Fantasmic Dining Package which Restaurant?

[timsueshd]

Which restaurant would you pick and why with the Fantasmic Dining Package?

Mama Melrose or

Hollywood & Vine

I am leaning towards Hollywood & Vine just because it is a buffet and has characters (but maybe not in November?).

 

[rg35]

Absent any information such as the composition of your party and what kind of food they like to eat, it's kind of impossible to make a recommendation.

H&V is (at least IMO) on the lower end of disney buffet quality, but fine if you want a character meal. This would definitely be a quantity over quality meal.

We thought that Mama Melrose was fairly solid. We ate lunch there last year. I had the Saltimbocca and remember being impressed that the pork was actually cooked to the right doneness so it was slightly pink and juicy, rather than being a dried out hunk of meat.

My personal choice is the Brown Derby, which you don't have listed, but I won't try to convince you to dine there since it's not one of your final 2.

 

[KenHutch]

Hollywood & Vine is a little weird. It has perhaps the best character interaction I have ever seen coupled with some of the worst food I have ever eaten. We are doing the Fantasmic Package in 2 weeks when we go be we are going with Mama Melrose.

 

[sking5844]

Are all of them 2 TS credits or is H&V only 1? I seem to remember hearing that somewhere.

 

[larissawbb]

Hollywood Brown Derby

 

[kniquy]

Mama Melrose or

Hollywood & Vine

If i had to choose i would pick mama melrose. Hollywood and Vine does not get great reviews, so if you are paying the money spend a little more and get a much, much better meal. But if i totally had my choice of fantasmic dining I would pick brown derby hands down. We were just there in April and 5 of us ordered the Filet -- my husband is a really foodie and still talks about that being the most amazing filet he has ever had.

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

Which restaurant would you pick and why with the Fantasmic Dining Package?

Mama Melrose or

Hollywood & Vine

I am leaning towards Hollywood & Vine just because it is a buffet and has characters (but maybe not in November?).

We picked Mama Melrose - my husband said the chicken parm was OK. I had the steak and it was wonderful.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Depends on what type of meal you want. If you're in it for the food, I'd say MM. If you want characters, go with H&V. Despite the bad reviews I really liked the food at H&V, it's pretty standard buffet food but totally edible. And in November the characters will be in holiday attire.

 

[DisMommyTX]

We prefer the food at MM, but it was absolutely the worst service. Most TS take around 2 hours, but this one sailed past the 3 hour mark. The food was on par with your average chain Italian (maybe a B-), so definitely not worth that much park time. We have done H&V a couple times. The food is mediocre as well (about a C+), but the character interactions are decent, and we are usually done in about an hour. The food is not worth the amount of money you are paying at either, but they have a variety to choose from, and no one leaves hungry. I would definitely choose characters and more park time over slightly better food, but you have to decide which experience your family would prefer.

 

[midnightlouise]

We did H&V with Fantasmic last time (also in November) because we did Minnie's Holiday Dine. If not for that, we'd have gone to MM for the food.

 

[BrookieM2001]

Like others said, definitely depends on your party. We have 3 little girls, so H&V is a go to for us, both for its copious kid friendly options, and the for character interactions. Honestly, they were the BEST characters we met on our entire trip last time. We went in 2016 and were there for the hurricane. We got to do H&V the night before, when parks closed at 5pm. The characters didnt have to be there, they actually told us when we switched our ADR to it instead of DS which was our original plan. We decided to stick with it and were so glad we did. The Halloween costumes were super pretty, and the interactions were awesome. They came by many times, signed autographs, acted silly and really had a good time with us during that meal. All that said, its pretty typical buffet food, though usually with a seasonal twist, but for us its not about food. Its about the characters and the Fanatasmic pass.

 

[rinnythepooh]

We did MM Fantasmic package 2 times and both times it was very good. This was with the dining plan. At that time the MM/Fantasmic package was one TS credit which was a great bargin (not sure if it is still one credit?) We got the steak both times and it was very good.

 

[gharter]

When we have done the Fantasmic package, we have done it with Mama Melrose and Brown Derby. Both are really good options.
Just not a fan of H&V, not our food preference anymore. So we avoid it whenever possible, which is every trip. One bad experience and we will not go back.