Pirate night is lame now

[MomOTwins]

WHy not complain to Disney and get them to change the time of the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. Or the parades at night so your kids can watch them. How about this novel idea. Make your kids take a nap and then they will be able to stay up and watch the show.

Not sure I understand this comment - the Happily Ever After show at MK is currently at 8:30pm, which is very different from 10:15pm. I do think the old jack sparrow show was a bit too late for most kids' bedtimes (even with a nap), but they had the mickey show earlier so I think they struck the right balance before. If I were disney, I would just move up the dinner times a bit for both seatings on pirate night - 5pm for early, and 7:30 for late, and then do the show at 9pm. Reasonable for kids bedtime, but with none of this crammed-between-the-meals silliness.

 

[cheribelle]

My daughter and I took a nap before the Pirate night on our first cruise. A woman threatened to step on her because she was sitting behind and slightly between her and her husband. The nasty woman said she had been waiting and saving the spot and if we wanted a good spot we should have done the same thing.

Pirate night for me has been nothing but brutal.

That’s awful!! This past cruise, because we got to the 7:30 show so late from early dinner, there were no spots left. So my little one kept trying to peak between this woman and her husband to at least get a look what was going on. The woman kept inching closer to her husband as to totally block my little ones view. I at least could see the show projected on funnel vision but she was too short. People can be so rude with these parades and fireworks and shows. I get that they got there early and saved themselves a nice spot. But it doesn’t mean you need to be so rude about it.

I did let DCL know about how we disliked the show and times both on the comment card and with the survey they sent.

But just like the parks, I think I’m done with all this show nonsense and trying to get a spot. It’s become a quest for people to grab the best areas just for a silly pirate show. Takes the fun away from it all. I will just try for the fireworks next time.

 

[DisneySunPrincess]

My best friend is sailing on the 9/8 Fantasy sailing and someone in her FB cruise group already reached out to DCL about the Pirate night changes, and was advised that the changes that took place on the 8/11 sailing would also apply to the 9/8 sailing. There would be an early Buccaneer Blast with fireworks and no buffet. Sorry guys. Wish I had happier news to share. I am sailing on the 10/19 Dream and am hoping that this continues to NOT affect the Dream sailings, as I would agree with a previous poster who stated that this appears to be a test on the Fantasy at this time.

 

[MomOTwins]

That’s awful!! This past cruise, because we got to the 7:30 show so late from early dinner, there were no spots left. So my little one kept trying to peak between this woman and her husband to at least get a look what was going on. The woman kept inching closer to her husband as to totally block my little ones view. I at least could see the show projected on funnel vision but she was too short. People can be so rude with these parades and fireworks and shows. I get that they got there early and saved themselves a nice spot. But it doesn’t mean you need to be so rude about it.

I did let DCL know about how we disliked the show and times both on the comment card and with the survey they sent.

But just like the parks, I think I’m done with all this show nonsense and trying to get a spot. It’s become a quest for people to grab the best areas just for a silly pirate show. Takes the fun away from it all. I will just try for the fireworks next time.

We actually got there pretty early for the kiddie show and got a spot right up front, but everyone on the deck was sitting and my six year old was was excited and wanted to wave his toy swords when Mickey does the sword wave and a woman behind them grabbed my young son’s arm and shoved it down so that he wouldn't impede their view, so we quickly moved off the main deck floor to a less good view off to the side. It disturbed me a lot. Next time we will just go on the upper deck and get away from the main deck crazy people.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If I were disney, I would just move up the dinner times a bit for both seatings on pirate night - 5pm for early, and 7:30 for late,

Oh, yeah, that's going to go over real well. People already complain about eating at 6 being too early.

 

[KashasMom]

Don’t be. We have cruised so many times and we all agreed this was the best cruise ever. I didn’t let the “small stuff” bother us. We have seen the pirate show so many times, that these are things that can be overlooked. The double show thing worked out good because we got to see the variety shows in the adult areas and my kids loved having them as a matinee show. The extra shows were just a little less crowded and we felt we didn’t have to rush to get a seat.
I was sad about the new pirate show, and I let them know on the comment card. But if you don’t “sweat the small stuff” you will have the best time! Things change and we just learn to go with the flow.

I would say that to a lot of people the pirate night/show is NOT "small stuff". Glad you've seen it so many times that it doesn't matter to you but maybe it matters to others who were looking forward to it. We rarely make it to fireworks and have never had any of the buffet but I can still empathize with others who don't feel the way you do.

 

[darnheather]

That’s awful!! This past cruise, because we got to the 7:30 show so late from early dinner, there were no spots left. So my little one kept trying to peak between this woman and her husband to at least get a look what was going on. The woman kept inching closer to her husband as to totally block my little ones view. I at least could see the show projected on funnel vision but she was too short. People can be so rude with these parades and fireworks and shows. I get that they got there early and saved themselves a nice spot. But it doesn’t mean you need to be so rude about it.

I did let DCL know about how we disliked the show and times both on the comment card and with the survey they sent.

But just like the parks, I think I’m done with all this show nonsense and trying to get a spot. It’s become a quest for people to grab the best areas just for a silly pirate show. Takes the fun away from it all. I will just try for the fireworks next time.

Last cruise I watched a movie in the room but missed my older daughter's flash mob. That made me sad. Next cruise is the Panama Canal so I HOPE since there will be so few children people will be kinder. I'm also going to mention something in the FB group as we have over 500 people in there and there will probably only be 1800 sailing. LOL

 

[cheribelle]

I would say that to a lot of people the pirate night/show is NOT "small stuff". Glad you've seen it so many times that it doesn't matter to you but maybe it matters to others who were looking forward to it. We rarely make it to fireworks and have never had any of the buffet but I can still empathize with others who don't feel the way you do.

There’s a lot in Disney that I still haven’t seen. Last trip I missed the new fireworks at the MK. It was way too hot and crowded. I was sad as I never saw it. But you know what? It was still a great trip! We had the best time! So yes I can empathize with others. We missed castaway due to weather and were so sad but it was still a great trip. There’s a lot you can miss on a vacation due to crowds, weather, things out of your control but the trip is still what you make of it.

So I will stand by my comment and hope that if others don’t get a great view or miss part of the show due to timing, their trip will not be a disappointment if they make the most of the other things. Pirate night is also about pictures, atrium fun with characters, dinner. A 15 minute show is not the highlight of it in my opinion.

 

[tlprice]

Last cruise I watched a movie in the room but missed my older daughter's flash mob. That made me sad. Next cruise is the Panama Canal so I HOPE since there will be so few children people will be kinder. I'm also going to mention something in the FB group as we have over 500 people in there and there will probably only be 1800 sailing. LOL

For Panama Canal you will be on the Wonder which has a different pirate show. The thing my daughter and I like better about all of the deck shows on the classic ships is that they have an area blocked off just for kids. I really don't understand why they don't do this on the Dream and Fantasy. It is just so much better for the kids to have their own dedicated space that adults can't intrude on. Maybe there are just too many kids on the Dream and Fantasy to do this.

 

[ArielRae]

Oh, yeah, that's going to go over real well. People already complain about eating at 6 being too early.

I find eating at 6pm not early enough. Our family likes our dinner at 4pm and in bed by 8pm. Having to wait until 6pm is a pain. Don’t like going to bed with so much food still in the stomach. I know we can get food on deck but we like the menus and experience of the main dining rooms. It is just too late to be eating for us.

I really wished Disney opened one restaurant rotating each day for dinner around 4:00 for an early dinner. Making it like lunch, first come first serve. That time frame would make it early enough to be ready for the next seating just like the time between early and late seating now.

This would also help those with another option if they don’t get the first seating timeframe. They could choose to keep late seating or do the first come first serve dinner time around 4:00pm.

 

[mcd2745]

I find eating at 6pm not early enough. Our family likes our dinner at 4pm and in bed by 8pm. Having to wait until 6pm is a pain. Don’t like going to bed with so much food still in the stomach. I know we can get food on deck but we like the menus and experience of the main dining rooms. It is just too late to be eating for us.

I really wished Disney opened one restaurant rotating each day for dinner around 4:00 for an early dinner. Making it like lunch, first come first serve. That time frame would make it early enough to be ready for the next seating just like the time between early and late seating now.

This would also help those with another option if they don’t get the first seating timeframe. They could choose to keep late seating or do the first come first serve dinner time around 4:00pm.

This is why DCL needs to adapt to something along the line of RCCL's "My Time" dining or NCL's "Freestyle" dining. This way families like yours can have your dinner at 4pm (I personally consider that still lunch time), those who want to eat at 6 or 7pm could do so, etc. They could also still keep the traditional, rigid main/late dining times for those that want it. I think more and more, people are looking for flexibility.

 

[Lori74]

My best friend is sailing on the 9/8 Fantasy sailing and someone in her FB cruise group already reached out to DCL about the Pirate night changes, and was advised that the changes that took place on the 8/11 sailing would also apply to the 9/8 sailing. There would be an early Buccaneer Blast with fireworks and no buffet. Sorry guys. Wish I had happier news to share. I am sailing on the 10/19 Dream and am hoping that this continues to NOT affect the Dream sailings, as I would agree with a previous poster who stated that this appears to be a test on the Fantasy at this time.

We are on the same cruise! 43 days!

 

[LizGirl]

Yes mcd2745, you just brought to my mind something else that we found very different on this cruise compared to previous... no late night movies on Funnel Vision! We used to usually leave the 2nd show and go up to Funnel Vision to watch a late movie there. This cruise, nothing past 9 or 10 pm on Funnel Vision and I even thought the pools closed earlier (10 pm...), but I may not be recalling correctly - I thought they usually closed at 11p... Anyhoo, only on the last night did they have a late Funnel Vision movie but otherwise we thought the entertainment ended earlier then in the past...

This is the most disappointing detail from this thread for me. I absolutely love relaxing on deck, in the breeze, watching a movie with the kids.

 

[mcd2745]

This is the most disappointing detail from this thread for me. I absolutely love relaxing on deck, in the breeze, watching a movie with the kids.

You get the feeling they want everyone in their staterooms by 11pm so they can pretty much shut down the entire ship until morning.

 

[Candycane83]

We actually got there pretty early for the kiddie show and got a spot right up front, but everyone on the deck was sitting and my six year old was was excited and wanted to wave his toy swords when Mickey does the sword wave and a woman behind them grabbed my young son’s arm and shoved it down so that he wouldn't impede their view, so we quickly moved off the main deck floor to a less good view off to the side. It disturbed me a lot. Next time we will just go on the upper deck and get away from the main deck crazy people.

Wow, I would have throttled the woman! That’s just unacceptable.

 

[darnheather]

For Panama Canal you will be on the Wonder which has a different pirate show. The thing my daughter and I like better about all of the deck shows on the classic ships is that they have an area blocked off just for kids. I really don't understand why they don't do this on the Dream and Fantasy. It is just so much better for the kids to have their own dedicated space that adults can't intrude on. Maybe there are just too many kids on the Dream and Fantasy to do this.

We were on the Magic before. The kid's area was like a mosh pit.

 

[jetskigrl]

We were on the Magic before. The kid's area was like a mosh pit.

I was just going to say the same thing. My DD actually recorded a little bit of it (from behind) on the Wonder just to show her brother. Yep, kid's mosh pit was exactly what she called it

 

[lilsonicfan]

I find eating at 6pm not early enough. Our family likes our dinner at 4pm and in bed by 8pm. Having to wait until 6pm is a pain. Don’t like going to bed with so much food still in the stomach. I know we can get food on deck but we like the menus and experience of the main dining rooms. It is just too late to be eating for us.

Wow, 4pm dinner! I'm not even home until 7pm most nights! You must have really early mornings!

 

[southerngirl528]

I understand that it can be late for kids but at WDW the fireworks are at 9 or 10 and people stay with kids. I've even seen tons of kids in the park at midnight.

I had been thinking the same thing....

Hope it's not a trend to "Anytime" dining. I really like the traditional seating times.

Another vote for that here too! I think DCL has a lot of options for those that want to eat at off times.

 

[tlprice]

We were on the Magic before. The kid's area was like a mosh pit.

That was not our experience on the Wonder or Magic. Maybe we were just fortunate the cruises that we were on.