Diary of a Picky Kid (& his Foodie Mom) DxDDP in December! Update 4/9 'Ohana Dinner!

[Lisa F]

DAY 5: DOWN DAY! 'Ohana Breakfast

So after going at it super hard for the first 3.5 days, I had a scheduled "down day" today. It wasn't so much of a down day though honestly, because we ended up spending a lot of the time at Disney Springs and we were on our feet... but we did have our first late start with a 9:30 ADR for 'Ohana breakfast.

This is another one of those that gets mixed reviews. I have noticed that 'Ohana tends to seat in shifts... like there will be a ton of empty tables and all of a sudden they are full again. I wonder if this is what leads to some of their service issues and also the wait time issues... they have ADRs every 5 minutes like every place else but seem to seat an entire section at once.

Anyway we arrived, and we got our pager and it appeared to go off about 10 minutes later, so I'm thinking "WOW, this is AWESOME! So much for the long waits!" But as it turned out it did not go off, it was warning about a low battery so I, along with another 5 families, stood around waiting for new pagers. I was dubious that it would not somehow impact us getting seated but it didn't - we were seated about 15 minutes later. So while the 25 minute wait was by far the longest wait we had for a table, it was far from the horror show some people report.

Also, the first thing I noticed when we were seated is that they serve the full booze menu in the morning... just in case it matters to anyone. I abstained because if you remember from my TH breakfast review, I'm pretty much addicted to the POG juice... and I won't lie... the free-flowing POG is not that far down on the list of reasons I picked this place.

'Ohana was another repeat from our 2014 trip. Buffets were hard with kiddo in 2014, less hard in 2016, but less hard still is having your food served to you. 'Ohana was one of our best experiences in 2014 because of that... mom got to sit and chill and relax and wait for the characters to come around. Also... I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I LOVE breakfast. Like, I love everything in this platter and didn't mind having similar a few times.... even though I got distracted by the chicken curry at Tusker house and didn't really have a typical breakfast there... I LOVE breakfast food. I love to cook but I hate making it... I think I am just not functional in the morning or something, lol. But I LOVE when someone makes me breakfast, and that includes the chef in the kitchen of whatever restaurant I am in.

When we were seated they were out of the bread but the waiter did show up with fruit, juice and coffee and the hostess followed behind pretty quickly with the freshest of fresh bread. Our service was adequate. I mean, our waiter was dealing with his however many tables all seated in rapid succession so while he didn't really have a chance to stand around and chit chat, on every pass he made past our table he made himself available to be asked for something more and never acted bothered about it. He wasn't super warm and friendly but we never wanted for anything for more than a few seconds either. The kid does not like the POG juice so they brought him an apple juice that he was happy to have... often with breakfast he drinks chocolate milk (when we go out that is, I let him have it as a treat... he doesn't have it at home) but I think the unseasonably warm December had us both craving lighter drinks... him juice over milk and me frozen grownup drinks, lol (actually sometimes I was so hot I couldn't even stomach the booze. what a shame!)

So anyway, here are some photos:

Is this the welcome bread or is the dinner bread the welcome bread? Well no matter, this bread was DELICIOUS. It tasted kind of like those kings hawaiian rolls and was kind of like a crazy pull apart bread with little bits of very finely chopped pineapple in it and a very very light glaze on it too. It was sticky and not too sweet and it was super duper fresh and I am pretty sure this is what they use to make the bread pudding. I'm not sure I remembered from last time how good this was or maybe it was just so good because it was so fresh. It was super delicious, not as sweet as a pastry but not totally savory either.

Here is the fruit platter they brought out:

I'm not embarrassed to admit I finished this whole entire thing. I was starving and it was so refreshing! Ok so maybe I am a LITTLE embarrassed. I have a bit of a sensitivity to pineapple so I can't eat too much of it or my mouth starts to itch. But I was able to handle the amount on this platter... it can be a little bit of a problem in supermarket cut fruit where they put a lot of pineapple and it isn't the ripest (the less ripe it is the more it bothers me... figure that out). The pineapple on this plate was on the riper side and sweet and juicy. The melon was ok... they are out of season so they were a little on the crunchy side (Which I don't mind in general in fruit, I often eat underripe peaches, but they have to be sweet and crispy and not mealy) and not the most meloney flavored melon ever but they were not tasteless or unripe tasting either. It was decent off season melon... not the "OMG THE JUICE IS DRIPPING DOWN MY CHIN" kind but nothing I'd complain about. The raspberries were raspberries. I appreciated that they were whole and not pulverized and I visually enjoyed the bits of red on the plate. I'm a designer, stuff like that tickles me.

Here is the breakfast platter they brought out:

I'm not sure I have to say what all is on it... as I'm pretty sure everyone can recognize the basics. This was the amount brought out for two of us. They have ginormous ones for larger tables, I saw one go by.

And here is my plate:

I ended up actually putting the biscuit back because I'm not all that into biscuits (except under sausage gravy and except as a method of making an already unhealthy mcmuffin sandwich even LESS healthy) and it didn't seem like a judicious use of stomach space, especially when I'd demolished all that fruit.
so now, my review of the food. As I said, the bread in the basket was delicious. Don't let that little piece on my plate fool you, I had more.

Next to that is the link sausage. Honestly, I kind of fell in love with the Disney breakfast sausage here and that love affair lasted the entire trip. It is pretty consistent across property and it was consistently good whenever I had it. It tastes like breakfast sausage but was perfectly crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside (pork fat rules) and I loved the flavor of it. Sausage is not usually my go-to but I went!

The bacon was crisp and not limp (sometimes a problem with Disney bacon) and a mini skillet FULL of bacon was quickly brought out by our waiter when we requested more.

The eggs were scrambled eggs but as you can maybe see were scrambled perfectly... not runny certainly and they were not dry. They came out hot and fresh and tasted like.... scrambled eggs. Which is fine by me since I like scrambled eggs. The one thing I wish I had was sriracha for my eggs... I LOVE sriracha on eggs and it would have seriously jazzed up the plain scrambled eggs. I might have to get myself one of those sriracha keychains.

The potatoes were the big surprise here. I am actually super fussy about my breakfast potatoes and don't really like home fries much. I like them crispy on the outside and even when I ask for well done here at home, they never come that way.... except the one time they came out like little charcoal briquettes and the waitress set the plate down, looked at it in full sunlight, and picked it back up again apologizing and saying she wouldn't serve those. Anyway these potatoes were PERFECT. I think they deep fried the little chunks of potato because I think that is the only way you can get that even golden brown crispy deliciousness on every exposed surface. I didn't remember them being THAT good last time but they were THAT good this time. Even the kid ate a big pile of them, and this is the kid who used to not eat delicious fries at the black dog bakery because there was, and I quote "too much potato" in the fries. Back in those days the picky kid had a very narrow window of acceptable ratio of crispy outside to soft inside for his fries ranging from a cape cod potato chip (yes I am specifying brand because if they were any thicker it was a no-go... even delicious house made potato chips!) to McDonalds size fries. I was shocked he ate these because it is the closest thing he has ever eaten to a real potato and not a fry.

And the waffles were disney waffles. I offered the kid the choice between stitch and Mickey. He picked stitch. We got a few more of those too. He ate about 3 waffles, a LOT of damn bacon and about half of the potatoes on the original platter.

And here are a few character shots with the kid. The character interaction was decent, but the kid was (and I was too) a little disappointed that Stitch didn't seem to notice that we were both wearing Stitch shirts and once the kid pointed it out, he did not seem to care that much. But the kid got autographs and hugs and a kiss on the head from Lilo and it was all good in his world. I just have to share a few of those pictures:

he seems happy to be getting a kiss from Lilo

and a high five from Stitch... and now that I think of it, this may be in response to the kid pointing out his shirt to Stitch... but he didn't notice mine! But I think I need to put on my big girl pants and deal.

and Pluto was playful as always.

On our next trip I wanted to do a character meal before we leave for the cruise and I thought maybe since we've never done it, we might do Chef Mickey's. Tonight the kid says to me "isn't it kind of loud there?" and I said yes, it can be loud. "isn't it kind of messy there?" and I said yes, it can be messy. "well why don't we just do 'Ohana again?" If I get a reservation at the Poly at 7 months I think we just might. No it is not gourmet, no it is not huge variety, but everything we got was just about as well prepared as it could have been and the service was good if not overly warm. And they bring us the food. and POG juice. And Stitch. Yeah, I kind of like the sound of doing 'Ohana again myself.

 

[CatNipRules]

Never be sorry, I am the queen rambler. And honestly there are days when I feel so alone and like such a failure (well less and less as he gets older and maybe I get older and care less about what others think!) so it's nice to know other parents have been there.

I LOVE brussels sprouts but they have to be made the right way... super caramelized on the outside and creamy on the inside. Crunchy is a no-go for me. blech. My boyfriend came up with a stove top potsticker method - put oil and halved sprouts in a huge skillet, add 1/2 inch of water and cover with a lid... steam until tender on the inside then remove the lid and boil the water off and let them start to get caramelized. Add some garlic (I use frozen in cubes, so easy) and cook until lovely and brown on the outside and creamy on the inside. finish with a hit of balsamic vinegar (I am now a balsamic snob, a local place carries 18 year balsamic in wine bottles that is THE BOMB). I bet you would like them that way. It does make your house smell like farts when you take the lid off and check for tenderness though!

Thank you so much for the recipe. I'm definitely going to try it!! You are definitely not alone. I never try to judge parents who's kids are picky. Because I've been there.

Is it bad that I laughed so hard at your description of the smell of the brussels? Smells like farts.


We loved Ohana's at breakfast. Our dinner was less than spectacular and we will not go back there. But breakfast? It was amazing. I loved the bread!! My son will actually eat the melons. Him and his friend are going on the trip with us and that's the one breakfast they want to do.Why? Stitch. It's both of their favorite characters.

I'm loving hearing about your eating trip. It's fun to live it through others.

 

[sibesx2]

Coming out of lurkdom to say I'm loving your dining review!

I had to comment on this "too much potato". My grandson (also on the spectrum) loves fast food and frozen fries and potato chips but will not eat any other form of potato. DD made homemade fries once and the grandson told her he didn't like them because there was too much potato in them. We love Ohana breakfast but he will not touch the potatoes.

 

[Vernie822]

I'm pretty much addicted to the POG juice... and I won't lie... the free-flowing POG is not that far down on the list of reasons I picked this place.

Free flowing POG is the best kind! I hate paying like $3.99 a glass when you're at a a la carte place, but I love when its free flowing at buffets. When we were in Hawaii we mixed it with Vodka and called it Pogka. It was amazing!!

I'm so glad you had a great experience! We did too when we went about a year ago. Looking back it's really nothing special, the food is almost just basic, but it's just done so well. There's something about starting your day off at the Poly that's just magical. And I agree, the potatoes were so perfect along with that sausage. I usually think buffet scrambled eggs can either be watery or powdery but these ones were not that at all!

 

[Lisa F]

Thank you so much for the recipe. I'm definitely going to try it!! You are definitely not alone. I never try to judge parents who's kids are picky. Because I've been there.

Is it bad that I laughed so hard at your description of the smell of the brussels? Smells like farts.


We loved Ohana's at breakfast. Our dinner was less than spectacular and we will not go back there. But breakfast? It was amazing. I loved the bread!! My son will actually eat the melons. Him and his friend are going on the trip with us and that's the one breakfast they want to do.Why? Stitch. It's both of their favorite characters.

I'm loving hearing about your eating trip. It's fun to live it through others.

We had a fantastic dinner there as well... review on that to come later!

Yes, of course STITCH is the real reason for going. I think he might be my all time favorite disney character!

Coming out of lurkdom to say I'm loving your dining review!

I had to comment on this "too much potato". My grandson (also on the spectrum) loves fast food and frozen fries and potato chips but will not eat any other form of potato. DD made homemade fries once and the grandson told her he didn't like them because there was too much potato in them. We love Ohana breakfast but he will not touch the potatoes.

haha well I guess I am not the only one. There is hope, my child shocked me by packing away a bunch of those potatoes.

Free flowing POG is the best kind! I hate paying like $3.99 a glass when you're at a a la carte place, but I love when its free flowing at buffets. When we were in Hawaii we mixed it with Vodka and called it Pogka. It was amazing!!

I'm so glad you had a great experience! We did too when we went about a year ago. Looking back it's really nothing special, the food is almost just basic, but it's just done so well. There's something about starting your day off at the Poly that's just magical. And I agree, the potatoes were so perfect along with that sausage. I usually think buffet scrambled eggs can either be watery or powdery but these ones were not that at all!

I know, right? I could use some now. I don't drink soda or juice or anything like that at home... just water and the occasional cup of coffee (not counting occasional grownup beverages). The kid gets no juice at home either. So juice is a huge treat on vacation! I love the Pogka!!!!!!!

yup, basic food done well. Sometimes that is what hits the spot when you've been eating fancy for a few days!

 

[TempleOT]

Oh my gosh I need to know where you got your son's t-shirt with stitch and pikachu on it??? My son would absolutely love that!

 

[Lisa F]

Oh my gosh I need to know where you got your son's t-shirt with stitch and pikachu on it??? My son would absolutely love that!

https://www.teepublic.com/kids-t-shirt/217749-pikachu-and-stitch

I ordered a bunch of fun disney tshirts from there before my trip! The kids run a little narrow and long.

 

[TempleOT]

Thanks so much!!

 

[quandrea]

We were at Ohana on MOnday and it was wonderful. I was on my own with my three little ones. Dh was flying in later in the day. Anyway it was so nice sitting and just enjoying. I ASKed for Kona pressed coffee a they brought it. It was delucious. WE ARE headed to cape May tomorrow and part of me wishes we were going back to Ohana.

 

[kastoney]

'Ohana looks awesome. Not sure why we've never eat there, as Casey would totally eat up Lilo and Stitch

 

[Mikka]

I'm 29, and I need that Pikachu and Stitch shirt. So much. This food report is amazing: it's really impressive how you find places with stuff your son can enjoy but that still has foodie stuff for you! Also, you've made me want to do Ohana breakfast. I love Stitch, and that bread l looks great!

 

[FrancoFun]

https://www.teepublic.com/kids-t-shirt/217749-pikachu-and-stitch

I ordered a bunch of fun disney tshirts from there before my trip! The kids run a little narrow and long.

Amazing! Thanks for the link!

We're doing 'Ohana dinner on our arrival day in July. But now I want to do breakfast too. I should stop reading your dining report, or I'll need a 14 day vacation instead of the 7 days we have.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Just joined in reading your report!! Highly detailed food reviews, and seems like an awesome Mom-Son time!

 

[Lisa F]

Thanks so much!!

you're welcome!

We were at Ohana on MOnday and it was wonderful. I was on my own with my three little ones. Dh was flying in later in the day. Anyway it was so nice sitting and just enjoying. I ASKed for Kona pressed coffee a they brought it. It was delucious. WE ARE headed to cape May tomorrow and part of me wishes we were going back to Ohana.

OH yes, one parent outnumbered 3:1 with kids, 'Ohana is a GREAT choice. A buffet would be SO stressful! I had no idea that they would bring you kona pressed coffee though, next time I'm going to have to ask for that!!! Did you go to Cape May dinner or breakfast? love to hear about either!

'Ohana looks awesome. Not sure why we've never eat there, as Casey would totally eat up Lilo and Stitch

It is just basic breakfast done well. of course if it is not done well, it ruins the whole thing. Since it is AYCTE I'd just ask for more of whatever isn't perfect. I have read meh reviews but both of our times there our skillets came out perfect!

I'm 29, and I need that Pikachu and Stitch shirt. So much. This food report is amazing: it's really impressive how you find places with stuff your son can enjoy but that still has foodie stuff for you! Also, you've made me want to do Ohana breakfast. I love Stitch, and that bread l looks great!

Thank you Yes I did spend a lot of time looking over menus and trying to think of creative ways to mix and match things together so he'd have an enjoyable meal and so I could too. I never went into any place without a plan. Maybe some people think I am nuts and prefer to figure out what they feel like that day but I pretty much knew what I wanted to order from each place at any given meal and often what the kid would have, although at some places he had a choice between a few items. Disney is definitely willing to go above and beyond at putting together meals he would enjoy!

In case it wasn't obvious if you scroll down they have the shirt in adult sizes and also long sleeve, hoodies etc. I just linked to the kid one because someone asked specifically for a child.

Amazing! Thanks for the link!

We're doing 'Ohana dinner on our arrival day in July. But now I want to do breakfast too. I should stop reading your dining report, or I'll need a 14 day vacation instead of the 7 days we have.

I know, it is a struggle. It was so hard to narrow down our choices. Le Cellier, La Hacienda, Cape May dinner, Cape May breakfast, BoG dinner and BoG lunch, the new Flying Fish, Raglan Road and Homecoming Kitchen all ended up on the cutting room floor for one reason or another. You can't do it all! Honestly even if I had 2 weeks I'm not sure I could keep up that pace of eating for that long either!

Just joined in reading your report!! Highly detailed food reviews, and seems like an awesome Mom-Son time!

It was wonderful mom-son time. We turn all of the rules on their head... you MUST stay up late, you MUST have ice cream every day etcetc. It is a great time to just enjoy each other without any outside pressures. I have always been good at planning my vacations but also good at making adjustments on the fly when I need to so while a Disney vacation can be stressful for many, it is not for us at all... from his perspective everything flows smoothly and I love the planning!

 

[quandrea]

you're welcome!


OH yes, one parent outnumbered 3:1 with kids, 'Ohana is a GREAT choice. A buffet would be SO stressful! I had no idea that they would bring you kona pressed coffee though, next time I'm going to have to ask for that!!! Did you go to Cape May dinner or breakfast? love to hear about either!


It is just basic breakfast done well. of course if it is not done well, it ruins the whole thing. Since it is AYCTE I'd just ask for more of whatever isn't perfect. I have read meh reviews but both of our times there our skillets came out perfect!



Thank you Yes I did spend a lot of time looking over menus and trying to think of creative ways to mix and match things together so he'd have an enjoyable meal and so I could too. I never went into any place without a plan. Maybe some people think I am nuts and prefer to figure out what they feel like that day but I pretty much knew what I wanted to order from each place at any given meal and often what the kid would have, although at some places he had a choice between a few items. Disney is definitely willing to go above and beyond at putting together meals he would enjoy!

In case it wasn't obvious if you scroll down they have the shirt in adult sizes and also long sleeve, hoodies etc. I just linked to the kid one because someone asked specifically for a child.



I know, it is a struggle. It was so hard to narrow down our choices. Le Cellier, La Hacienda, Cape May dinner, Cape May breakfast, BoG dinner and BoG lunch, the new Flying Fish, Raglan Road and Homecoming Kitchen all ended up on the cutting room floor for one reason or another. You can't do it all! Honestly even if I had 2 weeks I'm not sure I could keep up that pace of eating for that long either!



It was wonderful mom-son time. We turn all of the rules on their head... you MUST stay up late, you MUST have ice cream every day etcetc. It is a great time to just enjoy each other without any outside pressures. I have always been good at planning my vacations but also good at making adjustments on the fly when I need to so while a Disney vacation can be stressful for many, it is not for us at all... from his perspective everything flows smoothly and I love the planning!

We did Cape May breakfast. We love brunch and thus did a secon breakfast once dh joined us. It too was wonderful. The kids ate their weight in capers, if you can believe it. Capers are those salty, sour green things used to garnish smoked salmon. They did great with dd's allergies. They also had pog juice much to my oldest daughter's delight.

 

[FrancoFun]

I know, it is a struggle. It was so hard to narrow down our choices. Le Cellier, La Hacienda, Cape May dinner, Cape May breakfast, BoG dinner and BoG lunch, the new Flying Fish, Raglan Road and Homecoming Kitchen all ended up on the cutting room floor for one reason or another. You can't do it all! Honestly even if I had 2 weeks I'm not sure I could keep up that pace of eating for that long either!

It's definitely difficult to choose. What's awesome is that there are so many different choices that there is something for everyone. For instance, no one in my family has any interest in BoG, but I know it's a coveted ADR. We're excited about Raglan Road as my son is an Irish Dancer.

 

[ariane37]

We ate at 'Ohana for breakfast years ago but for some reason it looks like you had a bigger variety of food than we did! Glad you enjoyed It's a shame that's the only place you can meet Lilo. Even though she isn't the most popular of characters I think there are enough kids who know her. I can remember when she met with Stitch in AK......
TeePublic is a great site isn't it? I ordered myself a couple shirts for my trip last Nov. and I'd like to get a few more. Actually I'd like to get a ton more but I have to draw the line somewhere lol.

 

[ljcrochet]

I'm enjoying your reviews.

 

[Lisa F]

DAY 5: Disney Springs, H&V Minnie's Holiday Dine w/F! package

So again if you'll indulge me in a couple of trip report-y paragraphs and non food photos to round out my reliving of my Disney experience, I'd appreciate it

We spent the day at Disney Springs. I have to say, I've never been much of a Downtown Disney person and I am even LESS a Downtown Disney person with the changes. We parked in the lime garage and it just felt so big and outdoor mall-like rather than quaint and Disney like to me. But we went over to the marketplace, which has everything I wanted to go to it felt familiar and was fine. This was also (luckily) the only day of our trip that it actually rained.

My MUST-do list for DS was: the christmas shop (I always get a personalized ornament to commemorate my trips), Santa (since we wouldn't have a chance to see Santa with how compressed the holiday season was for me given the vacation in the middle of it) and the Lego store. As it turned out, standing on line at the christmas shop for personalization was the longest line we stood in the entire trip. It took about 45 minutes! insane. During that time the skies opened up and it absolutely poured so I guess if it was going to pour and if we were going to be in line for that long, it was not a bad time for either of those things to happen. The kiddo got pretty bored and end up laying down in a pile of mickey plush. Before telling him not to do that, I grabbed a quick picture because he was so cute:

after that he had a ton of fun building and racing his lego car at the lego store:

after we did the legos I realized the pager we got for Santa never went off. We walked back over there and I asked about it and she said they lost power while it was pouring and it reset the pagers but we could go in and see him right now. There was a short wait of a couple of kids ahead of us. This is one of my favorite pictures from Santa... my kid always has the funniest expressions when seeing Santa.

Having accomplished all of my goals, we left and went back to the room for a bit to prepare for our evening at Hollywood Studios, which had exactly 3 things on the agenda: Dinner at H&V with F! package, Toy Story Midway Mania FP+ and F!. This was supposedly our down day but honestly it did not feel like much of a down day because we spent all day on our feet standing around at DS, which was exhausting. But we didn't have a whole lot planned for HS either so it worked out ok I guess. I find standing in one spot is harder on my feet and legs than just walking around.

We checked in at about 4:15 for our ADR and didn't wait too long, I think we were seated RIGHT at 4:30. We waited in a short line to see Santa Goofy and right when it was our turn to see him, a child with special needs was inserted into the line. It was obvious this child's needs way exceeded those of kiddo, but it was a tough shift for kiddo to make as well as he expected to be next and had been waiting patiently only to be told we could not see Santa Goofy. They did give us a card that indicated we hadn't seen Santa Goofy yet, and an apologetic CM offered to come over and get us when there was a lull in the line so we didn't have to wait again. I pointed out to kiddo that the other child was wearing earmuffs and reminded him how some things are very tough for him and suggested that maybe waiting for Santa Goofy was even more difficult for that child than for him and that Disney probably knew how far he had come at being a super flexible thinker and knew he would not mind letting that little boy have a turn first. Appealing to my child's sense of protectiveness toward other kids almost always works and he got past it quickly and we were able to be shown to our table. I think the fact that he was pretty hungry as we hadn't eaten since breakfast was not helping either.

Right after we got our food we were able to go see Santa Goofy but it was pretty disorganized and rushed, like they were trying to fit us in between other people, and I didn't really care for that part of it. We left our food getting cold on the table while we rushed up and I forgot that I wanted to get a picture with both of us until we started to turn and walk away and they refused to let us BOTH take a photo with Santa Goofy because we had "already had our turn" when I realized it about 3 steps away and there wasn't even anyone else in line yet. I decided not to fight that battle but I felt kind of meh about the whole Santa Goofy thing and how it was handled. I would have thought after my child was asked to be flexible for someone else that they would not be quite so strict about their rules about no one seeing Santa Goofy twice, especially since I was not really focused on that since we had JUST gotten our food when we were herded up there, but whatever. Kiddo seemed to not care that much and I was tired after standing on my feet all day at DS so I decided not to make a fuss about it.

That said, I will say that the rest of the meal was just fine. I didn't let it ruin my mood and kiddo was starving and wanted to get back to his food anyway and promptly forgot about it. This is one meal I REALLY agonized over. The reviews are really ALL over the place, from horrible food to really delicious food and everything in between. To be honest, if it were just me, I would have picked Mama Melrose with F! package... it is an old favorite of mine that I haven't been to in ages and I just LOVE the atmosphere here. I went back and forth many times about which one I should book and ultimately decided on H&V for the following reasons: 1) Characters in Christmas costumes 2) Meal I would be least likely to pay for OOP at another time of year due to how expensive it is with F! package 3) the mama melrose menu is not that great for kiddo and I did not want him ending up eating plain pasta, and knew he'd have a lot more variety at H&V. So we ended up at H&V. I'm not sure that I've ever been there before due to my aforementioned lack of enthusiasm for dinner buffets before having a picky kid so it was another first for me as well, like Biergarten.

The Santa Goofy kerfluffle aside, I will say that my overall impression of H&V is this: The food was decent. I would say it was better than "just ok" but not "amazing" as others have reported. It was definitely not "Hollywood & Vile" but as in all buffets, some items were better than others. I had also read that character interaction was really great there, but I take those kinds of reviews with a grain of salt because I feel like that is highly dependent on... um... how the particular character is feeling that day (kiddo sometimes reads over my shoulder, lol) but I will say that the character interaction was much longer and more playful here than any other character meal we went to. I wondered if that was because it kind of felt like the place was half empty half the time. The characters fooled around with each other, fooled around with kids, came around multiple times and spent quite a bit of time with kiddo. Not sure what was up with the Santa Goofy security force out front because the characters inside were really fantastic.

So onto the food. While at every other place we were given a choice of a specialty non-alcoholic beverage (not in a souvenir cup or with lights or anything though) without refills or a soft drink WITH refills as part of the DDP, at H&V it was soft drinks, milk or juice ONLY. They did have that light pomegranate lemonade that I've read about... again some people like it, some hate it. I asked for that for my beverage and I actually liked it quite a lot. If I ever had the chance to actually use my refillable mug on a regular basis, this would be a great option for me.

The kid had... you guessed it... apple juice. I believe it was given to him in the same huge glass.

Here is the kid's first plate:

starting at 12 o'clock and going clockwise he had: apricot roasted pork, bbq meatball, mac and cheese from the kid's buffet, chicken nuggets, carved turkey, marinated flank steak and tater tots and corn dog nuggets in the middle.

I know it says "apricot roasted pork" but I think that it was stuffed with alternating apricots and prunes or something. This piece had a prune. It didn't matter what it had as the kid wasn't going to eat it but he did eat the pork when the offending dried fruit was removed. He ate everything on this plate except for the BBQ meatball, which I suggested he try and he agreed to at the buffet but then thought better of when he got it back to the table, which is fine. I did carefully select a piece of steak without much chimichurri on it though.

Here is my first plate:

In the bowl is butternut squash soup. From 12 o'clock and going clockwise is pear and pomegranate salad, a little piece of salmon, mashed potatoes, apricot roasted pork, marinated flank steak, I think the pasta stuff is called shrimp alfredo, and in the middle is a pumpkin ravioli with creamy tomato sauce.

The butternut squash soup was just ok. I normally love butternut squash soup and it's something that I make at home but it was a little sweeter and thicker than I prefer it so maybe that is why. My first experience with butternut squash soup in my life was years and years ago at Wolfgang Puck Express and I make a version of his recipe at home. It could have also been that I was grumpy about Santa Goofy though, or maybe just was not in the mood for it because it honestly didn't seem THAT far off from what I usually like Maybe I just was not in the mood for soup.

The pear and pomegranate salad was good. I do not like fennel so I left it behind and the fennel did not permeate the rest of the salad. The arugula was fresh and slightly peppery, the pear was crispy and sliced very thin, the pomegranate was fresh and not slimy and the dressing was very light (the argulua was dressed with a light vinaigrette before the other stuff was placed on top). I am not embarrassed to admit that I hunted for more pear and pomegranate to better balance the salad on my plate because as presented it is mostly arugula. It was good and a very holiday salad.

The salmon was good... not as good as the Biergarten poached salmon because this one was roasted, but it was decent. I do not like rare salmon (even though that's the way it is "supposed" to be) so buffet salmon, especially with a bit of sauce, is usually ok for me. It was well done (temperature) but not dried out and I believe it had some kind of olive tapenade on it even though I can't find a reference to what is on it anywhere on the web and I did not take any photos of the buffet.

The garlic mashed potatoes were delicious, as you'd expect. They were buttery and creamy and garlicky and had chunks of red potato in them and french fried onions sprinkled on top, which were mushy by the time I ate them so I think I skipped them on my second plate... there was no texture contrast with them and they looked better than they tasted.

The apricot pork was quite good. Again, as most buffet meats are, this was cooked well done but was that sweet spot between "well done" and "shoe leather." I prefer my pork a bit more rare actually and didn't find that this had much seasoning at all.

The flank steak was also just ok. Not bad, not great. At least it was not overdone though.

What looks like "seafood mac and cheese" was not actually labeled as such when I went. I believe it was called "shrimp alfredo." I believe this is a re-labeling of the old shrimp and lobster mac and cheese except they removed the lobster and called it alfredo. Unlike the bright golden mac and cheese on the kid menu, this had a lighter yellow cheese sauce. It was not an alfredo sauce no matter what it was labeled and it had the teeny tiny salad shrimp in it. This was also decent though, not for the seafood content though... it was just a decent slightly more grownup mac and cheese. The shrimp were so tiny and there were so few of them it didn't really impact the flavor one way or the other, it was almost like a shrimp fell into it from the neighboring dish or something.

Right in the middle is the pumpkin ravioli with tomato cream sauce. In previous reviews I have read this was not actually a ravioli but was rather a gnocci. When I had it, it was definitely a ravioli, with a pumpkin and ricotta filling that was delicious and also a tomato cream sauce that was really delicious. It was nicely balanced between tomato and cream and seasoned well but quite thick and you had to go hunting in the serving dish to find enough for your ravioli, which I did. This was my favorite bite of the whole buffet.

For the kid's second plate, I actually let him go up to the buffet himself. Because he wanted to and because I try to encourage his independent streak when it shows itself. Also because the kid's buffet hurt my back to lean down into. He did ok but there was a big line for the kid's buffet and I ended up circling back over there to see if he needed help by the time he got up there, but he was doing just fine and was very careful and deliberate about serving himself. Another, older kid was behind him getting very impatient too. Back in the days when I had no kids and knew everything about parenting, I would have been horrified at how rude this kid's tone was... he complained very loudly to his mom that people were "in his way" and he was practically crawling up my butt and she was desperately trying to get him to lower his voice and change his tone a bit and back off, but he seemed like he was getting more agitated. Now that I have a kid on the spectrum I recognized both the tone and the manner and I turned around and said "well be done in just a minute, and then it's your turn buddy." He changed his tone immediately and said "oh ok, thank you" and his mother looked so relieved, I really felt for her. I only relay this little story in case you run into some kid at disney who looks big enough and old enough to know better but who has an impatient and apparently very rude tone... I think it more likely that the kid is on the spectrum and has issues with tone, volume and waiting patiently and a little kindness goes a very long way. I know for my kid, the unknown of how long something was going to take created a lot of anxiety and I guess for this kid too, hearing it was his turn next seemed to do the trick in calming him down. I know it has for me in the past when I was mortified by something my kid was doing, knowing he looks completely normal except for his behavior and seeing the mix of horrified stares and people awkwardly looking away and it felt good to help this poor mom de-escalate the moment for her kiddo. When my son was first diagnosed it made me so sad that his life would be more difficult for him, but I think it has truly made BOTH of us much more empathetic toward other people.

Anyway, sorry for that preachy little paragraph. Here is the kiddo's self-composed second plate. I think he was kind of relieved to hit the kid food after all of the steaks and goat cheese ravioli and all that stuff...which he did great with, but sometimes you just want a chicken nugget and some mac and cheese!

tater tots, chicken nugget, corn dog nuggets, mac and cheese. He had done his duty and tried a few things on the first round so I was happy to just let him have what he wanted. He finished what he took.

as always from 12 o'clock and clockwise: mashed potatoes, "shrimp alfredo", pumpkin ravioli with tomato cream sauce, salmon, one chicken nugget and two fried shrimp with tartar sauce.

the mashed potatoes were yummy again. The neither shrimp nor alfredo "shrimp alfredo" was good on the second serving too. The pumpkin ravioli was still very very good, with extra creamy tomato sauce scooped on top. The salmon was very dried out this time - I took a thicker end piece hoping it would not be but it turned out that that thicker end piece was actually a paper thin piece folded in two and it was very dry. I didn't eat it this time. The chicken nugget was amazeballs as disney chicken nuggets are. The fried shrimp was delicious too... I LOVE fried shrimp and I had missed out on it during my first round entirely.

In between dinner and dessert, I witnessed the second most horrifying thing I witnessed at WDW. It was a father having a complete meltdown at his son at the dinner table. I have no idea what this kid did and having lost my crap a time or two, I try very hard to not judge other parents... but if that had been my husband there would have been a huge brawl right there in the restaurant. I could not believe the humiliating and horrible things he was saying to his son, telling him he was an ungrateful brat and threatening to never feed him again... I can only imagine that the kid had complained about the food or something... the kid was sobbing and begging forgiveness, the mother was attempting to comfort him, the father was liberally dropping the f-bomb and slamming things around calling the kid all kinds of nasty names. My kid had his back to the mess and when he is in a place with a lot of noise like that, the whole background blends together and he is oblivious... but I got the full show even trying to ignore it.

Anyway in an attempt to get away from the scene we went up and got dessert. Broken record, I am not much of a dessert person but the one thing I DO like about buffets are the little mini desserts because they generally scratch my two bite sweet tooth itch.

Here is the kid's dessert plate:

The kid tends to be fairly conservative when it comes to dessert. He got I think what looked like a donut hole except I think it was some dense chocolatey minty truffle thing that he did not like... a chocolate chip cookie and a red velvet cupcake with santa mickey ears. he liked the cookie and the cupcake. He actually self regulates very well when it comes to dessert and doesn't really overdo it... he will actually leave half a dessert most of the time, so I usually just set him loose. He was tickled that the decoration on the cupcake matched his santa mickey ears:

Here is my dessert plate:

I got a pecan tart, an eggnog cheesecake and some soft serve ice cream with both caramel and chocolate sauce. I took one bite of the eggnog cheesecake and it was just too sweet for me. the pecan tart though was probably my second favorite bite of dessert of the whole trip (the bavarian cheesecake being #1). I don't like white chocolate so I removed the decorations. The pecan tart was in a crunchy cookie shell (I do not like pie crust) and was the perfect little 4 bites of pecan pie, especially served with ice cream. The soft serve was soft serve, it was fine but not life changing. the kid helped me eat this too.

And here are a couple of character shots. As I said earlier, I DID find the character interaction to be really quite good here. Here is a shot of my child having a long "conversation" with Daisy about pokemon after she noticed pikachu on this shirt. I could not believe how communicative she was in pantomime. It was a highlight of the meal and one of the highlights of the whole trip:

I have no clue what is up with the funky camera angle except I was rushing to capture a moment, lol. It was a true bit of magic and more than made up for the rushed Santa Goofy interaction.

and a nice composed family shot taken by @areno79, who happened to be eating there at the same time:

And just to round out the review, here is a shot from Fantasmic! The seats are GREAT with the dinner package, but I am pretty sure that is known far and wide. here is Mickey vanquishing Maleficent as dragon:

So in summary, I am as much on the fence about ever doing this again as I was when it was a complete unknown. The positives were the characters in ADORABLE christmas costumes, the stellar character interaction and the amazing seats for Fantasmic. The negatives are the price (it's a great value on DDP and I would much more likely do it again on DDP than I would OOP), the food... which was just fine and tasty but really the best tasting things were all things you can get at counter service as well... so again on DDP I'd be more fine with this, but I might have a hard time swallowing the $56 price tag OOP for fried shrimp and starchy sides. The more "expensive" foods like salmon and other meats were just so-so and I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't get a delicious specialty lemonade as my beverage without paying extra. Also, I have found that I MUCH prefer the breakfast character meals. For one, I LOVE basic breakfast food and the with the lower price I am not thinking at all about value, I just eat what I feel like. Also I have found the atmosphere to be less tense. It is the morning, kids are fresh and excited, adults have not reached the point in the day when they have had ENOUGH and no one is tired and cranky yet. I generally don't pay attention to what is going on around me but sometimes people make it harder to ignore than others. The problem with H&V is there is no breakfast option with the Fab 5. I think if I did the F! package again I'd want to do Mama Melrose but the kiddo LOVED this meal, had a great time, enjoyed his kid food and character interaction... so chances are if he begged me I'd do it again for him... but probably only during either christmas or halloween when there are the truly special character costumes, and only on the DDP. If it was during the summer and the kid wanted the beach theme I'd go to cape may breakfast. So not sure ultimately how helpful that review will be for anyone. I was not the horror show some people have stated it is (except for some of the other guests) but honestly if it were priced closer to $40 than $60 it would be more worth it to me. It's a generic Disney buffet. You will not go away hungry or dissatisfied if your expectations are properly set (and ours were). I liked almost everything I ate and sometimes it is a relief in the middle of the fancy food to just have some basic fried stuff and mashed potatoes. I'm just not super eager to return.

 

[Lisa F]

We did Cape May breakfast. We love brunch and thus did a secon breakfast once dh joined us. It too was wonderful. The kids ate their weight in capers, if you can believe it. Capers are those salty, sour green things used to garnish smoked salmon. They did great with dd's allergies. They also had pog juice much to my oldest daughter's delight.

They had the POG juice there??????? Now I am sad I missed it! You will see why later, but it might be on my list for next time. I know what capers are, I am a lox bagel fiend

It's definitely difficult to choose. What's awesome is that there are so many different choices that there is something for everyone. For instance, no one in my family has any interest in BoG, but I know it's a coveted ADR. We're excited about Raglan Road as my son is an Irish Dancer.

It's true that there are so many different choices but what if 90% of them appeal? lol. I have NEVER been to Raglan Road either but it seems like it would be a lot of fun. it is on the bucket list even if it never makes it to the short list (yet)

We ate at 'Ohana for breakfast years ago but for some reason it looks like you had a bigger variety of food than we did! Glad you enjoyed It's a shame that's the only place you can meet Lilo. Even though she isn't the most popular of characters I think there are enough kids who know her. I can remember when she met with Stitch in AK......
TeePublic is a great site isn't it? I ordered myself a couple shirts for my trip last Nov. and I'd like to get a few more. Actually I'd like to get a ton more but I have to draw the line somewhere lol.

I think they keep moving stuff around. It seems like scrambled eggs, bacon, mickey waffles and some kind of potatoes are a staple but for the rest it seems like it's a moving target. Lilo's interaction is always very subdued and gentle... I kind of wish she'd be a bit more mischievous like stitch the way she is in the movie... she's sort of like lilo all grown up.

I'm enjoying your reviews.

thanks! I am enjoy reliving the memories