Lunch in Kids Club

[goofygal531]

i can't find the answer to this anywhere!

DH and I just booked Palo Brunch for 11am-1pm. I see that lunch is noted on the navigator at Noon. How is lunch done in the kids club?

This is our 11th cruise but only our second in many years with Disney. Everything is done so differently than the major cruise lines! I was surprised I didn't have to pay for the brunch at time of booking! I'm even more surprised lunch is served in the kids club. Usually I pick the kids up from 12pm-2pm when the kids club closes for lunch.

 

[lanejudy]

Lunch is provided in the Club/Lab. It will be announced, but kids are not made to attend lunch. You'll want to make sure you instruct them to listen for the announcement and go when food is ready. If they decide to play through lunch, it won't be served again later. Lunch generally consists of something along the lines of a cheese sandwich and piece of fruit, nothing too exciting. If your kids won't eat that, you might opt for room service before dropping them at the Club.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[squirrel]

On the classic ships they put out plates with sandwiches and veggies on the table. They announce lunch and those that want to eat go and eat. I would never leave a child there to eat lunch in the club. They have so many offerings on the pool deck and at the buffet. I would let my niece eat with us and then drop her off if she wanted to go to the club.

I believe it's quite different on the newer ships as they have a kitchen area nearby.

 

[goofygal531]

Thank you for your quick responses!

I'll probably pick them up after our brunch and take them to the buffet.

I wasn't sure if all the kids were told to be seated and eat or if it was optional. This works!

Thanks.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

My son had spaghetti carbonara for example it's not just sandwiches.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I would recommend getting them a little something around 10:00 either from Cabanas or room service and then picking them up when your brunch is over and getting them an actual lunch then.

 

[houseofduck]

According to my children and from what I have seen, they strongly suggest that you eat during mealtime. If you don't eat, you are not allowed to play wherever you'd like while the others are eating. I think you have to watch a movie if you don't want to eat. I usually try not to have my children in the clubs during mealtimes. When I have picked them up at mealtimes, they are usually seated by the big screen.

 

[bumbershoot]

On the Dream cruises we've been on, the two times DS has been there over a mealtime, they *make* ALL children go through the lunchroom to see what's there. After kids have gone through, if they decide not to eat, they can play. But since everyone's eating (we have always fed DS before going to the club/lab around a mealtime so he's not interested) there's no one to play with. Therefore, videogames/movies, because there's nothing else to do do on your own.

DS would way rather have a piece of pizza from the pool deck than a cheese sandwich at the Lab.

 

[lisamarie12]

DD ate there when we were in San Juan, because we did an excursion without her. She said they fed her "lots of sandwiches" and something else. Of course I don't remember what the something else was, but it was something along the lines of pasta/pizza or chicken strips. Some kind of "kid food." When we picked her up, we went to the buffet for lunch and she was "too full to eat," except for cookies of course because who is ever too full for cookies. lol. She must have eaten something there. And my child is one of those if given the choice to eat or play, she will probably play, so eating must have been strongly encouraged.

If you are on the ship, you probably would want to take them to lunch even though they "could" stay in the club. When we did Palo, we had 11:00 reservations, so DH took her to the buffet for late breakfast while I got ready (we slept in a little). And then she and I had an afternoon snack later that day.

 

[RedStars]

Our experience with dinner was that they announced the dinner once and didn't guide kids to the food area. Neither my 6yo or 3yo ate any time they were on the kids club. They also didn't get directions on how to get a drink. It was one of my frustration with the kids club (the other being the lack of cross announcements for activities).

On our next cruise, we will feed them before/after.

 

[MunFam]

We added a specific note to DDs file that we did not want her eating in the club. She has food allergies, so we did not want to deal with them sending up an allergen again. They told us the first day we could order her a meal and send it to the club for her...but it had allergens on it!!! So after that we scrapped the eating in the club idea.

Anyways:
On the Wonder, you can send a meal for your kid to the club (we sent a burger and fries, they added coleslaw-allergen), and you can also make a note that you do not want them eating.

 

[bumbershoot]

I will say that it's really hard to get straight answers from kids about what goes on in the clubs. We're all relying on our kids' memories, which makes it difficult. My guy is 11 now, but took his first cruise at 8 and each Disney cruise how he's able to relay what goes on has been different. And, of course, he tends to close down the lab so he's wiped out when telling us about the hours he spent there.

 

[RedStars]

I'm going on the fact that both times I picked my kids up they were STARVING and drank a tumbler of water within 30 seconds of picking them up.
I was also there once at meal time (on another day) and I witnessed the meal call out. Which consisted of "dinner is ready if you want to eat".

 

[MonoMan]

Lunch is provided in the Club/Lab. It will be announced, but kids are not made to attend lunch. You'll want to make sure you instruct them to listen for the announcement and go when food is ready. If they decide to play through lunch, it won't be served again later.

This was our experience on the Dream and the Magic for both lunch and dinner. They will offer the kids an opportunity to eat, but they don't have to eat. We asked about it the day before and knowing that our son would prefer to do other activities we took care of feeding him. There are so many options for snacks or meals at all times so it wasn't difficult. Don't forget you can always order room service and they can eat while you get ready. Enjoy!