Would Not Recommend Pre-Park Opening Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine.

[humormeeee]

We had a lot of character breakfasts on our Spring Break 15 trip. We had an 8:15 pre-park opening breakfast at Hollywood and Vine. Hollywood Studios opened at 9:00 that day. We arrived at the park at about 7:45. They were not even letting breakfast patrons through the gate at 8:00. We were literally only going through the park turnstiles at about 8:15, the time of our reservation. We were literally one of the first people to check in, and one of the last people called, way past our reservation time, and I was getting very angry about it, because the restaurant was not really all that full or busy. We did not get called to our table until 8:40 and it took another 10 minutes for our waitress to get our drinks, which is a problem for me, because I have a swallowing problem and cannot eat solid food without something to drink or I choke. We ate at several character breakfasts and lunches and none of them took more than an hour. We were hoping to get out of there close to park opening time so we would not get in long lines for rides, needless to say, that did not happen. The characters were very very poorly coordinated. We rushed to the buffet as soon as we got there because we were so late, I told the kids to try to hurry and eat. Sofia, which was my 4-year old's 2nd favorite character there, showed up at our table within seconds of us going to the buffet line. At all the other character buffets, they timed it so you had at least a few minutes to go get your food before the first character came. So we ran out of the buffet line to our table to go get pictures with Sofia. Then the other two characters, Doc McStuffins and Handy Manny, came within second of each other. Me and the kids tried to eat as fast as we could so as to avoid getting in long lines for big park attractions, but it was really too late. The waitress was not in any hurry to get us drink refills, or to bring us the check or change once we filled out the receipt. She kept commenting that she didn't know why people were running out so quickly (um, it was because they got in so late for their reservation). The last character, Jake, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, was my 4-year-old son's favorite. We were done eating, and had finally paid and got the check signed and were ready to go. We waited 10 minutes for him, we didn't even see him in the restaurant. Finally, we saw him--he had 12 more tables to visit before getting to us--that was going to take forever, and we had been ready to leave for a while. If he weren't my son's favorite character, I would have left at that point. We asked the waitress if we could just get a quick picture with him so we wouldn't hold up other people by sitting at the table. They let us snap a quick picture with him on the way out. Overall, we were about 40 minutes later than what we expected to be in getting out of the restaurant. Out of all of the character dining experiences, Hollywood and Vine breakfast had the least appealing food. It was mediocre at best. The other issue was that due to the lighting inside the restaurant and the windows, the pictures turned out poorly because there was so much light coming from all directions. Overall, it was not a character dining experience I would recommend. I do realize there are some characters that meet there that are hard or impossible to meet otherwise. If you have a child that is so into one of those characters, maybe it is worth it, otherwise, I would do something else. I would also strongly recommend not doing a pre-park opening breakfast if you want to try to beat the crowds for certain rides like rockin rollercoaster or tower of terror.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm sorry you had such a bad time. Unfortunately I think you have learned a few things the hard way. It is never a good idea to book a breakfast 45 minutes before the park officially opens if you want to take your time and enjoy your meal. Even if you had been seated on time, you would have been pushing it.

Next time try an ADR later on in the morning, right before they switch from breakfast to lunch. That way you can hit a bunch of rides at park open, and then enjoy a leisurely breakfast.

 

[mom2my3kids]

This is why I so glad my kids are older and don't have to book those character meals, they see them enough at the parks..not worth the $$$ to me..

 

[Princess Olivia]

I have a pre park opening reservation here that I've been questioning. Thinking I'll probably cancel. Thanks for your review!!

 

[UnderTheRialto]

We had a good experience but it was during a low crowd time. We had no issues with lighting but I'm sure it's dependent on where youre seated. I'm sorry you didn't have a better time.

 

[boysrus2007]

Ive always heard they let breakfast people in by 7:45 (at least at MK)...is that not the case at every park? If so I need to reschedule my H&V for 8am.

 

[humormeeee]

Ive always heard they let breakfast people in by 7:45 (at least at MK)...is that not the case at every park? If so I need to reschedule my H&V for 8am.

That's what I had heard too, and so I wasn't really concerned about it. My family are generally quick eaters, and I knew it was a buffet so I wasn't concerned about the quickness of being served the meals. I was really sad they didn't let us into the park and into the restaurant area earlier so we could get a head start on the day.

The food quality was comparable to a Shoney's-- and I don't really consider that to be good. The lines were very long to the buffets, everything was sort of not planned very well for example, they had the Mickey waffles and pancakes on one buffet bar and they had like strawberry and cherry toppings there, but there was no syrup in sight anywhere around. You had to go way around to another bar to find the syrup, and the servers didn't know where to tell you where it was. Hollywood and Vine really paled in comparison to Tusker House, which was awesome!!

The only benefit to the pre-park opening ADR at Hollywood and Vine is that I did get some very cute empty street Hollywood studios photos of my kids while we were waiting to be called. However, those shot cost me riding on Rockin Roller Coaster.... by the time we got out of Hollywood and Vine the line was too long and it was crazy the rest of the day.


As for the lighting I am attaching a picture of my kids (their faces blacked out for privacy purposes) with Sofia so you all can see the lighting. There are a lot of booths in a circle around the windows that's where we were. There is bright light streaming in through the windows. That combined with the lights inside, makes really weird, bright washed out light. It is really difficult to get it to look right on a non-professional camera. Noticing this, I took some of the pictures from different angles but his one actually turned out the best of all of them. I did have my professional camera on the trip, but I didn't take it this day, I got so tired of carrying it after the first day I left it in my room, and my iphone just does not do a good job compensating in odd light situations. It could probably be fixed in photoshop, but that's just more work to do, and I wanted the non-tech savvy people to be aware of the light situation.

[GALLERY=] [/GALLERY]

 

[jenjersnap]

Our experience was similar in November: they held us at gates until 8:10 and, despite being one of the first 5 groups to check in (and the only party of 2, as far as I could see), we were not seated until 8:40. As we wanted to check in for Jedi Training as early as possible, we rushed through. The food that we were able to taste was fine and the service was excellent... I explained the issue with the delay and our plans and they nicely brought both Jack and Sofia for my DS to meet out of the rotation, but it was not relaxing in any way.

It is worth doing if you have little ones who like the characters but I would never book it again when we HAVE to be somewhere else, or I would book a late breakfast rather than a pre-opening one.

 

[Princess Olivia]

Our experience was similar in November: they held us at gates until 8:10 and, despite being one of the first 5 groups to check in (and the only party of 2, as far as I could see), we were not seated until 8:40. As we wanted to check in for Jedi Training as early as possible, we rushed through. The food that we were able to taste was fine and the service was excellent... I explained the issue with the delay and our plans and they nicely brought both Jack and Sofia for my DS to meet out of the rotation, but it was not relaxing in any way.

It is worth doing if you have little ones who like the characters but I would never book it again when we HAVE to be somewhere else, or I would book a late breakfast rather than a pre-opening one.

I too booked mostly to get to JTA ASAP. Did it work out? Would you recommend something different?

 

[aaarcher86]

Never had this problem. Actually quite the opposite.

We were let in well in advance. Characters were around quickly. My DH and oldest left to sign up for JTA and missed Sophia. Instead of having us wait they had Sophia come over out of order for my daughter. Food was normal for a character meal. Dance party was fun.

We will keep it in our rotation for awhile.

 

[Princess Olivia]

Never had this problem. Actually quite the opposite.

We were let in well in advance. Characters were around quickly. My DH and oldest left to sign up for JTA and missed Sophia. Instead of having us wait they had Sophia come over out of order for my daughter. Food was normal for a character meal. Dance party was fun.

We will keep it in our rotation for awhile.

Thanks for your post. Our two youngest are on the ASD and I think they will like these characters but our 6 year old who's higher functioning than our 4 year old can't wait for JTA! I just thought they would both probably do better sitting in a restaurant than waiting for an hour at the gate.

 

[aaarcher86]

Thanks for your post. Our two youngest are on the ASD and I think they will like these characters but our 6 year old who's higher functioning than our 4 year old can't wait for JTA! I just thought they would both probably do better sitting in a restaurant than waiting for an hour at the gate.

Just make sure you leave on time! My husband left about 15 min before the park opened and I guess they let people in earlier. It was crazy!

 

[Princess Olivia]

Just make sure you leave on time! My husband left about 15 min before the park opened and I guess they let people in earlier. It was crazy!

That would make me crazy!!! Now I'll stress over getting him out on time...LOL

 

[jenjersnap]

I too booked mostly to get to JTA ASAP. Did it work out? Would you recommend something different?

We were able to get to JTA and sign up, if that is what you mean by working out. . But in terms of enjoying the H&V, no, a prepark ADR was a giant waste of time and energy. One thing different for us...as I mentioned, it was only my DS and myself so I didn't have an extra adult on hand to hold the table while the kid and I went to sign up. Having two adults - assuming you do - is an advantage in that particular situation, so you may be fine. Just head over and sign up, return for second helpings, ask for the characters you may have missed, etc.

 

[Princess Olivia]

We were able to get to JTA and sign up, if that is what you mean by working out. . But in terms of enjoying the H&V, no, a prepark ADR was a giant waste of time and energy. One thing different for us...as I mentioned, it was only my DS and myself so I didn't have an extra adult on hand to hold the table while the kid and I went to sign up. Having two adults - assuming you do - is an advantage in that particular situation, so you may be fine. Just head over and sign up, return for second helpings, ask for the characters you may have missed, etc.

Great tip! Thank you.

 

[humormeeee]

FYI, as far as the Jedi training academy, we were clueless about it, and we didn't realize you had to sign up for a time (we thought it was walk on), and we didn't go to the area until like 10:30, and we were still able to get a time, but the earliest available time to sign up at that point was 4:30pm so, just know if you're not the first in line to book it to Jedi academy to sign up, there will be times available still. And we were there on a very, very busy spring break day I estimate the park was probably at an 8/10 or so.

 

[humormeeee]

Also, on the Jedi training academy, the group that fights darth vader is on the stage and is WAY cuter than the group that fights darth maul, so when your kids are lining up you might want to see if you can get a heads up from one of the helpers on which is the better line for them to stand in. The darth maul group was on the ground and it was harder to get good pictures of them, and I think they got less attention overall.

 

[jenjersnap]

In the slower times of year, Darth Maul does NOT appear. As a result, capacity for JTA is reduced. In October 2013, they were putting kids on the waitlist - meaning all shows for the day were full - by 9:25 am. Based on the line in November 2014, it closed similarly but we were closer to the front that trip and weren't around to see when it filled exactly.

 

[humormeeee]

In the slower times of year, Darth Maul does NOT appear. As a result, capacity for JTA is reduced. In October 2013, they were putting kids on the waitlist - meaning all shows for the day were full - by 9:25 am. Based on the line in November 2014, it closed similarly but we were closer to the front that trip and weren't around to see when it filled exactly.

Wow that's nuts!! I would be really sad if my kiddo missed out on that opportunity, it was really cute. Ugh Hollywood studios is kind of a hot mess because there are too many things you need to "run" to at rope drop or else suffer long lines. The park feels like it is packed like sardines so much earlier in the day than other parks. My kids were clamoring to meet Hiro and Baymax but the lines were close to 85 minutes when we were there. I don't wait in lines that long for characters....

Almost no one showed up for Characterpalooza, and that was WONDERFUL to be able to meet with so many characters and the area was shady and made for wonderful pictures. It was the best character interaction we had the entire stay. I adored the Wicked Queen (from snow white). She was hilarious. And Pocahontas was really cute with my little boy.

 

[Misha72683]

Hmmm... We're considering a pre-park opening ADR for H&V (assuming we can get one) so my 4 year-old can do Jedi Training. Hopefully, we have a smoother experience (otherwise DH can rush off with him, though I'd hate for him to miss Jake). In October there's only Darth Vader right? My son loves Darth Vader so would definitely prefer to face him over Darth Maul.