We had the 2:30 ressies for lunch during our trip in July. It was late for my DD3 (had just turned 3 the week before) since that is during her nap time and we try to take her back to the motorhome for a nap each day. We have done the 12:30 ressies also and I found that there was no difference between the two times as far as the princesses being very involved. You could tell the way that they were cleaning up after people that they were starting to get ready for dinner. I did think that the dessert was a little cold (it should have been warm) but I think that it was because of the late seating and them not making any others for lunch. In my opinion, I would take the 2:30 seating again if that was all that I could get, but I would prefer to have an earlier seating if possible.