Question about time of ADR with small children

[bangzoom6877]

We're going to WDW for 5 nights on July 13, 2008. I am able to make our ADRs on Jan. 15th (soon!!), so I am just wondering about the time for dinner. We will have our 2 boys with us, ages 3 and a half years for my big one and 14 months for my little one, at the time we go. We are on the MYW dining plan. Here's the plan so far:

Arrive 7/13 and go to MK around noon. Take a quick break in the area designated for diaper changing, coloring, etc.; dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern at 5 PM then head back to POP Century for bathtime and bedtime.

Animal Kingdom on 7/14; return to hotel around 2 PM; dinner at Boma 6 PM.

Disney Studios on 7/15, with breakfast at Hollywood & Vine with characters at 8 AM when they open; enjoy The Studios for the morning and go back to hotel at around 1 or 2 after lunch; dinner at Ohana 6 PM.

EPCOT on 7/16; return to hotel for nap in the afternoon; head back to EPCOT and have dinner at Biergarten 6 PM.

MK on 7/17 again; nap and relaxation break in the afternoon again; returnt o MK for dinner at Crystal Palace 6 PM. Stay for SpectroMagic Parade (if the kids can handle being there that late) then head back to Pop Century.

On 7/18 we plan to end our vacation with breakfast at Chef Mickey's when they open at 7 AM, then hit the road.

The times I posted above are the times I plan to make the ADR. My kids are very flexible with dining times and adjust well to a slight change in their schedule, but I still want to stick with what they are used to doing. They normally eat dinner anywhere between 5 and 6:30 so I wanted to at least keep it close, so I figured with a 6:00 ADR, we should be eating at 6:30. Is that correct? We plan to arrive early by 20 min. Just wanna make sure there is enough time in the afternoon for a little R & R and still have the kids awake and excited enough for dinner, especially character meals.

How does all this sound? Any advice will be appreciated!

Thanks,
Bonnie

 

[TheDizMom]

It looks good to me . We always shoot for the 5:30-6:00 time frame. I hate to have them eating really late and I think it tends to make them to grouchy to sit and eat when the time comes. We usually do breakfast around 8-9, lunch around 1-2 with snacks in our bag to tide them over (they are great for when you are waiting in line to get on a ride and they get hungry to have a quick snack they can eat while they wait and I always have a few bottles of water in the bag too), and then sometimes around 3:30-4 we'll use up a snack and get an ice cream bar or bag of chips to share. It has worked out well for us and we usually have a few snack items back at the hotel in case they get hungry before they hit the sack. Fortunately you get so much food at the restaurants that we usually take the hours between lunch and dinner to even be hungry again.

 

[dunbarfamily]

Looks like you have a good idea of the times. We've never been there in the busy summer (our northern blood can't take the FL summer heat!). That being said, when we get to our ADRs early, 9 times out of 10 we are seated early and have at least ordered by our original ADR time. So if our ADR was at 5, we arrived at 4:40, seated right away or a few mins after, and ordered/eating by 5. I suspect this might not be the case during the busier times though.


Just one final note....no matter how well you think you have things planned, you cannot anticipate everything that will come up. I know that sounds pretty elementary, however, I was very disappointed our first few trips because I had everything so carefully arranged. I had nap times all figured out, dining times figured out, etc, but what I didn't think of is that when you're in the back of a park and its time for the pre-arranged nap time and the kids are having fun, plans change. I've cancelled ADRs the same day due to this. So just remember, things might change! And its ok. Just roll with it. Since I've figured that out, our trips have been much smoother.

Have a great time!!!

 

[tinkandpan]

We also tend to eat at the time frame you have listed. I don't keep the kids up late while we are in DIsney- in fact it wasn't until my son was 5 he even knew there were fireworks or night parades.... The only thing to keep in mind is on the days you are heading back to the hotel- you might feel rushed coming back to an early ADR by the time you nap/relax/freshen up and travel