What is your ideal dinner time?

[brat5063]

What is your ideal dinner time? I was just looking at our ADRs and all of our dinner times are around 5 pm. It just popped into my head that maybe I should try to push them back. Is 5pm to early to be able to head to the park in the morning, come back to the hotel for a nap/swim and head back out to the restaurant? We are staying at Movies and not renting a car, so we will be relying on the bus.

 

[lovmy2girls]

Between 7 and 8. Works out good for us most of the time.

 

[nickelsfamily]

WHEN I MAKE OUR ADRS I TRY TO KEEP IN MIND MY BOYS NORMAL MEAL TIMES, OR AT LEAST AS CLOSE TO IT AS I CAN GET. THIS HAS WORKED WONDERS FOR US, ESPECIALY FOR DS1. BEING ON VACATION FOR A WEEK AT A TIME IS STRESSFUL FOR THE LITTLE ONES AND TRYING TO KEEP THEIR NAPS AND MEAL TIMES IN MIND CAN SAVE A HEADACHE FOR EVERYONE!

 

[hollyb]

We eat around 4:30-5:00 most of the time. DH eats when he gets home after 7. On vacation we really let the kids decide when they are hungry. It works great for us.

 

[daisyduck123]

For us, it depends upon what time of year it is.

Last January, we booked our ADR's for about 7 p.m....that way we could have as much "park time" as possible before dinner. With the parks closing early in January, we just had dinner & didn't have to worry about rushing to a park for the evening.

In May, we always have ADR's about 5:30 or 6 p.m....that way we can eat & still have time to go to a park that's open late (we always get the park hoppers) after we've finished dinner.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I try to schedule all of my ADR's around 6pm, but 1/2 an hour either way is fine also.

 

[justplaingoofy]

I try to schedule all of my ADR's around 6pm, but 1/2 an hour either way is fine also.

ditto.....

 

[mom2isaac&ella]

I had the same concern after I made our ADR & wondered why I did it. I then remembered reading how the characters at character meals are going to be fresh & the restaurant less crowded if you go earlier. (I think that proves I read way too much Disney while planning a trip - I don't even remember the tips after I use them myself!) I did make some non-character meals a bit later & plan on leaving the parks a bit earlier for a rest on the days we have to be back for a 5:00 ADR.

 

[juligrl]

At home we eat our big meal around 2:30pm since my husband works 4-midnight. When we vacation or on his off days, we tend to do our big meal around 5:30pm.

 

[golden1]

Our ideal dinner time at home is 5-6pm and that is when we will have dinners at WDW. My kids are big breakfast eaters and not big dinner eaters so most of our ADRs are character breakfasts.

 

[liamandcaili]

We generally made our ADRs early. We even made some late lunch reservations as our main meal. My family generally eats around 5, so we either made ADRs for then, or skipped lunch and had an earlier dinner. Eating was our break from the parks. After our meal, we would embark on evening activities.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

I prefer 5:00 or 6:00 also (especially if we are still full from lunch and snacks).

However, I read on the trip reports that sometimes people still have a wait even if they have ADR's. So I put our ADR's early (4:30) so hopefully we can be seated fairly quickly. I don't mind waiting, it's our 18M son that gets a little antsy.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Right now (I'm sure this will change as our DD1 grows), anytime between 5 & 6 is perfect for us. It seems that we hit the parks early in the morning and poop out by late lunch. That gives us enough time to go back to our resort to relax, nap and swim. By the time we're recharged it is about 5 or 6pm and we're hungry.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I've been there before kids and after kids and how we did things was altered dramatically after we added kids into the mix.

Before kids we used to eat later, probably to avoid other peoples kids who can sometimes be cranky after a big day at the parks. Lots of famlies check out of the parks near dinner time so after the rush always worked for us when we were just a couple.

Once we became one of those famlies of 4 with sometimes cranky kids we noticed that because we often did big breakfasts the kids would prefer a light late lunch at 2 or so and a full dinner at 5:30 which is our regular dinner time at home.

PS, its funny how the cranky kids didn't sound so bad when they became mine

Have fun

 

[surfgirl]

You've gotten some good input above.

What time do you eat at home?
Are your kids early to bed types?
Do you eat an early lunch or late lunch?
Do you snack throughout the day?

We eat early... in fact, I make 4:30 resies sometimes to be in the first seating. We are up early and hit the parks with small kids. When we are walking around all day and swimming, the kids are exhausted and early to bed and starving, so we eat early...

Don't 2nd guess yourself - you will drive yourself crazy. Go with your gut instincts and make it work. If you try too hard to plan it all, something will be wrong - I've been there. And you know what, the Plan B worked, too.

good luck!

 

[ladyelle]

We prefer to eat later and make dinner reservations for 8:00 - 8:30.

 

[brat5063]

Thanks for all the responses. We normally eat between 5 and 7. I wanted an early ressie b/c I know my son will not like waiting. We currently have a hard time even eating out these days. He is ready to leve half way through our meail.

I am just concerned that if we go back to ASMo for a nap it will be hard to get to get back to the park for dinner. But we will make it work. No worries.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

Thanks for all the responses. We normally eat between 5 and 7. I wanted an early ressie b/c I know my son will not like waiting. We currently have a hard time even eating out these days. He is ready to leve half way through our meail.

I am just concerned that if we go back to ASMo for a nap it will be hard to get to get back to the park for dinner. But we will make it work. No worries.

This happens to us too. If we aren't quite done, I usually break out the animal crackers or cookies and give him little pieces. That usually buys us a little time. We end up trying to eat really fast and leave.

 

[ainmama2001]

We eat at the earliest dinner seating, that way we can take our time and then do some shopping before the night entertainment starts.

 

[jnordan]

We're planning several big lunches, rather than dinners. My kids go to bed very early even when we haven't been running around Disney all day! On the days that we'll have our sit-down meal at dinner time, I'm planning on 4:30 reservations.