Rhyme or reason to Dining rotations?

[mbw12]

I really do not care which dining rotation that I get, so I won't be requesting one. But just a question: is there any rhyme or reason to how Disney assigns the dining rotation? For instance, we will be a traveling with our DD5 and DS7, along with the grandparents. Does Disney assign a certain rotation to people traveling with small children or is it all just random?

Just curious.
Bobbi

 

[DrCavin]

I think they try to group them based on age, but that probably has many exceptions based on how many kids are booked. Rotation does not matter to us either, some people want to be in Lumeniers on formal night. As long as we are on the ship is the ultimate requirement for us

 

[TinkersMagicDust]

WE are from the West Coast
Later dining is better as it would be our normal dinner time at home.
remember traveling with kids you need to get them in bed at a special time
later is worst as they are going to bed on a full belly. Adults would not have that problem as they would stay up later anyways. so We think that later if you are on the West Coast is better
mary

 

[mbw12]

WE are from the West Coast
Later dining is better as it would be our normal dinner time at home.
remember traveling with kids you need to get them in bed at a special time
later is worst as they are going to bed on a full belly. Adults would not have that problem as they would stay up later anyways. so We think that later if you are on the West Coast is better
mary

I have requested early dining time, since we are from the East Coast and that is what we prefer. But my question was more about the dining room rotations.

 

[Macnjac87]

According to the Passporter, they generally put people with small kids in Animators Palate the first night, families in Parrot Cay the first night and adults in Lumiere's/Tritons on the first night.

 

[alexandrew]

what does the Passporter define as small kids?...I think on all but one of our cruises, we received APL/APT rotation...my kids will be 8 and 4 on next cruise.....

 

[finfans]

according to the DCG on allears.net a Small child is 7 and under. But I guess only disney could REALLY answer the question. I hope that is accurate though...as we and another family will be traveling with a 7, 4 (turning 5 on the cruise) and 3 year old in 11/06. We would love to draw APL on the magic.

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[jrabbit]

according to the DCG on allears.net a Small child is 7 and under. But I guess only disney could REALLY answer the question.

DCL probably wouldn't be able to answer the question of what dinning rotation you will get ahead of time because "only the Computer Knows for sure" And it probably doesn't spit out that information until a few days before embarkation. Heck, it may only kick out that info when it makes the dinning cards that are waiting for you in your room and when you check in at the port and it prints out on your KTTW card.

 

[jeannief]

and sometimes not even then! The rotation we got when we boarded was changed shortly before dinner. Apparently they had printed the wrong week for our server's team and we had the wrong rotation. Didn't matter to us as we weren't doing Palo's but it could have caused a problem for other people.

 

[ifotobonz]

we have had the APL rotation the last 2 times we cruised.
2003 dd 8 and ds 4
2004 dd 9 and ds 5

 

[llachance]

When traveling with my daughter on the magic...first year she was 14 and we started in Lumiere's. Second year she was 15 and we started in Parrot Cay. First year we were at a table where she was the only child (it was a great table) the 2nd year we were with a family that appeared to have girls my daughter's age but they weren't interested in communicating with our end of the table...5 of them and 3 of us.

 

[kcashner]

The magical Disney computer does it's thing. It decides based on the ages of the kids on that sailing and that seating (early or late) where to draw the cut off for "little" or "middle" or "older" kids.

Of course, if you request a particular rotation or a particular server, they try to honor that. In general, if you don't make a request, you are clustered with the age group of the youngest child in your group. So....if you have a 5 year old and a 14 year old, you will probably be assigned with the young kids starting restaurant.

 

[Aisling]

Every time this topic comse up, I ask this question, but with no resopnses. So I'll try again LOL:

It seems that DCL puts families with young children in the rotation which has Formal Night in Lumieres. Now, what would be the logic of this? Wouldn't it make more sense to give the Lumieres Formal Night rotation to older gguests who would appreciate it more?
Any ideas?

 

[tbck1993]

Aisling - The only logic I can see with this is that, usually, little kids don't like to get dressed up for dinner; so DCL figures on putting them in the fancier restaurant because they have to dress for formal night anyway.

Just my two cents.

 

[jrabbit]

It seems that DCL puts families with young children in the rotation which has Formal Night in Lumieres. Now, what would be the logic of this? Wouldn't it make more sense to give the Lumieres Formal Night rotation to older gguests who would appreciate it more?
Any ideas?

It's not so much that they end up in Lumieres for formal night, it's that they want them to START the cruise with a fun experience - therefor they are in Animators Palate the first night (with the "show"). If they started in Lumieres, odds are that most of the smaller children would "opt" for dinning in the club/lab the rest of the cruise and miss the AP "show".

 

[Mickeyhugger]

With all said, can anyone guess what rotation our family will have? Our DD (only child) will be 11 when we sail again? We've had PLA on the past three cruises and have especially enjoyed the Eastern as in placed us in Lumiere's on formal night.

KCashner? (You've taken so many cruises with your DD.)

Thanks!

 

[crisi]

I'd also guess that by putting Tritons/Lumieres at the end of the rotation, they are maximizing the little kids time in AP (which most little kids like) and minimizing their time in the "stuffy" restaurant. They also maximize the "adult" experience of T/L for adults traveling without kids. Remember on a four day cruise you'll repeat one restaurant twice and on a seven day you'll get one three times. Formal night has more to do with the cruise itenerary - as it happens on a sea day, the fact "kids" are in T/L is coincidence.

 

[LeslieG]

If I make the assumption that we will be in Animator's Palette the first night since we have young children, what would the second night be? We're on the 3nt. Wonder. The only reason I'm wondering is because of making Palo res. as soon as I get on board. I would probably want to do this before going to my room. Was thinking of skipping Triton's.

 

[banderson]

There are two things you need to consider: time of seating (1st or 2nd) and actual rotation (APL, PLA, LAP).

Time of seating: This is purely a question of how late or how early you need to eat based on your personal preference/routine and home time zone. Nothing more than that.

Actual rotation: This is the tricky one and having recently opted to change my DCL-assigned rotation (see explanation below), I am now a firm believer that the Mouse does indeed know best and you're best not to question/change his assignment. APL is for the younger set. PAL is the family set, generally with kids that are school aged or older. LAP is the adults/older kids set.

Here's my experience. I was given second seating with LAP because my kids aged 7 and 9 are considered "older". (I know 7 and 9 are still young, but when you consider that there are many little kids in the 0-6 range onboard, well age is relative.) Since I wanted to be in Lumières for our dress-up nights (the boys and my husband were in tuxes) and was one of the first onboard, I was able to change from LAP to APL. Big mistake and one I admit that I made without much thinking. Changing to APL did put us with a lovely young family from California, but my kids probably missed out on many opportunities to meet kids their own age or older and to partake in older kid/adult conversations. We were in Lumières for formal, yes, but I think we would have preferred the company of older kids/older parents like us, even if it meant being in a tux in Parrot's Cay.

We've actually decided cruising is not quite for us, but if fate puts me back on DCL anytime soon, well you can be certain I will follow the Mouse's orders and eat when and where he tells me too!

Moral of the story: The only thing you should change is late to early or early to late, but try and keep the rotation that has been assigned to you.

Happy cruising!

 

[ratfam]

Thanks, banderson, for that reply. After reading these boards I was feeling like I was making a mistake by not requesting a rotation even though I was inclined to just leave it to fate, and I appreciate knowing that this can work well too.