What Will Our Dining Rotation Be?

Our first night on the Dream dining at Animator's Palate.

A, E, R, R, A

What do those letters mean?  They are the letters for the dining rotation during our 5 night sail on the Disney Dream.  A is for Animator’s Palate, E is for Enchanted Garden, and R is for Royal Palace.  The letters represent the order we went to each dining room, so our first night on board was A for Animator’s Palate.

One of the questions guests sailing on a Disney Cruise want to know is what dining room they will be assigned to each night of their cruise.  Guests want to know so that they can schedule dining at Palo and/or Remy, the adult only restaurants that require a reservation.

Check out the letters for our Dining Rotation from a 7 night cruise on the Disney Magic--LAPPALP

But the ever elusive list of letters can only be found on guests’ Key to the World Card they receive when checking in for their Disney cruise and on the dining tickets in their stateroom.

The rotation of the dining rooms is done so that each guest experiences the regular menu or “show menu” for each main dining room, a Pirate Night menu in a dining room that is repeated in the rotation, and a farewell menu of some sort on the last night of the cruise. 

The other night, the husband and I were speculating about what the dining rotation would be for our upcoming cruise. He is convinced that Animator’s Palate will be our assignment for the first night.  I’m not so sure.  Here’s my thinking. . . Pirate Night will most likely be the day the ship docs in Nassau which is the second day of the cruise.  It is also Christmas Eve, making it even more of a choice for Pirate Night as what better night for fireworks at sea.  Therefore, whatever dining room we are assigned to for the second night, we will have to have again in the rotation for the regular menu or “show menu.”  Since the Pirate Night menu is the same in the three main dining rooms, it really doesn’t matter which dining room you are assigned to, per say, just a matter of preference.

There are pros and cons to being assigned to Animator’s Palate on the first night.  Pro—the show is entertaining and keeps the boy happy as the kids’ clubs don’t open until later on the first night.  Con—the show can be noisy making it difficult to hear the servers, especially if they have thick accents, and difficult to make conversation with your table mates on the first night. Click here to read more about dining in Animator's Palate on the Disney Dream.

When will we find out our dining rotation?  Not until we check-in for our Disney Cruise at the counter at Orlando International Airport prior to taking the bus to the port.  Until then, we can only guess.