Fun for 3 and 6 year old?

[uandmfan]

I've been reading some of the navigators and it seems like lots of the ship activities are later at night. Lots of character meet and greets are after 9. If we do the early dining (which we will need to do), we miss evening m&g opportunities. The kids won't stay up that late so we'll only make a show, maybe 2.

Is it better to wait until the kids are older? I thought there would be tons for little ones. We'd like to use the kids club, but not the whole time as we'd also like to spend time with the kids.


Does anyone have experience with this age range on the ships? It's expensive and I'm all for going if we have a good time but don't want to be disappointed....

Thanks!

 

[rwthompson82]

My daughter cruised at 2.75 years and again a few weeks ago at 4.5 years.

She loved it both times.

The first cruise (since she was too young), we only took advantage of open house hours at the club, she loved it.

She didn't like the club as much on the recent cruise (Dream), mostly since Andy's Room is a bit better on the magic and she was obsessed with the "create your own fairy" computer on then magic that they didn't have on the dream. That said, she still liked them and spent a few hours a day in there.

My daughter also loves her sleep (she is an 8pm to 7am girl). We always made sure to make sure she had a nap, because she loves the shows, and would otherwise fall asleep. We don't make it to fireworks, and we get a verandah room so we have a place to go during naps and after the show at night.

With respect to the meet and greets during dinner, usually you can do the 5:45 ones and still make dinner as long as you line up by 5:30 if there is a key one. We never did any after the 5:45, and we saw everyone (with the exception of Captain Hook and Smee).

Also, the character dance parties are just so much fun. I would highly recommend these (especially wake up with Disney jr).

We are big on spending time together during vacations, because really when we are at home we only have a few quality hours a day. We love the water slides and splash pad (Pools are crowded when ship is not in port). We love the movie theatre. We especially love the shows.

All of the CMs are great with kids.

I really can't say enough good things and really think if your kids enjoy Disney characters/shows they will have a fantastic time.

 

[lanejudy]

I've been reading some of the navigators and it seems like lots of the ship activities are later at night. Lots of character meet and greets are after 9. If we do the early dining (which we will need to do), we miss evening m&g opportunities. The kids won't stay up that late so we'll only make a show, maybe 2.

We first cruised when DD was 7, and she was in bed before 9pm every night. We had plenty of character meet & greet opportunities -- and for the most part just did ones we happened to stumble upon; if we'd reviewed the Navigators and planned, we could easily have done more. She filled one autograph book and started a second on that 4-night cruise. I wouldn't worry about everything being late at night, there is plenty to do during the day as well.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[cdoc29]

We cruised with an 18 month old and 4 year old. We found that with all the stimulation our kids were up later than normal at home. What we would do is change them into PJ’s and take them to the kids club at night, they have quiet places for the kids to sleep if they get tired and I think once we got a call saying our kid wanted picked up. We cruised right over and took him to bed. But every night we usually got them about 10pm, sometimes they were up, sometimes they were sleeping but they enjoyed it immensely. Even our 18 month old who cried in the evening till we took her to the nursery to play (and we were worried about separation anxiety before the cruise) enjoyed the clubs a lot. As far a meet and greets there are tons to do at all times, many of the meet and greets run multiple times a day.

 

[BW813]

We just finished a cruise with our 3 year old daughter. She is usually in bed by 9 each night at home and up by 7 but most nights on our cruise she was up until 10 or later. We did early dinner and then would head to the late show. We usually didn't do character meetings in the evening because there just wasn't enough time IMO and it was always crowded. I found it easier to look for the character we wanted throughout the day and arrive approximately 15 minutes early to avoid waiting in a longer line behind people. If you download the Navigator app once on board, you can see the date and times for each character for the entire duration of your cruise so it helps to plan accordingly.

The Wake Up With Disney Jr show was cute and my little one enjoyed it. She did not like going to the kids club because she prefers to be with us rather than with children she isn't familiar with. It may help that your children can go together so they may really like it. Open house is a good time to explore with them and help them see how much fun it is.

We weren't disappointed with any aspect of our trip at all. There was always something to do and we stayed busy the entire trip with different things for each of us. Just be prepared to book another while on board. It is addictive!

 

[pepe3penelope]

I say if you want to go, you should go. Believe it or not, there is so much to do for everyone regardless of age! I always find that there's not enough time to do everything!

We have gone when our kids were 14 months and 5; 2 and 6; and 4 and 8. Each and every time is so amazing. Just yesterday my DS4 said,"I miss Disney Wonder." Awwwww!!!

 

[uandmfan]

Just yesterday my DS4 said,"I miss Disney Wonder." Awwwww!!!

That's the cutest thing ever!!

Thanks everyone. It sounds like there will be plenty for the little ones to do on the cruise. I'm sure they will do some kids club. I hope they live it, but hopefully not so much they ditch us!! We want to have family time too!!

 

[SetSail16]

We took our first DC last year, when our kids were 2 and 5 (but both were just a couple of months away from 3 and 6) Both had a super time - even outside of the Oceaneer's Club/nursery. They both loved the pools and the youngest loved the Nemo splash area (we were on the Dream), both had fun with mini golf, and they were both obsessed with the Midship Detective Agency (they went through both cases multiple times ) And then there was Castaway Cay The only thing we ran into there was our youngest was too little for the water slide/etc. but she had just as much fun swimming/tubing with Mom and making sand castles and watching the crab races while older sister and Dad hit the slide. I agree with the previous poster who said their kids were so stimulated they were able to stay up later than they would at home--absolutely! I had figured we would for sure miss the Pirate Night activities because our littles would be cashed out, but lo and behold, there they were, watching fireworks! Add in the shows and the character meet and greets and they had a packed week with lots of activities, regardless of age. Your kids will have lots to do and will have a ball

 

[dglilbit]

Our 4 year old DD LOVED the cruise! You can read the trip report, which is in my signature!

 

[michellekcm]

My son was 2 1/2 last year when we cruised, and he still says to me regularly "We go Mickey Ship now?" and gets off the couch and goes to the front door.

At home he was on a 7pm bedtime schedule, on the ship he stayed up for all the shows - and absolutely loved them. He used to cry when the shows finished and say "again, again!" He loved Wake Up With Disney Junior, meeting the characters, the nursery, running around on stage in Fathoms when it was empty during the day, the splash zone, the deck parties... My then 6 1/2 year old loved all of the above (including Wake Up With Disney Jr, although she tried to pretend she was too old for it!), as well as the clubs, the pool, the movies...

There is so much to do.

With the meet and greets. We found the late ones were generally repeats of ones earlier in the day. If you get the Navigator app on your phone, although it's subject to change, it does give you a schedule for the week. So you can see which characters are out once, which are out multiple times so you can choose which session you go to etc.