Cruise tips with a 3 year old on the Fantasy

[racheltatt]

DH and i have 4 Disney cruises under our belts, but will be taking our daughter on her first disney cruise for her 3rd birthday in April. All advice and tips appreciated. We weren't really paying attention to parental stuff our previous cruises, lol. She's done the Christmas party at WDW but that's been her only Disney interaction, as we were stationed in Alaska the last few years and the trip was just too long and cost prohibitive. Tips for character interactions? Any must do favorites with small humans? Thanks in advance.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

My first suggestion relates to her actual birth date, relative to your cruise. DCL handles under 3 and over 3 VERY differently. Under three is Nursery care, limited availability, book it ahead, and pay extra, after 3 is the regular kids clubs, which are free and you can use any time. Also, I understand there is quite a difference in what is offered there, so if you have a preference, you'll want to make sure she is either above 3 or below three, as you'd prefer.

Also, others with direct experience can tell you more information on whether your 3YO must be potty trained or not. It has been a topic with many different/conflicting experiences.

 

[tivo4me1]

My (at the time) 3 1/2 year old loved the morning "Wake up With Disney Jr." events on the Fantasy (basically, dancing around in one of the lounges while they played music from the various Disney Jr. cartoon shows (Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Pirates, Sofia, etc.)), although Dad and Mom weren't exactly thrilled with the usual 8:30 am starting time. Every night, either before or after dinner, there were "Family Dance Parties" (usually in the Tube) with lots of little ones jumping around to (mostly current, but Disney-approved) pop music, always had a few of the Disney counsellor-types to show line dances for the older ones, and often a special "unannounced" visit from Goofy or Pluto (on my Fantasy B2B cruises, Goofy had some excellent moves...Pluto was more in the "left shark" category).

Be sure to sign up for the character breakfast (again, usually Disney Junior characters, plus one or two from the "regular" gang); I think you can do that in your online check-in now (we had to wait in line the first day at Guest Services for tickets).

Our little one also loved the splash zone, but note that DCL will NOT allow kids with swim diapers in the pools, and they STRICTLY enforce, so until they're potty trained, the splash zone may be her favorite spot on the ship. Character visits can be fun, but the waiting in line was an issue with my little one (although the lines were MUCH shorter than in the parks, and there are many more opportunities for chance encounters with the characters while walking the decks, etc., then you'd ever see at WDW). And every kid reacts to characters differently...on our first DCL cruise, our DD loved the "head" characters, but absolutely hated the "face" characters (Princesses, Peter Pan, etc.)...you probably have a good idea about that from your WDW trip.

Last but not least, enjoy and be flexible...there were days when all my little one wanted to do was spend an hour climbing around the chairs in a vacant/unused bar/club, so organized events took a breather during those times. So long as she was happy, so were mommy and daddy.

Enjoy!!

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

Our first Disney cruise was with our then almost three year old (went in April, she turned 3 in June). We were on the Fantasy. We had a fantastic experience. We spent the majority of the time waiting for characters. It was by her favorite thing. She wasn't yet potty trained, so no pools but they were far too overcrowded anyhow for me to be comfortable getting in with a small child. Nemo's Reef was perfect. She also enjoyed random activities throughout the day. She still talks about getting ice cream every day (two years later). They key was making sure she got an afternoon nap, and she did great. Dinner was a breeze and she loved the evening shows. She even sat through her first movie. We took her to the nursery twice and she loved it. While she was one of the oldest, it didn't matter. They were never that busy and she got to play. I will say if it had been 2-3 months later when she was three, I wouldn't have been comfortable leaving her by herself in the kids' club. I'm sure plenty to do, but I'm even nervous how that will go this summer when she's 5! It really was the perfect vacation for us to take with a small child. Have fun!

 

[frenigirl]

Hello- when my two were small, we traveled with a small, cheap step stool- Invaluable to help the kids reach the cabin sinks. Sometimes we brought it home, sometimes it was left behind...

 

[MissMet]

I show my son (2.5) DCL youtube videos of the ship itself, ship tours, kids clubs tours, kids meeting the characters, families' vacation videos, etc. Basically, we watch all the youtube videos available that pertain to our ship, plus the 15 minute video DCL shows on their buses when you're headed to Port Canaveral. Its a cute video of Mickey & the gang packing for & embarking on their cruise. The quality is not the best as it's someones video of the TV screen on the bus but DS doesn't mind. It's a great way to familiarize him with everything he's going to see & do.

Here's the bus video. There's a few, but this is the best I've found so far.

 

[Quellman]

Our three year old has cruised twice and is booked on 2 more. Your room host should provide you with a toddler time sheet and nursery pamphlet the first night, either in your room or on your door. If not, ask or go visit the nursery area. Take a look at it, the toddler events are really well done and we enjoy them as a family. They do open house toddler events in the kids club where you can join them! Other people have made great recommendations, but a newly 3 year old may not really enjoy the kids club for a length of time unless they are more independent.

My advice is this, anytime you take a kid from their normal environment, be flexible.

My first suggestion relates to her actual birth date, relative to your cruise. DCL handles under 3 and over 3 VERY differently. Under three is Nursery care, limited availability, book it ahead, and pay extra, after 3 is the regular kids clubs, which are free and you can use any time. Also, I understand there is quite a difference in what is offered there, so if you have a preference, you'll want to make sure she is either above 3 or below three, as you'd prefer.

Also, others with direct experience can tell you more information on whether your 3YO must be potty trained or not. It has been a topic with many different/conflicting experiences.

If you child is three you can still use the nursery if you prefer. It still costs, but that option is indeed still there.

 

[mktt]

On our last cruise on the Fantasy we took our 2 yr old and our 4.5 yr old.

The free automated call before your cruise was a big hit in our household. The kids loved it.

I second the recommendation for the Disney Jr activities held in D lounge most mornings. They were great. One of their favorite memories is doing the hot dog dance with Goofy.

Aqua Lab is fun for kids that age. So is Nemo's Reef. Be careful though with Nemo's reef since it can get a bit slippery in there and there is a slide on the far right that bigger kids can go down really quickly and knock over unsuspecting toddlers.

For character meet and greets what we did was we "favorited" all of the meet and greets our kids would be interested in, on the app. That way if we missed a meet and greet it wasn't a big deal because we could quickly see what other times/days that specific character would be available during the cruise.

We did Eastern and didn't plan any excursions. We simply got off the ship and got in a cab to a beach (Megan's Bay/Cane Garden Bay). We feel it would have been a waste of time and money to try and do anything structured, or try to shop.

 

[dektolia]

My DD has cruised with Disney at ages 3 & 4. 3 was my very first cruise so I never thought to bring costumes and she seemed okay with clothes. At 4, she pretty much lived in the 2-3 costumes I brought along and only wore actual clothes on port days and travel days. It's possible she would have lived in costumes at 3 if I had known to bring them. Now that she's 6 and her brother is 3, I think I'm going to have to let them take a suitcase full of costumes (instead of actual clothes).

We did open house at kids clubs and just once she was willing to stay without me for whatever party was going on after the open house. We told her we'd be back to pick her up after the party and she seemed to be having fun when I got there to get her but she didn't want to stay longer and she never wanted to stay longer again. She seems to be more excited about them (and the Mickey slide) now that she's 6.

 

[bbel]

Im not 100% sure, but Im pretty confident that the Fantasy now does pre-school fun times too. So it a time normally 30minutes - 1hour that (usually) the club is shut off, in secured programming but just for children ages 3,4 and 5.
Its a chance for them to get to know the space and its a lot quieter and calmer than it might otherwise be. They usually do a programme like Little Einsteins or Mickey's Puzzle Playtime during this time.
So if you want to drop off your little one for a while, but don't really want them around a lot of older kids then this is the perfect chance for them to explore the kids space by themselves.

Like someone already mentioned, on the first day a kids club CM should drop round a flyer for Open House times, toddler appropriate activities and nursery hours. If for any reason you don't get one, drop by the club or nursery and they can get you one or get one delivered to you.

 

[racheltatt]

My first suggestion relates to her actual birth date, relative to your cruise. DCL handles under 3 and over 3 VERY differently. Under three is Nursery care, limited availability, book it ahead, and pay extra, after 3 is the regular kids clubs, which are free and you can use any time. Also, I understand there is quite a difference in what is offered there, so if you have a preference, you'll want to make sure she is either above 3 or below three, as you'd prefer.

Also, others with direct experience can tell you more information on whether your 3YO must be potty trained or not. It has been a topic with many different/conflicting experiences.

Thanks so much

 

[racheltatt]

My (at the time) 3 1/2 year old loved the morning "Wake up With Disney Jr." events on the Fantasy (basically, dancing around in one of the lounges while they played music from the various Disney Jr. cartoon shows (Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Pirates, Sofia, etc.)), although Dad and Mom weren't exactly thrilled with the usual 8:30 am starting time. Every night, either before or after dinner, there were "Family Dance Parties" (usually in the Tube) with lots of little ones jumping around to (mostly current, but Disney-approved) pop music, always had a few of the Disney counsellor-types to show line dances for the older ones, and often a special "unannounced" visit from Goofy or Pluto (on my Fantasy B2B cruises, Goofy had some excellent moves...Pluto was more in the "left shark" category).

Be sure to sign up for the character breakfast (again, usually Disney Junior characters, plus one or two from the "regular" gang); I think you can do that in your online check-in now (we had to wait in line the first day at Guest Services for tickets).

Our little one also loved the splash zone, but note that DCL will NOT allow kids with swim diapers in the pools, and they STRICTLY enforce, so until they're potty trained, the splash zone may be her favorite spot on the ship. Character visits can be fun, but the waiting in line was an issue with my little one (although the lines were MUCH shorter than in the parks, and there are many more opportunities for chance encounters with the characters while walking the decks, etc., then you'd ever see at WDW). And every kid reacts to characters differently...on our first DCL cruise, our DD loved the "head" characters, but absolutely hated the "face" characters (Princesses, Peter Pan, etc.)...you probably have a good idea about that from your WDW trip.

Last but not least, enjoy and be flexible...there were days when all my little one wanted to do was spend an hour climbing around the chairs in a vacant/unused bar/club, so organized events took a breather during those times. So long as she was happy, so were mommy and daddy.

Enjoy!!

Thanks so much, this is great info

 

[racheltatt]

On our last cruise on the Fantasy we took our 2 yr old and our 4.5 yr old.

The free automated call before your cruise was a big hit in our household. The kids loved it.

I second the recommendation for the Disney Jr activities held in D lounge most mornings. They were great. One of their favorite memories is doing the hot dog dance with Goofy.

Aqua Lab is fun for kids that age. So is Nemo's Reef. Be careful though with Nemo's reef since it can get a bit slippery in there and there is a slide on the far right that bigger kids can go down really quickly and knock over unsuspecting toddlers.

For character meet and greets what we did was we "favorited" all of the meet and greets our kids would be interested in, on the app. That way if we missed a meet and greet it wasn't a big deal because we could quickly see what other times/days that specific character would be available during the cruise.

We did Eastern and didn't plan any excursions. We simply got off the ship and got in a cab to a beach (Megan's Bay/Cane Garden Bay). We feel it would have been a waste of time and money to try and do anything structured, or try to shop.

thanks so much. She loved the dance party at the Christmas party at WDW, so hopefully she will think this is awesome as well. I appreciate the great tips

 

[racheltatt]

Our three year old has cruised twice and is booked on 2 more. Your room host should provide you with a toddler time sheet and nursery pamphlet the first night, either in your room or on your door. If not, ask or go visit the nursery area. Take a look at it, the toddler events are really well done and we enjoy them as a family. They do open house toddler events in the kids club where you can join them! Other people have made great recommendations, but a newly 3 year old may not really enjoy the kids club for a length of time unless they are more independent.

My advice is this, anytime you take a kid from their normal environment, be flexible.




If you child is three you can still use the nursery if you prefer. It still costs, but that option is indeed still there.

Thanks for the info. she is pretty independent in general and goes to preschool two mornings a week, but I am super relieved to hear that we could use the nursery if not--and still get a date night or two. I vaguely remember those...

 

[racheltatt]

Our first Disney cruise was with our then almost three year old (went in April, she turned 3 in June). We were on the Fantasy. We had a fantastic experience. We spent the majority of the time waiting for characters. It was by her favorite thing. She wasn't yet potty trained, so no pools but they were far too overcrowded anyhow for me to be comfortable getting in with a small child. Nemo's Reef was perfect. She also enjoyed random activities throughout the day. She still talks about getting ice cream every day (two years later). They key was making sure she got an afternoon nap, and she did great. Dinner was a breeze and she loved the evening shows. She even sat through her first movie. We took her to the nursery twice and she loved it. While she was one of the oldest, it didn't matter. They were never that busy and she got to play. I will say if it had been 2-3 months later when she was three, I wouldn't have been comfortable leaving her by herself in the kids' club. I'm sure plenty to do, but I'm even nervous how that will go this summer when she's 5! It really was the perfect vacation for us to take with a small child. Have fun!

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Much appreciated. We are super excited to share the Disney magic with her

 

[racheltatt]

Hello- when my two were small, we traveled with a small, cheap step stool- Invaluable to help the kids reach the cabin sinks. Sometimes we brought it home, sometimes it was left behind...

great idea, thanks so much!

 

[racheltatt]

I show my son (2.5) DCL youtube videos of the ship itself, ship tours, kids clubs tours, kids meeting the characters, families' vacation videos, etc. Basically, we watch all the youtube videos available that pertain to our ship, plus the 15 minute video DCL shows on their buses when you're headed to Port Canaveral. Its a cute video of Mickey & the gang packing for & embarking on their cruise. The quality is not the best as it's someones video of the TV screen on the bus but DS doesn't mind. It's a great way to familiarize him with everything he's going to see & do.

Here's the bus video. There's a few, but this is the best I've found so far.

We have been doing this too and she is super obsessed with going and excited. We have also been using it as potty training incentive. she does wake me up each day to tell me she is a big kid and it is time to go on the Mickey boat.

My DD has cruised with Disney at ages 3 & 4. 3 was my very first cruise so I never thought to bring costumes and she seemed okay with clothes. At 4, she pretty much lived in the 2-3 costumes I brought along and only wore actual clothes on port days and travel days. It's possible she would have lived in costumes at 3 if I had known to bring them. Now that she's 6 and her brother is 3, I think I'm going to have to let them take a suitcase full of costumes (instead of actual clothes).

We did open house at kids clubs and just once she was willing to stay without me for whatever party was going on after the open house. We told her we'd be back to pick her up after the party and she seemed to be having fun when I got there to get her but she didn't want to stay longer and she never wanted to stay longer again. She seems to be more excited about them (and the Mickey slide) now that she's 6.

I would not have thought to do this either (besides pirate night lol), thanks so much!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

I am going to be bringing a fresh 3 yr old (JUST turning three week before the cruise) and his two almost 5 yr old sisters but he's in preschool 5 days a week and is really independent. Great takeaways here that I've gotten:

-the Disney Jr parties sound RIGHT up our alley
-Costumes! I would have never thought of this. This sounds soooo silly but what kind of clothes do the kiddos wear? I usually try to dress the kids up a little for our WDW vacation, mostly because of photos (new clothes, fancy dresses, lots of white.....) BUT for preschool I put them in grubby clothes and darker colors, leggings/shorts/easy play gear. Thoughts about whether I should plan to pack more 'play' clothes for the Oceaneers club? Did your kids come back stained/ripped/paint-covered like mine do after preschool? I could always just suck it up and buy them new pretty play clothes and let whatever happens happens. And what kind of costumes do kids wear? Just the princess dresses?

 

[bbel]

I am going to be bringing a fresh 3 yr old (JUST turning three week before the cruise) and his two almost 5 yr old sisters but he's in preschool 5 days a week and is really independent. Great takeaways here that I've gotten:

-the Disney Jr parties sound RIGHT up our alley
-Costumes! I would have never thought of this. This sounds soooo silly but what kind of clothes do the kiddos wear? I usually try to dress the kids up a little for our WDW vacation, mostly because of photos (new clothes, fancy dresses, lots of white.....) BUT for preschool I put them in grubby clothes and darker colors, leggings/shorts/easy play gear. Thoughts about whether I should plan to pack more 'play' clothes for the Oceaneers club? Did your kids come back stained/ripped/paint-covered like mine do after preschool? I could always just suck it up and buy them new pretty play clothes and let whatever happens happens. And what kind of costumes do kids wear? Just the princess dresses?

As for coming back grubby, there aren't many chances to get messy. If they're into craft then there's often paint dabbers, and markers, but I haven't seen many kids get messy with it let aslone covered.
For things like science and cooking they're usually provided with lab coats and aprons.
I doubt they'd concentrate enough to get to the painting part of animation cells if they do participate, that paint doesn't really come out, but the kids get aprons, and it's usually only really older kids who are interested.
The only other chance to get particularly messy is dinner time if they want to eat as food regularly offered is mac n cheese, meatballs, lasagne...

Having said that a lot of kids come in in fancy clothes, princess dresses, fresh from bbb

 

[etwizzle]

Some great info here. We are taking our 2 and 4 year old on their first cruise and our first DCL cruise in 58 days!