Chef Mickey's or Hollywood & Vine

[celina14]

Hi there! We are planning our November 2016 trip for my daughter's 5th birthday. I know I have a while before I can make ADRs but I'm starting to think about where we would want to eat. It will be myself, DH, DD5, and DS2. We plan on doing a few character meals for the kids. On our last trip (Nov 2013) we did character meals at Chef Mickey's (breakfast) and CRT (lunch). I don't really have any complaints on either, the food wasn't out of this world but we were there mainly for the characters.

This time I'm pretty set on doing CRT again and hopefully can get an ADR on my daughter's birthday because she loved eating in the castle last time and she's all about the princesses and what a cool birthday surprise that would be for her! I also really want to try breakfast at Ohana this time so I'm pretty sure we will do that one too, my daughter also loves Stitch. So if you were already going to do CRT and Ohana which would you pick for your 3rd between Chef Mickey's (probably would do breakfast here) or the Hollywood & Vine dinner? My daughter loves Minnie and she's at both, my son is not really into characters yet but could be by the time we go. I sort of want to try H&V since we've already done Chef Mickey's but I've heard not great things about the food. Again, I'm not expecting the food to be the best I've ever had but I don't want it to be completely awful either.

Would love to hear what other's thoughts are between those two, keeping in mind the other ones we plan on doing.

Thanks so much!!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Hm. Ideas:

1. Did you do Akershus last time? If she's all about the princesses, it gives you an alternative to CRT if you're interested.

2. H&V is a different vibe than Chef Mickey. The food isn't stellar at either, but H&V is a lot less chaotic. Were you planning a trip to HS anyway? Because if not, I'd say stick with CM if HS wasn't part of your plans?

 

[celina14]

Hm. Ideas:

1. Did you do Akershus last time? If she's all about the princesses, it gives you an alternative to CRT if you're interested.

2. H&V is a different vibe than Chef Mickey. The food isn't stellar at either, but H&V is a lot less chaotic. Were you planning a trip to HS anyway? Because if not, I'd say stick with CM if HS wasn't part of your plans?

Thanks so much for the thoughts! We've never done Akershus but my daughter really thinks eating in Cinderella's castle is the greatest and always says that she wants to do it again when she goes back to Disney. So for her birthday I really want to try and do that again.

Good to know that Hollywood & Vine is less chaotic. We would probably be doing 1 day at Hollywood Studios anyway so it wouldn't be a special trip. I do remember feeling very chaotic at Chef Mickey's so maybe it would be nice to feel a little more relaxed. I'm not expecting stellar food at either, just don't want to pay $130 and leave hungry!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Thanks so much for the thoughts! We've never done Akershus but my daughter really thinks eating in Cinderella's castle is the greatest and always says that she wants to do it again when she goes back to Disney. So for her birthday I really want to try and do that again.

Good to know that Hollywood & Vine is less chaotic. We would probably be doing 1 day at Hollywood Studios anyway so it wouldn't be a special trip. I do remember feeling very chaotic at Chef Mickey's so maybe it would be nice to feel a little more relaxed. I'm not expecting stellar food at either, just don't want to pay $130 and leave hungry!

One thing to note at H&V is that you can link it to a Fantasmic package. Another note is that the Fab 5 may be dressed for Christmas by November at H&V, so that could be fun. There's usually a photo op as you come in, and the other characters make the rounds.

 

[maryandthemouse]

Chef Mickey's for sure between the 2. Not the best food at H&V, in my opinion.

 

[Newsies]

I would choose H&V over CM. As someone who used to love eating at Chef Mickey's every trip, I'm saddened to say it's become hellacious over the past few years. The characters take forever to come around and the food is the same if not worse quality than H&V. Breakfast is somewhat tolerable at CM as they have some fun offerings in the morning, but dinner is just... ick.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Since you've already done CM, I would do H&V. Food isn't great at either, so why not?!

Another option would be Cape May for breakfast if you want to see Minnie and save a little money

 

[Lisa F]

I've done a ton of research on H&V because I have been trying to decide whether to book it for my Dec 2016 trip for me and my son.

From what I've read, the character interaction there is very very good...whereas at Chef Mickey's it can be kind of rushed.

From Nov 7 - Jan 4 (2017) They are doing the Christmas themed Holiday Dine for dinners. The reviews on the food are all over the place, some love, some hate, many in between, but I think that with the new seasonal rotation that they are doing for dinner that the Christmas themed one may be the best of them all. Here is a review I found that looks quite promising:

http://mealtrip.com/review-prc.asp?r=734

The food looks decent, especially the things that are special for the holiday that don't appear on the regular (or other themed) menus. This review had my mouth watering honestly, the salads and butternut squash soup and pumpkin ravioli would be enough to keep me happy but the meats looked pretty good also and I think that pork with apricot is a holiday thing (but also pork is NOT something that would benefit from sitting out either). This review liked the bbq meatballs, the recent DIS video review on the Silver Screen Dine did not like them at all so who knows... it might be a "different strokes for different folks" issue.

I think the secret to any buffet is to go when it first opens honestly. This way you know ALL of the food is fresh - as the night progresses things are in various states of sitting out/being refreshed and there is not much that gets better with age under a heat lamp. It seems like the reviews that I've seen that were bad involved food that had been sitting out for a while. Also the restaurant is not yet filled to capacity and I think you get even MORE character interaction that way. I intend to make the earliest reservation I can for this - my kiddo is pretty flexible about when he eats and I'll just plan the rest of the day accordingly.

I see plenty my kid would eat but also things that look interesting to me which is always a big plus. A lot of the "basic" buffets have the same stuff, carved turkey, mashed potatoes, etcetcetc. We are doing the dining plan because it is such a great value at the buffets for the kiddo and we are also doing Tusker House (also unique menu for me but things the kid loves and characters), Garden Grill (less interesting but brought to the table so big plus there), Crystal Palace (the food is pretty boring here but the character interaction was great and someone different... I also like to go at less busy times like between typical lunch and dinner times) and Ohana Breakfast, which was a HUGE hit when we went September 2014. Stitch is awesome and my child could live on Mickey Waffles and bacon. I thought about doing Chef Mickey's but the chaos and noise and menu so similar to CP, I decided against it.

 

[Jnbm63]

We did Chef Mickey's dinner 11/30/15 and Minnie's Holiday Dine at Hollywood and Vine on 11/29/15. We enjoyed them both, but preferred Hollywood and Dine. The restaurant was much smaller so we had much better character interaction. The food was very good at both places. Chef Mickey's was a little worn down and it took a long time to see all of the characters.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I would always take H&V over Chef Yuckey's.

 

[ronnie2hotty]

On our last trip, December 30th - January 9th, we ate at both of these.

We actually really enjoyed both. I thought the food was really good and everything on the bar seemed fresh, granted though H&V was at 11:30am and Chef Mickey's was at 5:30pm, both peak meal times. I didn't run into any single problem with either place that I typically read about on message boards. I would happily eat at either place again.

If I were going to choose. I would probably pick H&V. The food choices seemed to be a smidge better.

 

[River Country]

Tusker House or Cape May Cafe

 

[celina14]

Thank you so much for your opinions everyone! I think we may give H&V a go this time for something different.

I've done a ton of research on H&V because I have been trying to decide whether to book it for my Dec 2016 trip for me and my son.

From what I've read, the character interaction there is very very good...whereas at Chef Mickey's it can be kind of rushed.

From Nov 7 - Jan 4 (2017) They are doing the Christmas themed Holiday Dine for dinners. The reviews on the food are all over the place, some love, some hate, many in between, but I think that with the new seasonal rotation that they are doing for dinner that the Christmas themed one may be the best of them all. Here is a review I found that looks quite promising:

http://mealtrip.com/review-prc.asp?r=734

The food looks decent, especially the things that are special for the holiday that don't appear on the regular (or other themed) menus. This review had my mouth watering honestly, the salads and butternut squash soup and pumpkin ravioli would be enough to keep me happy but the meats looked pretty good also and I think that pork with apricot is a holiday thing (but also pork is NOT something that would benefit from sitting out either). This review liked the bbq meatballs, the recent DIS video review on the Silver Screen Dine did not like them at all so who knows... it might be a "different strokes for different folks" issue.

I think the secret to any buffet is to go when it first opens honestly. This way you know ALL of the food is fresh - as the night progresses things are in various states of sitting out/being refreshed and there is not much that gets better with age under a heat lamp. It seems like the reviews that I've seen that were bad involved food that had been sitting out for a while. Also the restaurant is not yet filled to capacity and I think you get even MORE character interaction that way. I intend to make the earliest reservation I can for this - my kiddo is pretty flexible about when he eats and I'll just plan the rest of the day accordingly.

I see plenty my kid would eat but also things that look interesting to me which is always a big plus. A lot of the "basic" buffets have the same stuff, carved turkey, mashed potatoes, etcetcetc. We are doing the dining plan because it is such a great value at the buffets for the kiddo and we are also doing Tusker House (also unique menu for me but things the kid loves and characters), Garden Grill (less interesting but brought to the table so big plus there), Crystal Palace (the food is pretty boring here but the character interaction was great and someone different... I also like to go at less busy times like between typical lunch and dinner times) and Ohana Breakfast, which was a HUGE hit when we went September 2014. Stitch is awesome and my child could live on Mickey Waffles and bacon. I thought about doing Chef Mickey's but the chaos and noise and menu so similar to CP, I decided against it.

Thanks for the link and for all your suggestions! Off to read this review now!

 

[lberk]

We went to both on our last trip Christmas time and we really enjoyed the H & V dinner. The characters were great. The food was way better than what we expected. The Christmas desserts were excellent. I cannot wait to go back for our next trip. Chef Mickeys is great for kids but the food selection in the evening isn't great. Have a great trip.

 

[goofy4prez]

I think the OP is making a wise decision choosing to go with H & V over CM. I would much rather have a tooth extraction without Novocaine than sit down and eat that stuff slapped on the buffet table at CM... Ok, not quite that bad, but not far from it either. For me, CM continues to be the worst food of any TS I've experienced.

I really think the OP will have a great time with her young children at H & V and while I"m not a very big fan of buffets, the buffet offerings look more interesting at H & V than at CM. And with her being on the DDP what a great use of a TS credit to also use it on the Fantasmic dinner package.

 

[tabrizia]

We just came back from our trip, we did Hollywood and Vine and Chef Mickey's, though we did the Hollywood and Vine Disney Jr lunch. That being said just based on food quality I would chose Hollywood and Vine, I am not sure how the character interaction is in the evening, but our character interactions were also better at Hollywood and Vine then when we went to Chef Mickey's. We were extremely underwhelmed by Chef Mickey.

 

[celina14]

I think the OP is making a wise decision choosing to go with H & V over CM. I would much rather have a tooth extraction without Novocaine than sit down and eat that stuff slapped on the buffet table at CM... Ok, not quite that bad, but not far from it either. For me, CM continues to be the worst food of any TS I've experienced.

I really think the OP will have a great time with her young children at H & V and while I"m not a very big fan of buffets, the buffet offerings look more interesting at H & V than at CM. And with her being on the DDP what a great use of a TS credit to also use it on the Fantasmic dinner package.

I just laughed out loud at this! I don't remember it being quite that bad (we did breakfast and honestly I was so busy dealing with a 2 year old that I probably didn't eat that much). It seems like the character interaction will be better at H&V which maybe will make it a little less hectic with 2 little kids. Not sure if we'll do DDP yet, maybe if free dining comes out but not sure if it's worth it to us to pay out of pocket. But even still, CM and H&V are pretty similar price wise so might as well get better character interaction out of it. Plus, this will be something new for us. Thanks so much everone for all your thoughts!