What night to book Palo?

[papertraveller]

We are taking a seven-night Eastern cruise, electing the later dinner seating. But based on the rave reviews on this board, we want to book at Palo. Which of the theme nights should we skip? And will our 10-year-old be fed in the kid's club?

Also a general question: by eating later, will we then be too late for some of the entertainment?

Thanks in advance.

 

[lbgraves]

to the DIS boards!

Which night to dine at Palo is a personal preference. Some do not want to dress up more than the two formal nights so book one of those. We do not do this because we enjoy dressing up as a family and enjoying the special shows that evening. If you have early dinner you go to the late showing and if you have later dinner you go to the early showing so you won't miss the main stage show if you want to go. Check out the navigators that are linked in the DIS DCL FAQ thread in my signature and you will see how the late night entertainment is scheduled as well as alternative events that go on during meal/show times and even in between.

 

[kcashner]

Your 10 year old will go to dinner with the Lab group IF you have him in the programming at the time of their scheduled dinner (which will not be your dinner time). Alternatively, you can get him food on deck 9 or from room service.

All of the shows are presented twice each night--once for guests with early dinner, once for those with late...so no, you won't miss any main stage presentations.

 

[wdwprincess03]

I would suggest Pirate night. I say this not because the food is bad, but rather my thinking is that if you do Palos on that night early, you can still go to the dinner with your family, without missing a good show. Since the pirate night they just show a movie, and no big show! You'd have to confirm that they do have Palo reservations for early, since we've never done it. We just did brunch this past cruise.

 

[Shoog]

Contrary to what many others may say - we opt for Palo on Pirates night (as a family we like to dress formal more than theme). You can still attend the deck party later that night and there are plenty of kids activities for them to participate in that are pirate related in the clubs. Look at the menus to see which meal you least want to miss and go from there. Keep in mind that Animators only shows the "show" the first time you eat there.

 

[tm2924]

We did Palo on Formal Night, which was Sunday on our cruise. We are not big into getting dressed up, so this was a prefect night for us. The kids will be fed in the Lab if they are there at the right time, so watch the Navigator. The one issue we ran into was my daughter was forced to eat "kids food" that night, instead of off the adult menu.

There is always something going on so, you might miss something, but there will be something else you want to do instead. Don't worry.

 

[papertraveller]

Thanks to all - we'll take a close look at Navigator. Brunch may be the option, rather than dinner.

 

[Disneyholic]

DH & I are doing Palo on the first night for 2 reasons on our November 7 night cruise. The first is, it is my Birthday. The second is that we are scheduled for late dinner seating and with the stress of getting there, getting onboard and the Muster drill I would prefer to eat earlier the first night. I have sheduled Palo for 6:30. This way, if we want we can still get to the dining room to meet our tablemates and servers after we eat dinner at Palo. We can sit and have coffee and then have dessert when it is time for dessert.
Last cruise, we had late seating and by the time we left the room for dinner I had a migraine and ended up leaving dinner early and going back to the room to sleep it off. I am hoping by eating earlier to stop the headache from starting in the first place this time. Hope it works.