Did your kids use clubs much?

[baleeve]

We are traveling with 4 kids. (2 boys 8 & 10 and 2 girls 9 & 11)

I'm thinking they're going to want to be in the kids club constantly. But I'm wondering if that assumption is accurate.

How much time did your kid use the clubs? Was it more or less than you thought it would be?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

My DD has been on 3 cruises and never jazzed to the cubs. I don't know if it is because she's an only child and didn't know any other kids or what, but she did not spend any more time in the clubs than was absolutely necessary ( i.e. Mom & Dad went to Palo). On this last cruise, she spent absolutely no time at The Edge.

 

[zstyles]

Toward the end of the week they did, during the begining not so much, they actually didn't want to go back after the first day but we convinced them with all the "cool stuff"...our 4yo we had to just drop off and RUN..he got used to it and was fine when we returned that evening....I heard the same from a few other parents they were surprised their kids didn't wanna use it more...

 

[poohssmum]

Our boys LOVE the clubs ... at every level and they've done them all (we have cruised 7 times in 9 years). I really do think that one key is to have the kids go to the club the first night when they do the ice-breakers and get-to-know-you games.

We did one 4-night cruise a few years ago we could NOT keep our youngest out of the club! Our dining room team didn't even meet him until breakfast on disembarkation morning. It was a running joke through all the dinners that he didn't really exist.

 

[meremus]

My son was on at 5 and 6. We couldn't keep him away from the club. He wanted to go right when we got on and would have been happy if we let him stay the whole time! We had to tear him away to come be with us!

 

[Princess_Kayla]

We are traveling with 4 kids. (2 boys 8 & 10 and 2 girls 9 & 11)

I'm thinking they're going to want to be in the kids club constantly. But I'm wondering if that assumption is accurate.

How much time did your kid use the clubs? Was it more or less than you thought it would be?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

I was in the Vibe 85% of the time and my brothers (6, 5 and 3 at the time) were there almost everyday! They never didn't want to go

 

[zstyles]

I think each person will have a different reaction, I think it also depends on what boat your on.

 

[Mandersons04]

My kiddies LOVE the kids club. I had to force them to leave the clubs. But I also think it helps that they're in there together. They don't always stick with one another but I think it's a comfort for them knowing that they have each other there.

 

[fredgirls]

It didn't turn out as I expected. Our eldest, 12 went to the edge a lot, until very late, although she did only go for the specific activities. Because there is a lot of team stuff I think they never feel nervous about being alone in the club.
Our youngest, 7 at the time, didn't spend long in the club at all, and she's the outgoing one! Really surprised me. She didn't like just wandering around but did go to the planned activities. But there seemed to be less of those in the oceaneers club/lab than the edge. And the Oceaneers clubs are huge on the dream/fantasy which can be intimidating if no planned activities.
We're going on the Wonder next so i'm hoping the clubs might be a bit smaller.
On our last 5-night we only had 2 1-hour coffee breaks without the kids!
But there's so much fun family stuff to do we didn't miss our alone time.

By the look of your children's ages, they can all be in the clubs together, so you may never see them!

 

[DakotaDisneyLover]

Our first cruise DS was 8 (an only child). While he did go to the club a little bit, he didn't want to spend alot of time there. We usually got paged after an hour or two, and he only went during the evening. Our second cruise he had 4 cousins with, and none of the kids spent a ton of time in the clubs. A couple of hours here and there. DS likes the club on Castaway Cay better, since it is outside and they play fun games in the sand. We didn't get paged to come get him at CC. I think it really depends on the child, what they are in to, etc. Our family vacations have always been exactly that, a family vacation, so we don't expect nor want him to be in 'child care' much, if at all on vacation.

 

[Happy100]

My DS at age 4,5,6 went often to the clubs/lab on the Magic and Wonder.
However I didn't just drop him off w/o there being a planned activity he wanted to do...toy story boot camp, flubber etc. I would look at the Navigators every evening and highlight what I knew he would like to do the next day in the clubs. In the morning I would ask him if he wanted to go to such and such activity or pool or....endless options. Anyway he would choose. Most of the time he would either choose the club or pool. I would say he spent about 60-70% of his time in the clubs. He is an only child and he is not a shy child. I suspect if your child/ren or shy they may not want to be there as much.

Some or all of you kids will love the club/labs. You wont know till you get there but have a wonderful time and just go with the flow. After all you are all on vacation.

 

[MrsDuck]

I sailed when I was 11 and didn't want to go to the kids club.

Looking back, I wish I had! I mean, I had TONS of fun not going to the club but as an adult I'm jealous of all the cool stuff they get to do .

I think it really just depends on your kiddos.

 

[kcashner]

It varied a lot from one cruise to another. At age 7, she loved the OC. The lab was much less a hit (this was before they were essentially combined). Teen programming was a hit again, although she didn't care for the goings on at night and felt the CMs were way to lenient as to what they considered allowable.

At Lab age, a big part was whether she made a friend in the first day or so.

 

[nhgirl]

My daughter (8) wanted to go to kids club most of the time. We told her she had to eat meals with us with the exception of our anniversary when we went to Palo. She loved the kids club.

 

[Zeppelin]

the first three cruises we couldn't get my daughter to go into the club...our cruise from April we couldn't get her (9YO) out of the club....

 

[Zeppelin]

It varied a lot from one cruise to another. At age 7, she loved the OC. The lab was much less a hit (this was before they were essentially combined). Teen programming was a hit again, although she didn't care for the goings on at night and felt the CMs were way to lenient as to what they considered allowable.

At Lab age, a big part was whether she made a friend in the first day or so.

huge....my daughter made two friends the first day there and it set the tone...

 

[socababy]

My boys have always loved the kid's clubs. Dd first sailed when she was just over 3. She didn't want to be in there at all! Now at 5, she wants to be there all the time. The hardest part is me trying to stay awake as late as possible because my kids are party animals and normally want to close the place down!

 

[llqool]

My daughters are 10 and 7 and have been on three cruises, all on the classic ships, starting at ages 6 and 3. They LOVE the clubs, the Oceaneers Club in particular, and spend LOTS of time there. In fact, on our NY cruise this summer, they were begging me to take them to the club the instant it opened and I didn't want to because we were sailing past the Statue of Liberty and under the Verrazano Narrows bridge (I made a deal with them that I would take them down right after we passed Lady Liberty!)

They don't always play together in the clubs,and sometimes one will want to stay in while the other comes out. But in general, they wanted to go in for some part of the day and every evening (we did Dine and Play during the second seating). It *is* important for them to make friends there, that does impact their enjoyment. By about the second or third night, they were following their friends into the clubs at dinner, willingly leaving before their dessert was brought out!

 

[wl1117]

Our DD wouldn't hardly leave the Clubs!

She'd just turned 4 before the cruise, so I'd been concerned she wouldn't want to be there, but it was the opposite. Half of the time we'd come to get her for lunch and she'd not want to leave, so we'd let her eat there. This trip we chose late dining so that she could dine and play (and we could hopefully get her to nap and see the shows with us beforehand).

 

[lucyem]

My boys were 5 & 9 at the time. They LOVE the kids clubs at WDW so were all excited about the kids clubs on the Dream. My 9 yr old made some friends and always wanted to go back and play video games. My 5 yr old started out not wanting to leave the first night but by the end of the short cruise he was overtired and asking to stay with us. It was a 3 day cruise following a week at WDW. I think his being tired made him like it less. Also on a 3 day cruise it was just so overwhelming and so much to do. There was no chance to relax for any of us.

We are taking a 7 day Fantasy cruise in April. They will be just about 11 & 7. I am expecting my 7 yr old to get into it more this time. We are on the facebook page for the Dis'ers on our cruise. There are a number of families from our state. I am hoping to try and meet up with some this winter and maybe my 7 yr old will make a friend ahead of time which would be great.