How long did you leave your kids??

[momof2tx]

Hubby & I are taking our 4 & 2 year olds on the cruise (they'll be 5 & 3 by the time we leave. This is our first family vacation. We've been lots of places, just the two of us since the kids were born, but this is the first one with all four of us. How long did you leave your kids in the play area? Did you feel guilty? How was the transition to the Disney staff? We know they'll cry, but just for a few moments, and we know we'll only probably keep them there a couple/few hours a day, but I was just wondering how long other people kept their kids in the Disney kid areas?

 

[kcashner]

Some people leave kids all day--like a day care. You do know that you'll have a beeper so they can get you if needed. However, keep in mind that you will have a 3 year old who will probably be newly potty trained. Many moms recommend "visiting" the club every 90 minutes or so and using that visit to escort your little one to the restroom. That would avoid accidents from being in a new place, strange caregivers, etc. SO...my suggestion would be about 90 minutes unless you are doing a shore excursion. If your child is happy at that time, you were always "just checking on him/her" and he/she can stay and play. If the kiddo wants to leave, it provides that possibility without him having to ask for you or fuss to the point of a page.

I told my DD that I would come if she ever asked to have me paged--all she had to do was tell the counsellor that she needed her mom. She had me paged once--the message on the beeper was "XXX needs you." When I got there, she said that she didn't want to leave, but just needed a hug. I think it was a test to see if I'd really come if she asked. I've never been paged again in 10 cruises!

 

[TheWog]

Our son only stayed about 20 mins the first couple times he wanted to try something. Once he realized though that we would be right there he was fine and ended up doing the activity he would like. St. Thomas amazingly enough we actually got the courage to leave him on the ship while we went and did some shopping. He really didn't want to shop so we let him stay. He understood we couldn't come right back and he had so much fun I don't think he realized we were gone. That was the longest time he was there and that was about 2 hours. Other than that he did the occasionaly activity such as Goofy's Giggle Gala and the like. If he wanted to be with us, we wanted him there.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

We have been twice and I usually left my little around 2 hours to go to the spa and one night at Palo. I felt bad if I left her any longer than that. The one thing I don't like about the clubs are how dark they are.....
So in the evening it did not bother me,but during the day I never left her long. She loved the Mickey pool too much.

I did put her in the club at Castaway Cay for around 2 hours in the afternoon so we could enjoy the Adult beach! Don't miss that! It is wonderful.

My DD so enjoyed the clubs. One day I went to get her and Cinderella was there telling a story and she did not want to leave.

Enjoy!

 

[KLH 1973]

When my dd's age 8 and 6 were in the play area they had a blast. My husband and I were a bit unhappy with how often we were called or beeped because they said our kids wanted to go to us. But when we would get there our kids would be playing and the kids said all they said was wonder if mom and dad are having fun. So we were a bit bothered by that. And the last straw for us was before we went to see cold creek manor we told the kids we are going to be at the movies so not to even mention our names. lol but apparently they did and we came running to find the children asleep. So long story short we were not happy with the play area. We would expect trouble from little kids but not older ones.

 

[vossjemi]

Momof2tx,

Gosh, you sound just like us!!! 4&2 now. Will be 5&3 when we go. And, our first real vacation with the kids. Can't wait!

 

[amy2girls]

our girls are 2 and four now too. They will also be 3 & 5 can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!! We were wondering the same thing. Our two year old is potty training now and I was definately thinking that I would toilet her every 90 min while away.

 

[mickeyboat]

Our girls were 3 and 4. They loved the idea of the club but didn't want us to leave. The first time, DD4 stayed but DD3 went with us. It was their choice. But DD4 forgot that DD3 wasn't staying, and burst into tears when DH picked her up. I think we also forgot to reinforce to them that they could have us paged if they needed us.

So we spent a lot of time in the Club with them until we did Palo brunch and dinner the same day. They stayed in the Club happily both times, knowing that Mom and Dad were on a date and would return to get them.

By the end of the cruise, they didn't want to leave.

2 hours was the longest we left them in the Club. We didn't leave them at Scuttle's Cove because they were having way too much fun in the water (we went to the far end of the family beach and it was not crowded at all).

Good luck to you.

Denae

P.S. If you send your girls with bathing suits on underneath their clothes, make sure it is a two piece. Little ones have a hard time using the bathroom when they have those to take off, and CM's are not supposed to help (although I did see it happen once).

 

[dletz]

My daughter was 3 1/2 when we cruised. She had never been in daycare, and other than 2 times when a close family friend watched her she had always been with either Mom, Dad or Grandma. I was a bit worried she wouldn't want to stay. We dropped her off the first night and she had a lot of fun. She hardly ever wanted to leave. One day we dropped her off around 9 am for som activity and we couldn't get her to leave until 11 pm that night. We stopped by every few hours asking her if she wanted to swim, or do such and such, but the answer was always no. She just wanted to stay and play with her friends. All the other nights we had her eat with us, but that night I decided if she wanted to say for dinner, that was fine.

We did get paged a couple of times to come pick her up and when we got there and started to leave she told us she wanted to go somewhere else. The problem was she couldn't figure out how to get to the area with the computers, games and dress up clothes. Either she didn't ask or the people she asked didn't understand her, because when we took her in there she decided she wanted to stay longer and play. We played with her in there a bit, then left her for another couple hours to come back and get her.

She doesn't know it yet, but we're on the 14 day repositioning cruise, and I'm sure she'll have as much fun then as she did last time. She still constantly talks about the Mickey boat and wants to know when we're going back.

 

[flexsmom]

The first night after dinner we signed in then-DD3 and thought we'd let her "look around". Well, she ended up casually dismissing us and staying for 2 hours that night. We hit the pool several times with her, but I can honestly say we didn't watch the clock when she was at the club and the one time we were paged it was so we could talk to her about doing the activity the the counsellors were directing and not enticing other kids to do something else! We had her eat with us two nights, and two nights she opted to eat with the club. All in all, she loved it and we didn't worry. She will be 5 this upcoming cruise and is already talking about the clubs.

 

[CAMICKEY]

We did the Western 7 night cruise in May and our DS6 probably spent about 35 hours in the kids club. Did we feel guilty - Not at all. He wanted to be there and it allowed us to spend some time together. We still went on excursions together and ate together (except one night) and did other activities as well (Bingo and movies, etc). They have an outstanding kids program with a lot of fun activities. - Mike

 

[Masonpips]

First cruise ours were 3&5 too. The first night we signed them up after lunch, then dropped them off after dinner. They ran off and we checked back about 1.5-2 hours later. My DS saw us and started asking "you're NOT here to pick us up" and we just laughed and left them them for a while longer.

On that cruise, they went most nights after dinner (DD did go see Hercules and Disney Dreams with us) and during the day when we went to Palo Brunch and to the spa for the Surial Bath and on Castaway for our massages.

I would say they went for 2 hour stretches most times (sometimes longer at night because they wanted to watch them movies) and for less than 2 hours during the days. They didn't go at all in Cayman as we did a family excursion with the stingrays.

On our 2nd cruise they were 4&6 and they went even more. DS basically refused to eat dinner with us (lol); he wanted to get Topsiders or Plutos about 5-6 (we had late dinner) and then go to the clubs while we went to dinner. He had no interest in the shows either. DD spent more time going to the shows, but then demanded the club after that. She wouldn't leave this time - if they were showing 2 movies at night, she was watching BOTH movies. She is a movie freak tho.

We were off ship on this cruise for St. Maarten and we left them there from 9:30-2:30 (we did Orient Beach and shopping) - the longest stretch on both cruises. They were fine with it as we took them on a daysail (private charter) in St. Thomas so they spent no time in the club that day.

Most kids (IMO) like the clubs and want to be there.

Came back to add: if you're like dh and I, you'll be in AWE and amazed at how much couple time you get. Think about it: a vacation with children where you're not together 24/7, we left that cruise feeling as if we DID have a vacation, it was the most amazing thing. That's one major reason we keep coming back. A family vacation where you get family *and* couple time and everyone's happy about it. WOWZA, what a concept

 

[CRSNDSNY]

The longest we left our kids was 7 nights, 8 days.

...furr kids, that is.

We love our girlies!

 

[CM_Mom]

I "leave" my DD in the club about 10 hours each day and she has a ball. taking care of your kids.