magic kingdom Archives - DisAnswers = Disney Answers

Are there Disney characters at Be Our Guest?

Disney Answer: No and Yes

Disney’s Be Our Guest restaurant, located in Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, is not a normal Disney character meal. Some restaurants at Walt Disney World feature Disney characters that go table to table to meet the guests, offering photo opportunities you may not get otherwise. In the Magic Kingdom, character meals include Crystal Palace and Cinderella’s Royal Table. You will notice that Be Our Guest is not included in that list. That is because Disney characters are NOT available at Be Our Guest (most of the time).

Breakfast and Lunch – For both meals, Be Our Guest is considered a Quick-Service meal, you order via a kiosk, pick up your food and take it to your table. Other than dining inside of Be Our Guest, the meal itself isn’t much different than eating at any of the other Quick-Service places in the Magic Kingdom. There are no Disney characters to be found during breakfast or lunch.

Dinner – For Dinner, Be Our Guest transforms into a Table Service restaurant, complete with waiters/waitresses, a nicer menu, and Disney characters. Well, kind of. Beast appears in his little library area (it is actually the area where you order your food for breakfast and lunch), and is available for photos with your family. Disney suggests that you meet Beast on your way out of the restaurant. Beast does not go table to table, you must go see him. And remember that this is Beast’s castle you are dining in, Belle isn’t anywhere to be found (you will have to head over to Belle’s attraction next door, Enchanted Tales with Belle in order to find her).

Be Our Guest is super popular, by far the most difficult dining reservation there is at Walt Disney World. But remember, you are not booking a character meal, so if your kids want to see characters, look elsewhere.

Can you walk from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom?

Disney Answer: Yes

While everyone knows that the monorail services Disney’s Contemporary Resort, that isn’t the only way to get to the theme parks. Of all the resorts in the Magic Kingdom area, it is the only resort (along with Bay Lake Tower which is attached to the Contemporary) that you can walk directly from the resort into a theme park. Both Polynesian Village and the Grand Floridian are not directly accessible to the Magic Kingdom.

In fact, if you are going to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary, it is much quicker to walk to the Magic Kingdom than take the resort monorail. After waiting for the monorail at the Contemporary, it will make three more stops before coming to the Magic Kingdom, and the trip will take about 15 – 20 minutes, maybe more if the trains are delayed at all. Walking from the Contemporary will take about 5 – 10 minutes, depending on how quickly you can walk.

Please note however, after a long day in the park, it may be worth taking the monorail back to the Contemporary from the Magic Kingdom even if it is a few minutes longer. It is the first stop on the resort line, and your feet may be considerably more tired than on the way to the park in the morning.

To walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary, there is a sidewalk that starts at the bus stop in front of the resort, head to the North away from the Contemporary. The sidewalk basically follows the monorail line until you reach the Magic Kingdom plaza, where you can go directly into the park. The path from Bay Lake is similar, just exit the front of Bay Lake and follow the sidewalk West until it joins with the sidewalk from the Contemporary.

walk from the contemporary to the magic kingdom — Just follow the sidewalk to get right to the front gate of the Magic Kingdom!

Can you walk from the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom?

Disney Answer: Yes!

For many years, you could not walk from the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom. Even though the two are only several hundred feet apart, Disney made it impossible to walk between them. There is no path or sidewalk, and the two are separated by a fairly large canal that connects Seven Seas Lagoon to the Rivers of America inside the Magic Kingdom (it is also used for the parking area of the nightly Electrical Water Pageant floats).

Curiously, on the Contemporary side, there has been a walkway since the resort opened.

However, as of early 2021, there is now a completed walkway from the Grand Floridain to the Magic Kingdom. It is a long walk, but you get fantastic views of both the Contemporary and Grand Floridian as well as the Seven Seas Lagoon and the monorail.

The good news is that the resort monorail continues to stop at the Grand Floridian every few minutes and goes directly to the Magic Kingdom monorail station, and requires way less walking.

Does Fantasyland reopen after Fireworks?

Disney Answer: Maybe

Each night in the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, Fantasyland (or parts of it) is closed for the nightly fireworks show that happens on and around Cinderella’s and Sleeping Beauty’s Castles. While all of Fantasyland in Disneyland is closed during the fireworks, only the part between Prince Charming Regal Carrousel and Cinderella’s Castle is closed in the Magic Kingdom, while many of the rides behind the carousel will remain open during fireworks. This really is unfortunate for many as a large part of the park must shut down hours before the normal closing time. However, some nights, Disney will reopen Fantasyland after fireworks.

The answer to the Disney question really depends on park hours. If there is enough time after the fireworks end, then Fantasyland will open back up. If the nightly fireworks are towards closing time, then of course, Fantasyland will not reopen until the next morning. I have found that if the fireworks start 2 hours or more before park closing, then Fantasyland will reopen. Once you get inside that 2 hour window, it really doesn’t make sense for Disney to reopen a large part of the parks just for a few minutes.

The current Magic Kingdom fireworks show “Wishes” is a 12 minute show, while the current Disneyland show “Remember…Dreams Come True” is closer to 16 minutes long. It takes quite a while for Disney to clear Fantasyland after the fireworks, but you can expect Fantasyland to be open sometime around 15 – 30 minutes after the fireworks end, and it should remain open until park closing.

Tonight in the Magic Kingdom, Wishes is scheduled for 9:00 PM, and the park is open until 11:00 PM, so you should have access to Fantasyland for a bit over about 90 minutes after it reopens.

Please note: Currently, Disneyland DOES NOT offer fireworks during the week, they are only allowed to present their fireworks show on weekend nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights), so Fantasyland will remain open all night on weekdays.

DisAnswers Hint: If you want to ride Peter Pan, head to the back side of Fantasyland in Disneyland right after the fireworks open. Disney will start a line for Peter Pan near Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and will only allow about 50 people in the line. Once Fantasyland is ready to open, they will escort that line to Peter Pan and start loading the ride. Once that line is in place, they will drop the rope and allow everyone else into Fantasyland.

Does Fantasyland reopen after fireworks — Watching fireworks from the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel in Disney’s Magic Kingdom

Are the Magic Kingdom fireworks every night?

Disney Answer: Yes

Every night, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World offers at least one show of fireworks. Currently, the Magic Kingdom presents Wishes, which has been around since 2003. Starting on May 12, 2017, the Magic Kingdom will introduce a brand new fireworks show, Happily Ever After.

During the Fall and over the Holidays, Disney also offers special nightly fireworks during the holiday parties (Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party).

Of course, all fireworks at Walt Disney World are subject to cancellation due to inclement weather. Fireworks can be canceled due to wind or rain, and cancellations are usually announced in the parks sometime during the day.

While watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks, make sure not to miss the nightly castle show. Currently, the nightly show is Once Upon a Time, a projection show that involves Cinderella’s Castle and is downright fantastic.

You can check the daily schedule for the Magic Kingdom by clicking on the Walt Disney World Calendar, and then click on the “Magic Kingdom” and find your travel dates.

Are the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Connected?

Disney Answer: Yes and No!

No – Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Epcot are actually about 4 miles apart. Walt Disney World is huge, about twice the size of the island of Manhattan, and everything is really spread out.

Yes – In a way, the Magic Kingdom and Epcot are connected, by monorail! You can ride from Epcot directly to the Magic Kingdom (with a change at the Ticket and Transportation Center) by monorail. The one-way monorail trip takes between 30 – 40 minutes depending upon wait times.

To see how far apart the Magic Kingdom and Epcot are, as well as the monorail route, check out the image below.

magic kingdom and epcot connected