Timing of TS meals with Small Children

[magicwishes]

We are planning on taking a relaxed approach to touring with our 1 and 3 year old. We will go back to the hotel for the afternoon each day to nap, swim, play and relax.

We are planning on having one table service meal per day. Does anyone have any recommendations on the timing? I'm thinking either a late breakfast, early lunch, or early dinner each day. I don't want the kids to be crabby and hungry. I also don't want to schedule a TS lunch at noon and have the kids needing nap or hungry too early or a TS dinner and again have the kids starving or have to wake them from naps. I'm sure everything will work out and we will potentially miss a reservation or two. I just want to do my best in scheduling the ADR's.

 

[disneymayz]

We typically do 5PM dinner reservations. Some places are really just "opening" for dinner and the wait is minimal. My kids are early risers so if we were are doing breakfast it would be as early as possible (again minimal wait). It was also a way to get into the parks early. LOL

 

[Hopefully]

What is your usual schedule at home? I would try to stick as close as possible to that on your vacation. Little ones do best when their routine is not too disrupted.
If they usually nap at 1, nap at 1. If they usually eat at 5:30, eat at 5:30, etc.
Have Fun

 

[nushiekitty]

With our little ones we do meals at all the normal times they eat at home. We also try to schedule sit down meals for almost all meals (we are on the deluxe plan and do not go back to the hotel during the day) this allows our kids to get into the air conditioning and to relax some.

 

[carly chloe]

If a little falls asleep and there's no waking them - can you get something for them (on the dining plan) and get the food to go? Because really we intitled to that meal. (?)

 

[lizzyb]

I try to time it when I know they wont be tired such as an early dinner.

 

[GrammyJudy]

I would not do lunch as thaT is when they need a rst...with DGS who was 2 when we went Jan 2011 we did 5-5:30 dinners every night. The day at MK that we did not go back to the resort he had a meltdown at 6pm dinner at LTT but he was great all the other days...so definitely take a break...even if they don't nap that long they need a break from the sensory overload that is WDW. Have a great trip with your liitl one and making memories that will last a lifetime

 

[OurDogCisco]

My kids are older and we still do 5 pm dinners. What I found if you book dinner earlier you wait less for your table during crowded times. The later you book the longer you may have to wait for a table. Sometimes I even book at 4:45 pm. I think the earlier the better. We usually eat breakfast at 6 or 7 am; Lunch at 11 am and then, dinner at 5 pm when at WDW. We are from the West Coast too so, these times are way off from our normal eating times at home.

 

[lady_bug_888]

I would either do an early lunch or an early/normal dinner. This way you will be eating either just before nap time or after nap time. DD will be 17 months when we go and this is how I've scheduled all our ADRs with very few exceptions.

I must say though that booking ADRs has been slightly difficult because DDs schedule today is not going to be the same in 6 months!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

as other people post, stick to their normal routine and eating schedules. One day we did not stick to our son normal plan (we had a late lunch and he did not do to well and we actaully cut our lunch short but that was my fault not his b/c I did not stick to his schedule....from that moment on I learned and now whenever in Disney we stick to his meal schedules and we can eat at signature meals for 2 hours and he does wonderful). Regular meals and some downtime works for young children in Disney.

 

[tigerdragon]

I think sticking to your regular schedule that you have at home is the best idea. We eat dinner around 6 every evening so most of our dinner ADR's are booked around that time. I think we only have one that is for 5 but that's because we're going to try to make it to an 8:30 Fantasmic after dinner and I want to leave plenty of time for that.

 

[buffettgirl]

When our kids were small we would try to stick to our normal meal time and nap times. It's challenging but it's so worth it! Generally I would bring along lunch food for the kids (PBJ or something easy) and dh and I will sit and get a water or something and we'll grab milk for the kids - however - Dh and I rarely eat lunch at home, so eating a big meal at that time isn't for us. We'd then have an early dinner which works for us because dh and I are hungry at that time as are the kids.

Now that my kids are older we actually do a later dinner because it gives us more afternoon pool time, and that's what they need to decompress, and makes for a less rushed afternoon. We can arrive back to a park at 5 or so and use up our FP from the morning and THEN hit dinner.

Do whatever works for you though!!! But it's so much easier to get 4:30 or 5:00 ADR's. or even the last lunch ADR and make it a super early dinner.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

We normally try an early lunch or late breakfast if we are only doing one ts a day. It allows them a chance to decompress and relax. That way if the 3 year old doesn't actually nap (some get so overstimulated it's hard for them to actually sleep) you aren't fighting a losing battle at dinner time. The first time we took my daughter she just couldn't come down from the high in the parks. But even with a 5pm ADR she was ready to crash she was sooooo tired. She's gotten better as she's gotten older about it, but it's something to be prepared for.... especially during those first couple days of the trip.

 

[Pink Mouse Ears]

What is your usual schedule at home? I would try to stick as close as possible to that on your vacation. Little ones do best when their routine is not too disrupted.
If they usually nap at 1, nap at 1. If they usually eat at 5:30, eat at 5:30, etc.
Have Fun

We go with this. We stretch nap to a bit later, but not usually more than an hour (1:30 or 2). We plan dinners for 6 or 6:30...but keep in mind that we'll usually have to leave around 5 to get to them depending.

 

[MSLRAC]

I agree to stick with your regular schedule but make sure your regular schedule is doable at Disney. When I started planning, I quickly realized that we didn't want the kids up, ready and eating breakfast by 6:30 like we do on school days. So we went with our weekend routine of breakfast by 8, lunch by 2 and dinner by 8.

I will also say that if you do 3 meals a day at home, then do 3 meals a day at Disney.

 

[magicwishes]

We are now debating 1 or 2 TS meals per day. We have an adult coming for only part of the time, so we will have enough TS meals for 2 meals a day if we do a regular dining plan for everyone. Otherwise we'll do OOP. So many decisions. . .

I will try to stick to the normal routine. I'm just not sure what that will mean with the 2 hour time change. Our family usually wakes up around 8-9AM at home, eats upon waking up, eats lunch from 12-1 with a nap for the 1 year old right after, the 3 year old takes a late afternoon nap 4-6 every 2-3 days, and dinner is typically 6-7pm. We are hoping to adjust our schedule to be at the theme parks at or near opening. We are not morning people, so I don't think early breakfast will work well.

I'm thinking I should just schedule them for the same times knowing it will actually be 2 hours earlier, but we will be waking up earlier???

 

[5westbrooks]

When my family last traveled to Disney our children were 6, 4, & 2. I always planned our TS for the latest time I could get for breakfast (usually around 10:30) or for an early dinner (around 5:00pm). If eating CS for the early meal we would push that time to about 11:00am. We kept dry breakfast foods in our room and just grabbed a quick bite on the way to the parks in the morning. If the kids got hungry in between our two big meals we would use our snack credit to hold them over. This plan allowed us to miss the crowds at meal times and to best utilize our credits.

 

[crabbygal902]

In our experience, 2 TS in 1 day with little people is too much. Our kids used up all their 'good' at one meal, and the other one is a disaster!

When we traveled to Vegas when my son was 1 year old, we had a terrible experience with the time change because his body stayed on a North Carolina sleep schedule (he would wake up at 3 am Vegas time, which was 6 am NC time. Ugh!) We finally gave up fighting it and just stayed on his regular sleep schedule for the rest of the trip. My husband and our stroller know what the Vegas strip looks like at 5 am!

In a nutshell, it might be easier for you to keep the kids on their regular sleep schedule during the vacation.

 

[disneybliss2]

We've found that the earlier you book, the less your wait time is to be seated & then also get your food. We like he 5:00 to 5:30 time frame best. It allows us time to get back to the hotel and swim a bit before bedtime.