Handy Manny? - Play and Dine@ Hollywood and Vine

[twelveone]

We have lunch reservations for Hollywood and Vine for March 28th and were wondering if anyone has been recently and could provide details on the characters that were there. My dd's are fans of the recent playhouse disney shows, but they have no desire to see JoJo and Goliath. I am not sure it is worth the time if the only characters they like are the little Einsteins. What are the chances that Handy Manny could be there?

I am thinking about eating at the 50's Prime Time (a favorite of mine) instead...

 

[jstbcuz]

I'd like to know this too. My DS3 is set on eating with the Einsteins tho. When I ask him if we can eat with Donald or Mickey he says "Me eat Einsteins"

 

[3prettyprincesses]

We just ate there last week and the only characters there were June and Leo from Little Einsteins and Jojo and Goliath. My kids still had a great time and went crazy over June and Leo. They love Handy Manny too but he wasn't there. A tip though...the Playhouse Disney show is really cute and includes Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and My Friends Tigger and Pooh characters. Also, right outside the Playhouse Disney show there are several meet-n-greet spots for the characters and we did see Handy Manny there!

 

[twelveone]

We just ate there last week and the only characters there were June and Leo from Little Einsteins and Jojo and Goliath. My kids still had a great time and went crazy over June and Leo. They love Handy Manny too but he wasn't there. A tip though...the Playhouse Disney show is really cute and includes Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and My Friends Tigger and Pooh characters. Also, right outside the Playhouse Disney show there are several meet-n-greet spots for the characters and we did see Handy Manny there!

My DD3 and DD5 really enjoyed the New Playhouse Disney show during our trip in November. I was hoping that with the change to the show, maybe there might be a change in the dining characters. I guess not... I think I will just get the characters autographs at the meet and greet and skip the Hollywood and Vine.

Now to choose between 50's PrimeTime or Whispering Canyon Café...

 

[3prettyprincesses]

If I had to choose, I'd go with 50's Prime Time. The food was really good, we ate there twice in one trip! My kids loved the meatloaf and the chicken sandwich I had was amazing. We also ate at the Whispering Canyon Cafe and it was ok. Food wasn't that great and was expensive...hubby and I had the canyon skillet and it was $26 per person Have fun!

 

[sebastian75_99]

As far as I know, the characters are only at breakfast. We went in October and loved it, my daughter loves JoJo. If you are having lunch you may want to reconsider.

 

[twelveone]

As far as I know, the characters are only at breakfast. We went in October and loved it, my daughter loves JoJo. If you are having lunch you may want to reconsider.

According to Disney's website the characters are there for breakfast and lunch.

Concerning 50's Prime Time vs. Whispering Canyon Cafe, We went ahead and made reservations for Whispering Canyon Cafe since we have never eaten there. Although I really like the pot roast from the 50's Prime Time.

I really hope Disney decides to put some of the new Playhouse Disney characters at Hollywood and Vine. If they did, I would definitely take my dd's during our trip in October.

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

We were there for lunch in the fall and the characters were there then. It was the Little Einsteins and Jojo and Goliath. DS is not really into them, but they were really great and my niece loved them. I was pleasantly surprised after reading not so great experiences and the food was not bad at all.

I love 50's Primetime too, though...

 

[tinkandpan]

we were there last fall for lunch and the characters were there. My kids love the playhouse disney characters so we usually do a nbreakfast there which they love. The food at lunch was beyond horrible imo. I would never go back even for the characters.

 

[Tiger926]

Having Handy Manny would make so much sense since he's become pretty much the most popular new Playhouse Disney character - his show is on constantly, added to Playhouse Disney show, added to Preschool Time Online (we were very excited about that) and character meet and greet. It would also be good as it's another male character, so if that's important to people from a lack of male character perspective, it would also solve that problem.

I emailed Disney several times about this - although we love JoJo/Goliath, they aren't as popular anymore (show isn't in production any longer) and the Little Einstein's are not as popular either. They should be using the Hollywood & Vine meal as a way of rotating their Playhouse characters - good from a marketing perspective too!

The bottom line for us, and many on this board, is that H&V is mostly a horrible restaurant for food and service. We have eaten here at least 4x (for character and non-character) and it gets worse each time. The food really is bad, so having better characters would at least help the value of the restaurant, IMHO.

Good luck, Tiger