early or late lunch at Hollywood & Vine

[Shellee999]

We will be taking DS to Hollywood & Vine for the characters on our trip in August. I think we're going to do lunch, rather than breakfast, so we can have some flexibility in the morning. Are there any advantages between going to the earliest lunch time or to the latest lunch time? Or does it not matter? Thanks!

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I asked one more question based on all the responses I got. Basically, if we were to choose a late breakfast, wouldn't I run into the same problem of cold and picked over food and all-around messiness?

 

[hjvigz72]

Hey Shellee!!

We usually do a late breakfast. (10-10:30ish?) Its our favorite breakfast spot so far. (We've done O'Hana & The Castle in the past as well.) Last time we did it, there were barely 10 families in there, and it was April vacation!! If memory serves me correctly, the characters came to our table at least twice, and I think some made it to us a third time!

We can't speak to a better time for lunch. We haven't had lunch there, but we did hit it for dinner and weren't terribly impressed. The menu is similar at lunch/dinner. Hope this helps!

 

[Fall1]

I thought it was the worst food I've ever had on property when we went for lunch, I would stick with the latest breakfast there is if I were you, sorry!

 

[Daphne W]

I would do a late breakfast! Stay away from lunch here. It is my least favorite of all character meals I have ever been to, but the breakfast is good.

 

[3pletprincesses]

We really didn't enjoy our lunch there. The food wasn't hot at all when it was suppose to be and it was alot of sandwich choices IMO. If wee go to H&V, we do only breakfast now. Wha about doing a late breakfast?

 

[jana616]

We ate there in 2009, and I thought we had the latest possible breakfast reservation. When we got there, we realized we were the very first lunch time. We found the food to be extremely fresh (and we were completely satisfied with the quality and variety as well), and there were maybe 8-10 other families in the entire restaurant. The characters came around at least 3 times each, sat at the table with my kids, and we felt like we got wonderful attention and interaction from them. By far the best of the 5 character meals we had!

Also, as an FYI...they were still clearing plates from tables that had been there for breakfast, and my kids saw yogurt cups on them, but they did not have them out for lunch. We asked our server nicely and she was able to get us a couple anyway.

 

[connie1042]

Are doing a 10:10 breakfast in May. Does anyone know what the price is going to be for 2 adults and one 4 year old. Thanks.

 

[jenjifer]

Re: the food -- I found it fine for our family. One of my sons is a particularly picky eater, so buffets work out pretty well for us. There was enough variety for each of us. It wasn't gourmet by ANY means, but we weren't there for the food.

 

[Celestia]

We will be taking DS to Hollywood & Vine for the characters on our trip in August. I think we're going to do lunch, rather than breakfast, so we can have some flexibility in the morning. Are there any advantages between going to the earliest lunch time or to the latest lunch time? Or does it not matter? Thanks!

At Hollywood & Vine it seems like the earliest lunch is a bit better than the latest lunch as the food is fresh and the buffet has not been messed up at all. My kids are older now so this is not a draw for us, if they were younger, we'd shoot for first available lunch seating.

 

[DopeysMom]

Unless something has changed recently, there are no longer characters at H&V for lunch or dinner, only breakfast. You can however get the Fantasmic dining package if you go for lunch or dinner. We went for both breakfast and lunch in July and the breakfast was better in my opinion. We are going back next week and I JUST made ADR's for both breakfast and lunch again. My DS Loves the Disney Jr cast, and we LOVE the fantasmic package.

 

[miprender]

OP we ate a late lunch there in Dec,2010 and we had the best character interaction. There was no one left in the restaurant so the characters kept coming back and we were able to get many pictures with them.

Unless something has changed recently, there are no longer characters at H&V for lunch or dinner, only breakfast. You can however get the Fantasmic dining package if you go for lunch or dinner. We went for both breakfast and lunch in July and the breakfast was better in my opinion. We are going back next week and I JUST made ADR's for both breakfast and lunch again. My DS Loves the Disney Jr cast, and we LOVE the fantasmic package.

Nope... they do have characters for lunch which include Jake form the Neverland Pirates and Agent OSO and a few others.

 

[minnie mum]

H&V has the reputation of having THE WORST food in all of WDW (lunch and dinner). And I can attest to it. I would definitely recommend trying for a late breakfast. If you must do lunch then I agree with the PPs who recommend trying to get the earliest possible seating. Hopefully by doing this the hot food will still be hot and the cold food cold. And the place won't be the mess we found it to be on the 2 occasions we ate there.

 

[TinkerbellinLouisian]

I am one of the few ppl who actually liked H&V...

The buffet offered plenty of choices for everyone.... kids loved the boiled shrimp, kids bar... I loved the salad choices, carving station, potatoes ..... everyone loved the "make your own sundae" buffet...

I agree with PP... If you're gonna eat at H&V... go ahead and get the Fantasmic dining package... it does not cost you more money but gets you into Fantasmic as a VIP with NO wait...

Have a magical visit !

Mary

 

[pharmjenn]

I made ADR for late July, and was told the Fantasmic package was for dinners only, not lunch. At Mama Melrose, it is lunch and dinner.
I had made dinner res, but I think I am going to change them to early breakfast to see the characters (DS4 loves Jake) and then do MM for dinner to see Fantasmic. Hopefully a big breakfast and an early dinner will suffice with just snacks at lunch time.

 

[Hopefully]

I too would only do a late breakfast.
H & V is one of only 2 restaurants in all of WDW that we will NEVER return to. We had dinner. We were surrounded by dirty, unbussed tables, The waitress was rude, the cold food was not cold, and the hot food was not hot. The Ladies Room was disgusting!!! Several posters mentioned there were only 8 -10 families in there. It is that bad.

 

[Shellee999]

Thanks for all the responses. I know Hollywood and Vine doesn't have a good reputation for its food, but DS is 3, so I know he'll be really excited for these characters.

A few people suggested a late breakfast because of the poor quality of the lunch food, but wouldn't there be the same problem with the food being cold and picked over and messy?

 

[333disneymom]

Re: the food -- I found it fine for our family. One of my sons is a particularly picky eater, so buffets work out pretty well for us. There was enough variety for each of us. It wasn't gourmet by ANY means, but we weren't there for the food.

Totally agree.

Unless something has changed recently, there are no longer characters at H&V for lunch or dinner, only breakfast. You can however get the Fantasmic dining package if you go for lunch or dinner. We went for both breakfast and lunch in July and the breakfast was better in my opinion. We are going back next week and I JUST made ADR's for both breakfast and lunch again. My DS Loves the Disney Jr cast, and we LOVE the fantasmic package.

Characters are there at lunch. We just went in December.

Thanks for all the responses. I know Hollywood and Vine doesn't have a good reputation for its food, but DS is 3, so I know he'll be really excited for these characters.

A few people suggested a late breakfast because of the poor quality of the lunch food, but wouldn't there be the same problem with the food being cold and picked over and messy?

Honestly, we had lunch there in December and it wasn't bad. There were lots of different choices. The food was fresh and hot/cold as it was meant to be. We had no complaints from our family. Are there better food options in Disney? Of course! If you are comparing this to many of the fabulous restaurants in World Showcase, it will always fall short. However, it is a buffet. The buffet has decent food. But, the real reason most people go is for the character interaction. If your son likes Playhouse Disney, he will probably like this lunch. The character interaction - songs and dancing - are really fun. I would pick the earlier lunch. When we went, at 11:30 nearly everything on the buffet was untouched, as we were one of the first lunch seatings. We would definitely go back. Good luck and have fun!