young kids on disney cruise

[disneykidatheart]

First of all let me say that i have been reading this site for weeks, and have learned alot. My mother and I recently purchased our DVC, we are planning a cruise in probably 2 years when my son is 7 only thing is around the same time we purchased our DVC i found out i was pregnant again. Baby #2 will be around 2 at the time, what are the rules regarding swin diapers in pools on the cruise ship (i hoping we will maybe be potty trained by then my son was but just in case) or should we wait till the baby is 3?

[bigbahamadada]

Congratulations.

We've done two disney cruises one when DS was 2, and last fall when DS was 3 and DD was 9 months. Both were wonderful experiences and, really, Disney is the only cruiseline I could envision taking kids that young on board.

Regarding pools, they have to be potty trained to be in either the kids pool or the family pool -- no swim diapers allowed. There is, however, one "ear" of the kids pool, which is available for the not-yet-potty-trained set. It's more of a splash area, than pool, and has its own filtration system.

[disneykidatheart]

Thank You!

So as long as there is something the baby can do i guess it will be ok! We may wait till the baby is three yet IDK and yes i know i am planning this way in advance but thats what i do i plan wicked early for everything ha ha!

[A Prince and A Princess]

We have gone on the Magic the last 5 years and my DD just turned 5. As you know, they are free (well, you have to pay taxes) until they are 3. We went on a month before she turned 3 and because she was within a month of her birthday and potty trained, they let her come into all the programming just as anyone over 3 could do. They did have to "observe" her during 1 group session to see how she did before they would give her the wristband, but after that we checked her in and out just like our DS. Thought I would let you know this in case you wanted to plan for a time around their 3rd birthday.

We love DCL and booked our cruise for next year while on board. Personally, I wish they would park the ship at Castaway Cay for the whole 7 days and just let us use the ship like a floating resort!

Laurie

[disneykidatheart]

THANKS SO MUCH!

We have never been on a cruise, so i thought a disney one would be great! and of course my son who has caught onto our disney fever (hes only 4) already keeps asking if we can go for christmas and "when we can go on one of the big mickey boats" ha ha but i think we will all just have to wait a few more years.

[TrvlPrincess]

:computerg To plan your cruise and get all the Ins and Outs I recommend the Passporter Disney Cruise Line, It is reallly informative. We are going in November and the New edition of Passporter DCL is coming out this Month! Have fun planning!!! :Pinkflami

[Stimpy]

We 've been on DCL cruises with babies/toddlers twice now. When my DD turned 1, we took her first cruise (our 3rd) and she had a ball! We also just went last November with my nephew who was almost 2, he also had a great time! (My DS was 8 and DD 3 so they were able to go into the clubs)

It was great for the kids. Flounders, the nursery, also has family time where the club is open for adults to take babies/toddlers to play with the toys. You can also take them into the Oceaneer Club for activities, but an adult needs to stay with them. They loved the shows and the food.

We had fun as the parents but there are some drawbacks too. My DH and I didn't mind so much on DD's 1st cruise, but my DSis & DBIL were miserable the whole cruise with their son. They felt very restricted since it's harder to get time alone together. (Although, they had 4 babysitters with them so I don't know what the problem was :tapedshut ) Someone always had to stay in the stateroom during his nap time, dinners were long, they couldn't go out every night like we could etc. Again, that was their view about it. We made the best of it and were able to relax ourselves more when we took DD at 1. (But I will admit, our last cruise was awesome since both our kids were in the clubs all the time LOL)

[disneykidatheart]

maybe we will do it in two years i dont think not being able to go out would bother me very much plus when we go it will either be my mother, the two kids and i (hubby works crazy hrs) or if he does go my mother will be coming too so we would still have a built in sitter ha ha i would rather go in two years just because if i had my way we would be going this year ha ha

[wdw1972]

Keep in mind that although 1 of the ears of the Mickey pool is a splash area for non-potty trained kids, the rest of the pool & slide are right there in full view of your child. Unless he's an infant, he's going to want to join the other kids in the rest of the pool and slide! I would never cruise with such a young kid - I'd save cruising for when the kid was old enough to do everything (pool, kids club, etc) and do other vacations until then.

[bigbahamadada]

Keep in mind that although 1 of the ears of the Mickey pool is a splash area for non-potty trained kids, the rest of the pool & slide are right there in full view of your child. Unless he's an infant, he's going to want to join the other kids in the rest of the pool and slide! I would never cruise with such a young kid - I'd save cruising for when the kid was old enough to do everything (pool, kids club, etc) and do other vacations until then.

To each their own, but our thinking was that once the kids were old enough to access all the facilities on the ship, they would be old enough to enjoy WDW itself, and we'd skip the boat. We've found that cruising with infants and toddlers is a wonderful experience and much easier than most other vacations. Need to feed? The room is 5 minutes away. Kid melts down during dinner? Room is five minutes away. Change a diaper? No need to lug everything with you, because . . . . the room is five minutes away. Much easier than the parks, IMO, and you still get to hear your 1-year-old scream "MICKEY MOUSE" at the top of her lungs, whenever any -- and I mean any -- character comes into view. And nobody caters to families like DCL.

[Lynnmarie]

HI, my family is going on the cruise!!! Should I pack water shoes for our visit to Castaway Cay, are there a lot of shells in the swimming area. We are from New Jersey and I always were water shoes because of the shells and crabs in our area.

[bigbahamadada]

HI, my family is going on the cruise!!! Should I pack water shoes for our visit to Castaway Cay, are there a lot of shells in the swimming area. We are from New Jersey and I always were water shoes because of the shells and crabs in our area.

I don't think you'd need them for those reasons, as the beach is very soft. But you can find yourself walking quite a bit -- from boat to the beach, beach to lunch, etc. I'd recommend them.

[CRSNDSNY]

We had fun as the parents but there are some drawbacks too. My DH and I didn't mind so much on DD's 1st cruise, but my DSis & DBIL were miserable the whole cruise with their son. They felt very restricted since it's harder to get time alone together. (Although, they had 4 babysitters with them so I don't know what the problem was :tapedshut ) Someone always had to stay in the stateroom during his nap time, dinners were long, they couldn't go out every night like we could etc. Again, that was their view about it. We made the best of it and were able to relax ourselves more when we took DD at 1. (But I will admit, our last cruise was awesome since both our kids were in the clubs all the time LOL)

You've made some very good points.
If you go into the cruise really wanting to go out at night and do the adult activities, then you might be disappointed.

We went in December. It was our children's first cruise (5mo and 2y8mo) but our 5th Disney Cruise. We aren't much of night activity people so missing out on the clubs wasn't a big deal to us. Our difficulty came with the longer dinners and sleeping. Our daughter had real difficulty going to sleep at night and never took a nap during the day.

We had a blast though otherwise. We spent a lot of time in the Oceaneer's Lab with the kids...our daughter loved playing in there.

The splash area was so so. She wasn't thrilled with it and not being potty trained at the time she didn't understand why she couldn't go in the pool.

We were able to get them in Flounder's for dinner to dine at Palo and on our last evening (just our daughter that time) so that we could have a peaceful dinner. She just couldn't sit through it. Our son, though, (the 5mo) was just fine through dinners.

Our time at Castaway Cay was remarkable. We've never had so much fun at CC in all our cruises. It was an amazing and memorable day.

DD loved all the characters onboard and we made time to meet them. That was fun. We enjoyed a lot of walks around the decks with both of them.

I have a link in my signature to our detailed TR if you're interested.

We are planning on going back October 2009 for Halloween. DD will be 4 and DS will be 2.

[CRSNDSNY]

Keep in mind that although 1 of the ears of the Mickey pool is a splash area for non-potty trained kids, the rest of the pool & slide are right there in full view of your child. Unless he's an infant, he's going to want to join the other kids in the rest of the pool and slide! I would never cruise with such a young kid - I'd save cruising for when the kid was old enough to do everything (pool, kids club, etc) and do other vacations until then.
Perhaps it is that way on the Magic but on the Wonder non-potty trained children are still not allowed in the Mickey ears. They have to play in the Donald splash area only.