Farris Family's Day Off

I fell in love with Disney Cruise Line long before I became a mom. My husband and I even went on seven Disney cruises before our daughter came along and got engaged on the Disney Wonder. When we became parents we could not wait to experience Disney Cruise Line as a family. We sailed with our daughter for the first time when she was just 18 months old and have done two more Disney cruises with her since then. Sailing with a toddler was much different but just as magical than my previous cruises. The biggest challenge was that I had to figure out how to keep my daughter happy while I also had fun and through my personal experience I have gathered 10 things to do with a toddler on Disney Cruise Line.

• Characters- Sailing with Mickey and all his friends is obviously one of the main attractions of a Disney Cruise. Unfortunately for us our daughter happened to be terrified of characters on our first and second Disney Cruises. As soon as she saw any of them she would start crying hysterically with fear in her eyes so we avoided the characters like the plague. I did see many babies and toddlers enjoying their time with the characters so this might be a hit or miss depending on the child's personality. We went on our third Disney cruise with our daughter right before she turned 3 years old and she suddenly loved all the characters. This time she would cry when they left because she wanted more time with them! Characters can easily be found by checking the navigator app for times and locations. The lines to meet them are never very long and in fact sometimes we found no line at all and our daughter would get one on one time with a character for a good 5+ minutes before another guest came along. There are a few character meet and greets that require a ticket ahead of time which can be booked during online check in. These are free of charge and are for the Frozen meet and greet, Princess Gathering, Disney Junior breakfast and special characters on the Star Wars Day at Sea and Marvel Day at Sea cruises. I found that the Princess Gathering was not really necessary because all the same princesses could be seen around the ship daily. My daughter fell in love with the princesses and they knew her name and what they talked about the previous day. This was truly a magical experience for all of us.
  

• Toddler Time- This is a scheduled time and place for toddler's and their parents to play. The times and locations can be found on the Navigator. Parents must remain with their children during this time but there is also a It's a Small World counselor present. The locations where these are held vary from ship to ship. On the Disney Wonder we found that the toddler time was in a small nook by Promenade Lounge where the counselors brought out toys and foam climbing blocks. This would keep our daughter entertained for about 30 minutes or so but then she would want to go do other things. When we sailed on the Disney Dream we found toddler time held in Nemo's Reef splash area which our daughter loved because there were water toys available and bigger kids were not allowed in to ruin the fun for the little ones. My daughter's favorite toddler time location was in Andy's Room on the Disney Fantasy. There was a door to Andy's Room where we entered for toddler time and the back door which opens to the Oceaneers Club was closed so that the kids in the club could not come in. My daughter enjoyed this greatly and on many occasions she would be there for the entire session and we basically had to be kicked out when toddler time ended. She would keep asking when Andy's Room would be open again throughout the cruise and we tried to go as often as we could.
  

• Kid's Club Open Houses- Disney Cruise Line offers complimentary state of the art kid's clubs for potty trained children 3 years old and up. Children under 3 years old or those who are not yet potty trained can still enjoy the kid's clubs with their parents during open house hours. The times and locations can be found in the Navigator. My daughter absolutely loved going to the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab open houses. She was able to explore Andy's room, fly on the Millennium Falcon, play on a magic PlayFloor, and play games with the counselors. Sometimes there were characters in there that would dance and play with the kids as well. I felt like the open houses were a great way to introduce my daughter to the areas she can use when she's older.
  

• Splash pads- Like most cruise lines Disney Cruise Line does not allow non-potty trained children to swim in their pools for obvious sanitary reasons. However Disney Cruise Line does offer splash pads for young children in swim diapers to use. Nemo's Reef can be found on the Fantasy and Dream, Dory's Reef is on the Wonder and the Nephew's Splash Pad is on the Magic. These special play areas are just for children under 8 years old and are located on the pool deck adjacent to the family pool. They feature fountains, bubblers, pop-jets and even tot sized waterslides. The splash areas are completely covered and protected from the sun and the flooring is covered in a soft wet-deck surface. My daughter loved the splash area on all our sailings and she never even noticed that there was a pool nearby that she wasn't allowed to go in.
  

• Castaway Cay- Disney Cruise Line's private island is reserved exclusively for Disney Cruise Line guests on select Bahamian and Caribbean cruises. The island is in pristine condition and boasts beautiful turquoise water, white-sand beaches, a snorkeling lagoon, water slides, a water play area, a stingray lagoon, bike trails, cabana rentals, a kid's club, an adults only beach with cabana massages, shops, open air BBQ locations, boat rentals and lots of water excursions. Disney makes it easy for families traveling with young children by offering complimentary stroller and wagons to use on the island that can be found at both tram stops on the family beaches. There are also plenty of lounge chairs, beach chairs and umbrellas to use on the beaches for families to relax and enjoy the day. One of my favorite activities is renting bikes which can be requested to include a child seat for our daughter to be able to enjoy a ride with the family. Castaway Cay definitely has something to do for all ages which makes it my favorite port of call when traveling on Disney Cruise Line.
  

• Live Shows- All the Disney Cruise ships present live broadway-caliber productions in the Walt Disney Theatre. The live shows are usually performed twice per evening and the times can be found in the Personal Navigator. Currently the Disney Fantasy productions are Disney's Aladdin-A Musical Spectacular, Disney's Wishes and Disney's Believe. The Disney Dream productions are Beauty and the Beast, The Golden Mickeys and Disney's Believe. The Disney Wonder productions are Frozen, A Musical Spectacular, The Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams-An Enchanted Classic and the Disney Magic productions are Tangled: The Musical, Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story and Disney Dreams- An Enchanted Classic. The shows each last about 60 minutes but seating can fill up quickly so it is recommended to arrive at the theatre 30 minutes prior to start time. Although my daughter does have sensory issues with noise she absolutely loved the live shows and was able to sit through all of them ever since she was 18 months old. We did bring her noise cancelling headphones which she asked to wear when it got too loud but otherwise she was entranced with the productions.
  

• Pirate Night- Select Disney Cruises include a pirate night. This includes a pirate themed dinner, a deck party and fireworks at sea show. Guests are encouraged to dress like pirates and everyone even receives a pirate bandana to wear. Children 3 and older can be transformed into pirates at the Pirates League which includes makeup and accessories for an added fee depending on the package. The Pirates League packages can be booked online prior to embarkation or by visiting the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique once on board. Disney characters can be found in the atrium in their pirate costumes for photo ops and meet and greets. There are also pirate backdrops set up in the atrium for some excellent family photos. My daughter loved seeing everyone in their pirate costumes and taking photos with the backdrops but she is hypersensitive to noise and has always been terrified of fireworks so we opt to skip the deck party and fireworks show when sailing with her.
  

• It's a Small World Nursery- This is a group babysitting center designed for children under 3 years old that is found on all Disney ships. The center has a main play area set up with books, toys and a TV and a separate quiet room set up with cribs and cots for little ones to take a nap. It's a Small World Nursery has limited space and can be booked ahead of time during online check in or once on board. The current cost is $4.50 per half hour for the first child and $4.00 per half hour for additional children in the same family and the minimum reservation time is 1 hour. Disney counselors will feed children, change diapers and of course play with them. On my daughter's first two cruises at 18 months old and 2 years old she disliked being at It's a Small World Nursery so we only used it for short periods of times. By the time we went on our third cruise with her, she was just under 3 years old and she enjoyed the nursery. She bonded with some of the counselors, made art projects and was excited when characters came to visit them.
  

• Quiet time in the stateroom- Disney Cruise Line staterooms were designed with families in mind and boasts larger staterooms than most other cruise lines. Additionally most staterooms have a split bathroom design which means that one bathroom has a tub/shower while the other one has a toilet and sink. The small bathtubs that are found in most rooms are not something commonly found on other cruise ships and are perfect for giving toddlers a bath. Pack N Play cribs, bed railings and diaper genies can be requested ahead of time during online check in and I always found them waiting in our room when we arrived. There is so much going on during the day on the Disney Cruise Line that it can be overwhelming for toddlers so some quiet time in our stateroom was always a nice way to settle down before going out for more fun. Often times we watched a Disney movie on demand and had complimentary room service for lunch in our stateroom. My daughter also took 1-2 naps during the day in our stateroom. During nap time one parent would stay in the room while the other parent got to go enjoy some alone time on the ship. We have been in a veranda, ocean view and inside stateroom on our sailings and found that we enjoyed the inside state room the best when traveling with a toddler. The inside staterooms are completely dark when the lights are off which made it really easy to get our daughter to take a nap. We also preferred the layout of the inside stateroom the best because there was a nice nook to place the pack n play crib in that was out of the way. Lastly the inside staterooms on the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream feature a magic porthole. This is a virtual window with a real-time view of the outside. The window is magical because every so often Disney characters appear. The magic porthole was a favorite for my daughter and she loved it when her favorite characters made an appearance.
  

• Dining- Finding food that a toddler will eat can be quite challenging at times but Disney Cruise Line has so many options that it is unlikely that even the pickiest kids will be hungry. My family enjoys eating breakfast at Cabanas which can be found on all Disney ships on the pool deck. Cabanas is a buffet dining locations and has a great assortment of foods. We are a vegetarian family and finding food that we could eat was easy at Cabanas because these items were all marked with a green tag. For breakfast I found plenty of foods that my toddler would eat such as pancakes, Mickey waffles, fruits, eggs, hash browns, potatoes, cereal, oatmeal, danishes, toast and cheeses. For lunch we sometimes ate at Cabanas as well or one of the pool side quick service locations or ordered room service. Some of the sit down restaurants are also open for breakfast and lunch but I have yet to find time to try these out. A sit down dinner is served at one of the three main restaurants at around 5 PM and 8 PM or guests can choose to have a sit down dinner at Cabanas at any time. Many families with young children prefer the earlier dining time because this is when they normal eat at home and their toddler may have an early bedtime. I have tried both dining times and for us the late dining time actually worked better. I found that when we vacation our daughter's normal routine goes out the window. She is excited to be traveling and will often stay up until midnight which is way past her normal 830 PM bedtime. The later dinner worked better because we fed our daughter a meal around 4PM, put her down for a nap from around 4-6 PM then went to the nightly show followed by dinner.