help with fantasmic pkg choice

[busterthebronco]

hollywood and vine or brown derby?
is the brown derby worth the extra money?

[Guya103]

We love the Brown Derby! The atmosphere is so refreshing and creates a great break for your tired feet! There are several things on the menu that we enjoy. I have to say that the Cobb Salad and the Grapefruit Cake remain true favs!

Hollywood & Vine is ok. I don't feel the food or experience as a whole is anything worth doing again.

Do you prefer table service or a buffet? Is a Character Experience important?

We have never gone the dinner package route with Fantasmic. I have always heard that the reserved seats are not the best. We tend to eat a nice lunch and grab counter service right before the show.

I think that the Brown Derby is worth the extra hands down.:mickey:

[CanadianWDWFan]

I think that the Brown Derby is worth the extra hands down.:mickey:
:ditto:

While we haven't done the Fantasmic package at the Brown Derby we had a GREAT meal experience there. In fact we had one of our best meals at WDW there.

We have done the Hollywood and Vine for the package. The food was just fine. Our kids seemed to enjoy it just fine. They had a lot of choices for their meals that suited them.

As a side note, I would never do Mama Melrose's ever again.

The seating is the extreme right most section. Not the best but perfect if you don't want to wait or fight the crowds to see the show.

[Gator]

I'm not a fan of H&V, but my family likes it. But I also think the Brown Derby is not worth all the extra money. Try Mama's Melrose.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

:) I agree about not doing Mama Melrose's, no one in our party of 8 liked it, of course that was three years ago...I've heard mixed reviews about Hollywood and Vine and we are going to give it a try although I've heard nothing but good reviews from Brown Derby

[Taja]

Have only dined at H&V for the Fantasmic dinner package.

Variety is decent, but better at CP in MK. We had good service at H&V both times, but didn't like the food as much as at CP. Not sure why--some of it was the same, just didn't seem to be replenished or held at the right temperature or something.

Neither of us became ill, so the food must have been at least okay! *LOL*

Unless you're visiting WDW during a busy time or using DDP credits, I probably would opt for something else and just go to Fantasmic on your own. The reserved seating is okay, but it's off to the right, as others have posted.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We've done the package at H&V and MM. We're trying Brown Derby on this trip, as we weren't terribly impressed with either H&V or MM.

I have heard so many wonderful things about Brown Derby, and am so excited about finally trying it.

I would go for Brown Derby, H&V just wasn't great. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't horrible either...just loud and the food was only OK.

[AllDisney]

We have never tried H&V (because we aren't buffet people), but we love the Brown Derby. I think you should give it a try if you've tried it before.

I see mixed reviews about Mama Melrose's . We ate there a few years ago and had a great experience. Perhaps things are different now?

P.S. As Guya103 stated the Grapefruit Cake is wonderful:cloud9: