Just Changed to 2nd Seating

[davidmbfonz]

So, we just did the unusual thing of asking our travel agent to change our seating from the coveted main seating to the 2nd seating on our upcoming double-dip Dream cruise. Based on the way our family works, and our tendency to get a late start to the day while on vacation (breakfast at 9 or 9:30 vs. 7:30 or 8 during the school year), we figured this would work out better for us. We're also all night owls - when we don't have a schedule we're forced to follow, we tend to shift to 7 pm dinners.

 

I'm wondering what the downside of this might be? I see we now can do the Dine and Play option. We'll be attending the earlier of the two shows, which seems ok. I guess the only thing I'm worried about is whether my kids will fall asleep at 10 pm in the Oceaneers Club (kids are 9, 6, and 3). Will they allow them to just fall asleep (esp. the little one), or will they page us right away? It seems too-good-to-be-true that my wife and I might be able to go out for a drink and relaxation for 90 minutes after dinner every night. Imagine that!

 

Anything else we should consider after having made the switch? Thanks in advance!

 

- David

Edited August 1, 2014 by davidmbfonz
typos

[moki'smommy]

They have sleep mats. They don't call parents for sleepy kids. Crying, fussy ones, yes. Sleepy, no. They get them to watch a movie on a mat and when they fall asleep, they pull mat and all to a spot that they won't get disturbed. You'll only be paged if you aren't there by closing time!

[davidmbfonz]

Awesome! Thanks for the info!

[chamima]

So, we just did the unusual thing of asking our travel agent to change our seating from the coveted main seating to the 2nd seating on our upcoming double-dip Dream cruise. Based on the way our family works, and our tendency to get a late start to the day while on vacation (breakfast at 9 or 9:30 vs. 7:30 or 8 during the school year), we figured this would work out better for us. We're also all night owls - when we don't have a schedule we're forced to follow, we tend to shift to 7 pm dinners.

 

I'm wondering what the downside of this might be? I see we now can do the Dine and Play option. We'll be attending the earlier of the two shows, which seems ok. I guess the only thing I'm worried about is whether my kids will fall asleep at 10 pm in the Oceaneers Club (kids are 9, 6, and 3). Will they allow them to just fall asleep (esp. the little one), or will they page us right away? It seems too-good-to-be-true that my wife and I might be able to go out for a drink and relaxation for 90 minutes after dinner every night. Imagine that!

 

Anything else we should consider after having made the switch? Thanks in advance!

 

- David

 

We did the same thing as you. :D

Only you (or us) can determine what works for your (or our) family. :D

[CC Help Jenn]

We did this once and it did not work for us. The older one wanted to be in her club (she was 12 - and had a curfew so eating dinner so late cut into her night time fun!) and even with dine and play the younger was cranky, tired, falling asleep at the table.

 

Even though we seem to get a bit of a later start on vacation, and second seating leaves you feeling less rushed... We still found ourselves quite busy throughout the day and after a day or two of so much excitement our little guy (who was 3.5) just needed to go to bed earlier than we anticipated. He would have been happy to be in bed - or at least resting on a mat in the club - by 9 pm!

 

Another thing to think of - when we have main seating - our kids go to their clubs after dinner - and that is when we walk around alone, have a drink, relax and unwind. We really did not do this with second seating...not sure if it was just too late for us too (going for drinks after 10!) so normally we would go for maybe one drink and then go back to the room to put the kids to bed. It did make us skip our midnight pizza, cookies and milk though - Not sure if that is good or bad :)

 

It may work for your family, you sound more night owlish than we are. You will never know unless you try. If it doesn't seem to be working you could always ask to switch, or take some of your dinners in Cabanas so you are not eating late every night. You could also just feed the kids earlier either with room service or quick serve and send them off to the club while you eat in the mdr.

 

We have second seating by default on our upcoming cruise, I am hoping to get it changed but as I wrote above there are ways to handle it if it does not work for us.

 

I really wish they had a third 7pm option - while I know it is not possible it would be nice!!

[chamima]

Thanks for your perspective Jenn.

It really does make a lot of sense.

In our case we'll have 6 children (3 families and 9 adults total), ranging from 3 to 10.

I don't think eating is important to any of them so they can either start with us and get picked up (at around 9 if I understand it correctly) by the counselors or just eat in Cabanas or room service and skip dinner entirely.

The one advantage of late dining that no one remarks about is that at the later show (at 9pm) they'd be falling asleep. I think by seeing the shows at 7 they would be much more awake.

My grandkids would enjoy the shows MUCH more than they enjoy eating so it's another reason late is a better choice for us.

[CC Help Jenn]

Thanks for your perspective Jenn.

It really does make a lot of sense.

In our case we'll have 6 children (3 families and 9 adults total), ranging from 3 to 10.

I don't think eating is important to any of them so they can either start with us and get picked up (at around 9 if I understand it correctly) by the counselors or just eat in Cabanas or room service and skip dinner entirely.

The one advantage of late dining that no one remarks about is that at the later show (at 9pm) they'd be falling asleep. I think by seeing the shows at 7 they would be much more awake.

My grandkids would enjoy the shows MUCH more than they enjoy eating so it's another reason late is a better choice for us.

 

Yep - earlier show is good. So is using the pools while everyone is getting ready for their 1st seating dinner.

 

Also keep an eye on your navigators - many times on sea days they will do an even earlier show (around 4) if you like that option

[moki'smommy]

OP had 3 younger kids. For kids this age, the OC and Lab schedules work fine with the Dine and Play pick up--later poster is correct that this is about 9.

 

We also discovered that many of the "best" activities in the Edge and Vibe seemed to conflict with late dining. That was not a positive at all!

 

And just a comment on an above response--the late show is not at 9 pm. While there is a small variation among ships, cruises, etc. it normally starts at 8:15 or 8:30

[chamima]

OP had 3 younger kids. For kids this age' date=' the OC and Lab schedules work fine with the Dine and Play pick up--later poster is correct that this is about 9.

 

We also discovered that many of the "best" activities in the Edge and Vibe seemed to conflict with late dining. That was not a positive at all!

 

And just a comment on an above response--the late show is not at 9 pm. While there is a small variation among ships, cruises, etc. it normally starts at 8:15 or 8:30

 

 

And what are these?

(I'm not trying to be obnoxious - we're all seasoned cruisers but it's our first time on Disney)

Late seating has always been preferable for us on other cruises.

[moki'smommy]

And what are these?

(I'm not trying to be obnoxious - we're all seasoned cruisers but it's our first time on Disney)

Late seating has always been preferable for us on other cruises.

 

In my mind, they were the ones my daughter wanted to do and that weren't offered at any other time. There are great activities during the day (video scavenger hunt is a big favorite, but there are lots of others too). We just found that there were typically things she wanted to do but had to choose between dinner in dining room and the activity. And it wasn't a "one time" choice--it was almost nightly.

 

 

They started most of what she wanted at 9 pm. That's ok if you are 5 and doing dine and play with the kid menu. It doesn't work if you are 13 and eating off the regular menu. And honestly, she enjoyed the dining room and the family time, so didnt' want to miss that. It also works for kids who had first seating and then went to the 8 pm (sometimes 8:15) show as the shows are generally 45 minutes.

 

It might have changed--we certainly wrote it up on our survey as a "problem."

 

I didn't take it as obnoxious at all. It's just hard to remember what the activities were since she didn't do them. She just looked at the schedule and commented things like "Oh darn, I have to miss XYZ"

[Vacationdreamer<><]

We loved 2nd seating with 6 kids no less. We enjoyed doing the shows first and called it a night after dinner most nights.

[Katgoesonholiday]

In my mind' date=' they were the ones my daughter wanted to do and that weren't offered at any other time. There are great activities during the day (video scavenger hunt is a big favorite, but there are lots of others too). We just found that there were typically things she wanted to do but had to choose between dinner in dining room and the activity. And it wasn't a "one time" choice--it was almost nightly.

 

 

They started most of what she wanted at 9 pm. That's ok if you are 5 and doing dine and play with the kid menu. It doesn't work if you are 13 and eating off the regular menu. And honestly, she enjoyed the dining room and the family time, so didnt' want to miss that. It also works for kids who had first seating and then went to the 8 pm (sometimes 8:15) show as the shows are generally 45 minutes.

 

It might have changed--we certainly wrote it up on our survey as a "problem."

 

I didn't take it as obnoxious at all. It's just hard to remember what the activities were since she didn't do them. She just looked at the schedule and commented things like "Oh darn, I have to miss XYZ"[/quote']

 

This is helpful for me. We are currently on the second seating as the first is full but we have been wait listed. I have a 13 year old who is looking forward to dining in the MDR each night but will also likely want to join in evening activities.

 

We were thinking we would make the second seating work with the 7 and 8 year old - especially with dine and play - but this is another factor we hadn't considered so if we do get offered an earlier dining slot we'll take it!

Edited August 4, 2014 by Katgoesonholiday

[jlk806]

Everyone needs to decide what works for them, and while I loved late dining on the Carnival cruise I took with a group of girlfriends, on the Disney cruise with DH & DS it just seems so late. For our upcoming November cruise I was watching the cruise for weeks before booking as only second seating was available, one day I checked and Main had opened up I hurried and booked the cruise. My DS who is almost 6 (we cruised over 4th of July weekend this year he was still 5) stays up late and sleeps in on vacation we just like to eat at 6, then if we are still up late grab something from the grill or room service for a snack. Our son would usually go to childcare for 1/2 hour before dinner while we got ready and then again from 9-10ish depending on what was going on in there. Worked great for us!

[UNDCruisers]

We are also doing late seating (by choice) on our upcoming Fantasy cruise (t minus 2 weeks!). It is DH and me and our children (boys ages 3 and 7), my parents, and my sister and her boyfriend. The late seating was most desirable for the group as a whole. I am hoping with Dine and Play, it will work out for our boys. The entire group is seasoned cruisers (but first time with Disney) and we have always done late seating (though our first cruise with our boys!). As a child, my family always did late seating, though I was not cruising at the young age of 3!

 

I can see from this thread there are pros and cons to each. Hope the pros outweigh the cons for our group!

[slightlysilly]

I think based on your normal eating time you should be fine. We did the late seating on our Dream cruise and it didn't work out so well for us (or me actually). My body just couldn't handle eating at such a late time. We usually eat supper around 5:30 or 6 at home (depending on activities). My husband said it was ok, but I asked if I could do main dining on our next cruise, and he said he didn't care one way or the other. Up until I sat down for dinner at 8:15 on my first night, I was all aboard on the late dining... but then my stomach was against it. I didn't ask my stomach. BUT OTHER THAN THAT... late dining, schedule wise, actually worked out better... bummer for me.