Fantasmic Dinner Package questions

[Keyser]

We've done the FDP several times, and really like it, so we are planning on it again this year. In looking at it, though, I'm having trouble understanding a couple of items.

A) Hollywood and Vine seems to be a character "event" now. I'm having trouble finding many details on this, beyond the official Disney promo information. Does anyone have a link to a good review (e.g. which characters show up, besides Minnie)? My kids are only so-so about the character meals. Is there any downside to doing this for FDP? It seems almost like a 2-for-1 (both a character meal and the Fantasmic seating for one price), though, and if we're going to do one character meal, maybe this is it.

B) The times available are only pre-dinner. I'm pretty sure that in the past, we had actually gone to dinner and then straight from there to Fantasmic. Maybe this was because we used to visit in January, and Fantasmic started earlier or something, but I'm wondering if the times I'm seeing are just due to later reservation times being full, or if the FDP options are only for lunch and mid-afternoon times.

 

[aaarcher86]

We've done the FDP several times, and really like it, so we are planning on it again this year. In looking at it, though, I'm having trouble understanding a couple of items.

A) Hollywood and Vine seems to be a character "event" now. I'm having trouble finding many details on this, beyond the official Disney promo information. Does anyone have a link to a good review (e.g. which characters show up, besides Minnie)? My kids are only so-so about the character meals. Is there any downside to doing this for FDP? It seems almost like a 2-for-1 (both a character meal and the Fantasmic seating for one price), though, and if we're going to do one character meal, maybe this is it.

B) The times available are only pre-dinner. I'm pretty sure that in the past, we had actually gone to dinner and then straight from there to Fantasmic. Maybe this was because we used to visit in January, and Fantasmic started earlier or something, but I'm wondering if the times I'm seeing are just due to later reservation times being full, or if the FDP options are only for lunch and mid-afternoon times.

A) yes it's characters. It's the only buffet out of the three restaurants which could be a negative for some. Lunch characters are different.

B) times are usually more lunch than dinner. I think the absolute latest is 5p but I've never been able to get one that late.

 

[nilla]

B) times are usually more lunch than dinner. I think the absolute latest is 5p but I've never been able to get one that late.

We've never done the Fantasmic! Package without it being dinner, but that was for Mama Melrose. Is it different at H&V? Last year, we ate at Mama Melrose at 5:50.

 

[brinkley07]

Depending on the time of your reservation it would be Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy for dinner times, and lunch times are Sophia, Doc McStuffins, Jake, and Handy Manny. The only thing I noticed when booking was if you book just a meal there it was one price, but if you booked it as a Fantasmic Package the price was listed as higher. We had a dining plan so I didn't notice if it was really more expensive or not. I have also noticed the times for the Fantasmic package are always lunch to around 5 at the latest for all of the participating locations, and I would guess that if they book any later it would make it almost impossible to make the 7 pm showing. The passes are all for the 1st showing of Fantasmic.

 

[CMNJ]

We've never done the Fantasmic! Package without it being dinner, but that was for Mama Melrose. Is it different at H&V? Last year, we ate at Mama Melrose at 5:50.

A) yes it's characters. It's the only buffet out of the three restaurants which could be a negative for some. Lunch characters are different.

B) times are usually more lunch than dinner. I think the absolute latest is 5p but I've never been able to get one that late.

We are currently booked with a fantasmic package for H&V at 5:45 so they definitely do offer some traditional "dinner" times

 

[hoffman1]

We tried to get a dinner package the day our booking window opened and the latest available was 2:45pm. We are going to keep checking for a later time. I am wondering if they are allocating less spots for the package since they have the draw of the character dining?
There are plenty times available the day we want to dine there--just not with the package.