This topic is so big it needs a post of its own. There is no way, in my opinion, anyone can be bored on a Disney cruise. There are so many opportunities for fun. We went on a 4 night cruise with 2 children and we did not even do everything available. I will share our experience. If you did something different please leave a comment and let us know. We would love to hear about it.
The Pools:
First of all there are three pools on the Wonder. The Quiet Cove pool is for adults only (we didn't get to visit this one). I plan on spending some time there on our next cruise when the kids are older. The chaise lounges were made out of wood and looked very comfortable. The area was serene and peaceful with soft music playing. It looked like paradise.
The next one is the Goofy pool and it is for families. The water here is somewhat deep for little kids but a happening place to be. They put covers over the pool and have dance parties in this area. There is also a huge outdoor movie screen to watch movies. Such a cool area.
We spent most of our time at the Mickey pool. This is where the big water slide is. This pool could not be more perfect for children. It was not over my daughters head at its deepest part. It is the shape of mickeys face. The two ears and the head are the deeper areas (but not more then 2 or 3 feet). Around the face and ears is a very shallow area maybe about a foot. She spend lots of time jumping into the pool and enjoying the huge water slide. Again the slide was perfect because you could see where they go up the slide and the slide doesn't dump them into the pool but they just land on a pad so non-swimmers can enjoy the slide on their own.
Of course like many cruise ships the 3 pools are only for potty trained kids. The Wonder has a special splash area for children in swim diapers next to the Mickey pool. I could watch my two kids at the same time and everyone had a blast. Like I said before, my kids keep asking about when we are going back to the Mickey pool.
Oceaneer Club:
This was an unforgettable area for the kids. They had activities all day and they were always changing. This is why I recommend bringing a highlighter to keep track of the things you want to do and their times. First lets talk about safety. Each child gets a wristband that they wear for the entire cruise. You fill out the information and they link their wristband to you with a beeper. If they need you for any reason they can page you or give you a text message on the pager. It is also nice to get the wristbands for the kids right away because if you lost track of your kids on the ship all they have to do is show the wristband to a cast member and they would know who the child belongs to. When the children arrive at the Oceaneer club they must go wash their hands first before they join the group. I thought that was great. Some of the activities my daughter did was a dance with Snow White, learn to be a mouskateer, and there were lots of others she did not get to do. The rooms were so cool. They were not big open rooms but really cool rooms with huge trees or ships to run around and play on. I encourage you to check out the kids areas on the first day of the cruise before its no grown-up allowed. The clubs are for potty trained children 3 and up.
Flounder's Reef Nursery is available for younger children. This is by reservation only and it costs about $6 an hour. You are only allowed to use it once since they want everyone to have an opportunity to use it but you can request additional times and based on availability you may get them. We made arrangements for our 2 year old to spend some time there the night of the "formal" dinner. We had a nice adults dinner. I asked them to page me at 8pm and tell me if he had fallen asleep. Right at 8pm I got the page that he was awake and happy playing. I felt it was a safe and clean area for him to play and I loved that they had great communication with me. They also have a one way mirror if you ever want to peak in on your child.
Shows:
Each night there was a stage show, like on most other cruises, but these were nothing like what I have seen before. These family friendly shows were mini-Broadway productions. (and I can say that since I have seen more than 20 shows on Broadway) If you like the Beauty and the Beast show in MGM then you will LOVE the shows on the ship. There are different ones every night and it depends on your itinerary what you will see. It doesn't really matter though because they are all fantastic. My kids loved them and so did we.
Deck Parties:
The deck parties were also a blast. There were several that we went to. They were at the Goofy pool and the huge movie screen would show up close views of the party.
The Sail Away Celebration really kicked off our trip right. The kids were on deck dancing and even my husband was in on the action. They were handing out things for the kids to twirl around and shake, the band was rocking, the characters were out, and confetti was flying. It was the Disney magic out at sea.
The Pirates IN the Caribbean Party was another awesome celebration. This started at dinner with special things at our table. The kids put on their pirate gear and then after dinner we went up to the party. Again the stage was rocking and there was a whole story line with the characters and villains. I don't want to give anything away but it ended with fireworks out at sea. They had to have been the most fantastic fireworks I have ever seen. When you are out at sea you can see so far and the sky is so dark. WOW!! There is no other cruise line that I know of that does this.
There was even more going on than all this but this was enough to keep us busy and exhausted. As with all Disney vacations the goal is not to do everything but to enjoy everything you do. We had a blast and can't wait to go back again and again.
Although we had a great time I would recommend if you have a child that is almost 3 and potty trained to wait for that to happen. Then they can participate in the Oceaneer Club and go in all the pools. I wouldn't postpone your trip forever because you can and will have a great time with children under 3, we did! I'm just saying if you are almost there and it works with your schedule I would wait.
Don't forget to check out more tips for booking your vacation
here and you can request a quote for your own magical Disney cruise by emailing me at info@magicalmemoryplanners.com. It is free and there is no obligation.
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