Kids Club

[sumismommy]

after reading your post. he will def not be going. I am an over protective mama bear. So I would not be OK with these scenarios. I have no problem keeping the kids with us the whole time, it is our family vacation. We will just go with him during the open house.

 

[Lilsia]

My kids have always loved the kid's clubs. My oldest was 4 when we first went on the cruise and she spent some time there. The counselors where very nice and they watch out for the shy little ones and try to involve them. I guess you never know how your kid will react so I would take them and see how they like it. Try it out for an hour or so to start with. Plus if your child wants to leave then they will call you to come get them. They are not "stuck" there.

 

[Lilsia]

after reading your post. he will def not be going. I am an over protective mama bear. So I would not be OK with these scenarios. I have no problem keeping the kids with us the whole time, it is our family vacation. We will just go with him during the open house.

You should at least let them try it. They might actually love it. I was concerned for my kids also, we all are. But I also want them to experience new things. And if I am letting them out of my sight, then it is with Disney. I trust them and they treated my children very well.

 

[pezgirlroy]

after reading your post. he will def not be going. I am an over protective mama bear. So I would not be OK with these scenarios. I have no problem keeping the kids with us the whole time, it is our family vacation. We will just go with him during the open house.

Can I ask why you are nervous? My suggestion would be to go during an open house at the beginning. Introduce him to the counselors. My daughter will be 3 on our upcoming trip. We will go to an open house and then once she turns 3 (while on board) we will send her for an hour and then check and see how she is doing. My only concern is that she might not be having fun not a danger aspect at all.

 

[sumismommy]

Can I ask why you are nervous? My suggestion would be to go during an open house at the beginning. Introduce him to the counselors. My daughter will be 3 on our upcoming trip. We will go to an open house and then once she turns 3 (while on board) we will send her for an hour and then check and see how she is doing. My only concern is that she might not be having fun not a danger aspect at all.

My concern is him getting pushed around or bully by older kids, The stomach punching boy! That is just not ok. Don't get me wrong my son is tough boy, but he plays nice.

 

[Lilsia]

My concern is him getting pushed around or bully by older kids, The stomach punching boy! That is just not ok. Don't get me wrong my son is tough boy, but he plays nice.

I think that that is actually pretty rare. I have never heard of these kind of issues other then this one person saying it. If kids beating on each other at the kid's club was a common occurrence, we would be hearing about it and they would have changed the set up long before now. There is no reason to believe that your child will be singled out by any bully and be punched in the stomach. Disney is very much concerned with the welfare of the children for the simple fact that their whole reputation is based on it. Your child will be fine.

 

[pezgirlroy]

My concern is him getting pushed around or bully by older kids, The stomach punching boy! That is just not ok. Don't get me wrong my son is tough boy, but he plays nice.

Completely understood but honestly in my mind that is such a rare occurence

I think that that is actually pretty rare. I have never heard of these kind of issues other then this one person saying it. If kids beating on each other at the kid's club was a common occurrence, we would be hearing about it and they would have changed the set up long before now. There is no reason to believe that your child will be singled out by any bully and be punched in the stomach. Disney is very much concerned with the welfare of the children for the simple fact that their whole reputation is based on it. Your child will be fine.

Honestly I just really wouldn't be worried about this. I think this is a rare situation and def. let my child try it for a short period of time and see. But this is just how I would handle it.

 

[DCLfam]

My concern is him getting pushed around or bully by older kids, The stomach punching boy! That is just not ok. Don't get me wrong my son is tough boy, but he plays nice.

We have been on many cruises from the time my son was 4 through 12 and never has he reported another kid being violent. Of course he usually camped out at the video games since I limit him at home. I would give it a try and see how he likes it if he is not having fun they can page you on wave phone.

 

[sumismommy]

We have been on many cruises from the time my son was 4 through 12 and never has he reported another kid being violent. Of course he usually camped out at the video games since I limit him at home. I would give it a try and see how he likes it if he is not having fun they can page you on wave phone.

See this would be my son, he would love to camp out and play games. I guess I am just going to have to go every open house to see if he will be comfortable. It honestly is prob all me. I have been know to cry when leaving my children for the 1st time at preschool and than regular school. lol

 

[DCLfam]

See this would be my son, he would love to camp out and play games. I guess I am just going to have to go every open house to see if he will be comfortable. It honestly is prob all me. I have been know to cry when leaving my children for the 1st time at preschool and than regular school. lol

Our first cruise was transatlantic when he was 4 and had only been going to preschool for a year. I was worried he wouldn't want to go to the club and we had late dining so the CM came around to pick them up. Lets just say by night 3 he would barely eat his dinner since he was so busy watching for the CM.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

See this would be my son, he would love to camp out and play games. I guess I am just going to have to go every open house to see if he will be comfortable. It honestly is prob all me. I have been know to cry when leaving my children for the 1st time at preschool and than regular school. lol

Another thing to consider: If the 13 you talked about is doing edge or vibe (which I strongly encourage), how will the 4 year old feel about not being allowed to go to his club? Is he the type that woulden't care, or the type to be upset that a sibling got something he didn't?

 

[bbel]

I've worked in the kids club at DCL, and currently work in the club on another line.
Sure the DCL clubs can get chaotic and often look worse than they are because they're so open, and there's almost always an active game going on in the main floor.
You don't get many kids older than 10 as they can go up a group at that age. Often you'll find that the older kids are either looking out for or actively avoiding the younger ones. CM will actively engage or distract the younger ones, I would often walk the younger ones to something more appropriate, even if that meant taking a stroll over to the other room.

Do kids get hurt? Yeah, they're kids! They don't watch where they're going. They don't have the best judgement. They get stuck into games. But it's not every kid, all day every day....in 4 years at disney, the only time I remember a kid purposely hurting another kid it was when their sibling broke their craft...

You can drop off, keep phone with you, sit on the floor outside if you have to and you'll be there within in seconds if your kid asks for you or to leave. You can go and check in as much as you like.

Let your kid have a chance, sometimes they need a break from the family and just need to be wild and run around, or sit and watch a movie with other kids, or dance around with the characters. But if they hate it, you can at least say you tried.

Now, like I said I work on another line. Last cruise I was in the 3-5 age room. I would have the same 9 kids (there were only 12 for the age group onbaord) come to every session, by day 2 we all knew each other so well. I knew that child A was obsessed with colouring and which pictures she had already done, I knew which movie had to be on just so child B would come through the door, and I knew child C would come in crying, need 5 minutes in the corner on their own and then love the session and not want to leave. With all this, and such a small ratio, I still had to fill in accident forms, one kid ran into another and they bumped heads and another head butted a table while doing some crazy dance move.

What I'm saying is you can have a room with a handful of kids all the same age and size and they'll still get hurt, or cry. They can love or not love the time in the club.

Sure, some kids and the club just don't fit. But the club's also give opportunities and memories that they can't get anywhere else.

(If you want to avoid the crazy times then from what i remember avoid around 10-1 on a sea day morning, or the all aboard times on port days)

 

[pezgirlroy]

I've worked in the kids club at DCL, and currently work in the club on another line.
Sure the DCL clubs can get chaotic and often look worse than they are because they're so open, and there's almost always an active game going on in the main floor.
You don't get many kids older than 10 as they can go up a group at that age. Often you'll find that the older kids are either looking out for or actively avoiding the younger ones. CM will actively engage or distract the younger ones, I would often walk the younger ones to something more appropriate, even if that meant taking a stroll over to the other room.

Do kids get hurt? Yeah, they're kids! They don't watch where they're going. They don't have the best judgement. They get stuck into games. But it's not every kid, all day every day....in 4 years at disney, the only time I remember a kid purposely hurting another kid it was when their sibling broke their craft...

You can drop off, keep phone with you, sit on the floor outside if you have to and you'll be there within in seconds if your kid asks for you or to leave. You can go and check in as much as you like.

Let your kid have a chance, sometimes they need a break from the family and just need to be wild and run around, or sit and watch a movie with other kids, or dance around with the characters. But if they hate it, you can at least say you tried.

Now, like I said I work on another line. Last cruise I was in the 3-5 age room. I would have the same 9 kids (there were only 12 for the age group onbaord) come to every session, by day 2 we all knew each other so well. I knew that child A was obsessed with colouring and which pictures she had already done, I knew which movie had to be on just so child B would come through the door, and I knew child C would come in crying, need 5 minutes in the corner on their own and then love the session and not want to leave. With all this, and such a small ratio, I still had to fill in accident forms, one kid ran into another and they bumped heads and another head butted a table while doing some crazy dance move.

What I'm saying is you can have a room with a handful of kids all the same age and size and they'll still get hurt, or cry. They can love or not love the time in the club.

Sure, some kids and the club just don't fit. But the club's also give opportunities and memories that they can't get anywhere else.

(If you want to avoid the crazy times then from what i remember avoid around 10-1 on a sea day morning, or the all aboard times on port days)

Thank you so much for sharing this perspective. Really great points here.

 

[sumismommy]

Another thing to consider: If the 13 you talked about is doing edge or vibe (which I strongly encourage), how will the 4 year old feel about not being allowed to go to his club? Is he the type that woulden't care, or the type to be upset that a sibling got something he didn't?

Yes, she will be going. I hope it works out. He would love to play with other kids even if its just an hour a day.

 

[Lilsia]

See this would be my son, he would love to camp out and play games. I guess I am just going to have to go every open house to see if he will be comfortable. It honestly is prob all me. I have been know to cry when leaving my children for the 1st time at preschool and than regular school. lol

It is really hard to let your kids out of your sight. I totally get it. My oldest is a senior and just turned 18, 2 days ago. I am terrified of her being an adult and moving on with her life soon.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I've worked in the kids club at DCL, and currently work in the club on another line.
Sure the DCL clubs can get chaotic and often look worse than they are because they're so open, and there's almost always an active game going on in the main floor.
You don't get many kids older than 10 as they can go up a group at that age. Often you'll find that the older kids are either looking out for or actively avoiding the younger ones. CM will actively engage or distract the younger ones, I would often walk the younger ones to something more appropriate, even if that meant taking a stroll over to the other room.

I have seen you post this before, and I am really glad that you took this approach but it wan't our experience across 2 years and 2 different ships. ON both, the CM's didn't seem to make any effort to intervene in the chaos. They led whatever activity was scheduled and manned stations like coloring but other than that seemed to let the kids do whatever they wanted, short of something dangerous or hurting other kids. They didn't try to get the kids to take turns or share, and certain more aggressive kids tended to monopolize popular things, like video games or the ship wheels. This was DD's number 1 complaint, no one was mitigating chaos or enforcing that one kid not monopolize things.

 

[sumismommy]

I've worked in the kids club at DCL, and currently work in the club on another line.
Sure the DCL clubs can get chaotic and often look worse than they are because they're so open, and there's almost always an active game going on in the main floor.
You don't get many kids older than 10 as they can go up a group at that age. Often you'll find that the older kids are either looking out for or actively avoiding the younger ones. CM will actively engage or distract the younger ones, I would often walk the younger ones to something more appropriate, even if that meant taking a stroll over to the other room.

Do kids get hurt? Yeah, they're kids! They don't watch where they're going. They don't have the best judgement. They get stuck into games. But it's not every kid, all day every day....in 4 years at disney, the only time I remember a kid purposely hurting another kid it was when their sibling broke their craft...

You can drop off, keep phone with you, sit on the floor outside if you have to and you'll be there within in seconds if your kid asks for you or to leave. You can go and check in as much as you like.

Let your kid have a chance, sometimes they need a break from the family and just need to be wild and run around, or sit and watch a movie with other kids, or dance around with the characters. But if they hate it, you can at least say you tried.

Now, like I said I work on another line. Last cruise I was in the 3-5 age room. I would have the same 9 kids (there were only 12 for the age group onbaord) come to every session, by day 2 we all knew each other so well. I knew that child A was obsessed with colouring and which pictures she had already done, I knew which movie had to be on just so child B would come through the door, and I knew child C would come in crying, need 5 minutes in the corner on their own and then love the session and not want to leave. With all this, and such a small ratio, I still had to fill in accident forms, one kid ran into another and they bumped heads and another head butted a table while doing some crazy dance move.

What I'm saying is you can have a room with a handful of kids all the same age and size and they'll still get hurt, or cry. They can love or not love the time in the club.

Sure, some kids and the club just don't fit. But the club's also give opportunities and memories that they can't get anywhere else.

(If you want to avoid the crazy times then from what i remember avoid around 10-1 on a sea day morning, or the all aboard times on port days)

Thanks this makes me feel much better!

 

[sumismommy]

It is really hard to let your kids out of your sight. I totally get it. My oldest is a senior and just turned 18, 2 days ago. I am terrified of her being an adult and moving on with her life soon.

I bet, I know there will be tons of tears. i'm not ready.

 

[Weedy]

Time was - that was exactly what DCL did. They had Oceaneer's Club for 3-7 year olds, and Oceaneer's Lab for 8-12 year olds. Separate spaces for separate ages.

But enough parents complained that they wanted their kids to be together in the clubs, so DCL went to the Oceaneer's Club/Lab concept. The two areas are one big space, roughly separated, with activities geared to the 3-7 year olds in one space, and activities geared to the 8-12 year olds in another. But any child, of any age between 3 and 12 can participate in whatever activities interest them, regardless of age.

So, now you have a big mish-mash of unmatched age groups. With older, bigger kids typically elbowing out the little, younger ones.

Thank goodness my kids got to enjoy the clubs during this time. They always loved going and were sad when they turned 18 and could no longer go to the clubs.
I think on the new ships (and maybe even convert on the old) a third club room where the 3-12 could be together and then have the Oceaneer’s club go back to 3-7 and the Club/Lab 8-12. This will also help with the 11 year olds wanting to age up to the Edge because on all the young kids

 

[mmbrad02]

Are there many organized activities in the Kids Club areas? For example, our last cruise (Not Disney) my daughter was four and we would often look at the equivalent to the Navigator and say "Oh they are decorating tshirts today in the Kids Club". She loved going anyway but if we started out with suggesting an event she liked, it was always so easy to take her and let her play for a bit.

My daughter is now 8.5 and has been in daycare and school for most of her short life, and she is an only child so she usually LOVES to have a chance to play with others. While we do many things as a family, I think she often finds mom and dad boring

Do the Navigators list specific activities? Im on the opposite side this time, afraid she won't want to go. And while thats overall not a big issue, I would like an hour or so a day to unwind and relax myself. If I could say "They are making slime after lunch today" I think that would encourage her to go and then end up having a blast.