Hollywood and Vine at Disney’s Hollywood Studios hasn’t had the best reputation, and we thought it was time for us to revisit this dining location. This restaurant was new to me and Ryno, but Craig had dined there before, but it had been a long time since his last meal here. Hollywood and Vine is a character dining buffet experience. Reservations are highly recommended, but sometimes the walk-up list is available. Of course, I was so excited to eat here because I love character dining, and this is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go.
Hollywood and Vine, during lunch and dinner, offers Minnie’s Seasonal Dining. They still do the Disney Junior Play ‘n’ Dine for breakfast. We took part in Minnie’s Halloween Dine for lunch, which is $59 per adult and $38 per child. Disney describes this as a spooktacular Halloween feast that’s frightfully delightful. This Halloween offering goes until November 7th, 2023, so there’s still plenty of time to experience it. The other seasonal offerings are the Holiday Dine, Silver Screen Dine, Springtime Dine, and Summertime Dine.
For this review, I will break it down by décor, food, character interactions, and overall thoughts.
Halloween Dine – Décor
The restaurant wasn’t covered in Halloween décor. Most of the theming is located by the entrance and near the dessert section of the buffet line. Craig brought up a great point regarding this. He mentioned they can’t have extravagant decorations because they still do the Disney Junior Play ‘n’ Dine breakfast. There isn’t enough time between breakfast and lunch to fully transform the place, which I totally understand. I wish there were a few more pumpkins scattered throughout the restaurant.
I wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Our very own Halloween king, Ryno, felt the same way. He wished there was more of the 50s-inspired Halloween décor sprinkled throughout the restaurant. We agreed that the decorated spots were done nicely, and the photo op was fun and a nice touch.
Halloween Dine – Food
The food here has been torn apart for years and continuously ridiculed; this changes today. Of course, the food isn’t perfect here, but not many buffets have excellent food, except for Sweet Tomatoes, which I miss dearly. Anyway, in all seriousness, buffet food isn’t always top-tier, but some places do it better than others. The buffet was set up really well, and the food was presented nicely.
Our fantastic server handed me the allergy guide, which makes dining at Disney buffets so much easier. It is so easy to use, and I bring it with me as I walk through the buffet and pick up everything with a green check mark next to it. I was pleasantly surprised with how many options they had available for each listed allergy. My favorites that I got seconds of were Olive Oil-roasted Potatoes, Plant-based Roasted Mushroom-Farro Risotto, and Crispy Tofu.
I also loved the build-your-own salad bar and the vegetarian chili. They also had these Salmon Cakes, which weren’t on the menu, but the chef made me a few so I could try them without the dairy-filled sauce. They weren’t my favorite, and Ryno wasn’t a fan either, but we both thought it was a good idea, and they could continue working on it.
Ryno also enjoyed the Plant-based Roasted Mushroom-Farro Risotto and Crispy Tofu. He went up to the buffet several times and enjoyed a lot of what he got. We both agreed that nothing was out of this world, but nothing was horrible.
Craig thought some of the food was a bit too salty but agreed that nothing was horrible. He wasn’t a fan of the Plant-based Roasted Mushroom-Farro Risotto, which we had a feeling he wouldn’t. He loved the oven-roasted herb chicken, which I regret not getting. The only food item he felt offended by was the Oven-roasted Turkey Breast because it was too dry. Another item he loved was the Mexican Street Corn, even though it was very far from being authentic.
I want to point out that the cast members in the kitchen were constantly changing out any food that was running low. They were really on top of it, which was great to see. Not only were they paying attention to the buffet line, but they were all accommodating.
Halloween Dine – Character Interactions
The characters were phenomenal. Here, guests can meet Minnie, Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy. Since we were here for the Halloween Dine, all the characters were dressed in their Halloween best. Each character took their time with us and had so much energy.
I loved Minnie’s outfit. Her hat was so detailed with butterflies and ribbon. Her dress was gorgeous, and, of course, rhinestones were all over it. Mickey’s costume wasn’t as elaborate, but that’s okay because he doesn’t host this dining experience. He did have a pretty cool cape. Goofy was a haunting cowboy, and Pluto had a fun-themed collar, making him look like a vampire.
Overall Thoughts
We had a great time at Hollywood and Vine. We would definitely recommend dining here if you enjoy meeting characters in unique costumes that can’t be found in the theme parks. I left this experience wanting to come back during the holiday season to see the characters in holiday outfits and see what changes they make to the menu.
We all rated this restaurant a lot higher than we thought we would. My final rating was a 4.2 out of 5, Ryno’s came out to 4 out of 5, and Craig’s rating brought him to a 3.75 out of 5. Our ratings show that our experience here was between average and slightly above average, which is pretty good. To watch our full review, check out the video below!
The post Disney Dining Review: Minnie’s Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine Lunch – Halloween Edition first appeared on DIS.