It wasn’t until I left the restaurant at 11ish that I notice them handing out these tickets.
I am happy to hear this! I was prepared to stand in the sun and wait. As long as it took. I even have my sunscreen and umbrella. As a resort guest, I am still trying to get ADR’s, but in the event this doesn’t happen, I am getting a Fastpass! Do you know what time they start issuing these passes? I can see it now, instead of everyone racing to get in line for Anna and Elsa, there will be a stampede for Be Our Guest. Just like the old days of legacy fastpass.
How do you make them online?
I went to my Disney experience and I do not see it listed as a fast pass option?
Joni it isn’t part of MDE it is something they are testing. Sorry I don’t remember the website. You have to be a resort guest and have your resort reservation number to use it. There isn’t a way to confirm it either, nor is there tech support for it
Does everyone in your party have to be present to get a ticket, or can someone be the fast pass runner for your group?
This is awesome! There was no way I was waiting in such a crazy line for lunch. I’ll definately have to try this if I can’t get a FP+
Joni- It’s a separate fastpass so it’s not on my Disney Experience. It also doesn’t take the place of one of your 3 other ones so it’s like a 4th FP+ =)
Here is the link
https://beourguestlunch.disney.go.com/Login.aspx
Yes. Definitely need to know what time you can get them and if entire party needs to be there. This would be the answer to my November trip prayers!
We were lucky enough to score a reservation for lunch through our resort reservation because the stand by line on Monday was cray-zee long. The pork was delicious by the way!!
This looks like a good option for my trip next year. I want to go there for lunch and I don’t have a smart phone so I don’t think I can use MDE at all. Don’t you have to have a smart phone for that?
We got an email from Disney that allowed us to make a reservation for lunch last year and again this year. Last year they sent it too late for us to take advantage, but we’ve already scheduled our lunch this year. Super excited to try it! That being said, I have waited in that crazy long line, and it was worth it. We’ve eaten there at both lunch and dinner, and the food is good and the atmosphere is fantastic. And did I mention they have gluten-free lemon raspberry cream puffs? I had never been able to eat a cream puff before eating here!!!
You all enjoy. I’ll be over at the Columbia Harbor House.
Having eaten here last year I must admit that the food is a step above the typical quick service fare. It’s just too much trouble to get in to. I don’t want to rush to the back of the park to get an assigned time that might or might not fit my plans – especially now that they have FP+. I don’t want to rely on some FP lottery and hope I get an invite. The food is good and atmosphere is great but there are other places I have enjoyed just as much for a nice quick serve lunch.
Just tried the link, tried to enter our Resort Reservation ID, & it wouldn’t let me input letters! Anyone else have this problem? Is it invite only?
Thank you Erica and Sarah, I just made my Fast pass+ reservation my Granddaughter will LOVE it. and So will I not standing in line for an hour 🙂 Wonder if It will be hard to find a seat only other time I have been was right after it opened so I had my choice. The rev. are for around 1:00 so I may have to hover and I hate that.
I’ve got the same question Stephanie does. When do they start handing these out? It seems like it would be around 10:30 when the restaurant opens. Does anyone know? Is it possibly at park opening? Thanks!
Called Disney Dine to get the Reservation ID to input, got into the system, and none available for our vacation dates 🙁 Would love to know when they start handing them out!
This is potentially not good. You failed to mention the fact that you will not always get a return time that works. People on wdwmagic forumns have been complaining of getting return times an hour and a half later! If you’re hungry in that moment most people will not wait and now there is an empty table that someone else could have had. For people who do not know that they need to make reservations 180 days in advance this is a huge turn off. I agree the line is ridiculous but it moves relatively fast. And they spent how many of millions of dollars getting rid of paper fast pass only to bring it back again? They should just eliminate standby option completely for BOG. I for one am not impressed.
I’m having the same problem as Megan, it won’t let me put in letters, so how are people putthing their reservation id in for the Fastpass+?
Galloping Gourmand…your description of dashing to the back of the park for a res reminds me of visiting years (decades?) ago when the only way to get a table at King Stefan’s (yes, I know that’s not what it is now) was to arrive and go to the castle in the morning. And, unbelievably, my family and I just walked (no running) up to the check-in desk and made our reservation. No smartphones, no fastpasses, no computerized planning, no anything-PLUS or conflicted scheduling. Just a relaxed day of unplanned fun. And lunch with Cinderella. Am I crazy, or were those the good old days?
I went to the link to reserve lunch and it asks for resort reservation ID. Where do you get this? I tried my resort confirmation number that starts with three letters and it won’t take it. Do you have to wait until you hopefully get an email with an ID number inviting you?
The email invite you receive from WDW will give you the # to put in to make the FastPass ressie. The email comes usually 30-21 days prior to your visit, but some folks have received it the day of their visit.
I seem to be getting different stories from disney. I called and they said the same thing as Cindy so I have been waiting for the email although I am not going until November so I just assumed it wasn’t here yet. But last night I called Disney Dining and they gave me the ID number so I could make a reservation. I signed in and it said that there were no more FP for any of the days I am there. Do you think this is because I haven’t received a letter yet or because there are truly no more FP for November?
@Laura – the reservation system only opens up FP+ for BOG about 30 days in advance. You may be getting the “no FP available” message because they haven’t released those dates yet.
Laura my experience matches yours exactly. Reservations gave me the code without issue but everyday doing our stay had none available.
I found my reservation number when I clicked online check-in (the number should be on the URL) I couldn’t the number anywhere else, nor did I receive an email from Disney about my confirmation.
Does anyone happen to know if they hand these out at a specific time or when the park opens?
Do we know what time they will start handing out the tickets and if the entire party needs to be present?
I’d really like to know what time they hand out the Be our guest passes as it is crucial to planning.
Yeaterday, we ate at Be Our guest and got in line at 10 and waited until 1030 when they opened. I was told that they may or may not hand out tickets like this once the restaurant was full. They can just keep you in line and make you wait. Just a few days ago a cast member told me that we could go there and get a fastpass, when I showed up after nine yesterday the girl told me I could get in line then… but I did not know is it from 9 to 10 you can go in the restaurant and look at a few things and take some pictures.
As several readers have suggested, things still seem to be up in the air; this process looks like it’s being tested currently. We are hearing from other guests that they’ve seen them handed out starting at around 9:30. We showed up at about 10:15 and were able to get the card you see here for a 10:55 seating. Every day is different, though. But hopefully this gives some of you information and a bit of a timeline. As more information becomes available, we’ll be sure to share it here!
I don’t know why I am so confused about this. Do I have this right-if I go to Magic Kingdom, I can get a fastpass at a kiosk for the restaurant? But I can’t do it online?
I’d like to know if Disney takes a CC number to secure the fastpass res? They should as it would secure a table for the ‘serious’ diners and would stop people from not turning up.
Hi guys I’d like to know if I can reserve ADR for lunch at Be our guest – I’m not staying at a Disney resort but I have just purchased & recieved my 9 days disney passes/tickets for my family – were due to fly out to FL from UK in 6 weeks & we missed out last time as the resturant wasn’t quite ready for opening on our last trip!
I tried to secure a fast pass for lunch at Be Our Guest using the website recommended below. I sign using our user name and password, which worked and then it asked for our Resort Reservation ID. I am assuming this is the resort confirmation number for our stay at The Boardwalk, which is 8 characters (6 numbers and 2 letters) but it will not let me eneter in any letters. Are they looking for a different confirmation number???
I’m 60 days out. I have not received an invite from Disney yet, but I went to the above link anyway. I went to “My Disney Experience” on the Disney website (Not the App but at disneyworld.disney.go.com ) first, and cut&pasted my all number Confirmation Number from that page into the lunch log in page. I could log in, but no FastPasses were available yet.
The FastPass+ for lunch (It is NOT an ADR for lunch) is only available to those staying on property. It allows you to either pre-order your meal, or wait in a FP+ queue at the restaurant. (See the DFB reviews of the pre-ordering from earlier this year for more details.)
BTW they only offer the days you are staying on property. For this trip I’m doing a split stay, going to Universal for the second half. When I called on my 180 day to make an ADR for BOG Dinner, I couldn’t get anything during my stay days but I could get one for 3 days later. But I can’t get a lunch FP+ on that same day because I will have checked out already. (Hey the soups & desserts are cheaper at lunch, it’s okay to eat there twice in the same day. 😉 )
If you are not staying on property, or didn’t pre-select through the lunch website, the cards are an old-school version of the fast pass system which give you a time to come back.
Sounds like they start giving cards when the queue reaches a certain length, not at a specific time.
Now is all this worth it? Based solely on the food, eh. But the experience, especially if you are a fan of the movie, totally is. So if you get a card where you have to come back hours later, think of it more as a ride than a meal. Go get a substantial snack (like Gaston’s pork shank) & be thankful you are not standing out in the sun/rain waiting in a line to get in. 😎
If they are not handing out passed when you walk past just wait around for another 3o minutes or so and the odds are they will be by then. It’s no different than wait to be seated at another restaurant. I did find it annoying that the cm say they don’t know if they will be handing out any more return passes when they sure as well seem to know they just don’t want to say they so because they don’t want people gathering around the restaurant. Every time I waited a little while even when they said they had no more they magically had more don’t give up
Can one adult pick up enough cards for your entire party? Or do they only give out one card per person?
On 9/25/14 we hopped on Disney transportation at 7:15 AM, joined the throng of early morning tourists at the Magic Kingdom, enjoyed the 8:00 opening ceremony then was swept up by the wave of folks anxious to ride the new seven dwarfs mine ride…we, however, were anxious to be among the first of the day to obtain our stand by card for lunch at Be Our Guest. imagine our joy to see we were indeed the first to arrive at the restaurant…then imagine our grief when the 3 cast members manning the gate told us that they had no idea what we were talking about. They said that they do not hand out stand by cards for lunch, never have. They went on to say that we could come back at 10:30 to see if there were any available lunch openings.
If we did that we would have forfeited our fast passes, so we declined. I must add that the staff members were rather nasty to us (including eye rolling, I thought only teenagers did that to their parents) – not at all the typical helpful/kind Disney style with which we are so accustomed. They asked where we had heard about this “lie” and went on to say that we had been duped by someone making it up on a blog.
In addition, weeks after we booked our resort stay, we received an email from Disney Destinations telling us that we could book a reservation at Be Our Guest! How cool is that?! Upon following the prompts to book our reservation it became clear that there were no reservations available during the time of our resort stay…so why would Disney make this offer to us?? It really only served to waste time and disappoint.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a die hard Disney fan and these episodes will not tarnish my admiration of the mouse, but I feel the need to share my experiences so that others will not have the same disappointments. Safe to say our time at WDW is precious and should not be wasted by glitches such as these.