Kids club age question

[DisneyMamaintheDesert]

Does anyone have insight to how the kids club grouping works? I’ve heard 3 & 4 year olds are grouped together and do their own activities… but any insight to what this means? Do they have a schedule (like certain times they get to play in Andy’s room) or get included in special activities (like if a character comes in)? Are they separated on the islands? Particularly the splash pad at lookout cay at lighthouse point.

For some background, we leave for our first Disney cruise in 10 days on the magic. We have a 4.5 year old and a 7 year old. We want to make sure we prep the kids appropriately and don’t hype up the clubs too much if they aren’t going to get any play time together or don’t get to participate in everything.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

From what I saw.. that group is always doing “something” and it grows and shrinks as kids come and go and they rotate through activities. They appear to do the scheduled activities but still kept in group. My kiddo mentioned that she had to switch what she was doing because it was their turn (more in a comment not mad way)

We’ve never used care on the islands so no idea there..

 

[lanejudy]

They will not get time together unless you take them to Open House time. The preschoolers are now in a small group with dedicated CMs. They rotate through the rooms/activities always with their group. I don’t know if the rotation changes or is the same everyday (like always Andy’s Room at 2pm or if that varies).

I haven’t seen much reported about the island.

 

[DisneyMamaintheDesert]

From what I saw.. that group is always doing “something” and it grows and shrinks as kids come and go and they rotate through activities. They appear to do the scheduled activities but still kept in group. My kiddo mentioned that she had to switch what she was doing because it was their turn (more in a comment not mad way)

We’ve never used care on the islands so no idea there..

Thanks, this is helpful.

 

[DisneyMamaintheDesert]

They will not get time together unless you take them to Open House time. The preschoolers are now in a small group with dedicated CMs. They rotate through the rooms/activities always with their group. I don’t know if the rotation changes or is the same everyday (like always Andy’s Room at 2pm or if that varies).

I haven’t seen much reported about the island.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Agent 86]

It was hard to get clear details from our then just turned 4 year old, but as best as I can tell, they're kept together with at least one cast member looking after them and they seem to move between different areas and activities. She played games (and won a prize), did arts and crafts (oh so very many arts and crafts), etc. I think they were all directed to use the bathroom somewhat often ... maybe once an hour or so?

She didn't mention seeing any characters. We did drop her off for a character activity ... something with Olaf, but it was obviously a very popular activity and very noisy and crowded, so she asked to leave. I'm not sure how well they'd be able to keep the 3/4 year olds separated during an activity, especially one with a character, that is open to all the kids in the club.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

OP, can you share your experience after you are home? I leave on the magic in 19 days with 3yo and 5yo.

Have a great trip!

 

[Mags2002]

Does anyone have insight to how the kids club grouping works? I’ve heard 3 & 4 year olds are grouped together and do their own activities… but any insight to what this means? Do they have a schedule (like certain times they get to play in Andy’s room) or get included in special activities (like if a character comes in)? Are they separated on the islands? Particularly the splash pad at lookout cay at lighthouse point.

For some background, we leave for our first Disney cruise in 10 days on the magic. We have a 4.5 year old and a 7 year old. We want to make sure we prep the kids appropriately and don’t hype up the clubs too much if they aren’t going to get any play time together or don’t get to participate in everything.

From what I understand, they are grouped together and do rotate to different rooms within the space for different programming and games, but can also ask the counselors they are with if they would like to go somewhere else and they will take a small group of them and come back after a time.
They do all scheduled programming and do also have free play time with the other children.
The younger kids do get to participate in and experience everything that oceaneers has to offer, just most of the time separate to the older kids

 

[DisneyMamaintheDesert]

It was hard to get clear details from our then just turned 4 year old, but as best as I can tell, they're kept together with at least one cast member looking after them and they seem to move between different areas and activities. She played games (and won a prize), did arts and crafts (oh so very many arts and crafts), etc. I think they were all directed to use the bathroom somewhat often ... maybe once an hour or so?

She didn't mention seeing any characters. We did drop her off for a character activity ... something with Olaf, but it was obviously a very popular activity and very noisy and crowded, so she asked to leave. I'm not sure how well they'd be able to keep the 3/4 year olds separated during an activity, especially one with a character, that is open to all the kids in the club.

Thanks for the info!

 

[DisneyMamaintheDesert]

From what I understand, they are grouped together and do rotate to different rooms within the space for different programming and games, but can also ask the counselors they are with if they would like to go somewhere else and they will take a small group of them and come back after a time.
They do all scheduled programming and do also have free play time with the other children.
The younger kids do get to participate in and experience everything that oceaneers has to offer, just most of the time separate to the older kids

Thanks Mags2002! My 4 year old loves meeting characters and crafts, so I’m glad they get to experience it, just in an age appropriate group.

 

[DisneyMamaintheDesert]

OP, can you share your experience after you are home? I leave on the magic in 19 days with 3yo and 5yo.

Have a great trip!

Will do!

 

[DisneyMamaintheDesert]

Here is our kids club update:

During open house I asked about the age separation. As mentioned by others, the 3s & 4s have a cast member with their group to offer extra support and facilitate water and potty breaks. We were told the preschool group would never be excluded from scheduled activities and were able to do what they wanted if there were enough kids interested and enough staff available to facilities that. In theory, my 4 year old should have been able to say “I want to do that art project with my brother” and a small group of preschoolers could have gone to to the art project, with a cast member. Unfortunately, my 4 year old wasn’t comfortable enough or brave enough to say those words, so she ended up sort of stuck with the preschool group in Andy’s room. We received message that she wanted to be picked up after 20 mins and she was hysterically crying when we picked her up. I’ll also note that she was so excited to go in and had been asking all day for us to drop her off.

At another time, when I was picking up my son, I saw another family with a four and seven year old playing card games with a cast member at a table. My assumption is that they didn’t have many preschoolers at the time and were able to offer that support and allow that 4 year old to play wherever she wanted with her older brother. Your child’s experience will be dependent on their ability to speak up and the ratios of adults to children.

 

[hardcorestitch]

Does anyone have insight to how the kids club grouping works? I’ve heard 3 & 4 year olds are grouped together and do their own activities… but any insight to what this means? Do they have a schedule (like certain times they get to play in Andy’s room) or get included in special activities (like if a character comes in)? Are they separated on the islands? Particularly the splash pad at lookout cay at lighthouse point.

For some background, we leave for our first Disney cruise in 10 days on the magic. We have a 4.5 year old and a 7 year old. We want to make sure we prep the kids appropriately and don’t hype up the clubs too much if they aren’t going to get any play time together or don’t get to participate in everything.

Usually they will be able to do all the activities in the clubs. While there are things that the 4.5 year old can exclusively do, she can do everything along with the 7 year old. The Oceaneer spaces are 3-10, so no separation is done unless the two kids want to do different things. Plenty of Cast Members are on duty to guide them both.

 

[lanejudy]

Usually they will be able to do all the activities in the clubs. While there are things that the 4.5 year old can exclusively do, she can do everything along with the 7 year old. The Oceaneer spaces are 3-10, so no separation is done unless the two kids want to do different things. Plenty of Cast Members are on duty to guide them both.

When was your last cruise? The 3 & 4 yr olds are now separated in the Oceaneer spaces with dedicated CMs; they are not allowed to generally mix in with the 5-10 yr olds there.

 

[hardcorestitch]

When was your last cruise? The 3 & 4 yr olds are now separated in the Oceaneer spaces with dedicated CMs; they are not allowed to generally mix in with the 5-10 yr olds there.

Ah, I must have mixed the clubs up.

 

[lanejudy]

Ah, I must have mixed the clubs up.

No it may be what you remembered. Until this past year DCL did have ages 3-10 together. That changed and while 3-4 are still in the Club/Lab as are 5-10, the preschoolers are kept in a separate small group with dedicated CMs.

 

[hardcorestitch]

No it may be what you remembered. Until this past year DCL did have ages 3-10 together. That changed and while 3-4 are still in the Club/Lab as are 5-10, the preschoolers are kept in a separate small group with dedicated CMs.

Ok, got the info… thanks!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

We went on the magic early June and my 3yo and 5yo both loved the kids club. But they were separated in different groups. Not really sure what the 3yo did but he liked it. We also had our 3yo in the nursery everyday for his nap time which was awesome. So he did both.