Only child at kids club?

[jcjen519]

We're interested in signing up for one or two tastings on our cruise, maybe the mixology class. Maybe even dinner at Palo or Remy.

However, I'm a little bit nervous about dropping our son off at the kids club. It is only going to be my husband, myself and our almost 4 year old on this cruise. I'm afraid he is not going to like the kids clubs since he has no siblings or cousins to play with. He is a very outgoing and friendly kid who does not know a stranger so I know he could easily make friends BUT it is his vacation and I don't want to leave him there crying. Anyone have any experience with this? I didn't plan on using the kids club at all but now I"m thinking about it.

I realize I sound a little paranoid, but thanks for any help

 

[Jackson's grammie]

Try him at the club. Jackson loves the club so much when his mother went to get him at 11pm he told her to come back later.

 

[melaniejh1016]

I have a 4 year old only child. She did great in the kids club! She made friends and wanted to go everyday. I was worried about the same thing as you but we hyped it up big time before we went showing her videos of it. the kids club is so cool she fell in love with it!

 

[redsonja76]

Even my ridiculously shy, quiet, wallflower of a child liked the kids club. Give it a try, I bet you won't be able to get him out of there!

 

[jcjen519]

thanks! That makes me feel a lot better to hear stories of other kids his age going in by themselves and loving it. I think I will start building the club up to him now. Showing him videos and all. I'm almost afraid to even hope my husband and I could actually have dinner or do something fun without the kiddo. Not that we don't love him dearly and love spending time with him of course

 

[Chee Chick]

I had the child on the other end of the spectrum who hated the clubs if she had to go without mommy or daddy. DD3 wouldn't even go with her older brother. I ended up having to cancel our Palo reservation. She is usually very active and outgoing. I was completely surprised.

I suggest making your reservations towards the middle or end of your cruise. That way you can get a good feel on how your child will do in the clubs beforehand.

 

[KTills]

We're interested in signing up for one or two tastings on our cruise, maybe the mixology class. Maybe even dinner at Palo or Remy.

However, I'm a little bit nervous about dropping our son off at the kids club. It is only going to be my husband, myself and our almost 4 year old on this cruise. I'm afraid he is not going to like the kids clubs since he has no siblings or cousins to play with. He is a very outgoing and friendly kid who does not know a stranger so I know he could easily make friends BUT it is his vacation and I don't want to leave him there crying. Anyone have any experience with this? I didn't plan on using the kids club at all but now I"m thinking about it.

I realize I sound a little paranoid, but thanks for any help

I understand your concern, but I encourage you to try it out! Our son was just 5 when he sailed for the first time. We went to the club, it's like an orientation type of thing, after boarding to check it all out. We had shown him a ton of YouTube videos beforehand and really pumped it up. He's an only child, pretty darn shy...and he LOVED it! Matter of fact, he threw an all out temper tantrum a couple of times when we tried to take him out. That's all he wanted to do was play in the club/lab! Leave him for 30 minutes or an hour the first time...check back and see how he likes it. You just might be surprised!

 

[jcjen519]

I had the child on the other end of the spectrum who hated the clubs if she had to go without mommy or daddy. DD3 wouldn't even go with her older brother. I ended up having to cancel our Palo reservation. She is usually very active and outgoing. I was completely surprised.

I suggest making your reservations towards the middle or end of your cruise. That way you can get a good feel on how your child will do in the clubs beforehand.

probably a good idea. This is kind of why I'm worried. He is very active and outgoing but I could also see him wanting us to stay.

 

[jcjen519]

I understand your concern, but I encourage you to try it out! Our son was just 5 when he sailed for the first time. We went to the club, it's like an orientation type of thing, after boarding to check it all out. We had shown him a ton of YouTube videos beforehand and really pumped it up. He's an only child, pretty darn shy...and he LOVED it! Matter of fact, he threw an all out temper tantrum a couple of times when we tried to take him out. That's all he wanted to do was play in the club/lab! Leave him for 30 minutes or an hour the first time...check back and see how he likes it. You just might be surprised!

thanks! We will try it. Just hearing there are other only children going in there makes me feel better. I am not sure if I had convinced myself he is the last only child out there (haha) or what but it helps to hear that. I was just picturing everyone there with cousins or siblings and him being left out. sounds like this won't be the case.

 

[kcashner]

My DD is an only. We had a rule that she had to choose one activity each day in the programming (45-60 minutes. This gave me a break and gave her a chance to experience something there. At some ages, she'd love it and want to stay a lot longer. On other cruises/other ages it was not a big hit...but she did her one hour per day, met the CMs, etc and after that we'd do family time.

Even on those cruises where the programming was not such a hit, she'd still love to have me come in during open times (in those days it was called "family time in the Lab") and show off HER place.

 

[KTills]

thanks! We will try it. Just hearing there are other only children going in there makes me feel better. I am not sure if I had convinced myself he is the last only child out there (haha) or what but it helps to hear that. I was just picturing everyone there with cousins or siblings and him being left out. sounds like this won't be the case.

LOL! No, he won't be the the only only! The staff that work in there are amazing and very engaging too. They have all kinds of interactive activities...computers...art...sloppy science...different games...character interactions. It's Disney - they do it right!!

 

[jcjen519]

okay...I just booked a remy champagne brunch (think we may have better luck putting him in the kids club at that time of day) for day 6 (sea day) and I think we'll try to do some kind of class on day 2 (sea day) I guess if that goes well we'll keep the remy brunch otherwise we will still have some time to cancel.

 

[jcjen519]

LOL! No, he won't be the the only only! The staff that work in there are amazing and very engaging too. They have all kinds of interactive activities...computers...art...sloppy science...different games...character interactions. It's Disney - they do it right!!

I know it looks great! we went to one of the open play things for everyone on our last cruise (he was 2) and he played and had so much fun in there.

 

[jcjen519]

My DD is an only. We had a rule that she had to choose one activity each day in the programming (45-60 minutes. This gave me a break and gave her a chance to experience something there. At some ages, she'd love it and want to stay a lot longer. On other cruises/other ages it was not a big hit...but she did her one hour per day, met the CMs, etc and after that we'd do family time.

Even on those cruises where the programming was not such a hit, she'd still love to have me come in during open times (in those days it was called "family time in the Lab") and show off HER place.

I like that idea. I'd be happy if he just did an hour or so on our two sea days!

 

[melaniejh1016]

The other thing is at dinner they matched us up with another family with a child the same age as ours They became instant friends and we would coordinate with that family to send the girls to the club at the same times each day so they'd have a buddy! It worked out great'

 

[SunshineCruiser]

I have 3 children, but they are 2 1/2 years apart, and were in 3 different clubs, so each child was on there own. There will be many kids entering alone. You can always test it out and come back within a half hour to make sure they are happy the first time you leave them. That made my daughter feel better knowing we were coming right back, and when we got back she didn't want to leave.

 

[DahliaRW]

The other thing is at dinner they matched us up with another family with a child the same age as ours They became instant friends and we would coordinate with that family to send the girls to the club at the same times each day so they'd have a buddy! It worked out great'

There might even be another disborder on your cruise with a child of similar age and you could meet up beforehand and then send them together later.

 

[jcjen519]

The other thing is at dinner they matched us up with another family with a child the same age as ours They became instant friends and we would coordinate with that family to send the girls to the club at the same times each day so they'd have a buddy! It worked out great'

oh that would be awesome! On our last cruise we were with my parents and grandparents and uncle and his gf so we weren't matched with anyone. I wasn't even thinking along those lines, but that would be great.

 

[jcjen519]

There might even be another disborder on your cruise with a child of similar age and you could meet up beforehand and then send them together later.

That would be great

 

[Jane1967]

That is exactly what I was going to say. I am on a thread with others going on the same cruise. We are going to set up a meet for shortly after we get on the ship. That way the girls can get to know each other. We may take them all in the club together as well. Check and see if there is a thread out there for your cruise and put out some feelers.