What do you do with a 3:30 linner/lupper?

[Eeee-va]

So our dinner reservation at Ariel's Grotto got moved to 3:30 PM on a day when the parks are open from 8 AM - midnight (with WoC premiering the day before!).

I know some people actually PREFER to have a mid-afternoon (and off-hours) meal. So what do you do? Eat a real breakfast at 10 AM? (We usually just snack until lunch.) Have ice cream for dinner? Do you still manage a mid-afternoon (well, OK, early-afternoon or late-afternoon) break? Just looking for ideas here.

Forgot to mention--three adults, one of undetermined endurance (my friend's mother, who can, and would, go back to the hotel by herself if she's tired), and two of excellent winter endurance but only above-average summer endurance. (We didn't take any hotel breaks in December; took breaks in June when the park was open from 8 - midnight, partly because of the heat, and I at least was exhausted anyway! Getting sick didn't help though.)

Thursday will be a grad nite so we'll be well-rested for Friday morning and probably take a break on Friday, unless it's obvious that we won't be able to get back into the parks if we do.

Thank you!

 

[rentayenta]

So our dinner reservation at Ariel's Grotto got moved to 3:30 PM on a day when the parks are open from 8 AM - midnight (with WoC premiering the day before!).

I know some people actually PREFER to have a mid-afternoon (and off-hours) meal. So what do you do? Eat a real breakfast at 10 AM? (We usually just snack until lunch.) Have ice cream for dinner? Do you still manage a mid-afternoon (well, OK, early-afternoon or late-afternoon) break? Just looking for ideas here. Thank you!

That's tough. We'd probably eat a good early breakfast in our villa or grab something in the park about 10 am then a snack around lunch.

 

[jenniferrose]

I would probably have a big breakfast around 9. If you need to take a break, take it before your linner and come back and go straight there. Then have a snack or a dessert in the evening.

 

[Eeee-va]

Thank you! I forgot to mention that we don't have any small kids with us so the break may not be as necessary. (Though if the weather is warm it does drain me...)

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We are in the same boat, but we have kids. This will be right after a nap for the little ones. I guess we will hit the park early with breakfast at our house (rental), eat an early light lunch around 11:30 and rest up before seeing the princesses at 3:30 for a VERY early dinner? I'm afraid we won't be that hungry and it'll be a waste of money and food. My SIL's kids are the one on a stricter nap time and we can't do an early lunch I guess...

 

[NVDisMom]

We do this quite often. We eat a light breakfast in the hotel room, then a heavier snack in the parks around 11 (Bengal BBQ is my fav for this). If you find you need a break before your meal time but don't want to leave the parks (which we don't until after our linner) go see Aladdin or spend some time in Animation Studios. We then enjoy our linner and head back to the hotel to recharge and change for the evening in the parks with the hope of closing the parks down. We usually aren't big dessert eaters, but with having dinner so early we work up an appetite for a yummy treat around 9 or 10. HTH

 

[Eeee-va]

We are in the same boat, but we have kids. This will be right after a nap for the little ones. I guess we will hit the park early with breakfast at our house (rental), eat an early light lunch around 11:30 and rest up before seeing the princesses at 3:30 for a VERY early dinner? I'm afraid we won't be that hungry and it'll be a waste of money and food. My SIL's kids are the one on a stricter nap time and we can't do an early lunch I guess...

How annoying! I'm sorry!

I think I'd almost look at doing breakfast if that were my situation, if that's possible. Or can you pack the food to go, I wonder? (Since it's not a buffet.)

I do figure that I'm paying about $20 for the meal and then $5 per princess, so I don't feel like I'll be wasting THAT much money. But I think eating a late breakfast and an evening snack might work out for my party. I guess leaving the park at 11:30 or (walking back to the hotel) might not be that awful, either.

 

[tiffntwins]

Or can you pack the food to go, I wonder? (Since it's not a buffet.)

Yes, they have containers to take food out with you. My kids are always too excited to eat anything once the princesses start coming out, so we always have to take their entrees to go. We usually take a few of the desserts too--so nice to much on later on in the evening!

 

[clb79]

So our dinner reservation at Ariel's Grotto got moved to 3:30 PM on a day when the parks are open from 8 AM - midnight (with WoC premiering the day before!).

I know some people actually PREFER to have a mid-afternoon (and off-hours) meal. So what do you do? Eat a real breakfast at 10 AM? (We usually just snack until lunch.) Have ice cream for dinner? Do you still manage a mid-afternoon (well, OK, early-afternoon or late-afternoon) break? Just looking for ideas here.

Forgot to mention--three adults, one of undetermined endurance (my friend's mother, who can, and would, go back to the hotel by herself if she's tired), and two of excellent winter endurance but only above-average summer endurance. (We didn't take any hotel breaks in December; took breaks in June when the park was open from 8 - midnight, partly because of the heat, and I at least was exhausted anyway! Getting sick didn't help though.)

Thursday will be a grad nite so we'll be well-rested for Friday morning and probably take a break on Friday, unless it's obvious that we won't be able to get back into the parks if we do.

Thank you!

We usually will get the breakfast at the Pacific Wharf Cafe. They do scrambled eggs and cheese in a sourdough bowl with a couple of strips of bacon on it and also have breakfast croissants. The prices are relatively cheap and we can usually split one bowl and one croissant between 2 adults and 2 children and are set until linner time.

 

[Eeee-va]

Sorry I missed your post earlier, NVDisMom (being easily distracted, I keep my reply windows open super-long ). Great idea! Bengal Barbecue is my favorite small meal/hearty snack in the parks! (Too bad my travel buddy isn't into it, so she has to go get something else while I'm eating my delicious meal/snack...) Though I've got to admit, I think I could have a dessert every night around 9 or 10 PM.

I also love others' suggestions of having a more hearty breakfast than a granola bar , as I've been wanting to have a breakfast in the parks sometime. (I don't think I have sat down for a breakfast with eggs and stuff in Disneyland since the old days when "Magic Mornings" were for people who bought Disney travel packages through AAA/etc. and you got breakfast included! )

Thank you, everyone, for the excellent ideas. You've helped me feel a lot better about giving this a try. There are so many appealing strategies here, now I'm tempted to have linner one afternoon and lupper the next!

 

[AmericanItGirl]

Having done the reverse (early lunch at BB), I usually eat something small (like a bagel or some beef jerky) at the park opening and then something small at 4-ish (nothing more than a kid's meal). I think the key is to keep the other meals to almost a snack level and pass on "real" meals.

 

[Mom2micayla]

We do that a lot too. Typically we eat a heavy breakfast early-ish outside the parks (usually Denny's or Mimi's). If we're hungry around lunch, we grab a pretzel, popcorn or something like that in the park. Eating a big (but relatively cheap) breakfast and linner is often the most economical for us, since we're a family of 6. Plus we like eating at off times b/c the waits aren't usually as long.

 

[tink929]

We do this quite often. We eat a light breakfast in the hotel room, then a heavier snack in the parks around 11 (Bengal BBQ is my fav for this). If you find you need a break before your meal time but don't want to leave the parks (which we don't until after our linner) go see Aladdin or spend some time in Animation Studios. We then enjoy our linner and head back to the hotel to recharge and change for the evening in the parks with the hope of closing the parks down. We usually aren't big dessert eaters, but with having dinner so early we work up an appetite for a yummy treat around 9 or 10. HTH

We do this pretty much every day we're in the park! Although we are big dessert eaters - and usually have one each day on vacation

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We ended up switching to the first lunch seating.

 

[AliciaS]

I just wanted to say that in our family it's called lunner! Ha. We tend to do lunner on the weekends and do like to do it Disney so we're off hours from most other people. It leaves more room for fun vacation snacks too

And I know, timing with naps and kids is TOUGH. The thing is, you just never how that's going to go at Disney. A parent can say before they go that they will stick to their normal schedule, but you just really need to go with the flow. Our kids tend to refuse to nap until they just fall asleep in the stroller.