Hello Kristy, and welcome to planDisney! I'm thrilled for you and your family to experience your very first Disney Cruise! You're in for the absolute time of your lives.
Youth Clubs are super-fun, themed play spaces available on all Disney Cruise Line ships for kids of (pretty much) all ages. My two young boys especially love the video games and the Piston Cup Challenge special activity, where they created and raced their own cars.
If the Kids Club is open, and your child is happy to be there, they are welcome all day, even if their "big person" is taking an adventure of their own off the ship. However, currently, food is not provided at Oceaneer Club and Lab, so that might make leaving the ship all day a challenge.
If you do decide to leave the ship for a part of the day, I recommend notifying the youth counselors of your plan when dropping the kiddos off for their fun time in the club.
Okay, Kristy, a couple more tips before I let you cruise away:
*The only childcare space requiring a reservation is "it's a small world" nursery. So, if you have a little one from 6 months to 3 years (or from 1 to 3 years old on Transatlantic, Hawaii and Panama Canal itineraries), plan to book your child's stay as early as possible. Reservations can be made on a first-come, first-served basis during the open house on Embarkation Day or anytime throughout your cruise.
*Make sure you have the Disney Cruise Navigator App downloaded before you arrive for your cruise. It will be your best pal while onboard. The entire list of daily activities, from Kids Club to trivia, movie showings to nightly themes, are located in the app. My family could easily scroll through and give a little "heart" to anything that interested us, and it would automatically create our own personal itinerary with all our favorite picks! This helps to keep track of all the fun happenings onboard, so you won't miss a thing!
I hope that this information has been helpful to you, Kristy, but more than that, I truly hope you and your family have the most magical time on your Disney Cruise. There's really nothing like it. If you have any other questions that come up in your planning, stop by again! Happy to help!
Magic awaits,
McCayla