Do people really eat dinner at 4pm?

[tarheelmjfan]

I read many threads about people not making ADRs. If you don't mind counter service, I can totally understand that. What I don't get is when people suggest others show up at table service restaurants @ 10:30 am or 3:30 to 4 pm to be seated, before the restaurant fills. I can't help but wonder, if people really want to eat that early? Although, we like having table service meals sometimes 2 a day, I'd rather eat counter service than eat that early. Admittedly, we do eat a late dinner on a regular basis, so I probably have a skewed opinion. I just don't see this as a good alternative to ADRs.

Along the same lines, I'm surprised when I read some people can't get into a favorite restaurant for dinner so they go for lunch instead. I'd rather choose another restaurant than eat a big meal at lunch, when I had originally not planned on doing so. Then again, I'm never into a big meal in the middle of a hot day. We do go to table service restaurants for lunch to escape the heat, & order on the light side. In our opinion, that's definitely not a substitute for a nice dinner at a great restaurant. Anyway, I find myself wondering if people enjoy eating at any time of day just to get a table, & am curious what others think.

 

[Christine]

I normally eat dinner between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. at home but later on vacations. We get up REAL early during work days so, it works for us.

I *could* eat dinner at 4:00 p.m. at WDW if I was pressed to go to a specific place. If I was doing that, I probably just would not eat lunch. Last time I went, though, I never saw any ADRs offered that early. Many of the restaurants didn't start until 5:00 p.m. and a few started at 4:30. Have they changed?

Now, one thing I could *never* do would be to eat at 9:00 p.m.

 

[sunny04]

Well, we usually have ADRs, but yes, we like to eat that early sometimes. Especially in the warmer months at WDW, we sometimes skip lunch, and eat an early dinner. If we have a late breakfast, we will get a snack instead of lunch, and eat an early dinner. It's also a less busy time, and we like to eat early anyway. Then we get another snack later in the evening. As a teacher, I usually eat breakfast at 7, and lunch at 11:30, so my ideal time for dinner would be between 4:30 and 5....It's just a matter of preference like anything else in life.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

We usually shoot for around 5. If you have small children that usually go to bed around 8 I have never understood having diner at 7. Who wants to go to bed with a full stomach? I am thinking of making my ressies a little earlier than usual so we have some more park time. We go back for a nap around 12:30-1:00 and head back out for dinner then then the park. Now if we were still without kids. I would eat at like 8:00 and be happy.

 

[Luv4Disney]

All our ADR's are for 5:30pm except for Le Cellier, which is at 4pm. We don't mind it because we actually get seated on time. We just eat an early lunch that day. No biggie.

 

[Jaime]

We enjoy having a big breakfast mid-morning...and then a big lunch/supper at 3:30/4:00 when on vacation only...especially in Disney...we fine that ride times are slower during normal meal hours. The rest of the time we do snack foods...it works really will with our dd's 2 and 4. If we are hungry when we go back to our resort at the end of the evening...we just grab something from the food courts to bring back when the girls sleep.

 

[ceroarty]

For our Sept. trip we have a ADR for 4:20pm. I figure there are 16 of us and by the time we get seated and order it will be close to 5:00-5:30 before we eat. I don't mind that. I'm just happy we get to eat there.

 

[Andy B]

I too find 4pm-5pm too early for dinner. Working, breakfast is at 7.30 lunch 1pm and dinner 7pm. On holiday these times get later other than out first few days in the US where we wake up early still close the UK time.

 

[MTstitch]

Yes, in WDW we always eat around 4-4:30 to beat the crowds but at home we eat around 5 so we are still close to the time we usually eat.

 

[DumboDash2006]

We tend to eat early both at home and when we go out (WDW or just going out at home). Partly because dd works best if she eats early and then goes to bed early. She takes a long time to wind down enough to go to sleep and needs a bath also to do so, so we need a few hours between going out to eat and bed time. But really we've always done that when going out as dh HATES to wait for a table when eating out. And I guess for us, it makes no difference when we eat. As long as we are hungry (and if we know we are going out to eat, we make sure we are) it's just as enjoyable, maybe more so!

At WDW we really enjoyed the two TS meals we did for lunch. Nice break from the mid day heat and like I said, for us a good meal, is a good meal, no matter when we are eating it as long as we are hungry!

 

[Rustysmom]

I don't mind eating dinner at 4 or 4:30. I usually eat at about 5:00 at home anyway. When we're on vacation we usually eat a big breakfast and no lunch for us, just get something quick for the kids. By 4 or 4:30, we're all really hungry.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Wow, I'm surprised to see so many people eat early. I guess it's a good thing or they'd never feed everyone between 6 & 8:30 pm. We usually try to be seated at 8 to 8:30pm on vacation. We too like to have some down time at the resort midday. By the time we get motivated & dressed for dinner, it's always getting fairly late. We've never eaten early, even when our son was small. He was always been one to go to bed late & sleep late though. It makes sense why you guys eat on that schedule, I just always wondered if anyone actually did. I suppose it was just a foreign idea to me.

 

[ReneeA]

My kids are in bed on school nights between 7 and 7:30. If we ate any later than 5:00, they wouldn't even have a start on digestion before I put them in bed.

We normally eat between 4:30 and 5:00. I cook BIG meals on Sunday, and I plan to have dinner ready at about 3:30.

Maybe it's how you were raised? We always ate between 4-5 growing up. I think my DH would prefer to eat later, but he's outnumbered, and doesn't do the cooking around here.

 

[KimR]

You sound just like us! We have 3 kids and they are accustomed to eating anywhere from around 7:00 to 9:00. We do eat a little earlier during the week when they have school they next day, but otherwise we prefer a later mealtime. That's the main reason we never do the Fantasmic Dinner Package anymore - they no longer offer it at a reasonable dinner time.

 

[PoohsFan1]

My DH's favorite thing to do while on vacation is to get ice cream...he always has it planned on when we are going to get ice cream and where. With that being said, we tend to eat a bit earlier than normal just so that we can have enough room later for our ice cream fix. However, our ADRs are between 5:00 and 6:00, this is the time we usually eat dinner at home, unfortunately our home is in a different time zone, so 5:00 at Disney feels like 4:00 at home.

 

[goofy4tink]

We seldom eat later than 5:30-6 at WDW. We try to get ADRs for about 5ish, especially if it's going to be hot/humid. This way, we get to eat, we get to cool off and we miss some of the hottest time of day. Then, we'll get 2 counter service meals later on and share them between the 3 of us. We find this works much better than eating later at night.

 

[clkelley]

We are late eaters, but then we don't have little ones.

As a matter of fact, my son works 2nd shift and comes home at 8pm on his dinner break, so that's when we usually eat.

 

[emilyclaire]

I was raised eating around 5:30 or 6:00. With me and Dh's work schedules now, we never get dinner until around 9:30. I definitely prefer eating earlier, and we do on our days off. I don't like going to bed with that "full" feeling. I like to get a snack or a late dessert around 8 or 8:30 when I do eat early.

In Disney we are planning all of our ADR's between 5:00 and 6:30, except for the Fantasmic package, where we'll take whatever we can get. If we can't get a restaurant we really like for dinner, I have no problem taking an ADR there for lunch instead. Gives us a nice afternoon break from touring and from the heat.

 

[DaisyD]

We eat dinner at home around 4:30-5:00. At WDW we try to keep it around 5pm. I can't eat too late or it will keep me up all night.

 

[udsweetpea]

Some people want to get in right when the restaurants open because there may be a "Magical Moment" when it opens. For example, Fairy Godmother opens the doors for everyone coming in to 1900 Park Fare for dinner at 4:30. Its something special people don't get to take part in if they come later.