What time do you book your dinner ADR when you have young kids?

[Joe'sgirl]

Am I nuts to have booked our dinner reservations for 7:45pm and 7:50pm? My thought was that we will be at AK day 1. I have to assume we will be there 4-5 hours. I want time to head back to the hotel, refresh, take a swim maybe and then head to dinner/MK. Same deal with the following night, we are trying to hit 2 parks a day since we are only going for 3 nights!

 

[mommypenguin29]

I think it all depnds on your family...for us...there is no way we would do a dinner ADR that late with my kids... for us, they would be cranky and hungry by that time after a long day at the parks...so I think you will get a lot of different answers...but this is also why we chose not to do dinner ADRs...good luck and have fun!

 

[jamuth]

We did early ADRs last time with my 4 & 2 yr olds. I thought this was to rushed and they were more tired. So this time we made all later times. This way we can go nap, have a snack then go out. We'll see how this works in may.

 

[WsPrincess]

It depends on your kids. We have a couple reservations close to 7 but I know at home, we usually eat by 6pm and the kids are in bed by 8pm. We know that Disney will be later nights but for them anything after 7:30 will just be too late since it will be 9 before we are back to our room and they will be fussy and miserable.

 

[we*love*disney]

For us we could never do dinner that late! My kids would be miserable! We book ours for roughly 5:15 and then when we are done we still have time to do a few more things before heading back to the hotel. We always eat dinner at home around 5:30-6:00 so we are used to an earlier dinner time. My kids are in bed at 8:00 & 8:30 so that late of a time would never work for us. It al just depends on your family!

 

[Kae]

When our kids were young we did alot of our TS at lunch time or did 10-10:30Breakfasts. For my kids at that time, Lunch was their best meal of the day.

Kae

 

[whitney37354]

I aimed for all breakfast ADRs at 9 am. & all dinner ADRs at 6 pm (except F! dinner package was at 4:30). This worked well for dinner, because we always came back to the resort after lunch for a few hours down time. I didn't have to drag DD & DH out of the bed at the crack of dawn for breakfast either. We were never in a rush to get to any ADRs.

 

[rachellm]

I'm planning to keep our meals at the same general times we eat at home (between 6-6:30.) If your kids typically eat by 6 everynight, I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to wait until after 8 before they have food in front of them. If you normally eat that late - than it'll likely be fine!

eta: For my kids, I find that it's not only that they'd be hungry (which is easy to fix with a snack) it's that by that point they're not up for sitting and behaving through a sit-down meal. I think it might be expecting too much to have them on-the-go all day and than sit through a meal at *almost* bedtime.

I figure we'll eat earlier (or on-time) dinners, than do stuff in the parks until they've reached their limit for the day. Easier to call it quits and pack up for the day while walking around a park as opposed to while sitting waiting for food.

 

[Sgt Tibbs]

We usually book in the 6-6:30 time frame as we are more comfortable eating then. if you allow the little ones rest and a snack you should be fine.

 

[Joe'sgirl]

My kids typically eat between 6 and 7. My plan is to eat lunch and provide them food between lunch and dinner. The other thing is that Park Fare was booked solid otherwise and 7:50 was the only time I could get! I've been trying to get something closer to 6:30 but so far no luck. Its slim pickens to find anything at this point.

 

[disneybliss2]

As others have stated, I think for each family it will be different. If my kids had to wait that late to eat, they would be having a melt down in the restaurant and it would be miserable for everyone! We typically eat around 6:00 and my kids go to bed around 8:30. On our first two trips we made our reservations around 6:00 so it would be the time they were used to eating. With wait time to be seated, meal time, and travel time back to the hotel there was very little time to swim before going to sleep.
For our last trip we tried earlier reservations. We made them around 5:15. It's a little earlier than we normally eat but w/ all the walking we do while at WDW, they were more than ready. Since we were one of the first dinner reservation times, we got seated right away every time. We got done much earlier so when we got back to the hotel, we had more swim time. We don't take afternoon breaks to swim, so the evening swim time is important to us. They had swim time and still got in bed by 9:00. This strategy worked great for us!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

For us, early dinner ADRs work out best. We were there in August last and left the parks between noon and 1pm, went to the hotel for a swim to cool off, then back to our room to clean up and chill out. It worked out perfectly to leave our around 4 or 4:30 to make it to a 5pm dinner ADR. A lot of the restaurants open for dinner around 5 and we didn't have to wait to be seated. Then after dinner was over, we'd head back into the parks for another couple hours of fun.

 

[3pletprincesses]

We booked early breakfast and 6-7pm dinner when we eat with the girls. Since our girls nap until 4pm, it give us just the right amount of time to up and go for dinner. We'll get them QS meals for lunch and split between them as I know they will be just a bit hungry

Last fall we had 8pm reservation to 1900 and the girls were 4 yo. They were soo busy with the caracters that they didn't see the time go by. We had a really good meal. As we left GF, they became monsters as they were getting tired. Depending on the age of your kids, I think you will be fine

 

[Disfan20]

We usually eat around 5 or 5:30 on the weekends at home so I always try to stay as close to those times as possible, sometimes it's not. Remember, most dinners in Disney take between an hour and hour and a half to complete so your dinners won't be over until close to 9:00. My kids would be falling asleep at the table. So it really depends on your kids.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Way to late! ADR's are NEVER on time... you can figure waiting 20+ minutes for most of them. So a 7:50 ADR means you probably aren't seated until 8:10 or later. If you've been in a park all day there is a very LARGE possibility that your kids will already be overtired.

I've heard people explain ADR's like shoes. You might love a pair of shoes... but if you wear a size 8 would you buy a size 6 just because you really wanted them? You know when you take that shoe the risks you are facing: unpleasant and painful. So if that ADR is slightly too small (late) it might be worth the pain if you REALLY love it... but if that is late for a normal dinner for you than you need a new pair of shoes! Because in Disney... there's a lot of walking and your shoes need to fit right!

 

[CarpeDisney]

We usually try to make our dinner reservations around the times restaurants open for dinner service (about 5 p.m.). This allows us a seating time that isn't impacted by the natural back-ups throughout the night (e.g., you make a 7 p.m. reservation, but aren't seated until 7:30 or 7:45 p.m.). We're usually seated on time, and done with the meal with plenty of time to enjoy a few hours in a park before putting the kids to bed.

 

[Philleigh]

I think it's too late. The restaurants can get behind as night goes on. Even if not later than your kids are used to, they will be over stimulated from trying to pack in 2 parks a day, even if you can squeeze a nap in (it looked like you were going to MK after a later ADR?). We ate at Yachtsman around 7:30 (without kids) and to reach our table, we had to step across a little boy lying in the aisle, obviously exhausted (why the parents were allowing this is another topic). I noticed that the later it got, the crankier the kids were getting. If you can't get something earlier for dinner, I would think about TS for lunch. Of course, you know your kids the best - have fun!

 

[kitkat324]

We usually try to make our dinner reservations around the times restaurants open for dinner service (about 5 p.m.). This allows us a seating time that isn't impacted by the natural back-ups throughout the night (e.g., you make a 7 p.m. reservation, but aren't seated until 7:30 or 7:45 p.m.). We're usually seated on time, and done with the meal with plenty of time to enjoy a few hours in a park before putting the kids to bed.

We do the very same thing!

 

[Wendy31]

At home, my kids are used to eating dinner around 7:00-ish, & sometimes later, due to my DH's work schedule. However, we normally eat a late lunch as well.

At Disney, we're on the go earlier & eating lunch earlier, so that means I normally schedule our dinners for between 5:00 & 6:00 pm.

We also like to go back in the parks or swim after dinner, so, if we had later dinner ADRs, then that would prohibit us from doing many of our evening activities.

And, like others have said, in addition to eating earlier just because it works better for the kids, I try to schedule earlier dinners so that we can get seated as close to our ADR times as possible. It's hard for kids to wait a long time to be seated (especially when they're hungry!) & then have to sit quietly for a lengthy meal.

For our upcoming trip, all of our dinners are scheduled for between 5:00 pm & 6:00 pm - my ideal time is 5:30 pm, but, based on times that were available, some of our dinners are a little earlier & some are little later than 5:30 pm.

Our one later ADR is at Garden Grill which is for 6:35 pm - that was the earliest I could get, even at 180 days (+ 10) out! I've been checking for earlier times, but, so far, I haven't had any luck. I'm worried about the 6:35 pm time because I'm thinking that, by 6:35 pm, the restaurant is going to be backed up, & we're going to have to wait a while to be seated.

 

[nrpofp]

We have always eaten dinner late after 8pm due to work schedules. We do the same when traveling. My kids are homeschooled so they don't get up early and it works for us. If your kids are used to eating early then I probably keep it the same.