What is a 2 year old to do on the Disney Wonder in Alaska?

[NataliyainCR]

Hi All!

Looking into booking a 7 day to Alaska in 2019 on the Wonder. Curious whether anyone has taken a 2 year old on this kind of cruise, and if so, whether there are things for them to do? Please don't suggest waiting a year, due to family circumstances we have to go in 19.

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

 

[lklgoodman]

We went to Alaska in 2014, my dd was 6 yrs old, but here are some things that little ones can do: Character greetings, dance parties, playing in the nursery, I can't remember if the Wonder has a splash area for little ones. The pools are heated and will be open, but unless your 2 yr old is COMPLETELY(meaning absolutely no accidents) potty trained he/she can't go in them, and swim diapers are not allowed. Lots of babies/toddlers will be on the cruise, even if your lil one can't do everything, you will still have an amazing time.

 

[Mariciram]

Yes! Our youngest was 27 months when we did a 7-day Alaska two years ago. We *loved* the nursery on the Wonder - all the cast members knew him and were excited to see him when we dropped him off (it helped him be excited too). At the end of the cruise we received an envelope with photos of him throughout the week, character drawings, a certificate recognizing his basketball skills, etc. At two years old, he was definitely on the older side of the kids in the nursery, but cast members played more advanced games with him and allowed him to lead (roll cars down the slide instead of sliding down himself, and lots of basketball). During Oceaneer Club/Lab Open houses, you can as a family explore and play in those kid club spaces - typically there's a "toddler time" activity offered on occasion also.

We chose port excursions that a 2y/o could attend also - Disney's gold panning, a bus/rainforest tour and the Lumberjack show. We borrowed a stroller from DCL for the one day we chose to walk downtown in port. We had a verandah room, and he loved watching the scenery pass by. Sailing Alaska, you're within sight of land the whole time. At 2y/o, he was nervous about meeting characters himself, but enjoyed the experience if one of us held him. He loved ice cream and hot chocolate while wrapped in a (ship provided) blanket on deck, watching the shows, dancing to music, and exploring the ship.

Good luck!

 

[Jess_S]

This question gets asked a lot, so you might want to search. We took our son to Alaska when he was almost 2 and he loved it. On the ship he liked the Wakeup with Disney Junior, dancing to the live band, open house at the kids club, meeting characters, shows (in short doses) and wandering around the ship. On shore, we did just one DCL excursion -- the Liarsville gold panning. He really enjoyed that one. We did the rest of our excursions on our own using a port guide book. Mendenhall Glaciar was particularly enjoyable. We did a short hike and then played in the visitor center.

 

[Shanti]

There are the characters, there is the maypole ceremony, there is a nursery for little ones. I wouldn't count on water activities unless you're going at the hottest part of summer. We went in early June and swimming was not a comfortable experience.

 

[cmph]

We just got off the Wonder yesterday , and our extended family group included my 2yo nephew. He had no interest in the nursery but loved going to the club in open house. He also liked toddler time, in a little area adjacent to the Promenade lounge, which was pretty convenient. They have little riding toys, some things to build, and padded things to climb on and in (a la Little Gym) in there. It's not a drop-off thing, just a place with toddler-appropriate toys and one CM interacting with them while the parents sit around. He did NOT like most of the characters up close, so I wouldn't bet on going to a lot of character m&gs; 2 is a rough age for that. He enjoyed the Broadway-style shows. We had really warm weather aside from the last 2 days, so he did play in Dory's reef. For excursions, we went whale-watching in Juneau (not sure how much he got out of that, really, but it was easy enough), some of us went on a little tour we hired last minute off the dock in Ketchikan (super lame, a bus tour of various parts in the area that we were suckered into by the prospect of potentially seeing early bears - but he LOVED when we stopped at Eagle Point and they tossed fish to get the eagles to swoop), and I guess he was ok with the sled dog puppies / gold panning / ice throne excursion thing via DCL (i wasn't on that one but he apparently slept through a bunch of it). You do have to strategically pick the excursions b/c Alaska offers a lot that little ones can't do. We had a large enough group to separate out into smaller groups, except for whale watching (we booked a private boat independently). He actually did make it through dinner every night, fussed a little bit at times but was super entertained by our server Jojo's magic tricks, the band in Tiana's, and the AP shows. Poor Jojo had to do the crayon-behind-the-ear about 10 times per night! 2 years of age isn't necessarily ideal, in terms of what you can do with excursions and how late you can stay up, but it's absolutely still a fun age to take on this cruise.