Walt Disney World has several “Kids Clubs” on-property where guests can leave children, ages 3 to 12, for a few hours in the evenings for an hourly fee. The current fee (as of March 31, 2011) is $11.50 per hour with a two-hour minimum. Parents can enjoy a dinner out or even go to a park for a bit without their children. Disneyland has one club, Pinocchio’s Workshop, at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. Guests must be staying at one of the Disney-owned hotels or resorts to use these clubs. Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts suggest local services for private, in-room babysitting, as well. Finally, Disney Cruise Line provides several clubs on-board for their guests age 3 months to 17 years.
With these programs in mind, we asked the Parenting Panel: Kids Clubs: Yea or Nay? Have you used them? Would you do it again? And they told us about it!
Mary Kraemer is an avid Disney fan and travel consultant with CruisingCo/MouseEarVacations who loves to travel with her husband and children to Disney destinations as often as possible! Mary writes:
On our family’s first big trip to the Walt Disney World Resort, my twins were 4 and my younger daughter was 3. Our vacation package included on-site child care, as well as babysitting services, so we had the opportunity to experience both types of Disney’s child care options. Boy, were we in for a treat!
The child care center rules specified that only children age 4 and older could spend the evening, which caused some consternation among my three, who generally travel as a pack. But the promise of having one-on-one babysitter time seemed to make the little one happy, especially since we gave the sitter permission to take her over to the Magic Kingdom for a little while. Having extra park time did the trick, and the sitter was a super nice person who was great with our daughter.
Because we were guests at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, having our twins spend an evening at the Neverland Club was an easy choice. The entrance of climbing through the Darling’s window into Neverland was a great transition to a magical evening of fun and entertainment. Our twins climbed through, and all thoughts of their parents vanished! They were off on their own fun adventure, and we had to console ourselves with a monorail ride to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa and dinner at Victoria & Albert’s.
Our kids had such a positive experience that we had a couple “repeat performances” for babysitting, simply because they enjoyed it so much. The same babysitter returned to spend time with the little one, which was nice because they were already familiar with one another, and a return trip to the Neverland Club was perfect for the twins. So my husband I faced the dilemma of what to do with ourselves: Add on a massage at the spa? Darn, the sacrifices we parents make for our kids’ enjoyment…
The little one desperately wanted to spend time at the Neverland Club after her brother and sister said how much fun it was, so it became one of the “must do” items on our WDW list for two subsequent trips. One of those trips was just at the cusp of the twins turning 13, when they are too old for the club, so we made sure to stop in on the “12 side” of their birthdays. Poor mom and dad! We had to find something to do, and the California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort was kind enough to take us in for dinner that evening.
If this all sounds good, what could be better? The kids’ clubs onboard the Disney Cruise Line!
Although babysitting and kids’ clubs at WDW have a per-hour charge, child care onboard the cruise line is included in the cost (except for children younger than 3, where there is a fee for the nursery due to the high staff-to-child ratio). Onboard their ships, Disney has huge dedicated spaces for kids, naturally enough, and their focus on entertainment and creativity is hard to beat.
On our first Disney cruise, our kids had such a good time at the Oceaneer Lab that they hardly wanted to leave! It was a shame they were too old for the Oceaneer Club with its imaginative décor (and I have the bragging rights that I’ve gone down the slide there but my kids haven’t!). The Oceaneer Lab schedule was posted in our stateroom, with favored activities highlighted, and our kids were gone much of the time, having a great time. We all enjoyed the farewell show in the theater at the end of the cruise, where all the kids perform on the big stage!
My kids haven’t yet had the opportunity to experience the kids’ and teen areas on the Disney Dream, but after my agent trip in January, I know that they—and their younger cousins who will be traveling with us—are going to have an amazing time. The kids’ areas onboard the Dream are nothing short of fabulous with the differently themed rooms and variety of activities! I would love to be able to spend some time playing games with the Magic Floor or visit with Stitch or play in Andy’s room or captain the ship on the video screens or….
I just hope the kids will be able to peel themselves away sometimes to see their parents occasionally!
Emily Loftus is a wife, mom of 2, portrait photographer and Disneyland fanatic from Reno, Nevada. Emily writes:
When we began to plan our Disney cruise I tried to learn all I could about the Disney Wonder, and the programs we would have access to while we were on board. The Oceaneer’s Club and Lab provide supervision, structured activities, and play time for kids ages 3-12. I was looking forward to letting the kids play in the Lab while we were onboard the ship and wanted to read all about it. I searched blogs and forums and that’s when I discovered hearty online debates among mothers across the country: do you put your precious ones in the kids’ club or not? I was somewhat shocked! These are feelings of guilt I’d never thought to have.
Should I send them? Shouldn’t I? What’s a mom to do?
I’ve always felt that I’d trust childcare services provided by Disney, and that sense of confidence in Disney’s service was the first big plus for me. Secondly, most kids really want to go to the kids’ club. Finally, the last thing we parents need is one more thing to feel guilty about! During our four-day cruise there really wasn’t that much time to utilize childcare services, anyway. Between three daily meals, time spent ashore, swimming onboard, shows in the evenings, shuffleboard and unlimited soft-serve ice cream, there aren’t many spare moments. Since you don’t have that much time, or that many opportunities to use the kids’ club, use it completely guilt free. The kids can ask a counselor to page you at any time, so you’re never very far away.
My 9-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter both enjoyed the Lab very much. The activities kept their interest and they were happy to go into the club most any time. After we got home, the kids and I decided that the kids’ club was something like summer camp. They made friends, played games and each found a little niche.
When I asked each of them what their favorite memories were, here’s what they said: My son loved playing computer games and was impressed that each computer had different games. He also got to attend “Out and About” activities, where a counselor takes older kids out to play a sport, or, in one instance, to have a Mickey Trivia game show in one of the ship’s lounges. Out and About kids do need a little extra talk about being safe and following rules, because they are free to check themselves in or out at any time, even if they’re not with a counselor. My son was very good and obeyed all the rules we asked him to obey.
My daughter loved making cookies during the Ratatouille cooking school, and dancing with her friends. They both loved that, at night, the counselors brought out beanbag chairs for the kids to use while they watched a movie. The only bit of advice I have is that the lunch they feed in the kids’ club is very small. My daughter only stayed during lunch one day, and she was so happily distracted she didn’t even realize her hunger until we were sitting at the dinner table that night.
The kids’ club really made our Disney cruise experience. The kids loved their playtime, and when they came back to us they had lots of stories to tell and experiences to share. We can’t wait to go again someday!
Jenny is a former theme park employee, avid Disney fan(atic), and an at-home mom to 2 Disney vets (5- and 4-years-old.) Jenny writes:
While I haven’t used any kids clubs or babysitters at any of the Disney parks, we have used both the kids’ club and the nursery on board a Disney Cruise. We really enjoyed the services and found them to be top notch! At the time, my children were 3-years-old and 16-months-old. In the months leading up to the cruise, we did sweat the potty-training issue, but our independent 3-year-old mastered the potty training in plenty of time to be able to use the kids’ club on the ship. My youngest was 16-months-old, and despite a few trips to the grandparents, he had not been left in the care of others before. I think I was most impressed with the nursery. Every one of the cast members working in the nursery seemed right at home in the company of the littlest Disney cruisers. By day three, my son was just about running into the nursery as we got there. There was an extra fee, however, I felt it was definitely worth the small extra cost for the quality of care. The staff were actually engaged with the children, for example, they sat on the floor playing with the children. One tip I learned, despite the 20-hour limit on reserving time in the nursery, there was still plenty of availability to pick up hours throughout the cruise. Only one evening were we not able to get a last-minute spot in the nursery.
The programming available in the kids clubs for the older set (well, I can speak to the 3-5 year old range) provided more than enough opportunity for my 3-year-old to have tea parties, PJ parties, free play, arts and crafts, and more. We recently went on another cruise line, and I have to say we were very spoiled starting out with a Disney cruise as our first family cruise. The obvious tip for using the kid’s clubs on the Disney cruise is to check the Personal Navigator daily planner delivered nightly for the next day’s activities. It was a fun wind-down activity before bedtime to go over the to-do list for the next day.
I highly recommend the Disney kids clubs and nursery on the Disney cruises!
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