At what time do you have dinner?

[Blanquita]

Hi!! I'm super confused with the hour i should book for dinner! As i dont know at what time parks close, neither at what time nightshows are, how do you plan your meals?
I'm used to lunch at 2-3pm and dinner at 9-10pm, but i guess we'll need to adapt our timetable to the parks and the opening hours!
I'm super lost! we are going in middle april next year 14 days and i'm also trying to figure out how to decide which park are we going each day.
Thanks!

 

[Parker Clan]

We do dinner between 5-6 at Disney so we can enjoy the parks at night

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Depends. Mnsshp Party night 3:30. VA night 7. SOA 8:00. Hddr 5:30. Dessert party night 1:30. Sig dining 9pm. Nothing special 5:30.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

In April of this year, most nighttime shows were in the 8:30 - 9:00 pm range. On the nights you want to see in-park shows, I would probably plan to eat in the park no later than 6:00 pm. There are also some dining packages you can book (ROL, Fantasmic) throughout the day that will provide seating at the shows.

 

[CAS239]

We usually eat dinner after we leave the Disney bubble because I'm not trying to pay those prices lol

But if I were eating inside Disney at a sit down restaurant.. Every once in awhile we do and we aim for around 4 or 5pm. Portions for table service are usually filling so it'll hold you over and this way if you want to do stuff at night then you're done eating for it

 

[Jennasis]

Dinner is typically 4:30-5:30 for us. This way we have plenty of time to see evening things.

 

[Bob Dolewhip]

when planning meals at Disney I feel like getting that reservation i want is more important than the actual time of the meal. If we have a late dinner I always make sure to plan a snack. Since restaurants are booked so far in advance everything else has to fall into place around those meals. We are a gluttonous family...

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We do not eat early at home but do at WDW. Light early breakfast at our room or villa, 11/11:30 lunch, 4:30/5:30 dinner and evening treat or snack. This is generally our trip schedule unless there is an ADR we can't get in this timeframe.

We enjoy the earlier seatings at certain TS restaurants (at some places buffet food is fresher, characters interactions are awesome as the whole place isn't filled up yet, no wait built up etc.) We like to eat early at QS to avoid the masses.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

My favorite time is between 5-6:30 because that is when we eat dinner at home. We are usually pretty hungry by then. I also love being in the parks in the evening and at night so I would generally rather eat earlier and enjoy the parks later.

It does depend on my other plans, too, though. If I am eating at CG, I like to eat about an hour and a half before the fireworks start. So that might be 7:30 or 8:30 pm. That allows us time to finish a leisurely meal then watch the fireworks as the big finale.

I will also take a 4 pm at BOG if it is all I can get. On those days, we eat brunch (between 10 and 11 am) and then eat dinner at 4 pm. That works out well, if we have some popcorn or another snack later in the evening. at

I am always surprised at the reservations I see available for 10 pm or later. That is so strange to me. Eating dinner later than 9 pm is a rather foreign concept in our family (though I realize plenty of people do it).

 

[Blanquita]

Thanks for all the comments! i think i'll try to do dinner at 6pm, i cant imagine eating dinner earlier than that! (having dinner at 6 is pretty weird for me!!) hahaha, what do you do at 11pm? arent you starving by them? it night shows are between 8'30 and 9 we might be able to dinner at 7.30 and be on time? (a quick service meal dinner and making lunch a table service, i have the dinning plan)
Thanks for the help!

 

[Delirium]

We've been known to have dinner be a stop at Casey's Corner at 11:55 in the evening.

 

[jeforman]

You might want to do a lunch table service lunch instead of dinner. You can then have a quick service dinner which you can eat waiting for the night time shows to begin.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

For nice signature dinners, I plan them between 7-8. For dinners when we are doing park type things, I grab a TS in the 6-7 range.

 

[Blanquita]

For nice signature dinners, I plan them between 7-8. For dinners when we are doing park type things, I grab a TS in the 6-7 range.

Why do you do that? (thanks!)

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

hahaha, what do you do at 11pm? arent you starving by them?

WDW is FULL of some of the best snacks on the planet! There are entire blogs, forums, and threads just on snacks!

it night shows are between 8'30 and 9 we might be able to dinner at 7.30 and be on time?

You may run late... Depends on the restaurant and how busy they are. Last year we had an ADR at LTT and they handed us a pager and told us it would be at least 45 minutes. We weren't seated for an hour! We actually walked back over to Fantasyland and snagged 2 rides while waiting. It was crazy.
But, eating CS for dinner would aleve that issue.

 

[VAfamily1998]

We typically do our main meal (table service) at lunch around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and then just snack for dinner. Several reasons:
1. Often, the lunches are cheaper than dinner
2. Its nice to take a long break out of the heat in the middle of the day
3. We don't want to miss any of the night time shows.

 

[Klayfish]

Thanks for all the comments! i think i'll try to do dinner at 6pm, i cant imagine eating dinner earlier than that! (having dinner at 6 is pretty weird for me!!) hahaha, what do you do at 11pm? arent you starving by them? it night shows are between 8'30 and 9 we might be able to dinner at 7.30 and be on time? (a quick service meal dinner and making lunch a table service, i have the dinning plan)
Thanks for the help!

What do we do at 11pm? We're long in bed by then most nights. It's up to each persons' schedule. We bring our own food in, so we eat whenever we're hungry. It will really also depend on what we're doing. If you're going to do DQ meals, then you can have that flexibility too. Eat whenever you're ready. As for the shows, it depends on which one. If it's Illuminations, you could have an 8:30 QS meal and still make the 9pm show with ease. If it's F!, you'll want to be in line to enter the theater by 8:10pm, so you'll want to eat earlier.

 

[biondagirl]

We tend to eat a later lunch, so we choose later dinners. Two years ago I got free dining long after the 180 mark and struggled to get good times. We got all our choices, just sometimes too early for my husband's taste. This year, they are all around 7 or 8, except two nights when we want to see shows.

 

[minniegirl19]

If you don't want to adjust your eating schedule I would consider doing lunches instead in or near the park around 2-3 pm and then a light snack before the shows and then eat dinner when you get back at the resort

 

[anniemae]

around 6:00