Early or Late seating?

[Dads Dream]

Hi All,

Just wondering your dinning preference, early or late seating? We have always requested early seating thinking that the late would be too late for DD age 6. On our last cruise we missed out on all of the 7:30 events (and there seemed to be a lot of them).

Thanks for sharing you expertise

PS: Still trying to convince DH to book Eastern April 2004!

 

[lodgelady]

We had several 5 and 6 year olds in our travel party. My advice to you is to take the early seating, then book yourselves at Palo for dinner alone at least two nights. Unless your 6year old is a cheerful night owl the 8:30 seating is asking alot of a kid who has been playing and active all day IMHO....of course every child is different. Next time we go our kids will be older and we will want the late seating as it was hard to get to the early seating on time!

 

[swclark]

Last time we booked the late seating instead of the early seatings (but we have teens), but we found the logistics of getting to things just as hard sometimes. And, we found that our kids friends were all on the early one so that didn't work out either.

I would say with the smaller kids, go for the early one, the late one will be harder for them and you will still have logistic problems depending on what you want to do.

 

[Tooth Fairy]

We took our twins(8 yr) in Dec. 2002 (7 day) and can only imagine the hardship of having to wait until the 8:30. Hubby and I went in April 2003 and loved the late with just us - we were staying up late and sleeeping late - not an option with the twins!
We also ate at Topsiders one night and found that to be a great option!!

 

[Tooth Fairy]

Forgot to say we booked a 4 day for March 2004 and took early seating because it is easier to change to late. Thought with short days we might want early but then again it's only for 4 days and twins will be 9 1/2 by then. Just a thought!!! Have a great time!

 

[scott62]

We originally were waitlisted for early seating on the 4/26/03 Magic. After much thought on the seating choices, we decided to stick with the late seating. We even linked our late seating reservations to another DIS family with a DD6 & DD5

This worked out for all of us including our DD7. We were not rushed trying to get ready for dinner. Seeing the early show became our chance to unwind from the day's activities, and we always had time between the show and dinner to walk around or go to the character meets. If DD7 got hungry before dinner we just went on up to deck 9 and got her a snack. One night DD7 decided that she wanted to have an early dinner, go to the show, then attend the Goofy Giggle Gala. She had a great time.

We really liked the late seating and have requested it for our next cruise.

Scott

 

[OurDogCisco]

I really think it depends on your family's habits and time zone. We took late seating because we live on the West Coast and if we had the 6:30 seating it would only be 3:30 our time. Also, we didn't get up super early in the morning. I let my kids sleep in most mornings on vacations anyways. Also, my dd4 spent most of the time during dinner at the club so, it worked out for us. I guess, it is what you expect from your kids: Do you want them to dine with you every evening? Can they stay up late? There are tons of food options so, they won't get hungry by staying up too late. My dd was so excited about the vacation she stayed up later than normal in general anyways. Also, our 15 month old did great staying up late. But she really never slept as a baby so, this was fun and made it easier for her to fall asleep. Good luck with your decision.

Tina

 

[joanb]

We have had both and preferred the late, but my children are a little older. We loved eating about 5 meals a day. Breakfast, lunch, snack(around 5pm-hot dogs, chicken, pizza, ice cream), dinner and late night what ever they were serving. MY children even woke me one night to get up for the dessert goodies!

Joan