Toddler Travel

[Lianne MK]

Hello! My 1st post on the boards, and I will be going on my 1st Disney Cruise next March! :-D

I will be traveling with a medium sized group of friends and family, and all the "kids" are toddlers and younger. Two questions:

1. What is the cutoff between needing to have nursery care and being able to go up to the next age group? My son will be 2 weeks shy of 3 and my friend's daughter will be 1 month shy. If they are fully potty trained can they be with the 3+ or are we locked into the nursery group?

2. I have been on other cruise lines before, but not ones that catered to small children. Is there anything special that I should be on the lookout for? Like I said this my son will be almost 3 so I'm looking at this trip as an early birthday gift.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Sytrace]

Hello! My 1st post on the boards, and I will be going on my 1st Disney Cruise next March! :-D

I will be traveling with a medium sized group of friends and family, and all the "kids" are toddlers and younger. Two questions:

1. What is the cutoff between needing to have nursery care and being able to go up to the next age group? My son will be 2 weeks shy of 3 and my friend's daughter will be 1 month shy. If they are fully potty trained can they be with the 3+ or are we locked into the nursery group?

2. I have been on other cruise lines before, but not ones that catered to small children. Is there anything special that I should be on the lookout for? Like I said this my son will be almost 3 so I'm looking at this trip as an early birthday gift.

Thank you in advance!

1. They are pretty strict on age requirements in the Oceaneer Club and Lab, so your son and the little girl under 3 (no matter how close to 3) will need to be in the Nursery.
2. There are some meet and greets, breakfasts with charactes from Disney Jr that you might want to sign up for in advance. A water place for that age set called Nemos Reef too. It is a very kid friendly cruiseline.

 

[Jess_S]

More things to look out for:

• "Wake Up" with Disney Junior -- this is a dance party that sometimes has surprise character appearances
• Open House hours at the club and lab -- this is a chance for kids who are too young to be checked into the clubs to use the facilities with their parents

The entertainment, including shows, live music and deck parties, is not kid specific, but it's very kid friendly.

 

[bumbershoot]

The 2 year olds will be in the nursery.

As stated above, with adult supervision they can play in the older kids' areas during specific open house times.

 

[amanda ek]

On our last cruise my niece was turning 3 the day after the cruise, my daughter was turning 3 the next month....they both still had to go to the nursery, which was fine bc we like having them with us and doing activities together for the most part. We put them in the nursery while the adults went to palo and a couple of other hours here and there.

If you are on the fantasy or the dream, nemos reef is awesome....so awesome that bigger kids are in there running around so you need to keep an eye out especially around the stingray slide. The splash area on the magic is sad (I haven't been on the wonder). I do like the location of the aqualab much more on the magic and your kids can go in there if potty trained.

There is wake up with dis jr, character meets, open house at the clubs, toddler time (where they put down mats and toys and small climbing/play structures usually in a lounge), dance parties, Craft time with the cast members...some were too much for toddlers like origami, but some were fine like button making. Tons to do for toddlers.
You will get a separate flyer with your navigator that lets you know about all of the toddler activities.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Meeting the Captain of the ship is really nice. In the daily navigator which lists daily times for activities and dining, weather etc it will tell you when this will be. He signs items like you can buy a model of the ship or a Christmas dec. Or just an autograph book.

The characters look cute in their outfits at the meet and greets. You will get some nice photo keepsakes there.

I think the toddlers will like the restaurant the Animators Palette. It has a great interactive experience!

 

[MickeyEarrings]

Letting a character with the toddlers dressed like them (i.e. in a tiny Tinkerbell dress) makes a great photo op and a super Christmas present for the grandparents!

 

[Huron66]

In addition, kids that are three are also allowed to be in the Nursery (my son wasn't quite toilet trained and definitely wouldn't have been able to handle using the bathroom on his own). While we were at Palo we paid for him and his cousin to go to the Nursery (both 3) and they had a great time with the CM's. Since there weren't any babies sleeping in the back area a CM took the boys into the back sleeping area and showed them how to make paper airplanes and they had lots of fun seeing who could throw their airplanes the farthest. It turned out the boys had more fun in the nursery than when they were in the regular club. I just wish we hadn't discovered that on our last day on the ship!

 

[Tinked]

FYI I usually take a bag of wrapped candy as a thank you for the CMs. It isn't necessary but always seems appreciated.

 

[Lianne MK]

Thank you all for your answers. I figured they would have to be in the nursery, and even if my son was granted an exception I would want him to stay with his friend.

I will definitely look out for the Disney' Jr actives, thanks for that tip!

Any toddler friendly port excursions you experts might recommend?

 

[PlanoNana]

Excursion recommendations depend on which ship and which ports.

FYI, the club/lab area on Castaway Cay has a water play area but it's NOT the beach/ocean. If your kids to go to the beach or swim in the ocean, you have to take them yourself.

 

[Lianne MK]

Excursion recommendations depend on which ship and which ports.

FYI, the club/lab area on Castaway Cay has a water play area but it's NOT the beach/ocean. If your kids to go to the beach or swim in the ocean, you have to take them yourself.

Sorry, I thought I had said in my original post!

We're going on a Western Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy, March 4, stopping in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, and Castaway Cay.

 

[PoopDeckPappy]

Hello! My 1st post on the boards, and I will be going on my 1st Disney Cruise next March! :-D

I will be traveling with a medium sized group of friends and family, and all the "kids" are toddlers and younger. Two questions:

1. What is the cutoff between needing to have nursery care and being able to go up to the next age group? My son will be 2 weeks shy of 3 and my friend's daughter will be 1 month shy. If they are fully potty trained can they be with the 3+ or are we locked into the nursery group?

2. I have been on other cruise lines before, but not ones that catered to small children. Is there anything special that I should be on the lookout for? Like I said this my son will be almost 3 so I'm looking at this trip as an early birthday gift.

Thank you in advance!

If they are both potty trained they officially can't go to the next age group, as mentioned, but my daughter was offered to move up at 22 months after her first time in the nursery. There were not a lot of kids on the ship so I'm sure this was a big factor (plus they made an assessment of her). She did wet her pants one time only because she didn't know to ask where the bathroom was Poor kid. I never thought to tell her to ask; but I mention it so others, even with 3 yo, know to remind them. She was welcomed back though

 

[PrincessShmoo]

1. What is the cutoff between needing to have nursery care and being able to go up to the next age group? My son will be 2 weeks shy of 3 and my friend's daughter will be 1 month shy. If they are fully potty trained can they be with the 3+ or are we locked into the nursery group?

Until a child reaches the age of 3, he/she is limited to the nursery. At the age of 3, they can go to Oceaneer's Club OR use the nursery.

JMO, but I wouldn't put a newly minted 3 year old in Oceaneer's. It's a big space, with kids up to the age of 12 and can be pretty trying for the littler ones.

You can bring them to the Open House hours in Oceaneer's, as long as you remain to enjoy the space with them.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

but my daughter was offered to move up at 22 months after her first time in the nursery.

When was this? DCL has been pretty firm about "must be 3 to attend Oceaneer's" in the past year or so.

 

[PoopDeckPappy]

I believe it was April of 2010 I'd say. It was nice because we didn't have to pay for Nemo's Reef.