Brown Derby, or Hollywood and Vine with Fantasmic at MGM?

[samnbilly]

Has anyone gone to either of these restaurants with the Fantasmic Show? I was thinking of doing this with my kids who are 5 and eight. They are not picky eaters. Any advice or comments is appreciated.

 

[natalielongstaff]

hi
i tried to book either of these pakages today and they were all sold out for the date i wanted ( 5th november )

good luck

 

[jeleadams]

We've eaten at Hollywood N Vine in Jan we were less than

pleased the buffet wasn't up to my expectations. Plus it was luke

warm could tell it had been there a while. And to top it off with

one of the WORST waitress I've ever experienced anywhere.

Always acting like we were bothering her. Never bring us clean

plates, She brought us our drinks and disappeared for the

majority of our meal DH cup was empty probably 20 mins. I finally

got up went behind in there little area there and filled our drinks

our shelf. We our eating at the Brown Derby in Sept hoping for a

better experience. OH both on the Fantasmic package

 

[CindysGusGus]

I agree with jele. We have been to both and I think the Brown Derby is far superior to the H and V.
We waited for 20 minutes before we were even greeted by a server, then another 20 minutes before we got drinks. We then waited to get our card stamped. We were almost late for the show. The food was cold and tasteless.

 

[aerin]

We just ate at Brown Derby on Saturday and I thought it was great. I'm not a big buffet person though, so I didn't consider H&V.

It was a lot of food though, even for the kids. They all had chocolate milk, chicken noodle soup, dinner (two got fish sticks, one chicken nuggets, but they had other things on the menu - a lot to choose from, as far as Disney kids meals which on the whole are kind of ho-hum to me) and then dessert.

I had the salmon and it was excellent. Yum. Honestly, it was the best meal of the entire trip!!

We didn't end up even needing the Fantasmic package though as the 9pm show was rained out and a LOT of people left. The 10:30 was a go, but it was iffy and I don't think people wanted to wait around that long.

 

[ddisney333]

Is the dinner package worth the cost? How good are the seats for Fantasmic? We are thinking about doing this. Any advice would be appreciated.

Dee

 

[MichaelsMickey]

I have done the Fantasmic Diner Package at Brown Derby--the seats are good--you get to eat while everyone is waiting in line we sat very close to water. I perfer the BD to HV do not like buffets and I love the Cobb Salad at BD always eat there once when I visit

 

[anne930]

The food was very good at Brown Derby, but we won't do it again with the Fantasmic package. #1 - it was pricey. #2 - the service was slow at best and we worried the entire time that we wouldn't make it to the show on time. For a meal that expensive, I would rather go at a time when they are not so busy and take the time to enjoy my meal.

 

[tigger334]

My dh and I just reserved the fantasmic package today for Nov 9th @ 4:30 at the H & V. I have heard good things about H & V until now. Hopefully these were just isolated incidents.

Natalie- I am surprised you couldn't get a PS for 11/5! Being in November I didn't think these packages would sell out but I guess they do!

I am anxious for the show I have never seen it before.

 

[CindyAnn]

I would definitely choose Brown Derby. As a second choice I would go with Mama Melrose. H&V would be a very distant 3rd choice (I'm not really sure that I'd even be able to persuade DH to return). Even though we generally like buffets, the options at H&V were underwhelming and the dessert area was so messy, with ice cream and sauces gucked everywhere, that I just couldn't eat any dessert (NOT my usual problem). We had no problems with service at H&V, though, and were in and out quite quickly.

 

[MelAnderson]

I chose Hollywood & Vine for the Fantasmic Package this past June. I only picked it because it was the cheapest - BIG mistake. Check in was disorganized. Other restaurants that we ate at provided us with pagers, not so at H&V. We had to stay close to listen for our name. Service was really slow and I thought that the buffet was so so to poor. It was an overpriced Old Country Buffet. We'd eaten lunch at Brown Derby earlier and really enjoyed the meal. If you don't mind the price, I would vote for the Brown Derby. I didn't eat at Mama Melroses', but I would try that over Hollywood & Vine. Hope this helps!!

 

[jbthi]

I like the Brown Derby the best but I also like H&V. It's been a couple of years since I have been there but it was very good.

I don't like buffets but this one was an exception. The food was hot and there were some unusual dishes. Their salad bar was so good, it had capers and some other things not usually found on salad bars.

The only thing I didn't like was the dessert selection--nothing interesting.

June

 

[Praying Colonel]

We had the Fantasmic Package and ate at the Hollywood and Vine last week. I have to say that our experience was much more positive than many who've eaten there.

The restaurant was swamped due to a rainstorm that hit around dinner time, so our priority seating was about 10 minutes late. But the quality of the food was well above our expectations. Very interesting selections--most everything had a little twist to it that set it apart from a Sizzler or Golden Corral-type buffet (which was the most I was expecting). For example, they had sirloin available, but it came with a red wine demiglace which was very good. The roasted vegetables came with little cloves of roasted garlic, which our whole family loves. They had 3 different kinds of whipped butter (plain, cranberry and bacon-bleu cheese) to go with the 4 or 5 different kinds of breads. And the salmon was pan-seared with a nice spice mixture on it. And they had several different kinds of desserts that were fresh and interesting.

It's not fine dining by any means, but our dinner was an above-average meal, especially for a buffet. I would've given it a B+.

 

[Sonar]

My wife & I ate at H&V last year with the Fantasmic package, and were very pleased with the selection. As stated above, the items had a bit of a twist to them, but in a good way.

I guess the value of the Fantasmic package depends on when you go. We went the end of May – beginning of June, and the showing we went to was packed. We were very happy to have paid for the package.

 

[gigi1313]

H&V was one of the few restaurants that dh is looking forward to going back to... i remember enjoying it, but don't remember *loving* it the way he did (but i was dealing w/a sick high-fever kid while we were there/he was enjoying dinner w/the non-sick kid!)... he's looking forward to returning and so am i!

 

[DisneyBB]

We ate in the H&V last October and thought it was excellent. I even liked the little cakes they had for deserts. Would love to try BD, but it is a little expensive.

 

[classicpooh]

We ate at Hollywood and Vine on Sunday 8/16, right when the massive downpour hit!

Our experience was positive. Our waitress was lovely and helpful, refilling drinks quickly. We had a 4:00 PS and found the food warm and fresh. There was a good varitey, the kids had no problem finding something to eat. I had no complaints about anything. We were done with our meal around 5:00 and had time to try and avoid the rain and see some of the other attractions @ MGM.

I would try and get an early PS (4:00 is the earliest) to guarentee the freshest selection @ the buffet. This way you are not worried about making the show either. Also, since we were one of the first families inside, we really didn't have to wait in line @ the buffet.

Hollywood and Vine is not fine dining, but was a decent buffet. It was worth not having to line up for the Fantasmic show!

 

[Daisimae]

I did the Fantasmic Dinner package at H & V in 2000 with DH and again last year with my Sister. Our food was great! Both times, there was a huge downpour just at the time of our ressies. So while everyone else was huddled under the veranda, (without PS's), trying to get in, we just sailed past them to our dinner.

DH and I have Fantasmic PS's for our November trip too. I'm hoping the rain doesn't make a repeat apperance this time. The rain did clear up in time for the show.