8:30 dinner

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

So we have the 8:30 dinner seating and I read that they mostly people with small children in for 6:30. I was wondering if there are still a good number of small children for 8:30 or are we going to be annoying everyone around us. Our kids will be 9, 3, and 1.

 

[mommasita]

We have had late seating twice and LOVED IT!!!!!!!!.. My kids have been 4 and 7 and 5 and 8, and found there to be plenty of others their ages around us...

HTH

 

[mmouse37]

Don't worry....there will still be plenty of little ones at the late seating as well. If other people are afraid of dining next to young children, DCL is not the way to go...you go and enjoy late seating with your family!!!

Go and enjoy...we always had late seating and always saw little ones.

 

[Denise Escola]

We had no problems. Some nights we gave our oldest dinner from Plutos dog house and let her go to the clubhouse. That way only the two year old was with us, but either way there were no problems. We actually enjoyed the late dining- it gave us more time (always needed with wee ones) to get dressed for the evening.
Enjoy!

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

Thanks all!

 

[kcashner]

Within each seating (6:00 and 8:30), the rotations are arranged loosely by the age of the youngest child in your party. I say "loosely" because the system also allows for people who request a particular rotation or server. One rotation will be primarily young children, another primarily adults travelling alone and teen type children, and the third will be the "middle aged" children. The exact division points are determined by the magical DCL computers based on the number of kids of each age on that cruise.

Cruises during the school year tend toward preschoolers and young children with very few teens....during school vacations, there are more school aged kids. Thus, you can't predict the exact divisions.

Chances are that you will be seated in a rotation with families with young/school aged kids. Your kids won't be bothering anyone (assuming reasonable table behavior!). There are plenty of kids at the 8:30 seating, although many families with young kids prefer 6:00.

If you strongly prefer the early seating, go to "dining changes" after you board and make your request. In addition, call DCL now and ask to be placed on the waiting list for 6:00. THere is a reasonable chance that your request can be met.

 

[pdarrah]

We LOVED late seating. Our DS was 5 for our cruise last fall. Since we were spending most of our days with him (unlike home) we let him choose whether he wanted to dine with us or not. He only came to the dining room with us once - every other evening he chose to go to the club. Since a long, "restaurant" dinner isn't most kids favorite (although the servers do liven it up some for them) letting your oldest (and maybe your 3 year old) go to the lab/club while you dine might make for some pleasant dinners for you!

Another "plus" of late seating is that you see the show EARLY. Our son really enjoyed the shows with characters (Golden Mickey's, Disney Dreams & Hercules) and I'm not sure he would have been as awake if we had to see the late show.

If your kids go to the lab/club - they can either eat there (a set time - actually before even early seating) or you can get them something from Plutos or Room Service. Our DS loved getting room service and would eat while DH & I were getting cleaned up for dinner.

I hope this helps,

pdarrah

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

We LOVED late seating. Our DS was 5 for our cruise last fall. Since we were spending most of our days with him (unlike home) we let him choose whether he wanted to dine with us or not. He only came to the dining room with us once - every other evening he chose to go to the club. Since a long, "restaurant" dinner isn't most kids favorite (although the servers do liven it up some for them) letting your oldest (and maybe your 3 year old) go to the lab/club while you dine might make for some pleasant dinners for you!

Another "plus" of late seating is that you see the show EARLY. Our son really enjoyed the shows with characters (Golden Mickey's, Disney Dreams & Hercules) and I'm not sure he would have been as awake if we had to see the late show.

If your kids go to the lab/club - they can either eat there (a set time - actually before even early seating) or you can get them something from Plutos or Room Service. Our DS loved getting room service and would eat while DH & I were getting cleaned up for dinner.

I hope this helps,

pdarrah

Oh cool, thanks!

 

[pppiglet]

I wouldn't worry about it. DCL's rotation works very well. We were on the LAP at 8:30 and it was almost all adults. I don't remember seeing any kids in the dining area. (but I wasn't specifically looking for them and don't remember hearing any!) You'd probably be on the APL or PLA rotation. We had DS (21) and our tablemates had DD (14). We just didn't like late seating because we were too full to sleep at night. Next time we are requesting Main seating even though we have no kids.

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

I wouldn't worry about it. DCL's rotation works very well. We were on the LAP at 8:30 and it was almost all adults. I don't remember seeing any kids in the dining area. (but I wasn't specifically looking for them and don't remember hearing any!) You'd probably be on the APL or PLA rotation. We had DS (21) and our tablemates had DD (14). We just didn't like late seating because we were too full to sleep at night. Next time we are requesting Main seating even though we have no kids.

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that we're rotating. So all of us with the youngins maybe will be together. Oh well, I'm sure it will work out. My kids are used to eating out, but who knows what will happen in different surroundings. If they're too restless one day maybe we'll just get room service. Or as someone else mentioned, there's always the club/lab for the oldest two. Then we can focus on the baby. Thanks

 

[Aisling]

You'd probably be on the APL or PLA rotation.

Can someone help me understand how PLA is a kid's rotation. I'd think there would be more families without young children at PLA, since Formal Night at Lumieres would be more appreciated by adults than little children. Enlightenment, anyone?

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

Can someone help me understand how PLA is a kid's rotation. I'd think there would be more families without young children at PLA, since Formal Night at Lumieres would be more appreciated by adults than little children. Enlightenment, anyone?

We're doing the land and sea so we don't have a formal night,right?

 

[lbgraves]

That's right. On an Eastern 7 day PLA would have formal night in Lumiere's but AP on a Western.

 

[donaldsgal]

Aisling, I think (have no rationale for this) that the rotation PLA would have more kids because PC is considered the most fun, laid back of the dining rooms. Thus, putting people with kids in PLA means they end up in PC 3 times.

I've wondered the same thing about kids being in the "fanciest" restaurant for formal night. That's what we requested - no kids. Oh well - guess we'll lots of experience with kiddies that week!

 

[tvguy]

We're doing the land and sea so we don't have a formal night,right?

If I'm understanding your question correctly.......land sea isn't a factor, EVERYONE has formal night. But you can always choose to eat elsewhere if you don't want to dress up.

 

[Aisling]

I've wondered the same thing about kids being in the "fanciest" restaurant for formal night. That's what we requested - no kids. Oh well - guess we'll lots of experience with kiddies that week!

Jenny, please write a trip report after your cruise!

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

If I'm understanding your question correctly.......land sea isn't a factor, EVERYONE has formal night. But you can always choose to eat elsewhere if you don't want to dress up.

Well, with the land & sea, we're only doing a 3 day cruise. I thought the passporter said our rotation would most likely be APT and we wouldn't have a formal night.

 

[mmouse37]

You are correct...official DCL land/sea vacations with either 3 or 4 days on the Wonder DO NOT have a formal night like the 7 day cruises do.

MJ