Hellobee

There are a lot of dining options when at Disney, including their dining plan. Because my mother was a cast member and got a discount on almost every meal, we decided to kind of wing it this time. Disney does allow you to bring snacks into the park as well as a small cooler of food (you can carry it with you or rent a locker to place it in).  In the past my cousins have done the cooler thing and while it’s a lot cheaper, it’s also annoying to carry around. Disney implemented the cooler system a few years ago as childhood allergies were on the rise, so if you have a little one with allergies this might be a good option for you.

Since we had a small kitchen in our family suite we ate breakfast in the room every morning. We brought milk, yogurt, applesauce, bagels, cereal, grapes, blueberries, & cherries down with us. My mother also brought down oatmeal which she made for herself in the room. For lunches and dinners we did a lot of quick service places (The Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom is delicious!), including quite a few meals in our hotel after coming back from the parks.

We did however dine at 3 different restaurants while we were there, Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom, Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom, and Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  This is my review of these 3 restaurants.

The Beast’s Castle from afar

Be Our Guest

Be Our Guest is the new restaurant created in Magic Kingdom.  The premise, if you might have guessed from the name, is from Beauty & the Beast. While it is technically a quick service restaurant, Disney has done a few things to help set it apart from the rest.  For starters the  restaurant is a replica of the Beast’s castle and the theming and details of it is really incredible. There are three rooms you can choose to eat including the ballroom, the rose gallery and the west wing (where the Beast’s rose is kept under glass). The rooms are gorgeous — especially the ballroom — and it truly feels like you are in the castle where Belle and Beast live. (I’ve heard the Beast sometimes makes rounds as well when he is awake.)

The menu selection is done all online through little kiosks which allow you to pick and customize your food. At the end of the process you are given a magic rose that allows the servers to find you and bring you your food, under a glass dome cart no less.  The napkins are even folded into little rose shapes. The food is actually quite delicious as well. Mr. Chocolate had the Tuna Nicoise salad, and my mother had the Braised Pork (Coq Au Vin Style) — the meat was fall of the bone tender and the sauce was delicious. I had the Croque Monsieur which which Drake liked so much, he ate half of it while I sampled his Carved Turkey Sandwich. Best of all was Juliet’s meal of a Mickey Meatloaf which she polished completely along with the applesauce and side of veggies. It was a great meal and the atmosphere really helped to create an even more magical experience.  After eating in the ballroom we even went to explore the other rooms a little.

The Ballroom

the Rose Gallery

The West Wing

Sanaa

Sanaa is a restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge hotel. The Animal Kingdom Lodge is a hotel that is themed to be an African lodge in the Savannah with the resort built around animal enclosures that include giraffes, wildebeest, okapis, zebras, ostriches, etc. If you stay at the hotel, some rooms have balconies facing into the enclosure and you can see the animals as they graze and move around the property. There are also viewing areas in the hotel lobby and other places around the complex. I learned about this hotel on our last visit to Disney pre-kids and loved it. Mr. Chocolate and I went one afternoon before we left and just sat in the lobby watching the animals. I wanted to stay at this hotel on our visit, but because my mother accompanied us she wanted to do a family suite so we ended up staying elsewhere. It’s still my dream to stay here one day just to be able to see a giraffe pass by.

Mr. Chocolate knew of my love of this experience (and of giraffes), so one afternoon in between parks he made reservations for Sanaa. I knew that Drake would love this experience, being able to see the animals so close, but it was an extra bonus how much Juliet also enjoyed it. Mr. Chocolate and my mother had the Tandoori chicken and shrimp respectively, which they both enjoyed. Juliet once again had meatloaf which she devoured along with the side of mashed potatoes and broccoli. Her meatloaf came with cardamom ketchup with was really neat. I want to add cardamom to my ketchup next time I eat fries since I really enjoyed the taste. Drake had the pizza and since he ate so well, he was rewarded with a Mickey’s chocolate cake which was scrumptious. I had the lamb kefta sandwich which was absolutely divine — truly the best meal I had at Disney and I have been dying to find a way to replicate that meal I loved it so much. Mr. Chocolate took a bite and said he wished he ordered that as well it was so good. We also shared the dessert trio which was the perfect ending to the meal. We’re definitely going back when we return to Disney. Until then I’m still dreaming of that meal.

The dessert trio because everything else was consumed too quickly for pictures

And the best part of the meal was of course seeing the animals, especially the giraffes that came so close to us when dining. It was truly a beautiful and serene moment to gaze out at these magnificent creatures as they moved through the surroundings. It was definitely a highlight of the trip, from the meal to the scenery.

Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace is a character dining venue at the Magic Kingdom. The food is buffet style, and the characters from the Hundred Acre Woods (Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore) make rounds to all the tables while you dine. The experience can take up to an hour and a half we were told for every character to make it to your table, but it wasn’t nearly that long for us at all. The food was decent; Mr. Chocolate loved his chicken with feta cheese and tomatoes, and Juliet once again was in her glory polishing of plate after plate off fruits, pasta and meatballs, and bread.

I didn’t think Drake would be as excited as he was to see the characters, but it was hard to get him to sit down and eat once he saw a character. He wanted to run over to them and we told him time and time again that they would come to him. He would watch them move around the room in anticipation as we tried to get him to take bites while waiting. At one point the characters did a small parade around the restaurant allowing the children to get up and follow them, which Drake loved. Character meals can be pricey and this was a treat from my mother, but it was well worth it since Drake really loved the experience.