How strict is 3/4 year old separation in Oceaneer's?

[Lillebelle]

My daughter will be about two weeks shy of turning 5 on our upcoming sailing. Our last couple cruises she was in the dedicated 3 & 4 year old group and wasn't super happy to not be with her older brother, which meant she spent pretty minimal time in the club. For our next sailing we'll be with another family and she'd be the only one out of five children who would be separated, which I think will be even harder for her. Anyone have experience 'opting out' of the separated group for kids who are close to the cutoff?

 

[SnowWhite2]

Disney can’t win on this situation. I really feel for everyone since it seems no one is happy. It started with segregated groups and DCL got criticized for not having kids in the family be together on their vacation. When they opened up the age groups so family groups can play together, other parents complained that the older kids trampled/overwhelmed their smaller kids. Due to possibility of older kids inadvertently hurting younger kids, they are back to segregated groups and now have open house every day where parents can come with kids to supervise their own family in the club. That will probably be your best bet. They may allow her to age up but depending on the ages of the kids in the club, it may not be possible.