On Disney Cruise Line, the Oceaneer Lab and Club provide a unique, separate space for children ages 3-12. The Lab and the Club are separate spaces connected through a long hallway. They are located on Deck 5. We had the opportunity to visit the Lab and the Club during the open house hours on a recent Disney Wonder sailing in January 2020.
The entrance to both spaces are access controlled by the activity counselors. Kids have to be registered to use the kids clubs. You can register them online in advance of your cruise, which gets them enrolled and sets their check-in/check-out privileges. The privileges relate to whether the child can leave the club when they want versus the club Cast Members calling you when your child wants to leave. When our daughter was younger, we would have them call us. Once we had been on a few cruises, we would let her check herself out and come back to the room (we always told her where we would be so she could easily find us). You can also give a list of people that are authorized to pick your child up from the Club. We always authorized our older daughter so she could run and get her from the Club in case we were busy.
Once you have your kids registered online, you will have to get them a Magic Band in the cruise terminal when you check in, or while on the ship. These Magic Bands are similar to the ones now used in Walt Disney World. When you get the band, your room will be charged $12.95 per Magic Band. This money will be refunded if you return the band before the end of the cruise. The Magic Bands are used to scan the kids in and out of the club. I believe they have some way to tell where the kids are in the Club based upon the band as well, so maybe they are have RFID chips in them.
Kids must wash their hands before entering the Club or Lab. This is the best part of the Club, at least in my opinion. Look at the hand washing machine:
The Oceaneer Lab features hands-on activities such as science and cooking classes, video games and movies, and space for art and music projects. Once you enter the Lab, you are welcomed into a large open space with smaller rooms of to the left. The main room is used for large counselor led activities.
To the left of the main room is an drawing studio for young artists.
Next to the Animator’s Studio is a craft room. There are tons of supplies on the walls of the room that can be accessed for various crafts.
The next room on the left is a large video game area.
Part of this area includes ship simulators where you can pilot the Disney Wonder! The activities include docking the ship at Castaway Cay.
To the right of the large room is a large series of tables. We didn’t see this area in use, but perhaps it is for some of the science or food related activities that take place in the Lab.
You can now move freely from the Lab into the Club via this hallway!
The hallway has several portholes that look into the atrium!
The hallway leads into the Disney Junior Room in the Oceaneer Club. The spaces in the Club are mostly themed around fantasy and pretend play, including well-known characters from Disney movies and shows.
The Disney Junior room has lots of seating.
The next room in the club is the Marvel Super Hero Academy!
There are lots of Marvel “artifacts” in the Academy. There are also various Avengers that will visit the club throughout the day!
Another room in the Club is Andy’s Bedroom! There is a slide and a television in the room for movies.
There is also a Frozen room. While the room is well themed, I couldn’t quite figure out what the room is used for. Most likely coloring or movies, based upon the layout of the room.
There is also a large room that all these different rooms connect through (similar to the Lab). This room is used for activities for a large number of children.
Our younger daughter has recently been heading to the Vibe, but enjoyed going to the Club for many years. She was always able to find stuff to do and loved the activities. There is also less of an emphasis on finding a group of friends here since the activities are led by the cast members and they include everyone that wants to participate. Its a very inclusive environment and one we highly suggest you let your children enjoy.
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!