DCL Childrens Programs and 3 year old

[MOTHEROFONE]

I am not really sure how to ask this but here goes we are going to be sailing the Disney Wonder in Sept 09 for 3 nights. My daughter will be about 3 1/2 at the time of the sailing. My concern is that she will not want to do any of the childrens activities/programs. This will be her 1st Disney cruise and she was on RCCL in 2008 but was to young for the programs. She doesn't go to daycare or preschool yet and she has never been in that type of setting so I am worried that she will be hesitant to do the programs on the ship. Has anyone had this problem? Any comments or suggestions..... Thanks....:confused:

[Icemanpad]

The Disney staff is wonderful!! We have been on 6 Disney cruises and our son has always loved the Club and Lab. You can stay with your child during the activities as well, if that helps ya'all adjust. Enjoy!!

[crusinmama06]

Only you know how your child with react. I can say that neither of my children had real problems. Yes I have been paged back a few times on Disney. They just wanted to leave. But when they are that age, you just go with the flow.

 

And I don't recommend staying with her because then she will ALWAYS want you there. And you want her to think it is a club only for little people. :D You don't want to spend your vacation in the Disney club. Believe me.

 

So go to the kid pages link in my signature. Look at the Disney Pages. I was on 3 Day Wonder so my pages will look the same. The menus are there as well. :) Talk to your daughter about all of the FUN things she'll be doing. Like Meeting Snow White. And going down the pirate ship slide (my duaghter's personal favorite). Get her so excited about it then when it's time to drop her off, she'll already know what's going to happen.

 

And you'll have a pager. So if she has problems, you will know. :D

[CeleBrat]

Our kids love the Disney Oceaneer Club/Lab. How can they resist learning how to dance with Snow White, or perform magic with Stitch, or make Flubber. The activities are very fun!

 

One word of caution though. During "free play" time, it is very loud in the clubs because kids are just running everywhere--up to the slide, in/out of the computer area, etc.. The first time my son went, it was too loud and overwhelming for him--and he was only 3 at the time. So, don't despair if your child isn't happy. It is a little intimidating--and LOUD!

 

Your best bet to avoid that would be to drop of your child for the first time DURING a supervised acitivity, like the Magic show, or craft session. That way, the chaos and volume level is minimized.

 

CeleBrat

[CanadaFour]

I was kindof surprised that my DD (who turned 5 on our DCL cruise) didn't want to spend all her time in the club. On other ships, we couldn't pull her out of club. My thought was that the DCL play area is quite big and a bit overwhelming, especially during open play. The staff, however, could not have been better. I just think that she prefered the smaller, more intimate environment on other ships where there was more one-on-one contact with the staff..... BUT... she loved, loved, loved the organized activities (like do-si-do with Snow White) so we would take her and drop her off for these kinds of activities and pick her up 45 min or an hour later before open play time. It isn't an all or nothing deal-- especially with DCL.

 

In case you are worried about supervision----- I was more than pleased with the computer based system on tracking children's movements on DCL. If there was an activity in a different part of the ship (parade or movie, for example) they knew where my child was at all times and I could sign her out from this location. When they were on the move to a different part of the ship, the staff had an absolute handle on it and I never worried that DD would get lost (and she is a wanderer).....

[tink24]

We were on the Magic for my son's 3rd birthday. He was overwhelmed by the Oceaneer's Club so we put him in Flounder's Reef. They will take kids through age 3 even if they are potty trained. It worked out great for us because they would take him to the Oceaneer's Club to play, but when it got too crazy they would bring him back to the nursery. He loved the toys there and being able to watch Disney movies and The Wiggles. He begged to go there every night instead of going to dinner with us. It was well worth the $6.00 per hour and we never received a single page.:)

[virtuigs]

Can you stay with your child while they attend the DCL Kid's club?

 

To the OP, we will be doing a Disney Wonder cruise in Sept/09 with our 3.5 year old who has not cruised, doesn't do daycare, and is developmentally delayed. Our plan is to play it all by ear and do what she wants to do based on how she feels that day. I doubt she'll be into the kids club, but we'll see...

[tink24]

Can you stay with your child while they attend the DCL Kid's club?

 

To the OP, we will be doing a Disney Wonder cruise in Sept/09 with our 3.5 year old who has not cruised, doesn't do daycare, and is developmentally delayed. Our plan is to play it all by ear and do what she wants to do based on how she feels that day. I doubt she'll be into the kids club, but we'll see...

Yes. They do allow you to stay if you wish. Since your child is still 3, make reservations at Flounder's ahead of time online. You can reserve up to 10 hours. They were really flexible and allowed my son to use Flounder's or the Oceaneer's club as he wished. They were also really flexible about cancelling Flounder's reservations onboard or adding additional time. The children get a lot of 1 on 1 attention in Flounders that they won't be able to get in the Oceaneers Club. Hope this helps.

[MOTHEROFONE]

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions....