A trip to Walt Disney World would not be complete with the food, and I’m sure we all have a favorite restaurant or two. Or Six. One of our top dining destinations and experiences is the Disney Junior Play ‘n Dine, located at Hollywood & Vine in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This was our first dining stop of our Christmas Vacation to Walt Disney World, and we had an early ADR for lunch.
Characters – Hollywood & Vine is a character buffet for breakfast and lunch daily, however in the evening it features a standard buffet. Characters currently featured at the Disney Junior Play ‘n Dine meals are Jake from Jake & the Never Land Pirates, Handy Manny, Sophia the First and Doc McStuffins. This character set is new since our trip in December, which featured June from Little Einsteins and Special Agent Oso instead of Sophia & Doc. I had heard they were replacing Handy Manny rather than Oso, but I guess not! As regular character meal attenders I can say with confidence that the character interaction here is quite nice. Since the meal caters to young children they have broken each hour into blocks of time, and approximately every 20 minutes there is a dance break where all children are invited to join the characters and hosts in song and dance. My son has an absolute blast dancing with the characters, and they perform songs like “Talk Like a Pirate” and “The Hot Dog Dance”. The dance breaks allow adults to sit and enjoy their meal, rather than having to rush through the meal because your young companion is anxious to ride the attractions and meet characters.
Menu – The Disney Junior Play ‘n Dine is a buffet meal with delectable offerings, particularly at lunch. While the kid’s section of the buffet features your everyday mac & cheese, chicken nuggets and broccoli, the rest of the buffet is filled with absolutely delicious entrees and sides. There is a build your own pasta station, a large selection of salads, several proteins and a plethora of sides to choose from. My absolute favorite items on the buffet are the marinated mushrooms, creamed corn bread and lobster macaroni & cheese. Yes, lobster macaroni & cheese. If I were to put together a list of “The Best Things I Ever Ate” this would be in the top 10 dishes anywhere. It’s that good. The real gem at this meal, however, is dessert! Rather than a standard dessert buffet of dry pastries and cookies Hollywood & Vine features a chocolate fountain with fresh and dried fruit, and a soft serve ice cream machine with toppings bar. There are still a few standard desserts, but they are definitely worth skipping to fill up on chocolate-dipped pineapple. To keep the mess at bay the fruits are dipped by a chef, and placed on small skewers.
Atmosphere – In all honestly there isn’t much atmosphere at this location, which is its one drawback. The side walls are painted with identical murals featuring Hollywood landmarks, and created in the style of a mid-century post card, and the tables and chairs are chrome trimmed and basic. I do like the Mickey in the back of the chairs, but they aren’t comfortable at all. Another design drawback, Hollywood & Vine shares a bathroom with 50’s Prime Time Cafe, and is quite possibly the most inadequate restroom in all of Walt Disney World. Five or Six stalls to serve two full-service restaurants in simply a bad idea…
Fantasmic Dinner Package – Lunch at Hollywood & Vine is a choice for those wishing to book a Fantasmic Dinner Package. The Fantasmic Dinner Package is a set price ($35.99 for adults & $19.99 for children 9 and under at this location). It provides you with VIP seating to Fantasmic.
Dining Plan – Hollywood & Vine does accept the Disney Dining Plan, and utilizes one table service credit per person. Reservations are recommended, and a credit card is required to secure your reservation.
Disney Mama’s Rating – We want to help you make informed decisions about your dining options when travelling at Walt Disney World. We have developed a system to rate dining locations based on their value, food quality and more. Check out the ratings for the Disney Junior Play ‘n Dine meal at Hollywood & Vine below, and let us know if you have any questions!
Character Interaction:
5 out of 5
Menu Variety & Quality of Food:
5 out of 5
Service:
4 out of 5
Atmosphere:
3 out of 5
Value:
3 out of 5
Overall, My son loves this restaurant since it features some of his favorite characters, and since he can get up and move around rather than just sit and wait for us to finish eating. My husband and I enjoy the buffet since it features some nice options. Overall, its a nice dining location, and the perfect way to start a day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
Hungry for more Disney Food News? Then hop on over to DisneyDaybyDay for Foodie Friday!
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Lexi and Tripp would be in heaven!! I DVR Disney Jr. for them to watch when they come to visit Nana!!
It’s so fun!
What ages would you say this is best for? My DS is going to be 8 next trip, so I’m wondering if that’s “too old” for these characters…
That’s a tough question, but for boys probably 6 or 7. Unless he still watches the shows featured he would probably feel relatively “uncool” in the environment. However, I have seen older boys and girls enjoy it if they are there with a younger sibling to play with, or if they aren’t forced to interact with the characters and just get to experience the yummy, yummy food and chocolate fountain!
We love the interaction but wish the food was better here. Maybe we’ll give it another try now that Doc and Sophia are there.
Definitely give it another try. We have actually loved the food each time, so maybe the menu is different now?
Great review and detail. We loved Hollywood and Vine when our son was younger, now that he’s 9 going on 10 he isn’t much into the characters there anymore. Now if they had Minecraft characters that would be a different story 🙂
I do wish they had Mickey to keep it a little more universal. It would still cater to little ones, but the addition of the Big Cheese would be nice!
great to know! We are trying this for the first time this fall! My son will LOVE it!! I think we’ll add the Fantasmic package too!!
Let me know how you like the Fantasmic package! It’s one of those things we are always on the fence about doing and never actually do.
Sounds like a great character encounter, I would love to try the lobster mac and cheese
It is seriously delicious!
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My family and I are going to Disney in July. It works out better for us and his work schedule. We know its a hot month, but we are an outdoor family. My daughters are 6 (she has been before) and other daughter will be 2 (first time its her birthday). We are staying 5 nights with only 3 day passes. We are thinking Magic Kingdom 2 days and 1 day Disney’s Hollywood studios. We have three reservations 1 dinner at Magic 1900 park fare to see princess and 1 breakfast at Hollywood vine and 1 breakfast at cape may cafe.
I would like to do a birthday celebration somewhere for my 2yr old. What is the best way to do this? Any suggestions or advice of any kind would be AMAZING! its our first time with our little one.
And if you have nay advice where to eat for dinner on quick service when we do not have reservations.
We are staying at Art of Animation-Lion King Suite
THANK YOU SO MUCH. Any feedback will be truly AMAZING!
Hi Kendra!
Make sure that you mention at check-in that she is celebrating a birthday and she will receive a birthday button. Also, if you didn’t do so when you made your dining reservations ask your concierge to add a note to each reservation that your party is celebrating a birthday. If you want to order a birthday cake to share at one of your reservations (I would recommend 1900 Park Fare) you can call 407-827-2253, or for a smaller uncustomized cake you can request to purchase one at the check-in podium of the restaurant. You can also have a 6″ cake delivered to your room! For Art of Animation the phone number to call is 407-938-3686. You can check our our blog post on celebrations here:
For quick-service locations at Magic Kingdom we really like the corn dog nuggets at Casey’s Corner, burgers at Pecos Bills, and the grilled chicken at Cosmic Ray’s. Hollywood Studios doesn’t have the best dining options for quick-service, but Starring Rolls has some really nice sandwiches, or the ABC Commissary has a decent variety of options. Landscape of Flavors at Art of Animation is also amazing! If you spend time at Downtown Disney Earl of Sandwich is a fantastic quick-service location!
A couple of tips:1.You can get free glasses of ice water from almost every single quick-service location if you ask! It’s nice because you don’t have to lug around water bottles. 2. Make sure you leave Magic Kingdom with enough time to get to your 1900 Park Fare dinner at Grand Floridian. Grand Floridian is the last monorail stop when leaving Magic Kingdom so it can take some time to make that loop. If the resort boat launch is operational that is an option as well. 3. Get to the parks prior to opening if possible. You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish in the first few hours the park is open before it gets too hot and too crowded to really enjoy your time. This also opens up your afternoons a bit if you want to go back to your resort and swim. 4. If you haven’t made your FastPass reservations yet make sure you do! You can check out our recommendations here on the website.
Have a WONDERFUL trip!!
Thank you so much Lin for everything. I just called and added First Visit and Birthday. 🙂
Anytime! I hope you guys have a wonderful trip! Make sure you mention when you check in at each restaurant that she is celebrating a birthday too and they might bring her a special cupcake!
So if you do the lunch with the Disney Jr characters, do you still gt the fantastic package?
In order to receive the Fantasmic package you need to make sure you book the package specifically. But, yes, it is available for Play ‘n Dine lunches.