We had a fun and relaxing day at Hollywood Studios. No running around and no rides, just dinner and a few shows. Since we didn’t do anything for our anniversary, we booked the Fantasmic Dining Package for the Brown Derby.
The Brown Derby is one of Disney’s “Signature” restaurants and is a replica of the original Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant.
Just like the original, the walls are full of caricatures of famous people. I think I can name all but one or two. My favorites are Rin Tin Tin and Carol Channing with those big lips!
The Brown Derby is one of Disney’s fancier restaurants, and I find it amusing that the wait staff are costumed in tuxedos while its sweaty patrons wear shorts, t-shirts and Mickey Ears.
The menu at the Brown Derby is not very large, and may not be for people who consider themselves picky eaters. The food is considered gourmet, but the menu descriptions can be a little bit deceiving.
For an appetizer, we had their “Famous Cobb Salad.” I don’t normally even like Cobb Salad, but here it’s delicious. One portion of this “appetizer” will feed three or four people and is more than enough to order as a meal.
For dinner, my son ordered the grilled chicken from the Children’s Menu. It was tender and delicious.
Dear Husband and I both ordered the Filet. It was fabulous! The menu describes this dish as “Char-grilled Filet of Beef over a Creamy Black Diamond Cheddar and Sweet Corn Polenta, with Sun-dried Tomato Chimichurri, and Green Tomato Salsa 6 oz.” It sounds really fancy but tastes like a very delish Filet Mignon and Mashed Potatoes. I suppose most fancy restaurants are like that :)
Dessert was out of this world. Well, mine was anyway. I had the Chocolate Three Ways which was described as “Dark Almond-Buttermilk Cake Layered with Milk Chocolate Truffle Crème and White Chocolate Chambord.” It tastes like Chocolate Mousse with Cherry Sauce. It’s sooo good. My husband ordered Crème Brûlée and Bren got Vanilla Ice Cream and a Chocolate Chip Cookie with Gummy Worms. Yummy! We love this restaurant, unfortunately it’s pretty pricey, so it’s a once in a while treat.
After dinner we went over to see the stunt show. The emphasis on the Hollywood Studios Stunt Show is how they do car chases in the movies.
Whenever you see a show at Disney, you need to get there at least an hour to 45 minutes early in order to get a good seat. For some shows, you need to be there even earlier than that.
At the stunt show, they keep you entertained with car related movie trivia while you wait.
It’s amazing to see the complex choreography needed to pull off a car chase, and they pretty much take you through the whole process.
They go over everything from various camera techniques to how they modify the cars for optimal performance.
There’s also a special appearance from someone you might recognize… Herbie!
Next on the list was Beauty and the Beast. Beauty and the Beast is an abbreviated, Broadway-style, theater performance. I love it and wish this 1/2 hour show was 2 hours longer.
The guys prefer the stunt show, but they like Beauty and the Beast too. (I think my husband secretly wishes all Broadway Musicals were this short, lol!)
After Beauty and the Beast, we did some shopping and then headed to Fantasmic. Fantasmic is one of those shows where people begin to line up 2 hours or more in advance. They only show it two days a week and one or two shows per night. We didn’t need to get there that early because when you do a Fantasmic Dining Package, you sit in the reserved section. You still need to get there 45 minutes early, and it doesn’t mean you have the best seat, it only means you don’t have to stand in line for 2 hours or more to get a seat.
The dining package seats are all the way on the right hand side facing the “stage”. They aren’t the best seats… but there are no terrible seats in the amphitheater. If you sit in the first couple of rows anywhere in the amphitheater you’ll get more than a little wet. You don’t get soaked, but it’s a heavy enough mist that you probably want to cover your camera or cell phone. The show can be and is very scary for many little kids.
Fantasmic is a show that uses water spouts (think sprinklers that are stuck in the straight up position) to project images of various Disney Villains onto.
It’s Mickey Mouse battling all of the Disney Villains. They use water, fireworks, fire, lasers, a couple of very large animatronics and a few live action performers.
They use a few boats as well.
This is not our favorite show and we would never even think about waiting around 2 or more hours on a hot day to see it. Once in a while, once in a blue moon is enough for us. Some people love it and couldn’t imagine not seeing it. Ehh… maybe we are just spoiled, lol.
Karen
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