Wondering how Hollywood & Vine stacks up against the other Hollywood Studios Table Service Restaurants? Check out The Best Hollywood Studios Sit Down Restaurants for a comparison of the five Hollywood Studios restaurants in a variety of categories including Most Unique Menu, Best Value on the Disney Dining Plan, Best Value Out of Pocket, Best Atmosphere, Best Food, and Best Overall Restaurant.
Hollywood & Vine
Food Type: Buffet, Character Meal for Breakfast and Lunch
Dining Plan: 1 Table Service
Cost:
Character Breakfast: $26.99 for adults and $14.99 for children ages 3-9
Character Lunch: $26.99 for adults and $14.99 for children age 3-9
Dinner WITHOUT Characters: $30.99 and $15.99 for children ages 3-9
Setting: The interior looks like a 1950s era ice cream shop with plenty of booths and paintings of Hollywood scenes on the walls. This is a character meal for breakfast and lunch that features JoJo, the Goliaths, and the Baby Einsteins. Haven’t heard of them? They’re from Playhouse Disney (don’t worry, I had to look that up too). The characters are big and fun and kids will enjoy hanging out with them whether they recognize them or not.
Advantages: You can enter the park up to one hour early with an 8AM breakfast reservation. The characters at breakfast and lunch are fun and children get to run around and play with them, unlike other character meals where everyone remains seated. There is a wide variety of food as well as all-you-CAN-eat ice cream and toppings. Breakfast is the best meal as far as food and character fun is concerned. You can dine here with the Fantasmic Package with one table service credit on the Dining Plan.
Disadvantages: Food is mediocre at best, terrible at worst, with no stand out or unique items. The characters need to be updated. Restaurant can get loud, particularly with 100 children singing as loud as they can during play time.
Value: Below average. $30+ for an Old Country Buffet quality meal is drastically overpriced. The characters at breakfast and lunch are fun, but it’s unlikely anyone in your group will know who they are. For one table service credit, you can eat here on the Fantasmic Package and get access to the roped off seating area which makes this a good value on the Dining Plan, especially during busier times when Fantasmic is likely to be full.
Reputation: Hollywood & Vine has one of worst reputations of any restaurant at Disney World. Is it really that bad? Not necessarily. There is a wide variety of food and it is unlikely anyone will leave hungry. Dinner includes prime rib, salmon, barbecue ribs, a variety of salads, vegetables, peel and eat shrimp, and a plethora of others. Lunch choices are cheaper and include salads, ham, turkey, fruit, pasta, chicken, and the like. The ice cream bar has soft service ice cream and a wide variety of toppings. None of the food will be awe inspiring, but it shouldn’t be awful either. Overall, this is a good value on the Dining Plan as part of the Fantasmic package, but it’s probably an overpriced option out of pocket, unless you have children and want a meal with these particular characters.
Overall Rank on The Best Hollywood Studios Sit Down Restaurants: 5th out of 5
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Just a little clarification – the “Baby Einsteins” are actually called the “Little Einsteins”. This is an important difference as Baby Einstein is a series of learning dvd’s for infants and toddlers and the Little Einsteins are more for the pre-school set. It’s actually a fabulous show, and the charaters are named Leo, Annie, June and Quincy, with their friend Rocket. Just thought you should know:)
I think they’ve updated the characters a bit to more current Disney Junior characters
Yes,
Now it is June and Leo (Little Einsteins), Jake (The Neverland Pirate), Handy Manny and Special Agent Oso.
Hollywood and Vine has some of the worst food in all of WDW. Nevermind the cost. Now I know its “Buffet style” but there are really good Buffet at WDW. This is just not one of them. I/we avoid Hollywood and Vine at all costs. The quick service is has better food.