Babysitting at BCV ?

[mousezilla]

DW and I would like an adults night out to pleasure Island while we are staying at BCV. What are the best babysitting options for DS 6 and DD 3

 

[catnik]

Mousezilla:

We have used Fairy Godmothers twice when our children were too young for the childcare clubs. Both times we had a middle aged woman who brought books, puzzles and the like to entertain while she was watching them. I felt very comfortable leaving them (especially the second time!) in such competent hands and would highly recommend them. The service is not cheap, however: I think it was about $50-60 for 4 hours (including tip). Their number is (407) 969-9847 and toll free 877-611-4314. Hope this helps........

Catnik

 

[Terry S]

There is the Sandcastle Club right at the Beach Club. We left our kids there this past October and they loved it. We really didn't have anywhere to go, but the kids had seen the club and wanted to go there, so we left them there for an hour and walked over to Epcot for a bit and came back. They were having so much fun they asked if they could stay longer. They really had a great time.

 

[Janet2k]

I don't remember the minimum age for the Sandcastle Club at the Beach Club Resort (I do remember that children have to be potty-trained), but here are a few photos that my daughter took during her visit there in November: click here for photos.

 

[Janet2k]

I have a thread on the Trip Reports board where I described the Sandcastle Club (click here for thread) -- the club is described on pages 8 and 9. I'll post below what I stated in that thread.

Page 8 says:
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Because my daughter loves attending the Disney kids’ clubs, I didn’t have to twist her arm in order to get her to agree to attend it this evening. At first she was a little hesitant because she had really wanted to meet Minybear (she’d heard me mention Minybear’s name hundreds of times over the past few years), but once I explained that the adults would be talking boring adult-talk all night long, she told me she’d rather go hang out in the kids’ club. She’s a smart girl.

My daughter enjoys attending the Disney kids’ clubs primarily because she gets to meet other children. She also loves working on arts & crafts projects. Over the years she has drawn me many pictures of our family (when she first started drawing, it was a BIG stretch of the imagination to see the resemblance between the blobs on the paper and my actual family ). She has also made me butterfly masks and collages of her favorite things. Besides her love of craft projects, she enjoys playing board games and video games with the other children. And when she’s not in the mood for any of that, she can always sit down and enjoy a book or a Disney movie. Yes, there are many things to do at a Disney childcare club.

Shortly before 5 PM, my dear friend arrived at my resort room. We then went off in search of the Sandcastle Club. We found it right next door to the Beach Club’s gift shop, just like WDW-DINE had stated we would.

We entered the kids’ club and I was immediately asked to sign my daughter in. Even though I had made a Priority Seating reservation hours before, they did not have my reservation on file. I found that odd until the mother behind me mentioned that had happened to her twice at the Sandcastle Club. The Cast Member told me not to worry, they had room for my daughter this evening. Please click here to view a few photos that my daughter took of the Sandcastle Club, or please click here to view a slideshow of those Sandcastle Club photos.

After my daughter was signed in and my credit card information was taken, I was given an electronic pager. If for any reason the childcare club needed to reach me, they would beep me via that pager. Since the dinner hour was near, I was also given a menu from which to select my daughter’s dinner. If memory serves me correctly, the following items were on the menu: hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, macaroni & cheese, peanut butter & jelly sandwich, chicken tenders, French fries, milk, and juice. I let my daughter select her meal and she chose macaroni & cheese. I was then asked what time my daughter should eat (I believe there were three dinner hours). My daughter wanted to eat late, but I requested the early dinner (I knew she was hungry because she hadn’t eaten much all day).

With her dinner ordered, the pager attached to my purse, and my credit card information taken, there was nothing left for me to do but to kiss my daughter goodbye.
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And page 9 says...

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In regards to your childcare questions, there are varied activities for the kids to do at the Disney kids’ clubs. Amongst other things, they’ll find books for reading, computers to play games on, crafts to make, toys to play with, movies to watch, and music to dance to. My daughter states that there is something for everyone.

As to the Sandcastle Club, my daughter told me there was a CD player there. The Cast Members would walk around the room asking the children to vote on what songs they wanted to hear. The songs that received the most votes were played two times in a row. She said that music was not played all the time, only when there were fewer children in the club.

My daughter also told me that there were lots of plush toys to play with. She saw the following ones: Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Chip, Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck.

As to arts & crafts, one night my daughter made three poster collages of her favorite things. She mentioned that the older children were allowed to use glue bottles of all colors for their artwork projects, while the younger children were only allowed to use the regular school glue. There were plenty of crayons, colored pencils, and markers for everyone to draw with.

I questioned her about what toys there were to play with. She told me that there were two boxes containing all sorts of Mr. Potato Head parts. She also said that there were various action figure toys: Batman, Robin, X-Men, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, etc.

For those children who liked puzzles, there were various sized ones: 60 pieces, 100 pieces, and greater. And for those who liked to play board games, there were quite a few: Candy Land, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Chutes and Ladders, Operation, and more.

For the doll lovers, my daughter stated that there were plenty of Barbie dolls and lots of clothes to dress them in. She even saw Lilo and Stitch dolls, too.

My daughter said that there were four tables in the club, and each table seemed to have a specific purpose: a table for reading or playing board games, a table for working on arts & crafts projects, a table for playing with dolls, and a table for eating dinner.

I know that you were curious about the club’s sign-in and sign-out procedures. When I checked my daughter in, I was given paperwork to fill out. If memory serves me correctly, there was a line on that paperwork where I wrote down where I was going for the evening (for example, the BoardWalk’s Belle Vue Room). I was then assigned a pager and told that it was required in case the club needed to contact me in the event of an emergency. Before I left, I was given a receipt and was told that receipt would need to be produced when I came back to pick up my daughter. A few hours later when I returned to the club, I did produce that receipt. I was also asked to sign the sign-out sheet and return my pager. Then I was given my charge receipt for the club’s services, and finally was allowed to take my daughter home.

I should mention that my daughter has always enjoyed her time in any of the Disney childcare clubs. And she has always enjoyed the Cast Members who work there.
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[shelly3girls]

We are in the same situation. The minimum age for the kids club is 4. I have heard that they are very strict about the cut-off. Our DD will be 6 weeks short of her 4th birthday during our January trip. We really want a dinner alone so we think we will call Fairy Godmother's since we have heard many good things about them. Our DD has been potty trained since 2.5 but I don't think that is enough to get her into the club.
Has anyone experienced a child 3 almost 4 trying to get into the clubs?

 

[Ladygator]

We have 3 children and were able to get our 3 year old in the Neverland Club at the Polynesian. At the time, they weren't very crowded and since our other 2 kids were there they said it was OK. My DH and I went to Narcosses at the GF for dinner. It was wonderful. We tried unsuccessfully to get our 3 year old daughter into the Sandcastle Club at the Beach Club. They wouldn't budge. So I would try to get your 3 year old into the clubs but don't count on it.