Best Restaurant for Fantasmic?

[ImagineMeDisney]

Booked MYW plus dining, I noticed that all three of the Fantasmic restaurants are on the list...Brown Derby seems to have a little too..um...odd of a menu for my and DH's tastes...which one is better, Hollywood and Vine or Mama Melrose's? Is it worth going to these restaurants for a seat at Fantasmic? I saw the show at DL and I fell in love with it, I've never seen it at WDW, but does it really fill up that quickly that I need to go with a dinner package for it?

 

[Terry S]

To be honest with you we have a family of picky eaters and have dined at all 3 and prefer Brown Derby.

If you don't mind waiting over an hour in line for Fanstasmic you don't have to do the package.

 

[Anthony1971]

I would say to do the dinner pacakge as you do get a discount.....
Mama Melrose is great but Brwon Derby is better if you like the Menu and by far worth the price.... so is MM but you need to choose the right food
The other is a good
The show does get crowded and if you go late you will stand
In MY opinion if you did not see the show yet you should go see it but it is not on my list of favorites like Illuminations and Wishes.

 

[CamColt]

We continually go back to Mama Melrose and always enjoy it very much. I should add I am a very picky eater....and my kids are worse.

 

[disneygoof]

We love Mama Melrose's. The flatbread and salads are great, and I had a great chicken-artichoke-pasta-parmesan dinner that was very good.

I think HnV is a buffet? It depends on what you prefer, and I assume both menus are posted on allearsnet.com to compare.

 

[AlwaysAPrincess]

We have been to both Brown Derby & Mamma Melrose & we prefer Mamma Melrose. We felt that the meal at The Brown Derby was heavy & it was so hot when we went that we just didn't feel like having a heavy dinner. The food was good though....can't say a bad thing about that.

We do however prefer Mamma Melrose. Love the flat breads & salad as well & can have a lighter pasta dinner.

Nevr been to Hollywood & Vine ...but I do know it is a buffet. That is why we have never gone...DH is not a fan of buffet's.

Enjoy either way!

 

[pigby]

We have been to all 3 for the FDP and judge the Brown Derby the best (by a mile).

On the day we went to BD, it was really hot outside (and I was feeling a little woozy) but inside it was lovely and cool and we hd a lovely meal.

We thought the food at H&V was just ok and the service poor. The food at MM was worse than average for me (OK for DH and DD) - but the service was incredibly poor (the worst we have ever had at any WDW restaurant).

 

[jenjersnap]

We've done BD and H&V. BD was delicious and where I would go if I didn't have my two small kids along. There are definitely some "regular" type food offerings there, IMO. H&V is a pretty average buffet but it's inexpensive for Disney and, well, variety and cost are it's only selling points. It's loud and crowded. Haven't tried MM - attempted to talk DH into it for our trip in May, but, after looking over the menu, he decided that we could eat over-priced Italian food at any number of restaurants in our hometown ...

Enjoy the decision - that's at least half the fun!

 

[Mickey's Sister]

I would not recommend the Hollywood & Vine buffet. The varied members of our family (there were 8 of us) found it to be mediocre at best. My son literally filled plates 3 times with different items & could not find a single thing that he liked. The kids didn't even finish their ice cream. To top it off, we had a grumpy waitress who messed up our bill. We are not a difficult to please group. In 3 trips to Disney, we've only ever found one other place that we all disliked (the Electric Umbrella at Epcot). We plan to try Mama Melrose instead for our December trip.

We also had a huge disappointment in the Fantasmic Show. Due to wind, the dragon portion of the show was not included. We were all SOOOO disappointed! Just be prepared if the weather isn't cooperating that this can happen. We're trying again in December.

Best of luck...let us know how you do.

Jessica

 

[tjmw2727]

We like mama melrose and do the package once during each trip. For us, if we are going to do a table service meal anyway it makes sense to spend a bit more to have the fantasmic seats.

TJ

 

[ImagineMeDisney]

I checked out the menus on Deb's site and the winner is....


Brown Derby..the restaurant I said I didn't want to go to in the first place!! DH and I talked about it and we agreed that since the food is already paid for, we might as well try something new. Its our theory on DCL, order something new each time so at least we can say we've tried it..I've never had artichoke hearts or goat cheese, it may be a new favorite, who knows?

Thanks for all the info!