9 1/2 year old in children's program.

[castle701]

Hi,
We are going on our first disney cruise on March 6th. My son is 9 and will be 10 on April 14th. He is 5'2 and very mature for his age. We were on Celebrity's Millennium in January and he was put with the 7-9 year old group. He hated it and said it was too babyish. Will disney let me put him with the 10 year olds? I know they have a "one month rule", but he is so close. Could I just tell them he is 10 already when I sign him up and avoid a problem?
Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[tlgoblue]

They are pretty flexible with the one month thing. I think you should tell them and they will do their best to accomodate you, but will probably reserve the right to place him back w/his own age group if he doesn't seem to be enjoying himself. DD9 and 11/12ths wanted to do the same, until she saw there were more girls in the younger group, so she chose to stay there. Either way, I'm sure they'll help you out.

Enjoy your trip!

Tracy

 

[AnnMorin]

They will already know his age. (when you made your reservation that information went into the computer) so you can't fake them out. However, they are quite reasonable and will probably let him move up as long as they can move him down if they feel he is not adjusting. Although... I know they only allow x amount of children per age group per cruise so as not to overload the clubs. There is the remote chance they could be maxed out but I seriously doubt that. Just go and talk to the councilors the first day and I am sure he'll be let in. you can show him the navigators for the 8-9 group on Daves or Barb's websites. Our DS has done that group twice. This last time he was two months from his tenth bday and he still had a blast, nothing babyish according to him-but Mike is not overly mature either. He enjoyed the free time the most.

the links to Dave's and Barbs are
www.dcltribute.com
www.castawayclub.com

 

[TriciaT]

I was wondering the same thing. My son will be 7.5 when we cruise and he is gifted, so in some ways much older than his age. He is also very large, over 90 lbs and as tall as my 11 yr old. He would definately not fit in with 5-7 yr olds unless there are other bigger, more mature 7 yr olds in the group. Normally with kids his own age he looks like the Jolly Green Giant and I am sure he will feel very out of place with a 5 year old and possibly too large for their playthings, chairs, dress up clothes, things like that. I am just crossing my fingers that either he will fit into his age group or they will let him do a trial in the older group where I am sure he will blend in better, especially because my nephew will be in the 8-9 group also. I am sure they get bombarded with requests to move children to be with their siblings, but this is really a matter of him being more comfortable with older kids because of his size and intellect.

Trish