Kids Club for Spring Break cruises

[Carohs]

We are considering booking our next DCL adventure and we've historically pulled the kids out of school (gasp!). They are getting a little older so it's becoming more of a concern to do that. Besides the sailings over break being more expensive and also very full, I want to take into consideration the availability of club. How are the kids' experiences impacted during very full sailings, especially spring break? Is there ever an occupancy limit for kid's club that is reached on these sailings? Is it more of a struggle to "get a turn" or be otherwise included in certain activities? Any other insight is welcome! TIA

 

[CisforCookie991]

My kids only complained about two things “turn” wise - the Millennium Falcon on the first couple of days (CMs later got better at monitoring that) and the Infinity room (which was like the Hunger Games the whole time).

 

[princesscinderella]

We always cruises during spring break, our schools always gave the week after Easter. My kids never had any issues of overcrowding at the clubs.

 

[Mango7100]

Just cruised over Spring Break last month and didnt have any issues for DD10 in the club. She mostly does Magic Playfloor games, crafts, and scavenger hunt/relay games type stuff. Sometimes during popular times there would be a wait to check in or out (like right before a dinner seating)

 

[OpieDoodle]

I've been researching this a lot and here's what I found. Disney will only let so many kids of specific ages be booked. Basically they are really good at the balancing act of making sure their facilities are equipped to handle the number of guests in that age category that they have.

Now will there be occasional lines and such? Sure! But it won't be like shoulder to shoulder where they can't move around in the kids club for example.

 

[CisforCookie991]

I've been researching this a lot and here's what I found. Disney will only let so many kids of specific ages be booked. Basically they are really good at the balancing act of making sure their facilities are equipped to handle the number of guests in that age category that they have.

Now will there be occasional lines and such? Sure! But it won't be like shoulder to shoulder where they can't move around in the kids club for example.

Oh that's really interesting. Also explains this: my friend was looking into whether her family could join us on our spring break cruise (didn't work out with the dates). But I wanted to see if there was availability. When I checked for a family of 4 with 2 kids their ages, I got nothing, but when I checked for adults only, plenty of rooms. I guess now I know why.

 

[Carohs]

Wow I had no idea! Points for Disney in that regard.

 

[lanejudy]

@OpieDoodle is correct. DCL only books so many of each age group (0-3, 3-12, 11-14, 14-17) onto the ship. That's why if adding a guest to a stateroom, one of the criteria to meet is age -- there may be space for a 5 year old but not a 15 year old, for example. It's also one reason why they can't guarantee a 10-yr-old might be allowed to age-up to Edge until boarding, because if there are max number of 11-14 yr olds already onboard there is no space to allow a younger to age up.

That said, capacity of the physical space is more than ship capacity for a given age group. There have been odd occasions with the Club/Lab that folks need to wait for a child to leave before they can check-in a child. But those seem to be rare, and reports have been relatively short waits (like 10-15 minutes) when it does occur.

 

[Clarkson U]

When our kids were younger (they are now 18 and 20) and could go to the clubs - Oceaneer, vibe, edge, they loved going over spring break. While it was busier than other times, there were also a lot of other kids they met and had a great time with so many different kids. Since our kids were outgoing and willing to meet other kids I would say its a positive.