ChildCare at DVC

[plymouthmom]

Hi, Will be taking my first trip as a DVCer next year. Was hoping to do one night out without the kidlets. Our home resort is OKW which does not have on site child care facilities. Our kids vary in age, at time of travel they will be 14, 10, 8 and 6. I know the three younger ones could go to another resort with a facility. Not sure which one is closest. Also not sure what to do with the 14 year old.

Thoughts?

 

[FLYNZ4]

When our kids were young... DW and I would routinely have a "date night" or more more on every trip. Over the years... we have used the child care facilities at Grand Floridian, Contempory, Poly (Neverland Club), and Beach Club (Sandcastle Club). Some had multi-child discounts... others didn't. I dont have a clue what the situation is today.

Another thing we did was to use the in-room babysitting service. This made us very nervous the first time... so we used kindercare... and insisted that we get a babysitter who had been with the company for many (10+)years, without ever receiving a single complaint. We did that... and then checked with the kids very carefully when we returned. Then in subsequent years... we used the same sitter over and over again... booking her availability far in advance of our trips.

/Jim

 

[Starr W.]

Hi, Will be taking my first trip as a DVCer next year. Was hoping to do one night out without the kidlets. Our home resort is OKW which does not have on site child care facilities. Our kids vary in age, at time of travel they will be 14, 10, 8 and 6. I know the three younger ones could go to another resort with a facility. Not sure which one is closest. Also not sure what to do with the 14 year old.

Thoughts?

We dropped our 11 and 6yr old sons at the Sandcastle Club(Beach Club) and went out to dinner. It was rather boring for my eldest, it could have been that the other kids were more around my youngest's age. My youngest loved it, but he likes that sort of thing.

 

[wdw1972]

Most 14 year olds have been babysitting for years at night. Why not leave them at the resort, with the older one in charge? I'm assuming you have cell phones in case the oldest one needs to reach you. At 14, he/she is way too old for any kids' club.

 

[FLYNZ4]

Most 14 year olds have been babysitting for years at night. Why not leave them at the resort, with the older one in charge? I'm assuming you have cell phones in case the oldest one needs to reach you. At 14, he/she is way too old for any kids' club.

I was thinking the same thing... but then felt that a 6 yo could raise the anxiety level a bit. It seems that a sibling babysitter has less control than a "real babysitter".

By the time our oldest was 14, our situation was very different... the kids were 10/12/14... and they would go into the parks together. It did give us a bit of the heeby jeebies to go to bed at night at midnight... and have the 3 kids come strolling in at 1am. They loved the independence... and there was no safer place to have them go out on their own. They knew they had to stay together... knew how to contact a cast member if seperated... and they all knew the disney transportation system cold.

/Jim

 

[pyrxtc]

I was thinking the same thing... but then felt that a 6 yo could raise the anxiety level a bit. It seems that a sibling babysitter has less control than a "real babysitter".

By the time our oldest was 14, our situation was very different... the kids were 10/12/14... and they would go into the parks together. It did give us a bit of the heeby jeebies to go to bed at night at midnight... and have the 3 kids come strolling in at 1am. They loved the independence... and there was no safer place to have them go out on their own. They knew they had to stay together... knew how to contact a cast member if seperated... and they all knew the disney transportation system cold.

/Jim

Seriously??!! My Oldest will be 14 this summer and has never watched the other kids, we leave her at home with them to drive to the dump or something but nothing longer. I would never leave my kids to the parks alone and go to bed with them out.

 

[conandrob240]

Holy cow! Agreed! 14 is way too young to be given the responsibility of navigating a park ans transportation back to the hotel with a 10 yr old and 12yr old! I also think that a 14 yr old should not be given full responsibility for babysiting a child as young as 6 for hours. If the 14 yr old is comfortable alone, I'd let her stay in the room alone and take the other kids to the kid's club.

 

[Lauralei]

I have one son who is 8, he's been to NeverLand Club (Polynesian) and Bears Den (WL) many times. He prefers Neverland very much and on our last trip went there 3 times in a week. He wanted to go, he was asking us when he could go again. Now, 4 children are alot and I'm not sure if there are any sibling discounts. I would suggest leaving the 14 and 10 year old at the resort (on their own) and putting the 2 little ones in a club. I'd love to hear what you do and how it works out. Does your 14 year old have a cell phone? If he/she did they you could keep in touch with him/her every so often.

 

[FLYNZ4]

Holy cow! Agreed! 14 is way too young to be given the responsibility of navigating a park ans transportation back to the hotel with a 10 yr old and 12yr old! I also think that a 14 yr old should not be given full responsibility for babysiting a child as young as 6 for hours. If the 14 yr old is comfortable alone, I'd let her stay in the room alone and take the other kids to the kid's club.

I actually cannot remember the exact age when they went into the parks by themselves... maybe it was a year or two later. Also... it wasn't 1:00 am the first time they did it... that happened in subsequent years. They were absolutely fine.

Anyway... my point was that with a 6 yo... I think that it would be difficult for a 14 yo sibling to take care of all the kids. By contrast, a 14 yo babysitter might not have a problem. Things just seem more difficult if it is a sibling who is doing the babysitting.

I also remember that the in-room babysitting was cheaper than the babysitting clubs if you had multiple children. If I remember right, at the time the rate for all 3 of the kids was the same as for a single one. I am sure we tipped the babysitter more because of the extra workload. We did continue to use the same sitter year after year. The kids loved her.

I also remember that Neverland club was the most expensive of the onsite clubs... and they did not have any multi-child discounts. We only sent our youngest there one time, while his older sisters went with us to HDD Review. He was too young for HDD at the time, and we felt he would have more fun there. When his older sisters saw the Neverland club... they cried because they wanted to stay there instead of going to the HDD.

/Jim

 

[plymouthmom]

THANKS! for all the great replies. I do leave the 14 year old at home to babysit, but never all of them at the same time, there would be bloodshed! I would probably leave the 14 year old and the 8 year old together as they wouldn't fight. The 10 and 6 year old could do the child care thing as the 10 year old would be happy to not be left with his older brother!

The 14 year old ( still 13 so hard to talk in future tense!) does have a cell phone so that wouldn't be a problem. I would just feel strange leaving him on his own, but he would be fine with his little brother.

Who knows, so many options, just wish they had something specific for teens!