Dinner seating late or early?

[Pixie Mom 3]

we are booked on the wonder 3/11/04 and have late seating... there are 6 of us in our party.... 3 adults and 3 kids.... ages 5,10.11 do you think this will be to hard on the kids?

What is your favorite time and Why?

 

[prymsu]

I voted for late, but if i had a five year old, i believe I would vote for early...

 

[kcashner]

Ditto....I like late because it is less hectic, but my daughter is a teen. When she was younger, I chose early.

 

[WDWLVR]

I voted early because that is what works for us. It is just DH and I and we tried late seating once and didn't care for it. We are usually early eaters at home so it works best when we stay the same on the ship. Nice that there is a choice to make everyone happy!

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

Early for us. Works better with DD.

 

[Pixie Mom 3]

YIKES I read the reply to my post !!!! I made a mistake.... my youngest is 6 1/2.... NOT 5..... where is my Brain... O wait I know it is stuck on getting ready for this cruise...

 

[WVMD]

We like late - our DD was 8 on the last cruise.....

She's a nightowl - was in the clubs until midnight....

We like that you don't have to rush back from the stops - or from Castaway Cay.....

 

[DVC@BWV]

Since we eat early at home, we like the early seating. We never felt rushed to get to dinner (we have a 4.5 year old).

 

[lstokes]

We have 5,13 and 17 year old kids. We will have late seating. I have read that the early shows are less crowded and also our 5 year old will get more enjoyment out of it rather than trying to stay awake-squirm in seat-at later showing.
She will then eat a little something late afternoon at pizza or chicken nuggets. Then at least have a chocolate Mickey ice cream bar with us at late dinner before being taken to kids club for their evening movies.....

 

[Verandah Man]

We eat early at home, but we really enjoyed the late seating on the ship. Our DD is 13 and she is also a night owl, we enjoyed taking our time getting ready for dinner. We went to the early shows, then went back to our cabin to get ready for dinner and never felt rushed.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I think, you are going to get so many different opinions on this subject. We prefer late seating because for one our dd6 doesn't eat with us at dinner time. We like having the extra time getting ready for dinner. We also live on the West Coast so, 6:30 pm seating would be like eating at 3:30 pm. OUr kids tend to spend the day with us and then dinner with the club. Even if they eat with us, I don't think it is too late because they tend to eat a lot throughout the day and dinner isn't really one of their biggest meals. Plus, you can eat so much throughout the day. But honestly, you know your family the best and what will work for you. Good LUck

 

[lotsofboys]

As was just mentioned, we are from the west coast also so the late seating is closer to the time we eat at home. We have 7 & 10 yr olds. On our first cruise they were 5 & 8 and we still did the late seating. I always felt I would rather have them fall asleep at dinner than at the shows because the shows are not to be missed! It worked great for us.

 

[mouseclick1]

I didn't vote because we have only done early seating so far. That is also what we originally had for upcoming cruise, but I recently changed it to late after reading similar threads on the topic and really thinking through what we want to do on this trip. I can let you know what we like better in April!

 

[DreaminDisney]

My kids are small but I still voted late. I think this will work out for us.

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Mom & I (adults) like the late. Seems to not make us feel rushed!! Have a good time!

Allison an associate (DVC)

 

[nato]

We ate at the early seating, but if I had to do it over again, I'd definitely go for late seating.

 

[Pixie Mom 3]

All this info is great .... Thanks

I think late will work out great for us...

 

[currycook]

OK, stop voting for late seating people. Dont let the word get out that this really is a better seating.

 

[lbgraves]

We did early on the 11/15 Eastern and will do it again on the 12/4. It worked out perfectly for us. The kids would nap in the stateroom or we watched a movie...which they fell asleep during...then we were able to prepare for dinner while they slept with no rush. They woke up refreshed & in good moods. DS 5 went to the club most nights by 7 and DD 3 stayed with us. She loved the shows so much that she started standing up on a stool or box or whatever and singing for us all the time like at the shows. The only day I felt rushed was Friday after Castaway Cay. I returned to the ship with DS at 3 so that he could change & go to the club by 4 to reherse for the kid's show at 5. I managed to be able to get ready for dinner inbetween dropping him off & the show.

 

[jwann]

Our entire group prefers EARLY seating. We have done both so I feel qualified to give an opinion. We WAY, WAY, WAY prefer early seating!