What time is too late for an ADR with your kids?

[POROct2013]

I am posting this in the Families section because it has everthing to do with kids!!

We have all of our ADRs booked already and they are all at decent times for our 6-7 year olds. We are now looking at booking one more and the times are quite late (the earliest being 8:20). I just think after a long day in the park that that is quite late for them. If dinner took an hour, we wouldn't be back at the resort much before 10:15. We are trying to avoid too many late nights on our trip (we have 2 already - one with MNSSHP and one with Wishes/Pirates & Pals Voyage).

I know all kids are different but what is the latest time you would book an ADR for dinner?

 

[Happyjen27]

You nailed it! All kids are different.

Mine are early to bed types. With a nap, the can rock the late night. So, we balance between the 4:45 ADR when we have a "break" but not a nap scheduled. And a 7:15 ADR when we have a nap scheduled.

Those late night are followed by sleep in mornings.

I like to tour the parks early, so I've tried to limit my late nights. But, I can't resist watching Wishes and EWP from the resort, and I really want to see the Main Street Electrical Parade this year, so we are up late half the nights, with sleep in mornings on our AK and EP and then travel days.

 

[lucyem]

Totally depends on the child and the day

Personally I avoid late ADR's, not just for kids but me too. We are rope drop people. If I cannot get an ADR at a reasonable time I just do a CS.

 

[angelmom27]

I agree it depends on the kid. My kids eat late at home so a late adr would not be a problem for them.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Never mind the kids---I don't want to wait until 8:20 to eat dinner myself!

Remember, too, the later into the dinner service you go, the more chance for them to be a bit backed up. So that 8:20 ADR might easily mean you don't sit down to eat until 8:30 or 8:45. We tend to use 7:00 as a cutoff for our family.

 

[4 The Love Of Disney]

The one thing I would caution the OP to think about is the later you make an ADR, the later you eat. So if your kids are used to eating earlier at home, while you are on vacation - they will get hungry around the same time and need to feed on snacks. When you get to your ADR, they may not be as hungry as one would think they are and the kids may not get the fullest out of the meal - making it an expensive snack

We have three young kids (all under twelve) and one of our first trips we had a late ADR (could not get an earlier one). They barely touched their food as they had snacked earlier as they were hungry at their normal dinner time.

 

[delilah]

It totally depends on your family. We have always been a late ADR type of family. Usually, my preferred time is about 8pm. But, we are also late lunch people, having lunch on vacation usually about 2 pm. When we used to take our son to Crystal Palace, as a matter of fact, we used to take advantage that lunch prices extend to about 3 pm, so, we would eat our main meal of the day about 2-3 pm. But, since we have usually been doing the DDP, we have been going more for the 8pm ADR since our son is older now, in HS. To be honest, our daily routine is getting to work/school ready to start at 7:30 am, then staying up with homework sometimes until almost midnight. Sometimes, dinner at home isn't until after 8 pm, depending on my work schedule and other activities, like TaeKwonDo and scouts. Sometimes my son does nap even now between when dad gets him home from school (about 5pm) and when I get home and make dinner.

 

[OhanaBreadPudding]

All of ours are for 5:00pm. If we're going to push my son to stay up late, it will be for the parks, not dinner! By that time of night I can't picture him being really fun to be around for the other guests! Ha!

 

[luvmy2babies]

My children are 10 (dd) and 3 (ds) and are for lack of a better way to say it awful if they are way off their meal schedule. Just last night my normally mild mannered 3 year-old who will skip naps and still stay up happy until late, had an epic meltdown over a meal. So, ADRs are always based on what time we normally eat.

At home we eat between 5:30 and 6:30. Occasionally depending on what is going on and if they have snacked or had a late lunch on the weekend, we may eat around 7. I do my best to keep the ADRs around that time. The latest one I have ever had was a 6:40 at Cinderella’s Royal Table. The latest we have eaten was at 7:20 one evening at MK. Dd’s BBB was at 5, so I had given snacks at 4:15 while we watched the Castle stage show. After her appointment and photo session, we did some rides and then got CS.

Another poster said what I was thinking as well. I don't want to eat that late either. If it's Ohana, I definitely wouldn't do it. I've heard of significant waits the later you go there. Plus, you need time moving around after that meal. When we ate there, our ADR was at 5:15.

 

[mousehunter3]

We would all be over hungry and over tired at that point. Nevermind them, I would be a total bear by then!

I guess it depends on you and your family. Some people would be okay. I just know we would not.

 

[sb682]

All families are different, like you said. If your kids are used to eating at 8:45 or so (a reasonable guess as to when they might get their food), or you'll be sleeping in and eating all your meals later than normal, it would be fine. If not, I would keep looking online for earlier times and try to switch your reservations.

 

[mousehunter3]

Did you try calling the restaurant directly to make your reservations? I was unable to get reservations for one of the places I wanted and I called them directly- they offered me my choice of several times right around the time I wanted. If you wanted to try to get it earlier, maybe just call them directly?

 

[Nancyg56]

I think it depends on the kids. My DGd was and is a nightowl, so we always planned later ADR's. Mine were all between 7 and 8:30, and that worked out well for us. If she had been used to eating earlier, we would have booked them by 6PM. She is 12 now, so she is pretty adaptable, but at 4, 5 and 6, we worked around her. WE let her sleep in the morning, and we stayed up later at night.

 

[Frankiemack]

The latest meal I booked on our upcoming trip is an 8:05 Ohana...on that day, we are sleeping in and doing BBB at 10:50am, then doing a nice easy MK day with princess visiting, etc.

Last year we did an 8:55 after doing a rope drop that same day. Even with a break in between, my dd3 wasn't having it.

 

[Coconuts]

Never mind the kids---I don't want to wait until 8:20 to eat dinner myself! ...

this! We never do an ADR past the 7:00 hour. I prefer ADR's before 7:00, but will take something 7-8 if it's the only thing I can get for that specific restaurant.

Like the pp, the latest ADR for our upcoming trip is 8:05 at Ohana, but that's the ONLY time I could get all week, and Ohana is a must-do for us. We will sleep in that day and maybe stop back at our resort to chill.

 

[MSSANDRA]

It would be too late for my family with DS6 to handle. We would all be tired and hungry. 7:00 is the latest and that would have to be a place we really wanted and could only get that time. 6-6:30 works for us. I would only try it with a reservation that does not require a deposit in case you find your child way to tired and hungry to make it.

 

[3Gsandme]

An 8:20 ADR would really start to be pushing it for my kids and my kids are okay with late dinners. An 8:20 reservation means a considerable amount of time before you're served, unless you're doing buffet. I think we could swing it if it was an absolute must do, but it would mean an early night the night before and a sleep in the day of.

 

[kmb584]

You're absolutely correct -- all kids are different!

I personally don't book ADRs any later than between 6:30p - 7:00p. We are very early risers in this house and while we have no issues staying out late, my daughter gets incredibly moody if dinner isn't within the time frame she's used to. At home, we eat anywhere between 5:30p - 7:00p; it's all dependent upon a) what time I get out of work, b) if I have any errands that I need to run after work, and c) how intricate dinner is.

After dinner, I play it by ear. At home she's in bed at 8:00p, sometimes earlier if she's tired. However, it's a whole different ball game in WDW and most of the time we head out to a park after dinner with the goal of being on either the monorail, boat or bus to our resort no later than 10:00p.

 

[my4girls10]

In 2008, our ADRs were for dinner. In 2011, we decided to try lunch ADRs just to see which way we liked it. We decided that long lunches worked best for us. It gave us a chance to sit and recharge for a bit before hitting the parks for a long afternoon/evening. We could get dinner at a CS place whenever we decided that we were ready to eat.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

My target time for dinner ADRs is between 5:00 and 6:00. That's the time we normally eat at home.