How was Minnie's Holiday Dine?

[SouthernBuckeye]

If you have attended in the past, how did you like Minnie's Holiday Dine? Any idea on when reservations will be accepted this year? Thanks!

 

[celina14]

Following because we're planning on doing this in November as well. My understanding is you can make reservations at your 180 day mark (+10 if onsite) just like any other ADR.

 

[quandrea]

Horrible. Very expensive. Very poor food and service. We felt totally ripped off with our $300 bill. Never again.

 

[LuckyBelle81]

We went last Nov and it was a bit of a mixed bag. We did 5 character meals on that trip and it was probably our least favorite. But I have to take into consideration the fact that we had a really late ADR and 3 kids (including a 2yo) that had been touring the parks all day, so even if everything about the meal was great we would probably rememeber it differenly bc we were all wiped out. It was really cute and our kids enjoyed the character interactions. The food was ok - I think you have to understand that you're eating buffet food and that its much more difficult to maintain quality control on food that is not going straight from the kitchen to your table. (The best food we had at a character meal was at the Princess b'fast at Akershus in Norway). There was some really good lobster mac & cheese but otherwise it was forgetable. Since it was so late (we had to have been one of the last seatings bc barely anyone was there when we left) they stopped refilling the food while we were so if there were things we really liked we had to be happy with 1 serving. I honestly don't know how much it cost bc we used our dining plan and I never saw the receipt but I'm sure its not cheap. Really the only thing that stood out about it was the holiday theme. You can see the same characters at other (better) character meals...although I'm not sure we saw Minnie anywhere else. We did Chef Mickey's and Tusker House which have Mickey, Donald, etc. but I don't remember Minnie....maybe someone else will know.

Anyway, I would give it 3 out of 4 stars for theming but 2 on eveything else.

 

[Funholiday]

I am considering doing this for our November trip despite the fact that we did the Springtime dine last month and it was underwhelming. I am considering for basically one reason: The Holiday dress. I don't know of another character dinner that they wear the holiday clothes and I really think that sounds cute. If there was another one I probably would not do this one. The main issue was not the characters (they came around two times each) but the food. Its just not exciting, kind of a slightly better Old Country Buffet.

 

[Ambehnke]

We really enjoyed it. Probably one of our favorites because it was the whole gang and in holiday apparel. The food was pretty good as well and our service was top notch. Lots of time with characters and not rushed at all. We were seated about 15-20 min late and it was the first night it opened though. You should be able to make your reservations at the 180 day mark since it is ongoing and only the menu and costumes change with the seasons.

 

[cassie58]

We did the Holiday Dine last Dec. It should be book able at 180 days, last yr. was the first yr., and it did not get announced until Aug., but now that it is yr. round, with different themes each season, it is a regular meal. The characters dress is fabulous, and the interaction was great, some of the best we've had. It was actually must better than our brft at TH this trip, where the characters seemed rushed, took a quick pic, and other than Goofy did not do any silly antics, etc. There is also no longer the picture outside at TH, which we did not realize, as it was part of the reason we chose the memory maker, since it was on the list , and we had gotten a nice family photo there last trip. It was not even packed, so no reason to rush, so while the food(and special juice) were great, we were disappointed.

We got the pic with Santa Goofy on the way in, and then had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy inside. They danced around with some people, Daisy sat down and batted her eyes and flirted with a gentleman next to us whose wife was up at the buffet, and Mickey and Minnie noticed DD and my Mickey Christmas shirts, even trying to hear my DD's shirt which played music(hard to hear with music and talking). The waitress was great, and the food was just okay, which we figured, as we had never eaten there before because of the reputation, but we wanted to try it for the holiday experience. I loved the sweet potato casserole, and they had a lot of cute mini desserts. We did have free dining, so I didn't have to think about the price. But if you think about it as being for the characters, I would do it once. We did have an early dinner, around 4:30, so it was not busy yet, so that may have helped, so you might aim for that.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We did the Christmas Dine last November and really enjoyed it. The characters were great and their outfits are snazzy. We thought the food was very good. They had lots of choices in both the regular buffet and the "kids" section. The desserts were really good - lots of little bite sized treats.

We had very good service. We ordered several bar drinks and even though he had to zip over to 50's PrimeTime bar to get them, he was very quick with them. I had read lots of reviews about the restaurant being dirty, but we didn't see any messes and there were CM's stationed to keep the buffet area cleaned up.

We are skipping DHS this November, or we would probably book it again.

 

[Kricketnp]

We did it last year as two adults because we wanted a chance to get pics with the characters in their holiday attire. We were also on the dining plan so the price didn't seem as painful, but I don't think I'd do it again, especially without children. The picture with Santa Goofy was one of my favorite photo ops from the trip, but the rest of the place is a big fat meh.

The theming is very underwhelming and it feels sort of like a cafeteria. While the food wasn't TERRIBLE, it wasn't great by any means. It was mediocre at best and there were quite a few items that I didn't enjoy at all.

The dessert was GREAT and I loved all of the mini options available.

 

[Rich M]

I have booked this as my Fantasmic package for Oct 30. I think it will have the characters in there Halloween attire. I keep reading how bad the food is but my nephew wants to do at least one character dining and my sister wants to do Fantasmic so I am hoping I am killing two birds with one stone doing this and don't regret it. We are doing this the first night of the trip so that we have nothing to compare it to so the boys can't be to disappointed being that the like Golden Corral buffet

 

[cutigerlady]

We went last December and my family really enjoyed it. I went into the experience thinking that I was paying for the interaction with the characters in their holiday attire and was expecting to be disappointed in the food. However, we thought the food was fine. Our favorite photo was the Santa Goofy one as well! We were one of the first dinner reservations and we saw all of the characters twice and Daisy three times.

My older son ate his weight in mussels and shrimp. My picky eater liked the meatballs, turkey, and mac & cheese. I think where the food suffers is that they don't have a theme for the food, so it's an odd mixture of stuff. There were so many types of meat entrees - salmon, pork tenderloin, turkey, meatballs, beef, mussels, shrimp, etc. Then the side dishes were also an odd mix of cold salads, soups, pasta, potatoes, etc. They had lots of mini desserts and soft serve ice cream. Now the hot chocolate stuff they gave you was weird.

Would I do it again? Yes, especially for saving time in getting pictures with all of the traditional characters in their holiday clothes. We left with full bellies and huge smiles for the time with the characters. The server we had was excellent. She was on top of our drinks, clearing the plates, and constantly asking if we needed anything. She also gave us great tips to know when to make sure to be in our seats to see the characters as they came around.

 

[SouthernBuckeye]

Hmmm....so much to think about. Thank you for all of the input! If you want to do this with the Fantasmic package, can you still use dining credits?

 

[Rich M]

Hmmm....so much to think about. Thank you for all of the input! If you want to do this with the Fantasmic package, can you still use dining credits?

Yes it is 1 TS credit

 

[jessieroo]

I did this with my sister in December as a Fantasmic package and we both enjoyed it. There was a good variety of food and desserts. The characters came around a lot during our dinner. I'm doing it again in two weeks with my family, 6 adults. We booked it as soon as we were eligible for ADRs

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

We did the Holiday Dine last year and really enjoyed it. We also loved the Santa Goofy picture. It is one of my favorite pics of the whole vacation.We had an early dinner and it was not crowded yet so the characters came by twice and we got awesome pics. I thought the food was good. My 180 day+10 has come and this is the only ADR I haven't gotten yet. I am trying to book it again for the first day it is available and they haven't loaded into the system yet, so my stalking continues.

 

[calliest]

We went dec 17th 2015 and loved it! The characters were awesome and the food was yummy, especially the pumpkin ravioli. i will do it again and would recommend. Yeah it is pricey but for Christmas time dinner with little kids, i wouldnt miss it.

 

[baler31]

We are very character centric. We went for the characters but the character interaction was just okay and the food even with our low expectations was awful. Everything that should have been hot was cold and everything that should have been cold was hot. As a last resort we even said "lets try some tater tots what can they do to those." Well they were not only cold but hard as a rock.

On our never again list along with Chef Mickey's for the same reasons. Very low quality food not even served at correct temperature and the buffet area was not kept clean at all.

Service was good and friendly and that was the only positive.

 

[Woodmnky]

We went in January. I went in with the knowledge that H&V gets horrid reviews, but I take those with a grain of salt. I have seen and read too many things that give me the impression that many people are really picky. My family isn't. We eat fast food, casual chain restaurants, enjoy Golden Corral, and even really like Chef Mickey's (which also tends to get bad reviews). Both DH & I agreed that it was the worst meal that we have had in Disney. It was just bad. The food was cold, the preparation was not good, the flavors were pretty bad. Both of us had to get several plates just to find an item or two that was worth eating. Even the Caesar salad is bad (and we are happy with the Caesar salads at Disney quick service venues). DH was running the Disney World Marathon the next morning and had to eat a decent meal, so we ended up buying him something back at the resort.

The characters were not great either, they were very rushed and barely stayed long enough for us to take one picture. They also would not sign autographs.

I was actually pretty sad about how bad it was because I was hoping to go back in the Fall to get photos with the characters in their Halloween costumes, but it isn't worth it to us. I really have no idea how this restaurant can be so bad when Disney knows how to have nice buffet restaurants. After having experienced it ourselves and reading all the reviews of those who have similar opinions, I truly believe that Disney just doesn't care about making H&V a decent venue. If they did, reviews like mine would be because there was an off night at the restaurant and not because it was the prevailing norm.

 

[akemom]

We ate there last Nov and thought it was very good! The food was hot and fresh, the characters were adorable in their holiday attire, our server was great and we didn't feel rushed at all! it was expensive though! We will definitely return if we ever get to take another trip during the holidays!

 

[Rich M]

Such a mixed reaction here. Makes me second guess my Fantasmic package. Is Mama Melrose any better though?