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You are here: Home / Disney Cruise / 7 Disney Cruise Dining Tips for Families
Disney Cruise dining tips include sunset aboard the Disney Fantasy.
The best sunset views on the Disney Fantasy can be found at Meridian, the adults-anly cocktail lounge located between Palo and Remy. Photo: Liana Moore/ Mountain TravelingMom

7 Disney Cruise Dining Tips for Families

March 21, 2018 //  by Liana Moore//  5 Comments

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Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • 7 Disney Cruise Dining Tips
  • Book the early dinner seating!
  • Don't Miss a seating at Animator's Palate.
  • Try Cabanas for dinner!
  • Adults only Palo or Remy is a must!
  • Visit Meridian.
  • Purchase the souvenir popcorn at your first show.
  • Bring a case of bottled water and wine or beer onboard.
  • So Much More than Dining

Mountain TravelingMom recently took her first family cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy for seven nights. Her kids, ages five and nine, keep asking when they can go on another. Though Disney Cruises gets good dining reviews, Mountain TravelingMom was skeptical. Cooking for that many people has to be a monumental task. However, her entire family was impressed with their Disney Cruise dining experience. Here are their Disney Cruise dining tips to make the most of the experience.

Disney Cruise dining tips include sunset aboard the Disney Fantasy.
The best sunset views on the Disney Fantasy can be found at Meridian, the adults-only cocktail lounge located between Palo and Remy. Photo: Liana Moore/ Mountain TravelingMom

7 Disney Cruise Dining Tips

1. Book the early dinner seating!
2. Make sure to make your seating at Animator’s Palate.
3. Try Cabanas for dinner!
4. One evening at the adults-only Palo or Remy is a must!
5. Visit Meridian, more than once.
6. Purchase the souvenir popcorn at your first show.
7. Bring aboard bottled water, and wine or beer.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and buy, TravelingMom may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you.

While Disney Cruise exceeded Mountain TravelingMom’s dining expectations, in hindsight there are a couple of ways it could have been even better. Have the foresight that she didn’t with these insider tips on managing kids mealtimes on Disney Cruise. Their experience was aboard the Disney Fantasy, but the restaurants are similar on the other ships, as so much of this could be helpful on any Disney Cruise.

Of our Disney Cruise dining tips enjoying interactive activities at Animator's Palate tops the list.
The one Disney Cruise restaurant that you will not want to miss is your seating at Animator’s Palate. Photo: Diana Rowe/ Traveling Grandmom

Book the early dinner seating!

If you have young kids and you can, book the early seating. Not only were we first time Disney Cruisers but we booked our cruise rather last minute. Our five-year-old wakes up with the sun regardless of what time zone we are on so the 8:15 p.m. seating resulted in melt downs almost every night. And, it wasn’t just us. A family seated near us had an older daughter who literally fell asleep at the table almost every night.

Disney Cruise Dining Tips include fun at Animator's Palate.
At Animator’s Palate you may even have the opportunity to illustrate a character for animation. Photo: Liana Moore/ Mountain TravelingMom

Don’t Miss a seating at Animator’s Palate.

We found Animator’s Palate the most fun of all the Disney Fantasy restaurants. The first-night Crush from Finding Nemo swam around the screens in the restaurant interacting with all of the guests. Our second evening at Animators Cafe we illustrated our own character and then they brought them to life on the screens. This was a highlight, for sure.

Dine at Cabana's when managing kids mealtimes in Dinsey Cruise.
At Cabana’s our kids enjoyed seared tuna and prosciutto instead of their standard fare of mac and cheese. Photo: Jennifer Kaufman/ Wayfinding TMOM

Try Cabanas for dinner!

Don’t feel like you need to go to your assigned dinner seating every evening. If we had figured this out earlier we would have had dinner at Cabanas more than once. While for breakfast and lunch Cabanas is buffet style, at night it is made to order from the menu. At the other restaurants our kids tended to order off of the kids menu. But at Cabanas we ordered a Prosciutto platter that our five year old son loved and a seared tuna appetizer and crusted salmon entree that our nine year old laughter loved. It was a nice break from mac and cheese. And, it seemed even more freshly prepared than the assigned dining rotation restaurants.

Of all our Disney Cruise dining tips don't skip adult only Palo.
Treat yourself to mouth-watering souffle at adult-only Palo. Photo: Lisa O’Driscoll/ Do It All TravelingMom

Adults only Palo or Remy is a must!

While the food is wonderful, the experience was over the top. It is hard to imagine that it is possible to have better service than you receive at your assigned dining rotation. But you will at either of these adult-only restaurants. The atmosphere is the ultimate luxury. Your kids will be fully entertained at the Oceaneers Club while you get some important couples time. The additional charges for either of these restaurants are well worth it in the form of quality time spent with your significant other.

Visit Meridian.

Every meal is excellent aboard Disney Cruise Line.
Mountain TravelingMom was surprised that Disney Cruise was actually able to offer amazing food every meal. Photo: Lisa O’Driscoll/ Do It All TravelingMom

Meridian is the cocktail lounge located between Palo and Remy. While most guests visit before dinner at Palo or Remy, we recommend finding additional times to visit. This is possibly the best place on the ship to enjoy the sunset.

We checked it out one morning after breakfast and experienced the best latte, espresso, and conversation. The bartender from Jamaica was entertaining. Then we took our coffee and espresso out to the beautiful deck that we had all to ourselves. On a ship full of guests and many children, it was a pleasure to have a quiet morning and expansive views to ourselves. We felt as though we were the only people aboard the ship.

Traet yourself to Palo on your Disney Cruise
Mountain TravelingMom and her husband enjoying a stress-free dinner without the kids at Palo. Photo: Amazing Server at Palo

Purchase the souvenir popcorn at your first show.

The Disney productions are incredible. Don’t miss any of the original shows! At the welcome show, we spent a bit of money on drinks and popcorn. But then we figured out how to have the perk of food and beverages without much additional cost.

Purchase the souvenir popcorn at the first show, and then you can bring your bucket to the other shows and get a refill for just a couple of dollars. We would also stop at the pool deck on our way and get a lemonade for the kids to bring. Some evenings, we would fill a coffee cup with the wine that we brought on board in our carry-ons.

Bring a case of bottled water and wine or beer onboard.

You can bring a case of water and check it with your luggage upon arrival. It will be brought to your room with your other luggage where you can cool it in your fridge. While we drank plenty of water from the drink fountains, I don’t like drinking water out of bathroom taps. Plus, to cool down there’s nothing better than a cold bottle of water out of the fridge.

Disney also allows either up to two bottles of wine or a six-pack of beer to be brought aboard in your carry on. While your Disney Cruise is mostly all inclusive, you could easily drop a lot of money on bottled water, wine, beer, and cocktails.

So Much More than Dining

Dining is only one small part of a Disney Cruise experience. There is so much more to enjoy. Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, is pristine. The shows are incredible. Pirate Night is a special treat. And, some itineraries even have a special Star Wars Day at Sea or Marvel Day at Sea.

Disney Cruise does service like no one else. Our last day on the ship, after visiting the self-serve ice cream station for the umpteenth time, our daughter informed us that she was really going to miss being called princess.

Our son asks almost every day when we can go on another Disney Cruise. When we ask him why he wavers between answering “donuts for breakfast every day” and “seeing the genie from Disney’s Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular.”

Mountain TravelingMom and her family feel grateful to have been able to check this off of their bucket list. If you are thinking about booking, check out remaining 2018 Disney Cruises.

Disney Cruise Line has an incredible array of restaurants. Hear our tips from signing up to that early seating to which restaurants and dining experiences are not-to-miss. #DisneyCruise #DisneyFantasy #DisneyDining #AnimatorsPalate

 

 

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Category: Disney Cruise, Family Cruises, Top Destinations: Disney

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5 Comments on “7 Disney Cruise Dining Tips for Families”

  1. Cathy Bennett Kopf, Optimism TravelingMom says:
    April 3, 2018 at 6:34 am

    Thanks for the reminder about bringing along the case of water. I remember my surprise when we showed up for our first cruise and saw everyone toting the H2O!!

    Reply
    1. Liana Moore says:
      April 8, 2018 at 5:17 pm

      We also brought refillable water bottles, but it was so nice to just pull a cold bottle of water out of the fridge!

      Reply
  2. Diana Rowe, Traveling Grandmom says:
    March 26, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    I was lucky enough to go on my first Disney (Dream) Cruise last month — and it was amazing. Food, fun, Castaway Cay — we loved every bit of it. Can’t wait to go again.

    Reply
    1. Liana Moore says:
      April 8, 2018 at 5:16 pm

      I agree. Hope to get to go again one of these days!

      Reply
  3. Pingback: 12 Disney Cruise Tips Not to Miss | Insider Families

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