When I left off, we were making our way to Hollywood and Vine for our 11 am ADR. I was a little nervous about this meal for a few reasons. First, anyone who reads the DIS has read a bad review of this restaurant. I don't think of us as particularly picky eaters (well, the kids are, but they would be anywhere), so I was hopeful we'd be okay, but worried that I had lead us all to inedible cuisine! Second, I was a little concerned about what we would be eating. Disney's own dining website said that breakfast went until 11:20, and lunch started at 11:40. I was hopeful that we'd be getting some of both, since the kids definitely eat breakfast foods better. In the end, I stuck with this ADR since it was so convenient to stay in the park (our other option was Cape May dinner), and I knew the kids would enjoy any characters, even if they didn't particularly care for them or know them.
We walked along the lake, and were disappointed to see that the spot with the best view was a smoking area (this happened again later that day at a nice shady bench area near Star Tours). I'm allergic to smoke, and try not to expose the kids, so we didn't feel like hanging around, but it was really pretty. I went ahead to check in at about 10:50, and had my only disappointment of the meal. The host said that lunch started at 11 am, and they wouldn't seat anyone until then. Kind of a bummer since the entire restaurant was empty and we could see servers just standing and waiting, but whatever!
Finally at 11:10 (again, why would you need 10 minutes past the ADR to seat the 5 families waiting outside?) we were ushered in, and this is when I started to love this meal. There was no one there! Maybe a third of the tables were filled. It was awesome, because there were no real lines for food, and the characters had tons of time to interact with the kids. Each character came by at least twice! So nice. And we really liked the food too. Just based on our experience, I have no idea why people bash the food. I adored the creamed corn spoonbread, and liked many of the other items. All of us found plenty to eat and enjoy. They had a really nice dessert selection as well. So if you have been contemplating this meal, I say go for it! It was perfect for the ages of my kids, but older kids would probably be bored. And thanks Becky (ladybugmom) for encouraging me to do this one; I am so glad we did!
OK, onto the pictures!
See, what I loved is that the characters really took their time with each table. Almost all of them sat down at some point, and most of them played with Griffin or Cooper. So sweet! Plus 2 of them came before we ever saw our server, so we didn't have to rush around as much while we ate.
I think Cooper was really concerned about why they looked like people but had such huge heads!
After JoJo and Leo came by, they did the first of many dance breaks. Now again, some might find this annoying, but my kids are all about dancing, and I'm all about them not having to sit still and quiet!
They had a blast dancing, and luckily our table was right behind it, so the adults could sit and eat while they danced.
Next June came by, and then Goliath.
Then JoJo came again. Judging from all the other pictures I took, I think Leo and June came by again, and JoJo may have come by one more time after that. Honestly, at some point I stopped taking pictures and just got to enjoy them playing with the kids, who were having a blast!
I had to create my own Disney magic at the meal. I saw a table a few seats away had yogurt cups on it. The boys were eating nothing (not H&V's fault, just how they are), but I knew they'd eat yogurt, which I did not see on the buffet. So I asked our server about it, and she told me sorry, they were left over from breakfast and not out anymore. I walked away a little disappointed, and commented to my mom that I was surprised she didn't offer to get some from the kitchen (I think I was spoiled by how accomodating every other place had been). Well, she overheard me and brought two out. Whoops, guess I have a louder mouth than I thought!
I was very appreciative and thanked her profusely, but I still felt bad that I had kind of assumed she would go out of their way just for me.
Anyway, as the meal was wrapping up we decided Chad would take all of our cards and run ahead to get Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror fast passes for the two of us (the beauty of having non-riders-we got to use their cards for our FPs!), and then he would meet us at TSM for our third ride. He is fast! He beat us there, and told me the line for ToT was so short they weren't giving FPs out, so he got 4 for RnRC so we could ride twice. Smart boy!
The army men were out in front of TSM, so we got some photos with them.
I remember that as we got in the fast pass line to ride TSM, we discussed how we had 45 minutes until the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show. This was the one thing Chad wanted to do at DHS, and the boys really wanted to see it too. I thought for sure we'd have plenty of time. Well, this time the ride had major problems. If I heard, "Sorry Toy Story Maniacs, Rex forgot to put the batteries in" one more time, I was going to lose it! And my poor mom, who had offered to ride with Cooper so Chad and I could ride together, got stuck keeping him happy for the 20 minutes we sat there as it would start and stop over and over. We watched as the time for LMA got closer and closer. There was another show at 4:30, but we had hoped to be wrapping up our day around then and didn't know if the kids would make it that long. We decided to make a run for it and see if we could sneak in!
Chad ran with Cooper while we grabbed the strollers and came behind. We got there as they were putting the rope up, but luckily we made it under the wire. We did miss the opening sequence, which was a bummer. Also a bummer was that the show also had major technical difficulties. They had to reshoot several scenes, and the part where the man is supposed to catch fire didn't happen. Oh well, the kids still really liked it.
All of my boys watching with rapt attention.
Cooper completely enthralled
So cool, especially if you have two car-obsessed little boys!
After the show Cooper was getting pretty tired, but I wanted them to see the Cars characters first. So we found that and got some quick pictures. Can you see Cooper's pacifier? He only gets this when he's sleeping (or cranky at WDW and nothing else will work!
), so he was pretty close to naptime here!
We headed to Star Tours, but stumbled upon the Singing in the Rain umbrella first, so of course we all got pictures with it!
Even Cooper, who truly could not understand what we were all doing!
Near picture limit, continued in next post!
TSM 4 times?? 
Impressive!
H&V as well. You were a major force in my choosing it, since you said you guys had had a nice meal. I am so glad I didn't listen to all of the negative reviews, because it was probably my favorite character meal. So thanks for that! 
September!
Since we are flying now I had to cancel our Boma reservation for our departure day and I needed one more reservation for our free dining. I wanted to get Chef Mickeys for breakfast another day but I had no luck. Amelia has been getting into Little Einsteins lately and after I read your report I decided we had to try it! Hopefully breakfast will be decent food too!
