Early vs Late Dining...

[DnA2010]

I'd love some advise on early vs late dining- we are a part of 4- DH, myself, DD20 and DDturning8 during cruise. We are coming from the west coast (BC Canada). We are on the Fantasy in Sept.
Currently we have early dining, but I'm wondering if perhaps we should switch to late...given we are from the west, we shouldn't have an issue, eating that late I don't think, but some of the things I was thinking about- for the shows (Aladdin and Frozen etc) do we just see the shows before dining? We have only done 1 Disney cruise and I think it was 9 years ago, so can't remember much about things.
We really want the experience of being sat with another family for our youngest- when we did the cruise before, our oldest became good friends with the kids of the family we were sat with.
I suspect that our daughter will want to go to the clubs after dinner, but I think I read that they don't do the pick-up anymore from the dining rooms?

Would love to hear your thoughts, many thanks!

 

[I Run Long]

We are also coming from the west coast (Vancouver Island) for a Fantasy Cruise in September. We always choose late dining just for the the reasons you state. If you get a bit hungry before, you can always get some small eats on the pool deck - we do this all the time. You see the shows before your dinner and yes, your daughter can go to the clubs after dinner (they don't do pick ups anymore). My daughter absolutely loved the clubs - she's 24 now and still talks about it and has kept in touch with the other kids she met in the club.

Hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[Mommb]

Yes, if you have late dining, you will see the show before dinner (while the people with early dining are at dinner).

You are likely to still be seated with another family at late dining.

The kids programming does not pick up kids from the dining room, but programming does stay open late into the evening so you can drop your daughter off as soon as she finishes eating and return to finish your dinner if you’d like.

 

[sponica]

Since I'm staying in my time zone, I do early dining (my 3 year old was melting down at early dinner on night 3, there's no way we would have survived late dining) but if I was traveling time zones from west to east, I'd be inclined for late dinner. Even with early dining, once my older daughter was finished, I'd run her to the kids club and run back to finish my dinner.
I know we're strange, but we don't *do* the shows.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We do late dining even staying within our east coast time zone, and even though we eat closer to the early dinner time while at home. It's just more pleasant for us. The time we had early dining it felt like we were just moving from meal to meal, we always felt too full, and the afternoon always felt rushed.

If you come from the west coast and have early dining, you're going to feel like you're eating dinner at 3pm.

We also aren't all that into the shows. If we don't see a show, we like to use the pool deck when the first dining group heads to their meal.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'd love some advise on early vs late dining- we are a part of 4- DH, myself, DD20 and DDturning8 during cruise. We are coming from the west coast (BC Canada). We are on the Fantasy in Sept.
Currently we have early dining, but I'm wondering if perhaps we should switch to late...given we are from the west, we shouldn't have an issue, eating that late I don't think, but some of the things I was thinking about- for the shows (Aladdin and Frozen etc) do we just see the shows before dining? We have only done 1 Disney cruise and I think it was 9 years ago, so can't remember much about things.
We really want the experience of being sat with another family for our youngest- when we did the cruise before, our oldest became good friends with the kids of the family we were sat with.
I suspect that our daughter will want to go to the clubs after dinner, but I think I read that they don't do the pick-up anymore from the dining rooms?

Would love to hear your thoughts, many thanks!

We're also on the west coast. When we cruise we switch to local time, so that we're eating at the same time of day we do at home. Now, we tend to take longer cruises, so we're not just changing for a few days. I believe that the natural light that I get in whatever time zone I'm in helps with the change.

I'm one of those who really can't eat a huge meal just before heading for bed.

We've always had shared tables on DCL, and haven't had a bad grouping yet.

 

[DnA2010]

We are also coming from the west coast (Vancouver Island) for a Fantasy Cruise in September. We always choose late dining just for the the reasons you state. If you get a bit hungry before, you can always get some small eats on the pool deck - we do this all the time. You see the shows before your dinner and yes, your daughter can go to the clubs after dinner (they don't do pick ups anymore). My daughter absolutely loved the clubs - she's 24 now and still talks about it and has kept in touch with the other kids she met in the club.

I wonder if we are on the same cruise?!
Thanks for the thoughts!

Yes, if you have late dining, you will see the show before dinner (while the people with early dining are at dinner).

You are likely to still be seated with another family at late dining.

The kids programming does not pick up kids from the dining room, but programming does stay open late into the evening so you can drop your daughter off as soon as she finishes eating and return to finish your dinner if you’d like.

Thank you, this is very useful!

once my older daughter was finished, I'd run her to the kids club and run back to finish my dinner.

I was thinking I could easily do this

If you come from the west coast and have early dining, you're going to feel like you're eating dinner at 3pm.

That's what I was figuring, we can always grab snacks and such.


Thank you everyone for your thoughts!

 

[GhostHost24]

I don't have kids so I can't help there. However I do have two older parents I did my last Disney cruise with who usually eat at 430-500..and even they ended up liking the late dinner. It was nice having thr later dinner to rest a bit before dinner

 

[o&smom]

We come from the west coast (Oregon) and always have early dining. We switch easily to the new time zone. I think you will have more of a possibility of a shared table with a child your daughter’s age at early dining. A majority of people choose late dining because of less kids. I could never do late dining because I am always still full at 10 or 11 at night from early dining. Can just not imagine how I would feel if I had late dining.

 

[CamColt]

We do late dining even staying within our east coast time zone, and even though we eat closer to the early dinner time while at home. It's just more pleasant for us. The time we had early dining it felt like we were just moving from meal to meal, we always felt too full, and the afternoon always felt rushed.

If you come from the west coast and have early dining, you're going to feel like you're eating dinner at 3pm.

We also aren't all that into the shows. If we don't see a show, we like to use the pool deck when the first dining group heads to their meal.

We are very similar! East Coast, eat early at home, but we always get late dining on cruises, even when our kids were very young. While I have always made it a point to see shows that we haven't seen, and occasionally I will go to see my favorites again (B&TB, Disney Dreams), for the most part we skip the show. We enjoy the late afternoon by the pool, before getting ready for dinner.

 

[iivye]

We are from the mid-West but prefer late dinner. I like seeing the early shows and being able to swim while everyone is at dinner. We did early dinner once and it was really loud and hectic so I don't know if it was just a fluke on that cruise but it put us off early dinner. It's also nice to be able to take a break/nap after getting back from a port visit.

 

[Flossbolna]

I love late dining because it gives you a bit more time before the evening starts as the shows start later than first seating for dinner. Makes for a more relaxed day.

There are always plenty of kids at late dining, too, so not finding a family to share table with should not be an issue. But I would actually put in a request to share table with family with kids of your younger daughter’s age. Otherwise they might think a family with young adults could be a good fit as well

 

[DnA2010]

But I would actually put in a request to share table with family with kids of your younger daughter’s age.

Just curious how I would go about doing this?

 

[tlovesdis]

I am in CA and love late dining! No rushing to eat when we get back from a port and we have more time throughout the day to enjoy snacks and such!

 

[Flossbolna]

Just curious how I would go about doing this?

Call DCL (or, if you booked through a travel agent have them call) and tell them to note the request on your reservation. It’s just a request, so no guarantees, but it can’t hurt!

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

I’d prefer late dining bc you are not rushed and have more time to freshen up after coming from a port. But my DH can’t go to bed after just eating (and we are early birds when it comes to bedtime lol), so we’ve ended up doing the early dining.

 

[dreamer17555]

We are on a Sept 7th Sailing on the Fantasy and I love late dining. Especially since I am on a Western and it is port intensive. I do not like feeling rushed getting ready after returning to the ship.

I would second the recommendation if you want to share a table to add it to your request via calling DCL.

Also you might want to see if there are others with a child near your DD's age who would want to meet up. Our sailing has both a FB group & a WhatsApp group so I bet your sailing has something similar and that way you can connect before boarding.

 

[I Run Long]

I wonder if we are on the same cruise?!
Thanks for the thoughts!

We're on the August 31 - Sept 7th Eastern Caribbean

 

[DnA2010]

We are on a Sept 7th Sailing on the Fantasy

See you there I would think we are in the same FB group, will message you

We're on the August 31 - Sept 7th Eastern Caribbean

We get on just after you