Disney Magic--Not very magical....

[BethA]

Sorry to hear your vacation did not meet your expectations. We have cruised on the magic 5 times and had wonderful trips, but we never raved about the clubs for kids like everyone else. I think it is a valid point that most kids are in there with a sibling, friend, relative and those who are not--especially at the younger ages, do not do as well. My son did not know anyone and always felt somewhat left out. We found there was a lot of just free time, and a lot of unruly kids. One day while waiting to check out my son, I witnessed another bigger child pushing him around and no CM in sight, so i jumped over the gate to intervene. My son tried it a few times, but spent most of his time with us, which was fine for a family vacation.

I think the food is excellent for some, mediocre for others and bad for still others. Everyone has different tastes and expectations, but it is tough when you are expecting something amazing and it falls short.

 

[lbgraves]

Our kids have been in the 3-4 & 5-7 groups so far. I have stayed with the 3-4 group several times to make DD more comfortable since she is clingy in a new environment & never observed any of this happening. The activities were very well run & the CMs hosting each activity were in control of the group with other CMs sitting with the kids. There was one time when a child wouldn't listen & was being unruley & the CMs gave him two warnings before another took him to the front desk away from the group. The do have the kids go into the "closet" area to listen to a story when the main club area is being prepared for the next activity. This is a room about the size of our family room though with computers around the outside walls.

The 3-4 & 5-7 yos are seperated more times than they are together. If I had a young 3 yo & was concerned about them playing around the older kids it would be very easy to review the navigators for the two age groups to see when they were not together so that I wouldn't have to be concerned about that. DD was 3 on our first cruise & even though DS5 was in the 3-4 group with her to look out for her, we did that to eliminate any concerns. I have looked in on group activities to check on DD several times as well and not observed anything but organized kids enjoying themselves...and occassionally one or two sleeping on mats on the side behind the desk because they were just worn out from the fun.

 

[MeRiVan]

We were on the 3/4 Magic and I never saw anywhere near 48 children in the 3 to 4 year old Club. I'm thinking my DS3 was not there at the super popular times, but he did participate in all the Little Mermaid activities, which I would think would be pretty popular. Matt's first potty accident free day ever was the first day on the ship (he was accident free all week) and the CMs are largely responsible for that. I watched them make a butterfly magnet together and I watched the 3 Little Pigs story. I watched free play in the tree house, and Matt's a tough kid and he'll never complain, but it was a little crazy. I just figured 3 year olds tend to love crazy environments. I didn't see anything dangerous. The captain's closet didn't look like fun to me, but Matt wouldn't leave cuz he made friends there. Alot of the experience I'm sure depends on the child and on the activities at the time. My DS6 found free time to be too crowded for his taste in the Lab and I thought the activities he participated in were too crowded, but he had fun anyway.

 

[castlegazer]

I really hate how people pile on when someone gives their honest opinion of their experiences. Your opinion is not going to change their opinion. Their experiences are their own and they are free to voice them here.


I want to share something with you that was posted back in March by a former children's club CM:

The challenge of inappropriate behavior, in it's many forms and from both children and parents, was a ongoing isssue the 5 years that I was there.
I have spent the last year consulting for Norwegian, Royal Carribean, Princess, and other cruise lines on how to provide a effective childrens program. The focus being on ratio and sheer numbers. After working Disney for so long and seeing the amazing things that the characters can do it was truly an eye opener to see the better quality of care that was provided by other cruise lines that adopted a smaller child to counselor ratio, place time restrictions, behavior guide lines based on being appropriate or inappropriate and not on how much money was spent to be there.
While Disney does offer a wonderful product and facilities, the characters being an bonus, the quality of care was not as high as Royal Caribbean or Celebrity for example. I know that I am probably stepping on some toes here and I would like to make it clear that the majority of children on a Disney cruise (and parents) have a "magical" time, and that every cruise line has had it's share of negative and positive experiences by guests. My focus is on the quality of care. With that being said I feel that even with the new changes Disney needs to step it up again.

This person has been very helpful and patient in the past describing the clubs to people. He now has a new experience under his belt and is sharing that experience again.

It has been reported often on the boards that the ratios for the younger children are out of whack. You will see this more present when their is not a holiday as people with younger children can cruise then.

Please just post your own experience without judging the OP's experience which is solely their own and may be very valid.

 

[Enna]

Did you check to see if the paid sitting services at Flounders' would have been more to your liking? I'm just wondering if that would have provided you with the smaller staff:child ratio that you seem to perfer.

 

[repeatcruiser]

I really hate how people pile on when someone gives their honest opinion of their experiences. Your opinion is not going to change their opinion. Their experiences are their own and they are free to voice them here.

Here here - trying to tell someone that they really should have had a good time when they did not is not helpful, nor is telling them that you had a great time going to change the fact that they did not enjoy themselves.

I love DCL, but it is not perfect. Trying to suggest otherwise does 2 things: (1) ensures that the things that need fixing will never get fixed, and (2) raises expectations of new cruisers too high, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will be dissappointed.

Disney did not invent the idea of a cartoon character or an amuzement park - he borrowed those ideas from others and made them better. Discussing the good things on other lines is not an attack on DCL, but rather an opportunity to borrow those good ideas and improve upon an already great product.

 

[Deemarch]

That one of the posters who didn't have a good time on their cruise either, said that they booked another????

If I was unhappy with the cruise, like I was with our NCL cruise to Bermuda, I'd NEVER GO ON THE SHIP AGAIN!!!!!!! I won't even go on the cruiseline again. There is so much to pick from out there, I'm sure that everyone can find something that they'd be happy with.

 

[Tarabra]

Did you ever notice...or maybe it's just me...that some major fights occur on a) a birthday or b) Valentine's Day, etc. The reason being, the expectations for that day are always huge, and when the DH (or significant other) doesn't meet those expectations, it's always a bummer. Even though the day may still have been great, it just wasn't what was expected? (One big fight was w/ my high school b-friend. He just signed, "Ed" on his V-day card! Huh? He couldn't even write "Love, Ed"? Silly now, but at 16 it was huge!! lol!) Anyhow, it just reminds me of this thread. I guess my first cruise I didn't have the DISboards to read and we had no idea what to expect. So what we got was huge!!! Maybe had we read on and on about how great everything was, we may have been disappointed too.

 

[KimberlyC]

That one of the posters who didn't have a good time on their cruise either, said that they booked another????

If I was unhappy with the cruise, like I was with our NCL cruise to Bermuda, I'd NEVER GO ON THE SHIP AGAIN!!!!!!! I won't even go on the cruiseline again. There is so much to pick from out there, I'm sure that everyone can find something that they'd be happy with.

Is this is the post you are refering to?

"I'm sorry that you had such a rough trip. While we did not find our recent Magic cruise "magical" by any means, it was not as bad you faced. We found the food mostly tasteless as well compared to other lines. Although I had read that this was the case, I still hoped for something better.

We did enjoy the shows and found the crew to be among the friendliest that we have had on all of cruises. But, the price/value ratio doesn't work out in my mind although we are going again in September primarily because of the Florida resident discounts."
__________________
Rick
Fernandina Beach, FL

If so, I don't find if odd. Rick may not have found the cruise (and the food) magical but enjoyed other aspects of his cruise. I understood him to mean that for the price, it should have been better. However, for his upcoming cruise he got a great rate that makes it worth returning for the good things (despite the tasteless food).

To me, cruises are like pizza! Even when they're bad, they're still pretty good. But I expect less from a cheap pizza to the extent that if it doesn't wow me, that's ok because it was cheap pizza and I didn't start off expecting much. Now if I planned and saved a long time to take my family to a pizza place rumored to have the absolute best pizza ever only to find out that it tasted the same as my cheap pizza, I would not be happy. The difference is expectations. Would I go back to the so-called best pizza place? Sure if the charged me a cheap pizza price. After all, its still pizza!

 

[repeatcruiser]

Did you ever notice...or maybe it's just me...that some major fights occur on a) a birthday or b) Valentine's Day, etc. The reason being, the expectations for that day are always huge, and when the DH (or significant other) doesn't meet those expectations, it's always a bummer. Even though the day may still have been great, it just wasn't what was expected? (One big fight was w/ my high school b-friend. He just signed, "Ed" on his V-day card! Huh? He couldn't even write "Love, Ed"? Silly now, but at 16 it was huge!! lol!) Anyhow, it just reminds me of this thread. I guess my first cruise I didn't have the DISboards to read and we had no idea what to expect. So what we got was huge!!! Maybe had we read on and on about how great everything was, we may have been disappointed too.

I generally agree, except for the "when the DH doesn't meet those expectations" part - since I'm a DH myself, I'd like to say that it IS possible for a DW to drop the ball too!

 

[mom+3girls]

How do you know if the bacon is deep fried or its fried in a skillet?

I liked some of the food, I did not eat at the sit down breakfast, I enjoyed the breakfast buffet, my kids did not like the eggs they said they weren't cooked enough, I don't think they were powdered cause they were slimmy and runny.
My favorite meal was the Caribbean Spice Chicken with rice and beans, yummy!!! Even my picky eating daughter loved that meal.
However I was disappointed in the desserts.

Can't really comment on the kids club mine were in the lab and they loved it, oldest was at the stack.

Our family really loved the over all cruise experience. It was our first one and we have another one booked for Dec 1, 2007. I booked early to get the best price I could.

Sorry you didn't enjoy it that much. I would give it another try some other time, maybe when you child is older.

 

[momrek06]

I am sorry the OP and her family did not have a good time on the MAGIC! I was wondering to the OP, did people you meet on the cruise all feel the same way? DH & I met 4 other couples (as DCL had us all at the same table) and we were from MA, Montana, WI, CA, and Chicago. We all got along famously hence we spent more time with them than just dinner. If any of the couples we met had felt like the trip was not what their expectations were, we would have all talked about that but this group was simply in AWE of the whole experience. (I actually have been emailing two of the parties on a regular basis since my return home.) Did you find other people as upset as you and your family or maybe not upset but a little disppointed with the trip? What were other people saying about the Magic, while you were on the ship. I would be curious to hear everyone's thoughts. Thank you.

 

[ricka47]

I agree with the OP. We are always "blown away" by WDW and expected that on DCL. When that didn't happen, we were disapointed. There were a few "magic moments" but when compared to other cruise lines and what many must pay for DCL, the expectations aren't met.

It's only in comparision with what the competition does that one can see that DCL does not deliver the value for what they charge. The do a good job, it's just not worth a premium price. When compared with staying home, then it's much better!

Everything was fine, the food was adequate and sometimes good, the crew nice, the shows good. But, I was expecting excellence and was rewarded with just OK in most cases. We are going again in the fall and will have our expectations lower and will have a good time for sure.

 

[ricka47]

Sorry if I offend anyone...ahead of time.

 

[MSWint]

I really hate how people pile on when someone gives their honest opinion of their experiences. Your opinion is not going to change their opinion. Their experiences are their own and they are free to voice them here.

Many people tend to 'focus only on the negatives', while others tend to 'focus only on the positives' .... the best trip reports/reviews in my opinion are the 'stories', the very detailed day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute experiences that some good writers have written here. The short diatribes with a title like "Magic - not very magical" are just rants in my opinion. The same goes for the short "magical vacation" rants. I do love the very well written stories that include both positive and negative experiences. The point being, a description of the entire trip ... not just a list of negative or even positives.

Again, flame if you want ... but the OP is likely a 'focus on the negative' type.

With the kind of money the OP spent, maybe it was a bit of a let down and just wanted to vent ... that's OK too ... but it is definitely not what I would call a 'Trip Report'. It was exactly what it is .... a rant.

Maybe there should be a separate thread, one for 'Trip Reports' and one for 'Rants'.

 

[BuzzBoyMom]

I really hate how people pile on when someone gives their honest opinion of their experiences. Your opinion is not going to change their opinion. Their experiences are their own and they are free to voice them here.

Please don't think we're all piling on...we're simply trying to ensure that both sides are given. A new person reading only this thread might get scared off. That's why it is important for all of us to be free to voice our opinions and experiences....the good and the bad....just like you pointed out! To each their own!

 

[cruisingsoon]

Did you check to see if the paid sitting services at Flounders' would have been more to your liking? I'm just wondering if that would have provided you with the smaller staff:child ratio that you seem to perfer.

Actually we looked into it. The flounder's is supposed to be for infants until the 3rd birthday. Some 3 year old's can still go there if they are not potty trained. The Flounder's reef was a very small room and very young type toys for our 3 year old. We knew it would be a safe place to put my Son if we had to, but we knew he would be bored in the baby free-play only environment. There was only really little kids the few times we looked in, and my son tends to gravitate towards kids his own age/size. Since it was vacation for all of us, it was very important to me that we all had fun. I wasn't ever looking for just a "babysitting" service. I was more interested in my son participating in fun, organized activities with smaller child:staff ratio.

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

Many people tend to 'focus only on the negatives', while others tend to 'focus only on the positives' .... the best trip reports/reviews in my opinion are the 'stories', the very detailed day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute experiences that some good writers have written here. The short diatribes with a title like "Magic - not very magical" are just rants in my opinion. The same goes for the short "magical vacation" rants. I do love the very well written stories that include both positive and negative experiences. The point being, a description of the entire trip ... not just a list of negative or even positives.

Again, flame if you want ... but the OP is likely a 'focus on the negative' type.

With the kind of money the OP spent, maybe it was a bit of a let down and just wanted to vent ... that's OK too ... but it is definitely not what I would call a 'Trip Report'. It was exactly what it is .... a rant.

Maybe there should be a separate thread, one for 'Trip Reports' and one for 'Rants'.

Thank you...my thoughts exactly.

 

[Tarabra]

Yea, I'm trying to think. There probably were some bad things that happened on our cruise too, but the good FAR outnumbered the bad. Oh yea, like when the toilet wouldn't fill back up...they had to come out and take our toilet off the wall and fix it. Not a big deal, they were right on it, but I suppose that could be something that stuck out in someone's mind.

 

[clovely]

I also have to say that I'm particularly "suspect" (for lack of a better word) when it comes to bad reports centered around children or children's activities. We all have to admit none of us are objective where our kids are concerned and even the best kid is still a kid! And a cruise is a big, exhausting event for an adult much less a little person. Kids get easily thrown out of whack and may or may not react well, may or may not have a chance to recover or regroup, etc. There just could've been sooooo many factors, especially considering there are also many reports on these boards that would indicated exactly polar opposite experiences. This is also why it's important to go in with realistic expectations of everything and everyone - including staff and our own families (at all ages!). But it's also important to go expecting glitches and still expecting to have a wonderful time.

I read one trip report recently where the poor guy recounted the horrible first couple of days with his kids just WAY out of sorts and over stimulated and off their routines. I felt so bad for the guy but by the end he and his wife were really to be commended for forcing the kids (and I guess themselves) to stop, rest, and regroup. And then the rest of their cruise sounded really nice.