toddlers to Stingray City?

[mejiace]

Hello Folks,

We're first time cruisers on the Disney Magic in a few weeks and wondering if anyone has either taken their toddlers or seen toddlers in SRC. My three yr old loves to swim and is not afraid. Your comments are greatly aprreciated! Has anyone seen a person get stung there?

[jean-lynd]

Our three year old grandson went to stingray city with us but he did not get in the water. They did bring a stingray up to the boat to show to the people that did not want to get off of the boat. He enjoyed the trip. I have never seen anyone get stung but you do need to watch out for stingray "hickeys". My son in law and my other grandson both got them.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Enjoy!

[bookbabe]

You can avoid stingray hickeys by either avoiding the squid or getting one of the guides to show you how to hold the squid properly to minimize "suction" risk. :D There's a trick to it, and it's really easy once you get the hang of it.

 

I've been to Stingray City dozens of times, and never seen anyone stung. I've never even seen anyone get a hickey. The most common "risks" in my experience are either getting bowled over by an overly enthusiastic stingray swimming between your legs or getting scraped by a tail when said stingray turns too quickly and accidently smacks you.

 

However, those "risks" can also be avoided by avoiding the squid. The stingrays are kind of like cats. They will be your best friend if you're holding the treats, but have absolutely no interest in you if you're empty-handed... :D

 

I've seen lots of smaller kids out at Stingray City. In addition to comfort in the water, the other factor is comfort around animals. If your child is good with strange animals, then they'll likely be fine and have a blast. If they are scared around either strange animals or overly enthusiastic animals, then they may be scared at Stingray City. (It's very much like a petting zoo, just with stingrays in the water rather than deer in a pen.)

[mejiace]

Thanks bookbabe and jean-lynde, this settles us down. I was worried originally b/c Disney has a 5 yr age limit on the excursion, and the local excusions do not have a limit.

[ata1976]

We used Moby Dick Tours and took 2 yr old DS. He loved it. Me and him swam while eveyone snorkled. Then he loved the boat ride and the seeing/petting the stingrays. He will tell you that he swam with the stingrays and loves to look at pictures.

 

I didn't have any problem holding him while the stingrays swam around us. But I would advise a life jacket for parent and child if trying to swim while everyone is snorkling. At first I just put a life jacket on him, but with him holding on to me and the fact that I couldn't touch the bottom, I quickly got a life jacket thrown to me also. :cool: