GmaMcD

Our family members will be arriving in Dublin on five different flights,several hours apart. Can anyone suggest any good meeting places and whether there is a play area of any sort? Departing from Shannon, several families will transfer thru Dublin, and wouldn't you know,the ones with the youngest children and longest flight have the longest wait time- nearly four hours! Thanks!

SiobhanP

I was in the airport this weekend but I don't recall a play area. There is a huge food court upstairs and you could eat and take up a large table. There is a good choi e of food for kids (Mc'D's and sandwiches/Pizza) and there is an omlette place etc for more grown up food.

GmaMcD

Thanks, Siobhan. Appreciate your help. Food court will help for the arrivals. Departing will be hardest for one family - a dreadfully long day for the parents and 3 & 5 year old little girls,(leaving Shannon at 7:45, which means they've already been at an airport since about 5am, then waiting till 11:45 to depart for the 11 hour flight to LA!) If no play area,any toy stores? would there be anyplace outside the airport for them to take the children for an hour of diversion while waiting their connection? perhaps a gym, spa,hair,nail salon? or just a spot to walk,run around, outside? or would the hassle of going thru security again be too problematic? Thanks again!!

cailin

There's no play area or any toy stores in the airport, and there's not really anywhere within walking distance for them to run around. There is a shopping centre that's about a 10-15 minute bus ride away. I'm not sure if they have a kids play area, but there is a cinema (although you may not have enough time for that).

waffle18

Hi! I did some digging and came up with a few places that may help pass the time for your LA family (we fly Dublin to LA direct, too, and it's boring as all heck waiting downstairs for that plane. I spend the time reading...)

The Great Southern Hotel is really close to the airport and maybe the family can grab some food in one of the lounge areas of the hotel.

Web site: http://www.gshdublinairport.com/gsh_dublin/dining.html

Also, once you go through the departure gates to the Duty Free shopping area there's a lot of shops you can wander. The hall ways aren't the perfect play ground but the kids can do some walking up and down and maybe get worn out a bit for that long ride home.

http://www.airportshopping.ie/airpor...lin/index.html

Also there are places to eat in the airport itself and maybe just sit to read a story or play a quiet game for a bit.

http://www.dub.aero/AR_Dublin/live/L...e=DN_Resturant

According to this web site there's also babysitting facilities near Boarding Area B. Perhaps they won't need to have the kids watched but can just let them play a bit?

http://www.dub.aero/AR_Dublin/live/L...e=DN_Nurseries

Hope this helps!

Wendy

GmaMcD

Thanks, Wendy & Cailin - That will help. I looked at the airport website, Wendy, and don't quite know what they mean by "nursery" facilities, so emailed their customer relations dept.to inquire. Here,I think of "nursery" for only infants, so hope they answer,
Cailin - my 5-yr. old granddaughter from LA who'll need some play space is named "Caoilinn" - yours is certainly easier to spell - are they the same pronunciation in Ireland?

cailin

Cailin isn't my real name - it's just a translation for the word "girl" in Irish. I'm not great at phonetics but it's kinda pronounced
cah-leeen

I've never heard Caoilinn as a name, so I'm not sure how the pronunciation compares!