Choosing a dinner reservation time best for young children

[the4CDNmouseketeers]

For experience Disney attendees with young children what do you do? Do you have your bigger meal at lunch or dinner? What time would you schedule a sit down dinner for little ones?

I'm trying to figure out the meal schedule and don't know what's best for young ones. This is all so new to me!

I'm looking at character meals and trying to decide between lunch and dinner.

I would appreciate hearing your experiences on how you scheduled lunch/dinners if you had children younger than 5 (mine are 2 1/2 and 4).

Thanks!

 

[bigbabyblues]

Mine are 8 & 5 now, but they've been to WDW 4 times, since they were 3 yrs and 15 months old.

I make our ADRs for the time we normally eat at home. It's worked out fine for us, just consider the time you may have to wait.

 

[candielips]

I think it depends on what time your children normally eat and if they still nap.
I would want to make sure that my DD had already had her nap before attempting a sit down dinner, which is why we will be using our TS credits for either breakfast or dinner. My DD is pretty versatile but I still know her limits and only you know your own children's limits.
Even when planning dinners I always try to bring small snacks in case she starts to get hungry and cannot wait.

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

We find that the best time for dinner at WDW for us is between 5-5:30pm before they are too tired, and get too cranky to sit for dinner. My kids are now 5 and 3, but the first time we went, dd was 4 and ds was 2, and then we went again just before ds turned 3. Character meals always help as well keep them occupied/entertained as well.

 

[DISNEYNV]

Us too. We try to stick to regular meal times. Our DS who is one is really on a schedule while DD4 can be more flexible with meals. We go for the earlier dinner times while at Disney since they seem to get even more tired early. It is also easier to get an earlier ADR. Try to schedule character meals for a time when the kids are more alert and upbeat. Breakfast is usually a good choice. Have fun planning and remember to do what works best for your family.

 

[wannago2disney]

Last year when we went DS was 4 and DD was 2. Both can be good eaters or just snackers so there was no telling what they were going to eat ahead of time. While we were there though, they had cereal and sometimes fruit for breakfast....tended to snack throughout the morning and early pm...sometimes napped sometimes went all day long and by the time supper came they were ready to eat! We did eat fairly early, usually between 4:30 and 5:30pm....if they hadn't napped, they were done after their bellies were full.

We did 1 character meal...chef Mickey's ...we had a 5:30pm reservation and got out of there at about 7pm...it was tonnes of fun and the kids loved it. (DD would not go to any characters for the first 4 days of our vacation but she saw Minnie at Chef Mickeys and almost launched herself of the chair to get to her...we were so surprised we almost forgot to take the picture!)

I would think that the best bet for suppers would be early times...and otherwise go with the meal that your kids usually tend to eat the best when booking your times...every kid is different and going with the same basic patter you are in at home will work out better for young kids.

good luck and have fun!

 

[Binnie]

I took DD (2 at the time) at Thanksgiving. The early dinner seatings were great, although on the first night I was able to take her to a 7PM one at CP since she was so wired.

We did one lunch, too, but it was right at her nap time, so she was cranky, even though she had a BLAST hanging out with Jojo!

We're going again in March, and I've planned all breakfasts and early dinners. I love the character meals, so I'm excited!

 

[the4CDNmouseketeers]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

I guess I'm struggling because I have non-nappers during the day, but I'm sure the excitement and extra walking/longer days will have an impact, I'm just obviously needing a crystal ball so I can make reservations that are compatible with how my kids will actually be when we're there

 

[Stacerita]

If your child is pretty young, and you keep a pretty strict schedule at home, keep the meal times the same.

 

[angboys3]

We usually try to early at lunch and dinner reservations, that way there is less of wait for food etc and children aren't starving yet, that way we can get in and out quicker.

 

[homedad]

we try and make 5:00 to 5:30 dinners, we almost always take a midday break so kids are fresh and have actually sat for over 2 hours for dinner. We started at 2 and 4 and they are going to be 8 and 6 for our Sept trip this year.

 

[squirrel]

If you don't plan on returning to the resort for naps, then I would choose lunch as a break from the park.

I also don't know when you are going but if it's going to be hot - I would pick lunch also as it was so nice to have late breakfasts in the park or lunches to get out of the heat.