Last week, in this post, I wrote pretty extensively about what to expect from the new rope drop procedure at Cinderella Castle and what it meant for those touring in a variety of different situations. At the end of about 3,500 words, there’s a brief conclusion that revisits the majority of the main points.

This time, we’re arriving at 7:25am with a pre-opening breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest Restaurant.

This is the scene at 7:25am – there’s maybe 100 people here already and no wait whatsoever for bag check or security. The scrim on the Train Station is quite believable until you get to the sky…they should position a cast member up there with some velcro clouds and move them around as the day progresses.

Before Park opening, cast members on the far left of the entrance will check for breakfast or tour reservations. At 7:45am, after everyone present is let into the Park, the reservation check is inside the Park on the left side of the Hub near the entrance to Adventureland. As usual, anyone with a reservation before 9am is admitted as if their reservation was for 8:05am. So if your Be Our Guest reservation is for 8:40am, you can still enter the Park at 7:45am and you’ll order and be seated as quickly as you can make it back there and accomplish it.

Once the cast member scans your ticket or MagicBand, they will hand you this piece of paper:

This outlines the situation pretty well.

At 7:30am, there’s maybe 150 people waiting.

I like to fill in the far left rather than just getting behind the clump of people that typically mass together in the center, but there is really no rush to get back to Be Our Guest.

It might “feel” like there are a lot of people present after you’re let into the Park at 7:45am, but the massive size of Main Street distributes the crowd well and in addition to Be Our Guest, people are heading to Crystal Palace, Cinderella’s Royal Table, and a number of tours.

7:46am.

There’s eight or nine PhotoPass photographers around Main Street and the Hub area to take photos. Here you can see one is placed every ten steps or so.

While there’s no risk in enjoying the atmosphere of Main Street and taking photos, those with breakfast reservations probably don’t want to spend any time shopping at the Emporium or other stores that are already open for business. Remember that now everyone can enter the Park at 7:45am, but only those with dining reservations at Be Our Guest or Cinderella’s Royal Table will be admitted back into Fantasyland.

This post, which was also linked up above, covers what’s open before 9am and reviews some of the new breakfast items at Casey’s Corner and Plaza Ice Cream, including the Doughnut Sundae and Hash Brown Dog.

While the shot on Main Street with nobody else in the frame is probably not going to happen, there are plenty of opportunities in the various nooks and crannies around Main Street to grab some choice pictures.

Just make sure they’re artsy.

7:48am looking back.

And forward.

I’m not sure if they were actively picking anyone up on the Main Street vehicles, but riding up top is a fun opportunity at any time of day.

We’re headed to the left for breakfast, but the entirety of the Hub area is open for pictures.

Just a cast member in front of Cinderella Castle at 7:51am. The ramps to the left and right are what I recommend for those heading to Peter Pan’s Flight, Princess Fairytale Hall, or another Fantasyland attraction other than Seven Dwards Mine Train for those attempting regular rope drop.

For Mine Train, the path to the right towards Mad Tea Party is the one you want. You would also want to take the Mine Train path for the Merida meet. Walking that way to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh would cut down on walking slightly, but I don’t think I’d want to deal with the jostling as nearly everyone will continue up to Mine Train. So if you take the path through the Castle for Winnie the Pooh, you’ll arrive at the attraction a minute later, but it should prove more pleasant.

A little early for an Adventureland rope drop.

Crystal Palace no longer offers any touring advantage for pre-opening breakfast. My advice is usually to book something like 10:45am and enjoy a much more leisurely meal after spending the first 90 minutes of the day taking advantage of some of the shortest waits of the day at the priority attractions. Otherwise, you’re racing through an expensive breakfast only to find yourself in the same rope drop crowds as everyone else.

This is the “crowd” in front of the rope where we’ll flash the handout we were given at the front of the Park. Between 7:45am and 9am, this is where guests with Be Our Guest/Cinderella’s Royal Table reservations will have their tickets/MagicBands scanned.

The sun rising offers a pretty color palette.

If you have the opportunity, taking a picture in the Cinderella Castle tunnel is smart.

“Orion” in the lower left corner of the frame is headed to the Sword in the Stone.

Most of Fantasyland will be roped off.

There’s a cast member to the right of the wall here.

Another one to the left of Pinocchio Village Haus in front of Peter Pan’s Flight. This is where we’ll head after breakfast and Mine Train.

I’m already thinking ahead to lunch.

Here at the restaurant, a cast member will scan your ticket/MagicBand to see if you’ve pre-ordered.

Yes child, I am also excited for breakfast. To check on pre-ordering, mouse over the “My Disney Experience” tab on the far right of DisneyWorld.com and click on “My Reservations and Tickets.”

Then scroll down to the reservation and click on “Place Your Order” on the right. Disney also makes it a lot easier to change reservations online. I booked my original reservation for the morning of the 26th on the 24th and it was for one person at 8:25am. But I was able to change it the following morning to two people with 8:05am being available. If you don’t initially get the reservation you want, keep checking back, particularly the day before the date you’re trying to reserve. People are constantly cancelling and modifying their reservations after they realize just how much time everything takes.

But as is typical with Disney IT, pre-ordering never worked in the couple of days leading up to the breakfast. All I saw was Stitch. If you are able to pre-order, the cast member will send you down the left lane towards the restaurant directly to a cashier so you can pay. If you haven’t pre-ordered, you head down the right lane to a kiosk. Here’s the breakfast menu:

Adult meals are $24 with Kids’ Meals coming in at $14 – each includes a beverage and “assorted pastries [are] presented tableside.” As with other quick service meals, anyone can order anything on the menu and you can share if you prefer.

The “Be Our Guest souvenir cup” is a relatively recent addition and to my knowledge, this is the only place that you can pick up the version served with hot beverages.

The cold fountain beverage version is available at the popcorn carts on the left and right sides of the Hub in front of Cinderella Castle.

I arrived at Be Our Guest at 7:59am or about 15 minutes after we were let in the Park.

There was no wait to order and within about two minutes I was fumbling through the order screen. In case you’re concerned that the Croissant Doughnut won’t be enough sugar first thing, “The Master’s Cupcake” is available and you have some allergy options at the kiosk if you need to take advantage of that.

Beverage selection. Still no option for a shot of Bailey’s.

If you ever have the misfortune of running into me in the Parks, I will probably be taking pictures of a wall or souvenir cup, as I was on this particular morning. Ed and Jill were nice enough to say hello and invite me over to their table.

It was exactly 15 minutes between the time that I paid for my breakfast and it was delivered to the table. Each separate order/receipt should receive the tray of five pastries and they should bring you two trays if your order is for five or more entrees. If your party is four people, you could conceivably identify yourselves as two separate parties of two people when you get to the front of the line to score two trays. If you’re pre-ordering, you would need two separate reservations to do that. It seems like it would make sense for each person to choose one pastry that they would like along with the beverage, but Disney seems to favor efficiency over food waste. I bring a plastic bag for the extra pastries for a snack later in the day, but some number of hundreds of these must go straight in the garbage every day.

Yes, this is what a $24 Be Our Guest breakfast looks like.

The Feast A La Gaston – Scrambled Eggs, Herb-Roasted Potatoes, Apple Smoked Bacon, and Sausage served with Fresh Fruit is a relatively new addition.

You might remember that this was the original menu that debuted in early 2015:

There have been a few other changes. For one, the price is obviously up $4 or 20% over the last two years. The number of beverages has also been cut down dramatically – you no longer have the option to order juice or sparkling water. In addition to the Feast a la Gaston, the Croque Madame is a new addition, the Open-Face Bacon and Egg Sandwich is now served on a croissant instead of a baguette, and the Scrambled Egg Whites come with Chicken Sausage.

The Eggs Florentine, pictured here, is no longer available.

The previous Open-Sandwich.

But back to this meal, the Feast a la Gaston could have just as easily been named, “Adequate Breakfast a la Gaston.” Nothing about it was memorable or tasted particularly fresh. The eggs were cold; the chicken sausage was soft and didn’t have much flavor; the bacon was brittle; the potatoes had a nice flavor and a bit of a snap to them, which I appreciated; the fruit wasn’t ripe. The serving was plenty for me though I had no trouble polishing it off. It would be one of the more shareable entrees in its presentation, even if the portion isn’t overwhelming. “No one makes powdered eggs in large batches like Gaston.”

The review on the Croque Madame – Open-faced Ham Sandwich topped with a Fried Egg, Gruyere Cheese, and Béchamel was much more positive. I regretted not ordering it myself.

On a previous visit, Tom over at WDWNT.com ordered the Open-Faced Bacon and Egg Sandwich – Poached Eggs, Applewood Bacon, Brie Cheese, and Arugula on a Croissant served with Fresh Fruit. He said he “loved it” with “phenomenal” coming up at least three times over the course of a two sentence review.

The scene at the ordering kiosks as we exited at 8:32am. Still no wait.

Out in front of the restaurant.

At 8:37am, a short line of about 15 people had formed in preparation for heading to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

And at 8:42am, we were walked to the ride entrance and through the FastPass+ queue:

And back out front at 8:49am for a total experience time of just seven minutes.

With the previous rope drop procedure at the Train Station, the Welcome Show would ordinarily begin at 8:40am and guests would be able to enter the Park and throw elbows on the way to Mine Train at 8:47am. The first guests would arrive daily at 8:52am. With the new rope drop procedure at Cinderella Castle, the Welcome Show doesn’t begin until 8:55am with guests not on their way until 8:59am. That means the first guests don’t arrive at Mine Train until 9:01am or about ten minutes later. That provides an additional advantage for Be Our Guest breakfast users as they potentially have an opportunity to ride a second time before the rope drop crowds arrive and potentially also make it over to Peter Pan’s Flight before 9am or ride a third time.

I rode again:

Back out front at 8:57am and there’s still nobody from the main entrance in sight. Back in December, this would be a 60-minute wait.

Ed and Jill opted to ride a third time with no waits while I decided to head over to check on the Peter Pan’s Flight situation.

Ahead is the line for Peter Pan’s Flight that’s formed at 8:58am.

It’s full of people that either went directly to Peter Pan’s Flight after breakfast, rode Mine Train once and then headed over, or beat me over there after riding a second time. As if I could be beaten.

Disney typically holds these people here until right at 9am. It might “feel” like there are a lot of people in front of me, but there is nobody in the actual queue, so my wait with 50 people ahead should only be a couple of minutes.

And back out front at 9:11am for a total experience time of 11 minutes.

Last week, when I watched the Welcome Show and did regular rope drop, I was out in front of Peter Pan’s Flight at 9:16am and obviously didn’t ride Mine Train twice before making it over there.

The line for Mine Train at 9:13am as it spills out of the queue and all the way back to Storybook Circus. If you were to get in the standby line to ride twice at some other point in the day, it would take you at least two hours. This is a solid 60-minute wait assuming few FastPass+ users arrive.

So Is Be Our Guest Restaurant Breakfast Worth It?

In my last review, when breakfast was 20% less expensive, I came to the rationalization that there was some value here after considering the opportunity to add a second beverage and the head start to Mine Train versus the clustercuss that was waiting outside in the sun in front of the Train Station and then jostling over here for a single ride at rope drop.

And even at $24, I think there’s still a considerable amount of value when you consider the touring benefit of being able to ride Magic Kingdom’s most popular attraction, and one that almost always hits a 100-minute peak wait, at least once without any fuss.

Strictly based on food, compared to other quick service entrees like the Bounty Platter that runs $9.49, I’d say the breakfast entrees at Be Our Guest are worth $12 each – while I wasn’t impressed with mine this time around, it’s still going to be a reliably higher quality product than what they’re typically serving at most resorts. Add $3.50 for the fountain beverage and $3.50 for two pastries, and you’re at $19. That means we need to derive $5 worth of value for the hassle-free rides on Mine Train and the benefit of getting a few pictures around Fantasyland with fewer people around.

Obviously, not everyone is going to care that much about riding Mine Train a couple of extra times. But considering how long waits are and how difficult securing convenient FastPass+ times for the attraction can be, riding Mine Train without a wait first thing in the morning for $2.50 per ride is worth it, in addition to putting me in front of Peter Pan’s Flight without much of a wait immediately after. In my opinion.

At $24/adult, it’s also a great use of a quick service dining plan credit.

But the pre-opening meal is the only time I recommend spending the time to eat here during breakfast hours. For lunch, you can order an entree, cupcake, and fountain beverage for around the same money and come away with a larger, more satisfying meal and not waste precious morning touring time eating.

In part two, we’ll continue morning touring with visits to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain, Dumbo, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, among others, in addition to stopping for a Chicken Parmesan at Pinocchio Village Haus for lunch.