Which Fantasmic Dinner package?

[PrincessDisneyMomx2]

I am trying to decide between Minnie's Holiday Party at Hollywood & Vine or Mama Melrose's.
My dd5 would LOVE Minnie's Holiday Party but I can't get a feel for the menu. Since it's a buffet is there a kids buffet and adults buffet or one buffet for everyone? What is on the menu?
Mama Melrose's menu looks amazing but no characters...
What are your opinions?

 

[senadler]

Hollywood & Vine is the only character meal on property that we have not repeated since our one and only visit a few years ago. The food is really not very good, and that seems to be the overall consensus on that restaurant. I would definitely choose Mama Melrose for Fantasmic and do a character meal elsewhere if you want one for your DD.

 

[Lmans77]

I can only speak to MM since it's the only one we've done, but it was wonderful. Food was delicious and our server was great. Granted we did the Fantasmic package for lunch and ate a bit early, but we had no issues getting seated as the restaurant was pretty empty at that time, so service was quick and efficient.

 

[Nancyg56]

WE like Mama Melrose for the Fantasmic package. We book Lunch usually, and enjoy the afternoon break. I cannot speak to H&V, but can say that Minnie's Holiday and DIne got surprisingly good reviews.

If you are on the DDP, MM is a good value.

 

[Lisa F]

If you are ever going to do H&V for the Minnie Holiday Dine Fantasmic Package, on DDP is the time to do it. There ain't no way I am paying $42.99 out of pocket for my son to eat mac and cheese and buttered rolls, even with characters!

I am on the fence about the same... On the fence about the DDP, if I were to do it, it makes H&V more attractive... but MM looks better foodwise for me. But the characters in holiday garb sounds special too for him. Decisions, decisions. MM is an old favorite of mine from way back, the atmosphere is lovely I think.

 

[Nancyg56]

If you are ever going to do H&V for the Minnie Holiday Dine Fantasmic Package, on DDP is the time to do it. There ain't no way I am paying $42.99 out of pocket for my son to eat mac and cheese and buttered rolls, even with characters!

I am on the fence about the same... On the fence about the DDP, if I were to do it, it makes H&V more attractive... but MM looks better foodwise for me. But the characters in holiday garb sounds special too for him. Decisions, decisions. MM is an old favorite of mine from way back, the atmosphere is lovely I think.

We peeked in the window and they were adorable! If we had brought young ones I would have booked it!

 

[Lisa F]

We peeked in the window and they were adorable! If we had brought young ones I would have booked it!

I am still reeling from how expensive it is. $42.99 for a child for the fantasmic package, but I BELIEVE it is still only 1 ts credit so it seems to me that while he is young and disney prices only seem to go up, I'd better do it now while I have the chance. But I was kind of fantasizing about that MM steak. That said I can take myself out for a nice steak some other time if I really want to, but can't have Mickey and Minnie in holiday garb just any time!

I am seriously considering the DDP just because of how expensive the character meals are and then loading up on them!

 

[Lisa F]

My dd5 would LOVE Minnie's Holiday Party but I can't get a feel for the menu. Since it's a buffet is there a kids buffet and adults buffet or one buffet for everyone? What is on the menu?

one thing that wasn't addressed was the menu. I also found the "menu" listed on the official WDW site to be kind of lacking in info. My son is very picky with sensory and texture issues and I usually find I do best at buffets with him getting him filled up because even in any given kid's meal he might only eat parts of it. He doesn't like fries that much (some he likes but even those he likes he doesn't eat very many of) so that's not even a given side dish sub for him. But he likes pasta with butter (not tomato sauce) and mac and cheese and one of those two is a staple on a buffet. He is not much for nuggets but I tend to do great with carved meats with him because there is not much in the way of seasoning or grill marks on them and if there are I can cut them off without too much trouble and there is still something to eat. He likes chicken, turkey, ham, pork and will sometimes eat some steak. Add a roll and butter and dessert and he is a happy camper and I got a little protein into him and I'm happy.

Hollywood and Vine, per the dis and allears menu has:

Creative array of Salads, Peel n' Eat Shrimp, Mussels, Seasonal Pork, Maple and Grain Mustard Salmon, Seasonal Pasta, Carved Turkey Breast, Carved Strip Loin, Lobster and Shrimp Macaroni & Cheese, Create-Your-Own Pasta Bar, Assorted Vegetables and Starches, Hand-crafted Desserts and Pastries, Soft Serve Ice Cream

kids buffet:Chicken Nuggets, Macaroni & Cheese, and Broccoli

To answer your question YES kids can eat off the adult buffet. Also I have seen photos and read about a chocolate fountain that is there for dessert that my kid would be over the moon for.

The thing is, Mama Melrose actually has an option he will eat... I can get the kids pasta with butter instead of sauce and meatballs on the side, preferably unsauced but if they won't do that he will actually tolerate a bit of sauce. It is harder with regular sit down dinners, there are many I have to cross off my list because I can't find anything on the kids menu he will eat (sometimes not even traditional kid foods). My biggest preference is for the character meals served family style because that is the best of both worlds for me.

So I don't know what to do... my chance to have a nice sit down meal that I would enjoy in an atmosphere I love (MM is an old favorite of mine truth be told, I am from NY and the nostalgic old red sauce little italy feel of it is so homey to me).

 

[Lisa F]

http://mealtrip.com/review.asp?review=734

This is a great review of the dinner with a lot of detail!

 

[Nancyg56]

I am still reeling from how expensive it is. $42.99 for a child for the fantasmic package, but I BELIEVE it is still only 1 ts credit so it seems to me that while he is young and disney prices only seem to go up, I'd better do it now while I have the chance. But I was kind of fantasizing about that MM steak. That said I can take myself out for a nice steak some other time if I really want to, but can't have Mickey and Minnie in holiday garb just any time!

I am seriously considering the DDP just because of how expensive the character meals are and then loading up on them!

If you have youngsters this is a good plan. We took the little girls down our street with us when we went in August and booked a lot of character meals. We maxed that plan as far as the kids were concerned, those characte meals add up.
They want to go back and i have already decided that if we all get there next December, I am booking the Dx DDP and taking them character meals and to signature dinners. These kids have great appetites, and I must confess...the charactes in their Holiday Glad Rags were really cute!

The MM steak is what I always get, witht e calimari as an appetizer. It is really good.

 

[Lisa F]

WE like Mama Melrose for the Fantasmic package. We book Lunch usually, and enjoy the afternoon break. I cannot speak to H&V, but can say that Minnie's Holiday and DIne got surprisingly good reviews.

If you are on the DDP, MM is a good value.

Remember how CRT used to get such lousy reviews, but everyone went there because it was the castle... and they jacked the price way up but now the food is pretty decent? because presumably disney figured out no one's gonna pay $75 for a crappy meal even at the castle. I wonder if the H&V thing is doing the same. If you're going to charge $53.99 for a buffet the food had better be at least decent! It seems like the holiday dines have seasonal menu items in addition to the standard H&V "favorites" (sorry but that lobster mac and cheese does nothing for me... however, I live on Martha's Vineyard so that tells you perspective there!) but if you look at that review I posted above there are some very very lovely looking dishes on the buffet along with enough criticism in the review that makes me think it's not just a disney love-fest. Those salads alone look amazing (both seasonal) and the meats and fish look quite nice (with acknowledgement that you need to get the chicken early and fresh or it dries out) and so do the sides with again some interesting seasonal stuff. My kid would probably eat the bbq meatballs, sliced turkey and ham, kids mac and cheese, bread and butter and dessert which is enough for me to take him... but the best part is that he can try anything that looks interesting and if he doesn't like it - no harm, no foul. For a very picky kid being able to try new things with zero pressure or worries is a huge thing... just sometimes I think I can't stand one more buffet when I think about it on vacation. That said that review had my mouth watering and I think I'd come out of there quite satisfied unless the food looks about 10x better than it tastes.

 

[Lisa F]

If you have youngsters this is a good plan. We took the little girls down our street with us when we went in August and booked a lot of character meals. We maxed that plan as far as the kids were concerned, those characte meals add up.
They want to go back and i have already decided that if we all get there next December, I am booking the Dx DDP and taking them character meals and to signature dinners. These kids have great appetites, and I must confess...the charactes in their Holiday Glad Rags were really cute!

The MM steak is what I always get, witht e calimari as an appetizer. It is really good.

also it is just me and him. so basically enough $24 character meals for $20 for the DDP for him and we'd more than break even... if I JUST break even on my meals we get basically free snacks and QS meals for him.

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

I am still reeling from how expensive it is. $42.99 for a child for the fantasmic package, but I BELIEVE it is still only 1 ts credit so it seems to me that while he is young and disney prices only seem to go up, I'd better do it now while I have the chance. But I was kind of fantasizing about that MM steak. That said I can take myself out for a nice steak some other time if I really want to, but can't have Mickey and Minnie in holiday garb just any time!

I am seriously considering the DDP just because of how expensive the character meals are and then loading up on them!

We chose to do the DDP once I decided we were going to do Crystal Palace, Tusker House, Chef Mickey and HDDR....we also chose Whispering Canyon and then picked MM Fantasmic dining for our final night. We are definitely trying to make the most of the plan.

 

[Disneylover99]

The food at MM was good but the wait and the service was horrible.

I am hoping to try a H&V Fantasmic dinner package this summer. We've avoided H&V in the past because of poor reviews, but I'm willing to give it a shot now because of Minnie and the seasonal menus.

 

[Lisa F]

I've been going to Disney as an adult since 1998 and never would touch H&V with a 10 foot pole, but the seasonal dinner menus look quite good! and the reviews are on par with some of my other favorites (4 stars on disney's site and on trip advisor... a bit less on yelp).

 

[Nancyg56]

I've been going to Disney as an adult since 1998 and never would touch H&V with a 10 foot pole, but the seasonal dinner menus look quite good! and the reviews are on par with some of my other favorites (4 stars on disney's site and on trip advisor... a bit less on yelp).

I followed the reviews this holiday season and thought that they were good considering this is a buffet. Not like the basically horrific ones that we used to see.

 

[phabric]

Wondering what the menu would be for the summer?

 

[Lisa F]

I followed the reviews this holiday season and thought that they were good considering this is a buffet. Not like the basically horrific ones that we used to see.

Yes, you definitely have to set your expectations for buffet vs. sit down. I just don't want to walk out of there unsatisfied (and by that I mean feeling like nothing I ate was very good). I never get my money's worth on buffets by volume alone (I'm not a huge eater normally, especially when at WDW) so I like to feel like the food is tasty if not gourmet stand out, and i can try lots of different things. The holiday salads alone looks so good! I would probably not go to a single buffet if my kiddo wasn't with me though. That's why I wasn't considering DDP at first, I was still in the mindset of "I don't want to feel like I have to maximize ts credits when I go out to eat" and I'm not a huge dessert person. Thinking about the buffets really changes it for me though! I am pretty much sold on H&V now. seems like the poor reviews are due to crowded times, I like to get an early reservation with my kiddo and eat in the "off times" too... it really seems to help with crowds and freshness if you are there when the buffet is first opening. I am not tied to eating at any one time and I can pretty much time the rest of the meals around an ADR, either early lunch or dinner. Truth be told my kiddo prefers earlier rather than later too and can always get a snack later in the day

Thanks so much for helping me talk through it and actually make some decisions!