Child Care (in room)

[kewlteacher]

Hi everyone,

Certainly not our first trip, but definitely first with new baby. My oldest is 6 and the baby is 11 mo old. I would like to schedule a few nights with just oldest since baby cannot handle anything after 7:00pm, however nervous about having in-room care. When oldest was 4, we used the group daycare, which was wonderful.

Anyone ever experience the in-room care? Any comments (good & bad)
We will be at WL if that matters...

 

[StevenR]

We've used in room care on several trips, before both of our kids were 4. We were very pleased. We used the "official" sitters, who come with a duffel bag full of activities. The kids had a blast. Though at that age they were usually clingy when we'd have a night out at home, they were perfectly happy to wave goodbye when the sitter was there at WDW. The next day, they asked if she could come back! Lots of activities, & when we stayed at the WL, she took them down to the lobby (with our prior permission) for the bird show from Discovery Island (of course, that's not available anymore; don't know if there's any other entertainment at WL).

Although our kids were older than your youngest (our youngest was 2-1/2) I think you'll be very satisfied.

As I said, we used the "official" service, which enabled us to bill their services to our room & not have to deal with cash.

 

[rejobako]

kewl:

We have a three year old; and we've used the in-room service recommended by Disney on its website on three different visits to DW. (It used to be called Kindercare; now I think it's "Kid's Night Out). They are fairly expensive, but in our experience the sitters they have sent out have been extremely professional, prompt, and good with our daughter. On one occasion, they even sent out a trainee with our sitter, so we actually had two people doting on our daughter (who's a natural ham anyway, and loved the attention.)

The company is licensed and bonded, and I believe it's the only service that Disney endorses for in-room care in its resorts. If you book them before your trip, they will ask you to call them as soon as you check into your room to confirm the reservation. Then when they show up (in uniform, and with toys, books, etc.), they'll ask you to review and sign a contract that clearly spells out what you are authorizing them to do (or not do) with your child (as far as feedings, etc.)

My wife is very protective (some would say neurotic) regarding our beautiful little daughter, but she's had no complaints. If you can afford it, go for it.

Good luck.

 

[vic32]

Is this something I would need to book before I go? And just how expensive is it?I am considering this for our Halloween trip. My DS is 5, DD will be 15 mo. I am trying to decide if I can emotionally handle a stranger. My DH calls me nuerotic also!!! I have heard about the Fairy Godmothers, is this the same company?So many questions, good thing I have 163 days till trip!!!

 

[zakatak]

Kids Nite Out is NOT Fairy Godmothers. Disney works with Kids Nite Out (they have to go through a Disney training in addition to other training/first aid training/etc). I just called and reserved a night in July to watch my three children, ages 7, 4 and 3 in our room.

This past March I used Fairy Godmothers. I called ahead and reserved either Vivian or Vera (whoever was availabe) based on good reports from this site. She (the owner) said no problem. 5 minutes before the scheduled time, a woman knocked on the door. She introduced herself as "Vera's Sister, Vera was sick". She had no toys, no paperwork, and I received no phone call from Fairy Godmother's letting me know ahead of time about the situation. Needless to say, we were VERY hesistant to leave. We did, checked in a couple of times and came back an hour early. The kids were sound asleep and she was reading. The following day the kids said she was really nice and fun.

However, I can't get over the unprofessionalism. No papers... nothing. No phone call ahead of time alerting me to the change of sitters. She basically had no proof she even WORKED for Fairy Godmothers. So, this time I am going with a Disney Recommended, professional company. It ends up being $24 more for the entire night (4 hours) BUT I get a CPR/First Aid trained/Disney trained employee... not a stranger who can't prove she even works for the company.

BTW, I think I have the ONLY somewhat unhappy experience with Fairy Godmothers, so please take it with a grain of salt!

Good Luck!

P.S. Kids Nite Out has a website you can check out.

 

[Castillo Mom]

You left your children with a complete stranger who you could not even verify that she worked for Fairy Godmothers and didn't receive a phone call from them to alert you of the change? Please don't take offense to my comment, I mean no harm. I just think that you were fortunate that things turned out well with all the crazy things that go on in this world. Glad you're going with a different and reputable company.

 

[jodifla]

I've used Fairy Godmothers the past two times we've been there, and been very happy with the women who have come. Mine both came early, with paperwork and toys for my son. Most of the women who work for Fairy Godmothers have done so for years and years.

Fairy Godmothers is run by a family (for about the past 25 years or so), so it does have a different feel perhaps than Kids Nite Out, which is corporately run.

Rates are $60 for a four hour minimum, 12 an hour after that. I think that's for up to three children, but I'm not completely sure (we have just the one child).

We certainly plan to use them again the next time we go.

 

[zakatak]

Castillo Mom,

No offense taken... we figured it this way... if we hadn't made a request, we would not have had a problem with Rosemary. She was very nice, obviously worked for Fairy Godmothers, she just didn't have the paperwork on her. We were taken off guard BECAUSE we were expecting someone else... that's all. We figured we could trust her as much as any other person that Fairy Godmothers sent. We did call in and come back early.

But we were nervous. Just the way we are... Hindsight says we should have at least CALLED Fairy Godmothers and confirmed her, but she showed up on time, referring to us by name, telling us that her sister VERA was sick (who we requested)... so I'm not sure what else Fairy Godmothers could have told us that she didn't.

Again no offense... One point is though that we DID verify that she worked for them (or with them) since she knew our names, room number and time of arrival... I don't think a stranger off the street would know that! whew!

Karen

 

[jodifla]

Zakatak, please post how your July experience with Kids Nite Out is if you can. I'll be interested to hear.

We met with our Fairy Godmother sitter for about a half-hour before we left, on our time, just to make sure we felt comfortable. During that time, we mentioned that there was a lot of good comments about them on these boards. She said they had heard that, but it created a problem sometimes when those sitters were not available on the nights people wanted, and then we were disappointed.

We asked for our sitter again the second time, but the owner told us she'd be sure to send us a good sitter (wouldn't promise us Vivien again.)

But I agree that if they promised you Vera they should have called when they sent a different person! It would have been alarming. Although, like you said, your sitter had all the information -- and turned out to be someone your kids liked. Still, it sounds like it hampered your nite out some.

Have a good trip in July!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Zakatak

That's true, what would the odds be that the lady wasn't legitimate while having all of your info. All's well that ends well! Hope you have a better experience next trip in July so you and your hubby can enjoy a night out without worrying!

Not to be a thread killer but, my kids will be 9, 11 and 15 by the time we go to WDW next August. Would it be paranoid of me not to want to leave my kids in the room alone while hubby and I go hit Pleasure Island? My eldest is very responsible and babysits at home from time to time and of course we check in with him a couple of times during the evening and he loves to wait up for us 'til we get home; the other two kids are in usually in bed by 10:00 p.m or so. Anyway, my husband thinks it's ok to leave them in the room (CBR). Does Kids Night Out sit with kids that old? At 15, I think my son will be highly offended, but safety is the important thing to me. Any opinions/similar experiences?

 

[Sue & Co.]

Hi, we've never used these services but in response to the 15 year old I think it would be fine to leave him in charge especially if you have a mobile phone with you so that yuo could keep in touch and he could call you if he needed you.

 

[BevS97]

I know times have changed, but at 15 I babysat for a lot of other peoples kids, and certainly sat with my brothers frequently (including in hotel rooms), my brothers would be been 11 and 5 at the time. I remember on one occasion my parents were gone longer than we expected, and we were hungry, so we called room service. I was worried we would be in trouble for spending the money, but my parents were impressed with our ingenuity.

I think with the added convenience of a mobile phone it would be fine.

Bev