Minnie's Seasonal Dining & Character Autographs?

[Tia1977]

We're doing this in October as a way to add more Halloween fun along with our MNSSH party night. At first figured better than Club Villian bc no up charge, now definitely know for sure with Club Villian slated to end soon. Even with all my obsessive planning, it was just last night I stumbled across the tidbit of info regarding Minnie's having a pre-signed card on the table v/s characters signing autograph books (boo!) I read that others have still been able to obtain them though. My question is, did it feel awkward or out of place in asking? Did the characters seem just as obliging as all the other character meals that are actually normal? Makes me feel torn between not wanting to be that jerk family asking for things against the "rules" v/s we pay how much for mediocre food for characters and no autographs!?! Not being negative, but just real. The food is Shoney's grade, and the place is disorganized and messy. We're already having to take our own pics, and no live autographs? Speaking of pics, I saw that the Christmas one gave an entrance photo pass pic with Santa Goofy. Have the other ones been given an entrance pic with a character too? And again, please don't take me complaining. I'm still looking forward to the ADR bc of DD and their Halloween outfits. And, want to try and be a good sport. Still just confused on a character meal not openly offering autographs? Might be small to some, but our DD's autographs mean a lot to me. I buy the kind from Etsy that include autograph cards bound in front of scrap pages and create DD her own mini scrapbook with pics and such to go with the signatures when we get home. The pre fixe card on the table? It'd be in the trash or collecting dust in a drawer.

 

[Dash7]

I am wondering about this as well. I guess I don't understand why this character meal doesn't seem to offer book signing.

 

[HeidiGW]

I don't know the answer to your question....We were there on Christmas Day. They told us--and my children are older--like three times that were NO autographs. We didn't even have books out or anything like were going to try to get them. They gave us the card; I don't know what happened to it. I did not see others getting autographs either.
The characters moved around the room pretty quickly. It seemed like they stopped for 30 seconds. I am sure it was more time. In our case, they just came up to the table and took a pic. No playing around, etc.
That having been said, we had a nice meal. I was surprised, and thought the food was pretty good. The strip loin--? beef, anyway--was really tasty. I tried a little bit of most things, and remember eating salad, some sort of caprese salad, and hot little pretzel rolls. All my picky eaters thought the food was good too. The desserts were really cute and festive.
They were VERY busy. We did not have to wait long to be seated. And, while the restaurant wasn't spotless and there were a few dirty tables, there was nothing like any of the horror stories I read about.
Maybe my expectations were low...but I would not hesitate to go again. The holiday outfits were cute, and different.
If you go at not such a busy time, they may be more lenient on the autographs.

 

[Nancyg56]

This meal does not allow for autographs. I think that they want to keep the characters moving through the room. If autographs are a deal breaker, it would make sense to have a character meal that provides for them.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

They also had the no autographs rule when we did the Mickey Jedi meal. We got a pre-signed card for that as well. Honestly, thank goodness they weren't allowing autographs as it took FOREVER for the characters to come to our table even without autographs. When they finally did come to our table (well after we had finished our desserts), we were kind of fed up with the whole thing and just wanted to leave. It was absolutely not worth the price we paid for that meal. I guess my suggestion is to take the experience as it's designed - pre-meal photograph, buffet, characters in cute outfits visiting your table, no autographs - and try to enjoy it as it is if that's where you choose to eat. I understand you like the autographs, but they just don't do it at this experience. After our Mickey Jedi meal, I would probably never eat there again and it's not because of the autographs. It was just too costly for mass chaos, mediocre food and mess throughout the restaurant.

 

[Betty_Baylor99]

I do believe your mileage may vary, and it will depend on your CM. We did Minnie's Spring dining last month at Hollywood & Vine at DHS and we knew going ahead of time that we would get the pre-autographed card when we took our picture with Daisy. We should also mention that we already had autographs with Mickey/Minnie/Goofy/Daisy from our previous character visits at EPCOT the day before (we actually got Daisy's autograph by the Great Movie Ride that morning). That being said, it was just my 4 yr old daughter and I and when we dined, and our waiter mentioned that in order to expedite our visit with the characters to be *prepared* by making sure we had our cameras, autograph books and pens "ready to go". So, while we ate, I went ahead and placed our autograph book out on the table with the book open to the page we wanted signed, with the pen laying right beside it, and when Donald Duck came over, I played along and greeted him with our daughter and made sure to take a few quick pictures and thanked him. Donald saw that our autograph book and pen were laying on our table out in plain view and he went ahead and signed my daughter's autograph book. Who knows if it was "fair" or not that he signed it, but our waiter made it sound like autographs were OK. Perhaps it was because we didn't ask, but left it (our book) out in plain view easily accessible, or the fact we only wanted one autograph out of the 5 characters, but we did get an autograph when we dined at Hollywood & Vine. We only dined there because our friends did. It was a character meal that had a lot of availability for our last minute trip that we we booked. The food wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't make it a point to have to get an ADR here if you really wanted a character meal.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Honestly I think the no autograph rule is horrible. I think anyone paying that much for a character meal should be able to get autographs if they want. Disney knows people are going to those meals for the characters. SMH.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I have also read that some people were able to get autographs. When we ate there in November for the Holiday Dine, they made sure to tell us that the characters would NOT be signing autographs and they gave us the cards.

 

[verleniahall]

We were there opening night last November and we were told the same thing - we were given like 5 of the pre-done cards and each time our server came we were reminded that there were to be NO autographs and we had 3 minutes total to get the pictures we wanted per character

 

[disneyfav4ever]

We were there opening night last November and we were told the same thing - we were given like 5 of the pre-done cards and each time our server came we were reminded that there were to be NO autographs and we had 3 minutes total to get the pictures we wanted per character

Did they actually have a time limit for the characters?

 

[verleniahall]

Did they actually have a time limit for the characters?

Yes - Pretty much we got hurried photos with each one before a CM said - ok - time to move on

 

[MinnieMSue]

We don't do autographs and having a 12 year old don't spend much time with characters. We saw some pretty good interactions with families here and didn't seem that rushed. I will say that Minnie took a break just before our table in rotation and she came back and skipped us. The handler with her completely didn't believe me when I said something (we didn't get up during this time - she seemed to think we weren't at our table). She told me Minnie would see us after she went around the restaurant. Anyway we didn't want to wait out the entire rotation as we were near the end of our meal and told our waiter. He took off and brought Minnie back. We did want a photo of her considering she was "hosting" the meal!

 

[dnw25]

We were there last Xmas season. Sorry - no autographs. Also, from my DH perspective, the worst meal we had in 9 days - service and food. I didn't think the food was that bad. The wait to be seated was horrible since we were seated at least 45 mins after our time. Then you had to wait in line for 10/15 for goofy photo before being seated. The service was horrendous. We actually complained to the manager which we NEVER do. Thankfully, the characters came very quickly back to back. They spent some time with us since our DS was 2, but then we did not see them the remainder of our dinner - meaning, they did not come back to see the tables seated after us in our section. not worth the price and definitely not a do over for us. I am a rule follower so after being told no autographs, I did not try or even get our son's book out. However, I did see other families (two different ones) breaking the rule and honestly get really miffed that it was allowed. At the time, the characters had no handlers in sight.

 

[Princess_Kirky]

I'm just baffled - the character meal I had at the Plaza Inn at DLR was so much better! Characters all signed. They all wandered around separate from each other so you go interactions all at different times during the meal, they spent time and joked with us, took multiple photos, no handlers shuffling characters around or away. The food was great too! Some of the best french toast I've ever had. Yum! Hot made to order omelets too. A person actually makes them for you and adds the ingredients - no some mush made in a mass producing kitchen.
To me, from the sounds of it, this whole system set in place at Minnie's Seasonal Dine just takes away the magic. My niece treasures her autograph book. Maybe that will be a thing of the past going forward at WDW... I hope not.
Maybe you should try DLR over the Halloween season, haha.

 

[Berlioz70]

Speaking of pics, I saw that the Christmas one gave an entrance photo pass pic with Santa Goofy. Have the other ones been given an entrance pic with a character too?

Yes, each season is a different character.

Holidays is Goofy, Hollywood is Mickey, Springtime is Daisy, Summertime is Donald, and Halloween is Minnie:

Hollywood & Vine Character Dining Photos

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

I got a dinner reservation for late September, and it says Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine, so that does mean it's the Halloween one or just a regular meal?

 

[Tia1977]

I got a dinner reservation for late September, and it says Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine, so that does mean it's the Halloween one or just a regular meal?

Sept 12th-November 6th is the Halloween themed dinner

 

[JerseyJanice]

I booked a Fantasmic package for my family here, and I'm already skeptical because H&V has such a bad reputation for food.

As expensive as it is, they shouldn't have your kids on a 3 minute timer for character interaction. It's absurd.

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

Sept 12th-November 6th is the Halloween themed dinner

Wahoo!!! Thank you! Do you know if it's the same for lunch or just dinner?

 

[Tia1977]

They're different and I'm sure glad I remembered quickly (lol)! Bc I had the lunch Fantasmic booked first. BUT, lunch is Disney Jr characters. Only dinner is Minnie and Friends. My DH would've died showing up to see Jake the Pirate Not that the Jr characters are less cute, etc. but with a 13 yr old; we're past the point of interest