Using Nursery During Dinner (early meal)

[CamperMomma]

Hi! How many people use (or wished they had used) the nursery during their dinner? We have a 2 1/2 year old daughter. It sounds like the dinner can drag on, so I'm wondering if it would be wise to set up a nursery time for half way through dinner or something for one of us to go drop her off so she doesn't get so wiggly and make everyone nuts. We will be on the Dream starting October 31 for 4 nights. Is it typical you can do "drop in" care, or should I schedule something now?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi! How many people use (or wished they had used) the nursery during their dinner? We have a 2 1/2 year old daughter. It sounds like the dinner can drag on, so I'm wondering if it would be wise to set up a nursery time for half way through dinner or something for one of us to go drop her off so she doesn't get so wiggly and make everyone nuts. We will be on the Dream starting October 31 for 4 nights. Is it typical you can do "drop in" care, or should I schedule something now?

If you know you're going to be using the nursery at specific times, it's best to book ahead. You are limited to the number of hours you can book pre-cruise, but once onboard, if there are available slots you can add others. Drop off service (as in just seeing if you can leave your child without a reservation) could be a problem, however, if others have filled all available slots for the time you just show up to drop off.

You could stop by the nursery before dinner to see what the availability is on any given night to see if you would be able to do it.

 

[bumbershoot]

You're worried about her driving everyone nuts...remember there are countless children on DCL and she would not be alone if she got wiggly.

I've only noticed dinner gets long if the people at the table are moving slowly. With little kids the staff tends to help them out wonderfully. This isn't something I would worry about.

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

I just got back on Saturday from an EC cruise with my 14 month old. We had early seating and she did fine. She would get restless after about 60 - 70 minutes but at that point dinner was basically over for us anyway.

 

[cscream13]

Dinner at that age is hard, definitely, but we've stopped dropping off during dinner. We did that on our first cruise on the Fantasy and found two things: (1) everyone tried to drop off right before dinner, so the drop-off process was often long while they were checking in and out a lot of kids right before first seating; and (2) even though we dropped off our son, the other couple at the table we were at did not, so we still had dinner with a 2 year old. From our perspective, that lost a lot of the benefit. If we were assigned to a table with just our family or knew that sending the kids to nursery would result in an adults-only dinner (e.g., Palo), then we would do it, but not on regular nights.

 

[Weedy]

If you don't think she would like to sit at dinner you can also feed her from room service or from one of the restaurants on the pool deck. Then drop her off before dinner. She can play you can relax and everyone is happy.

 

[Keira1387]

We just got off the dream 2 weeks ago with our 2 1/2 year old. We also went back and forth on taking her to nursery. We had AP the first night, and since she loves finding nemo so much we decided to take her. That dinner just confirmed that the nursery was best for her during our meals. Even with the entertainment, it was rough!

I do think you are better off to book in advance. They serve dinner in the nursery at 5:30, and that's what time we dropped her off. Just an FYI since we had no idea, but the lines tend to get long, and it could take 10-15 minutes to get them checked in before dinner.

 

[CamperMomma]

Thanks all! I figured our first night will be a true test of how she does (and heck, it may be her 5 year old brother that's more ready to be done and back at it doing things around the ship!). I did not realize they serve a dinner in the nursery though, so that's something I'll keep in mind. I think I'll book the nursery for a couple of nights, then it would be a break for her instead of sitting through another long dinner and other nights she can be with us. With any luck I can switch those nights once we are on board and know our rotation. Thanks!!

 

[Huron66]

When our son was that age we scheduled a drop off time for 6:30 most nights. The servers had his dinner sent out quickly and he was able to eat and one of us would head to the nursery in between the appetizer and main course. You have to book for a minimum of 1 hour but it worked out great because it gave us a bit of time to spend 1:1 with our daughter after dinner but before the show. Our son was happy because he got to play rather than sit for a long period of time. The one evening as I was leaving the Royal Palace with our son I noticed that no one was in line for pictures and on a whim the two of us got a quick picture taken - it was one of my favourites (he was at the stage where he insisted on wearing one red sock and one black sock - so now I have a picture of the two of us dressed in our formal clothes and him wearing the one red sock and one black sock - we will never forget that stage as a result).

 

[amanda ek]

We didn't have a great MDR experience with our then 2 yr old in the fantasy in 2015 (like taking too long, just wasn't working) so we ended up doing cabanas for quick sit down dinner most nights bc we still wanted to eat together.

We thought that would be the case again in 2016 and that we woukd just use the nursery during dinner for our two 2.9 year olds. BUT we were amazed with how well the magic dining staff worked on the first night that we never ended up using the nursery at night. They had milk and rolls already on the table, put the order in for grilled cheese for our kids as soon as they saw us walk in the room, were so great with the kids, had Mickey bars ready for us, etc. Seriously, the Magic dining staff has got to be the best on any cruise I've been on. We were able to get in and out and then go swim or meet characters or see the last half of the early show.

 

[jenc842]

We didn't have a great MDR experience with our then 2 yr old in the fantasy in 2015 (like taking too long, just wasn't working) so we ended up doing cabanas for quick sit down dinner most nights bc we still wanted to eat together.

We thought that would be the case again in 2016 and that we woukd just use the nursery during dinner for our two 2.9 year olds. BUT we were amazed with how well the magic dining staff worked on the first night that we never ended up using the nursery at night. They had milk and rolls already on the table, put the order in for grilled cheese for our kids as soon as they saw us walk in the room, were so great with the kids, had Mickey bars ready for us, etc. Seriously, the Magic dining staff has got to be the best on any cruise I've been on. We were able to get in and out and then go swim or meet characters or see the last half of the early show.

Nice! Didn't know you're allowed to go to the end of the early show - did you just walk in? Have a 2.5 year old and I don't think she'll stay up for the 8:30 showing

 

[Dug720]

Nice! Didn't know you're allowed to go to the end of the early show - did you just walk in? Have a 2.5 year old and I don't think she'll stay up for the 8:30 showing

I have never noticed people coming in late - given that they have a storyline I would think that would be confusing, but that is me. Nevertheless, the shows aren't ticketed. Whether there are seats or not depends on how many people from the other seating (or who are not dining in the MDR that night) choose to go to the show. Also, as a courtesy to the performers (they CAN see a few rows back) it would be far better to sit in the rear - preferably without interrupting anyone else's viewing. It's very annoying and distracting when people come in late and insist on climbing over people to get to the middle of a row, especially when they have to all stand up. Do your moving to seats during applause.

(My biggest theatre pet peeve here in NYC are people who buy tickets to a show in the middle of a row and come in two or three songs in, then proceed to clamber all over people. The ushers will hold them until applause (again, the polite thing to do - plus it would let your eyes adjust so scoping seats would be easier), but the clambering!! I love for shows that have a very clear NO LATE SEATING policy.)

 

[jenc842]

I have never noticed people coming in late - given that they have a storyline I would think that would be confusing, but that is me. Nevertheless, the shows aren't ticketed. Whether there are seats or not depends on how many people from the other seating (or who are not dining in the MDR that night) choose to go to the show. Also, as a courtesy to the performers (they CAN see a few rows back) it would be far better to sit in the rear - preferably without interrupting anyone else's viewing. It's very annoying and distracting when people come in late and insist on climbing over people to get to the middle of a row, especially when they have to all stand up. Do your moving to seats during applause.

(My biggest theatre pet peeve here in NYC are people who buy tickets to a show in the middle of a row and come in two or three songs in, then proceed to clamber all over people. The ushers will hold them until applause (again, the polite thing to do - plus it would let your eyes adjust so scoping seats would be easier), but the clambering!! I love for shows that have a very clear NO LATE SEATING policy.)

Oh totally! We would hate to be those people. Thanks for the info!

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

One other thing that could be helpful...

I know dinner moves "at a certain pace" and they try to keep each course together for all the tables, but I also noticed every evening that some tables (even ones with our same servers) finished MUCH earlier than others. I don't know if they asked to be expedited or if they just ate faster. But many tables were done at least a half hour or more before we were. Mostly we enjoyed the slower pace, since our children are teens, and not QUITE as fidgety as they used to be, but sometimes, especially when we wanted to do something after dinner, I wondered how some of those table managed to get their courses so much sooner than we did.

 

[AZMermaid]

We sailed with a 17 month old and almost 3 year old. We brought them to (early) dinner and ordered their food to come with our appetizers. Then when we were all done with that course, one of us ran them to the nursery. The runner was almost a,wags back before the main course was served. This worked well for everyone. My kids loved loved loved the nursery!

 

[dektolia]

My family has food allergies so we rarely eat out and generally aren't used to the noise level in restaurants (any restaurants), so the MDR was really challenging for my littlest.

On my first cruise on the Dream with a 3 yo and 5 month old our dinner was taking 2 hours every night and we alternated who left the room with the 5 month old (grandparents were along too to get some rare time with grandchildren and it was only 4 nights, so no nursery that trip). It was manageable but not as enjoyable as it would have been without interruptions.

On the next cruise (kids now 4 and 1) on the Fantasy, we booked nursery time for dinner every night (5:30 - 7) for the 1 year old and never had wait too long for drop off at 5:30. We made sure we were early to the MDR every night and asked the servers to get us out of there as quickly as possible. Most nights we had desserts by 7 and one person went to pick up the kiddo while the other waited to place the food order for the next night (no grandparents this time). I was given a dessert plate to take back to the room once or twice when it was taking longer. With the 1 year old in the nursery, I felt like I could focus on eating my own food instead of taking care of two kids at dinner. That would still be a benefit for me even if we had been placed with other children.

The next cruise he'll be 3 so we're going to try having him join us for dinner again, but I was really glad I booked nursery time ahead for the one year old. I think you can cancel 24 hours in advance if you book it now and find out you don't need it (at least you could last year). That was my backup plan if I found out I didn't need it, but I definitely didn't cancel any

 

[jenc842]

My family has food allergies so we rarely eat out and generally aren't used to the noise level in restaurants (any restaurants), so the MDR was really challenging for my littlest.

On my first cruise on the Dream with a 3 yo and 5 month old our dinner was taking 2 hours every night and we alternated who left the room with the 5 month old (grandparents were along too to get some rare time with grandchildren and it was only 4 nights, so no nursery that trip). It was manageable but not as enjoyable as it would have been without interruptions.

On the next cruise (kids now 4 and 1) on the Fantasy, we booked nursery time for dinner every night (5:30 - 7) for the 1 year old and never had wait too long for drop off at 5:30. We made sure we were early to the MDR every night and asked the servers to get us out of there as quickly as possible. Most nights we had desserts by 7 and one person went to pick up the kiddo while the other waited to place the food order for the next night (no grandparents this time). I was given a dessert plate to take back to the room once or twice when it was taking longer. With the 1 year old in the nursery, I felt like I could focus on eating my own food instead of taking care of two kids at dinner. That would still be a benefit for me even if we had been placed with other children.

The next cruise he'll be 3 so we're going to try having him join us for dinner again, but I was really glad I booked nursery time ahead for the one year old. I think you can cancel 24 hours in advance if you book it now and find out you don't need it (at least you could last year). That was my backup plan if I found out I didn't need it, but I definitely didn't cancel any

When you mention placing an order early for the next night, did they give you the menu for that? Or could you only place an order in advance to kids foods? I want my daughter to try some of the main menu items but it'd be SOOO Helpful to do it in advance since she's 2!

 

[dektolia]

When you mention placing an order early for the next night, did they give you the menu for that? Or could you only place an order in advance to kids foods? I want my daughter to try some of the main menu items but it'd be SOOO Helpful to do it in advance since she's 2!

They gave us a menu ahead of time to order. In 2014 on the Dream they let us order anything for the 3 year old (and we typically ordered 2 meats so she still had a choice the night, and then shared the extra food with an adult). In 2015 on the Fantasy I think they pushed back and asked us to order off the menu, but I remember asking for alterations to what was listed and it wasn't a big deal so ordering off the menu was fine. I don't know if the difference was the boat, the servers, 2014 vs 2015, or the age of the child. Maybe a little of all of them. I noticed WDW also wanted us to order off the menu in 2016 (unlike 2012), so maybe Disney feels like they've expanded allergy menus enough to get most people to order off a menu.

My 4 year old pretty much wanted sirloin steak for dinner every night (she branched out for lunch), and we were able to find something close enough on the menu to make her happy. The hardest part was definitely predicting what she's want to eat tomorrow. It was much easier at 4 than at 3.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

They can definitely give you tomorrow nights menu each night. No problem. My wife had some dietary restrictions, so each night, before dessert came out, our server would bring the next day's menu, she would order all three courses, then he would go check with the cook, and by having advanced notice, they could make almost any dish on the menu fit her restrictions (within reason, of course). After a while, instead of waiting for him to bring the menu, we started using the Disney Navigator App to look at the next days menu, so that saved him some time and she just told him what she wanted.

 

[5Texans]

Just off the Fantasy w/ my DD 15 m/o, 3 & 5. Our servers brought out fruit and steamed veggies w/ the bread service as soon as we sat down every night and took our order right away. We were out of there by about 645 every night after the first night. I just told the server that we needed a faster pace and was very nicely accommodated. I made the nursery reservation for after dinner until the main shows on sea days and through the show time the other nights and we dropped the older two off at the kids club so we could have a drink, go to the spa etc. I thought about trying to drop them off half way through, but it was working ok the other way and I'd rather do other things than eat dinner for hours every night.