Question about dining with children

[kellyb2000]

I know that early seating is kind of "reserved" for families with small children and that late seating is for older children and adults, but I also know that you have to option to choose which seating you want. We will be traveling with 6 children ages 12, 9, 7, 4, 3 & 18 months. As a group we have decided that we would rather miss a show or two since we've already seen them instead of dinner in case we are visiting the ports. Last time we had to rush back to the ship to make dinner. So we have tossed the idea up to maybe switching our dining time to late. My question is, are there any small children during late seating? I'm the kind of person that would not want to ruin anyone else's dinner just in case my son decided to act like a typical 3-year-old one night but I really think it would work out better for us. Have you had late seating with small children and if so what was your experience?

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

There are kids of all ages at both dining times. At the late seating a lot of them fall asleep by the time the main course gets to the table. Some parents prefer the late, even with little ones because the kids get so tired playing all day that their naps run longer in the afternoon or they won't nap at all until late afternoon and they have to be woke up to eat, and that doesn't work very well with kids. So with late dining the kids can nap later and still have time to get up and wake up before dinner. If they get hungry earlier you can grab some fruit at scoops for a lite snack to hold them over till dinner, and not ruin their appetite. Anyone taking a disney cruise should expect kids of all ages to be everywhere at all times. If they want a quiet dinner, they have Palo's for dinner too. We love seeing all the kids in the restaurants, they look so nice and are all so excited to share with everyone at their table about their experiences during the day. Your party is large enough you'll have a table to yourselves too.
Have a magical cruise.
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[crisi]

Early seating is "reserved" for those that ask for it first. Adults, people with older children. If you book early, you will have a choice of early or late. Given that people with little kids book late, there will be plenty of kids at late seating.

 

[Skatermom23]

We have early seating and I have "older" kids. They will be 13 and 15 during the cruise. I just can't see us eating that late at night...not a meal anyways.

 

[JanetMB]

Our DDs are 4 and 2 and we have the late seating. Early wasn't available when we booked. On other vacations they tended to be nightowls (just too much going on!) so I hope they do OK on the cruise.