Dinner seating time (Fantasy)

[flinkerfrosch]

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!

We do the same! Full days at the beach, swimming or doing some Port Excursions..we don't want to have to leave early either to go eat!

The Dine and Play sounds awesome! This is something we would do for sure if we stuck with the 8pm seating.

What are your thoughts on the dinners? If we skipped a few would we be missing out?

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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.

That's my only worry about the late seating!? I'm not sure how tired the boys will be? Its something I won't know unfortunately until the cruise! Decisions, decisions..lol

 

[Twinkledust]

Are ALL the shows a must see?

In my opinion, it depends on if your a regular theater go-er. If you are, don't expect a huge spectacular. DH was a theater major in college, so he has ruined me.

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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?

Its funny you say that! My youngest one is like that. If he goes to bed late he will sleep late, but the older one will ALWAYS be up early no matter what time he goes to bed!

I don't know if 10pm is a time we want to finish dinner either..the Dine and play is an option we would take advantage of for sure if we stuck with the 8pm seating!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

Are ALL the shows a must see?

In my opinion, it depends on if your a regular theater go-er. If you are, don't expect a huge spectacular. DH was a theater major in college, so he has ruined me.

LOL!

We are not regular theater type people..I actually don't enjoy watching live shows, but I am always up for trying some!

Thanks again for your help!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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!

So far, 2nd seating is in the winning..good to hear your 5 year old adjusted!

And yes, I agree..dinner time is when you can all catch up!

 

[Cruisin'Nick]

First things first; On our first cruise, we did late dining and hated it. Only because we are a family who eats early (4-6pm) dinners at home anyways, plus it was an hour time difference already. So by the time we sat down for dinner and ate it felt like we were eating at midnight back home!! HAHA!!

Now, when we booked our next cruise (on-board)... all that was left was second seating too. So we asked to be put on the waiting list. The whole time we waited for our cruise to come around, we never got a notice about being able to change. So when we go to the port to check in that day we just asked the cast member. She checked and was able to switch us to the first dining.

So, after my long rant...long story short, if you don't get the dining while you're on the wait list, ask when you go to check in that morning!!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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!

My thoughts exactly! Missing a show wouldn't bother me as much as missing dinner. 7 sit down dinners is a lot, but from what I've heard they're amazing!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

First things first; On our first cruise, we did late dining and hated it. Only because we are a family who eats early (4-6pm) dinners at home anyways, plus it was an hour time difference already. So by the time we sat down for dinner and ate it felt like we were eating at midnight back home!! HAHA!!

Now, when we booked our next cruise (on-board)... all that was left was second seating too. So we asked to be put on the waiting list. The whole time we waited for our cruise to come around, we never got a notice about being able to change. So when we go to the port to check in that day we just asked the cast member. She checked and was able to switch us to the first dining.

So, after my long rant...long story short, if you don't get the dining while you're on the wait list, ask when you go to check in that morning!!

Great tip, thank-you!!

I'm sorry to hear the late seating didn't work for you I can understand if you're used to eating early and with the time change would make it even worse!

We will have no time change, and our dinner hour is all over the place during the week at home cause of my hours and my DH's hours at work. The kids are used to variety That being said, they never eat at 8pm, but on vacation we could possibly swing it, maybe..lol

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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?

If 2nd seating was 7:15 I would grab that time for sure! 7:15 isn't too late, and would work better for sure!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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.

That would be rough! Its so hard to tell so far in advance how your children may feel or act. Maybe I will do a trial at home. Wear them out during the day, and feed them at 8pm and see how it goes..lol

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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

Good to know that the chances of the waitlist to come through seem to be more in my favor.
I guess that buys me some time to figure it all out!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

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.

Dine and Play sounds like a big life saver!

Eating dinner minus kids sounds like heaven..hehe