How is Hollywood & Vine?

[Dakota731]

the food and the characters? We will be there in December so do they have a Christmas theme?

 

[Capang]

Characters are very good. Never been at Christmas but I thought in the past they had some Christmas theme maybe with Minnie? Food is meh. It's a buffet geared towards kids. If you are a foodie I'd advise you to skip all WDW buffets. The meal is more for characters than food.

 

[Meeko5]

We were there last year when they did the "holiday dine" and really enjoyed it. Characters were wonderful, food was surprisingly delicious and fresh. Characters decked out in cute holiday outfits and photo with Santa Goofy after the meal. I was nervous after hearing reviews but it has been our favorite character meal so far. We are doing it again this December we do opt for an early dinner with character buffets, and always had a good experience.

 

[IncredibleboysMom]

I agree with Meeko, we avoided it for years but tried Minnie's Holiday dinner and loved it at Thanksgiving. Characters were all in their cute Christmas clothes and we thought the food above average.

 

[oktxregulators]

If you have never been then I would say go for the character experience, but once you've done it I would probably pass. We have done it a couple of times but probably won't do it again unless something changes. It's an average at best buffet, the food is okay nothing that makes me want to say....we have to go there!!

 

[finleyd]

We loved it too and we were 2 adults. The characters were wonderful and the food was very good, the desserts were awesome. Could have used some more Christmas decorations but I'm going back this year

 

[Carey_B]

We have this on our list for the halloween character meal, I've heard a lot of good things

 

[SaintsManiac]

It was our favorite meal of our trip in 2015. Booked it again for this year.

 

[marvin12]

I am so happy to hear this. I booked a dinner there for dec, and after reading everybody response I think it will be great evening.

 

[1GoldenSun]

I saw such mixed reviews I wasn't sure what to expect when we went last year during Thanksgiving week, but we absolutely loved it! My kids are pre-teens now, not little kids, and my husband just goes to these things to humor us, but we all had a great time. The characters look so festive in their Christmas attire and the whole atmosphere of the place is like a big party.

Even the food was delicious. I was expecting glorified cafeteria food but some of it was extraordinary by buffet standards. There was a LOT of variety so you could choose what you like and what looked appealing to you. They had a delicious salmon veracruz (I think that's what it was--it had tomatoes and olives on top, anyway) and many other genuinely good items. I mean, it's not Victoria & Albert's, but I really can't understand anyone not being able to get a good meal there unless they're incredibly picky or it was a really "off" night.

I was also impressed that they seemed to always keep a CM hovering near the dessert bar, making children keep their hands off the goodies. This person seemed quite irritated with her job, but rightly so; people shouldn't let their kids go to the buffet by themselves and manhandle the Mickey brownies (which, by the way, were delicious).

One thing--you get to have your picture taken with Santa Goofy. Make sure you set anything down that you may be carrying, and don't let them rush you. What had the potential to be a fireplace mantle-worthy Christmas photo ended up being only so-so due to the process being quite hurried. We should have made them slow down and let us take our time getting situated for the photo.

 

[Anomaly711]

This place gets knocked pretty badly, but we have been the last 2 Christmases and really enjoyed it. The characters' outfits are just the best! Santa Goofy is my absolute favorite-we always get him to joke around with us quite a bit. I would say the food is above average, not spectacular. My favorite part is the dessert bar-love all the tiny cupcakes and tarts!