Little kids in the dining rooms?

[HappyMommy2]

As we prepare for our cruise (4-day) I'm getting a bit anxious about taking my little boys to dinner each evening.

My boys are as well-behaved as average 4- and 2-year-old boys, but I'm concerned that we might be seated with people who have no kids (or whose kids are in the clubs so the parents would have a break from kids!), or that my kids won't be able to sit through the whole meal. I've read many threads on this subject and the common solution seems to be to have the kids go to the clubs during dinner (or to let the kids eat quickly and then take them to the kids' programs for the rest of dinnertime). These sound like good ideas except DH will have just returned from military deployment and we both feel a strong sense of needing our family to be together as much as possible right now(we do plan on using the kids' programs one evening so we can have some alone time but DH isn't keen on having dinner without the kids every night).

So do people take small kids to dinner, or does everyone really put their little ones in the clubs/Flounder's? Will our servers be patient with our boys' "kidlike" behavior? Obviously if my kids are acting up to the point of disturbing others I'll take them out of the dining room, but will other guests and our servers think it's strange that we have the kids with us every night in the first place?

Sorry this was long. Just trying to get rid of those pre-vacation jitters!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I get the impression that you've never cruised on DCL before. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

First of all, Disney goes to great lengths to match families w/similar-aged children to be seated together. Not only that, their 'rotational dining' is based on ages of children in certain age groups. (In other words, a majority of families in the same dining room will have children of certain age groups, i.e, preschoolers, school-age, teenagers, etc.)

While there are people w/out children on this cruise, remember, it's DISNEY, and a majority of the cruisers are people w/children.

If it's important (which I agree it is too,) to spend time as a family at mealtime, by all means, go for it! Believe me, there are MANY families who'll have children in the dining rooms the same age as yours.

 

[KathyTX]

Your kids are absolutely welcome at dinner with you! Enjoy your family time together.

The servers are quite good at serving the little ones, and will take care to see that they get served quickly and that they get food that they will enjoy.

You'll see LOTS of kids of all ages in the dining room. Well behaved children are always welcome, and a DCL cruise is an ideal place to enjoy your time together as a family.

(Any adults on DCL who are actively looking for a break from kids will be eating at Palo or room service, I would guess...)

If by chance you are seated at a table that doesn't feel very kid-friendly, you can discreetly ask the head waiter to reassign you to another table. This did happen on our last DCL cruise. We were seated with a lovely family, but it consisted of parents in their 60s, their grown children in their 40s, DH, myself, and DS8. I knew there was NO WAY that DS would be able to happily endure a week of long dinners where he was the only child, so after the first night we asked if we could be reassigned to a table with other kids. We wound up joining a DIS family with two 18 year old sons and a daughter DS's age. We had terrific dinners with this gang, and DS worshipped those two teen boys!

 

[Mary Anne]

My boys were almost 3 and 5 when we took our first cruise (not Disney) Do not underestimate your children. While they (at tht age) could not sit for longer then 20 minutes at a dinner table at home) really enjoyed sitting eating for the hour or more on the cruise. There was so much going on around them. Plus the staff is really good with them. If it really bothers you that others might be upset eating with other children then ask for a table of 4. That is what we always do.

I feel that doing a Disney Cruise, there ARE going to be children and LOL I just hope the ones acting up are not mine :

 

[WDWLVR]

We don't have any kids but I can share some experiences with you. On our last cruise we asked for the APL rotation so we would be in Lumiere's for Formal & Semi-Foral night. Disney does their rotations for the most part based on who is cruising and this rotation is the one with little kids.

The servers are so fantastic with the children! Our head server was MacLean and he was great as well. I saw him stop by a number of tables and cut up the food for the little ones. There were always making the children smile and enjoy their meal.

Those who really want a night away will book Palo.

I hope you and your children enjoy the cruise!

 

[kcsc1291]

Absolutely take your kids! First of all you are on a Disney Cruise - which means family and fun and if you get seated with someone who doesn't expect to be eating with children than they are on the wrong cruise. Like someone else mentioned the servers (we had Maclean as our head server too!) are so great with the kids. Our servers (Collin and Nadim) really took care of the kids, helped to keep them entertained and even cut their food for me! If you and your husband would like an adult evening alone then I would say have them eat in the kids club, otherwise don't worry take them with you and have a magical time!

 

[crisi]

Our 4 and 5 year old ate with us two nights out of four. The other two nights they wanted to be in the clubs, which was fine with us.

We were seated with another family that had boys of a similar age. The first night all the kids were there, then we never saw their kids again. They certainly weren't going to put up a fuss about ours.

Dinner was a little slow for them, but the servers kept things moving enough. And between trips to the bathroom and multiple courses, and the servers taking extra time with them, they did ok.

I'd say on any given night, about half the kids were in the dining room. Most of them on the first night, then the kids (and some of the adults as well) drifted off to other activities and fed themselves in a different fashion. The dining rooms are pretty noisy, in general no one is going to notice a child unless they are particularly ill behaved.

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by kcsc1291
Absolutely take your kids! First of all you are on a Disney Cruise - which means family and fun and if you get seated with someone who doesn't expect to be eating with children than they are on the wrong cruise.

DITTO!


And another vote for Maclean!!!

Rae

 

[HappyMommy2]

Thank you all very much for the very reassuring replies! You put my mind at ease and now I am really looking forward to enjoying dinners with the kids at the various restaurants.

Thanks again!

 

[TheWog]

Bring the kids and have a great time. Even if the other families kids are not there they have them and can certainly understand. That's why you chose Disney. You will be fine and the servers are great with kids too. So relax and enjoy.

 

[TheWog]

Bring the kids and have a great time. Even if the other families kids are not there they have them and can certainly understand. That's why you chose Disney. You will be fine and the servers are great with kids too. So relax and enjoy.