Daily average time your kid(s) in club/lab/tween/teen club

[Mazz519]

after our Main seating for dinner the kids usually shoot up to the kids clubs and stay there till they close usually about 12am.. My older son 16 gos to the older clubs and keeps in touch with us using the wave phones.

 

[cruisecrasher]

DD3 (at sailing) and DS6 both were hard to get out of the clubs.
On sea days they easily spent 6+ hours in the club or lab.
On long port days, 1-2 hours
On half day ports maybe 3-5
But they weren't necessarily both in at the same time, we try to get a special day with each kid where we take just them to dinner or lunch with us. And DD will watch and rewatch the stage shows, DS would rather be in the lab for the evening activities.

 

[k3chantal]

Has anyone brought a 1 year old to the baby play room? How long do you usually leave them there? I am a newbie and a little confused on some of this.

Thanks in advance!

We did it in about 2 hour stints. We found that our 18 month old was happier NOT at dinner service so by the second night, we scheduled her stays in the nursery during our dinner. She was happier and so were we!

 

[EPCOTatNight]

My ds14 spent between 6 and 12 hours a day in Vibe, Edge we he was 13, and Lab when he was 10. He loves the clubs and the friends he makes in them. P.S. all that time isn't technically "in" the clubs, but he is with friends or doing a club activity.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[wiggles02]

0 on our May 2013 Dream cruise. Maybe 2 hours on our May 2012 Magic cruise and that was on Castaway Cay so DH and I could do the 5k. They (2 boys ages 12 and 9) were not that interested.

 

[KPetty725]

DD6 begged to go in anytime we let her and only wanted to leave for swimming. If it weren't for the lure of the pool, I doubt we would've seen her! DD3 wasn't so into it. She lasted about 2-hours a day and we got paged every time she was there. Most of the time I would come to pick her up and find her snuggled into a CMs lap. I think the noise and the big kids running around intimidated her. She was fine until her big sister found faster friends to run around with and then she was ready to leave.

 

[ChrizJen]

DD(6) was in the clubs an average of 3 hrs a day. That was mostly after dinner each night (we did the dine & play option). There were only 2 times she went to the clubs during the day. Otherwise, she loved going after dinner!

Funny story: For the first 3 days, we'd spend the day together and then she'd go to the club/lab after dinner and she LOVED it!! We'd pick her up at around 10:30 or 11:00 for bed. Then on like the 4th day, I noticed something going on in the club that I knew she'd like, so I suggested she go. She said, "they're open during the day too!!" She thought they were only open at night after dinner!

 

[mordecai]

It seems to depend on personality in our family. DS8 would have slept there. He was there any time we'd let him go. That went for DD6. Both of them are more "independant" children. DD5 is more the type to spend time with me and my wife, she would spend 3 or 4 hours in there and then want out. DD2 was too old to go in the nursery (she would have killed a CM most likely) and too young to go in the clubs so she ended up staying with us the whole time which wasn't ideal. The 2-3 age bracket is kind of a bust for childcare on Disney IMO. Hoping now that she's 3 she'll enjoy the clubs so we can get some time alone

 

[gigi1313]

DD is 18 and has sailed DCL 7 times since she was 10.

She spent 1 hour in the club at 10 to make flubber and 1 hour in the club at 16 to try the teen thing. That's it, she doesn't like the clubs! For her DCL means hanging with the family.

This describes my teens too... they spent less than 15 mins in vibe and that was the end of that! My youngest was 4 when we cruised DCL and he spent a few hours a day in the club/lab... he typically went for an hour or two mid-day (while we did bingo w/the big kids or mixology w/out any kids, or my dd/I did the spa) then he went again after the early show while we had dinner... most nights he did not want to be dragged out (after arguing about not wanting to go in) so we had to bribe him with room service or a movie!

 

[DbleTheFun]

My twins would spend 24 hrs a day in the club if I let them... They LOVE it there and beg to go back after dinner to play long after bedtime normally comes at home. Our 13yr old basically abandons the family when he walks onto the ship for the Edge.... Its his chance for complete freedom from parents while still being safe. Ends up being a perfect break on our holiday (always tie in a week at WDW thats 100% family time)... Where everyone does what they want and gets time with new friends.

 

[kimf503]

My 9yr old girl would have stayed all day if we let her, same for my 16yr old son. We gave them the option of coming to dinner and they came every night because they wanted to. It was nice to let them have some freedom in a safe place.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Our DD13 spent 6-10 hours per day in Edge -- she loved it there! But, she is the type of girl who is all about her friends and would probably move out to her new apartment right now if we let her, so she was fine to eat very late breakfast with us then be off! She came to the show and dinner with us then would be back with her friends.

Our DD9 spent probably 2-3 hours total in Club/Lab, broken into smaller portions. She had fun when her little friend she met onboard would be there at the same time but not so much when she was there solo.

As I mentioned in another post, I'm not a big fan of the 3-12 age for these clubs -- too large of an age span. We probably won't cruise again until 2015 when our DD will be 11yo so that she can go into Edge.

 

[dbenlee]

Ever since our first Disney cruise, our DS (now 14), will spend every second in the clubs that we allow. He comes out at dinner time because we insist that he have dinner with us in the MDR. The only time he skips dessert at dinner, he rushes back to the club as soon as he can. He absolutely loves the friends he makes and the vacation from Mom and Dad. Of course, if we are going to do something really cool and fun he's torn between the club and our activity.

 

[n8nally]

Just for a different perspective, my kids spent zero time in the clubs.

DS15 ad DD12 had no interest. We went and toured as a family on the first day. We met the counselors who were all very nice and seemed like cool people. My kids had great conversations with them and also with some other kids walking around. they even played foosball with another bro/sis pair we met in Vibe. The spaces, both Edge and Vibe were awesome.

We had all planned for them to go to their respective meet up in the clubs after dinner that first night. However, dinner was a little slow that night and we were having a really good time getting to know our fabulous serving team that it was kinda late when we were done. We were also exhausted and the kids asked if we could just go change into jammies and walk around the ship and do the Midship Detective Agency. We didn't even make it back out for that, an ended up lounging in the room and getting to sleep in anticipation of our Nassau excursion at 9am the next day.

Every night pretty much went the same way. Fun with each other and Mom during the day, awesome show and dinner with our fab serving team, ad more hanging out together and going to D Lounge for family karaoke, or a movie, or shopping, etc.

On the sea day I had them look at the Navigator to see if they wanted to join an activity in the clubs, and they wanted to do lots of things listed, but NONE of them were in the clubs. We did towel folding, Anyone Can Cook, etc but the club activities didn't sound interesting to them.

On several occasions we saw groups of kids milling around or playing in the elevator banks outside of Edge or Vibe on their way in or out. Often, the tween girls (in little bikinis) were giggling and talking about boys and chasing them or laughing while putting on glittery lipgloss or whatever while moving in packs around the ship. Similar to what you see at most malls on the weekends. On once such occasion my DD looked at me and said "I don't think the clubs are for me. I'm not into the whole giggle, make-up, chase boys around scene." Which is true. And I'm glad about it, too!

Just my experience with my kids, and since kids come in all personalities, maybe somebody out there also has kids who may simply enjoy being with Mom

P.S. Also wanted to add that my kids have lots of friends at church, in their homeschool group, and at the theater where they take acting, dance and music and perform in plays and musicals. My DD is in scouts and my DS is in the local HS Thespian Honor Society and participates in acting classes and plays there several times a week. All this to say that my kids are not anti-social, shy or not socialized. They were just interested in doing other things and being together as a family.

 

[Cravens]

My DD9 spent a total of 3-4 hours in the clubs. That was for the entire cruise. She just didn't like them at all. She only went to make flubber and to the pajama party.

She really wanted to go to Edge but has to wait until our 2015.

 

[n8nally]

DD is 18 and has sailed DCL 7 times since she was 10.

She spent 1 hour in the club at 10 to make flubber and 1 hour in the club at 16 to try the teen thing. That's it, she doesn't like the clubs! For her DCL means hanging with the family.

Mine too!

 

[vacation_junkie]

Just for fun How long on average is your kid(s) in clubs/labs/tween/teen space? Please also note age of child.

My 8 yr old son is in the club or lab an average of 4 hours a day.

My 13 yr old....
Depends on the size of the group and what type of kids are there.

Last Cruise he wanted to hang with his friends after dinner every night. So I'd say 7pm-midnight ish! On sea days he hung out with them a bit longer. It was doing other activities outside of the club during the day!

 

[Pluto1130]

My 8 year old was there for about 6 hours a day this year.

 

[mom2val]

.

 

[cheesemouse]

My 4 and 7 year old spent about 3-4 hours on average in the club/lab. It wasn't necessarily all at once though. The loved it and we often had to drag them away at bedtime.

My 1 year old went to the nursery as needed by us for dining reservations, spa appointments or show times, etc. He stayed anywhere from 1-3 hours but was usually around 1.5 hours. He didn't really like it since he doesn't go to day care at home.