Anyone sailed with a 3 year old? What can we expect?

[shmoogrrrl]

Our wee Daughter will be 3 years old when we sail in the fall of 2005. It will be her second Disney Cruise, but as she was 10 months on the first, I don't expect that she will remember it.

If you've sailed with a 3 year old, can you give me some ideas of what sort of things they did in the club? I am a SAHM, but my Daughter is very familiar with the "group babysitting" situation from Church and MOPS, so I am not so much worried about her not wanting to go to the club, but I am more so curious as to what kind of things they do with the kids that young. If certain characters are involved, I thought I might attempt to introduce those characters to her through videos over the next year.

Also, is 3 too young for Tea with Wendy? What other family type activities outside of the club did your kids enjoy?

 

[lbgraves]

My DD was 3 when we sailed. She had a fantastic time. She had been in preschool since 2 but didn't do the initial seperation well, though she has fun a few minutes later. I didn't plan to leave her in the club much but did have her brother kept in her group. He turned 5 the day before we sailed. You can check out my trip report for what we did with her. http://pages.ivillage.com/blueeyes4me/ She loved the Mickey pool and meeting the characters. She STILL talks about the ship & can't wait to go back.

You didn't say if your DD is PTd or not. My DD was just PTd 2 months before we sailed but we still had her in pull ups because of traveling & new surroundings. You can go with her to the club if she isn't PTd and stay in the background so she can participate as much as she would like to. This also gives you a great opportunity to take pictures of the character events in the club, though they don't pose with the kids.

I am so glad that we did it! Your DD should definantly have a great time. I went with the intention of letting the kids call the shots for the most part with their comfort levels. We had never even seen any of the characters so I was prepared for no pictures with Mickey...but that didn't happen. We didn't get to go to dinner at Palo but I did go to high tea with the DIS ladies on the cruise. That just gives me something else new to look forward to on our next cruise...and the next. LOL! We also didn't plan any excursions, which worked well for us. DH did a snorkling one in St. Maarten but I stayed on the ship with the kids, & DS went to the club. When we did get off the ship the kids just wanted to go back, so it would have been a battle to keep them off for hours. We all had a relaxing family vacation and I wouldn't change a single thing.

 

[Gupsmom]

When we sailed last year our youngest was 3. Our 2nd Disney cruise is coming up (4/11). I was very surprised when my youngest said she was looking forward to dancing with Snow White again! I couldn't believe she remembered doing that in the club almost a year ago.

My kids started in a preschool setting when they turned 2. My youngest, at 3, was still a bit unsure of the Ship's club. The CM's were wonderful with her and once she got over the intial seperation, my DD (as well as my other 2 children) had a great time. I'd say we used the clubs for about an hour in the afternoon and a couple hours every night. What really impressed me on the Wonder was how many activities we could enjoy as a family. My 3 yr old LOVED the Mickey pool. She danced at the deck party and she enjoyed the shows.


I am not sure what to expect with this cruise because my middle child moves up to the 5-7 club with her brother. That leaves my 4 yr old alone in the 3-5 club. I'm hoping she's ok with that. Truthfully, all I care about is enough adult time to do the Palo brunch and 1 dinner alone (probably Triton's). An hour in the hot tub would be a great bonus too. Aside form that, the kids can do as much or as little time in the club as they want. There's plenty for us to enjoy together.

Jess

 

[marley]

we had almost the exact same experience as Gupsmom.

My DS3 spent maybe 1 1/2 hours in the morning in the kid's club and 1 hour at night so we could have a little alone time and finish dinner in peace (he eats in like 10 minutes so we would drop him off literally after we had only eaten our appetizer). We also squeezed in one night at Palo' for dinner without him.

Night time was harder to get him to stay in the club but I always planned his drop offs right when something fun was planned (i.e. Captain Hook visiting, Snow white Dance, etc.). I llooked at Navigators ahead of time on www.castawayclub.com and then would plan his drop off times based on the activities I thought he would enjoy the most. We were even able to walk around Nassau for an hour by ourselves!!

The Mickey pool slide was a huge hit with him since he can't swim and usually can't go on pool slides. He also loved all of the shows and loved just exploring the boat.

We took it really slow, made sure he got his nap time in, and he had a great vacation. He remembers all of it and constantly asks how long until the next one! The only thing that freaked him out was the life boat drill. He refused to wear the life preserver so we didn't push it.

You'll have a great time! Marley