Hire a sitter?

[Karrie Davis]

We will be at Disney World for 9 days in September with our 2 1/2 year old. I was wondering if any of you have ever hired a helper or a sitter for a half a day so you can ride rides? I know my DH may not think this is good but I would really like to have time to ride rides too and even have some alone time with him.

Is there a service for this?

Karrie

 

[jodifla]

Yes, there's Kids Nite Out (kidsniteout.com) and Fairy Godmothers. Search the boards and you'll find a bunch of threads on these.

 

[sdoll]

I used Kids night out and absolutly loved them. I felt horrible until I met the actual babysitter. Then I felt very comfortable. You can tell they are pros. The more I started thinking about it I realized that it was probably better for my son. He was 9 months old at the time and would have been so hot. Plus it was really nice to get some alone time. I am sure I will get some feed back from this. But it worked great for us. I would not hesitate to do it again!

 

[robinb]

I used Fairy Godmother's three times when my DD was little so we could enjoy an evening out. When you are in the parks you can always "Baby Swap" where one parent hangs out with the child and the other goes on the ride. The waiting parent would then be either back-doored or go through the Fast Pass line. No, you don't get to ride with your DH but you both get to ride without waiting twice.

 

[Karrie Davis]

Robin,

How does the back door thing work, what do you need to say? When we were there last september they would only do fast passes which still was a full wait everytime... My understanding is that you get past the out side line but then the indide lines were often SO long.

 

[Karrie Davis]

Thanks for all your advice! I have not read one bad thing about the sitting services yet!

I have read a lot more about the services offered for sitting and think after meeting the sitter I too would be comfortable. The hard part (esp. for my DH) is being on a vacation to be together and leaving the main person we came for out, even for a half a day. BUT.... I want to ride some rides too!!!!! Last year we only got on a few and that was because we swapped with my sisters family but they can't come this year.

Karrie

 

[robinb]

Robin,

How does the back door thing work, what do you need to say? When we were there last september they would only do fast passes which still was a full wait everytime... My understanding is that you get past the out side line but then the indide lines were often SO long.

Most attractions do a Fast Pass now. My guess is that you can Back Door those few times when they don't even open a FP line (like September). You just tell the CM at the front of the line that you want to "Baby Swap" and they will give you instructions and/or a Fast Pass. FWIW, I don't consider the FP line a "full wait" compared to waiting in the stand-by line. The wait in the FP line can be significantly shorter. Did you use Fast Pass on your last trip?

 

[Karrie Davis]

I did use the fast pass but again it was in september so the lines were not long anyway. It would get us a little bit ahead of the end of the line but since it was the last week in September the lines wre much shorter... I don't even know what full lines are because I have not been to DIsney world in peak season since I was a kid. I guess I wish we could wait in line with him and pass him across the line, that way we are still all together. I am sure too many people have tried to put kids on rides they should not be on and that is why they don't let them go through the line with you. Rules often come because of the few with no common sense . I am really hopeing he grows 2 inches by the end of this september! He is sooo tall and grows like a weed but 2 inces is pushing it.... even for a just barely 2 year old, I guess we will see