Main Dining Waitlist Really Works!!!

[Chirple]

Well done it's very hard to get into MAIN, enjoy your cruise.

Something's that bemuse me, is this forum on Main Vs Late appears to be pro Late, however other active forums it's either 50/50 or pro Main.

We know Main gets full, we know Main gets waitlists like this, and cruiers are so happy when they get Main.

Seeing cruisers post going on waitlists makes me wonder is there some tactical posting going on? Encouraging Late, dinner, but booking on Late availability cruises and then hoping for Main?

Interesting.

I think your "conspiracy theory" is most likely due to the number of cruisers who have been requesting this:

Seems to be easier to request a private table

 

[mom2brooke76]

I hope you don't mind I stick my nose into your thread, we are going to be first time cruisers (2020) and I see main dining means earlier and I understand with young children waiting until 8pm can be near impossible but when we go, our party will be 2 adults and 3 children whose ages will be 22,18,18 and I am wondering what the positives/negatives might be with our group?

I think I am understanding that late diners see earlier shows while early diners see later shows? Just wondering what people might see as the deciding factor (besides ages of children because I know when my children were younger we were getting ready for bed at 8pm not getting ready for dinner) as to which dining time they desire?

OP, sorry to hijack your thread..I would be more than happy to move my questions somewhere else just thought it kind of fit a little with the way the discussion has trended.

Thanks!

For me, I like late dining because I enjoy the full service sit down breakfast on the last morning with my wait staff. With early dining the time is 6:45 am vs late which is 8 am.

 

[KABoom]

Strange observation: I'm just 9 days out from my Western Caribbean and I can still change from late to main dining online. I have not been able to do that within 180 days on our past cruises. We prefer late seating anyway so a 'sold out' main seating isn't a big deal.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

Well done it's very hard to get into MAIN, enjoy your cruise.

Something's that bemuse me, is this forum on Main Vs Late appears to be pro Late, however other active forums it's either 50/50 or pro Main.

We know Main gets full, we know Main gets waitlists like this, and cruiers are so happy when they get Main.

Seeing cruisers post going on waitlists makes me wonder is there some tactical posting going on? Encouraging Late, dinner, but booking on Late availability cruises and then hoping for Main?

Interesting.

I think it's likely because the people on these boards are not typical Disney cruisers. I believe most Disney cruises have large percentage of young families that are new cruisers and have young children. With young kids most people want to stick to their schedules at home. And new cruisers may not understand the benefits of late dining (more times for port excursions, more time to get ready for dinner, etc.)

Whereas this is a forum for people who are very interested in Disney cruises, it's not a perfect cross-section of people who take Disney cruises. As such the users here probably skews towards more experienced cruisers, and I would also guess a large part of people here have older kids.

 

[MomOTwins]

Yep - I am always amazed when DH and I go out on a date night at home and there are other families with little kids age 5 and under sitting quietly and eating after 8pm. Might work for some, but my kids would be either screaming (in baby's case) or asleep in their chair (older siblings) if they had dinner that late. I do wonder what we will do when they are older and can stay out later. I think if I had the choice, I would probably still prefer main so I could go out afterwards for a relaxing evening show or a nighttime swim after dinner. But I would probably book late just to "pay it forward" to the families with small kids who really need main dining.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Are you implying that people on the boards say that they prefer late dining, even when they don't, so that newer cruisers will choose that leaving more early dining slots available? If people are actually doing that, it's pretty underhanded.

We like late dining. Even when the kids were little. The 1st couple of cruises, we obviously wanted main dining, but we quickly realized that many activities were being interrupted because we needed to get back to the room to get ready for dinner. Late dining allows us to enjoy so much more in the late afternoon.

 

[Spiffy MacSpiff]

We like late dining. Even when the kids were little. The 1st couple of cruises, we obviously wanted main dining, but we quickly realized that many activities were being interrupted because we needed to get back to the room to get ready for dinner. Late dining allows us to enjoy so much more in the late afternoon.

We like it too! We were hoping for main dining on our first cruise when our boys were 6 and 9, but got late instead. Since they'd both traveled from babyhood and were good about unusual meal and bed times, we just went with it. As things turned out we loved having more time in the late afternoon, a relaxed dinner, and a later sit-down breakfast on disembarkation day, so we've requested late dining ever since. I don't have an early dining experience to compare it to, but it worked well for us. Our older son would eat and then do Dine and Play, while the little guy would eat and then fall asleep with his head on my lap while DH and I finished dinner in a leisurely fashion. DH wasn't the only dad carrying a sleeping little person back to a stateroom after dinner. It doesn't work for everyone and I can see that with toddlers it could be a huge thing, but if your young children can handle it you might be pleasantly surprised. With older children and teens I wouldn't hesitate.

 

[MichelleCanada]

We are silver and when we booked our cruise for August 2018 our TA put us in the main dining because she knew it would fill up fast. When we did our booking of online activities I noticed it and switched it to late. We are from the west coast so 8:15 pm is 6:15 pm for us. The early dining is just too early. When we travel to the east coast we just keep our regular times. It means we stay up a bit late and sleep in based on the clock. But it makes the transition when we get home easier . I also like having more time after a port day to get ready for dinner.