10, almost 11 year old...will he be bored in Oceaneers club/lab?

[VAfamily1998]

My parents are considering taking my kids (ages 12, 10, 8, and 6) on a Disney Cruise on the Fantasy.

My 10 year old will be just a few weeks shy of 11 at the time. He was really disappointed to learn that the Edge is ages 11-14. Is the age requirement very strict, or is there any wiggle room?

Do kids towards the upper end of the age groupings tend to get a little bored in Oceaneers club...since he is so close to his 11th birthday, if he will likely be bored I might see if I can convince my parents to hold off for a later cruise...

Thanks

 

[disneybeachprincess]

to go to the open houses & let him decide. They should allow him to choose since he is so close to his 11th birthday. It will give him some time away from the siblings too. My DS12 was never bored in the Oceaneer club or lab! We sail this weekend on the Dream & it will be his first time in the Edge. He is looking forward to the freedom, having an exclusive place to go in the funnel & meeting new friends Hope this helps & happy cruising!

 

[VAfamily1998]

to go to the open houses & let him decide. They should allow him to choose since he is so close to his 11th birthday. It will give him some time away from the siblings too. My DS12 was never bored in the Oceaneer club or lab! We sail this weekend on the Dream & it will be his first time in the Edge. He is looking forward to the freedom, having an exclusive place to go in the funnel & meeting new friends Hope this helps & happy cruising!

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that your 12 year old enjoyed the Oceaneer club!

What are the open houses? Sorry, I've never been on a cruise before, and since it's my parents taking the kids--Dh and I won't be going--I haven't really been doing the research or getting the first hand info from CMs/travel agents

 

[mommy2tati]

I agree with the PP. Go to the open houses and speak to the CM in Edge. My DD10 ended up in the Edge on our last cruise on the Dream and she had JUST turned 10 the week before our cruise. I was extremely surprised and didn't even offer her the option of going to Edge since she had just turned 10.

 

[disneybeachprincess]

The open houses will be posted in the Navigator (cruise newsletter that details everything going on - you get one when you board & one will be left on the bed after dinner every night for the next day). The adults & kids go & visit the clubs, meet the counselors & "try it out" for a while. The tell you about the activities, etc... Then he can see if he likes one more than the other. Believe me, they will have a hard time getting them to leave!!! And there is no extra charge for attending the clubs ( only the nursery for infants ) so the kids get a real bonus of fun!

 

[kcashner]

The Oceaneer's Lab is open to kids up thru age 12, and many 12 year old kids enjoy the Lab programming. 11s and 12s can choose to participate in the Edge or the Lab.

There is no reason to assume a 10 year old will be bored in a program that was originally designed for kids thru age 12 and continues to be attended by kids thru 12. There will be an open house on the first day where he and you can visit both spaces, speak with the CMs, etc. Then, if you decide the Lab is not the right spot, you can speak with the CM supervisor.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Awesome! I've told him about these responses and he is feeling much better about it!

Thank you!!!!

 

[Toria]

My son's bday was a week and a half away when we sailed in September. We spoke with the counselor at the Edge and they allowed him in.

 

[Michele325]

My 12 year old dd liked the lab on the Dream much better than the Edge. Now at 13 she doesn't plan on going to the Edge and just hanging out with us on the Dream in a few weeks. She already asked if we could all take her little brothers to the open houses in the lab

 

[samily]

We are having the opposite problem with my DS10. He will be 11 on our next cruise and he doesn't want go to Edge - he wants to stay in the Lab because he enjoys it so much! Glad to hear it won't be an issue!

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Just my experience...

Our DS had turned 11 the week before our cruise. It was a kids sail free promotion, so the Lab/Club were full. He tried Edge, but he didn't fit in with the boys there. They were mostly 13, and a barely-11 year old was not interesting to them. There's quite a difference between 13 year old 8th graders and 10-11 year old 5th graders. The Edge is geared towards Middle School aged children for sure. If your DS is already in middle school it might go better. Our son was able to check into the Lab as a visitor and did do some activities there. On our next cruise he was 11 1/2 and in 6th, and while it was a little better it wasn't nearly as fun as when he was younger and in the clubs.

 

[Tinker326]

We just returned from the Dream. My daughter is 10. Her cousin that went with was 11. They were in two different clubs (Lab and Edge).

I was worried about this as they are close and I thought my daughter would be upset that she didn't get to do the older things her cousin did. In the end, however, I'm glad she was where she was. She was not ready for Edge at 10 (or even 11 I think based on HER personality). She wasn't ready to have free reign of the ship nor the activites they did (more boy vs. girl stuff, gender wars, dodgeball at midnight). She absolutely loved the activities in the Lab and found plenty to do as a 10 year old in there that wasn't babyish to her.

Again, each kids experience will be different based on their own personalities. My daughter is a bit more on the immature side and so the Lab was where she belonged.

 

[mugsy]

We were in the same situation as you in April -- our son was about 2 weeks away from his 11th birthday, but trends young (we held him back a class because of his small size and development delays). We went to the open houses for both the Edge and the Oceaneers Lab/Club, and he chose the latter. However, we also gave him sign out privileges from the Oceaneers Lab, which turned out to be a great decision after we set some limits. He enjoyed being able to seek out some friends, ride the AquaDuck with them, grab a snack or ice cream on his own, and do the Muppet game with his buddies. It was almost like being in the Edge, but he was able to connect with more kids who were closer to his size/age - and grew up a little in the process.

 

[Jordan'sMom]

My DS was 2 months shy of turning 11 on our June 2 Fantasy cruise. He is going into the 6th grade. He went to the Lab where he was assigned the first evening for an hour and did not like it at all. There were lots of little kids (one spit on him, so that didn't help). I tried to get him moved up to Edge, but the CM said that they were at capacity and DS would have to go to Lab again before they would TRY to move him up in a few days. He didn't want to go back to Lab, so that was that. My DS enjoyed the cruise even without the clubs.

Just keep in mind that it's not a given that they will let a child move up if they are at capacity, as was our experience on the Fantasy. Luckily for your DS, he will have the company of a sibling in which ever club he ends up in!

 

[Coconuts]

Good thread. My DS will be 11 1/2 on our upcoming August cruise. He is very close to my DD 8yo, who will be in the lab. I am unclear if he would be able to switch from one club to another, once he picked one. Since you can't register anyone 11 or older online, I assume it has to be done in port or on ship.

 

[lpandorf]

We went on the Dream last summer and my daughter had just turned 11 a few weeks before we sailed. She tried both the Lab and the 11-13 year old club and preferred going to the lab. She was going into 6th grade and still at the grade school in our district and just seemed to fit in and have more fun in the lab.

 

[Tinker74]

What kind of activities do they do in the lab?...Iam starting to think my dd12 will prefer it to the edge.

 

[Coconuts]

We went on the Dream last summer and my daughter had just turned 11 a few weeks before we sailed. She tried both the Lab and the 11-13 year old club and preferred going to the lab. She was going into 6th grade and still at the grade school in our district and just seemed to fit in and have more fun in the lab.

This makes me feel a lot better that my 11yo DS will probably be okay at the lab. He is also going into 6th grade, but is still very much a kid. He hasn't really gotten to that aloof, "too cool for school" phase, TG. And both his sisters will be there.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

The activities are listed in the navigators.

 

[Denine]

This is an interesting thread. DD will turn 11 during our cruise next year. She has been on many cruises and has always loved the club/lab. Our last cruise in May though, everytime she looked at the navigator and found something interesting, it was at the Edge. At 9, she couldn't go. It will be interesting to see what she wants to do. She is kind of bored with the activities at the lab, but it may all depend on the ages of the other kids at the Edge.