While Mom & Dad Dine at Palo

[Horace Horsecollar]

Palo sounds great! My wife and I will go for reservations when we get onto the Disney Magic on 3/23.

Our daughters are 10 and 12. Where do they eat while Mom and Dad dine at Palo? Can they go to the rotation dining room by themselves? Or can they go to Topsiders? Is there anything organized through the Oceaneer Lab so that they can eat with other kids?

We'll have late seating, in case that makes a difference.

 

[ennisb]

They should be able to go the rotation dining and for go enjoy topsiders

 

[NCRedding]

The lab has a set time that it takes the group up to Topsiders for dinner--except the first night. The usual time for this is in the 5:30 to 6:15 range, then it is back to the lab for fun. DD missed the dinner time, so we picked up food at Plutos, then took her to the lab. My DD probably would not have felt comfortable dining at the rotation by herself, nor would I have felt comfortable with her being there for that period of time without me--she is 9 and immature--dinner is not her best time.

 

[Casey's mom]

Room service is another alternative. On our last cruise, we ordered room service for the kids then dropped them at the Oceaneer Club and headed off to Palo. The young group at the club eats very early (5:15ish), which is too early for my kids.

Look forward to seeing you on the 3/23 Magic. Too bad our daughters aren't closer in age. Mine are 5 and 4.

We are really looking forward to our trip!

 

[DizMare]

FWIW, we went to Palo's on our last night on the Wonder. Our servers encouraged us to allow our two kids, 12 and 10, to come to our regular dinner rotation. They promised to take good care of them, and I truly believe they would have.

My ds was game, but the lure of dinner with their buddies in the Lab proved too much for both of them in the end.

 

[wovenwonder]

I vote for Double Dipping!!

Go to the regular rotation dining with your kids and just have an appetizer. Then take them to their clubs and enjoy a later ressie at Palo's.

Or, with late dining, you may want to have an earlier Palo experience and then meet you kids in the rotation for dessert.

 

[ssclbc]

If you get lucky like we did on our cruise, you may be seated with some great people with kids your daughters' age. When we went to Palo, our DD ate at the regular rotation with the other family and when they went to Palo their DD ate with us.

 

[RellingTwin]

We let our kids order room service by themselves! I know this will not work for a lot of kids but mine did great. We talked about safety, what they would order, tipping, how to reach/find us. Then I called room service to let them know my kids would be ordering( probably unnessary) and then told Paulette our cabin hostess that the kids would be in the room alone for an hour or so. They REALLY LOVED having some down time, watching TV and playing cards. BTW my children are 8 and 9 y/o. They did so well we let them do it again later in the cruise at lunch time.

 

[mog]

We travelled with some family friends and their grandson (who is the same age as my son- both about 10). The adults went to Palos on the second formal night and the two boys went to dinner together during our friends' rotation (they were not at our table - they had late, we had early). Anyway, their waiter had told them to let their grandson come and bring a friend with him, so he wouldn't miss the formal dinner. Our friends checked it out with their table mates who had a daughter the same age and they were fine with it. I took a little convincing, but let him go in the end on the condition that they would check themselves into the Lab right after dinner. They had a great time! They thought they were so grown up in their formal clothes, going to dinner alone.

Now, just a few points to consider:
Both these boys are very mature and well behaved.

It was toward the end of the week, so they knew "the ropes" of ordering, eating, behaving in the dining room and how to get themselves to the Lab.

Our friends had gotten to know their table mates enough to feel confident that they meant it when they said they didn't mind and weren't just being polite!

So, I would say let the kids go to regular dining if they want to and if you feel like they are able to handle it. The waiters definitely will take care of them! Our regular waiter even saw our son in the dining room that night and went over to say hi and check on him since we weren't there.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Thank you!

I hadn't even thought of room service. It seems we have a lot of options.

The problem with "double dipping" is that it would probably involve missing a big show -- not to mention the temptation to eat way too much.

 

[tkd lisa]

I've been reading all the information about Palo's and I guess I'm not sure if we even want to book an evening. Are we silly to miss out? It seems like the main dining rooms have some pretty spectacular things, and we really aren't gourmets.

We will have our two children with us. I think they are going to spend a lot of time in the clubs during the day, and I was thinking that we should spend the evenings together. The family parties in the early evening sound like lots of fun. We have late seating, so plan to do things before we eat, then pretty much crash afterwards. Booking Palo's seem like it would cut into our time with them.

Any thoughts?

 

[kplatt]

I would think it depends on the length of your cruise...

On a 3-night cruise, you rotate through the dining rooms once. On a 4 or 7 night I'd be more willing to skip a night and go to Palo.

Don't worry about having lots of family time. The cruise is geared to accommodate those who want to be with their kids 24x7, and those who are looking for private time.

Karen
Wonder 11/01
Magic 3/02
Wonder 11/02

 

[AnnaS]

My kids are a little older, we went on the Magic last year, DS 15, DS 13 and DD 9, they went to the regular rotation. We were seated with wonderful people. They knew ahead of time and they were told to be on their best behavior. Luckly it worked out fine.

 

[TartanFan]

I wouldn't worry about missing Palo - we've been on two cruises on the Magic and haven't made it to Palo yet! We enjoyed all the rotation restaurants and had so much fun at Studio Sea and the shows with DD that we never missed it! (Although we did hit Beat Street when she had had enough of us and headed to the Lab!)

Having said that, we plan on a dinner there in September, just so I can post that I've been there in my Trip Report!

 

[msdisney53]

My DDs are 10 and 11 and I asked them what they preferred to do when we go to Palo. They chose room service or Pluto's and then go to the lab or the arcade, maybe the girls can hook up if we get palo for the same night. We are on the March 23rd cruise also. 22 days and counting