Dining Rotation

[drnlhome]

I am now in the process of anticipation of our VERY FIRST CRUISE!!! I am wondering about the dining rotation and which is ideal. We will have 2 adults and 3 kids - 16, 4, and 6. I am not sure what would be good to have and why. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

 

[CAMICKEY]

Are you talking about "seating times" (which are 6 and 8) or actual "dining rotations" (like APLAPLA)? - Mike

 

[cantsitstill]

Welcome to the Dis family! When are you going? And for how many days? My favorite would be PLAPLAP - only because formal night will be in Lumiere's and tropical night will be in Parrot Cay - very appropriate! You will find out your dining rotation when you check in at the port. Have fun planning - you'll get addicted to these boards! And that's a good thing!

 

[drnlhome]

I am talking the actual rotation. We have the earlier seating time. Thanks!!!

 

[CAMICKEY]

We are going on the Western and prefer the APLAPLA so we get a change to see Animators "light" show three times. I do not believe that you can request your rotation unless you have the REAS package (and get the right DCL rep) or maybe category 3 and above (correct me on this one if I'm wrong) - Mike

 

[decolady]

Mike,

They only do the Animator's light show the first night you eat there, no other time.

Sorry,
deco

 

[drnlhome]

Thanks for the info so far!! We are going June 12 on the 7 day Eastern. I can hardly wait!! I am already addicted to this board. My dh is amazed at how much info I already know ahead of time. He calls it ruining the surprise and I call it being as prepared as possible! LOL

 

[tkd lisa]

Welcome to DIS. I also call it planning ahead. DH was happy I did it once we were on board!

As far as requesting a rotation, when you check in, at the bottom of your Key To The World (KTTW) card, you will see your rotation in letters (something like LAPLAPL). It's not a hard and fast rule, but generally, people with little kids have APLA, mid-range kids have PLAP, and older teens or no kids have LAPL. I've never worried too awfully much about being in a particular restaurant for a particular theme. For my family, we typically fall into the PLA rotation, and Parrot Cay is my least favorite restaurant (it's too noisy for me). Our last cruise, we were on the Wonder, and got the TAPT (Triton's instead of Lumiere's on the Wonder) rotation. If we get PLAP on our next cruise, I'll request a change to LAPL.

There is a note about requesting dining changes on your welcome aboard navigator. Most people are trying to request switching from late to early seating, but they can change your rotation too.

 

[CAMICKEY]

decolady - Thanks for the info. Just assumed they would do it each night. Now I need to get with DW and re-think our REAS package ressies. - Thanks again - Mike

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Maybe I have missed it somewhere, but how do you know what nights have what activities? We are going to take the 4 night Wonder....what nights will the tropical night be? I guess we won't have a formal night. Any other special nights? What would be a good rotation? We'll have 7 and 9 year olds with us. We are scheduled for the late seating, and on the wait for early, but I think I am going let DU know that we will keep the late seating. If they are hungry, we can get a snack at 4 or so to tie them over. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[TootyJane]

Originally posted by CAMICKEY
Are you talking about "seating times" (which are 6 and 8) or actual "dining rotations" (like APLAPLA)? - Mike

Mike, early (main) seating is 6:00pm and late seating is 8:30pm. HTH

 

[CAMICKEY]

TootyJane - I was so sure it was 6:00 and 8:00 I had to go look again. Insert foot here
8:30 is indeed correct for the late sitting. Guess I am so use to the early seating - how could I ever wait till 8:30 and then get my food by 9:00??? Not for us anyway (But other cruisers seem to like it). Thanks again for correcting me. That's the nice thing about this forum. There is always someone watching out to ensure when mistakes are made, that they are corrected in a nice way. I would hate to have someone plan for 8:00 based on my post and then something not turn out right for them - especially a DCL cruise. - Mike

 

[crisi]

WDWCrazzyCunninghams

On the four night Wonder there are no theme nights. Your first three nights will be the restaurants regular menu. The last night will be the Chef's menu. If you want to "theme" we wore our tropical prints to Parrot Cay, Black and White and Grey to Animators, and formals to Tritons.

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Thank you Crisi...for some reason, I thought they did themes on the 4 night as well. I will pack accordingly! THANKS!

 

[crisi]

They do a tropical deck party on Nassau night. And they have "theme nights" in the dance clubs.

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

okay...so if we wanted to carry that "tropical theme" for the whole day, then Parrot Cay would be the resturant that we would want. So the rotation that would be ideal would be either APTA or TPAT...clear as mud?