H&V, Mama Melrose or Tusker House

[Afabena]

Looking for opinions for those of you who have done the Fantasmic dining package at Hollywood & Vine or Mama Melrose in HS, or the Rivers of Light Dining package at Tusker House in AK. How was the food? Atmosphere? The show?

If we did one of these packages we would most likely have dinner there and then head over to the viewing space for Fantasmic or Rivers of Light. I originally thought about doing one of the dessert parties, but it doesn't look like you can use your dining plan credits, and it seem like a lot of them are standing only. I like the idea of being able to sit while viewing and still be able to use the dining credits. There will be 6 of us: myself, DH, DS6, DD6 and my parents who are pushing 70.

 

[Dakota731]

We really enjoyed Hollywood and Vine and the characters were great. None in our great enjoyed any of the food at Tusker House and we were a large group of adventurous eaters. We are trying Mama Melrose this trip!

 

[goofyintoronto]

My experience with the pp is total opposite. Tusker House has pretty good food. I prefer breakfast over lunch/dinner, its delish. But many posters love lunch/dinner. And the characters are adorable. I'd definitely eat here over H&V. Without a doubt.

If you want to avoid a buffet, as getting up constantly can be a pain because you risk missing characters....(once you miss them, its a long wait for them to return back to your table)...in this case, i'd go with MM. Its nice to chill out and be waited on at disney world.

EDIT: The real question is, do you want to see ROL or Fantasmic??? im (once again) in the minority here as I prefer ROL over Fantasmic. I just didnt like Fantasmic at all. Did nothing for me. I thought ROL was very beautiful though. To each their own. Given a choice, i'd do Tusker and ROL.

 

[KenHutch]

Tusker House is a sentimental favorite we have never had a bad meal there and if you are there for characters its easy to plan on when you can get food. In our case Mama Melrose was hit or miss. Half the people in my group of 8 raved about the food the other 4 (including me) was meh about the food and the service was fairly poor.

 

[KTR]

I liked Tusker House just fine, but Mama Melrose was one of my favorite meals on property last trip. We did the Fantasmic dining package and I loved the food and not having to worry about seating at Fantasmic. It’s not a character meal like the other two, but I thought the food was a lot better and the meal more relaxing.

 

[DISNEY1975]

We did H&V dinner (Minnies Springtime Dining) with Fastamic and Tusker House late lunch with ROL.

I liked best....

Fantasmic over ROL
Food at Tusker House over H&V
Characters at H&V over TH.

So I guess its about 50/50 for me with food being 50% of the package.

Ive never been to Mama Melrose. Went to Tony's once and now Im turned off on all "Italian" at Disney World! I really should try though because I never tried Boma breakfast until recently, thinking it would be the same as TH breakfast but I was soooo wrong. Now Boma is a must every trip.

 

[MarkinNM]

Tusker is by far the best choice of the list, we loved it, both the food and character interaction, MM was also good, big hearty meal, never done H&V and a bit hesitant as the reviews are not very good.....

 

[PartOfYourWDWorld]

Tusker House is my favorite buffet on preperty, so I vote that for sure!

 

[MichaelWill&Megan'sMom]

Mama Melrose is great! The food is fantastic - it is a restaurant that we try to limit a lot of food earlier in the day because the quantity you receive is so massive! We go here every year for the fantasmic package.

 

[nkereina]

We think Tusker House is one of the best themed restaurants on property. But I agree with PP that we prefer breakfast there over lunch/dinner. Mama Melrose is decent but its basic Italian - and there are MANY Italian restaurants at WDW. So, I might opt for Hollywood & Vine. We enjoy it there too.

 

[garris3404]

We prefer Fantasmic over ROL by far. But we do like Tusker House, because of the food and character interaction. For Fantasmic, we always choose (and are very happy with) MM.

 

[FTPIxieDust]

We did Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package and at 43/pp felt it was not worth the cost nor the seats. Unless everyone ordered steak, which was good, the other entrees were much less expensive to order a la carte. AND we had no choice of dessert, which was 3 tiny samplers, only one of which anyone liked. We could have had a smaller bill and ordered off the menu a la carte. Also, they don’t accept AP discount only because it was a ticket package, so there’s goes another 10%. I would never do it again. One person in our party was also vomiting within 3-4 hours after eating there.

LOVE Tusker House, much better value. ROL package is ok. Food options are way better.

 

[Samantha Morgan]

Mama Melrose was one of the best meals I’ve ever had anywhere. Delicious.

 

[rg35]

We've been to all three.

Tusker house buffet was pretty good, but I don't think it's a must-do unless you want character interaction.
H&V we did for character lunch a few years ago. It was fine - really the basics of buffet there.
Mama Melrose we did for the fantasmic dining package and it was way better than I thought it would be. I feel like people sleep on MM because nobody really talks about it, but it may have been one of our biggest surprise "this is really good" meals on our last trip.

 

[Afabena]

thanks for all of the feedback! I have a few weeks before our 180 days, so still lots to think about. I’m not so concerned with a character meal because we are going to try and book Chef Mickeys as well as CRT and possibly a PPO at Garden Grill. If we had another character meal it would be a bonus for my 2 kids but not a must. I wonder if the Fantasmic package would be a safer bet with SWGE opening.

 

[glocon]

MM and get the saltimbocca!

 

[Trinity88]

Done all 3. Tusker is my favourite restaurant for breakfast, it's a must do every trip! We also quite like MM, have done it a few times and have always been happy with the food. H&V is just ok for me. I know some hate it, I don't, but I don't think it's worth the cost/credit.

 

[CartyGirls]

Another vote for Tusker House. We enjoy it every trip. H&V is always so-so for us and not memorable. We are skipping on our next trip. And MM has never served me a bad meal. Always tasty. And good apps if you do the Fantasmic pkg.

 

[Afabena]

Wow, thank you! If we did MM with the Fantasmic package is it a fixed menu? Or would they let us share if we did the package? I know Tusker is a buffet so no sharing credits there. I’m trying to also maximize DDP credits and I don’t see us really taking any food with us if there are leftovers. I will probably need to put this to a vote with my parents and husband.

 

[jojo1212]

We’ve done all three, and Tusker House is our favorite by far! Mama Melrose way okay. I enjoyed it, but not everyone in my party liked it as much as I did. Hollywood and Vine was okay. Just okay. The food and atmosphere at Tusker are part of what make it so great, IMO.