Who has been onboard Magic or Wonder with an 11 year old lately?

[llnolte]

We just got off of the Magic. My 11 year old daughter had a fabulous time in the Edge. They did animation drawings, sand art, pizza decorating, ice cream sundae creations, karaoke, Disney trivia, swim parties at the Mickey pool (just for them), a free arcade night, scavenger hunts around the ship, and lots more.

They do not get a pager and can come and go as they please. This was a little troublesome for me at first-this is my youngest. But we had our daughter check in with us about every two hours. She would know where we were or come to the cabin and leave us a sticky note with where she was going next. She also made two friends and they were always together in a group of two or three. At night, I would stop by to pick her up at certain times if it was late.

After the first couple of days, we gave her the freedom to go where she wanted. She was very good about checking in with us and being where she was supposed to be. We also made another rule of not going in anyone else's cabin-even her friends. She had to wait outside when they were checking in with their parents.

It was hard for me to let go but she had a fantastic time and loved the freedom.

 

[discorsner]

We just got off of the Magic. My 11 year old daughter had a fabulous time in the Edge. They did animation drawings, sand art, pizza decorating, ice cream sundae creations, karaoke, Disney trivia, swim parties at the Mickey pool (just for them), a free arcade night, scavenger hunts around the ship, and lots more.

They do not get a pager and can come and go as they please. This was a little troublesome for me at first-this is my youngest. But we had our daughter check in with us about every two hours. She would know where we were or come to the cabin and leave us a sticky note with where she was going next. She also made two friends and they were always together in a group of two or three. At night, I would stop by to pick her up at certain times if it was late.

After the first couple of days, we gave her the freedom to go where she wanted. She was very good about checking in with us and being where she was supposed to be. We also made another rule of not going in anyone else's cabin-even her friends. She had to wait outside when they were checking in with their parents.

It was hard for me to let go but she had a fantastic time and loved the freedom.

Good info! As I hear more and more people's expereinces I am calming down a little about it.

GREAT rule about not going into anyone else's cabin! A must for sure!

 

[discorsner]

bumping this back up because another poster was just asking about this topic and I didn't know how to link it!

 

[hart6066]

Do you think they'd allow an almost 8 year old into the tween activities? We'll be on the Dream and the kids would be almost 8 and almost 11--I think they're both going to feel much more comfortable staying in the same area. They may do completely different things while there, but I think they will be much more likely to stay if they are together.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Do you think they'd allow an almost 8 year old into the tween activities? We'll be on the Dream and the kids would be almost 8 and almost 11--I think they're both going to feel much more comfortable staying in the same area. They may do completely different things while there, but I think they will be much more likely to stay if they are together.

Honestly, I doubt it. That's a bit of a stretch. I think I heard that if a child is within 6 months of a birthday that would allow entrance, they're ok with that. Ds was 9.5 last Oct and they'd let him in OQ during the open house times but as soon as open house was over and official tween time began, they'd ask him to leave. He went to every open house and we asked if next cruise (this Oct-Nov) he'd be able to and they said that's close enough to his 11 th bday. He'll be 11 in May so hoping they are still agreeable to that. All of his cousins and older brother will be there too.

 

[LKFan]

Just to clarify a little bit here on the names, since ruadusneyfan brought it up.

Disney is moving to change all of the names of the kids/teens clubs to the same name on all 4 ships. They may not be in the same locations, but the names will be the same

On the Magic, on deck 2 midships,formerly known as Ocean Quest, is now The Edge, as of the last drydock. The Vibe, is for the older teens, and is in the foward funnel, formerly Stack/Aloft.
On the Wonder, in the same space,(deck 2 midships) is Out and About, but in December will be renamed/ redone into The Edge, same as the Magic, and Vibe, is in the foward funnel, same as the Magic, formerly Stack/Aloft.

Something I came up with for my 11ds, since he is still learning the ship, was to have him call the room, when he was going to leave Edge. We were only 4 decks above it, and our room was midships also, so We knew about how long it should take, before we would have to look for him.

The name on the wonder might be changing in December but do you know if the space will be changed? By that, I mean, when do they expect the conference room to be shut down so they can create The Edge?

 

[disney 2010]

The name on the wonder might be changing in December but do you know if the space will be changed? By that, I mean, when do they expect the conference room to be shut down so they can create The Edge?

I'm wondering the same thing. Where will the Edge be on the Wonder?

 

[DVC Mary]

My DD10 enjoyed Out and About on the Wonder. As another poster mentioned, it requires the child to have sign out privileges, but we were okay with that. My DD is pretty independent. I think I heard somewhere that they are going to be updating the Wonder to have its own dedicated space for the tweens. The conference room was not very exciting. She's looking forward to our next cruise on the Fantasy with a dedicated tween area.

Does this mean or does anyone know when these changes will be made?

When does the Wonder go into drydock next?


Really hoping for more on our Alaskan cruise. My 10 turning 11 year old has got to mature some more before I give him sign out privileges, but the Out & About activities sound perfect for him. He did the lab so much on our last cruise that we nicknamed him the "lab rat." Ok not real original but if you knew his nickname at home when he gets caught squirreling away food in his room you'd think it was funnier.

Want to know......????






Rat-trick b/c his real name is Patrick.

 

[hart6066]

It will be good to get some feedback from people on the Dream. I checked their websites, and as of now, it says that the Lab and Club are for 3-10 year olds and the Lab part seems like it might be enough even for some of those 9-10 year olds. Looks like they have a bunch of computers and video consuls, lab for cooking and making experiments, etc. It also listed some out and about type activities (specifically a scavenger hunt around the ship) and used the word "tweens". The actually "tween" area starts at 11 and seems to REALLY be geared for that age set--mentioned having its own social networking sites, dance floor, music station, etc.

I'm hoping that maybe on the Dream they'll be able to have some programming for that older set of kids who aren't the right age or ready for the social aspect of the tween club.

Can't wait to hear back from people this winter!

 

[LKFan]

I'm wondering the same thing. Where will the Edge be on the Wonder?

The Edge is supposed to be on the second floor in the space that currently houses the conference center.

Someone on these boards wrote to Disney and were told that the tween club would be set up by the end of December. We sailed on the Wonder in June 2010 and were told it would be set up at the next dry dock which is in August, 2011.

I'm wondering if they are going to take the tables and chairs out of the conference center and do some light redesign to make it look like a tween club in December but do the larger redesign in August. Really, the important part is that they have tween specific activities rather than just the "out and about" activities.

 

[LKFan]

Does this mean or does anyone know when these changes will be made?

When does the Wonder go into drydock next?


Really hoping for more on our Alaskan cruise. My 10 turning 11 year old has got to mature some more before I give him sign out privileges, but the Out & About activities sound perfect for him. He did the lab so much on our last cruise that we nicknamed him the "lab rat." Ok not real original but if you knew his nickname at home when he gets caught squirreling away food in his room you'd think it was funnier.

Want to know......????

Rat-trick b/c his real name is Patrick.

Someone on these boards wrote to Disney and were told that the tween club would be set up by the end of December. We sailed on the Wonder in June 2010 and were told it would be set up at the next dry dock which is in August, 2011.

I'm wondering if they are going to take the tables and chairs out of the conference center and do some light redesign to make it look like a tween club in December but do the larger redesign in August. Really, the important part is that they have tween specific activities rather than just the "out and about" activities.

 

[DVC Mary]

Someone on these boards wrote to Disney and were told that the tween club would be set up by the end of December. We sailed on the Wonder in June 2010 and were told it would be set up at the next dry dock which is in August, 2011.

I'm wondering if they are going to take the tables and chairs out of the conference center and do some light redesign to make it look like a tween club in December but do the larger redesign in August. Really, the important part is that they have tween specific activities rather than just the "out and about" activities.

Bummer our Alaskan teens next summer will miss out & on our cruise we seem to have a lot of tweens & teens.

 

[LKFan]

Bummer our Alaskan teens next summer will miss out & on our cruise we seem to have a lot of tweens & teens.

Don't take my word as gospel. No one seems to know their plans for sure. I am just speculating how they could tell one person December and another person August.

 

[scootch]

I am also wondering if this may be a possible strategy... since we will have to have a pager for our 8 year old who will be in the lab I am wondering whether my 11 year old could go to the lab and have them page us. For instance we could make sure he 100% would know how to get to the lab where his brother would be and then back to our room but if he was not able to find us or was worried about something instead of just wondering around or staying at his activity unhappy could he go to the lab and they would know how to contact us.

want to make sure that this is not going to be a step backwards for us in that now every activity we do we are not sure what our 11 year old is doing or if he is ok. My husband says by next year we probably won't even be worried about it but I am still not so sure.

My dd just turned 11 and we cruise in April. She won't go to the clubs without the sign in and out... it is not me, that is her, she does not feel comfortable with me not being able to be paged. I also have another child who is 9, so I am going to push for my 11 year old to go the lab rather than the tween group. I don't think I will have much issue as when she was 9, they let her go in the 7 and under group due to her shyness.

 

[Snowwhyt]

DD is 11 and quite concerned. She does not want to travel to/from Quest/Edge alone. I've writing a few passengers on our cruise listing girls her age to foster a friend/activity companion. This trip is foremost a family trip, we plan to spend most of our time together as DD requested, but we would like to do a few adult things during the week.(Palo, martini tasting, Island info). So to ease my DD's mind, what can I do to have her contact us (if she needs me) when I'm at an activity. She has the most sensitive stomach and gets a little faint before she...
Anyway she has problems sometimes when we travel especially with foods. Anyway, do walkie talkie's work? Our Phones would be unreal for cost. Anyone have a suggestion?

 

[Ashansen]

We bought walkie talkies from target (motorola) and they worked great. Just had to remember to "collect the" each night to charge.

We created "handles" and did not go nuts with them, just used for the kids to check in, as well as find the adults! (we were traveling with another family).

Ashley

 

[toverly]

DS was 11 last January and had a wonderful time in Ocean Quest. We used the Postit note system on our stateroom door. Every time we left the room, we put up a note on the inside of the door to say where we would be. I told DS as long as he was where his postit said he was, he could be independent. If I ever looked for him and he wasn't there, he had to stick to me like glue. He was either in Ocean Quest, getting food on Deck 9 (which he would take back to Ocean Quest) or in the arcade on Deck 9. If he needed us, he came and found us. I had to require him to eat Dinner with us or we would have never seen him.

 

[Snowwhyt]

So, one of the cruise mates from my turkey cruise said they still offer pagers for kids up to 12 or 13. I hope thats right. DD doesn't want to walk the halls alone. I respect that because it sometimes those instincts that keep us away from things that may not be safe. Maybe at the end of the week she'll have more interest in walking around by herself (most likely not).
I will bring walkie talkies on the chance that pagers are not offered for her age. DD said they are too large and she will not use them. She'll get over the unit size if she wants to get a hold of us after a desirable program. Otherwise I know she'll skip the program(her choice) I really would hate to see her waste the opportunities to make friends or try something new. But she's passed on things before.
I had a foster child for 3 years that was nothing like her, he would have found his way into a conference center by himself at age 7, if it was something he was interested in(had to watch him like a hawk). My DD, total opposite. She would go with me to have the oil changed in the car rather than stay home alone. She offered today to call me from her cell phone to my cell phone. That will take care of the problem mom! When I told her the cost. When I told her she could pay for it. She said she'll just stay with us, no problem. Guess we'll find this out in 2 weeks. I'll let you all know what the deal is when we get back.

 

[kimpossible]

Do you think they'd allow an almost 8 year old into the tween activities? We'll be on the Dream and the kids would be almost 8 and almost 11--I think they're both going to feel much more comfortable staying in the same area. They may do completely different things while there, but I think they will be much more likely to stay if they are together.

Sounds like they would work better in the Lab together. Since technically they are both in that age range (although your eldest will soon be 11).

 

[*love*2*shop]

i think we will play it by ear and speak to the club directly. my son is 11 and special needs ( he is physically 11 but socially maybe 7 or 8) So there is NO way he is going to be able to go as he pleases!!!! we will have a talk with them and will have to see..