We're back from our 14nt WBTA cruise on the Magic, and can now start to focus more on this trip. I must say that we had an incredible trip, and the 400+ DISers that we had onboard made up 22% of the total cruise passengers and really created a community within a community since you couldn't move without seeing someone wearing the custom lanyards, pins, wristbands or shirts that we had made for that sailing.
I have a feeling that this cruise will be a start contrast from that one, since there were only 240ish kids on the WBTA cruise, (which was a big difference from our last cruise which was a kids sail free cruise with sold out kids programs.) On the WBTA, the adult pool and beach were much more crowded than the Mickey pool and family beach, which was very nice for us. Plus the lines were managable for characters, shows and other kid focused activities. The kids in the Club/Lab got very close attention from the counselors, and there were lots of empty tables on our Main dining rotation which was really odd. Given how quickly this cruise sold out at the lower levels, bodes for a very full cruise!
Received an email from our TA that we have been assigned the 5 pm show with early dining. I really don't know how I feel about this. Confused really. My kids are young, 5 and 2 next year, so maybe the 5 will be good but that sure will cut down on shore excursion times.
We have never been to CC so I don't think i am thrilled about this. I know my daughter will be all about dressing up and the shows... she is a little girl through and through!
I'm also confused, but am currently leaning toward the 9pm show with early dining. As mentioned above, we just got off the Magic on Saturday. We had early dining, and our kids were 3 and 6. We (kids and adults) had a lot of activities at 2 or 3pm, which meant that we often weren't getting the kids down for naps until 4pm, then had to wake them up at 5 or 5:30 to get dressed for dinner. Unfortunately, to make it through the late show, the kids needed to nap (we sometimes napped too!) To make a 5pm show, we'd have to start dressing around 4pm, so you could head to the theatre at 4:30 or 4:45 to get a seat. That would cut out any afternoon activities, and wouldn't likely buy us much usable time since we may not partake of many of the late night activities in lieu of the show. Since I assume dinner would come right after the show, I doubt we'd have time to dress for dinner between the show and dinner.
Sometimes I think the late dining would make sense, then I see folks still at dinner at 10pm or later and know our kids would never make it that late, and I don't want to have to feed them early and have them spend dinner in the club/lab while we eat. I'll see what everyone's feedback is on the early cruises to see which time is working out best for everyone.
Probably the last year we can get away with it, though!
afterall... this is dcl.
