We are suckers for characters in seasonal costumes, so when Hollywood & Vine reopened, we decided to check them (and the food!) out.
And now that we’ve been back twice now, we definitely feel like we can pass along a review of what it is like to dine at Hollywood and Vine right now.
Dining at Minnie’s Seasonal Dining at Hollywood & Vine
- Location: Hollywood Studios (near Echo Lake)
- Meals available: lunch & dinner
- Price: Adults (ages 10 and up) $55.00 / Child (ages 3-9) $36.00
- Characters: Typically Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto
- Link to menu
Hollywood & Vine is the only character meal available at Hollywood Studios.
Looking for breakfast?
The Disney Junior characters are your hosts for breakfast at Hollywood & Vine. Known as “Disney Junior Play ‘n Dine”, guests can join their favorite Disney Junior pals (typically Vampirina, Fancy Nancy, Doc McStuffins, and Roadster Goofy) for a tasty à la carte breakfast.
Just like lunch and dinner, the meal is a modified dining experience (meaning the characters won’t visit individual tables).
Price: Adults (ages 10 and up) $42.00 / Child (ages 3-9) $27.00
Reservations
Since this is the only character meal available at Hollywood Studios, snagging a reservation can be competitive, especially during busy times of the year.
And, if you want to dine here, you’ll need both reservations for the restaurant and Disney Park Pass reservations.
If this is on your must-do list, you’ll want to be prepared to snag a spot as soon as your booking window opens.
For help with that, we recommend you check out our tips on How to Snag Hard-to-Get Reservations.
Menu
With current health and safety measures forcing Disney to suspend buffet services, you now order off of a menu at Hollywood & Vine.
You start your meal with salad and bread (that is served family-style), but after that, each guest selects their entrée and dessert from a menu.
The menu items should look familiar for repeat visitors, though, since they are very similar to what was found on the buffet.
Here’s what is typically available:
Farmhouse tossed salad bowl and rolls (served family-style)
Choice of 1 entree per person:
- Garlic and Cracked Black Pepper Prime Rib of Beef
- Served with Sour Cream-Chive Whipped Potatoes, Fried Brussels Sprouts, and Pearl Onions with Red Wine Jus
- Seared Fresh Salmon with Grain Mustard Beurre Blanc
- Served with Olive Oil Crushed Fingerling Potatoes, Garlic Lemon Broccolini
- Pork Osso Bucco
- Served with Boursin Cheese Hominy Grits, Caramelized Apples, Lemon Gremolata, Pork Reduction Gravy
- Macaroni and Cheese with Shrimp
- Served with Cavatapi Pasta, Four Cheese Sauce, Shrimp, Crispy Bacon, Buttered Panko Crust with Fennel and Arugula
- Carved Herb Roasted Turkey Breast
- Served with Garlic Redskin Mashed Potatoes, Cornbread Stuffing, Sautéed Green Beans, Turkey Gravy, and Cranberry Orange Relish
- Plant-based Pan Roasted King Trumpet Mushrooms
- Served with Braised Lentils, Blistered Grape Tomatoes, Roasted Mushroom Ragu, Roasted Root Vegetables and Marsala Mushroom Sauce
Choice of 1 dessert per person:
- Apple Blueberry Pie
- Chocolate S’mores Pie
- Plant-based Cherry Lemon Pie
- Vanilla Crème Brûlée
- Banana Cream Pie
There is a separate kid-menu with options for kid-sized portions of the seared salmon, roasted beef, roasted turkey, or mac & cheese (without the shrimp).
For beverages you’ll have the option of all the regulars (soda, tea, coffee, water) plus, for an additional charge, there are premium specialty drink and wine options available.
Characters
The fun thing about the characters at Hollywood & Vine is that they change their costumes based upon the season.
So, if you’re someone that just loves to see the characters dressed up, if you visit during different times of the year you’ll see them in different outfits.
The exact dates can vary, so be sure you check Disney’s site to see what is available when, but for general reference, you can expect to see:
- Silver Screen Dine (typically early January – early March)
- Minnie & friends dressed up for a glitzy Hollywood party
- Springtime Dine (typically early March – late May)
- Spring-themed with bright colors and florals
- Summertime Dine (typically late May – mid-August)
- Minnie and friends dressed for a beach party
- Halloween Dine (typically mid-August – early November)
- Adorable Halloween costumes
- Holiday Dine (typically early November – early January)
- Holiday attire which means lots and lots of velvet
How does it work?
Unfortunately, new CDC recommendations and current health and safety measures make it impossible for the characters to visit each table individually.
And, you no longer have the chance to take a pic with a character when you enter.
The backdrop is still there (and you can take a selfie)…
…but no character.
Instead, the characters move through the restaurant, pausing to direct their attention to each table – all from a safe distance away.
This is the same for all character meals right now, and at some restaurants (like Garden Grill), the restaurant configuration makes the changes less noticeable.
However, the layout of Hollywood & Vine is such that depending on where you are seated, you may at times be looking over or through plexiglass walls to see the characters. Definitely not as ideal, and it can make it difficult to take photos (because of the glare):
But, for the kids around us, it didn’t seem to matter so much.
This isn’t the case for all tables, however. On our 2 visits since the reopening, we had one meal with a fantastic view of the characters and another one where we were further away.
Autographs
Character autographs have also been suspended. Disney provides guests visiting Hollywood & Vine with souvenir pre-printed autograph cards that they can take home in the interim.
Definitely not the same as having Minnie Mouse sign something at your table, but a decent compromise considering the safety protocols they are currently working with.
Final Thoughts
We have a long history of not-so-great meals at Hollywood & Vine. For some reason, the food was always a miss for us.
Consequently, we were hesitant to give it a try now that similar offerings were being served to you at the table.
But you know what? We were pleasantly surprised.
So much so that we were eager to give it another try and much to our pleasure, the food quality remained much higher than what we found when the meal was a buffet.
The cost – which is fairly standardized across all character meals right now – is high. You definitely pay for the opportunity to see the characters while you eat.
And if we had to pick just one character meal to dine at, Hollywood & Vine probably wouldn’t be our first choice simply because we find the setup and food quality far more consistent at Garden Grill at Epcot.
But, if you’re thinking about giving Hollywood & Vine a try, we are happy to say that after a long time of not being able to recommend it, we now can (and do!).
Check out our other character meal reviews:
- Be Our Guest Review
- Topolino’s Terrace Review
- Garden Grill Review
- Chef Mickey’s Review
- Ravello’s Review
- Cinderella’s Royal Table Review