Random Questions--

[Rudi610]

We are going on our first Disney Cruise (Magic during Easter week) and will be our first cruise since our honeymoon 14 years ago (Nordic Empress). We have 3 young kids (5 to 11 years). From the looks of it, we have the 2nd seating (are waitlisted for 1st, but I'm not going to count on it). I don't think it will be that bad since we tend to eat late sometimes anyway. I am more concerned with the length of the meal, but there I think we can mitigate any problems with the kids. My questions center more around the show times and the theme nights. Am I correct that they have 2 different show times? Early for second seating and late for first? How about the theme nights? My 5 year old son will not want to miss the Pirate night activities? Will these be taking place during the second seating of dinner? Also, my wife and I would like to eat at Palo's one night (or for brunch). Which would be a good night to go? I don't think that we would want to miss the first night in the dining room, plus we would like to see the "show" in Animator's Palate (Is that really worth it too?).

[dexddd]

Just got back from Magic on 1/31. We had second dinner. You will start at 8:00, 8:15, or 8:30 each night and it will be the same each night, just depends on what time you get.

 

There were two shows and we went to the 6:15 which usually lasted about an hour so we had time before our 8:00 dinner. Our kids are 6 and 10 and had no problem with dinner being about 1.5 hours. THe kids food always came quick and once we took our son to the club during our dinner between courses.

 

Pirate night wasn't a problem - we actually went to Palo that night at 8:30. Your choice of night will be more dictated by what times/days are available.

[Agocruisin]

as pp said, no worries you will not miss Pirate night. We had to skip it because it was too late (started on deck at 9:45).

 

May I suggest a Palo brunch? Kiddoes can go to the kids club and the brunch is superb. And if you board early they always keep slots available but you'll need to get to the terminal before 10:30am.

 

Have fun!

[Rudi610]

Thanks for your replies. Those answered my questions. We have eaten past 8:00 some times and the kids usually aren't too bad with that. I figure if it does become a problem, we can always feed them at the lido (Topsiders?) and then go to dinner at our normal time. Or feed them pizza/burgers from one of the poolside stands. I appreciate the help and am eagerly anticipating our cruise.

[TrolleyGirl]

If the kiddos are in the kids clubs, I believe they can also eat with the kids club group. I think sometimes the characters even come to their meals. Then a quiet dinner for you & DH.

 

You definetly won't miss pirate night no matter what seating time you have. Your waiters will make sure of that.

 

My personal preferance at Palos is brunch. It is soooo beautiful up there in the morning and the food OMG! You might even consider tea at Palos too. It's very relaxing and tasty.

[truck1]

Thanks for your replies. Those answered my questions. We have eaten past 8:00 some times and the kids usually aren't too bad with that. I figure if it does become a problem, we can always feed them at the lido (Topsiders?) and then go to dinner at our normal time. Or feed them pizza/burgers from one of the poolside stands. I appreciate the help and am eagerly anticipating our cruise.

 

 

The buffets, usually close not long after lunch. I had a similar issue with my kids. What we did was around 4 430 ish, we took the kids on deck to Plutos Dogs, and had them split a order of chicken tenders and fries. There is also ice cream and fresh fruits available to snack on.

[dontpanik]

We always dine second seating by preference, but I clearly remember one time being famished around 5:30ish. We ordered room service and my friends we were travelling with went up and grabbed a few slices of pizza. It was plenty to take the edge off but not enough to spoil dinner. Most people travelling on disney want early seating ...nature of the beast when there are a bunch of children on board. I'm sure you've heard this before, but try not to have the kids miss dinner in Animator's Palate!

[RandomIam]

We went on the Magic 1/3. We had second seating with a 3 yo and 1 y/o. Our 3 y/o loved the club and usually went to dinner with them (around 5:00 they take the kids to Topsiders--time will be in your Navigator). A couple nights we left him in the club during dinner since he had already eaten. Other nights we left him in the club until right before the main course. Other nights we had him with us the whole time (those were the most challenging nights since dinner does last about 1.5 hours). The only bad thing about second seating on Pirate night is that you get out of dinner right before the party, and by that time it was very crowded on the deck, but we still managed to get pretty close to the stage so not that big of a deal.

The staff at Oceaneer Club set us up with reservations at Palo for the last night of the cruise. We were hesitant to miss dinner on the last night, but then we found out we would have the same servers as all week at dinner for breakfast the morning of debarkation so we decided to go give tips and say goodbye then. It was worth it and it's actually a shorter dinner than the dining room. Kids ate dinner in the club that night.