Late Dining with Young Kids

[Alex Ash]

I am looking for some positive stories, advantages and people's tips on doing late dining with young kids. We are on the wait list for main dining, but I'm contemplating sticking with late dining. It will mean a very late dinner for my kids (we are travelling west for the cruise so that means 'late dining' is dinner at what feels like 9pm for them). I'm starting to feel like the kids may sit better through the early shows compared to the late shows and that appeals to me. I know all kids are different but I'm wonder how people made late dining "work for them" with young kids.

Thank you!

 

[Marc D]

Many variables come into play. How engaged are your kids in meals ? How old are they ? My son has always eaten multiple courses from the adult menu and loves interacting with the servers. He‘s certainly not rushing to the kids clubs during the meal, like plenty of kids do. Therefore, he rarely was so tired that he didn‘t enjoy late seating, unless he had been swimming in the ocean all day. If meals are a chore for them, your kids might end up sleeping with their face in their plate. Sending them to the clubs might help them pass the time while you enjoy the rest of your meal. Counselors come and pick up the kids from the dining room. Just let your servers know when you arrive and they’ll expedite the kids meals.

When he was younger, our son always took a nap during the sea days. That helped a lot. But we felt main seating was a better fit for him. He would eat, then go back to the room to take a shower and get into PJ’s, then go the show. He usually didn‘t fall asleep during them.

Both seatings offer advantages and disadvantages, but you can make anything work.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Ours were 11/9/9 when we started late dining regularly. They were fine once we made sure that everyone (including mom & dad) had an afternoon snack and napped if needed. Once we did that, it was smooth sailing for ours

 

[Psr235]

So we’re outliers in that we prefer second seating. We’ve done both and have requested late again for our upcoming cruise. While you do finish with dinner later, you aren’t up THAT much later than if you attend the second show. If our kids were a bit restless/tired, we would take advantage of the kids club counselors who come an hour or so into the meal and off to the club they went.

The biggest benefit to late seating (IMO) is that the pool area clears out around 4:45/5 while many are getting ready for dinner. My kids would ride the Aqua Dunk over and over without a line, swim in a nearly empty pool, and enjoy a pre-show snack. The biggest drawback is going to bed on a full stomach, but a nighttime stroll on deck 4 helps digest while taking in an incredible view

With early seating, we found ourselves rushing to get back on the ship from an excursion and racing to get ready for dinner. With late seating we feel like we have 3 separate days: excursion time, enjoying the ship time, and evening dinner and show time.

FYI, our kids were 5 and 8 the first time we tried second seating and we typically eat around 6/6:30, in bed at 8. It was a push, but they were able to switch to vacation mode and roll with it. The daily 5 PM french fry snack and promise of dessert probably helped the situation as well

 

[braysmommy]

Our first cruise my son was almost 5 for our 14 night transatlantic. I was so worried as we had second seating and at home he was in bed by 7-7:30. I was shocked how well he did at dinner each night! I did make sure he ate a good lunch and let him pick each night what he wanted for dinner which ended up being mac n cheese for 14 straight nights.

 

[monkeydawn]

I sailed recently with a 1 and 4 year old and we had late seating. We very much liked that the 4 year old was up and engaged for the shows, which she may not have been after a meal. Our servers did a great job of making sure the kids got started eating right away. That may have resulted in a longer meal overall for us (or maybe we/ our servers were just pokey) as we often closed down the dining room. I'm not going to lie, often the kids were napping while the adults were finishing dinner. But it did all work out. The parents even said they'd do late dining again.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

We have been enthusiastic members of Team Late Dining since our first DCL cruise in 2011 (to Alaska, coming from the Central Time Zone, with a 3 and 1 year old!) This meant we were eating dinner at 10:30 pm-11:30 pm "our time".

The first night, we got a cute picture of our then 3 year old literally falling asleep with bread in his mouth prior to the appetizers. And after that, you know what, they adapted fine.

For us, the food on DCL is definitely not a highlight of the experience--I would much rather our kids be awake and interactive for the shows than dinner.

YMMV may vary, however. We traveled with extended family one time who had a nearly five year old who fell asleep at dinner 6/7 nights before the food got there. Our experience is likely influenced by a variable schedule at home as well, due to work demands. If your kids are accustomed to a very predictable scheduled, they may not do as well with the later time.

 

[Quellman]

My 6 year old started cruising at 14 months. He has always done fine at late seating, even if we squeezed back in a third nap.
My 14 month old daughter did first dining, and honestly, for our family we prefer second seating. Just so much more relaxing.

My caveat is that we seldom go to the stage shows anymore and instead engage in other activities.

 

[Minkyboodle]

For our first 6 cruises we ALWAYS had early dining. Had even successfully waitlisted for it a few times. On our last cruise they were unable to get us into early dining so we didn't have a choice. My son was 8 at the time and is typically in bed by 8:30 on weekdays during the school year. I was prepared for all of us to be miserable and was shocked to find the exact opposite was true. We would sometimes get a late snack if we felt like we "couldn't make it" until dinner {read with heavy sarcasm}. We loved that our servers didn't feel as rushed to get us in and out and we loved that the dining rooms were less crowded.

We also didn't realize how much we would rush after getting back on the ships to shower and be ready for dinner with main seating. We will only choose late dining from here on out!

 

[lorimay]

We do fine when we sail with our grandkids, my grandson now 11, loves when the have the counselors pick them up after dinner, he loves the Lab & Club.
My granddaughter is usually done after dinner, she is 9 now. She usually passes out on one of our laps.

 

[TestingH2O]

We did late seating in Alaska (DD was 5) and the Med (she was 6). I prefer the pace of the day with late, and we all enjoyed the shows more. I bet you'll be fine. And, if you think it's tough, you can always eat at one of the alternative locations.

 

[Alex Ash]

Prior to kids I was all about the late dining and have only done main seating on two cruises with the kids. I love the slower pace and calmer atmosphere and my kids enjoy a slower pace as well. My preference is late seating but just needed some encouragement that late seating is possible with very small kids. Thank you for your tips! I'd love for our girls to be engaged in the shows this time as we skipped most of them when they were younger due to bed time.

I have asked to be on the wait list for main dining, but I'm wondering...if I get main dining and change my mind back to late can I switch again closer to the date? I know that's wishy-washy but I'm undecided If I need to call Disney and ask to be taken off the wait list, or if I can leave my options open?

 

[Mitura]

We have always had late seating. Our sons started at 7 & 10 yo. We have noticed other little ones around during late seating. Yes some do have a hard time but the majority go thru with it just fine. The advantages are mentioned here, relaxed dinner, relaxed getting back from excursions, multiple Aqua Duck trips (we did 10 in one early dinner seating time period). But one thing not mentioned (maybe I missed it) is the extra attention the servers give. Since we're the last seating they hang around, let us chill after dinner, chat with us, longer than I think they would with an early seating. Also for the interaction shows (Crush for example) we have always had a greater chance of being part of the show, due to the less diners.

I think that if the young ones have a nap and have mid day snack (like I do LOL), it will make the late seating go that much better.

 

[Mommb]

When we first started booking 2nd seating dining, our kids complained about being hungry before dinner. Once my husband or I started stopping by Cove Cafe in late afternoon and bringing a small snack back to the room for the kids, the complaints stopped. Although the small pastries were actually less filling than the ice cream or cookies the kids could get elsewhere on the pool deck, they were a "grown-up treat" which was special. On the next cruise, the kids actually requested late dining so that they could get snacks from Cove Cafe again.

 

[klug_bug2010]

We are part of the late dining fan crew. We first tried it when our kids were 5 and 9, and they did great. We had a 4 o'clock snack, which made it no problem to wait until our later dining time. We loved the early show and meal after. The biggest draw to us was the kid's club pick up. We would let our server know we were sending the kids to the kids club, so they would get fed faster, then mom and dad could have a quiet meal and dessert, with adult alone time after the meal. We would pick the kids up a couple hours after supper. We will be doing second seating again on our next cruise with kids ages 5, 9, and 13.

 

[Missus_Aitch]

Another vote for late dining here. First cruise we had it against our will, and my daughter was then used to dining at 6:00 and going to bed at 8:00. She adjusted beautifully on board though. Turns out we really liked having some down time in the late afternoon, especially after port days. She did the “dine and play” where the kids get served one course quickly and then are picked up by kids club crew and whisked away. She didn’t nap on board but did sleep later in the morning than usual. All will be well. Bon voyage!

 

[Lisa F]

I HAD early seating booked but after reading numerous threads on this, just switched to late. My son is 11 and I travel solo with him. He is on the spectrum and when he was younger schedule was key but at 12 he does great so I decided to go for the more relaxed schedule. Makes those 3:45 and 4pm tastings better timed as well!

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

We have a 7-year-old DD and love late dining. She is capable of being a night owl and sleeping in, especially while on vacation, so it works for us. Seeing the shows is super important to her, so this way she is wide awake for the show. If she doesn't want to stay all the way through second dining, she goes with the counselors for Dine and Play, which works really well for all of us.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

I have asked to be on the wait list for main dining, but I'm wondering...if I get main dining and change my mind back to late can I switch again closer to the date? I know that's wishy-washy but I'm undecided If I need to call Disney and ask to be taken off the wait list, or if I can leave my options open?

I can't imagine a Disney cruise where you would have difficulty switching TO late dining. I expect you could do that online whenever the mood struck, and even if that didn't work, the poor CM handling dining requests on the first day would probably want to kiss your feet if you actually showed up and asked to open up a table in main dining for some of the other people yelling at him/her.

 

[kmmfl2va]

We first did second seating with our kids on Our Alaskan cruise...we are from the East Coast so it was like eating at midnight our time. My son was 6 and fell asleep at the table the first night. Every night after was fine! We now prefer second seating. We don’t feel so rushed coming back from excursions And are able to have a happy hour before the early show.