Since Gillespiedisney is asking about the Hollywood and Vine character dining experience I thought I would tell everyone about our family trip there with my Niece, Nephew and 76 year old father.
It was the first family trip together and my sister in law, who has only been once before to WDW, wanted to plan as many character meals as she could. My family, who goes so many times that Walt is thinking of putting out a restraining order against us, were being good sports and letting SIL pick ALL the restaurants.
So we found ourselves at Hollywood and Vine for lunch with Handy Manny and a bunch of other characters of which I have no idea who they are. My Niece and Nephew were extremely excited at the prospect of meeting their TV heroes but all that paled in comparison to my Dad who had never met a buffet that he didn't love. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and I swore I could hear him swoon as he laid eyes on the spread. We had taken him to the Disney Dining experience of his dreams!
Somewhere along the line when he was a kid somebody had drilled into my Dad's head that he has to chew each bite 50 million times. This makes him a very slow eater. Verrrry Slooooooooooow..... Sloooower, slowerrrrr, sloooooooooooooowerrrrrrrr.
As a result, it took so long for my Dad to finish eating that Handy Manny and his crew made it to our table 4 times. (4 TIMES!!) By that time even my Niece and Nephew were sick of them. In an effort to tear my Dad away from his food I would sic the characters on him for Cell phone photo opportunities but even that would not deter my Dad from his beloved plate of buffet bonanza! If my blurry cell phone pictures would have come out I would have captured my Dad in mid chew, with cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk, and Sofia the First doing the old character grip and grin on his shoulder.
Finally enough time had passed that it was time to get the kids (and Dad!) back to the room for a much needed nap. We tore my reluctant Dad away from the buffet with a promise that if he didn't pout we would drop him off at a Golden Corral restaurant after we got home. (Okay, so that was a lie, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do to rip the seniors away from their buffets!)
Some nights I wake up in a cold sweat dreaming of being trapped at Hollywood and Vine with Jake and Handy Manny and Sophia the First and their enormously large heads chasing me around the room as my Dad chews and chews ever more slowly. I silently swear that I will never again allow my sister in law to plan ALL the dining reservations and I lay awake in bed until dawn's first light forces me out of the bed and into a cold cruel world. The next time you find yourself passing an all you can eat buffet think of my Dad and all the other toothless wonders, gnawing and gnawing away for all of eternity or at least until they get their coupon's worth.
~NM
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