Sometimes the magic is worth waiting for, but how long is it too long?
A recent passenger who went on Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Fantasy was disappointed by the lengthy dining experiences their family had throughout the voyage.
This guest took to Reddit to ask fellow cruisers for advice about dining options on Disney Cruises, also hoping to better understand if their prolonged dining experience was the usual or not.
“Dinner was pretty much 2 hours every night,” the poster shared, adding, “Frankly it was pretty rough as I had a 1-year-old with me who only sits still for about 45 minutes at dinner on a good day.”
There was also a night when the family chose to end their dinner early and skip out on dessert because they wanted to see a show.
This happened two hours into the dinner that started at 5:45 p.m., and by 7:15 p.m. the family left as the show started just 15 minutes later.
It would not be unreasonable to expect that dinner and dessert would be served in that time frame, but that was not the case.
Additionally, the poster shared that appetizers took an hour to get to their table after sitting down, which felt a bit slow for something that was not even the main course.
The question this passenger had was simple — how long do these dinners take?
“I’ve found if you want a brisker dinner (if it’s too slow to your liking on the first night), you need to tell your waitstaff for the rest of the cruise,” replied one person.
“We were on the same sailing as you and had late dinner. Ours never went over an hour,” added another.
The poster replied to these comments, saying that Royal Court was the slowest restaurant and that in the future the family would plan on doing late dinners if it meant they would be faster.
On all Disney Cruise Line ships, there are two available seating times for dinner. As mentioned above, the first is at 5:45 p.m., and the latter is at 8:15 p.m..
Early dinners frequently get booked up and are significantly busier, as it is the preferred meal time for most of those cruising with children.
However, seasoned Disney cruisers often opt for the later dinner even if they have their children with them, as it is known to be faster with better service.
Of course, this is not an option for everyone, so unfortunately, those not-so-magical wait times for dining experiences might happen from time to time.
The good news is there are plenty of dining options onboard to choose from!
Disney Dining Options
Six ships make up the Disney Cruise Line fleet, across which there are 37 different dining experiences to choose from, including room service.
The Redditor and their family were on the 4,000 passenger Disney Fantasy for a 5-night round-trip cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida.
Room service could have been an alternative option to the sit down dinners they chose to go to, as it is available for dinner and late-night snacks.
Read Also: Disney Cruise Ships By Age: Newest to Oldest
This ship is also one of the four that have Cabanas, a buffet-style dining experience. However, this restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch.
This vessel departed on March 30, 2025 — and made stops in Nassau as well as Disney’s own Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay, all of which are in the Bahamas.
Despite their less-than-ideal dining experience, this particular passenger shared that the cruise was great and they were excited to do another one.
Having disembarked just days ago on April 4, 2025, this guest saw it fitting to share their experience and gain insight from others, quickly learning this was not an unusual dining experience on a Disney Cruise.
In the future, they could do room service or late dinners, or at the very least, they now know what to expect!
