Is Hollywood and Vine still pretty terrible?

[KenHutch]

I had some friends go to WDW last month and I helped schedule their trip. They did not listen to me on had me book H&V for breakfast. When they got back they told me it was worth it to go there because the kids had the best character interaction there. I asked about the food and Leah described it as McDonalds level which her kids loved and she and her husband hated but it was worth it for the characters.

 

[toontoy]

ok thanks for all the help. I think we will prob keep it as our 2 year old loves Minnie and this should be fun. I will go with an open mind with the food and hope for the best.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

We went for dinner on our last trip, mostly because our kid loves characters, and H&V seems to have more character interaction than other places, especially with characters right up front when you walk in.

That said, the food was below average, and we'll probably avoid it going forward, unless the Kid really wants to do it.

 

[Greg K.]

We've always enjoyed it. It's one of my wife's "must-do" restaurants on every trip. Your mileage may vary.

 

[PolyRob]

I haven't been since 2016, but it has remained my least favorite meal on property. The characters are cute, but the limited food we ate/enjoyed did not justify to the cost IMO.

 

[PPFlight75]

We did the Christmas dinner there and I was nervous due to the reviews. However, we had a great time. It was not the best but certainly not the worst. There were plenty of choices and we had a good dinner. The best part was the characters plus I have a very picky tween and there was plenty for her to pick from so she was happy which makes momma happy!

 

[gleamnglow]

H & V is one of my new favorites. Our first experience with it, several years ago, was awful and I vowed never again. But we just re-visited in March and it was great. The characters were amazing. The healthy food options were many and delicious. ...and there was this Mongolian beef that, for some reason, became my new best friend! I'm not a big dessert person, but the options were great....something for everyone. Gotta say, Miss Minnie is putting on a fine spread for us lately.

I'm glad to hear your experience was better this year! We are visiting H&V for the first time in September, as my toddler is in LOVE with Minnie! Happy to hear there are healthy options too!

 

[pickers1982]

We had a PPO breakfast there in May and the food was "eh". Definitely our least favorite meal of the week. We enjoyed Chef Mickey way more. That said, I'd still book it again for the Jedi Training signup advantage.

I had t even thought of that! Is there a line at that time? Is the sign up near h and v?

 

[WedWayPilot]

Just had breakfast there on Tuesday. It’s pretty average buffet food, but if you have young kids that like Disney Jr. they really seem to enjoy it. Two things we really liked was the bread pudding which is made with chocolate croissants and the omelette station.

 

[Cramden]

We just ate Dinner there Wednesday. The food is decent, some selections are better than others but there is plenty to fill up on. The real stars are the Characters. The interaction here was as good as any we've experienced. We even had a worker overhear us wondering if we had enough time to go meet Buzz and Woody before we headed to Fantasmic. She ended up walking us up to Pixar and getting us in for a quick meet. We were stunned and honestly felt a bit awkward about being moved to the head of the line but my daughter was psyched.

 

[mala55]

I had never planned to eat here because of all the bad reviews, however my daughter wanted to do the Jedi training, so we made a PPO ADR. The food was fine. Typical breakfast food. Our waiter was great. Very attentive and put drinks in paper cups for us to take with us. My DD is not into those characters anymore, so we just said hello and they moved on. Many people seemed to be doing the same. The characters however were very interactive with those that did want to see them.

Our ADR was for 8:35sm (only one I could get as I booked late). It worked out perfectly. We were let in the park at 7:55. We were guided to the Jedi Training signup. It was quick and we got the time slot we requested. We were at H&V by 8:15 and seated pretty much right away. We left there around 8:50 and went as far as we could toward Toy Story Mania for rope drop. We waited about 30-35 minutes to get on, but way shorter than most people. The wait soon when up to 90 minutes. I suppose with the opening of Toy Story Land this strategy may change.

 

[susieq76]

It is better than it was several years ago, but still not good. We did it for the kids in February and we were not impressed with the food.

 

[Helvetica]

My experience was pretty bizarre. On my first trip this past January I went as a Solo. I also ended up being the first family of the day. I didn’t realize that they only had Disney Junior characters, so I have a really odd picture with me and all of these characters that I don’t know. The food was like something you’d get from a cheap motel breakfast and I wouldn’t go again.

The Bon Boyage Breakfast at the board walk is much better.

 

[BachataMan]

I liked it.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

It was meh. The atmosphere chaotic when we were there. We wished we'd have chose SciFi or Mama instead. If they change the menu we will give it another go.

 

[DIS_AWC]

We ate dinner at Hollywood & Vine last week (Friday 4/20) and it was our first time eating there.

Our reservation was for 7:15. We checked in at around 6:45 hoping to be seated earlier as our younger daughter was getting really tired and cranky. We were called in for seating at 7:00. There was a line at the entrance to have a photo with Daisy, so we opted to take the card to go back for our photo after dinner. We were seated at a back table near the kitchen and buffet with one bench against a wall and chairs opposite. The restaurant atmosphere was loud and chaotic (prime dinner time, full restaurant) and everything was a little sticky, but none of that was so severe as to be off-putting, and our server was there to take our drink orders just a few minutes after we arrived.

This was Minnie's Springtime dinner (not sure how much they change the food offerings as their seasonal theme changes). We all enjoyed the food very much. As background on our party, we were two kids 8 & 5 and four adults who all have experienced and enjoy fine dining but also have a realistic expectation for food at a theme park buffet. There were many salads (vegetable, pasta, and grain) as well as roasted vegetables and all were fresh and tasty. The entree options we had (stuffed chicken, pork with some kind of chutney, roasted turkey, a few different kinds of meatballs, among other things) were hot and very good. We all enjoyed the dessert options more than the ones served at the MK Sparkling Dessert party, which we had done the night before. They had the typical kid buffet offerings which my girls enjoyed. Our server was attentive whenever we needed more drinks or plates cleared.

The best thing about our dinner was the character interactions. The characters were all dressed in spring outfits and were all very sweet and really interacted well with our girls, giving autographs and photos and involving the adults at the table. We didn't feel rushed even though when the characters passed through the restaurant was packed. We actually enjoyed these non-speaking characters more than most of the face characters that we interacted with during our trip.

The restaurant really emptied out around 7:45. We were done eating and had seen all of the characters (some more than once) by 8:00, and we enjoyed an autograph and photo with Daisy with no line on our way out of the restaurant.

We went to Chef Mickeys on our last trip in Sept 2015 and we enjoyed this much more than that. We are planning to go back to the Holiday themed dinner on our upcoming December trip.

That was our experience last week. Hope that helps!

 

[KellyHonos]

I'll preface this by saying that I've never eaten there, and based off the podcast's review of the restaurant, I've been scared to even speak of it LOL . I'm exaggerating, but you catch my drift. Basically, that review they did sounded like H&V was one big waste of time, so I've steered clear.

But I will say that if you already have a character experience planned, why do another with the same characters? Maybe I'm mistaken, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't H&V the same characters as Chef Mickeys, just different outfits? If you want to do character dining with the same characters, I'd say either go to be a better restaurant with better food (Tusker House), or go to a different restaurant with different characters AND good food, then it's not a disappointment.

I have been to Mama Melrose multiple times, and it's great, in my opinion. I really enjoy their pasta selections, their sauces are yummy. I will say that pasta can sit pretty heavy in your stomach, so maybe pace yourself or skip a heavy dish if you anticipate still riding rides after your meal.

 

[Dash7]

We like Hollywood & Vine for dinner. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We've done it for the halloween dinner. It's a must do for my kids and I don't think appreciably any worse than any other buffet. The atmosphere isn't great but we liked the food and how they had themed some of it for halloween.

 

[tink0283]

We loved our dinner at Hollywood and Vine back in December. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much and was only going for the characters. I was shocked that it ended up being my favorite dinner of our trip. Not only was the character interaction awesome, but I really enjoyed the food options. We will definitely be making another reservation here for our upcoming trip this Christmas!

 

[PrincessDuck]

I'll preface this by saying that I've never eaten there, and based off the podcast's review of the restaurant, I've been scared to even speak of it LOL . I'm exaggerating, but you catch my drift. Basically, that review they did sounded like H&V was one big waste of time, so I've steered clear.

But I will say that if you already have a character experience planned, why do another with the same characters? Maybe I'm mistaken, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't H&V the same characters as Chef Mickeys, just different outfits? If you want to do character dining with the same characters, I'd say either go to be a better restaurant with better food (Tusker House), or go to a different restaurant with different characters AND good food, then it's not a disappointment.

I have been to Mama Melrose multiple times, and it's great, in my opinion. I really enjoy their pasta selections, their sauces are yummy. I will say that pasta can sit pretty heavy in your stomach, so maybe pace yourself or skip a heavy dish if you anticipate still riding rides after your meal.

I would actually say that the last 3 times that we have done Hollywood and Vine for dinner it has been a very tasty meal with great character interaction. My kids would most likely choose it over Tusker House, though we have enjoyed a good meal there also. They love seeing the characters dressed in the seasonal attire. My suggestion is to go try it!! I would disagree that Tusker House is a better restaurant with better food. I will not do Hollywood and Vine for breakfast as my kids are older and not interested in the Disney Junior characters. We did do Hollywood and Vine many years ago when the kids were younger for the Junior characters and swore it off until they started the new seasonal thing. I hated that every few minutes all the characters would go to the middle of the restaurant and dance and then go back to visiting the tables. It was a hot mess!!