almost 4 yr old at neverland club?

[LMHB]

We would like to leave our 3 sons at the Neverland Club for 2 hours one night when we stay at the Polynesian next month. They are supposed to be age four to leave them, but our youngest will be 3 months shy. He is potty trained, very independent, and very verbal. Since he will be with his two older brothers and NEVER has qualms about going to preschool or a church nursery, I have no reservations about leaving him. Has anyone ever done this? We would really like to go out to dinner for ONE time alone, as we are pregnant and who knows when we'll be able to do this again. I have heard they don't require proof of age. Thank you.

 

[justhat]

I have never used the clubs at WDW, but we did use Flounder's Reef on the Disney cruise and they didn't ask for proof of age or anything then (though my daughter was 15 weeks old so not sure why they'd need proof cause the ages are 12 weeks and up there and you have to be that age to sail). The only thing is that if your son is very verbal and they asked him his age, I'm guessing he'd say 3. I imagine if he said that when you were dropping him off that they wouldn't let him stay. Not even sure that would come up though. If it's anything like the daycare if you go to a DVC preview, they just ask you the kids names and ages when you sign them in so if that's the case then you could just say he's 4. Of course, you might want to do that out of earshot of the kids cause then you risk one of them yelling out "no, he's 3!"

Just a warning though, many people will flame you for sneaking in your kid. I could honestly care less what anyone else does and can't see why others do, but just be prepared that you might get some comments about how horribly immoral you would be to tell your son to lie.

 

[tjmw2727]

According to the FAQ on allears they won't make exceptions.

Here is a link:
http://allearsnet.com/pl/childfaq.htm

However, I know on the cruise they would allow almost 4's in the club vs the nursery on a trial basis so it wouldn't hurt to call and check.

If it were me I would call the Neverland Club directly to explain the situation and ask if they make exceptions. This is really the only way to find out for sure and if necessary make alternate arrangements. Otherwise if you plan on it and they won't make an exception your stuck

Have a great trip!

TJ

 

[crisi]

Its Florida statute. The Neverland Club isn't licensed for kids under 4.

I won't tell you you are horribly immoral if you lie. I will say that if anything happens to your child under Disney's care and you lied and said he was four, you probably won't have much recourse in court. (I am not a lawyer).

 

[LMHB]

Thanks for the info. We won't tell him to lie, but we regularly tell our boys not to answer personal questions, anyhow. They've all seen the "Safe Side" video! If they don't take him, they don't, but we're going to give it a shot.

I'm not too worried about the statute, if I were worried about something unsafe happening I wouldn't leave them in the first place and the last thing I would worry about is recourse afterwards, anyhow...and dh IS a lawyer. Thanks!

 

[tjmw2727]

Perhaps if you try the Neverland club for earlier in your stay and for some reason it dosen't work out you can try again later in the week using a babysitting service.

If you would consider it, a few services Disney recommends will come to the room and sit for the kids. I know of fairy godmothers and kids night out. IIRC they will take them to the arcade if you like, bring age appropriate activities and may even be able to "drop in" to the Neverland Club with the kids.

Have a great trip -

TJ

eta and OT but please tell me about the safe side video? I have one dd who despite our talks and teaching would tell her life story to anyone and she is 9 IMHO old enough to know better Thanks

 

[Nicolepa]

Not trying to flame, but if for whatever reason the state finds out that they took a child under 4 then they could lose their license and/or insurance and that could be the end of the daycare for everyone.

 

[jodifla]

I imagine you'll need to fill out paperwork, and you'd have to lie on it.

 

[LMHB]

The video is called "The Safe Side"...my boys think it is hilarious! It is not a cartoon, and the main character is "Safe Side Super Chick." I ordered it off an informercial in TV but I imagine you could find it online. It is put out by the National Center for Missing and Exploited children. It discusses having a few "safe" adults in your life, and how your coach or other adults you know are not necessarily one of those (while still being respectful)...since most children are NOT hurt or abducted by perfect strangers, but by people they know. The video is funny and helpful without being boring, there is even some part with rolls of toilet paper falling all over the super chick which cracks them up (you have to see it, and anything with boys and toilet humor works)

Thanks for the info. I doubt that all of Disney would lose daycare if my almost four year stays there for two hours, but I did expect some responses like that. Otherwise thanks for the info!

 

[crisi]

Yep, you'll have to fill out paperwork. It will say he is four. You will have to sign the paperwork. As your DH what that will mean. There are "untruths" and there is your signature on a contract. (You may also want to ask you DH what happens if HE signs the contract and gets caught - because I think thats a disciplinary action for an attorney).

I'll admit I'm not always 100% honest and truthful (and I think only a few people are). But I hate having my lies in writing.

 

[WDWNicole]

My son went to the Dolphin Club when he was 3 months shy of his 4th birthday. He was with his 3 older cousins and had a great time. He is also used to being in that type of setting since he goes to daycare everyday.

For our upcoming trip we are using Kids Nite Out for one night because we now have a one year old in addition to the 5 year old.

Enjoy your night out!

 

[Hannathy]

I look at this as another rules are for everyone else but me thread. You know the answer but you want validation for lying. Ask your husband how often he lets clients off for lying or if something happened to your child and Disney said we almost had enough staff? Isn't that close enough?

If it was a couple of days maybe but 3 mos that is a long time.

 

[momofapirate]

I'm with the original poster, Don't ask, Don't tell and hope the little guy keeps mum as well. There are a lot of folks who can't sleep at night if they break a rule. I'm not one of them. I have actually been known to speed, cut tags off of mattresses and not shower before entering the pool. Ya gotta do what you can handle. The age used to be 3 or at least that is what it said in my old tour book), but my guess is they didn't want to be required to keep the additional staff members required for a younger age limit and they are probably running into more and more 3 year-olds that are (GASP!) not potty trained, so they upped the age to four saved themselves some labor costs and got rid of the chance of "accidents". Problem solved.

 

[meagan9848]

I just wanted to add to this topic, mainly because my brother and I got dropped off at the Neverland Club when we were 5 and 6 (I believe)...I'm 20 now, and 14 years later I still remember that night like it was yesterday!

...such a fun place

 

[BANNISTER]

This post really hit home. I had to call my husband into the room to read it to him. This was our story from last July. We were also staying at the Poly and wanted that one night out. We have 3 children. DS was 3 3/4 at the time, DD8, DD11. We were not worried about leaving our son since his two older sisters would be there to keep an eye on him. Well, I knew ahead of time that he had to be 4 from doing my homework, but knew he was well potty trained, would love to go with his big sisters, etc. So I called and made the reservation several months before the trip. The they took the names of the children, but didn't ask ages. When we checked into the Neverland, they asked the ages of our children-they already had a form filled out with their names and ages on it. They asked how old Michael was? We knew they knew, so my husband said 3. They said they knew this because the reservation was also tied to our orginial disney reservation package for park tix, dinning, and our stay at the Poly. We just figured that when the Disney Reservationist took the reservation they had to see the ages as well. The staff said they would keep him for the evening, but that they have a strong rule that they must be 4. I played dumb and mentioned that he they knew he was 3 why didn't they call and inform us as they already had our room #. They never really responded with an explanation. So we left the kids and gave it a try. They gave us a beeper as they do all parents, but to be honest I couldn't relax after we left them because of this. When we returned the staff commented on how well behaved our son was and that had no problems with us reserving another night during our stay to leave the kids at the Neverland. Go figure!
So I really can't tell you how to handle it, only that I know exactly how you feel and that we did try it, did get caught, but then did leave our son stay, and then Neverland Staff offered to keep him another night. Like I said 'Go Figure'. I wish they would change the rule to potty trained 3 year old allowed with older siblings because I think that makes all the difference in the world. We would have never tried to 'sneak' our almost 4 year old in if it would have been just him, but with his older sisters we were not worried.
Have a magical vacation whatever you decide!

 

[dpuck1998]

Just goes to show you that "rumors" aren't always true ehh...so much for them losing their license. We had a similar situation in Hawaii, our youngest was not 5 yet, so we called and they explained that 5 was the age limit, but state laws only required them to be 4 years and 9 months. So they give themselves a little wiggle room.

 

[BANNISTER]

LMHB...have a wonderful vacation and enjoy the Poly.

 

[lts862]

This post really hit home. I had to call my husband into the room to read it to him. This was our story from last July. We were also staying at the Poly and wanted that one night out. We have 3 children. DS was 3 3/4 at the time, DD8, DD11. We were not worried about leaving our son since his two older sisters would be there to keep an eye on him. Well, I knew ahead of time that he had to be 4 from doing my homework, but knew he was well potty trained, would love to go with his big sisters, etc. So I called and made the reservation several months before the trip. The they took the names of the children, but didn't ask ages. When we checked into the Neverland, they asked the ages of our children-they already had a form filled out with their names and ages on it. They asked how old Michael was? We knew they knew, so my husband said 3. They said they knew this because the reservation was also tied to our orginial disney reservation package for park tix, dinning, and our stay at the Poly. We just figured that when the Disney Reservationist took the reservation they had to see the ages as well. The staff said they would keep him for the evening, but that they have a strong rule that they must be 4. I played dumb and mentioned that he they knew he was 3 why didn't they call and inform us as they already had our room #. They never really responded with an explanation. So we left the kids and gave it a try. They gave us a beeper as they do all parents, but to be honest I couldn't relax after we left them because of this. When we returned the staff commented on how well behaved our son was and that had no problems with us reserving another night during our stay to leave the kids at the Neverland. Go figure!
So I really can't tell you how to handle it, only that I know exactly how you feel and that we did try it, did get caught, but then did leave our son stay, and then Neverland Staff offered to keep him another night. Like I said 'Go Figure'. I wish they would change the rule to potty trained 3 year old allowed with older siblings because I think that makes all the difference in the world. We would have never tried to 'sneak' our almost 4 year old in if it would have been just him, but with his older sisters we were not worried.
Have a magical vacation whatever you decide!

Similarly, (and not to piggy back) but my DD will be 4 on 11/12 and I am hoping to let her go to Grand Adventures in Cooking with her 6 year old brother on 11/2. It used to be for ages 3-10 and I believe this is a recent change. (DS has done it before). I hope they will not squabble over 10 days! As I recall they never asked DS age when I booked before. Only you know your child. Do what you think is best and have a great vacation.