Dinner seating time (Fantasy)

[flinkerfrosch]

I'm torn on what seating to pick. Right now, I have the 8pm seating cause that's all that was available. I can be waitlisted for the 6pm seating, but I would love opinions on both options.
My kids will be 5 and 7 at the time of our Oct 2014 cruise on the Fantasy. They're pretty easy going, but I don't know if 8pm may be too late?

What would the advantages/disadvantages be of both seating times?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[JohnDS]

I'm torn on what seating to pick. Right now, I have the 8pm seating cause that's all that was available. I can be waitlisted for the 6pm seating, but I would love opinions on both options.
My kids will be 5 and 7 at the time of our Oct 2014 cruise on the Fantasy. They're pretty easy going, but I don't know if 8pm may be too late?

What would the advantages/disadvantages be of both seating times?

Thanks a bunch!

our son is 10 and we are sticking with the late time, that was because we figured we'd be doing other things and wouldn't want to break off early to go shower and dress so the later time gives us time to do that.

With the younger kids I don't know, When my son was 5 that late seating would be running up against bedtime and even though we don't really enforce it on vacation, I don't know if he could have made it to the end.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Kids are flexible. If they're up late they'll sleep late.

On the other hand, if you finish dinner around 10 p.m. will you be comfortable going to bed on a very full stomach?

 

[fumipappa]

when we were at 1st cruise, we had second seating. My youngest was 5.
Only day she had issue was 1st day, as she was super excited and tired by long day. But as other mentioned, kids adjusts, especially younger ages. And I always think that kids can stay up late after late dinner. It is vacation time at Disney cruise...

Either way, you will have fun. IMHO, dinner time is the best time with family to talk what they did that day.

Enjoy!

 

[ldymcbth]

Kids are flexible. If they're up late they'll sleep late.

Could you please convince my children of that fact? They can be up til midnight and will still be up bright and early!

We do early dinner. Gives us plenty of time after dinner to do things (we relax bedtime somewhat on vacation) but also gives us room to adjust if they've had a really tiring day. We can always miss a show, but would hate to miss dinner!

 

[havoc315]

Could you please convince my children of that fact? They can be up til midnight and will still be up bright and early!

We do early dinner. Gives us plenty of time after dinner to do things (we relax bedtime somewhat on vacation) but also gives us room to adjust if they've had a really tiring day. We can always miss a show, but would hate to miss dinner!

I'm also wait listed, kids are 7-9. I wish it was a 5:00 and 7:15 seating, instead of 5:45 and 8:15.

Anyone care to comment, what are the odds of getting the earlier dinner time from the wait list?

 

[havaneselover]

We had late seating last year for spring break. My children were 7 and 9. I figured they would adjust. The 9 year old whined through dinner and could not understand why I booked 2nd seating dinner She fell apart on pirate night and we missed the fireworks. We are going on the Dream next year for spring break and my t.a. booked 2nd seating. I think I need to change that so my dd can sit through dinner and be pleasant.

 

[RemysMom]

I'm also wait listed, kids are 7-9. I wish it was a 5:00 and 7:15 seating, instead of 5:45 and 8:15.

Anyone care to comment, what are the odds of getting the earlier dinner time from the wait list?

We've been wait listed twice for early dinner. Came through on both occassions.

To OP, we did late dinner seating our first year because that's what we did pre-kids on our other cruises. Way too late for our kids. T

 

[ImDMous]

If your kids like the clubs, remember that they have Dine & Play. Half way through dinner, reps from the clubs will come and take the kids that want to go back with them. Kids finish eating and get bored and antsy. This way they eat and go play and you can relax and enjoy coffee and dessert. This is only at second seating.

 

[Weedy]

When you get on the ship you are on "Cruise Time". All normal schedule goes out the window. You will find that your kids want to say out later than you do and will be up before you.

If someone is hungry there is always!!!! food available.

We found our kids did not sitting at dinner with us. While we enjoyed a good meal it was boring for them. So most evenings we would feed them while we were getting ready for dinner. Either we would order room service or get food from the pool deck. Then we would drop them off at the kids club, and we would have a nice adult dinner. I finally decided that making our kids eat dinner with us every night would be like us having to go to Chuck E Cheese every night for a week straight.

 

[natmom]

Our kids were 10 and 12 on our last cruise. I dreaded the late seating when we first booked, but once we had it we really liked it. I loved not having to rush to get ready for dinner. The only thing I wasn't keen on was feeling full right before bed. I think next time I'll walk more after dinner to help digest my food

 

[DisneYE]

If your kids like the clubs, remember that they have Dine & Play. Half way through dinner, reps from the clubs will come and take the kids that want to go back with them. Kids finish eating and get bored and antsy. This way they eat and go play and you can relax and enjoy coffee and dessert. This is only at second seating.

This... if you have kids that like the club/lab.

My DD8 gets bored right after eating dinner and as soon as she's done she's scanning the entire room for the lab CMs to come grab her...
I love Dine and Play so much I'd pay for it if it involved an extra charge.
After she bolts we stay until the very end chatting it up with liquors/coffee/dessert accompanying us... ahhh...I miss my Disney Cruise...

 

[sushi2]

We're going on our first ever cruise soon with a 5 and 6 year old. We were given second seating because that's all that was left, but I would have requested second seating anyway. We don't like our days to be rushed when we're on vacation, and this seems like a good way to stretch out the day and take our time. Like your kids, ours are pretty laid back and good travelers -- I'm not expecting any major issues. (Though I'm reserving the right to be completely wrong!)

 

[DreamBound23]

We have done both and we prefer 1st seating. We thought that we would like 2nd seating, but it was just too late. By the time we were eating, we were spent.

 

[jlk51496]

I have the late seating with a 3 kids - ages 6, 5, 2.5 yrs

Whenever we vacation we have full days on the beach and hate to leave early - if they need food before we can always get food somewhere.

I like the "dine and play" feature and i am sure they will be doing this and I look forward to some both family and quiet time during this vacation (never had that before). I will be putting my 2.5 yr old int he nursery around the same time!

But vacation time is always different and rules about dinner are different on vacations!

 

[br7305]

We went on the Fantasy Dec 7-14 2013. Our kids are 8, 6 & 4. We originally requested early seating, only late was available, so we took it- but did get on the wait list for early. In the next few months we discussed it & decided that late would be okay due to the dine n play option. About 2 months prior to cruise we got our original request, waitlist wish was granted. We got moved to first seating. At that point we chose to stay with 2nd seating anyway. Dine n play worked awesome for us. Our kids ate, then went to the clubs for about an hour each night while DH and I finished up. They loved it and we were relaxed. However, on Pirate night they were so tuckered out they actually did fall asleep at the table (we also spent all day at Cozumel). All 3 of them! So we missed the show and fireworks. But still, I believe 2nd seating worked for us. 1 out of 7 nights wasn't too bad, although it was pirate night... and we did miss out. But that was ok! Just our personal experience...

 

[Twinkledust]

We had 2nd seating on our first cruise... wound up loving it (although it could have been because our table mates turned out to be completely awesome!)! I agree that Dine & Play is something I would pay for.
We had the 1st seating on our second cruise and honestly, I felt a bit rushed... trying to get ready for dinner so early (it may be different now with the more 'relaxed' dining attire). On the other hand, it did free up some time for my DH and I to enjoy some 'night life'.
I guess it just depends on what you want your vacation to be. Regardless, you will have a blast! It is a Disney cruise, after all!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

our son is 10 and we are sticking with the late time, that was because we figured we'd be doing other things and wouldn't want to break off early to go shower and dress so the later time gives us time to do that.

With the younger kids I don't know, When my son was 5 that late seating would be running up against bedtime and even though we don't really enforce it on vacation, I don't know if he could have made it to the end.

That's exactly what I was thinking! I don't want to always be having to check the time worrying we will miss dinner if we have the 1st seating.
My kids are always FULL of energy, and my 4 year old (5 at time of cruise) is a night hawk! My 6 year old (7 at time of cruise) is the one to always fall asleep 1st.
This past Oct we spent 16 days at WDW, and had a lot of 7:30-8ish dinner ADR's, and some my boys were fine and a few others we have pics of them both asleep at the table..lol

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We went on the Fantasy Dec 7-14 2013. Our kids are 8, 6 & 4. We originally requested early seating, only late was available, so we took it- but did get on the wait list for early. In the next few months we discussed it & decided that late would be okay due to the dine n play option. About 2 months prior to cruise we got our original request, waitlist wish was granted. We got moved to first seating. At that point we chose to stay with 2nd seating anyway. Dine n play worked awesome for us. Our kids ate, then went to the clubs for about an hour each night while DH and I finished up. They loved it and we were relaxed. However, on Pirate night they were so tuckered out they actually did fall asleep at the table (we also spent all day at Cozumel). All 3 of them! So we missed the show and fireworks. But still, I believe 2nd seating worked for us. 1 out of 7 nights wasn't too bad, although it was pirate night... and we did miss out. But that was ok! Just our personal experience...

I'm so happy to hear the late seating worked out for your family! The Dine & Play is definitely something my boys would do if we did the late seating.
I actually LOVE the idea of eating minus kids for a bit..hehe
1 out of 7 nights in my opinion is awesome!
Are ALL the shows a must see?

Thanks for your help!!!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We had 2nd seating on our first cruise... wound up loving it (although it could have been because our table mates turned out to be completely awesome!)! I agree that Dine & Play is something I would pay for.
We had the 1st seating on our second cruise and honestly, I felt a bit rushed... trying to get ready for dinner so early (it may be different now with the more 'relaxed' dining attire). On the other hand, it did free up some time for my DH and I to enjoy some 'night life'.
I guess it just depends on what you want your vacation to be. Regardless, you will have a blast! It is a Disney cruise, after all!

Sounds like the 2nd seating is a hit with a lot of families!

The reason I'm thinking 2nd seating is because I don't like to feel rushed!

We love to relax, swim, do whatever in the evenings..is there a lot to see or miss if we picked the 8pm seating? If we did the 6pm seating we could skip a few shows and do something else in the evenings, but I don't know if missing some shows is a big mistake?