Be Our Visitor Restaurant at Walt Disney World was forward of its time…and never essentially in a great way. In actual fact, you could possibly argue that’s true of New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom as a complete, because it has now been surpassed by considerably comparable expansions on the worldwide parks. However nowhere is that this extra apparent than on the subject of consuming contained in the fortress from Magnificence and the Beast.
That’s as a result of on the subject of Beast’s Fort, Tokyo Disneyland put Be Our Visitor Restaurant to disgrace with the Enchanted Story of Magnificence and the Beast. Walt Disney World diehards would possibly argue that’s not a good comparability since Magic Kingdom constructed a journey whereas TDL constructed a world-class journey. However nothing dictated the facade needed to be a “toy fortress” perched atop a small cliff (with poor pressured perspective), save for budgets.
Including a little bit of insult to harm, TDR has as soon as once more proven WDW how its performed with high-capacity in-castle eating. Reasonably than sticking with Magnificence and the Beast, the restaurant we’re speaking about right here relies on Frozen…as might be apparent from the title of this submit. Although they’re completely completely different movies and franchises, as urged above, this venue is most corresponding to Be Our Visitor Restaurant in Magic Kingdom.
Royal Banquet of Arendelle is a counter service restaurant in Fantasy Springs, the brand new port-of-call at Tokyo DisneySea themed to Peter Pan, Tangled and Frozen. Considerably like New Fantasyland over a decade earlier than it, Fantasy Springs blends a number of mental properties right into a single land in method that works. See our Fantasy Springs Evaluation: Nice Land, Good Port for extra on that.
Frozen Kingdom is the title for the Arendelle space, and it’s set after the occasions of Frozen. Queen Elsa has embraced her powers to create ice and snow, and the Kingdom of Arendelle has been returned to its former glory. On the far finish of the Frozen Kingdom are towering snow capped mountains with a number of cascading waterfalls. Within the distance, close to the summit of North Mountain, Elsa’s ice palace glistens proudly, coated in snow. On this facet of the land, you’ll discover Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, which is one among Disney’s greatest rides anyplace ever.
This similar courtyard can be house to 2 eating spots. The primary of those is Oaken’s OK Meals, which is only a walk-up window snack spot. The opposite is Royal Banquet of Arendelle, which is the counter service restaurant positioned inside Arendelle Fort. Royal Banquet is a behemoth 570-person capability restaurant, with a number of indoor eating rooms and a coated outside eating space with views of the fjord cliffs and mountains within the distance.
Earlier than venturing inside Royal Banquet of Arendelle, we’d be remiss if we didn’t focus on the outside. That is no easy facade or a little bit of window-dressing to hide a giant field restaurant like Be Our Visitor. On the contrary, Imagineering has gone all-out and created a really in-castle eating expertise.
Arendelle Fort is huge and, to proceed borrowing Walt Disney World comparisons (sorry non-Individuals, however the Trip Kingdom looms giant and it’s our high body of reference) is sort of a mash-up of elements of the Norway pavilion at EPCOT.
What you’ve acquired with Royal Banquet of Arendelle is principally Akershus Royal Banquet Corridor in scale and scope mixed with the type of the smaller stave church. That’s true each inside and outside, really. This shouldn’t actually be an enormous shock–it’s additionally in keeping with Arendelle Fort from Frozen!
The gorgeous exterior is basically fabricated from ornate wooden paneling, trim, and shingles. It’s punctuated by sharp peaks and Nordic structure–an ideal duplicate of Arendelle Fort from the movies. No element is spared, proper right down to the balconies and stained glass home windows.
The best factors of Arendelle Fort preserve a excessive diploma of element, even in spots the place it’s arguably “pointless” to keep up suspension of disbelief. That is to be anticipated of OLC, however one thing you’d in all probability by no means see in a comparable restaurant constructed at the moment at Walt Disney World. Once more, look no additional than the sharp distinction between this and the toy fortress of Be Our Visitor.
I’d go so far as to say that Royal Banquet of Arendelle is the visible spotlight of the Fantasy Springs ‘skyline.’ It’s higher than the Frozen journey or something within the Peter Pan or Tangled minilands.
Inside Royal Banquet of Arendelle, there’s a big ordering bay the place friends decide up their meals.
At current, friends want a Cell Order simply to enter the restaurant, and there’s no ordering on the money registers inside. We’d count on this to vary in the end, as we’ve observed that Cell Order hasn’t actually caught on at Tokyo Disney Resort (strides have been made, however Japan isn’t a cashless nation). However for now, demand exceeds provide, so the Cell Order spots are filling up.
The ordering bay is embellished with work, pretend muffins, and royal chinaware on show. There’s additionally a self-service water station (we love these), and extra of those may be present in every of the eating rooms.
After selecting up their meals, friends can select amongst 4 seating areas inside Royal Banquet of Arendelle.
There’s additionally one other space outdoors dealing with the attraction, affording views of Elsa’s ice palace, waterfall and fjord. It’s an exquisite spot to take a seat and take in the surroundings, however all of our meals at Royal Banquet of Arendelle to date have come when it’s been sizzling outdoors.
Probably the most formidable of the inside eating rooms is the Nice Corridor the place Elsa’s coronation was held.
The arched ceiling options rosemaling floral ornamental work on every panel and alongside the beams, with grand chandeliers and extra lighting fixtures hanging down from posts. This immediately transported us again to the agricultural church buildings we visited in Norway’s countryside a number of years in the past. Effectively…minus the tons of of Japanese friends consuming lunch. However it was undoubtedly transportive when empty!
Unsurprisingly, the Grand Corridor is the place everybody needs to eat at Royal Banquet Corridor of Arendelle. Effectively, other than the bloggers. The lighting is a bit too darkish and funky for perfect meals photograph circumstances. However it’s undoubtedly essentially the most atmospheric and well-themed rooms within the restaurant. I might see decompressing right here on the finish of a protracted day in Fantasy Springs some evening.
The opposite rooms are the Portrait Gallery, Library and (I believe) the Eating Room.
Each single area in Royal Banquet of Arendelle is exceptionally designed, however none of them attain the thematic excessive bar of the Nice Corridor. That eating room is simply so nicely performed–every thing from the structure to the environment to the way in which the tables are organized is unparalleled. It’s every thing I had hoped the Ballroom at Be Our Visitor could be.
Listed below are extra images of the assorted eating rooms at Royal Banquet of Arendelle:
What we actually recognize about all the eating rooms is the extent of element. Since these areas are so sprawling and full of seating, it’d be straightforward for them to really feel impersonal and cavernous.
As a substitute, all of them really feel heat and lived-in because of the household portraits adorning the colourful partitions, together with household heirlooms and private possessions. There’s a stone fire; bookshelves, toys and trinkets; meticulous wooden paneling; detailed wallpaper–the checklist goes on and on.
It’s truthfully refreshing. As a substitute of particulars being budget-cut as “pointless,” it actually seems like Imagineers had been in a position to go above and past right here. They went above and past with so many little issues to essentially promote the areas–it’s what makes a home a house…or fortress a house, I suppose.
In fact, none of this issues (or a minimum of, issues lots much less) if the meals doesn’t ship.
Royal Banquet of Arendelle is technically a counter service restaurant, however very similar to different spots at Tokyo DisneySea, it occupies an area between common ole counter service and desk service. At the least, from the attitude of price and high quality.
This finally ends up being the costliest counter service restaurant at Tokyo DisneySea, which costs which can be greater than some desk service eating places within the park. Set meals right here at present price 3,500 yen, which is greater than we paid for pizza and dessert at Ristorante di Canaletto.
Like most eating places at Tokyo Disney Resort, entree choices are restricted at Royal Banquet of Arendelle.
That is much more excessive than regular. The set menu consists of the next:
- Smoked Salmon Trout and Orange Salad
- Potato Gratin
- Bread
- Olaf’s Marshmallow-Chocolate Mousse
- Selection of Gentle Drink
- Lobster and Redfish Pot Pie or Beef Pot Pie
Beginning with the final merchandise–the primary course–the meat pot pie may be very filling and hearty hunks of meat all through.
The flaky pastry is implausible, working nicely with the soupy stew contained in the pie. It’s not all beef inside–there’s additionally cauliflower and pasta filling. The meat is scrumptious, completely ready and tender. The entire thing works fairly nicely, however on the similar time, it’s only a pot pie. This isn’t going to blow anybody away.
The meat pot pie is doubtlessly a satisfying dish for chilly winter nights, nevertheless it’s not one thing I’ll order once more some other time of 12 months.
The seafood pot pie is the superior selection, full of lobster and redfish in a creamy sauce. I’m a sucker for precisely one of these dish, variations of that are fairly widespread all through Tokyo Disney Resort.
This felt like a better high quality twist on these, that are usually tacky gratins. They’re additionally usually lots cheaper. However you get what you pay for, I suppose, because the seafood pot pie delivers an elevated dish that’s higher than these and its beef counterpart.
We’d suggest the seafood pot pie over the meat pot pie, however this nonetheless isn’t a ringing endorsement. The factor is, although, you must order one thing to get within the door (for now) and these are your solely choices (for now).
The potato gratin is a bit completely different than what we’ve encountered elsewhere.
This consists of three child potatoes on the backside with a creamy sauce, topped with a crunchy layer of potato on high. This can be a bit soupier than I’d’ve preferred, nevertheless it’s exhausting to argue with potatoes in cream sauce. The topping additionally added a pleasant texture. All issues thought-about, I preferred this.
The salad with smoked salmon and mandarin oranges is an attention-grabbing combo, however the type of factor you would possibly discover as a facet all through Japan.
It’s really a fantastic medley of flavors.
What you see is what you get, for essentially the most half, with the dinner roll.
It’s semi-sweet, however nothing like milk or melon bread. I assume the entire level of that is to dip into the pot pies to absorb the stew or cream sauce. The roll information that position admirably.
Lastly, there’s the chocolate mousse with an Olaf mochi on high.
This can be a good dessert, with a mousse much like chocolate pudding and a scrumptious marshmallow mochi with a tangy lemon filling. The flavors right here work nicely, however truthfully, I’d slightly simply have a trio of the mochi (a la the little inexperienced alien ones for which Tokyo Disneyland is legendary).
There are additionally memento units accessible at Royal Banquet of Arendelle. Simply in case 3,500 yen is just too darn low-cost for a meal!
We didn’t purchase both of this stuff. We did get the novelty dessert cup from one of many different Fantasy Springs eating places. They’re the proper dimension to double as espresso cups they usually’re dishwasher secure.
In the end, we love the setting of Royal Banquet of Arendelle. It’s a standout amongst standouts at Tokyo DisneySea. We’d extremely suggest consuming right here to step contained in the fortress, and meaning shopping for one of many above particular units. (That’s, until you do the Trip Package deal, wherein case you’ll be able to flash your drink tickets and stroll in for a ‘free’ beverage–try this as an alternative of consuming right here for those who’re eligible!)
In terms of the meals, Royal Banquet of Arendelle turns into a tougher promote. There are two elements to this. The primary is the fee. In case you requested me what I felt all of that is “price” based mostly on the pricing at different eating places at Tokyo Disney Resort, I’d in all probability come again with a value about 1,000 yen decrease than the precise value.
The second is when it comes to abdomen area. There’s simply a lot nice meals at Tokyo DisneySea. In case you have restricted time–two days or fewer–it’s actually tough to suggest allocating one among your ~4 meals to Royal Banquet of Arendelle. Though the meals is top of the range and sufficiently tasty, it’s simply not memorable sufficient.
There’s nothing particular about it and also you gained’t end up craving it months later. For us, that’s an issue…and the chance price coupled with the actual price is why Royal Banquet of Arendelle is a troublesome promote that has us torn.
Planning a visit to Tokyo Disney Resort? For complete recommendation, the perfect place to start out is our Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea Journey Planning Information! For extra specifics, our TDR Lodge Rankings & Evaluations web page covers lodging. Our Restaurant Evaluations element the place to dine & snack. To save cash on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash submit. Our What to Pack for Disney submit takes a novel take a look at intelligent objects to take. Venturing elsewhere in Japan? Seek the advice of our Final Information to Kyoto, Japan and Metropolis Information to Tokyo, Japan.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever dined on the Royal Banquet of Arendelle? What’d you order? Did you’re keen on or hate the Frozen meals? Suppose it’s definitely worth the greater price for the upper high quality, or would you favor to get a budget burgers and sandwiches on the Tangled tavern? Ideas on how the Frozen restaurant stacks as much as different choices at Tokyo DisneySea from a thematic perspective? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluate? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
