3 year old in kids club

[CanuckOnaBoat]

I've seen several descriptions about the kids club. Sounds great. But I still don't understand how it works when you drop of your child. (i'm not referring to open houses)

Is it a free-for-all? Do you just drop off your 3 year old and it's up to them to roam around and play on their own?

Are the kids divided into smaller age-appropriate groups? Or does a 3 year old play with an 11 year old?

How many kids are allowed in the kids club at one time? What is the ratio of employee to kids?

thanks!

 

[bumbershoot]

Very few 11 year olds are going to be interested in playing with a random 3 year old. I think you can trust the kids to keep that from happening. My son does his best to avoid the little ones, because they tend to get underfoot and trip him.

But yes, the rooms are all combined (at least on Dream), and the kids can roam.

From what I've seen, a ton of kids are allowed in there. And I rarely see CMs after the checkin spot, when I go in to get DS (people act like "no adults are allowed in", but it's not true; adults are given a pass thing to go in and find their kids...you can't stay, you will be told to leave if you're there too long (like when my son was flat out ignoring me b/c he was having too much fun dancing with the girls on the light up dance floor...the CM had to go and tap him on the shoulder and point to me), but you do go in to get your kid), so I can't speak to the ratio.

BEST thing for a nervous parent is to go to the Open House ASAP and see what it's like in there. Then erase the parents from the picture to see what it's like during normal hours.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I've seen several descriptions about the kids club. Sounds great. But I still don't understand how it works when you drop of your child. (i'm not referring to open houses)

Is it a free-for-all? Do you just drop off your 3 year old and it's up to them to roam around and play on their own?

Are the kids divided into smaller age-appropriate groups? Or does a 3 year old play with an 11 year old?

How many kids are allowed in the kids club at one time? What is the ratio of employee to kids?

thanks!

There are scheduled activities, as well as "free play".

Oceaneer's is roughly separated into the Club and Lab areas. The Club has activities aimed toward the 3-7 ages, while the Lab has activities aimed at the 8-12 ages. That said, any child in Oceaneer's may participate in whatever activities appeal to them, regardless of age.

There's a couple of threads here posted by Youth Activities CMs that may help you with all your questions:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/current-youth-activities-cm-ask-me-anything.3186484/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/ask-me-anything.3437767/

 

[c todd]

Yes, they're free to roam. They'll be a lot of people that don't like this and disagree with me but I wasn't that impressed with the club with a 3 year old in mind. Almost all of the rooms have computers, screens are everywhere. That's great for older kids and if they were touch screens they'd be fine for little ones but a keyboard and a mouse and unfamiliar software is too complicated for my 3 year old. My son likes to play with toys. The only "toy room" was Andy's room and the only toys in there were Mr. Potato Heads and the big piggy bank with big coins to drop in. There are no kind of building toys or action figures or dress up clothes for make believe. If there had been, I would have had a hard time getting my son out of there but he didn't like it much. On open houses, when I was there to play with him he liked it but otherwise not so much.

I watched a lot - I didn't find that the CM's try to encourage little ones to join in set activities. It's more of "we're doing this if you want to join us" and that's all. My son is not shy but needs a little more encouragement to try some new activity with kids he doesn't know. One day, I was watching through the window outside as he played with the Mr. Potato Heads (most of which were broken and pieces didn't really fit together). He was having trouble getting a piece to go in so he moved to where to CM's were just talking to each other and he was ignored. I saw him run out, ask the CM at check in to do it for him and then he went back to the room. I wasn't impressed.

For older kids or kids traveling with siblings or friends, then the kids club is good. They can find things to do or just run around. I don't think there's enough targeted for the very little ones. The only time they attempt to engage your child if they want to leave is if you tell them you are at Palo or Remy and then they will make an extra effort if the child says he wants to leave.

I will say that I was never worried about his safety when he was there. I felt it was safe and secure and had no concerns about him getting hurt or disappearing. I just wish there was more for his age to do besides computers and tv's.

 

[Weedy]

The kids clubs can get crowded. The Dream and the Fantasy have twice as many people 4000 vs 2000 so the kids clubs on those ships will be much more full.

My opinion: if you have very young and you want them to enjoy the clubs kids sail the Magic or Wonder.

When my kids were young they had strict age break downs for the clubs. I really liked this because it was better for the younger kids. But too many people complained that their kids HAD to be together.


They do limit the amount of kids in the clubs but that happens when reservations for the cruise are made. Occasionally someone will try and make a reservation for a family of 2 adults and 2 children and the system won't let them because the kids clubs are full for that age range.


They do have scheduled activities in the clubs each day. They will be listed in the Navigator (newsletter) that you will receive each day. I suggest looking it over the evening before and seeing what this your child may enjoy.

Also the first day take your child to the open house and introduce him to the councilors. It will help if they can put a name and a face together.

Here is a link to past Navigators to give you an idea of what they offer. It may change a little each cruise .


http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators


Here is what a typical day would look like.
Disney Magic


Disney Fantasy

 

[cdoc29]

If your child is three you will have two options, Kids Club (included in cruise fare price) or small world nursery (has a surcharge). We put our 4 year old in the kids club and he had a blast, sometimes we found him on the club side sometimes on the lab side. What we did the first two days was after an hour or so was to wander by the club and ask where he was and what he was doing. He was always involved in some type of activity. When we dropped him off we would tell the counselors he was interested in participating in this program or that and he would come back with stuff he did as a result of the activity. I found the CM’s to be very engaging and making sure the kids were entertained, safe and active. Only once did our son want us to come pick him up and that was close to the end of the night after 5 hours in the club. Otherwise he asked to go to the club all the time.

Our 18 month old spect her time in the nursery, she loved it so much that when we told her she would have to nap or she couldn’t go to the nursery she would lay right down. Once again the counselors were awesome and kept her very entertained. The only issue we had was when she had a protein spill (for the rest of it we call it throwing up) we had to go get her and she was required to be cleared by the health center (no cost) to be cleared to return the next day.

Overall we loved the kids club and it is the main reason we are paying to go on another cruise despite costing more than other lines. I know not everyone has the same experience but for us it was the best part of the ship.

 

[CanuckOnaBoat]

Thank you all. I'm glad I asked. This is not what I envisioned or understood. I was hoping for more guided inclusion/play. Kind of like camp - and not a free for all. It's good to know what to expect beforehand.

I will do the open house on the 1st day. I will try to 'connect' with a CM and hope that DD feels comfortable enough. I was hoping that it would be a place she would be willing to stay a few hours a-day on her own.

 

[lolainkent]

My DD 3 loved the kids club on our Fantasy cruise in February. It's true that there seems to be a lack of actual toys, but she came out almost every time with artwork (a Valentine for DH on Valentines Day, a butterfly ornament, colouring pages, etc). Several of the CM's would greet her when they saw her elsewhere on the ship and she always was ready to tell me that she'd been part of a game or dancing or watching the big kids do something.

One thing you can do is either try to link up with people from your cruise meet thread with similar age kids, or just hang out at the pool. We wound up meeting a couple with a 3 year old in the pool, exchanged Navigator App numbers and planned for them to go into club together a couple times (on ship and at Scuttle's Cove).

 

[CanuckOnaBoat]

Thanks - i will try to find others with 3 year olds. Everyone keeps talking about the " cruise meet" threads- which I have joined. But no one is very active on them.

 

[Sarah O.]

You've gotten all the details, but I just wanted to add that we cruised last month with our 3 year old, and she completely loved the Oceaneer's Club (assume she spent time in both). I definitely picked a few times she could specifically go for their structured programming (she loved Toy Story boot camp), but she never wanted to leave early or got upset!

 

[Shelby109]

I also had a 3 year old on the Fantasy and she really enjoyed the kids clubs. They have a TON of things to color/art projects going on besides screens. I mostly dropped her off for specific activities (Storytime with Belle, Pluto's Pajama Party, Piston cup challenge). I will never forget though the time we dropped her off when there wasn't anything immediately going on. DH and I went for a run and coffee. When we came back she saw me and looked horrified and said "no mommy...more time!!"....so we went back to Cove Cafe and relaxed. Fantastic.

 

[Jsoenning]

Our oldest DD is not naturally out-going and at 4 years 4 months old last November only stayed in the kids club when we had our Palo brunch. I agree that the CM's don't seem to engage unless they know you have a paid for adult activity. Questioning our DD she conveyed to us that if the CM's saw her playing on her own, the CM's asked her "do you want us to call your mom / dad?". The answer is almost always going to be "yes" in our case as our DD likes hanging out with us.

Our hope is when her little sister is old enough they'll both want to stay as the crafts / activities do seem like things both our DD's enjoy about Mother's Day Out at home.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thank you all. I'm glad I asked. This is not what I envisioned or understood. I was hoping for more guided inclusion/play. Kind of like camp - and not a free for all. It's good to know what to expect beforehand.

Definitely good to know ahead of time!

I think the clubs on Disney are really great for natural extroverts. Especially when they are not old enough to have some time management and remember "I wanted to do THIS thing" and then go find where that activity is starting. DS, who is an extrovert and was 8 on his first DCL cruise, found it to be all about the screens, which he can do at home and could never get on mario kart anyway, until we started dropping him off at specific times and reminding him of those activities he wanted to do at dropoff.

When we came back she saw me and looked horrified and said "no mommy...more time!!"....

That's adorable.

I think DS was 10 and DH went to get him. Found him on the dance floor. While he didn't protest verbally, the 6 girls that were dancing with him all protested with a big "nooooooooo".

 

[ctnurse]

My DD 3 loved the kids club on our Fantasy cruise in February. It's true that there seems to be a lack of actual toys, but she came out almost every time with artwork (a Valentine for DH on Valentines Day, a butterfly ornament, colouring pages, etc). Several of the CM's would greet her when they saw her elsewhere on the ship and she always was ready to tell me that she'd been part of a game or dancing or watching the big kids do something.

One thing you can do is either try to link up with people from your cruise meet thread with similar age kids, or just hang out at the pool. We wound up meeting a couple with a 3 year old in the pool, exchanged Navigator App numbers and planned for them to go into club together a couple times (on ship and at Scuttle's Cove).

Our DD will be 3 when we sail and loves to do art projects. At Kindergarten the teachers could sit her down and she would "draw" all day.

I am also happy that she will be able to attend the Club. We spend the long Easter Weekend at Potty Training Boot Camp and it was successful.

 

[luvpooh]

Our DD will be 3 when we sail and loves to do art projects. At Kindergarten the teachers could sit her down and she would "draw" all day.

I am also happy that she will be able to attend the Club. We spend the long Easter Weekend at Potty Training Boot Camp and it was successful.

Please tell me your potty training boot camp secrets, oh wise one!

RE the OP's question - I asked a similar one a couple of months back and was reassured that little kids wouldn't want to do big kid activities, and vice versa. I'm still kinda worried, my son tends to gravitate towards older kids. I can usually gauge if the kid is going to be open to DS 'playing' with them, or if they're more like, 'beat it'. When they're in the club, I wouldn't have that ability, so I do hope that DS will redirect to age-appropriate groups/activities.

 

[hnthomps]

We got off the Fantasy a couple weeks ago with our 4 year old and 2 year old. The latter went to the nursery, of course.

Our 4 year old did...fine. Never called for us, but never seemed to really have fun. I agree, for SURE, that there are too many screens and not enough toys or gross motor activities for kids in the 3-6 age range.

He didn't really give us a ton of information about why he didn't love it, other than to say that on the first day the counselors made him feel shy. We talked him back into going when we had Palo/Remy reservations, but he never requested to go, and never went other than when we basically forced him to. It's also clear from his description of what he did that basically he watched Disney movies the whole time he was in there (there's always at least one playing somewhere, it would seem) unless there was a Magic Playfloor happening, because we had done that during open house and he loved it.

It was only on the last relevant day - thursday - that he had an awesome time (because he was doing a scheduled activity that appealed to his interests).

He also spent several hours in Scuttle's Cove on Castaway Cay, and that he loved. But it's obviously a very different experience.

(It's clear that at least for our family, it will be MUCH better if we cruise again when the kids can be in the same club)

 

[Quellman]

Yes, they're free to roam. They'll be a lot of people that don't like this and disagree with me but I wasn't that impressed with the club with a 3 year old in mind. Almost all of the rooms have computers, screens are everywhere. That's great for older kids and if they were touch screens they'd be fine for little ones but a keyboard and a mouse and unfamiliar software is too complicated for my 3 year old. My son likes to play with toys. The only "toy room" was Andy's room and the only toys in there were Mr. Potato Heads and the big piggy bank with big coins to drop in. There are no kind of building toys or action figures or dress up clothes for make believe. If there had been, I would have had a hard time getting my son out of there but he didn't like it much. On open houses, when I was there to play with him he liked it but otherwise not so much.

I watched a lot - I didn't find that the CM's try to encourage little ones to join in set activities. It's more of "we're doing this if you want to join us" and that's all. My son is not shy but needs a little more encouragement to try some new activity with kids he doesn't know. One day, I was watching through the window outside as he played with the Mr. Potato Heads (most of which were broken and pieces didn't really fit together). He was having trouble getting a piece to go in so he moved to where to CM's were just talking to each other and he was ignored. I saw him run out, ask the CM at check in to do it for him and then he went back to the room. I wasn't impressed.

For older kids or kids traveling with siblings or friends, then the kids club is good. They can find things to do or just run around. I don't think there's enough targeted for the very little ones. The only time they attempt to engage your child if they want to leave is if you tell them you are at Palo or Remy and then they will make an extra effort if the child says he wants to leave.

I will say that I was never worried about his safety when he was there. I felt it was safe and secure and had no concerns about him getting hurt or disappearing. I just wish there was more for his age to do besides computers and tv's.

Probably a very accurate description of my first encounter with this on the Dream with our 2.5 year old in open house. Not a whole lot for him to do outside of programmed activities. I would want to send a younger kid in when there are activities they would enjoy, and then pull them out after, but that's just me.

Thanks - i will try to find others with 3 year olds. Everyone keeps talking about the " cruise meet" threads- which I have joined. But no one is very active on them.

You need to find the master cruise meet threads on f@ce b00k if you aren't finding much here.

Please tell me your potty training boot camp secrets, oh wise one!

We did naked a few days and then did rewards for 5 successes. Seems to have taken off well. Though we had an easy go of it. Best of luck!

 

[ctnurse]

Please tell me your potty training boot camp secrets, oh wise one!

RE the OP's question - I asked a similar one a couple of months back and was reassured that little kids wouldn't want to do big kid activities, and vice versa. I'm still kinda worried, my son tends to gravitate towards older kids. I can usually gauge if the kid is going to be open to DS 'playing' with them, or if they're more like, 'beat it'. When they're in the club, I wouldn't have that ability, so I do hope that DS will redirect to age-appropriate groups/activities.

LOL

Rule #1 Don't give in. DD must have asked for her diaper 1,000 times the first three days.

We spent the 4 days in the bathroom. We pretty much moved into the bathroom from Good Friday Morning until Easter Monday, but each day was a little bit easier.

I knew DD was ready and we didn't give in. As of today she hasn't had an accident and will tell us when she has to use the toilet. She does wear a diaper at night, but it comes off first thing in the morning.

Good Luck!