rutgers1995
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 7, 2006
- Messages
- 26
Well, I know there have been a couple of reviews posted, but I figured I'd throw in my two cents while it's fresh on my mind. I'm sitting in the living room of my OKW suite, getting ready to do a final load of laundry and start packing up, so I guess you could say I'm procrastinating ...
Anyway, we went to H&V on Monday morning (July 10th? - I'm out of sorts on dates right now.) It was our first sit down meal of the trip, and a surprise for the kids. I have an almost three year old boy and a six year old girl - I wasn't sure if the 2yo would get it, and I didn't want to risk the 6yo ruining the fun by saying it wasn't going to be cool.
Anyway, we had reservations for 9:30 a.m. and were seated right away. The restaurant didn't feel packed, but I think there were people at nearly every table on both sides of the place. We came in in the middle of JoJo singing and dancing with the kids, so it was kind of awkward getting to our table and negotiating around the characters without interrupting them. But, we did, and the first thing the kids did was get up and dance.
We are on the dining plan, but my son is not because he's just young enough to share from our plates. We were planning on using three TS credits for the meal. Everybody order up drinks - diet cokes for DH and I and a coffee for me, and chocolate milks for the kids. My 6yo and I got up to get our plates filled. The buffet line was empty, so we had time to peruse. There were yogurts, cereals, bagels, toast, muffins, pastries, fresh fruit (honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon) on the cold side. On the hot side, they had an egg frittata, oatmeal, ham hash, bacon, sausage, Mickey waffles, grits, biscuits, scrambled eggs, bread pudding and probably a couple of things I've forgotten. I sampled a lot of stuff (just for you guys, because I knew you all wanted to know ...
) The 6yo had eggs, bacon, frosted flakes, waffles and some fruit.
DH brought the 2yo up and got a fair smattering of food. They seemed happy enough when they got back.
The food was good - not amazing, but fine. The waffles were good. The bread pudding was very good. The egg frittata was good. Nothing super stellar, but nothing worth complaining about.
On to the character interaction - it was great. Jojo came around four or five times. Leo and June came around about the same amount of times, as did Goliath. They had a very spirited guy leading the songs and dances, which happened every 15 minutes or so. My 2yo loved hugging all the characters, and the characters seemed very sweet. In all honesty, I'd go so far to say there's almost TOO much character interaction. Once, when my husband had the 2yo in the bathroom, my daughter was coloring June, when June walked over and tapped on the paper. The 6yo looked up, and having hugged and sang and danced with June three or four times by now, gave her a small wave and went back to her coloring. June didn't give up, though. She kept tapping on the paper to get the 6yo's attention. Finally, I had to spend a minute or two making nice with June, because I was starting to feel bad for her ...
Our total bill came to $70 or so, which we didn't blink at because we're on the dining plan. Only later did we realize why it was so high - they took an extra credit off our plan for my son, who should have been free (he ate off DH's plate.) It's not worth complaining about, though, because overall we made out like bandits on the dining plan. We made up for the lost credit later in the week.
Overall, it was a nice experience. I would definitely recommend it. As a disclaimer, though, I should note that I don't go to the character meals for a fantabulous dining experience. (Just like I don't go to McDonald's on rainy days with the kids for the food - we go for the indoor playground.) The food was totally fine though, no complaints except that it wasn't anything special.
Have fun!
Anyway, we went to H&V on Monday morning (July 10th? - I'm out of sorts on dates right now.) It was our first sit down meal of the trip, and a surprise for the kids. I have an almost three year old boy and a six year old girl - I wasn't sure if the 2yo would get it, and I didn't want to risk the 6yo ruining the fun by saying it wasn't going to be cool.
Anyway, we had reservations for 9:30 a.m. and were seated right away. The restaurant didn't feel packed, but I think there were people at nearly every table on both sides of the place. We came in in the middle of JoJo singing and dancing with the kids, so it was kind of awkward getting to our table and negotiating around the characters without interrupting them. But, we did, and the first thing the kids did was get up and dance.
We are on the dining plan, but my son is not because he's just young enough to share from our plates. We were planning on using three TS credits for the meal. Everybody order up drinks - diet cokes for DH and I and a coffee for me, and chocolate milks for the kids. My 6yo and I got up to get our plates filled. The buffet line was empty, so we had time to peruse. There were yogurts, cereals, bagels, toast, muffins, pastries, fresh fruit (honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon) on the cold side. On the hot side, they had an egg frittata, oatmeal, ham hash, bacon, sausage, Mickey waffles, grits, biscuits, scrambled eggs, bread pudding and probably a couple of things I've forgotten. I sampled a lot of stuff (just for you guys, because I knew you all wanted to know ...
) The 6yo had eggs, bacon, frosted flakes, waffles and some fruit. DH brought the 2yo up and got a fair smattering of food. They seemed happy enough when they got back.
The food was good - not amazing, but fine. The waffles were good. The bread pudding was very good. The egg frittata was good. Nothing super stellar, but nothing worth complaining about.
On to the character interaction - it was great. Jojo came around four or five times. Leo and June came around about the same amount of times, as did Goliath. They had a very spirited guy leading the songs and dances, which happened every 15 minutes or so. My 2yo loved hugging all the characters, and the characters seemed very sweet. In all honesty, I'd go so far to say there's almost TOO much character interaction. Once, when my husband had the 2yo in the bathroom, my daughter was coloring June, when June walked over and tapped on the paper. The 6yo looked up, and having hugged and sang and danced with June three or four times by now, gave her a small wave and went back to her coloring. June didn't give up, though. She kept tapping on the paper to get the 6yo's attention. Finally, I had to spend a minute or two making nice with June, because I was starting to feel bad for her ...
Our total bill came to $70 or so, which we didn't blink at because we're on the dining plan. Only later did we realize why it was so high - they took an extra credit off our plan for my son, who should have been free (he ate off DH's plate.) It's not worth complaining about, though, because overall we made out like bandits on the dining plan. We made up for the lost credit later in the week.
Overall, it was a nice experience. I would definitely recommend it. As a disclaimer, though, I should note that I don't go to the character meals for a fantabulous dining experience. (Just like I don't go to McDonald's on rainy days with the kids for the food - we go for the indoor playground.) The food was totally fine though, no complaints except that it wasn't anything special.
Have fun!
We are doing this in October.
