Kids Club

[bre126]

We are still trying to convince my BIL that a Disney Cruise will be a great vacation. He wants to know if the cast members that work in the nursery and in the kids clubs enjoy their jobs. He said they are probably like everyone else and hate their jobs DH and I have only been on 1 disney cruise and don't have kids so we didn't experience those cast embers but every other cast member we came in contact with were Wonderful!!!

 

[loran424]

Our son had just turned 4 right before our cruise. He went to the club every day (4 days) and loved it! We had 2nd seating for dinner so the cast members picked him up in the dining room each night. The 1st day on the ship there is an open house. I was feeling apprehensive about leaving him & a cast member sat & talked to me a bit to reassure me. She was wonderful! On the last night, our son left his craft behind. My husband went back to get it just as the lady was leaving for the night (she had already locked the door). She recognized him & unlocked the door & went back to look around. She said that while she didn't have little man's craft, she knew what it was so she gave my husband the materials (for 2) and a quick lesson on how to make it.

 

[loran424]

(posted too quick)... Anyway, she talked about my son & how he opened up over the course of the cruise & said some specific things about the fun they had. She told my husband that she had the best job in the world but that she gets sad at the end of each cruise to see the children leave. We LOVED the folks who worked in the club & our son had a wonderful experience. Little Man asks all the time "when can we go back on our cruise?" hope you get to go & have a fabulous time!!

 

[jimsubry]

Well, I would think to be a childcare worker anywhere you have to qualify by having some child development classes or whatnot. And anyone who has gone through that probably has a tendency to enjoy kids and want to work with them, right?

 

[Jimbob22]

We are still trying to convince my BIL that a Disney Cruise will be a great vacation. He wants to know if the cast members that work in the nursery and in the kids clubs enjoy their jobs. He said they are probably like everyone else and hate their jobs DH and I have only been on 1 disney cruise and don't have kids so we didn't experience those cast embers but every other cast member we came in contact with were Wonderful!!!

We just spent a week on the Wonder, and our 4yo son may have set the record for hours in the kids club, probably a good 6-8 hours per day. He loved it and the workers do love their job. Workers that get negative feedback do not last long at Disney.

One night around 11, we figured he would want to go to sleep, but the kids were all in lab coats, safety glasses, and were making flubber. He wanted to stay so we let him stay. The kids club, above all else, made our cruise enjoyable. I popped in other times and saw him marching in a conga line with a triangle (the kids had musical instruments). They actually interacted with the kids instead of just having them sit around the entire time.

 

[my3lilonkeyz]

When we first took our boys (ages 8 and 4) to the kids club I thought for sure we would get a call to pick our youngest up, as he is very attached to me and spends little to no time away from me. As it turns out I shouldn't have worried at all! He LOVED it in fact on excursion days he couldn't wait to get back on the ship to go see his "friends". At one point we were in the hall walking and passed Snow White and she remembered my son by name and proceeded to talk to him...he told us she was at the club earlier that day. Also, at least twice officers of the ship stopped us in the halls while with him to say hi to their buddy! The club CMs were ready eyed the last night and told us when we picked the boys up they were gonna miss their cheeky Monkey (that we found out was what the CMs called him)

 

[beaglefan]

Our boys were slow to warm up to the Club on both cruises, but this is not due to the employees - rather going to be dependent on the personalities of the kiddos.

Most of the counselors are young, with little or no college, and from overseas. They seem to love kids, try to engage them when they first enter, and I highly recommend you attend the Open House on the first day so you can be with the kiddos and get the comfortable with the surroundings, and a familiar face or two with the counselors.

We are glad we had the option of the Club, and it gave us enough of a break to recharge our batteries. Since it was a family vacation, we usually had the kids in the club only an 1 or 2 per day. Some families left the kids in the club all day. (You will get a text on the Wave phone, however, if your kids express an interest in getting picked up -- we found this helpful)

Happy cruising!

 

[roxy84]

Most of the counselors are young, with little or no college, and from overseas. They seem to love kids, try to engage them when they first enter, and I highly recommend you attend the Open House on the first day so you can be with the kiddos and get the comfortable with the surroundings, and a familiar face or two with the counselors.

Just wanted to elaborate - all counselors are at least 21 years old, and while many are in their early 20's, I have met some older ones (including 2 in their early 40's). Additionally, you will find many American and Canadian counselors in the Kids Clubs. Finally, many - if not the majority - of counselors do have bachelors degrees (usually in recreation, education, drama/theatre etc). Some are even qualified teachers in their home countries.