This will be a short review, and for more information on Hollywood and Vine, you can refer to the first review I made. It was only a week later, so everything was pretty much the same! 
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Two of our good friends, Stasi and Alexis (the ones from the Nine Dragons review), wanted to go to MGM for Star Wars days after Stasi's knee surgery. We thought that MGM wouldn't be bad to maneuver with a wheelchair, so we thought it was a great idea. I started to plan the restaurants for the day (they prefer counter service for the prices), and I realized that if we did a sit down meal in between lunch and dinner time, and made a Fantasmic package out of it, it would be nearly the same price as eating two counter serivce meals. Stasi and Alexis readily agreed, as they love the Fantasmic show, so we made a priority seating for 4:10 at Hollywood and Vine, as we had enjoyed it so much the week before.
We were shopping for a watch for their father when Mike and I realized it was 4:15. We took off for the restaurant and told them to join us when they were finished. We had no problem checking in 10 minutes late, and they took us in immediately, though we had to leave the wheelchair outside. This wasn't a problem as Stasi could walk, just not far. This time, we were seated towards the left hand side of the restaurant. Our server, Marilyn, came by and asked for our drink order. She seemed to be having a bad day and didn't smile much, but it seemed that it wasn't a normal occurance, so we didn't pay it much attention. I ordered a chocolate milk, Mike a diet Coke, and our friends water until I reminded them that it was included in the price. Each of them ordered soft drinks as well. I asked for the drink menu, and tried the Picnic Punch this time, which tasted better, but I'm still not impressed with their alcoholic drinks. I won't order another one here.
The restaurant wasn't crowded, being much too late for lunch, and rather early for dinner. We navigated the buffet easily, and noted that all of the food was the same as the week before, except for the addition of a vegetable pasta dish. This was excellent, with fresh, crisp vegetables, and a light sauce. The children's hot dogs were regular hot dogs, but I always love a chance to have a hot dog since I never buy them at home. We did try the carrot cake "muffins," which didn't have much flavor or much icing, either. Everything else was just as good as the week before, which we were happy to see, as we recommended it so highly to our friends.
We had asked for separate checks, and hit a snag when Mike asked if we could apply our Disney Dining Experience to our friends' bill. We hadn't had a problem doing this at Nine Dragons, but here we had to pay for a bill if we were going to apply our discount. Our friends just handed us cash and we paid for their bill as well. We weren't too surprised as we had heard that Disney Dining Experience was becoming a little stricter with their rules - we've had to show Florida ID with our discount every time lately, as well.
Also, we paid our bill early, and we stayed a while longer to sit and talk. We never saw our waitress after that, until Mike called for her as she passed by. Alexis and I had wanted coffee, which she quickly brought, but we'll pay our bills later in the future.
We had a great time this second time, as well, though it wasn't as "new and exciting" as we had been there the previous week. The food was always fresh and flavorful for the most part, and food was replaced quickly as it ran low or if it had been sitting out. The service wasn't as good this time, but we can understand when people have bad days. We'll return again in the future, and definitely recommend trying it for a cheaper Fantasmic package.
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Two of our good friends, Stasi and Alexis (the ones from the Nine Dragons review), wanted to go to MGM for Star Wars days after Stasi's knee surgery. We thought that MGM wouldn't be bad to maneuver with a wheelchair, so we thought it was a great idea. I started to plan the restaurants for the day (they prefer counter service for the prices), and I realized that if we did a sit down meal in between lunch and dinner time, and made a Fantasmic package out of it, it would be nearly the same price as eating two counter serivce meals. Stasi and Alexis readily agreed, as they love the Fantasmic show, so we made a priority seating for 4:10 at Hollywood and Vine, as we had enjoyed it so much the week before.
We were shopping for a watch for their father when Mike and I realized it was 4:15. We took off for the restaurant and told them to join us when they were finished. We had no problem checking in 10 minutes late, and they took us in immediately, though we had to leave the wheelchair outside. This wasn't a problem as Stasi could walk, just not far. This time, we were seated towards the left hand side of the restaurant. Our server, Marilyn, came by and asked for our drink order. She seemed to be having a bad day and didn't smile much, but it seemed that it wasn't a normal occurance, so we didn't pay it much attention. I ordered a chocolate milk, Mike a diet Coke, and our friends water until I reminded them that it was included in the price. Each of them ordered soft drinks as well. I asked for the drink menu, and tried the Picnic Punch this time, which tasted better, but I'm still not impressed with their alcoholic drinks. I won't order another one here.
The restaurant wasn't crowded, being much too late for lunch, and rather early for dinner. We navigated the buffet easily, and noted that all of the food was the same as the week before, except for the addition of a vegetable pasta dish. This was excellent, with fresh, crisp vegetables, and a light sauce. The children's hot dogs were regular hot dogs, but I always love a chance to have a hot dog since I never buy them at home. We did try the carrot cake "muffins," which didn't have much flavor or much icing, either. Everything else was just as good as the week before, which we were happy to see, as we recommended it so highly to our friends.
We had asked for separate checks, and hit a snag when Mike asked if we could apply our Disney Dining Experience to our friends' bill. We hadn't had a problem doing this at Nine Dragons, but here we had to pay for a bill if we were going to apply our discount. Our friends just handed us cash and we paid for their bill as well. We weren't too surprised as we had heard that Disney Dining Experience was becoming a little stricter with their rules - we've had to show Florida ID with our discount every time lately, as well.
Also, we paid our bill early, and we stayed a while longer to sit and talk. We never saw our waitress after that, until Mike called for her as she passed by. Alexis and I had wanted coffee, which she quickly brought, but we'll pay our bills later in the future.
We had a great time this second time, as well, though it wasn't as "new and exciting" as we had been there the previous week. The food was always fresh and flavorful for the most part, and food was replaced quickly as it ran low or if it had been sitting out. The service wasn't as good this time, but we can understand when people have bad days. We'll return again in the future, and definitely recommend trying it for a cheaper Fantasmic package.
Photo gallery
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