All those who know me know how much I LOVE DISNEY! I am really missing traveling right now. We were supposed to be going on an Alaskan Cruise 9/22/20! So, I thought I would write about cruising specifically about the Disney Cruise Kids Club. For many traveling with kids this is the selling feature of a Disney Cruise. I have been on the Wonder and Fantasy. The Wonder and Magic are the smaller ships of the fleet with Fantasy and Dream being the larger ships. While they are similar there are some differences besides size and capacity. The larger ships have the Aquaduck, a two-person water slide you can ride around the ship. For those of you wondering if a Disney Cruise is worth the price it is and I will help write about different topics to help you decide. Our first Disney Cruise was a Merry Time Cruise in November from Galveston. It was 4 nights and had one stop in Cozumel. Our second Disney Cruise was in June from Port Canaveral. It was a 7 night, 3 port, Eastern Caribbean Cruise with stops in St. Thomas, Tortola, and the Disney Island, Castaway Cay. Caden was age 6 and 7 at the time we went. Caden and I enjoyed both ships but I think I enjoyed the smaller ship feel a little bit more, only due to the amount of people. Don’t get me wrong I would go on ANY Disney ship! I miss Disney so much!
When you enter a Disney ship, they begin the magic by announcing your family onboard which is so much fun! Many people say to go eat and swim or explore the ship. That is exactly what we did both times, we ate as soon as we arrived on board before the dining area was too crowded. Then I let Caden ride the Mickey slide over and over since there’s not much of a line while people are boarding. Then we explore I love getting to see the kids club before too many people arrive to give Caden a sense of the area before I drop him off. Before you board, the kids are given a magic band that lets cast members track your child in the kids area for check-in and checkout purposes. All kids clubs require everyone to wash hands in the fun washing stations (like the ones at Mighty Fine and Rudy’s for Texas friends) before entering. Even if you are just picking up you are required to wash/ sanitize your hands. I felt everything was very clean every time we went. Youth Clubs: It’s a Small World Nursery (Infants 6 months-3 yrs), Oceaneer Club (ages 3-12), Oceaneer Lab (ages 3-12), Edge (ages 11-14), Vibe (ages 14-17). Your child must be potty trained to go into the largest kids clubs the Oceaneer Club and Lab that are connected by a hallway in the back. It’s a Small World Nursery charges a small hourly fee. The older kids clubs Vibe and Edge do not allow parents to go in, it is kids only! The older kids I saw on board seemed to enjoy going and would often meet up to go. Disney has some YouTube videos from Disney Channel actors exploring the clubs if you are interested. The Disney Cruise website has a lot of options for exploring the ships as well, they can even mail you a DVD if you would like.
The Oceaneer Club and Lab are filled with different rooms for kids to run around and do different things from cooking, science experiments, drawing, video games, dancing, playing on slides, a girl themed room and a boy themed room. Characters will pop in and play with the kids from time to time. Each of the rooms is decorated amazingly as you can imagine. There are fun things going on in each of the clubs at all times, you can see the activities on the Navigator that is passed out daily or on your phone schedule.
Currently, Disney Magic features Andy’s Room, Pixie Hollow and Marvel’s Superhero Academy; Disney Wonder includes a Disney Junior playspace, Marvel’s Superhero Academy and the Oaken’s Trading Post from Frozen; Disney Dream features Andy’s Room, a Disney Infinity playspace and a Millennium falcon-themed Star Wars play area; and Disney Fantasy has a Star Wars Command Post, as well as a Doctor Strange space in its Marvel Superhero Academy.
I enjoyed sitting with Caden in the evenings and planning out our next day based on what was going on in the kids club. I want to advise you once your kids go it is very hard to get them away! There’s such a wide variety of things for your child to do! Caden loved the pajama party with Pluto. On our Merry Time Cruise Santa stopped in for a visit. Another crazy thing- Caden learned how to play chess while on board, so well that he taught me and joined the chess club at school. You will be so happy your kids are having the time of their lives, which will allow you some adult time.
Our typical day was to get up get breakfast, swim, eat lunch, do a fun activity (movie, putt putt, or more swimming) then Caden would go to the kids club while I got ready for dinner, I would pick him up from the kids club, and we would go to the show then dinner. There were times he wanted to stay at the kids club till dinner. I would go to the show alone or go to the adult area for a drink while I waited. I will write more about the Adult aspect of the Disney Cruise in another post. Disney Cruise offers two rotational dining times. I will write more on Dining later as well. Another bonus, the cast members from the kids club are there at dinner to take your kids directly from dinner should you have plans later. I preferred the late dinning to give us more time. We had early dinning 2 days and it was not for me. Some parents like the earlier time so their kids are not tired at dinner. My son is fine with staying up, eating at 7:30pm was easy with all the snacks and ice cream. Plus, you have to keep in mind the time change if you are traveling from another time zone.
Caden and I loved our time on the boat! So much so I was really looking at the Panama cruise which is 14 days just to have more time on the boat! Three and four days at sea was just not long enough! Haha! I look forward to giving more helpful Disney tips, stay tuned!
