Anyone w/Little Einstein fans do H&V?

[NJDisneymom]

I'm planning our dining plans for Dec/Jan and DD has informed me she is no longer interested in any princess meals so that frees up some character meals for my 2 year old who is going to Disney for his first trip. He likes Playhouse Disney and Little Einsteins so I thought we'd try Hollywood & Vine. Is the food good? Are all 4 LE characters there? Would it be better to do breakfast or lunch?

 

[Married_Him_@_Disney]

Both breakfast and lunch are buffet. We have it scheduled for lunch for our next trip. I did H&V for breakfast years ago - and the food was great!

 

[Married_Him_@_Disney]

Oh, and only 2 LE characters are there. JoJo and Goliath are also there

 

[Jletendre]

We did the breakfast the 1st year it was offered "little ones magic time" and it's a nice time. They dance and get kids up and active. From most pictures and our breakfast it's Leo / June. We have seen Annie and Quincy by the Playhouse Disney trailer.

 

[kadesha]

We did it and it was horrible. I've never had a problem with character meals,but this one was extremely over-crowded and un-organized. We were there for an hour and a half and only 2 of the characters (JoJo and June) ever made it to our table. Our waitress kept telling us that the other 2 (Goliath and Leo) would make it over "soon" but we felt like we were wasting the day in there. It's the only restaurant I've ever ate at there that I have no intentions of ever going to again.

 

[jenjersnap]

In late '06, our boys were so enamored by this breakfast that we went back a second time that trip. It was Leo and June and that seems to be the norm, plus Jo Jo and Goliath (I don't think Disney Channel even shows the full half hour Jo Jo show anymore so I would think they will be replaced by something else eventually). Food was ok, pretty basic, but, in this case, it was beside the point. There is an emcee who organizes dances with the kids and the characters. Super fun! My little guy was only 6 months old that trip and he's become a LE FANATIC just lately so I can't wait to see his reaction in September!

 

[DisneyBarlans]

We did this restaurant in April and it was great! Great service, food, and characters. We saw JoJo and Goliath from JoJo's Circus, and June and Leo from Little Einsteins.

 

[JLS]

We did the H & V lunch on Saturday with our 3 year old Little Einsteins fan. Annie is his favorite, so it was a bit disappointing that she was not there, but he seemed starstruck by June and Leo. They play all of the theme music and do a lot of dancing.

I would not go back to this lunch unless my son specifically requested it. We paid the "premium" pricing in place from late may through July 4th week. It was $28.99 for adults and $15.99 for kids. I thought that was pretty outrageous, and almost backed out of the lunch, but really needed to get out of the heat. There is no way to justify a $16 meal for a 3 year old, or probably any kid from 3-9. Once you pay the 18-20% tip, it is a $95 lunch for the 3 of us. The food was only OK. It wasn't horrible, but definitely not as good quality as some other Disney buffets (Crystal Palace and Boma are my favorites). The Salmon did not taste very fresh, and the ice cream/frozen yoghurt stand was not working too well. The polenta and mashed potatoes were very good. My husband was not too thrilled with the selection.

We also had to stay a very long time just to get June and Jo Jo to come to our table (another family next to us told a supervisor they would not leave until the other two characters came around). For some reason Leo and Goliath passed us many many times, but not the other two.

Anyway, glad we did it once, but we are unlikely to go back. For less money we could have eaten at many other sit down places on property and probably had better food.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

We tried this last year during Lunch and did not like it very much. We had a wonderful server but the food was mediocre. My BFF tried the Breakfast buffet and said it was great. We'll try the Breakfast this time around in hopes of liking it better. How can ya mess up breakfast!? The characters were fun and entertaining!

 

[JohnNYC]

We did a late breakfast and the kids loved it! Food was fine, nothing special. Place was half empty (10:30 reservation) and the kids had tons of character time.

 

[ncmomof2]

We did this buffet last year and the kids had a blast. The charater interaction was great and we enjoyed the food. The buffets are the best to me for families with little ones. No waiting!

 

[Steelersfan]

We ate here for a 10:30 breakfast last July and have nothing bad to say.

First, the food was awesome. Although we had a later breakfast, they were constantly bringing out fresh food. They had almost anything one could want for breakfast, with the exception of fresh made omelettes, but who cares! This, like so many other Disney restaurants, knows how to do the food right. You should have no problem here.

Next, The service and character interaction was good also. For some reason, the place was pretty empty eventhough the park itself was packed. The characters came around at least 5 times and our server had free time so she just hung around, danced with the girls, talked to us about where we were from, etc.

I would recommend a later breakfast time like 10:30 to avoid the crowds and you can either sleep in some or go to the park early and ride the popular things like ToT and enjoy your breakfast. We went to this restaurant on a day the park opened early. My brother and I went in as it opened and we met my wife, daughter, niece and my parents a little later as they chose to sleep in a little.

Unless something changed drastically, this place is a keeper for us.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We did the Play-N-Dine breakfast last Sept and were unimpressed. We are very easy to please, but the food was just so-so to us. We had a 10:00 ADR and it took awhile for us to be seated, then right after we sat down one of the food lines was closed (I guess to prepare for lunch?). That made for longer lines at the other food stations. The food didn't seem all that fresh, either. The character interaction was OK; all 4 came to our table, but it seemed rushed.

We scratched it from our list for our next trip. It wasn't that good.