How Safe is Neverland Club?

[Carrie772]

How do you know your kids are safe in there?

 

[NotUrsula]

From what, exactly?

 

[Jamesbyr]

My kids stayed in Neverland Club about 12 years ago: they were about 3 and 8 as I recall. They loved it. There was food (pizza etc) and video games and Disney movies and a person from Discovery Island with animals, and even a character (Goofy) would stop in. These last two amenities have been eliminated, I hear.
Anything to fear? My older son went exploring into one of the doorways, and found Goofy sitting on the floor, on a break. (The head was on!) He said "Hi Goofy!" and Goofy moved his head slightly and sort of gave him a look that my son admitted had truly scared him. He had, poor innocent 8 year old, ventured just a bit too far behind the scenes.

But they still have great memories of that place. I hope some recent clients have some input.

 

[Carrie772]

Well, who are the sitters and what will they do the whole time? All my sitters at home are friends of the family and I know what to expect of their care. I am worried about how my 3 will be treated and their physical safety.

 

[Lesley]

You would have to contact Disney as to their screening process of sitters. But as far as being safe from physical harm or abduction I'm pretty sure they have the same sort of systems in place as any child care facility. I assume sitters are not left alone with the children (for their liability safety as well as that of the children) and they have a process to be sure that your child is only released to you.

Truly, you never *know* for sure if you're not there....you just have to decide if you can find out enough to make you comfortable. Personally I'd be much more comfortable with one of the kids' club situations with multiple children and caregivers than with a sitter from a service in my hotel room. Safety in numbers. Then again in this day and age there may be some concern about the kids being safe from other children....but that's really an issue of supervision.

 

[ducklite]

They are licensed to provide group childcare by the state of FL. This is one of the reasons that the minimum age is four...a different thread topic.

At any rate that statue also provides for caregiver standards. It limits the number or children per caregiver. It requires background checks for caregivers. They get an annual inspection for safety. Etc.

Are your kids 100% safe all the time? No. But the flip side is you send your kids to school where sometimes evil adults slip through the cracks. And BTW--in over half of all child exploitations, the perpetrator is KNOWN TO THE VICTIM. In other words that "family friend" babysitter you use could potentially be a big mistake.

In a group childcare setting there are at least two licensed adult caretakers present, which makes the chances of anything happening lower than if there was only one.

Anne

 

[Carrie772]

Right. I now know some things about it. On all the web sites available, I just couldn't get any info at all. Thanks so much!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We have used t before for our 3 ds. They had such a good time they begged us to go again and use their own allowances to pay for it. I know they have remodeled it recently, but when we used it they went up a few little stairs and were sprinkled with pixie dust. They had dinner. They gave us a beeper. We were at the luau. They didnt let us enter, just the kids. I also think that is better for the seperation anxiety, a nice clean break. When we picked them up we observed, littlest ds being the spinner for mickey bingo, middle ds was waiting by a teepee for some grandma type lady to crochet him some indian wrap thing for his hair and oldest ds was playing all the free video games he wanted etc. Other kids were resting on pillows watching disney movies on a screen. It was very well supervised. I noticed 2 adults at check in and inside there were a male,grandma type and younger girl plus I think there might have been another lady. If you have concerns, ask disney, I am sure they would tell you their screening guidlines etc.

 

[goofy4tink]

Carrie72....we've used Neverland Club several times now. The first time my dd was 8 and she was with a friend. THe girls had a ball. In fact when we went back my dd was off with a 'new' friend and her 'old' friend was off doing something completely different. She has since gone back by herself and loves it. She has told us that they have crafts to do, books to read, movies to watch. They can play with dolls, trucks, play house, use computers and a few video arcade type things. At last check they provided dinner. When we filled out the paperwork for dd, we were given a pager type gizmo just in case there was a problem. And, the girl's at the front desk told us to hold onto that receipt...without it..well, 'no tickey, no shirtey' so to speak. Without it it would be difficult to take our child out of there. And the doors were alarmed to the best of my knowledge.
I think you can feel pretty good about leaving your kids there. You can also check it out during the day, but you can not leave your kids there at that time. It's just so that both kids and parents can check it out, to see if they like it.