Not Eating in the Resturants

[NYIceQueen]

Thank you! I definitely will let them know. We are a family of early morning risers. It's normal for my whole family to be up by 5:30am, even on weekends This works great for getting us to rope drop, but after a couple of days, I do think we would have somewhat adjusted because we will also be staying up late and pure exhaustion will take over. I will play it by ear and if the kids are up for it, I'll take them to late dinner (assuming we can't get early seating). But I know my kids and if they WANT to eat early, I'm not going to force them to wait because that is just bad for all. I definitely don't want to bring crabby kids into the dinning room!

Thanks for all the replies!

Oh I feel you!! I'm the only "early" riser because I work from home....but by early riser I mean usually I'm up by 3 am!! Every day. Even Christmas. My DH is already dreading me waking everyone up early....but on the bright side, I'll get to see some nice sunrises!!

 

[owensamo]

Thank you! I definitely will let them know. We are a family of early morning risers. It's normal for my whole family to be up by 5:30am, even on weekends This works great for getting us to rope drop, but after a couple of days, I do think we would have somewhat adjusted because we will also be staying up late and pure exhaustion will take over. I will play it by ear and if the kids are up for it, I'll take them to late dinner (assuming we can't get early seating). But I know my kids and if they WANT to eat early, I'm not going to force them to wait because that is just bad for all. I definitely don't want to bring crabby kids into the dinning room!

We've been cruising with my DD since she was 4, and have done both early and late, and for the most part prefer late, even when she was younger. The main reason was that we could get her a snack/meal at "normal time", still go to the early show, she could have a snack in the MDR with us, then we could run her to the kids club while we finished our meal (now the kid's club team will do the running for you, so even better). It worked great for us - we tend to be early risers and on Eastern already, but DD's clock changes quite a bit on vacation, and she and DH tend to sleep in and stay up later when given the chance.

If you can't switch to main, you could always feed the kids on deck, go to the show, and then drop them in the clubs and go to dinner in the MDR yourselves. The clubs are used to handling kids in the evenings. I do really recommend trying to make it to the MDRs, though - they're really a large part of the experience of Disney vs. other cruises.

 

[mmouse37]

I am not getting into a medical debate either just that saying again that, in general, choosing late seating on a vacation is not going to make you ill. I totally agree that everyone knows their body best. Hundreds of kids eat at late seating every night onboard and have been just fine. No one is talking about a lifestyle of eating late at night. Do what is best for you and your family.

I also am an early riser. Sometimes I will leave the cabin and go up on deck and get tea and walk around while hubby is still sleeping. I love being up and out early onboard.

MJ

 

[MPS516]

Thanks Everyone, having a great time following the conversation.

OP, yes please let your dining team know you are not coming for dinner no matter which seating you end up with. You can call the assigned dining room room at some point during the day with name room and table number, they inform head server. They can not give your table away, you are always entitled to go.

The fun part of all this are the time and eating points. My DW and I are both medical practitioners since the mid 70's. What makes this fun is that everything everyone has said is true based on some study. If we had to follow through on "the rest of the story" we would be reading for months.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for metabolism purposes, should be high in protein and consumed within an hour of getting up (double chocolate coco puffs don't count). Don't forget to get up when you wake up, important part of study.

Time acclimation is a real thing and depends on a person's norms. Shift work, daylight exposure, calorie intake and of course metabolism. Everyone is different. Do what works for you.

Good luck with early seating, our DD's really enjoyed the other young girls seated with us and made lots of friends.

 

[Sir William]

I also am an early riser. Sometimes I will leave the cabin and go up on deck and get tea and walk around while hubby is still sleeping. I love being up and out early onboard.

MJ

We are in accord. I get up, walk 3 miles, then have some tea and usually something light from Cabanas to tide me over until DW awakes. If I waited for her before having breakfast, I'd be waiting several hours.

We always have late seating, so to tide me over I have a light snack about 4pm. Nothing too heavy or too filling, but enough to get me through to dinner. I also limit my dinner intake, much to my server's distress, because enough is as good as a feast.

 

[k3chantal]

We booked in Feb so our options were limited. Our travel agent did put us on the wait list for early dining and I plan to check on it when we get on board, but I am just assuming it won't happen and planning accordingly. Prior to our cruise we will have spent 7 nights at WDW so I am guessing our body clocks would have adjusted

You can even try to change it once on board. Haven't read through all the posts but another idea would be: the kids could eat in the kids' clubs and you and your husband could eat in the MDRs.........

 

[Weedy]

What you may not realize is how much food is available ALL of the time. You do not need to worry about getting hungry. There is pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs As well As some healthy options wraps, fruit and milk at the fast food places on the pool deck.
Also room service is available at no charge.

When our kids were young they loved the kids clubs and did not like sitting through a long dinner. So we would pick up food from pool deck or order room service. The kids would eat in the cabin and rest a little as we got ready for dinner the we would drop them off at the club and we would have a nice dinner.

 

[cherice95403]

You could also feed them quick service, then take them to the kids club and then you can eat at the MDR by yourselves while they play. Just let your server know so you don't hold things up for other guests.

This is the best suggestion I've seen!

 

[over50visits]

This is one of those terrible myths spread around that cause families so many issues the time difference has No effect at all.

No kidding. If someone gave advice that the time change would make it okay to eat later than is comfortable, that's of course not right.

I've read, and personally found many times, that humans easily adapt to time zone changes on the order of 2-3 hours per day. When we travel to Europe it takes a couple of days, but since CA is 3 hours off FL, on the next day of the cruise their rhythms would likely be perfectly in sync with the sun and the ship schedule.

If you depend on the time change for a cruise to justify later dining than is comfortable, you'll be miserable starting the second day! I bet lots of people can adapt to late dining easily, but I also bet a number of people can't.

We known a number of folks who wanted a change; and seemed to have pretty good success. First call DCL or your TA (NOT email), and if that isn't successful then just go to the dining change point (generally the atrium MDR) and see if they can help you. I bet they will!

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I see that you're from California. You know that 8:00 pm will be 5:00 to your bodies, right? It's not that late to be eating.

When we travel we don't go by home time. We go by local time. You adjust your sleep time to local so your dinner time changes with that change.

OP, I feel that you should attempt to move your dining when you board the ship. Many times it can be done. You, alone, know your family and what will or won't work for them. The dining rooms are part of the cruise experience on a Disney ship. Not so much for another cruise line. We were on HAL and never once ate in the MDR. It was the most relaxing cruise we had ever been on.

 

[Amazonparrot]

This is one of those terrible myths spread around that cause families so many issues the time difference has No effect at all.

On the cruise ship the kids will be up with the sun on local time. In fact if they have gone to the WDW parks or stayed on Florida a few days pre cruise they will be on Florida time.

They will eat breakfast local ship time, they will eat lunch local ship time say 12 noon to 1.30 pm ( or if getting off in port eat local time) then there expected to swap back to West coast time for dinner some seven hours post lunch but go to bed at local ship time?

This advice causes kids to have meltdowns at dinner.

The OP is sensible she wants main dinner with kids this is just going to confuse it all.

You are absolutely right!!

 

[bode1025]

Understand.

But general medical fact is do not go to bed on a full stomach, let it go down first.

If you eat at 6 pm and go to bed at 10pm then it has four hours to " go down" if you eat 8 pm > 10 pm and go you bed at 10.30pm, It has not had time to digest. It is not good for you.

Now adults may prefer eating late as they go to bed later, fine, if you eat at 8 pm at home fine, but saying a time difference will help you is totally wrong. Now children are far more sensitive, their eating more on a cruise ship, and drinking more pop soda, and we pump them up during the day, their up early doing new things in clubs or the pools, they get over tired.

To give them a meal pre teenager, at 8 pm, when they are likely to be over tired from the day, and eat a full meal or child's meal and then go to bed straight away is asking for trouble, they are over full, the food doesn't digest before sleep and they will be up with an upset tummy overnight, or be sick.

Now if you ask any medical professional they will say let food go down first, they say that breakfast is the most important meal as we burn it off, then lunch as we are awake but they say we get it all wrong by eating our main food in the evening when we do not burn it off it turns more to fat, and lays on your stomach overnight.

Research shows eating late has a connection with Type 2 diabetes.Dr Satchidananda Panda, the a leadIng author, said that at certain times of day the liver, intestines and muscles are at peak efficiency, while at other times they are ‘sleeping’. He added: ‘Every organ has a clock. Those metabolic cycles are critical.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...S-make-fat-researchers-say.html#ixzz3WL7CrPrL
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I bet you and everyone here knows the feeling of going to palo dinner over eating and being too full to sleep after however on brunch you can work it off.

In the end the parents should do what they feel best these boards are all just opinions.

http://t.today.com/health/eating-late-night-may-disrupt-learning-memory-2D80504709

http://t.today.com/health/eating-late-night-may-disrupt-learning-memory-2D80504709
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/11/15/dangers-late-night-eating.aspx

http://www.webmd.com/diet/diet-truth-myth-eating-night-causes-weight-gain

http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/it-okay-eat-past-8-pm

We are talking about a one week cruise, not a lifestyle choice. My kids aren't going to have memory issues, develop learning disorders or diabetes because of a choice of late dinner during a one week cruise. Generally, early is better. One week during vacation, nothing bad is going to happen. No need to post studies about long term effects. We are talking about one week!!!! Make the decision that works best for your family!

 

[gtpoohbear]

Food eaten late is not good for children eat then straight to bed it will get pre teenagers ill.
.

As some PPs have said, it depends on the person and what they are used to. At home, my family never eats dinner until after 8pm, because that's when everyone gets home. And we go to bed around 9, basically as soon as dinner and dishes are done. (Kids are 11 and 4, their schedule has been this way their whole life)

On vacation we prefer to eat around 7 because we are always hungry by then, but if we eat any earlier, we have to eat a snack later because we don't sleep well on an empty stomach. I'll wake up around 2am starving if I try, lol! And then I either have to get up and eat, or toss around restlessly for the next 5 hours. Either way, not a great night of rest. Kids have the same problem.

But I definitely agree that you can't count on the time change to help, your body will adapt within a day based on daylight. (It's a 2-hr change for us, and honestly I never even really notice once we are there)

I would keep trying to get switched if you really don't think late will work. Actually I think right now we are set for early seating on our cruise next year, but I will definitely be changing it. Lots of people may change at the last minute, opening up some spots.

 

[alaska8]

We had late seating for our first cruise. My son eats dinner early and goes to bed early. We ended up ordering room service (or grabbing something from upstairs) at his usual dinner time. We still went to the late seating MDR and he did fine. He seemed to have far more energy than usual and stayed up far later

 

[oam]

We were only able to get the late sitting and I KNOW that will never work for us. My kids like to eat around 5pm and would never last that long. My guess is that we will eat on deck and go to the early show.

My question is, should I tell someone I won't be there each day? Thanks!

We thought we had a late sitting all through our planning 3 months out.We checked in and made plans to do things thinking we had a late dinner. 10 mins before first dinner DW checked our plans and realized we had been changed to first with out asking. Never saw DW and 2 DD's get ready so fast.Keep trying I'm sure you can get first sitting.

 

[bumbershoot]

If someone gave advice that the time change would make it okay to eat later than is comfortable, that's of course not right.

Absolutely no one is saying to do that.

People are saying to eat at the time their stomachs say to eat, which, depending on the person (you say studies have shown, but MY body isn't part of that study, that people change easy for a 3 hour time change, and MY body has never gotten that memo), COULD be at an "o'clock" different than the "o'clock" you eat at at home.

So my family tends to eat at 7pm pacific time. If I'm on the east coast inside of the first nearly 2 weeks (seriously, it takes me and DS a LONG time to truly acclimate), that means 10pm pacific time is going to be when I get hungry, if I've kept on pacific time and didn't start slowly moving to eastern time. If I sign up for early dining, it's pretty much lunchtime for me and I'm going to have to find dinner later. But if I put us down for late dining, and change the day up a bit, it can work.

It's about eating when it's comfortable for you, NOT changing things around so the *time* is the same number on the clock.


But people need to stop assuming that because THEY can acclimate easily that it means EVERYONE can do so. I have bounced around from west to east coast since I was 17 years old, and I have never EVER gotten used to the time change going east inside of a day or two. I will ALWAYS have a meltdown on day 3 or so no matter what I do, and it still won't be easy for me. Same for my son. DH gets used to that change quickly on *work* trips, but not on leisure trips because he doesn't *want* to and/or because he doesn't travel in the same way on his work trips vs when he's with us.

 

[piccolopat]

If they really can't wait for late dinner, how about a family ice cream stop at 5 to tide them over until the late seating?

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Yes. This is because if you are seated with other guests your servers will wait for you to show up to start taking everyone's order. However, you should still plan on tipping the servers for the cruise. This is because the way DCL sets things up, your dinner servers are the ones you tip. Those same servers staff the MDRs, buffet, & quick service locations onboard during the rest of the day.

Just want to echo what lbgraves posted. Just because you choose not to eat during your scheduled time (if you can't get it changed), they are still serving you during other times on the day. But as others have posted, try eating at your assigned time first. I hope you get a surprise call or e-mail saying your time has been moved to main seating; good luck!!!
Sending you some pixie dust they can change it.
And three wishes you coming your way.

 

[pgroom48]

Thank you! I definitely will let them know. We are a family of early morning risers. It's normal for my whole family to be up by 5:30am, even on weekends This works great for getting us to rope drop, but after a couple of days, I do think we would have somewhat adjusted because we will also be staying up late and pure exhaustion will take over. I will play it by ear and if the kids are up for it, I'll take them to late dinner (assuming we can't get early seating). But I know my kids and if they WANT to eat early, I'm not going to force them to wait because that is just bad for all. I definitely don't want to bring crabby kids into the dinning room!

Thanks for all the replies!

I have 3 little ones and always do late dining on our Disney cruises. First thing, if you don't find out before you embark you got early dining, try to switch right after you board. The navigator will give a time and location to go to request it before you even leave port. If that doesn't work, then it's considerate to tell your server you won't be there, however, after the first day you might find your entire day shifts later. As I said we have 3 little ones and we find they sleep late on the ship and never do at home so our whole day is pushed back. We aren't strict on bed time on the ship like we are at home so there isn't a real routine and so much goes on past their normal bedtime that we let them stay up later. In fact we usually have to wake them up in the morning and that is NOT normal at home. If they are hungry before "our" seating time we get them something from the pool deck or order room service. Then if they don't really eat at dinner we don't worry to much. Since we have late seating, we do dine and play and they can't wait to get to the kids club. You might not want to tell the waiter you will never be there but explain your situation and that you will play it by ear. That way he doesn't wait for you and takes the other table mates orders. If you show up a few minutes later, they will be happy to take your order too!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

I've only done it once in 56 nights on DCL, but isn't Cabanas sit down dinner? If you don't get early seating, you could still have a sit down family dinner early there.