Will "almost 13" daughter be too old for the 12 and under clubs?

[tbserena]

One of my DD's will be 3 months shy of 13 on the cruise. Did anyone's child feel like they were too old for the young club activities but not old enough for the teen things? She's at that in-between age!
I'd love to hear from anyone who's cruised before!

 

[gmotley]

My daugher is 12 also, and we have been a little worried about that also. When are you sailing? We are sailing March 20.

 

[tbserena]

We aren't until 10/2/04, Magic! : ( We have met another family with a DD 12 cruising on the same ship, and it has helped her alot. I would think that Disney is aware of this age group and I'm hoping they try to find things that are fun for them. My oldest is 14 and is loving that she will be going to the "teen" things. DD12 is feeling left out of that, but would actually fit in better with the older kids than doing the younger things. I'll just have to see what happens. I bet once they meet other kids, it won't matter what they're doing! You know how kids somehow find each other and start having fun!

 

[geffric]

gmotley we are on the march 20 as well..
I have a son who is 1 week short of his 13th b'day.. He refuses to be in the LAB..been there, done that and not going back.. so he is looking forward to hangin on the ship, doing some of the Stack teen things, eating pizza, going to the movies and sleeping. He is planning on having roomservice bring him breakfast at 11 am.. and then starting his day slowly..

 

[tbserena]

i'm hoping that if my DD12 is feeling like she isn't fitting in with the clubs, etc, that she will have a blast with the excursions. she has already said she wanted to do some things she's never done before, like snorkel or parasail; since we don't vacation much beyond the quick beach trip each summer, just cruising is going to blow her away....she just doesn't realize it yet!

 

[gmotley]

geffric,

That sounds a lot like my daughter--late to bed and late to rise. I do think I will encourage her to go to the lab in hopes that she will meet some people. She has been to the lab before, but that was about 3 years ago. She loved it then.

 

[gmotley]

tbserena,

Oh, well, it would have nice for the girls to be together. I really want Olivia to meet some friends; however, I'm glad I don't have to wait until October. I only have three days.

 

[DisneyTish]

I was so glad to see this posting. I am sailing on 4/15 and my DD is a little over a month shy of her 13th BD. Disney said that if she is within 30 days they would let her decide between lab and teen programs. BUT...she misses that exception by about 10 days.

I think she would fit in better with the 13 crowd (like tbserena's DD) but I think she is relieved that she didn't have to decide (she's not good with decisions - afraid to make the wrong one and miss something).

She is planning on spending most of the time with us (joy) I will also encourage her to go to the Lab and meet others.

gmotley - Let us know when you get back how your DD liked the labs and if they were really age appropriate for this "in-between" stage. SINCE YOU GET TO GO SOOOOOO SOON (I am jealous)

 

[tbserena]

I am relieved to see others with the same dilema! (I meant that in a nice way! lol ) And yes please let us hear from anyone when you get back about the 10-12 clubs versus the teens.

DisneyTish, we have the same problem...I think DD12 and A HALF! : ) will end up hanging out with us. Oh well...* sigh* We'll all still have a blast!

Thanks for everyone posting about this!

 

[jrabbit]

Our 13yo at the time would have actually done better in the Lab than in the teen club. There were a lot of activities that sounded like a lot of fun to me (I missed the age cut off by about 25 years ) that the kid didn't feel like doing. So he hung out with us for most of the trip, which was fine. Would have liked to have gone to Serenity Bay on CC but spent they day playing with the kids in the water.

I wish that DCL did a better job with the 12-14 yo set (12 maybe a little to old for the lab (as it currently is set up) and 13 way to young to be hangin' with the 16-17yo's.)

 

[bassoongirl]

We were on the 2/21 Eastern cruise and my 12 yr old dd did not enjoy the Lab. She found it to be "boring". She did stop in to make a bracelet one morning and played some video games one night, but that was all. She would have been happier being allowed in the Stack, but she won't turn 13 until May. She had fun in the arcade, at the shows, wandering around the ship trying to get lost and ordering room service! We did try to connect her with a couple other 12 yr old girls that we met, but it was hard to find them on the ship. On our cruise next year, she will be 13, so we won't have this problem! I think the best thing to do with 12 yr olds is try to meet other DISers on this board with kids the same age so they can hang out if they want or allow your child to make their own fun! My daughter had a great time on the cruise even though she is a "tween"!

Gayl

 

[The4OfUs]

My almost 12 DD HATED the stack...said it was boring cause all you can do is sit around and talk...and was upset when I reminded her that she's nearly out of the Lab. They went there often with the 10-12 set, so I figured it was the "best of both worlds", only to find out she'd rather have stuck in the lab the whole time.

Of course, I have not checked the navigators for the 13+ age group, and I told her that maybe when they're in there all the time they do more than "sit around". *grin*

 

[dotterson]

Hi,

My DD is going to be 12 1/2 (exactly!) when we go on 12/19. I've already found 2 families going and the same-aged girls have exchanged email addresses. I also found a copy of the Navigators for 10-12 and found quite a few things DD thinks she can enjoy. (Making a commercial and animation cel, for example.)

My worry is she's pretty mature for her age. (I'm surprised that Disney has set an age policy, but I suppose that's good.) Nat has a lot of older friends and that wouldn't be a prob, but if Disney has set the pace, she will have something to look forward to next time we cruise!

I don't want her hanging out with us a lot either!

Let's hope things work out. Any other suggestions???

d

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

My oldest DS was a few days short of his 13th b-day when we cruised last November.

I think some kids would do better with the younger group, some with the older. My DS doesn't have older siblings and no older friends, so he had no interest in joining the older group. He was kind of bored with the youngers kids.

He really enjoyed just "hanging around" on the ship. He thought it was so cool that he go get pizza, hamburgers, ice cream, etc... anytime he wanted it!

We were on a 3-day, so I wonder if he would have become bored after a few more days, but he was happy as a clam keeping his own schedule for most of the cruise.

 

[DisneyTish]

tbserena, I am also glad that others have the same problem (not that I wish problems on other It helps to know that your not alone when dealing with "tweens" (my DD hates that term. hehe). We like to call her HM (High Maintenance) and she loves that because she knows she is!


I think I've decided to just play this lab thing by ear when we get there and not sweat it. After all "I'm on Vacation" (or I will be in 23 days) YIPPEE.

 

[tbserena]

DisneyTrish
I'll say this one last thing, lol, only because of your last post....we tell our 12 (and "A HALF") year old DD she's "Princess High in the Land of Maintenance".....that sums it all up!
I, too, have decided to not worry about it anymore. Like you said, we'll be on vacation!! You'll have to give us some feedback, though when you get home.

Have fun!!!

 

[dianthus]

Last Nov. my DD was 12.5 & wasn't allowed in the Stack. They are strict about it. < than 1 mo. to 13 b day, or no entry. She went to the lab reluctantly, as she is pretty mature for her age. She met 2 other girls in the same situation, so they hung out together the entire trip, with no programming. Pool, basketball, arcade, ping pong, movies and they had a blast. They met a couple of 14 yr. olds that joined their group, as they were bored with the Stack. There were mostly older kids- 17-18 yr. olds on that voyage.

DCL has a hole in their programming for tweens 12-14. There really is not much for them. If they hook up with a nice bunch of kids, they can have fun. If your child is shy, it could be a problem without programming to attend & meet people.

~Linda

 

[tbserena]

DD 12 has met one other 12 year old girl on here going in Oct, so that's good. If she doesn't fit in at the clubs, she would definitely hang out with a few others her age and do her own thing.
I need to post again about other DD 12's going 10/2/04 Magic.

I can't believe how many people have this concern! Wish there was something better for the tweens! Maybe there isn't anything Disney could do since some mature quicker in this age than others. Maybe hanging by themselves IS the other Disney option!!??

 

[Lisa D]

I'll have a similar problem in 2005 when oldest DS will be two months shy of his 13th b-day. Boys (at least mine) are not nearly as mature as girls of that age, so I have no problem with him being not allowed in the stack - but I don't know if he'll want to hang with the 10-12 YO either (especially since it will include his younger brother). It would be great if DCL could start some "T'ween" programming - it would be one more thing that could set them apart from the crowd.

Lisa

 

[tbserena]

wonder where you can make suggestions to DCL like that? after seeing these responses it's obviously a valid comment that i think they would listen to....?